Guides and Publications

Researching an Artwork

Art 600

(Works best for "high" art, paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints)

1. Artist oeuvre catalog (first need to identify an artist)

Locate via:

a. Socrates

b. Freitag, Art books (2nd ed., 1997)

c. Riggs, Print Council index to oeuvre catalogues (1983)

d. RLG Union Catalog/Worldcat

2. Collection catalog (first need to identify a collection)

Locate via:

a. Socrates

b. RLG Union Catalog/Worldcat

c. Art books, 1950-79, including an international directory of museum permanent collection catalogs (1979)

d. web search engine like Google, Alltheweb, etc.

3. Exhibition catalog (would have to be a reasonable probability

that work had appeared in a given show and that a catalog had been

published)

Locate via:

a. Socrates

b. RLG Union Catalog/Worldcat

c. Bibliography on the artist, separately published, or
in a monograph, encyclopedia article, website, etc.

d. Reference work that displays exhibition records alphabetically by artist

4. Periodical article

Locate via:

a. Online index such as Art Abstracts, Art Index Retrospective, Bibliography of the History of Art, ARTBibliographies Modern, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, etc.

b. Bibliography on the artist (as above)

5. Artist monograph

Locate via:

a. Socrates

b. RLG Union Catalog/Worldcat

c. Bibliography on the artist (as above)

6. Art auction catalog

Locate via:

a. SCIPIO (online art auction catalog database found on the "Databases and Articles" link on the Stanford University Libraries homepage)

b. Printed bibliography or index to art auction catalogs such as Lugt or the WCA

7. Essay in a collection

Locate via:

a. Index such as BHA/RILA/RAA (online or paper) if post-1976

b. Index to articles in Festschriften such as Lincoln or Rave

c. Essay and general literature index (1900- ; AI3.E752 Gen Ref) or online via the "Databases and Articles" link on the Stanford University Libraries homepage

8. Coverage or mention in an encyclopedic reference work

Locate via:

a. List of art encyclopedias

b. Socrates

9. Monograph devoted to the work itself

Locate via:

a. Socrates

b. RLG Union Catalog/Worldcat

10. Appearance as an annotated illustration in an iconographical
collection

11. Incidental appearance as an illustration in a publication

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