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Fine Arts Guide

Reference Tools

 When researching a new topic it is often necessary to get an overview, explanations of unfamiliar terms, or brief factual information.

The print and electronic resources listed below include selected reference materials (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, handbooks, guides, and standards) for the field of Fine Arts. To find additional reference materials, check our Reference Materials database.

Key Resources

  • ARTstor
    Artstor is a repository of approximately 300 collections composed of over 2.5 million digital images (and growing), related data and provides tools to actively use those images in a restricted usage environment that balances the rights of the content providers and the needs of the users. The images are drawn from different sources, such as museums, archaeological teams, photo archives, slide collections, and art reference publishers.

    Scholars can examine wide-ranging material such as Native American art from the Smithsonian, treasures from the Louvre, and panoramic, 360-degree views of the Hagia Sophia in a single, easy-to-use resource. The artistic traditions across many cultures embraces architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as many other forms of visual culture.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.

  • Benezit Dictionary of Artists [HIL-REF N40 .D5213 2006 vols. 1-14]

    The first edition was published in 1911, and the most recent, the first to be computerized, in 1999. This sixth edition, the first in English, contains over 170,000 entries in 14 volumes. A team of 150 editors, art historians, and translators updated old entries and added new ones, thus continuing the monumental ongoing effort that makes this reference of inestimable value to anyone seeking information about artists from antiquity to the present. Entries are alphabetically arranged and include biographical information, museums and galleries displaying work, and auction records; some also include graphics (artist signatures, monograms and stamps of sale) and bibliographies of written works about the artist. Charts in the front matter indicate the changing purchasing power since the early 20th century of the US dollar, the British pound, the French Franc, and the Euro (since 2002). This essential reference was published in France by Editions Grund and is distributed in the United States by Omnigraphics. Annotation #169;2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

  • Routledge international handbook of intercultural arts research

    The International Handbook of Intercultural Arts Research provides concise and comprehensive reviews and overviews of the convergences and divergences of intercultural arts practice and theory, offering a consolidation of the breadth of scholarship, practices and the contemporary research methodologies, methods and multi-disciplinary analyses that are emerging within this new field.

  • Oxford dictionary of art, The
    "The Oxford Dictionary of Art is the first place to turn for accurate information about artists, schools, periods, techniques, critical terms, major museums, art historians, philosophers, and much more."
    5 simultaneous users.
  • Grove Encyclopedia of American Art [HIL-REF N6505 .G76 2011]

    Where is American art in the new millennium? At the heart of all cultural developments is diversity. Access through recent technology engenders interaction with artists from around the world. The visual arts in the United States are bold and pulsating with new ideas.

  • Art History: The Key Concepts [HIL-REF N5300 .H278 2006]

    "Art History: The Key Concepts offers a systematic, reliable, accessible, and challenging reference guide to the disciplines of art history and visual culture. Containing entries on over 200 terms integral to the historical and theoretical study of art, design, and culture in general, Art History: The Key Concepts is an indispensable source of knowledge for all students, scholars, and teachers. Each entry contains a succinct definition, an exploration of its history, use, and significance, and suggestions for further reading. Entries include: abstract expressionism; epoch; hybridity; semiology; and zeitgeist." "Through extended cross-referencing, Art History: The Key Concepts builds a radical intellectual synthesis for understanding and teaching art, art history, and visual culture."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

  • Oxford Dictionary of Music

    The Oxford Dictionary of Music offers broad coverage of a wide range of musical categories spanning many eras, including composers, librettists, singers, orchestras, important ballets and operas, and musical instruments and their history. Over 250 new entries have been added to this edition to expand coverage of popular music, ethnomusicology, modern and contemporary composers, music analysis, and recording technology.

