ART 1003: Foundations I

Resources for background information on artists and movements.

Finding Background Information About Artists and Art Movements / Styles / Periods

Background information can provide:

A definition of specific terminology
An overview of a topic (the important who's, what's, when's, etc.)
An introduction to key issues
Biographical information
A list or link to additional authoritative resources

Background information can be found in print or online encyclopedias, textbooks, biographical dictionaries or directories, and basic introductory texts.

Key Resources

Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive art reference resource and excellent starting place for biographies of artists, as well as discussions of art movements, theory, and criticism. Provides definitions, bibliographies, and encyclopedic entries concerning almost any art-related topic. Provides access to the encyclopedic Grove Art Online, the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, and more.
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History This link opens in a new window
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art - Authoritative source for timelines, thematic essays, world maps, images, and subject/artist index.

Art Movements - Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture contains high quality images from museums. Brief articles describe each art movement. Most, but not all, articles come from a reliable source: Grove Art from Oxford University Press. Pay attention and evaluate other sources.
The Art Story: Modern Art Insight
The Art Story focuses on information on the artists, art styles and movements, and ideas and concepts of modern art, from the late 19th to the late 20th century. A good source for contemporary artists. Additional content about other periods in art history can be found using the search box.
Smarthistory
"Smarthistory is the leading open educational resource for art history. We make high-quality introductory art history content freely available to anyone, anywhere. Smarthistory is a platform for the discipline where art historians contribute in their areas of expertise and learners come from across the globe. We offer nearly 500 videos and these are being translated into dozens of languages."

...Isms: Understanding Art by Stephen Little
Call Number: N5302 .L585 2004
Click link for availability
... Isms: Understanding Modern Art by Sam Phillips
Call Number: N6490.4 .P45 2013
Styles, Schools and Movements: The Essential Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art by Amy Dempsey
Call Number: N6490.4 .D45 2010
Click link for availability
Art in the Modern Era: A Guide to Styles, Schools & Movements 1860 – Present by Amy Dempsey
Call Number: N6490 .D415 2002

Artstor This link opens in a new window
A digital library containing millions of images from the world's museums, archives, and libraries. Find images for papers, presentations, and studies in the humanities. Tools for sharing images, curating groups of images, downloading them directly into PowerPoint presentations, and comparing and contrasting images are also included. You can also search Artstor in JSTOR.
AskArt.com This link opens in a new window
AskArt covers primarily American artists, including many regional artists, providing biography, images, citations, auction data, museums owning their work and galleries representing the artist's work. More than 200,000 artists are included.

Find Books on Your Topic

Sample Searches for Library Quick Search

The name of a movement. If the name is two or more words, put it in quotes:
cubism
"digital art"

The name of an artist in quotes:
"lee krasner"

The name of a work of art. It is better to look under the name of the artist, unless the work is extremely well known like:
"mona lisa"

Search by the name of a reputable book series and/or publisher. Here are some we recommend:
"world of art" "thames and hudson"
"movements in modern art" cambridge
"movements in modern art" tate
"oxford history of art"
"themes and movements" phaidon