Art and Architectural History

The following are some search tips when searching in Art History.

Step 1: Identify keywords

• Start by searching for your artist or piece of art in Oxford Art Online or Oxford Reference: Art and Architecture. If you can't find the artist or piece of art, look for the art movement, time-period, etc.
• Find synonyms for your keywords as well as their equivalent in different languages. Certain art pieces can be found in multiple languages. The following are some resources to help you find synonyms:​
  • Termium Plus: One of the largest terminology and linguistic data banks in the world, gives you access to millions of terms in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. You can find terms, abbreviations, definitions and usage examples in a wide range of specialized fields.
  • Thesaurus: World’s largest and most trusted free online thesaurus brought to you by Dictionary.com
  • GraphWords: Online thesaurus that helps users find the meanings of words and show connections among associated words.
  • Visuwords: A modern dictionary for a modern world. Visuwords represents language visually.

Step 2: Use special characters & boolean operators

Special characters (asterisk*, quotation marks) and boolean operators (AND, OR) to limit or expand your search. Boolean operators should be capitalized when used in searching databases.

• Use AND to combine and limit your results (Riopelle AND Automatistes)
• Use OR when using synonyms and want to expand your results (ie. Riopelle OR Automatistes)
• Use asterisk* to search for all variations of the word (ie. surrealis*)
• Use the quotation marks to search for phrases (ie. "jean-paul riopelle")

Step 3: Search Tips

1. Start your search using the recommended databases.
2. Use the Advanced search when possible
3. Use the special characters and boolean operators to formulate your search.
4. Use the filter tools on the left (time-period, language, type of resource, etc.)
5. Once you find a resource:
   1. Explore the controlled vocabulary (ie. subjects. These are typically clickable)
   2. Explore the citations
6. Obtain additional keywords for your search statement.
7. Repeat steps 1-6.

Reference Databases

Use these to get an overview of your topic or to find definitions of key terms and concepts:

• Oxford Art Online
• Oxford Reference: Art and Architecture
• Introduction to Art: Design, Context and Meaning
• Smarthistory
• Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Art & Architectural History Databases

Use these to search for scholarly articles on your topic

Artbibliographies Modern
Materials contained within Artbibliographies include: journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, PhD dissertations, and exhibition reviews. Premier source of information on modern and contemporary arts dating from the late 19th century onwards, and including photography.

Art Full Text
Coverage includes art design, folk art, industrial design, interior design, museum management, pottery, textiles, and motion pictures, television, and video.

Art & Architecture Complete
Art & Architecture Complete provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for academic journals, magazines, trade publications and books. In addition, the database provides full-text coverage of many of the journals and books and includes a large image collection.

Art Index Retrospective
Provides citations for Art Index from 1929-1984. Covers English-language periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins, as well as periodicals published in other European languages.

International Bibliography of Art
Coverage includes 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; decorative and applied arts; museum studies and conservation; archaeology and classical studies; antiques and architectural history; and related fields.

Design and Applied Arts Index
An index of articles on design and craftworks. Indexes over 500 core design and craft journals. Also includes information on over 50,000 designers, craftspeople, studios, workshops and commercial firms.

BHA and RILA
The database includes both BHA (covering 1990-2007) and the International Bibliography of Art (IBA), covering the years 2008 and part of 2009.

General Databases

• Omni: The search box on the library home page searches most of Carleton's databases. More detailed information on searching in Omni
• JSTOR: Provides access to the complete archives of major journals in a variety of subjects.
• Google Scholar: Google Scholar allows you to search broadly in the academic literature.
• Web of Science and Scopus: Multidisciplinary databases

Films

The library subscribes to multiple film streaming services.

• Kanopy Film Streaming
• Architecture Films
• Photography Films
• Visual Art Films
• National Film Board
• Other Streaming Collections

Images

Image Find Guide
This guide explores different types of image sources, explains how to search more effectively for visual materials, provides resources for Creative Commons and public domain images, offers information on copyright and fair dealing, and provides examples of image citations by style.

ARTstor
A digital library of art images. Includes approximately 500,000 images covering art, architecture and archeology. ARTstor's software tools support a wide range of pedagogical and research uses including: viewing and analyzing images through features such as zooming and panning, saving groups of images online for personal or shared uses, and creating and delivering presentations both online and offline.

The Archivision Library
Archivision Digital Research Library is a collection of many thousands of high quality images. It spans the globe and all time periods, and is intended to be a diverse, rich and extensive image resource for students and faculty in architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, archaeology, art and art history.

Index of Christian Art
Based on The index of Christian art, a thematic and iconographic index of early Christian and medieval art objects to 1400. The database consists of bibliographic records with links to images that have been added since 1991 as well as about 1/3 of the old paper files. Only those images labelled "Public Images" may be viewed. You will not be able to view "Restricted Images".

Art and Architecture Complete
This database has a large image collection. Use the search facets to limit your search to images.

Google Arts and Culture
Contains high resolution artwork and collections from around the world. Also includes tours of institutions and cultural locations.

Grove Art Online
The collective resource of Grove Art Online and other Oxford databases with links to images from the articles.

Smithsonian Collections Search Center: Digital Collections
Over 568,000 images, video and audio available from across the Smithsonian's vast collections.

World Digital Library
Includes maps, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.

Digital Bodleian Library
Contains archival images, maps, rare books, music collections.

Citation Guide

• The Chicago Manual of Style (17th Edition)
  • Notes & Bibliography Section (Chapter 14)
  • Print Books (section 100)
  • Book Chapters (section 106)
  • E-Books (section 161)
  • Journal Articles (section 171)
  • Magazines (section 188)
  • Newspapers (section 191)
  • Webpages (section 207)
• Purdue OWL - Chicago Manual of Style Tip Page

  • Purdue OWL citing miscellaneous sources (includes images)

• Citiing Images Chicago Style (Simon Fraser University)

Bibliographic and Citation Management Tools

The library provides support for Mendely, Zotero, and Endnote Basic. Check out the citation management page for details, downloads, and workshops.

Writing Resources

A Short Guide to Writing About Art

Writing About Art

Writing About Visual Art