Instructional Services Librarian
Sit On This!
To guide students in Introduction to the Modern Arts through an exhibition catalog project, CCA Libraries designed this mock "museum pamphlet" on modernist design with tips and tricks for successful research practices.
- Sit On This! The Chair: Art or Object?Mock museum pamphlet with advice for researching an exhibition catalog project.
Welcome to the Visual Studies Research Guide!
This guide is intended to help researchers find the resources they need by providing links to library resources, article and image databases, and other reference tools for visual studies and art history.
Paul Klee, Municipal Jewel, 1917, watercolor, gouache, and graphite on gesso on paper mounted on cardboard, 6 5/8" x 10 1/4", Metropolitan Museum of New York.
Online Resources for Visual Studies
These databases are our best bets for visual studies research, but they represent just a few of the databases licensed by the CCA Libraries for student, faculty, and staff research. You can also check out our complete list of online resources.
- Oxford Art Online
Art encyclopedias and dictionaries online, including full-text access to the fundamental Grove Dictionary of Art.
- Encyclopedia Britannica
The complete academic encyclopedia, related articles, images, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
- Bloomsbury Design Library
A wide-ranging set of materials on the history of various design disciplines, includes an Encyclopedia of Design, ebooks, and profiles of specific designers.
Citing Online Reference Entries
MLA Style
Format
Author. "Entry Title." Title of Encyclopedia, Date Published, Online Platform, URL.
Example
Chadwick, Whitney and Amy Lyford. "Tanning, Dorothea." Grove Art Online, accessed on 26 Feb. 2018, Oxford Art Online, https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T083275.
Chicago Manual of Style
Format
1. Title of Encyclopedia, s.v. "Entry Title," [by authors if named], date of access, URL.
Example
1. Grove Art Online, s.v. “Tanning, Dorothea,” by Whitney Chadwick and Amy Lyford, accessed Feb. 26, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T083275.
The Chicago Manual of Style recommends only listing citations of reference entries in notes and omitting them from bibliographies.
Citing Print Books
MLA Style
Format
Author. Title of book. Publisher, year published.
Example
Tanning, Dorothea. Birthday. Lapis Press, 1986.
If you are citing a chapter or essay from a multi-author book, your citation requires additional information.
Format
Author. "Title of section." Title of Book, edited by [Editor's Name], publisher, year published, page range of section.
Example
Tanning, Dorothea. "From 'Blind Date.'" Surrealist Painters and Poets: An Anthology, edited by Mary Ann Caws, MIT Press, 2001, p. 401.
Chicago Manual of Style
Note
1. Author, Title of Book (City of Publisher, Publisher, Year Published), page #.
Bibliography
Author. Title of Book. City of Publisher: Publisher, year published.
- Art & Architecture Source
Full-text articles and citations from journals and books related to fine, decorative, and commercial art, as well as architecture and architectural design.
- JSTOR
Scholarly articles from hundreds of journals in a wide range of academic subjects, including art and design.
- ARTbibliographies Modern
Citations for research on modern and contemporary art.
For more information about citing online articles, see the CCA Libraries Citation Guide.
- ArtstorHigh-resolution digital images for the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. As of 2024, all Artstor content is now hosted on JSTOR.
Citing Artstor Images
MLA Style
Format
Artist. Name of artwork. Year Produced, Location. Container.
Example
Tanning, Dorothea. Self-portrait. 1944, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Artstor Digital Library.
Chicago Manual of Style
Note
1. Dorothea Tanning, Self-portrait, 1944, oil on canvas, 24 in. x 30 in., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, http://library.artstor.org/#/asset/AWSS35953_35953_37655342.
Bibliography
Tanning, Dorothea. Self-portrait, 1944. Oil on canvas, 24 in. x 30 in. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Recommended Websites
The following websites offer additional information and resources for Visual Studies.
- Metropolitan Museum of New YorkImages from the Met's vast collections of art and photography.
- J. Paul Getty Museum CollectionsArt and artifacts spanning thousands of years from the collections of the Getty Museums.
- MOMA Exhibition HistorySearch the exhibition history of New York's Museum of Modern Art.
