Library Research Guides: Art & Art History: Art Research

Search IUCAT

Research Tools

Where to Search for Books

Method	What's there	Why use it
IUCAT	Books, journals, maps, etc. already at IU (both physical copies and e-resources)	Covers most topics, materials often immediately available
Worldcat	Books, journals, maps, etc. that may or may not be at IU	Covers all topics, can find material regardless whether IU happens to own it
Interlibrary Loan	Use this service to order materials that are unavailable at IU (either because IU doesn't own it or it is checked out)	Use alongside Worldcat or when you don't find a book, journal, etc. in IUCAT
Google Books	Books and journals that Google has scanned from many Library collections. Many items are available only in preview or snippet view.	Ideal for journals and books in the public domain (usually published before 1923). Preview can help locate particularly useful sections.
Hathitrust	Scanned books and journals, often the same materials as Google Books	Navigation is often more cumbersome than Google Books, but locating specific journal issues is often easier

What Expert Researchers Know

Type of Book	How to Use These Books
Exhibition Catalogues	These titles document museum and gallery shows; are often the best source for high-quality images; and usually include artist biographies, curatorial essays, artist interviews and/or writings, and career chronologies. Use the term "Exhibitions" as part of your keyword or subject search in IUCAT. To find contemporary artists featured in group exhibitions, search the Contemporary Artists Index, from the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Monographs	These are books by or about artists published independent of any exhibition. Usually, these are in-depth writings that analyze or provide context for an artist and his/her work. Look for words like "Criticism and Interpretation" in the subject heading of a book. Search in IUCAT using "criticism" or "analysis" as keywords.
Catalogues Raisonné	The catalogue raisonné is an important tool for provenance research and for establishing the oeuvre of an artist; it normally contains provenance for each version of a work of art. Each work is pictured, with scholarly opinions, provenance, literature about the work, and sales information (when known). Search this *Catalogues Raisonnés* resource from the International Federation for Art Research to locate published and forthcoming titles. Use IUCAT to locate catalogues raisonné in IU Libraries

Here are the top six recommended article databases for art and art history research. For further options, look at the Specialized Databases page. Articles may be published by scholarly journals, magazines, or newspapers. In addition to news and criticism, you can find exhibition reviews and artists interviews in these articles.

Art & Architecture Source
- This link opens in a new window
Features full-text articles as well as detailed indexing and abstracts for an array of journals, books, podcasts and more. Also includes periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. Designed for use by art scholars, artists, designers, students and general researchers. Supersedes Art Full Text and includes all the material available from that database.
ARTbibliographies Modern
- This link opens in a new window
Includes abstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, dissertations, and exhibition reviews. Also incorporates book records, including those drawn from the collections of the Tate Library and the Bibliothèque Dominique Bozo, Musée LAM. Covers performance art and installation works, photography, video art, computer and electronic art, body art, graffiti, artist's books, theatre arts, conservation, crafts, ceramic and glass art, ethnic arts, graphic and museum design, fashion, and calligraphy, as well as traditional media including illustration, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and drawing.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
- This link opens in a new window
Coverage includes international scholarly and popular literature as well as publications of professional associations, state and regional periodicals, and major serial publications on architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia.
Design and Applied Arts Index
- This link opens in a new window
International Bibliography of Art (IBA)
- This link opens in a new window
The International Bibliography of Art (IBA) is a resource for scholarly literature on western art. IBA is the successor to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), and includes the most recent index records that were created by the Getty Research Institute as part of BHA. These records were created in 2008-2009, and cover scholarship up to 2009, including retrospective records for material published in previous years.

ProQuest uses the Getty Research Institute’s own thesaurus and authority files. The bibliography provides authoritative coverage of international scholarship within the following broad parameters: European art from late antiquity to the present, American art from the colonial era to the present, global art since 1945, visual arts in all media, plus decorative and applied arts, museum studies and conservation, archaeology and classical studies, antiques and architectural history, and related fields. Contains scholarship from at least 500 core journals, and includes detailed coverage of monographs, essay collections, conference proceedings and exhibition catalogues. Includes international coverage, with at least 60% of records from non-English-language publications (principally German, French, Italian and Spanish).
ProQuest the Arts
- This link opens in a new window

Scholarly journals, including those that publish peer-reviewed articles, are a major source of scholarly communication about art and art history.

Use the checkbox in these databases to limit your search results to only scholarly articles or peer-reviewed articles.

