Modern Art

If this is your first art history course, take a look at ARTIFAQ: Learning and Writing about Art. It will give you a jump-start on using reliable online resources.

Finding books:

In the online catalog, in a subject search select the correct term (e.g. art modern) then look at the sub-headings and cross-references). Also try keyword searches of the online catalog (e.g. fauvism) to find books on a topic. To locate exhibition catalogs, try a keyword search: (exhibitions and surrealism.) To find works on an artist, either search by subject (courbet gustave) or keyword (jackson pollock.) Correct spelling is important; capitalization is not. To find writings by an artist, select artist as author (gauguin paul). Once you find a few relevant books, be sure to browse the shelves nearby. Also look in the bibliographies in each book you consult to extend your research.

Finding periodical (magazine/journal) articles:

Search Art Full Text which indexes articles published 1984 to date. Art Index Retrospective covers 1929-1984. You will not find full text online for every article. Bound journals are in the first floor stacks by title, and current journals are in the journal reading area nearby.

Full-text E-journals are also an important and growing feature. Look on the drop-down menu under Art and you'll find many. In addition, large full-text journals collections such as Academic Search Premier, IngentaConnect, JSTOR, and Project Muse.Relevant journals will be included in these.

Basic Reference Sources:

Dictionaries such as the Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists on the Ready Reference shelf, or the Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art, can help you with basic terms, artist, movements, and techniques. Encyclopedias such as the Grove Dictionary of Art (print and online) provide good introductions to topics or artists, and includes bibliographies.

A very useful guide to the period between 1848 and 1944 is Artspoke: a Guide to Modern Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords… [Ref N6447.A85 1993], which spans the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, and includes definitions, cross-references, and a few illustrations, and has a timeline with world events. Artspeak covers 1945 to the present.

There are other, more specialized dictionaries on the reference shelves. Some focus on movements, like Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes, the Grove Dictioanary of Art From Expressionism to Post-modernism or The Thames and Hudson Encyclopedia of Impressionism. These have short bibliographies, some illustrations, and are great introductions to the modern period.

Some books focus on the artist him/herself, not just their work. Lives of the Great Artists is just one example. A guide to artists' own writings is Twentieth Century Artists on Art. In addition, we have many books that include artists' diaries, letters, and interviews. Search for artist as author.

Finding Images:

Illustrations of art works can be found using painting indexes such as World Painting Index (blue books on the Ready Reference Shelves near the computer area.) But images are also readily accessible via the growing number of museum or image web sites, many of which you can search by topic in addition to artist. ARTstor provides curated collections of art images and associated data for noncommercial and scholarly, non-profit educational use. CAMIO offers rights-cleared, high-quality art images for class projects, art history and studio art programs, course Web sites, lectures, presentations, and research resources. You can also use the Grove Dictionary of Art Online, which has a large and growing image base. Google has an excellent image search engine.

Important Web sites:

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has "the largest searchable art imagebase in the world" with more than 12,000 artists represented.

Metropolitan Museum of Art has a large image database and an excellent timeline.

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) is the world's largest collection of modern painting and sculpture, from the late 19th century to the present. Fifty major paintings from the collection can be viewed in the Collection Highlights section.

National Gallery of Art. Search by artist or by topics such as portraits, genre, religious, landscapes, etc. The site has a large image database.

The Royal Historical Society Bibliography provides bibliographic data on historical writing dealing with the British Isles, and with the British empire and commonwealth, during all periods for which written documentation is available - from 55BC to the present.

The Smithsonian web site is an invaluable resource; is the gateway to all the Smithsonian museums and libraries.

For worldwide access to museum web sites see the Virtual Library Museum.

Keep in mind that we have many collection, museum and exhibition catalogs in the Art Library. If you want to find works on a particular museum, search in the online catalog s=museum of modern art or s=moma