LibGuides: Art: Databases

Why would I use a database?

Databases are great sources for finding information for your research paper. In the databases, you will find peer-reviewed or scholarly articles for your research. Journal Articles and Newspapers can be useful because you may find information on a topic that is so specific that no book has been written about it (and they may be more timely, since it takes some time to publish a book.)

Art Databases

ArticleFirst This link opens in a new window
Contains bibliographic citations from more than 13,000 journals in science, technology, medicine, social science, business, the humanities, and popular culture.
Artstor This link opens in a new window
This digital library contains more than one million images in art, architecture, humanities and social sciences from museums, scholars, photographers and photo archives and the special collections of libraries.
If you want to be able to make full use of ARTstor, you will need to register in the database. You may register on campus or off campus via Off Campus Connect (EZproxy).
CAMIO This link opens in a new window
CAMIO (Catalog of Art Museum Images Online) is a growing online collection documenting works of art from around the world, representing the collections of prominent museums. CAMIO highlights the creative output of cultures around the world, from prehistoric to contemporary times, and covers the complete range of expressive forms.
Humanities Source This link opens in a new window
Includes Humanities Full Text, Humanities Index Retrospective and additional content.
Subject areas include archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, communications, dance, film, folklore, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, literary and social criticism literature, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion and theology.

Funded by statewide allocation.
Index to 19th-Century American Art Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Access is limited to one (1) user
Includes over 26,000 records from 42 art journals published in the United States during the 19th century. The entire contents of each issue are indexed in the database. It offers essential information on artists and illustrators, painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, architecture, design, decoration, exhibitions, sales, and collecting.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
This is a collection of full text articles that includes several journals dealing with art history and design. Articles can be located by keyword searching or browsing contents of journals.
NYPL Digital Gallery This link opens in a new window
Provides access to the NYPL Digital Gallery, which is the New York Public Library's "new image database." The collection of digital images includes drawings, posters, photographs, prints and much more.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
This resource includes Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms.This database is a wonderful starting point for gathering information about the history of art around the world and its various periods and for finding biographical information about artists
Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritative research guides. Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this resource guides researchers to the best available scholarship in a variety of subject areas. Included subject areas: Art History, Cinema and Media Studies, Criminology, Education, Islamic Studies, Latin American Studies, Latino Studies, Management, Psychology, and Social Work.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
A collection of scholarly journals and books in humanities, mathematics and social science disciplines.

Please note: Project Muse requires more than one instance of authentication to access content. For assistance, please contact openathens@fau.edu

General Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Expanded Academic ASAP This link opens in a new window
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
WorldCat This link opens in a new window

Free Databases

The Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) and Répertoire international de la littérature de l'art (RILA) are available free of charge on the Getty Web site, covering European and American visual arts material published between 1975 and 2007.

Use the Getty Union List of Artist Names to

identify individual artists and corporate bodies,
search for artists by their "roles" (i.e., printmaker, sculptor, engraver, etc.),
search for artists by nationality,
see representative works by an artist (be aware of copyright restrictions for re-use).

See the FAQs at this site for assistance on how to use and read this list.

View and learn more about other Getty Vocabularies and the Getty Research Institute.

Off Campus Connect

If you are using FAU's online resources from off campus, please authenticate yourself for off campus access through Off Campus Connect.

Locating Full-Text Articles

If the article you are looking for does not appear as full text in the database, click on the "Find it @ FAU" button. This is a short cut, which will search to see if a full text version exists in either electronic or print format.

Last updated on Mar 28, 2023 10:15 AM