Research Guides: Media & Design at UCBA: Art History

Finding Articles

Use these databases to locate articles (text-based sources) on an artist, type of artwork, exhibitions, artistic movements, and critiques.

Art Full Text
Art Full Text is a comprehensive resource for art information featuring full-text articles from more than 300 periodicals dating back to 1995¸ high-quality indexing and abstracting of over 600 periodicals dating as far back as 1984¸ including 280 peer-reviewed journals¸ as well as indexing and abstracting of over 13¸000 art dissertations. Indexing of almost 200¸000 art reproductions provides examples of styles and art movements¸ including works by emerging artists. The database covers fine¸ decorative and commercial art¸ folk art¸ photography¸ film¸ and architecture¸ and also includes a database-specific thesaurus.
Coverage: 1984 - present
JSTOR
JSTOR is a digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines. The collections include top peer-reviewed scholarly journals as well as respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports from trusted institutes, and diverse primary sources. Explore the visual side of JSTOR, including artwork, newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, and other artifacts contributed by libraries, museums, archives, and historical societies around the world

Art History Image Databases

Use these resources to find digital images and background information on artwork, artists, museum collections and more. (See also the IMAGES page of this guide for more image related resources).

ARTstor
ARTstor is a non-profit initiative¸ founded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation¸ with a mission to use digital technology to enhance scholarship¸ teaching and learning in the arts and associated fields. It is a searchable database of more than 2.5 million digital images and related data.
NOTE: ARTSTOR CONTENT IS MOVING TO JSTOR (MUCH CONTENT IS ALREADY MOVED). ARTSTOR WILL BE RETIRED IN AUGUST 2024.
Oxford Art Online
Oxford Art Online is an authoritative¸ inclusive¸ and easily searchable online art resource. Through a single gateway users can access-and simultaneously cross-search-an expanding range of Oxford's art reference works: Grove Art Online¸ the Benezit Dictionary of Artists¸ the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics¸ The Oxford Companion to Western Art¸ and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms¸ as well as many specially commissioned articles and bibliographies available exclusively online.

Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture is a non-commercial initiative that works with cultural institutions and artists around the world with a goal to preserve and bring the world’s art and culture online so it’s accessible to anyone, anywhere.
Mother of All Art History Links
From the University of Michigan's School of Art & Design, provides links to a number of visual resources, art departments and other art history-related websites.

E-Reference Sources

Use these additional sources for definitions of art terms, artists' biographies, historical information about periods of art.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
The Heilbrunn Timeline is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated by the Metropolitan Museum's collection. It includes maps, essays and digital images of artwork.

Oxford Art Online
Oxford Art Online is an authoritative¸ inclusive¸ and easily searchable online art resource. Through a single gateway users can access-and simultaneously cross-search-an expanding range of Oxford's art reference works: Grove Art Online¸ the Benezit Dictionary of Artists¸ the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics¸ The Oxford Companion to Western Art¸ and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms¸ as well as many specially commissioned articles and bibliographies available exclusively online.
Credo Reference
Credo Reference is a ready-reference solution for learners and librarians. Its full-text¸ aggregated content covers every major subject from the world's best publishers of reference materials. The content is enriched with images¸ sound files¸ maps and customizable data tables.
Coverage: varies