All Guides: Art History: Getting Started

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Research & Instruction Librarian

Ginny Moran

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Library, room 303

651-696-6398

Subjects: Architecture, Art & Art History, Asian Languages and Cultures, Classical Mediterranean and Middle East, Dance, English, French and Francophone Studies, German Studies, Religious Studies, Russian Studies

Library Resources

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Key resources for art history.

Art Full Text This link opens in a new window The main database for research in art and art history. Includes both popular and academic titles.
Artstor This link opens in a new window Library of high quality digital images of artistic photographs and artwork from museums and collections worldwide.

JSTOR Art and Art History Subject Collection A grouping of resources in JSTOR focused on art and art history

Getty Research Portal This link opens in a new window Access to digitized art history texts in the public domain. A multilingual, multicultural union catalog. Search and download complete digital copies of publications for the study of art, architecture, material culture, and related fields.
Macalester Art History Digital Collection This link opens in a new window Database of high quality digital images collected and maintained by the Art Department at Macalester.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Discover the story of art and global culture through The Met collection. Explore essays on a wide range of topics, including artists, materials, movements, and themes, and browse a selection of more than 8,000 works from the collection.

New Books in Art History

Re-assessing the global turn in Medieval art history

Entangled itineraries : materials, practices, and knowledge across Eurasia

Toward a global Middle Ages : encountering the world through illuminated manuscripts

The world between empires : art and identity in the ancient Middle East

Art and Eloquence in Byzantium

The life of animals in Japanese art

Islamic art : past, present, future

Shinto : discovery of the divine in Japanese art

Bauhaus bodies : gender, sexuality, and body culture in modernism's legendary art school

The Art of the Roman Empire AD 100-450

Paris and the Cliché of History: The City and Photographs, 1860-1970

The Art of Libation in Classical Athens

Promote, Tolerate, Ban: Art and Culture in Cold War Hungary

Hearts of our people : Native women artists

Dialogues between artistic research and science and technology studies

Figuring

Eighteenth-century art worlds : global and local geographies of art

Featured Journals

New American Paintings To date, New American Paintings has featured the work of more than three thousand painters from throughout the United States, many of whom have gone on to receive international attention. The publication benefits artists and viewers alike.
African Arts A quarterly devoted to the graphic, plastic, performing, and literary arts of Africa.
Public Art Review Published by Forecast Public Art since 1989, Public Art Review is a public art magazine. This international magazine offers a collection of articles, insights, ideas and commentary about art in public spaces.

Reference Resources for Art & Art HIstory

Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Access to the "The Dictionary of Art" (formerly known as "The Grove Dictionary of Art") and "The Oxford Companion to Western Art." Offers additions of new and updated articles, thumbnail art images and line drawings displayed in the text of articles.
Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window
Resource of reference materials such as dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. Provides database-wide searching, subject searching across sources, and individual title searching.

MetPublications
Searchable and in many cases downloadable publications from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy This link opens in a new window
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Organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work. Great resource for background information on social and political theory.

Writing Guides and Resources

Artist Statement Guidelines from GYST
A resource from Getting Your Sh*t Together to help artists think through the elements to draft an artist statement.
more...less...
GYST-Ink is an artist-run company providing information, technology and solutions created by artists for artists. --Website

A Short Guide to Writing about Art by Sylvan Barnet
Call Number: eBook at MAC Lower Level - Art Collection N7476 .B37 2015
ISBN: 9780205886999
Publication Date: 2014-01-15
This text guides art students through the writing process. Students are shown how to analyze pictures (drawings, paintings, photographs), sculptures and architecture. The text includes: coverage of essential writing assignments including formal analysis, comparison, research paper, review of an exhibition, essay examination; clear step-by-step writing instructions guiding students though the research and writing processes; sample essays, with analytic comments by the author, demonstrating the virtues of effective writing. --Catalog record
Writing about Art by Henry M. Sayre This straightforward guide prepares students to describe, interpret, and write about works of art in meaningful and lasting terms. Designed as a supplement to Art History survey and period texts, this efficient book features a step-by-step approach to writing--from choosing a work to write about, to essay organization, to research techniques, to footnote form, to preparing the final essay. For beginners as well as more advanced students [Publisher description]
Call Number: eBook, and MAC Lower Level - Art Collection N7476 .S29 2009
ISBN: 9780205645787
Publication Date: 2008-07-10

Citing Sources

The most commonly used citation style in historical scholarship is Chicago, notes and bibliography. Check out our Citation Guide for other styles, and more in-depth information about Chicago. For help with citing primary sources, see this resource from the Library of Congress.

Local Resources and Organizations

A handful of links to local resources and organizations here in the Twin Cities to help kick-start your research process.

MIA: Minneapolis Institute of Art Our comprehensive art museum
Altered Esthetics
Altered Esthetics (Ae) is a nonprofit community organization run by artists, for artists. Their mission is to foster an inclusive and sustainable arts community through exhibitions, education, and outreach.
East Side Arts Council
East Side Arts Council is a community arts organization offering accessible, low-cost, or free arts programs led by accomplished professional artists. ESAC celebrates the diversity of its neighborhood and builds appreciation of the arts.
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) is a statewide arts advocacy organization that organizes the arts community to lobby the Minnesota State Legislature and Congress. Their mission is to ensure opportunity for all people to have access to and involvement in the arts.