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ARTH 374 - Art Now!

Research tips and resources for Prof. McGuire's ARTH374 - Art Now! course.

Check Museum, Gallery, and Artist Websites

Does your artist have a website, or are they represented by a gallery or dealer that has images of their work online?

Artist and gallery websites often link to exhibition reviews or books & catalogs that review their work, which can be a good source of information.

Museum Websites

If you're having trouble finding writings about your artist in Mason libraries, there are other strategies to help you see what has been written about your artist or artwork.

If your artwork is at the National Gallery of Art: 

  • The National Gallery of Art website includes exhibition history or bibliography details for almost all of their works. This can tell you where the artwork was exhibited before or the name of books or publications where an image of the artwork was used.
  • Review these lists and see if your artwork has an exhibition or publication history. 
  • Search with the title of an exhibition or of a specific publication in the Mason Libraries catalog to see if we have access.

If your artwork is at the Hirshhorn or another Smithsonian Library:

  • While these museums don't list bibliographies like the National Gallery, you can search for your artist by name in the Smithsonian Libraries catalog. Curators use these library collections for their research, so if there is something published about your work you are more likely to find a reference to that in the institution's library.
  • If you find book titles or references, search for those in the Mason Libraries to see if we own a copy of the same material.

Look for artists or themes/movements in art encyclopedias

Encyclopedias and other reference sources are excellent starting points to get background information on a topic.

Important note: Reference sources usually provide general information and usually should not be your main source for research. They can provide critical details artists and movements, but do not present scholarly perspectives or original arguments about those details.

Read historic/primary writings on a topic

In addition to writings by or about an individual artist, look for the original essays or manifestos that described ideas and theories around a time, place, or movement.

Below are some examples from Mason Libraries, but this is not a complete list! Search in the Libraries catalog with keywords like a place and movement name to find books specific to your artist's context.