Art & Architecture Source
- This link opens in a new window
Features full-text articles as well as detailed indexing and abstracts for an array of journals, books, podcasts and more. Also includes periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. Designed for use by art scholars, artists, designers, students and general researchers. Supersedes Art Full Text and includes all the material available from that database.
JSTOR
- This link opens in a new window
JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization established with the assistance of The Mellon Foundation, provides complete runs of hundreds of important journal titles in more than 30 arts, humanities, and social science disciplines. These scholarly journals can be browsed online and searched, and the page images can be printed for those available in full-text. The IUB Libraries subscribe to current content for only some titles available through JSTOR.

All journals in JSTOR start with the first volume. Many include content up to a "moving wall" of 3-5 years ago, although some journals have a fixed ending date for their content in JSTOR. Please check individual journals for exact dates of coverage.

For information about access to this resource for IU alumni, contact the Indiana University Alumni Association.
ProQuest the Arts
- This link opens in a new window
ARTbibliographies Modern
- This link opens in a new window
Specialist bibliography of modern and contemporary art from 1974 to the present.
Includes abstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, dissertations, and exhibition reviews. Also incorporates book records, including those drawn from the collections of the Tate Library and the Bibliothèque Dominique Bozo, Musée LAM. Covers performance art and installation works, photography, video art, computer and electronic art, body art, graffiti, artist's books, theatre arts, conservation, crafts, ceramic and glass art, ethnic arts, graphic and museum design, fashion, and calligraphy, as well as traditional media including illustration, painting, printmaking, sculpture, and drawing.
Design and Applied Arts Index
- This link opens in a new window

The databases below provide a wide variety of image of visual artworks. Printed books are often the best source of images, when looking for a specific artwork; use IUCAT to look for books about the artist or artistic movement. Find directions for citing images in the Image Citation: Formats and Best Practices guide.

A&AePortal
- This link opens in a new window
Also provides access to images that accompany scholarly texts.
Archive of Americana
- This link opens in a new window
ARTstor
- This link opens in a new window
Users who create an account also gain access to a set of tools for sharing images, curating groups of images, downloading them directly into PowerPoint presentations, and comparing and contrasting images.
Bridgeman Education
- This link opens in a new window
Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
- This link opens in a new window
Taken by amateur photographer Charles Weever Cushman between 1938 and 1969, the images document an amazing cross-section of American and international subjects, from inner-city storefronts and industrial landscapes to candid portraits and botanical studies. The collection is part of the Indiana University Archives. The richly saturated Kodachrome slides add color to an era primarily recorded in black and white, "a world that we had long since resigned ourselves to viewing only in shades of gray," writes Eric Sandweiss, IU Carmony Chair and Professor of History, in an essay included on the collection's Web site. "In Cushman's work," he observes, "the past becomes, for an instant, impossibly present."
DIDO: Digital Images Delivered Online
- This link opens in a new window
The Indiana University Department of the History of Art Dido Image Bank is dedicated to the storage of low resolution (72 dpi) images from the Fine Arts Slide Library collection of over 400,000 images. Encompassing the full breadth of art historical periods and media, the Image Bank contains c.60,000 images, both in-house production and commercially licensed. This compendium of digitized images permits convenient use and access with a graphic web browser. The images are presented in thumbnail and 800 x 600 screen res sizes, and many are also now available in a 1024 x 768 screen resolution. Access to the images is available through keyword search. The DIDO home page also has links to other selected image collections available at IU and on the web.

Most of the content of DIDO is available to the IU system, but commercially licensed images are available only on the Bloomington campus.
Image Collections Online
- This link opens in a new window
Image Collections Online (ICO) includes a variety of historical photographs and images of cultural objects from the Lilly Library, the IU Archives, the Archives of African American Music and Culture, the Liberian Collections, the IU Map Collections, and others. Collection managers interested in submitting their collections for inclusion in ICO should contact the IU Libraries' Digital Collections Services department.
Klimt02
- This link opens in a new window
Klimt02 works with contemporary jewelry world experts to present a selection of work based in very specific artistic principles.
Klimt02 treats jewelry as art and representation, giving special emphasis on the artistic concepts and the creative process.
The scope of coverage within Klimt02 is international to provide the broadest context possible. Klimt02 intentionally creates forums for discussion and debates within and among contemporary jewelry artists.
Oxford Art Online
- This link opens in a new window
Provides access to Oxford’s art reference works, including the Grove Art Online, the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and the Oxford Companion to Western Art.
Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels
- This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 100,000 pages of materials, with 75,000 pages of primary materials (the comics themselves), and more than 25,000 pages of materials about comics--interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism--from The Comics Journal and other secondary sources.

