Articles & Databases
Beginning your database searching can be straightforward when you are starting with the name of an artist or a work of art. The name should always be included in the search, while your additional keywords will depend on the themes of the artwork or the details of its creation that you wish to explore.
Here is an example of a search in Art Full Text database:
Tip: There are a lot of ways to do searches, this is a basic set of steps. See your librarian for more.
Databases for Art History Research
- Art Full TextIndexes over 550 journals covering a wide variety of the arts (film to fashion, classic to cutting edge, ancient to modern) from the US and around the world.
- JSTOR
Contains (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American & Asian studies, literature, humanities, music, and biological, health & general sciences.
- Oxford University Press JournalsProvides access to the full text of approximately 168 scholarly journals in a variety of disciplines including life sciences, medicine, physical sciences, humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and law.
- Project MuseFull-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics
- ProQuest - ArtsSearch among ProQuests Arts databases
Museum databases
- Getty Research PortalThe Getty Research Portal™ is a free online search platform providing worldwide access to an extensive collection of digitized art history texts from a range of institutions.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline of Art History EssaysExplore more than 1,000 essays on a wide range of topics, including artists, materials, movements, and themes.