Research Guides: East Asian Art: Databases, Journals, & Websites

Asian Studies Databases

Asia Art Archive
With one of the most valuable growing collections of material on the recent history of art from Asia, freely available from our website and onsite library, AAA builds tools and communities to collectively expand knowledge through research, residency, and educational programmes.

Asian Film Online This link opens in a new window
Asian Film Online offers a view of Asian culture as seen through the lens of the independent Asian filmmaker. Through a selection of over 1,000 narrative feature films, documentaries and shorts curated by film scholars and critics, the collection offers highly relevant perspectives and insights onto themes relevant across Asia, including modernity, globalization, female agency, social and political unrest, and cultural and sexual identity. Such themes are central to any meaningful discussion of contemporary Asian culture and society
Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new window
Includes Western-language monographs, articles and book chapters on all parts of Asia published since 1971.
China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database This link opens in a new window
China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database is a cross-searchable interface for full-text content from China in Chinese and English, covering a wide variety of subjects and document types. The China Academic Journals database contains full-text Chinese journals starting from 1915 and covers many subjects, including literature, history, philosophy, economics, politics, law, military affairs, education, and social science. Additional content includes master's theses and doctoral dissertations, conference proceedings, monographic series, reference works, and yearbooks of census and statistical information. English and Chinese (traditional and simplified) interfaces available.

CiNii
CiNii (Scholarly and Academic Information Navigator, pronounced like "sigh-knee") is a database service which can be searched with academic information of articles, books, journals & dissertations. It is available free of charge for anyone. CiNii Articles is a database service which can search of information on academic articles published in academic society journals, university research bulletins or articles included in the National Diet Library's Japanese Periodicals Index Database and databases.
Japan Cultural Heritage Database (in Japanese only)
Database that allows searches of objects owned by over 900 museums in Japan. From the Univ. of Pittsburgh's Japanese Art History Guide: "ou can browse digital collection by periods, types, museums, etc. when you click “文化遺産オンライン Cultural Heritage Online” on top right of the search page."

Meiji Japan: the Edward Sylvester Morse collection from the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum This link opens in a new window
Meiji Japan: the Edward Sylvester Morse collection from the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum consists of digitized materials from 99 boxes of personal and professional papers from Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925), a great polymath — notable for his work in natural history, ethnography and art history — but, perhaps most famous for his work in bringing Japan and the West closer together. Included in the collection are fifteen series: Correspondence Diaries Scrapbooks Natural History Archaeology Field Work Ethnology Japanese Pottery Lectures Publications Inventions Materials Collected by Morse Financial Records Noise Abatement Biographical and Personal and Miscellaneous.

General Databases for Art & History of Art

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.

Unique Print Resources for Japanese Art

Kindai bijutsu kankei shinbun kiji shiryō shūsei, Meiji 24-nen 1-gatsu - Shōwa 16-nen 12-gatsu
Microfilm - Reproduction of Shoshinbun kirinuki (chō)--compiled by Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō and held by Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku Fuzoku Toshokan; collections of newspaper clippings on art from Jan. 1891 to Dec. 1941.
Nihon no Bijutsu
The Fine Arts Library holds a complete set of this Japanese art serial in print. This link is to a Wiki created by the former Japanese Studies Librarian "to improve access to the monthly journal Nihon no Bijutsu 日本の美術　(Arts of Japan) published by Shibundo, translated titles of each issue are given below, with more details -- and related resources in some cases -- on individual pages."
Japanese War Time Manga Postcards
This is the finding aid for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum's collection of Japanese War Time Manga Postcards, many featuring the second Sino-Japanese War.
Jiji Manga
This is a wiki designed to "To improve access to the newspaper political cartoon Jiji Manga 時事漫画 (Comic Strips) published by Jiji Shinpōsha 時事新報社 from February 11, 1921 to June 28, 1931, titles and contents of each issue are given below, with more details -- and related resources in some cases -- on individual pages." Volumes of Jiji Manga are available at Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, PN6790.J32 J55.

Victo Ngai

Victo Ngai, In the Mood for Love, 2017. Source: WikiArt.

All images on this page reproduced according to Fair Use standards.

Kitagawa Utamaro

Kitagawa Utamaro. Woman Powdering her Neck (Girl applying cosmetic to her neck), c. 1795-96. Source: Artstor.

Websites

Bamboo Canvas
Bamboo Canvas presents an interactive platform of video links, podcasts, online lectures, or database explaining art-making techniques of Asian art and design for educational institutions and global audiences and to highlight artistic contributions and intellectual achievements of Asian art and culture.
E-Museums (eKokuhô)
National Treasures & Important Properties of National Museums, Japan

Nam June Paik

Nam June Paik, Robot, 1993. Source: WikiArt.

Uemura Shoen

Uemura Shoen, Springtime of Life, 1899. Source: WikiArt.