Volume I covers major works from North America and Europe, beginning with the first underground comix from the 1950s and continuing through to modern sequential artists. It incorporates 75,000 pages of material from artists such as Basil Wolverton and Harvey Kurtzman, R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Harvey Pekar, Spain Rodriguez, and Vaughn Bode, and modern masters including Peter Bagge, Kim Deitch, Dave Sim, Dan Clowes, and Los Bros.

Volume II adds coverage of the pre-Comics Code era horror, crime, romance, and war comics that fueled the backlash leading to one of the largest censorship campaigns in US history. Selections include works by visionaries such as Alex Toth, Boody Rogers, Fletcher Hanks, Steve Ditko, Joe Kubert, Bill Everett, Joe Simon, and Jack Kirby, along with essential series such as Crime Does Not Pay and Mister Mystery, and many others both famous and infamous.
VADS-Visual Arts Data Services
- This link opens in a new window
Vogue Archive
- This link opens in a new window

The following databases provide streaming films.

Art and Architecture In Video
- This link opens in a new window
Covers Renaissance, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Modern, and Contemporary art. Also includes video on applied topics such as architectural and graphic design.
Criterion Collection/Janus Films
- This link opens in a new window
Docuseek2
- This link opens in a new window
Includes content from Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films (including The Fanlight Collection and dGenerate Films), Kartemquin Films, MediaStorm, the National Film Board of Canada, Scorpion TV Sincerely Films, Terra Nova Films and KimStim.
Filmakers Library Online
- This link opens in a new window
Filmakers Library Online provides access to more than 1,500 online streaming titles from the award-winning distributor Filmakers Library. New releases will be added as made available.
Films on Demand Master Academic Collection
- This link opens in a new window
Includes titles produced by A&E, PBS, BBC Learning, National Geographic, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, HBO Documentary Films, PBS NewsHour, Open University, Bill Moyers, California Newsreel, Annenberg Learner, TED, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, and more.
Independent World Cinema: Classic and Contemporary Film
- This link opens in a new window
Includes films from independent distributors, such as Milestone Films, Zeitgeist Films, Pragda, and Oscilloscope. The films fit into a variety of disciplines, including cultural history, psychology, gender studies, anthropology, theater, and African American studies.
Kanopy Streaming Video
- This link opens in a new window
PBS Video Collection
- This link opens in a new window

In general, start your search in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. If you are looking for an IU dissertation and cannot find it in ProQuest, search IUCAT. If it is not in IUCAT, search WorldCat.

For search tips, visit the IU Libraries' guide to Finding Dissertations & Theses.

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Includes the following:

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: UK & Ireland
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: A & I
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses: CIC Institutions
IUCAT This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
IUCAT, Indiana University's online library catalog, provides comprehensive access to millions of items held by the IU Libraries statewide, including books, recordings, US government publications, periodicals, and other types of material. Users can access IUCAT from any Internet-connected computer or device, whether in the libraries, on campus, or off campus.
Worldcat.org
- This link opens in a new window
OpenDissertations
- This link opens in a new window
Includes content from American Doctoral Dissertations, a comprehensive record of dissertations accepted by American universities, the print index Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities. Searched by author, title, subject and university.

Looking for examples of IU MFA theses, including accompanying images? Email archives@indiana.edu with your request.

Searching archival collections is generally facilitated through finding aids or guides, often available through a repository's website.

The resources below can also help you locate collections, and their finding aids, guides, and inventories.

Archives of American Art
- This link opens in a new window
Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
- This link opens in a new window

ArchiveGrid
- This link opens in a new window
ArchiveGrid is a collection of archival material descriptions, including MARC records from WorldCat and finding aids harvested from the web. It's supported by OCLC Research as the basis for experimentation and testing in text mining, data analysis, and discovery system applications and interfaces. Archival collections held by thousands of libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives are represented in ArchiveGrid.
Worldcat.org
- This link opens in a new window

MoMA Archive

Auction Databases

AskART
- This link opens in a new window
Database of information about artists, including names, birth and death dates, state or local affiliation, fields in which artist worked, book and periodical references to artist, dealers and museums where works may be viewed, auction prices of works, some biographical details, etc. Aims at being an unbiased source of information about the commercial value of each artist's work through a comprehensive system of comparables.
SCIPIO: Art and Rare Book Sales/Auction Catalogs
- This link opens in a new window
Art auction and rare book catalogs for sales from the late sixteenth century to scheduled auctions not yet held. Records include the dates and places of sales, the auction houses, sellers, institutional holdings, and titles of works. SCIPIO is updated daily.

Provenance Databases

Art & Art History

Search IUCAT

Research Tools

Social media

Additional resources

Featured Databases

IU Libraries