What do you already know?
What do you know about the artist or the art work? Save time by first finding some basic, accurate information about an artist like: name spelling variations, life dates, career dates, nationality/geography, primary media/methods An artist dictionary, encyclopedia or other reference work is often the best place to find brief, authoritative information. A basic research tool might have all the information you need--or lead you to other sources, such as articles, books, or websites.
Useful online reference source:
Oxford Art Online – Contains Grove Art Online (Encyclopedia), Oxford Companion to Western Art, Oxford Companion to Western Art, and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms.
Find books, exhibition catalogs, videos, etc.:
Find articles/exhibition reviews in journals and magazines:
Use a subject-specific database such as Art & Architecture Source to search for articles and art reproductions in periodicals by subject or keyword. Also consider browsing journals like Art in America (N1.A43) and ArtForum International (N1.A814) electronically or at the AFA Library. Both are good resources for exhibition reviews.
Find newspaper articles/reviews:
Reviews and articles in newspapers are good sources for finding information on contemporary artists. Particularly true for regionally known artists, be sure to check websites of local newspapers (The Alligator or Gainesville Sun).
Find visual information/images:
There are many ways to find visual information in addition to traditional image search engines like Google Image Search, etc. These include browsing books and articles, using an index to find reproductions, or searching a database like ARTstor.
Need more?
Consult the other resource tabs in this subject guide and/or ask for assistance from the library staff.
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