  • Oxford dictionary of dance, The
    "The Oxford Dictionary of Dance offers wide coverage of dancers, choreographers, teachers, composers, technical terms, major works, important films, and organizations involved in the dance world. It embraces the new activity within traditional forms like ballet as well as the stream of new dance languages invented by fresh generations of choreographers and the many dance forms imported from the rest of the world. There is information on classical ballet, Spanish flamenco, Indian Bharata Natyam, Japanese Butoh, and jazz. The volume also covers post-modern dance, examining everything from Balanchine to recent practitioners of Eurocrash, minimalism, and contact improvisation. Ranging from the history of music to the changing design of the ballet shoe, this is a comprehensive dictionary compiled by two leading authorities on dance."
    5 simultaneous users.
  • Companion to Contemporary Art Since 1945, A [HIL-REF N6490 .C65615 2006]

    This ambitious reference work charts the major works and movements, the most important theoretical developments, and the historical, social, political, and aesthetic issues in contemporary art since 1945, primarily in the Euro-American context. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

  • A to Z of Canadian Art: Artists & Art Terms [HIL-REF N33 .M15 1997]
  • Dictionary of Canadian Artists, A [HIL-REF N6548 .M27 1997 v.1]
  • Biographical Index of Artists in Canada
    see also [HIL-REF N6548 .M29 2003]

    "This index has been compiled as a quick reference guide to biographies of almost 8,800 professional and amateur artists active in Canada from the seventeenth century to the present. The artists represent 42 professional categories, from animation to topography. In addition to Canadian artists, the index has entries on more than 800 British, American, and European artists, all of whom spent part of their careers in Canada." "Each entry provides the artist's name, date and place of birth and death (or years the artist flourished, if birth and death dates are unavailable), nationality (if not Canadian), type of artist (major medium/media used), and sources in which biographical information may be found. Several hundred cross-references link the various names used by some artists during the course of their careers."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Additional Resources

  • Beaverbrook Art Gallery Collection: Selected Works [HIL-REF N910 .F7 A8 2000]
  • Styles, Schools and Movements: The Essential Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art [HIL-REF N6490.4 .D45 2004]

    A profusely illustrated, cross-referenced guide to more than a century of stylistic and conceptual revolution in art. The three hundred styles, schools, and movements discussed here provide an introduction and a guide to the major developments in Modern Art.

  • Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art, The
    The Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date information on all aspects of this fundamental area of the visual arts. This reference work provides fascinating historical and current uses of materials and techniques in a wide range of areas from painting and sculpture to non-traditional media such as digital and video art. For anyone who studies, creates, collects, or deals in works of art, this book is an indispensable resource. Coverage includes materials in art practice (e.g. ink, enamel, digital materials); materials in conservation (e.g. adhesives); classes of artifacts (e.g. wallpaper, mosaic, ceramic); techniques and methods (e.g. book binding, gilding, printing, weaving), terms (e.g. rustication), tools (e.g. easel, laser), theory (e.g. technical examination, conservation controversies), fakes & forgeries, and conservation theorists and practitioners.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Visual Culture: The Reader [HIL-REF NX456 .V57 1999]

    `This collection of classic essays in the study of visual culture fills a major gap in this new and expanding intellectual field. Its major strength is its insistence on the importance of three central aspects of the study of visual culture: the sign, the institution and the viewing subject. It will provide readers, teachers and students with an essential text in visual and cultural studies' - Janet Wolff, University of RochesterVisual Culture provides an invaluable resource of over 30 key statements from a wide range of disciplines, including four editorial essays which place the readings in their historical and theoretical context. Although underpinned by a focus on contemporary cultural theory, this Reader puts the study of visual culture and the rhetoric of the image at centre stage.Divided into three parts: Cultures of the Visual; Regulating Photographic Meaning; and Looking and Subjectivity, the Reader enables students to make hitherto unmade connections between art, film and photography history and theory, history, semiotics and communications, media studies, and cultural theory.Visual Culture sets the agenda for the study of Visual Culture and will be essential reading for researchers and students alike. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

  • North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary [HIL-REF N6503 .N67 1995]

    An illustrated reference that provides accurate, concise, and accessible biographical and bibliographic information on women artists from Canada, Mexico, and the US. Some 1,500 alphabetical entries cover widely recognized professional artists born before 1960 who work in a broad range of fields: painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, ceramics, fibers, metals, and performance art. A particularly noteworthy feature is the inclusion of Mexican and Inuit artists. Some 100 bandw illustrations--many of which have seldom been reproduced--represent the contributions of the artists Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

