Heather Gendron
Art Librarian
hgendron@email.unc.edu
919-962-1061

Can't find the article, book, or report you need at our library? You can request it from another library through interlibrary loan.

Off-campus access is limited to UNC faculty, students, and staff, unless otherwise noted.

TIP: Make sure you know the proper form of name for the artist. There may be variant forms of the artist's name in different sources (especially if you are looking in English-language sources and the name is transliterated from a language with a different alphabet). Also, be aware of nicknames! The Getty's Union List of Artist Names is a good place to start if you're not sure what name you should be looking under.

Getty's Union List of Artist Names (publicly available)
Each artist record includes biographical information, names (including given names, pseudonyms, variant spellings, married names, etc., with one name flagged as the preferred name), related artists, notes, and citations. Covers antiquity to the present; international in scope.

Oxford Art Online
This database is a digital collection of the Grove Dictionary of Art, the Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. The Grove Dictionay of Art is also available in print in the Art Library (Art Reference N31 .D5 1996).

Clara: Database of Women Artists
From the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The "custom search" allows searching by country/state of origin and residence.

Biographical dictionaries and encyclopedias provide biographical data (such as birth and death dates and lists of works), bibliographies and essays that are authored by experts in the field.

Benezit Dictionary of Artists
Art Reference N40 .D5213 2006
Contains over 300,000 biographies of artists who have worked from the 5th century B.C. to present times. Frequently includes facsimiles of artists' signatures, prizes received, holding museums and collections, prices realized, and bibliographies.

Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon
Art Reference N40 .A63 1992
A world biographical dictionary of artists.

TIP: The Benezit Dictionary of Artists, the Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, and the print edition of the Grove Dictionary of Art are all located on the low shelves between the computers and the work tables on the first floor of the Art Library.

Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists
Art Ready Reference N40 .A75 1997
Edited by Wolfgang M. Freitag. 2nd ed. New York: Garland Pub., 1997.
A basic bibliography of monographs on artists and some major architects. Entries are listed by artist name. Authors are also indexed.

Artist Biographies Master Index
Art Ready Reference N40 .A78 1986 c. 2
Edited by Barbara McNeil. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., 1986.
A consolidated index of more than 75 biographical dictionaries with over 27,000 biographical entries of artists in the fine and applied arts, including painters, sculptors, illustrators, designers, graphic artists, craftsmen, architects, and photographers.

Contemporary Artists
Art Reference & Davis Reference N6490 .C6567 2002 v.1 & 2
5th ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 2002.
Provides information on more than a thousand 20th century artists. Biographies, lists of exhibitions, locations of collections, and bibliographies are included in each entry. International in scope.

Twentieth-Century Artists on Art: An Index to Writings, Statements, and Interviews by Artists, Architects, and Designers
Art Reference NX456 .R59 1996
By Jack S Robertson. New York: G K Hall, 1996.
A unique reference work indexing citations to writings, statements and interviews by artists, architects and designers. Provides over 27,500 bibliographic citations on 14,400 artists and designers working in the 20th century. International in scope.

World Artists 1950-1980
Art Reference, Davis Reference and UL Reference N6489 .M37 1984
Edited by Claude Marks. New York: HW Wilson, 1984. Includes brief biographies of over 300 major artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, and graphic arts.

World Artists 1980-1990
Art Reference N6489 .W67 1991
Edited by Claude Marks. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1991.
Continues World Artists 1950-1980.

The World's Master Paintings: From the Early Renaissance to the Present Day
Art Reference ND40 .W75 1991 v.1 & 2
Compiled by Christopher Wright. New York: Routledge, 1991.
Extensive listing of works, biographical information and brief bibliographies for major artists. Also lists the institutions where the paintings are located. Arranged by century, by institution, artist name and by title of work.

Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists
Art Ready Reference N33 .L353 2000
By Erika Langmuir. New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, 2000.
Handy one-volume dictionary with coverage from 1300 to the present. Brief encyclopedic entries covering the lives and work of mainly Western artists. Also includes stylistic, technical and other art-historical terms.

TIP: There are also many biographical dictionaries that are more specific in scope (e.g. Women Artists: 1500-1900, Afro-American Artists: A Bio Bibliographical Directory, etc.); many of these can be found in the Exploring Biographical Dictionaries section of this guide.