Art & Art History 

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First Things First:  Choosing a topic & Selecting your search terms

Choosing a topic is an iterative process.  Here are some considerations to keep in mind. Your topic will evolve as you research, so research must also be part of choosing your topic.

Think about synonyms, broader terms, narrower terms, plural/singular terms... what are the ways to describe your topic?  Create a list of topic words or that you will use in your searches.

Finding Books

• VIRGO - The library catalog
  Words that appear in "Subject" field (i.e. Library of Congress Subject Heading terms):
  • "Light in art", Painting, Italian, Renaissance, Gothic, shadow, medieval, color
    

Search the Subject field, and join your words using "AND"
    Example: "light in art" AND Renaissance
    Example: Alberti AND painting

Search using "Search All", and look for keywords. Connect your words using "AND" to narrow down your results.  Careful!  "Search All" will include results in which your terms appear as part of an Author's name, publishing company, etc!
    Example: Chiaroscuro

Remember, in a library catalog, only a few words are chosen to describe the ENTIRE CONTENTS of a book... so choose search terms that are broad!  A book on Renaissance Painting might have a great chapter on light and shadow, but those words might not appear in the library catalog!

WorldCat
Includes over 30 million catalog records and holdings from over 12,000 libraries worldwide, including UVA. Materials in all formats.  WorldCat will help you find out what is out there that UVA might not have.  Most materials in WorldCat are available through Interlibrary Loan.

Finding Articles and News in Databases

(BHA) Bibliography of the History of Art
Covering European and American art from late antiquity (ca. 300 A. D.) 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. The Bibliography of the History of Art is updated quarterly and covers 1973 to the present.

Art Index
Art Index is a bibliographic database that indexes and abstracts articles from periodicals published throughout the world. Periodical coverage includes English-language periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins, as well as periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish. In addition to articles, Art Index indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals. Art Index Retrospective is a bibliographic database that cumulates citations to Art Index volumes 1-32 of the printed index published between 1929-1984. Art Full-Text indexing coverage begins 1984; abstracting coverage begins with January 1994. There is some Full-text coverage. Subjects indexed cover a wide range in the fine arts, architecture and the decorative arts.

Avery Index
The Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals indexes more than 2,000 periodicals published worldwide on archaeology, city planning, interior design, and historic preservation, as well as architecture.

JStor
Full-text backfiles of many important scholarly journals in areas such as anthropology, asian studies, ecology, economics, education, history, literature, math, philosophy, politics, sociology, and statistics. Coverage is usually from the first issue to 3-5 years before the present.

EbscoHost
Indexes over 100 journals related to architecture, planning, landscape and sustainability - many of which are NOT indexed by other databases. Some articles provided in full-text.  Also great for current events, news items, and reviews.  Remember to "Select all" at the beginning.  You're searching a very broad range of materials here, so adding words like art, painting, etc. to your search will help you to find articles that are more relevant.

Periodicals Index Online (PIO)
PIO is an electronic index to the contents of thousands of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences published from 1770 to the 1990s. Every article is indexed. Includes over twelve million journal articles in 3,665 journals. Every year, it adds records for more than one million new articles.

Historical Abstracts
Indexes articles written on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). This ABC-CLIO database includes over 500,000 annotated entries referencing articles published in over 2,000 journals published throughout the world. Includes book reviews.

Dissertations & Theses Full-Text
Full text (PDF) of most dissertations from 1997 on, some earlier works and some master's theses. Also lists all dissertations and theses from 1861 on at US and some other universities. Abstracts included after July, 1980.

Images

ARTstor contains thousands and thousands of high-quality images of art and architecture.  Need help getting started?  Click the ARTstor Help tab at the top of this page!

Print Resources

There are a number of print resources that can help you with your research as well, including books that explain the iconography of saints, symbols of the renaissance era, etc.  Many of these are available in the Reference Section of the library.  Just ask at the desk!