  • Oxford Companion to Western Art, The
    The Oxford Companion to Western Art, written by over 100 distinguished art historians and specialists, provides in-depth coverage of Westrern Art with entries on artists and their works, styles and movements, art forms and art terms, combined with more modern methodologies, focused on patronage, taste, theory, and criticism, and the scientific examination of materials and techniques. Critical appreciation and factual information on over 1700 artists from classical times to the 20th century are included with 49 feature articles covering a broad spectrum of topics from art history and its methods to wall painting. Edited by Hugh Brigstocke.
    5 simultaneous users.
  • Concise Oxford dictionary of art and artists, The
    "Based on the highly praised Oxford Dictionary of Art, this is an authoritative and up-to-date guide to Western Art from ancient Greece to the present day. Written in clear, lively prose, this invaluable reference maintains a careful balance between fact and appraisal. In its pages, we encounter artists ranging from Polyclitus of Argos to Andy Warhol, with entries on younger contemporary artists, such as, Damien Hirst, Julian Schnabel, and Rachel Whiteread. Here also are periods and movements, including the Classical period, the Renaissance, Impressionism, the Ashcan School, and Cubism, as well as techniques and styles such as encaustic painting, encarnado, lithography, cabinet painting, and blot drawing".
    5 simultaneous users.
  • Oxford companion to the American musical : theatre, film, and television

    An authoritative reference for this highly popular genre, covering Broadway, Hollywood, and television in one volume. With more than two thousand entries, this book offers a wealth of information on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, and much more.

  • Dictionary of Art [HIL-REF N31 .D5 1996 vols. 1-34]

    Vol. 33 includes Appendix A, List of locations; Appendix B, List of periodical titles; Appendix C, List of standard reference books and series.

  • American art to 1900: a documentary history [HIL-REF N6505 .B87 2009]

    American Art to 1900 presents an astonishing variety of unknown, little-known, or undervalued documents to convey the story of American art through the many voices of its contemporary practitioners, consumers, and commentators. The volume highlights such critically important themes as women artists, African American representation and expression, regional and itinerant artists, Native Americans and the frontier, and more.

  • Wiley/Blackwell Reference Online
    Wiley/Blackwell Reference Online "is a vast new online library giving instant access to the most authoritative and up-to-date scholarship across the humanities and social sciences. With more than 350 reference volumes to be published in Blackwell Reference Online by the end of 2008, it is the largest academic reference collection available online and includes the critically-acclaimed Blackwell Companions and Handbooks, major reference works such as the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management and the Companion to Syntax, and a whole host of other valuable reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and concise companions."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Oxford Reference
    Multi-part database of the online versions of Oxford University Press texts. Each topical division contains the searchable version of the latest edition of published dictionaries and encyclopedias. Additionally, information about Oxford University Press is provided. Online texts will be updated after new editions of the print monographs are published. Covers the humanities and social sciences.
    5 simultaneous users.
  • Chicago Manual of Style
    The Chicago Manual of Style Online is a guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. It is the indispensable reference for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers, informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Timeline of Art History: Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Online resource: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/

  • Artcyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine

    Online resource: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/

 

Key Databases & Journals

When searching for journal articles, an Article/Research database is usually the best place to begin. Below are some recommended databases for research in Fine Arts. For other databases, check the Article & Research Databases page of the library website.

Key Resources

  • Art Index (EBSCO)
    Art Index "references articles from international art publications, as well as paintings that appear as illustrations for articles or advertisements, listing the works under the artists' names with full bibliographic citations."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • ARTstor
    Artstor is a repository of approximately 300 collections composed of over 2.5 million digital images (and growing), related data and provides tools to actively use those images in a restricted usage environment that balances the rights of the content providers and the needs of the users. The images are drawn from different sources, such as museums, archaeological teams, photo archives, slide collections, and art reference publishers.

