Library : Visual Art: Historical Research

Reference Resources

Reference resources like these are ideal for a very broad overview of a topic. This is a good starting place if you're investigating a place, historical time period, theme, or art medium that's new to you.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
A chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collections.
Credo Reference: Art History Topic Page
A good starting point for exploring art terms and art history.
Grove Art Online
The foremost scholarly art and architecture encyclopedia with entries on artists, architects, patrons, movements, and periods

Select Books

Additional, non-circulating physical resources can be found under the "Visual Art" sign in our 2nd floor reference collection.

The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art by Joan Marter (Editor-In-Chief)
Call Number: N6505 .G76 2011 (2nd floor reference)

ISBN: 9780195335798

Publication Date: 2011

The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art covers American painting, architecture, sculpture, and photography from the Pre-Columbian sources to the colonial period to the twenty-first century devoting coverage to many previously underrepresented areas of inquiry, including African American artists, Asian American artists, and Native American art, both historical and contemporary. Artists, major movements, institutions, critics, and the architecture found in major cities of the United States are covered, as are new media and methodologies, including digital art, performance art, and installation art.

Additional Online Resources

Art & Architecture Complete
380+ journal titles and 220+ eBooks on fine, decorative, and commercial art as well as architecture
ARTbibliographies Modern
Abstracts and indexes of select art journals
Design & Applied Arts Index
Journal articles, exhibition reviews, and news items covering design and crafts
International Bibliography of Art
Abstracts and indexes of scholarly sources on Western Art
JSTOR
Full-text journal archive, particularly strong in the arts and humanities