Oxford Art Online
Includes the Grove Art Online, an encyclopedia of art, with general introductions to a variety of related topics.

African American Visual Artists Database (publicly available) Includes images of art by artists of the African Diaspora and Africa who have lived, worked, studied or exhibited in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. Artists are eligible for inclusion when they have been actively and professionally engaged in the production of works of art for a period of at least 4 years and are at least 21 years old. As of August 2008, the databse included nearly 11,000 artists.

African Americans in the Visual Arts N6538.N5 O86 2003 ART REF

Afro-American Artists: a Bio-Bibliographical Directory. N6538.N5 C42. ART REF. The first major biographical dictionary of African-American artists, covering the colonial period to 1973. Includes exhibition catalogs; reviews; periodicals, including newspapers; and books. The A-Z entries include brief biographical information, lists of works and exhibitions, collections and reference sources for each artist. An essential work.

St. James Guide to Black Artists. N40.S78 1997. ART REF Includes biographical information on nearly 400 black artists worldwide, but mostly American, including some from the 19th century. Includes biographical information, exhibition record and museum holdings, and bibliography. A very important and useful work published in conjunction with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

250 years of Afro-American Art: an Annotated Bibliography. N6538.N5 I38 1981. ART REF, DAVIS REF. A comprehensive work for that date, including 3900 artists covering three centuries. Generally, photographers, architects and designers are excluded. Basic, Artist, and Subject (topical and organizational) bibliographies, with appendices on anonymous artists and artist groups. See cd-rom, *African-American Artists On Disc for an update to this bibliography.

Women Artists of Color: a Bio-critical Sourcebook to 20th Century Artists in the AmericasN8354.W656 1999. ART REF. An excellent resource which includes African-American artists as well as Latino, Asian Pacific and Native American. Biographical essay and exhibition, collection lists and bibliography for about 25 artists.

African-American Architects in Current Practice. NA738.N5 A45 1991. ART REF. Profiles 31 practicing architects, with a chronology of African-American architects 1868-1991, a map of the 810 practicing architects in the U.S., a list of organizations and short essays on the African-American architectural experience in America.

Afro-American Folk Art and Crafts. NK839.3.A35 A35 1986 DAVIS, UL. Covers quilters, sculptors, instrument-makers, basket makers, builders, blacksmiths and potters from the colonial period. A lengthy bibliography, subject guide, filmography, and important essays such as Robert Farris Thompson's 1969 essay on African influences.

Black Artists on Art. N6538.N5L4, 1969, 1976. ART REF, DAVIS. This 2-volume work by Samella Lewis is an illustrated survey of several hundred contemporary African-American artists and Black artists working in the U.S. Includes artists' statements and brief biographical entries at the end of the volumes.

Black Photographers, 1840-1940: a Bio-Bibliography. TR139.W55 1985. ART REF, DAVIS REF. and An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers, 1940-1988. TR139.W55 1989. DAVIS REF. Deborah Willis' groundbreaking companion volumes are heavily illustrated, with excellent bibliographies and exhibition chronologies. Short biographical entries include exhibitions and collections in which works are included, as well as a selected bibliography.

Directory of People of Color in the Visual Arts. N6537.5.D57 1993. ART REF. 759 artists, art historians, critics and arts administrators are listed, with indexes by state, ethnicity and discipline.

Folk Artists Biographical Index. NK805.F63 1987. ART REF. This is an important source for all folk artists, a large percentage of whom have been African-American; ethnicity is indicated in each artist entry.

Free Within Ourselves: African-American Artists in the Collection of the National Museum of American Art. N6538.N5 P44 1992. ART REF. While not a biographical work per se, this serves as a reference work, a cross-section of 31 artists from one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of African-American art (including the work of self-taught artists) from the colonial to contemporary period. Many illustrations, excellent bibliography of archival resources, books, exhibition catalogs, and articles, and a list of the African-American artists represented in the NMAA (105 as of 1992) which are searchable online (see Smithsonian's Inventory of American Painting).

Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists. NK808.R6 1990. ART REF. Black artists comprise a significant percentage of the total number of folk artists, and the Museum has held numerous exhibitions of African-American artists. An A-Z listing, with biographical information, exhibition lists, bibliography, list of public collections, and an index interspersed with photos of some of the 255 artists listed.

Outsider, Self Taught, and Folk Art Annotated Bibliography: Publications and Films of the 20th Century. N7432.5.A78 S455 2002. ART REF. See also this writer's other work: Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art: A Guide to American Artists, locations and resources NK805 .S46 2000. ART REF and NCC.

Twentieth-Century African-American Writers and Artists. NX512.3.A35 H43 1991. ART REF, DAVIS REF. An A-Z work which includes about 80 "prominent" painters and sculptors (i.e. those who have exhibited in major museums). Summary of artist's life, short critical note, exhibition and collections list and selected bibliography.