    Scholars can examine wide-ranging material such as Native American art from the Smithsonian, treasures from the Louvre, and panoramic, 360-degree views of the Hagia Sophia in a single, easy-to-use resource. The artistic traditions across many cultures embraces architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as many other forms of visual culture.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.

  • Academic Search Premier (EBSCO)
    Academic Search Premier is a multidisciplinary resource that "provides journal coverage for most academic areas of studies."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly (CPI.Q)
    Indexes over 400 Canadian periodicals (English and French) with full-text and reports from 165 periodicals.
    Limited to single-user access.
  • Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA) Complete (ProQuest)
    Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA) Complete is the nation's largest and most comprehensive bibliographic full-text reference and current events database. Available through the ProQuest Web interface, CBCA Complete combines full text and indexed content from all four CBCA database subsets (Business, Current Events, Education, and Reference). Subject coverage is comprehensive and information is available from the broadest range of Canadian sources anywhere.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Naxos Music Library (NML)
    "Naxos Music Library [NML] is the world´s largest online classical music library. The library offers the complete Naxos and Marco Polo catalogues plus the complete catalogues or selected titles from over 650 record labels, with more labels joining every month. Along with classical music, jazz, world, and pop/rock are also represented."
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Classical Scores Library (Music Online)
    "Music Online: Classical Scores Library is a series of four volumes with a mission to provide a reliable and authoritative source for scores of the classical canon, as well as a resource for the discovery of lesser-known contemporary works. The collections encompass all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. With full, study, piano, and vocal scores, this comprehensive collection will enhance the study of music history, performance, composition and theory for a variety of scholars."
  • Smithsonian Global Sound® for Libraries (Music Online)
    Smithsonian Global Sound provides over 35,000 tracks of music, natural sounds and spoken words, delivered via streaming audio. It includes performances of traditional musics from around the world, poetry readings, environmental sounds, and recordings by legendary folk, jazz and blues performers. Liner notes for many recordings are also available.
    5 simultaneous users
  • Anthropology Plus (EBSCO)
    Anthropology Plus is an index of bibliographic materials combining Anthropological Literature from Harvard University and Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute, from the UK. It provides worldwide indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies. Coverage is from the late 19th century to the present of all core periodicals in the field in addition to lesser-known journals.
    Unlimited simultaneous users

Additional Resources

  • Project Muse
    "Project MUSE covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and many others." UNB subscribes to almost 400 eJournals, and provides access to select Open Access eBooks.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • America: History and Life (EBSCO)
    "America: History & Life is the definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to present ... The database also includes citations and links to book and media reviews."--Database information page.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
    "Historical Abstracts is an exceptional resource that covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more ... Provides indexing of more than 1,700 academic historical journals in over 40 languages back to 1955."--Database information page.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Modern Language Association (MLA) International Bibliography & Directory of Periodicals (EBSCO)
    MLA International Bibliography is a subject index for books, articles and websites published on modern languages, literature, folklore, film, literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing. Listings on rhetoric and composition and the history, theory and practice of teaching language and literature are also included. Dating back to 1925, the database contains more than 2.7 million citations, over 6,000 journals and series, 1,200 book publishers and over 372,000 subject names and terms and adds over 66,000 records annually (May 2018).

    Coverage is international and includes titles and full-text links from online publishers including JSTOR, Project MUSE, Wiley-Blackwell and Taylor & Francis.

    The MLA Directory of Periodicals contains all information available on the journals and series on the bibliography's Master List of Periodicals.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Films on Demand
    UNB Libraries subscribes to the Master Academic Collection, along with access to FMG Archival Films & Newsreels Collection and the Entertainment Collection. Includes 42,000+ full-length videos and over 323,000 video segments licensed for use in Canada, covering a broad range of subjects including business, social sciences, education, health and medicine, humanities, sciences, and guidance, and including archival films and newsreels. UNB subscribed Collections The Master Academic Collection (over 35,000 titles) The FM Archival Films & Newsreels (5,000+ titles) Entertainment Collection (500+ titles)
    Subscribed multi-user unlimited access per title
  • Kanopy (moderated access)

    On June 1, 2019, UNB Libraries’ transitioned to a mediated access model for Kanopy online streaming, shifting from automatic purchase of titles (receiving four plays or more) to mediated purchases requiring a prior patron request.

    Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video service for educational institutions that provides access to more than 26,000 films each year. Kanopy works directly with filmmakers and film distribution companies to offer award-winning collections including titles from PBS, BBC, Criterion Collection, Media Education Foundation and more.


    Unlimited simultaneous users per leased title.
  • NFB Campus (National Film Board of Canada)
    NFB Campus offers access to over 3,500 Canadian film productions, including 500 new titles added just for classroom use.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • JSTOR Archival Collection
    JSTOR provides access to back issues of a variety of scholarly journals. UNB Libraries currently subscribes to the Arts & Sciences (I through X) collections, along with the Life Sciences and Ireland collections.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Periodicals Archive Online (PAO - ProQuest)
    "Periodicals Archive Online is a major online periodical archive that makes the backfiles of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences available electronically, providing access to the full text of a growing number of digitized periodicals that have been indexed in its sister database, Periodicals Index Online."--About page.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.
  • Google Scholar
    Google Scholar searches a subset of the Web that Google has classified as "scholarly literature". They do not publish a list of chosen sites, and they do not state how often sites are checked. Some important sources are not covered at all. Thus, Google Scholar alone should not be relied on for comprehensive research.
    Unlimited simultaneous users.

Academic Journals

UNB Libraries subscribe to a wide variety of academic journals, both in print and online. Some journal titles in your subject area include:

Document Delivery

If you can't locate the item you're looking for at UNB, either in print or online, you can still submit a document delivery request.

 

Find Books

UNB WorldCat is our catalogue for searching UNB Libraries' collections.  It is useful when you don't have a particular title in mind and are instead searching by topic or keyword(s) to see what is available.  Note that UNB WorldCat also includes links to selected article records by default.  After an initial search you can limit results to books, if desired.

Search UNB WorldCat:
Limit to: 
Advanced Search | Locations Guide | Help

Books and other materials appearing in your results and not held by UNB may be requested for loan from another institution.  Please refer to the document delivery page for electronic request forms and more details.

To browse the shelves for books in Fine Arts, try the following Call Number ranges:

N Fine arts
NA Architecture
NB Sculpture
NC Drawing, design, illustration
NC 997-1003 Graphic design
ND Painting
NK Decorative arts, applied arts
NX Arts in general, feminism, history
PN 1990-1999 Television, video, film
TR Photography

 

Document Delivery Service

Books and other materials not available at UNB may be available for loan from another institution through our document delivery service.  See the document delivery page for the electronic request form.  Delivery in print or electronic form usually takes between 3-7 days.

 

Find Images/Videos

Images

Images from art galleries, museums and private collections are often digitized and made available through databases or on the web.

The following are a selection of image databases:

Streaming Video - Kanopy (via UNB Libraries)

  • Visual Art
    https://unb.kanopy.com/category/28
  • Design
    https://unb.kanopy.com/category/32
  • Photography
    https://unb.kanopy.com/category/33
  • Music
    https://unb.kanopy.com/category/67
  • Dance
    https://unb.kanopy.com/category/80

Free Internet Sites

While there is a wealth of information freely available on the internet, not all sites are created equal. Careful evaluation is a critical part of conducting research on the Internet. 

Before getting started, you may wish to refer to an e-Book in our collection entitled Art Information and the Internet: How to Find it, How to Use It. 

Below are a few examples of internet sites:

 

Citing Your Sources

Accurate, properly formatted footnotes, reading lists, and bibliographies are hallmarks of good academic research. Through citing, you acknowledge the source of any ideas you mention in your writing, document your research, and provide the information your readers need to track down your sources.

Numerous citation styles exist, and each specifies what elements are required (title, author, journal name, etc.) and how the citation should be formatted.

Standard citation styles for Fine Arts are Chicago and MLA, but your instructor may require or recommend that you use another.

Consult your course syllabus or check with your instructor to be sure you are using the correct citation style for your assignment.