Art 110, Ideas as Visual Images
Information on Artists:
"Look at the Work of…"
- Sometimes a teacher or another student suggests that you "Look at the work of ___." [insert name of an artist.] Sometimes you've become interested in an artist on your own and want to learn more about the person or the work. This guide is intended to make that type of search easier by suggesting some electronic (and a few paper) information sources. So when you want...
Just a Few Books, Please.
If you want to borrow books on a specific artist you'll need to use the library catalog (The Cat). Going straight to the shelves and browsing is not usually very effective for this purpose because the books on a single artist might be scattered around under different media, periods, and countries. It's easier to use:
- The Cat
- The Penn State Libraries' catalog ("The Cat") contains virtually all of the holdings of the University Park Libraries as well as those of the many other campuses of Penn State. Like most library catalogs it list the titles of books, magazines, and other publications held by the library – but only has a single record for each magazine title; they do not include records for each of the articles in a magazine. (For that, see More! Journal Articles! below.) As with any database, you may need to try several methods of searching in order to get good results. If your artist has an unusual name (like Andy Warhol) it is easiest to search using the "Keyword" search screen, which is the default screen. Just type in name in any order in a "Keyword" box. However, if the artists has common names (such as Fred Wilson or Tony Smith) you'll often get too much garbage with this type of search. Then it's better to choose the "Browse" search screen, type the name in inverted order (Smith, Tony), then click "LC Subj Headings." (And sometimes, if you repeat this search and click "Author" you'll get a few more books, because artists are sometimes listed only as the authors.) If you get no results at all, check the spelling of the name (see The Dictionary of Art., below). You may print or email the catalog records that you have chosen.
Once you find something you want to use, you will need to note three bits of information in order to fetch it: the name and portion of the library, the floor, and the classification number. For example:
NX512.W37M34 2002 Pattee - Stacks 1A
If the book is not on the shelf, but should be, please ask at the nearest service desk. If a book you want is charged out, stored in "the annex", owned only at another campus, or on order, click on the "I Want It" button and complete the brief form. Then the book will be retrieved and held for you at a library service desk.
More! Journal Articles!
If no books are available or if you want more information, try finding articles in journals. You can do this using a "Periodical Index." They indicate which articles are in what journals. Once you find a good article you will usually need to check The Cat for the title of the journal, so that you will know if the Penn State Libraries have that magazine and where is it shelved. The best periodical indexes for artists are:
- Art Abstracts
- This index lists articles in a variety of visual arts magazines and a few in related disciplines. It is usually the best place to start for finding articles. Search it like you would The Cat (see above). You seldom need to worry about common names (like Tony Smith) since everything in the database is limited to the visual arts. If you find an article that is not held at Penn State, click the "ILL" button (that stands for Inter-Library Loan) and a photocopy or image file will be obtained for you, usually within a few days. This database only contains information for articles published from 1984 to the present.
- ARTbibliographies Modern.
- Covers articles on the visual arts of the late 19th-century to the present. It indexes more articles of this type than Art Abstracts does, but many of them are from magazines published in other countries. Includes things published as early as 1973.
Just a Little Info.
Sometimes you don't need a whole book or article on the artist. Maybe you just want to know how to spell the name, the artist's time period or style or who she studied with, or other sorts of resume information. Or maybe just why the name is important. Biographical entries in encyclopedias or dictionaries work well for this.
- The Dictionary of Art.
- This electronic encyclopedia contains an enormous amount of information on art and architecture of all times and places. Every word may be searched and printed or downloaded. This is much more comprehensive and authoritative than any other electronic source of information on arts (though it is a little weaker on contemporary art). If you don't find your artist's name, use the "Advanced Search" because it searches more of the text of the encyclopedia. The "Advanced Search" is also the best way to find the right spelling of an artist's name – the "Pattern" feature can find most misspellings.
- Biography and Genealogy Master Index
- There are many other biographical dictionaries containing short bios of artists. Most of the ones in English are indexed in this database. Search the artist's name and will give you a list of books that contain these bios – books like Contemporary Artists. Then find the book in The Cat.
There is even a small dictionary that explains how to pronounce the names of major artists: Klee As In Clay: A Pronunciation Guide. (NX163.M3 1986 Arts and Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection)
Just Some Pictures, Please.
