Research Guides: *Art, Architecture, and Photography: Specialized topics

Creative Arts Librarian

she/her/hers

Contact:

lzeidenb@brandeis.edu

781-736-4697

Subjects: Art, Architecture and Photography, Classical and Early Mediterranean Studies, Film Studies, Music, Theater and Dance

Online reference

A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art (Oxford Reference)
Focuses primarily on painting, sculpture, & the graphic arts (including conceptual, performance, & video art). Mostly biographical entries, but there are also entries on styles & terms, artists' groups, schools, & movements, cultural centers, & museums.

Encyclopedia of American Folk Art (ebook) by Gerard C. Wertkin (Editor) For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of American Folk Art web site. This is the first comprehensive, scholarly study of a most fascinating aspect of American history and culture. Generously illustrated with both black and white and full-color photos, this A-Z encyclopedia covers every aspect of American folk art, encompassing not only painting, but also sculpture, basketry, ceramics, quilts, furniture, toys, beadwork, and more, including both famous and lesser-known genres. Containing more than 600 articles, this unique reference considers individual artists, schools, artistic, ethnic, and religious traditions, and heroes who have inspired folk art. An incomparable resource for general readers, students, and specialists, it will become essential for anyone researching American art, culture, and social history.
Publication Date: 2004-08-02
Historical Dictionary of Contemporary Art (ebook) by Ann Lee Morgan The Historical Dictionary of Contemporary Art illuminates important artists, styles, and movements of the past 70 years. Beginning with the immediate post-World War II period, it encompasses earlier 20th century masters, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Mir , Jean Dubuffet, Stuart Davis, Georgia O'Keeffe, and other well-known figures, who remained creatively productive, while also inspiring younger generations. The book covers subsequent developments, including abstract expressionism, happenings, pop art, minimalism, conceptual art, arte povera, feminist art, photorealism, neo-expressionism, and postmodernism, as well as the contributions of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Ellsworth Kelly, Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Lucio Fontana, Andy Warhol, Richard Serra, Donald Judd, Joseph Beuys, Christo, Anselm Kiefer, Judy Chicago, Ai Weiwei, and Jeff Koons. Historical Dictionary of Contemporary Art contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography, including more than 900 cross-referenced entries on important artists, styles, terms, and movements.This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about contemporary art.
Publication Date: 2016-12-01
Historical Dictionary of Neoclassical Art and Architecture (ebook) by Allison Lee Palmer Neoclassicism refers to the revival of classical art and architecture beginning in Europe in the 1750s and lasting until around 1830, with late Neoclassicism lingering through the 1870s. Neoclassicism is a highly complex movement that brought together seemingly disparate issues into a new and culturally rich era, one that was, however, remarkably unified under the banner of classicism. This movement was born in Italy and France and then spread across Europe to Russia and across the ocean to the United States. The Historical Dictionary of Neoclassical Art and Architecture provides an overview of Neoclassicism, focusing on its major artists, architects, stylistic subcategories, ideas, and historical framework of the 18th century style found mainly in Europe and the United States. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 200 dictionary entries on famous artists, sculptors, architects, patrons, and other historical figures and events.
Publication Date: 2011
Historical Dictionary of Rococo Art (ebook) by Jennifer D. Milam Historical Dictionary of Rococo Art covers all aspects of Rococo art history through a chronology, an introductory essay, a review of the literature, an extensive bibliography, and over 350 cross-referenced dictionary entries on prominent Rococo painters, sculptors, decorative artists, architects, patrons, theorists, and critics, as well as major centers of artistic production. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Rococo art.
Publication Date: 2011
Historical Dictionary of Baroque Art and Architecture (ebook) by Lilian H. Zirpolo
Publication Date: 2018-03-01
Historical Dictionary of Renaissance Art (ebook) by Lilian H. Zirpolo This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Renaissance Art contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on artists from Italy, Flanders, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Portugal, historical figures and events that impacted the production of Renaissance art. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Renaissance art.
Publication Date: 2016-08-19

Asian art

Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts (20 vols) by Fo Guang Shan Board of Directors (Reviewed by); Hsing Yun Venerable Master (Preface by); Ruchang Venerable (Editor-In-Chief)
Call Number: Creative Arts Reference N8193.A5 S5213 2016
The Encyclopedia of Buddhist arts is a collection of nearly 10,000 entries and over 14,000 pictures on Buddhist arts from around the world. The 20 volumes of the collection are divided into 8 categories: Architecture (4 volumes), Caves & rock carvings (5 volumes), Sculpture (4 volumes), Painting (3 volumes), Artifacts & decorative arts (1 volume), Calligraphy (1/2 volume), Seal engraving (1/2 volume), People (1 volume). ..

Specialized topics: ebooks

Dutch Art (ebook) by Sheila D. Muller (Editor)
Publication Date: 1997
Excellent, up-to-date coverage of art from the Low Countries and the Netherlands created from the 1450s to the present. Includes biographies and articles on a wide array of subjects, conveniently grouped by major categories in the reader's guide for quick review. Select bibliographies accompanying each entry suggest the best and most authoritative sources for further inquiry. Includes many illustrations and a thorough index.
Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (Online)
Offers a combination of historical material and critical discussions of contemporary aesthetics, defined as "critical reflection on art, culture, and nature." Includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged essays on individuals, concepts, periods, theories, issues, and movements in the history of aesthetics, ranging from the Greco-Roman era to the present and written by philosophers, art historians, literary theorists, psychologists, feminist theorists, legal theorists, sociologists, and anthropologists. Articles conclude with good bibliographies of primary and secondary sources. Coverage of most major art forms appears in composite entries arranged under one headword, combining conceptual and historical overviews with in-depth analyses of issues and ideas. Presents excellent articles on certain key artists and a wide array of art topics, such as "abstract expressionism," "art market," "constructivism," "pop art," "representations," "sociology of art," "taste," and "theories of art." Vol. 4 concludes with an index that points to all articles and passages relevant to the study of art. An earlier print edition is also available.

This title is also part of Grove Art Online (Oxford Art Online).

Specialized topics: print resources

The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts by Harold Osborne (Editor)
Call Number: Creative Arts - Reference NK30 .O93
Handbook providing introductory, authoritative surveys on the crafts of lithographing, ceramics, textiles, costume, wood-working, metal-working, glass-making, bell-founding, paper-making, clock-making, typography, landscape gardening, photography, armor, enamels, lacquer, jewelry, toys, lace-making, and embroidery. Includes articles on particular crafts, periods and cultures, materials, tools and techniques, technologies, artisans, schools, styles, and processes.
The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300-1990s by Jane D. Reid; Chris Rohmann
Call Number: Creative Arts - Reference NX650.M9 R45 1993
Comprehensive, interdisciplinary catalog of over 30,000 artworks dating from the early Renaissance to the present that treat subjects from Greek and Roman mythology. Coverage includes painting, drawing, sculpture, literary works, music, dance, and drama. Organized into entries on mythological figures or themes, with the listings of the artworks under each entry given in chronological order by date of composition. Vol. 2 concludes with a list of sources and an index of artists.
The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture by Peter Murray; Linda Murray
Call Number: Creative Arts - Reference N7830 .M87 1996
Contains entries on Old and New Testament themes and subjects, Christian saints and iconography, liturgy and ritual, church history and design, historical periods and figures, and patronage that relate to Christian art and architecture. Primary emphasis is on the 3d through 17th centuries, with selective coverage through the 20th century. Articles on artists and architects focus on religious works.