Research Guides: History of Art: Databases & Websites

Resources for Teaching & Learning

Art History Teaching Resources
Art History Teaching Resources (AHTR) is a peer-populated platform for art history teachers. AHTR is home to a constantly evolving and collectively authored online repository of art history teaching content including, but not limited to, lesson plans, video introductions to museums, book reviews, image clusters, and classroom and museum activities. The site promotes discussion and reflection around new ways of teaching and learning in the art history classroom through a peer-populated blog, and fosters a collaborative virtual community for art history instructors at all career stages.
Index of Medieval Art
*This database is now publicly available until June 1, 2020.

The Index of Medieval Art houses, contextualizes, and presents images and information relating to the iconographic traditions of the medieval world.
Smarthistory
A free site with open access content for most periods of art history. Includes material such as videos and articles for use in the art history classroom or online.

Open Access Resources

Artura
Artura is a growing open access (free) database of materials related to BIPOC artists. From the site: "Artura.org is the world's first free online database of contemporary art from diverse artists. Our mission is to unlock the richness of our culture by making diverse art freely accessible online, especially to the academic, curatorial, and education communities."
ArtxHistory
ArtxHistory is a space facilitated by institutions, historians, curators, artists, faculty and students who are committed to deliver quality scholarship that is accessible, inclusive and open. Co-facilitators are encouraged to reach us to share content or assist in the growth of this framework

For Finding Articles About Art & Art History

Art & Architecture Archive
A full-text archive of magazines comprising key research material in the fields of art and architecture, dating from the late-nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Subjects covered include fine art, decorative arts, architecture, interior design, industrial design, and photography. The magazines are scanned from cover-to-cover and presented as full-color page images; detailed indexing permits quick, efficient searching and navigation of this material.

Art & Architecture Complete This link opens in a new window
Art & Architecture Complete is the definitive research database for the study of art and architecture. This database provides full-text coverage of 380 periodicals and more than 220 books. In addition, this database offers cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 780 academic journals, magazines and trade publications, as well as for over 230 books. Art & Architecture Complete also provides selective coverage for 70 additional publications and an Image Collection of over 63,000 images provided by Picture Desk and others.
Art and Architecture in Video This link opens in a new window
Art and Architecture in Video delivers over 500 hours of documentaries and interviews illustrating the theory and practice of a variety of art forms and providing the context necessary for critical analysis. Ideal for both undergraduate and graduate courses, the works within this collection offer a dynamic tool to enhance understanding of visual media.
Art Full Text This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from an international array of peer-selected publications, as well as coverage of Latin American, Canadian, Asian, and non-Western art. Includes full text of articles from more than 300 periodicals as far back as 1995 and indexing and abstracting of over 600 periodicals as far back as 1984, including 280 peer-reviewed journals and over 18,000 art dissertations.
Art Index Retrospective: 1929 - 1984 (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
Art Index Retrospective: 1929 - 1984 (H.W. Wilson) offers full text plus abstracts and indexing of an international array of peer-selected publications—now with expanded coverage of Latin American, Canadian, Asian and other non-Western art, new artists, contemporary art, exhibition reviews, and feminist criticism. Full-text coverage for selected periodicals is also included. In addition to articles, Art Full Text indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals.
Art Source This link opens in a new window
This database features full-text articlesâ€”as well as detailed indexing and abstractsâ€”for an array of journals, books and more. International in scope, Art Source includes periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch and is designed for use by a diverse audience, including art scholars, artists, designers, students and general researchers.
Bibliography of the History of Art This link opens in a new window
Covering European and American art from late antiquity to the present, the Bibliography of the History of Art indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and articles from more than 2,500 periodicals.

JSTOR
JSTOR provides access to more than 10 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.

Oxford Art Online [Selected Articles in Full Text] This link opens in a new window
Contains 45,000 articles on every aspect of the visual arts painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, decorative arts and photography from prehistory to the present day. Topics include, artist biographies, patrons, writers, cultures, countries, towns, styles, movements, theories, subject matters, iconography and more. Access to over 100,000 art images from the Bridgeman Art Library. Links to images elsewhere on the web.

Smithsonian Libraries Subject Guide for African Art
A guide put together by librarians at the Smithsonian Libraries on the subject of African Art. Centralizes many resources related to this topic in one place.

Carlos Quizpez Asin, The Washerwomen of the Rimac, 1928, 64 x 65 cm.

Image Source: Wikiart

Article Express through ILLiad

Request electronic delivery of journal articles not already available online.

Websites

Evaluating Websites

Websites are an invaluable tool in a day and age where digital media is so prevalent. Just about every museum has a website, and anyone can build a website. This is why it is super important to check the information you get from websites and evaluate each site for its value as a research resource. You may ask yourself: Who wrote this information? Is it connected to an institution that gives it more clout? Is the author an expert in this field?

Museum websites are an excellent choice for finding information about artists, and many museums offer bibliographies with their pages on artists and artwork that can lead you to different types of resources. Here are just a few examples.