Art 150: Introduction to Art History I
A Guide to Library Resources

Fall 2007

 

REFERENCE WORKS

ART ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES

The Dictionary of Art (34 v.) [R.R. N31 .D5 1996]
The most comprehensive art reference work around, even though it treats Western art more extensively. Vol. 34 is an index to the entire set.

The Encyclopedia of World Art (17 v) [R.R. N31 .E59]
This work was once considered the standard encyclopedia of art. Still valuable and containing excellent scholarship. Vol. 15 is an index.

The Encyclopedia of Visual Art (10 v) [R.R. N25 .E53 1983] Published by Britannica and containing sections on different regions of the world, different time periods. The last several volumes is a biographical dictionary of artists.

Oxford Dictionary of Art [R.R. N33 .O93 2001]
Benezit Dictionary of Artists [R.R. N40 .D5213 2006] (14v)
Phaidon Encyclopedia of Art and Artists [R.R. N31 .P48]
Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists [R.R. N33 .L353 2000]
International Dictionary of Art and Artists [R.R. N33 .I57 1990] (2v)

The World of Ancient Art [R.R. N5330 .B59 2006]
The New Century Handbook of Greek Art & Architecture [R.R. N5633 .N39]
Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary [R.R. N6370 .E27 1987]
Baroque Art: A Topical Dictionary [R.R. N6415 .B3 E18 1996]

SYMBOLS & ICONOGRAPHY

Christian Symbols, Ancient and Modern: A Handbook for Students [R.R. BV150 .C53]
The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art [R.R. GR705 .W47 2004]
Dictionary of Symbols: An Illustrated Guide to Traditional Images, Icons, and Emblems [R.R. GR931 .T74 1998]
Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art [R.R. N7740 .H35 1994]
Symbols and Rebuses in Chinese Art: Figures, Bugs, Beasts, and Flowers [R.R. N7340 .F36 2004]
1000 Symbols [R.R. N7740 .S54 2002]

THEMES

Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art [R. R. N7560 .E53 1998]
Approaches artistic works from a large thematic perspective, e.g. birth, crucifixion, devotion, fortune, laughter, night, vanity, etc.

ATLASES

Atlas of World Art [R.R. Atlases: G1046 .E1 O9 2004]
Atlas of Western Art History [R.R. Atlases: G1046 .E64 S7 1994]

ARCHITECTURE

The New Century Handbook of Greek Art and Architecture [R.R. N5633 .N39]
Art and Architecture Thesaurus [R.R. N34 .A7 1990] (3v)
Encyclopedia of Medieval Church Art [R.R. N7943 .A1 T3 1993]
Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World [R.R. NA208 .E53 1997 (3v)
Architecture: The Critic's Choice [R.R. NA202 .A69 2000]
A Visual Dictionary of Architecture [R.R. NA31 .C44 1995]

SCULPTURE

Encyclopedia of Sculpture [R.R. NB198 .E53 2004] (2v)

DECORATIVE ARTS

The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts [R.R. NK30 .098]

Illustrated Dictionary of Ceramics [R.R. NK3770 .S38]

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CULTURAL CONTEXT

     --General

The Encyclopedia of Religion [R.R. BL31 .E46 2005] (15v)
Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities [R.R. BL473 .C67 2000]
The Oxford Companion to World Mythology [R.R. BL312 .L44 2005]
Encyclopedia of Sacred Places [R.R. BL580 .B76 1997]
A Dictionary of Asian Mythology [R.R. BL1005 .L46 2001]

     --Egypt and Africa

Handbook of Egyptian Mythology [R.R. BL2441.3 .P56 2002]
Who's Who in Egyptian Mythology [R.R. BL2428 .M47 1995]
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt [R.R. DT58 .O94 2001] (3v)
Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt [R.R. DT58 .E53 1999]
Encyclopedia of African Nations and Civilizations [R.R. DT14 .E43 2002] (2v)
Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara [R.R. DT351 .E53 1997] (4v)

     --Greece & Rome

The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion [R.R. BL715 .O94 2003]
Women of Classical Mythology [R.R. BL715 .B445 1991]
Dictionary of Roman Religion [R.R. BL798 .A35 1996]
Oxford Classical Dictionary [R.R. DE5 .O9 2003]
Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization [R.R. DE5 .C28 2006]
Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece [R.R. DF77 .A35 1997]
Handbook of Ancient Rome [R.R. DG77 .A35 1994]