There are many ways to find pictures of the artist's work, but the digital image databases below are very convenient ones to try. The license for these images permits you to download, print, and use in your assignments, but they may not be posted on unrestricted web sites.
- Newspaper Photos (AccuNet/AP Photo Archive)
- This database only works for "newsworthy" artists. It consists of half-a-million newspaper photos of all subjects from the Associated Press (which includes some materials from its beginning 150 years ago).
- CAMIO (Catalog of Art Museum Images Online). Stanford: Research Libraries Group, 2005 – present.
- Available as a database on the Libraries web pages.
Approximately 90,000 pictures works of art digitized by approximately 20 museums are represented in this system. Cataloguing ranges from minimal to substantial.
Statements by the Artist.
The artist's own words often provide an important perspective on the work. You can sometimes find them in Art Index by adding the terms "statements" or "interviews" to your search, since these words are added to the database record when an article consists primarily of the artist's words. In Artbibliographies Modern the terms "artists writings," "artists diaries," and "artists correspondences" are used. The following books contain many statements by modern artists in an arrangement that is easy to consult:
Art on the Cutting Edge: A Guide to Contemporary Movements.
N6490.4.V47 2000 (Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection)
Contemporary Artists 2 vols.
N6490.C6567 2002 (Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference)
Contemporary Photographers.
TR139.C663 1995 (Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Ready Reference)
Contemporary Women Artists.
N8354.C66 1999 (Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection)
and this one indexes statements in other books:
Twentieth-Century Artists on Art: An Index to Writings, Statements, and Interviews by Artists, Architects, and Designers.
NX456.R59 1996 (Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection)
- Archives of American Art: Quick Reference to Oral History Interviews
http://artarchives.si.edu/oralhist/oralhist.htm - This web site offers the full text of interviews with many American artists.
What About the Internet?
Well, most of the electronic sources above are available via the Internet because the University Libraries has paid fees so that you may use them. But of course there are many free sources of information on artists on the Internet. Some of the best ones are recommended on Penn State's Arts and Humanities Library web pages (at: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/artshumanities/art/more.html#web). And, of course, you could use a search engine such as Google.
WEB SEARCH ENGINES
In a few short years Web search engines have become one of the most popular tools for finding information because they are convenient, can be used without much skill, and frequently produce useful results. Two important points to remember about search engines:
- Searching them well requires skills that are very similar to the ones needed for the databases listed above. Because search engines scan millions of items, they almost always return some results even if very simple search statements are entered. But all search engines have powerful features that are not invoked unless you specify them. There is a lot to learn about any search engine. One easy way to learn these tricks quickly is to use the guide posted by a non-profit group called Infopeople. Their Search Tools Chart (at http://www.infopeople.org/search/chart.html) selects the best search engines, explains what they are searching, and describes the search features of each. Try opening this chart in one window and experimenting with different search engines and techniques in another. Never settle for just one search. Experimentation is very important in web searching. For example, type 3 unrelated search terms (perhaps "frog metal wheat" as a search statement in Google (http://www.google.com) then change the order of the three terms a few times and see how the results of the search change. Something similar happens with names of artists such as Jesus Raphael Soto.)
- Most web resources are self-published and vary widely in quality, so you have more work to do in evaluating them than you would with other publications. Trade and academic publishers put effort into the quality of their books and magazines in order to ensure that they are profitable. Scholarly publications usually have rigorous procedures for quality. Libraries collect what are thought to be the best of these publications – adding another layer of quality control. Only a very small percentage of web sites attempt those standards. When you use web sites you are taking on extra responsibility for judging quality. (Some teachers do not permit the use of web sites to document class papers. Check with your teacher before you use them as the main source.) Here is a checklist (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/instruction/infolit/andyou/mod6/eval.htm) of questions to consider when evaluating a web site. The answers to these questions are not always on the site itself and may require some additional detective work.
Or Ask!
If you get stuck with any type of search for art information please ask. Ask someone as any library service desk or use the "Ask" button on many of the Libraries web pages (http://ask.libraries.psu.edu/index.html?qyrqt=103). It connects you to email or chat services. Or contact me:
Henry Pisciotta
Arts and Architecture Librarian
W320 Pattee Library
865-6778