This guide includes strategies and resources for researching artists for your ARTH374: Art Now assignment.
Review the general tips below, then use the menu to walk through this process step-by-step.
Research Strategies
Start broad, then focus.
Usually, you will not find entire books or articles written about an individual work of art. Start by searching with an artists' name to find any books or exhibit catalogs containing their work, find those books in the library, and look at the index or contents to see if your work is included.
If you're finding too many results, add keywords/search terms about the medium (e.g., "prints", "video art"), limiting to publications about or from the time when the work was made, or search the title of an exhibition where you know the work was included.
Gather background information.
Does the artist have a website, Oxford Art (encyclopedia) entry, a biography on a museum or gallery site, or even a Wikipedia entry that can point you to other sources? These can give you critical dates, movements, or details on when and how the artist was trained and worked.
Research the contextual elements:
Using what you found in your background research, look for books or articles about a specific movement, place, time, etc--for example, if you were researching John Baldessari, you might search for books about conceptual art in California in the 1960s.
These books may reference your artist or put their work into context with other artists.
Look at the book's chapter listing, index, or list of images to see if your artist is included.
Go straight to the source.
Does the artist have a website or are they represented by a gallery? What museums have work from your artist? Artist websites and museum/gallery sites might include "Press" sections or bibliographies which reference any publications or articles reviewing the work.
Search wide!
Still can't find anything? Use sources likeWorldcator Google Books to identify books or articles that talk about your artist and artwork.
Then, search for those titles in Mason Libraries' catalog (or use Interlibrary Loan) to get a copy of that book or article.
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