     --India

Encyclopedia of India [R.R. DS405 .E556 2006]
The Hindu World [R.R. BL1202 .H546 2004]
The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga [R.R. BL1238.52 .F47 1997]

     --China and Japan

Handbook of Chinese Mythology [R.R. BL1825 .Y355 2005]
Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religion [R.R. BL2210.5 .N36 2006]
The A to Z of Shinto [R.R. BL2216.1 .P53 2006]
Encyclopedia of Buddhism [R.R. BQ128 .E62 2004] (2v)
Encyclopedia of Confucianism [R.R. BL1840 .R68 2003] (2v)
Encyclopedia of China [R.R. DS705 .P47 1999]
Japan Encyclopedia [R.R. DS821 .L6813 2002]

     --The Islamic World

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East [R.R. Ds56 .O9 1997] (5v)
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World [R.R. BP40 .E525 2004] (2v)

     --Latin America / Mesoamerica

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures [R.R. F1218.6 .O95 2001] (3v)
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture [R.R. F1406 .E53 1996] (5v)

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Bridge, the online catalog of St. Olaf and Carleton is most often searched using TITLE, AUTHOR, KEYWORD, and/or SUBJECT. Subject searching refers to a search using Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Subject headings are particularly powerful in that they yield a more thorough search and can ensure that you have found all relevant materials. You can either use the hardbound volume ("Big Red") located near the Rolvaag reference desk or use the SUBJECT search and try a term that you think is reasonable. BRIDGE will indicate if this is an accepted term and will quite frequently point you to the correct LCSH subject term.

Some examples of relevant Subject Headings:

Art -- Dictionaries	Human Figure in Art	Architecture, Islamic
Art, Japanese	Face in Art	Architecture -- Classical -- Greece
Art, Renaissance	Temples, India	Sculpture, Roman
Art objects, Chinese	Temples, Hindu	Sculpture, Africa

You can also do a KEYWORD search and then look at the subject headings for records that look particularly promising. Then, do an additional search by clicking on the subject terms you find.

Browsing is another way to search for materials, once you know the Library of Congress call number ranges for the materials you want. Here are some examples

N - NX - Fine Arts

N	Visual Arts (General)     N400-N4042: Art museums, galleries (Country, city)     N5300-N7418: History of Art     N7475-N7483: Art criticism
NA	Architecture
NB	Sculpture
NC	Drawing, Design, Illustration
ND	Painting
NE	Print media
NK	Decorative Arts
NX	Arts in general (works dealing with more than one art form)

—All books beginning with the letter N are stored on the 4th level of Rolvaag except for those in reference. The numbering scheme plays out twice - first the regular sized books, then a second OVERSIZE section. If you don't find your book in one section, check the other.

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ELECTRONIC RESEARCH TOOLS

Academic Search Premier
This database provides access to over 8040 multi-disciplinary publications, many in full text. Covers 1975 to the present.

Art Index
"Indexes English-language art periodicals, plus museum bulletins, bibliographies, film reviews, and conference reports. Covers 1984 to the present.

Art Index Retrospective
Covers 1929-1984.

Jstor
An index to and full text of select, academic journals.

Project Muse
An index to and full text of journals published by Johns Hopkins University Press and other scholarly publishers.

Electronic resources for finding images of art:

ARTstor (St. Olaf subscribes to this resource)
A "repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data." Covers architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design from many cultures. ARTstor also features an Offline Image Viewer (OIV) that you can use to create presentations. It can be easily downloaded form the ARTstor site.

ArtSource
A web site of collected images submitted by librarians, artists and art historians.

Web Gallery of Art
Searchable images of art from the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.

The Beazley Archive
Large collection of images from Greek vases. Well indexed extensive collection.

Timeline of Art History
Well researched site sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

COMPASS (Collections Multimedia Public Access System)
Access to 5000 objects housed in the British Museum.

CORSAIR
Images from Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.

The George Ortiz Collection
Private collection of ancient art. Entries exist for each item as well as a glossary.

Google Image Search
Search the Internet for art images.

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Librarians are here to help - please stop by the reference desk if you need us!

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Contact Information:	Page Information:
Ken Johnson Rolvaag Library 305 507-646-3793 johnsonk@stolaf.edu	Created by: Ken Johnson | 9/2006 Created for: Karil Kucera and Nancy Thompson Updated by: KJ | 9/2007