Visual Arts
When using the term "art", the visual arts are usually the first kind of the arts that come to mind for most people. However, this visual arts can further be broken down into the categories of painting, printmaking, sculpture, decorative arts, architecture, and photography.
Recommended Databases
Background Information
These databases include encyclopedias, and are an excellent way to begin any research project. These articles are generally shorter and easier to digest, which makes them ideal for getting a footing in your topic. Fewer keywords work better for searching these databases.
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Benezit Dictionary of ArtistsIncludes 149,000 artist biographies as well as auction records, exhibition histories, and over 11,000 images of artists’ signatures and stamps of sale.
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Credo ReferenceArticles from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference sources from all subject areas. Includes images, audio pronunciation files, maps, and data tables.
Image Databases
These databases are particularly useful for finding photographs and scanned images of visual art pieces.
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ARTstorCollection of images from the areas of the visual arts, the humanities, and social sciences.
Research Databases
These databases are used for searching for articles about the arts or even art criticism. Most of the sources you use in your final projects will come from these databases. Two or more keywords work best when searching these.
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Academic Search CompleteArticles from scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers covering every area of academic study and news.
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Arts (ProQuest)Articles from journals and magazines covering art, architecture, design, history, philosophy, music, literature, theatre and cultural studies.
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JSTOR Arts & Sciences Archive CollectionContains digitized back issues of academic journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Books
eBooks on EBSCOhost
eBook collection covering a wide range of subjects.
Recommended Books
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Modern Art by Publication Date: 2004-08-20Richly illustrated and clearly focused, this book surveys the genesis, development, and culmination of modern European/American painting, sculpture, architecture, and conceptual art—from Post-Impressionism through the most recent developments in the 1990s. -
Byzantine Art and Architecture by Publication Date: 1994-06-16This book offers a systematic introduction to the material culture of the Byzantine empire, from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries. -
Chicana and Chicano Art by Publication Date: 2009-02-14This is the first book solely dedicated to the history, development, and present-day flowering of Chicana and Chicano visual arts.
Visual Arts Keywords
When conducting research in the visual arts, if you don't already know the artist or name of the artwork you are researching, try combining the particular genre of visual arts you are searching for with the associated culture you are interested in.
Examples:
| Genre | Culture |
|---|---|
|
Western
Non-western
|
You may also try combining a particular artist or movement of art with what kind of information you are looking for.
Examples:
| Artist/Movement | Desired Information |
|---|---|
|
|
Western vs. Nonwestern Comparison
| Western | Non-western |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Mary Cassatt, The Coiffure, 1890-1891, drypoint and aquatint on laid paper, sheet: 43.2 x 30.7 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), Public Domain, Link | Kitagawa Utamaro, Takashima Ohisa Using Two Mirrors to Observe Her Coiffure, c. 1795, woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 36.3 x 25 cm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Public Domain, Link |
Mary Cassatt visited an exhibition in Paris on Japanese woodblock prints. This experience served as her inspiration for a series of art in which she attempted to emulate aspects of the Japanese style.