Research Guides: Art Research and Finding Images: Background Info

Reference Databases

Encyclopedias and other reference books are an excellent starting point for your research. They can provide background information and help you identify keywords to use when searching for books and articles.

To access databases from off campus, you will be prompted to log in with your Pipeline username and password.

Credo Reference
Contains the full text of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books.

Contains the full text of over 1,000 encyclopedias, dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, and other reference books covering all major subject areas. Thousands of Topics Pages provide articles from different reference sources, arranged by subject. Includes “gadgets” for finding images, definitions, people, pronunciations, quotations, and measurement conversations, as well as a concept map feature for help identifying keywords and broadening or narrowing a topic. Additional features include videos, maps, and animations.
Gale Ebooks
Full-text encyclopedias and specialized reference books covering all major subject areas.

Contains the full text of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources. Subjects covered include arts, biography, business, education, environment, history, law, literature, medicine, multicultural studies, government and political science, religion, science, and social sciences.

Reference Books

The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art by Joan Marter (Editor)
Call Number: R 709.73 M377g 2011

Publication Date: 2011

Arranged in alphabetical order, these 5 volumes encompass the history of the cultural development of America with over 2300 entries.
Atlas of World Art by John Onians (Editor)
Call Number: R 709 O58a

Publication Date: 2004

Over 300 maps combining cultural and political phenomena create an exciting new perspective on major art events from 40,000 B.C. to the present. Each pair of pages presents a thesis, showing how geography affected the art of an era.
The Oxford Companion to Western Art by Hugh Brigstocke (Editor)
Call Number: R 703 B856o

Publication Date: 2001

This book has over 2500 entries, alphabetically arranged. Almost half of them cover artists, from classical times to the 20th century. Other entries discuss art styles and movements, art forms (such as battle painting, caricature, or stained glass), specialist terms, and materials and techniques in all media.
The Grove Dictionary of Art by Jane Turner (Editor)
Call Number: R 703 T948d

Publication Date: 1996

34 volumes. Examines important art forms and key issues of design, taste, function, and patronage, illuminating them in light of the cultural context in which they developed.