LibGuides: Art History: Getting Started

Overview

This guide is designed to help you get started on your Art History research. Use the pages on this guide to learn about:

Searching for books and articles in the catalog
Finding peer-reviewed and news articles in databases and journals
How to search for primary sources
Finding images and useful websites for art history
How to write about art and cite your sources

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Timelines: Online Resources

Reference sources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and timelines are excellent places to start your research. They provide high-level summaries and essential dates, facts, and historical context about artists and/or art movements. Below is a selection of online reference sources you may find useful:

ArtEncyclopedia Initially founded in 1999, ArtCyclopedia is a search engine and guide to art. The site contains a comprehensive index of artists, access to biographical articles, images, and links to museum sites and other related media.
Dictionary of Art Historians A biographical dictionary of historians of Western Art, managed by the Wired! Lab for digital art history & visual culture at Duke University.
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Includes essays, images and chronologies of art throughout the ages.
Oxford Art Online Oxford Art Online (formerly Grove Art) allows users to access and simultaneously cross-search Grove Art Online (which provides the entire text of the Dictionary of Art), the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, the Oxford Companion to Western Art, and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms.
SmARThistory Smarthistory is an online art history resource developed by experts from leading museums and cultural institutions across various fields. Its mission is to make art and art education more accessible.
Timeline of World Art: Oxford Art Online From Oxford Art Online, this timeline includes in-depth biographical and historical information on artists and art movements from around the world.