Useful Books, Encyclopedias, Databases, & Websites
- Biography Reference Bank This link opens in a new window
Biographical information on approximately half a million people, from antiquity to the present.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Full text general subject database of reference titles
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Scholarly art encyclopedia covering global art and architecture from prehistory to present, with entries on artists, architects, craftsmen, patrons, movements, locations, and periods, as well as scholarly articles and bibliographies.
- Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
Scholarly art encyclopedia covering global art and architecture from prehistory to present, with entries on artists, architects, craftsmen, patrons, movements, locations, and periods, as well as scholarly articles and bibliographies.
The Concise Dictionary of Art Terms by Call Number: N 33 C575 2010ISBN: 9780199569922Publication Date: 2010-08-20More than 1,700 entries, An accessible and comprehensive A-Z guide covering terms from the visual art world
Benezit Dictionary of Artists by ISBN: 2700030702Publication Date: 2006-06-01Incomparable source of art-historical information. Over 170,000 entries.
The Tate Guide to Modern Art Terms by ISBN: 9781854377500Publication Date: 2009-03-01For museum goers, art students, and general readers alike
The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists by ISBN: 0300064586Publication Date: 2000-08-11Aspects of Western art from 1300 to about the 1990s. It provides information on painters, sculptors, and graphic artists, technical processes, terminology, theory, schools, movements, patrons and collecting
Universal Principles of Art by ISBN: 9781631590306Publication Date: 2014-11-15A wealth of prompts, hints, insights and roadmaps that will open possibilities and provide keys to understanding art works and generating new ones.
Essential human anatomy for artists : a complete visual guide to drawing the structures of the living formISBN: 9781631599606a series of anatomy lessons that guides artists to see and draw the shapes and structures of the human form as it exists in life
Basic Human Anatomy by ISBN: 9781580934381Publication Date: 2016-10-18Basic Human Anatomy teaches artists the simple yet powerful formula artists have used for centuries to draw the human figure from the inside out A comprehensive, yet flexible and holistic approach to the human body for artists,
Drawing from Life by Call Number: NC760 .B86 1997 (in the main stacks)ISBN: 0155015117Publication Date: 1996-08-02Cohesive presentation of anatomy, including a chapter on the human head, helps students understand underlying structure of bones, muscle, and body fat. Larger images throughout promote clearer understanding of concepts.
Human Anatomy for Artists by Call Number: NC 760 G67 1991 (Request from Storage)ISBN: 0195052064Publication Date: 1991-11-07featuring hundreds of photos and illustrations, this guide offers more views of each bone and muscle than many other books: every structure that creates or influences surface form is individually illustrated in clear, carefully lit photographs and meticulous drawings.
Spotlight on nature : tips and techniques for drawing and painting nature on locationISBN: 9780760374566demonstrates how to make the most of nature in on-location drawings and paintings
- Archives of American Art, Smithsonian InstituteSince 1954, the Archives has collected roughly 16 million letters, photographs, diaries, oral history interviews, sketches, scrapbooks, business records, and other documents that support the study of the history of the visual arts in America.
- sculptor.orgLinks to over 400 pages of resources from the "resources for sculptors" page.
- National Museum of Women in the ArtsFounded in 1987, NMWA is the only major museum in the world solely dedicated to recognizing women’s creative contributions.
- AxiswebArtists network in Great Britain.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications"Five decades of Met publications on art history, available to read, download, and/or search for free."
- Getty Publications Virtual Library"Free digital backlist titles from the Getty Publications archive."
- Guggenheim Online BooksBooks and catalogues of the Guggenheim Museum’s Publications Department to document its exhibitions and collections.
Websites
- Archives of American Art, Smithsonian"One of the most widely used research centers dedicated to collecting, preserving, and providing access to primary sources that document the history of the visual arts in America."
- Art21"A variety of living artists talking about their art and process in their own words on film. Art21 provides access to the artist’s voice, using the power of digital media to introduce people to contemporary art and artists."
- Virtual Shoe Museum"Liza Snook has been collecting everything related to shoes since her study graphic design at the Royal Academy in The Hague in the eighties. To share this passion she started the website VirtualShoeMuseum.com together with her partner Taco Zwaanswijk (Stainless Media) in 2004."
- Mask Museum: Second Face"The masks displayed in this museum are all used for cultural expression. They may be for anything from sacred rituals to pure entertainment, but each mask embodies its maker’s beliefs about a culturally significant organism, whether real or mythological, that the mask represents. Almost all masks in the museum’s collection represent “archetypes,” an idealized pattern typical in the culture it is used."