Research Guides: How to Research an Artist: Electronic Resources

Electronic Resources

The following is a list of some of the art databases that can be of assistance when looking up an artist. They can be found under Articles & Databases from the Library’s website. Please keep in mind that not all will be available outside the Library.

Interested in what resources you can access from home?
- View our guide: Art Resources from Home.
Interested in a more comprehensive guide to our Electronic Resources?
- View our guide Electronic Resources at the New York Public Library.

Art Full Text
Indexes and abstracts articles from an international selection of periodicals including French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, and English-language journals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins. Dates of Coverage: Indexing 1984-present, Abstracting 1994-present, Full-text 1997-present. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
Art Index Retrospective
Indexes articles in periodicals, yearbooks, and museum publications, 1929-1984. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**

ARTbibliographies Modern This link opens in a new window
Provides full abstracts of journal articles, books, exhibition catalogs, dissertations, and reviews on all forms of modern and contemporary art. Dates of Coverage: 1974-present. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
ARTbibliographies Modern: Abstracts of the Current Literature of Modern Art, Photography and Design is published biannually. After 1988 coverage of architecture is less emphasized. Important essays in books and exhibition catalogs are indexed separately. The bibliography is international in scope and includes periodicals, monographs, dissertations, and exhibition catalogs. Nineteenth-century art developments that continue into the twentieth century are also included.

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Indexes articles on architecture in its broadest sense, including archaeology, decorative arts, interior design, furniture, landscape architecture, and city planning and historic preservation from the 1930s to present.
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This database also provides citation records for architects' obituaries. Coverage is from the 1930s, with selective coverage dating back to the 1740s, to the present.

AskART
AskArt covers American artists providing biography, images, citations, museums owning their work and galleries representing the artist's work. AskART also provides access to auction results. **Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
This database is only accessible at the following NYPL locations: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building and available only in Room 300, the Art & Architecture Division.
Academic Search Premier
A multi-disciplinary database of more than 4,600 magazines and journals, including full text for nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. In addition to the full-text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for 8,470 journals.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon (AKL)
Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon Online (Artists of the World Online) is biographical reference guide to artists. It contains up-to-date, authoritative information on over one million artists.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
This database is only accessible at the following NYPL locations: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building; New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Thomas Yoseloff Business Center; All Branch Libraries
Ancestry Library Edition
Access billions of names in thousands of genealogical databases including Census and Vital Records, birth, marriage and death notices, the Social Security Death Index, Passenger lists and naturalizations, Military and Holocaust Records, City Directories, New York Emigrant Savings Bank records, and African American and Native American Records. Library version of Ancestry.com.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
This database is only accessible at the following NYPL locations: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building; New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Thomas Yoseloff Business Center; All Branch Libraries
ARTstor
ARTstor is a nonprofit resource that provides access to more than one million images in the arts, architecture, and other fields in the humanities and sciences.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
This database is only accessible at the following NYPL locations: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building; New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Thomas Yoseloff Business Center; Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL)
Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Indexes biographical listings in print dictionaries and encyclopedias covering millions individuals, both living and deceased, from every field of activity and from all areas of the world. A good resource for researching those who are less well-known or famous.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
Listings are from English-language biographical dictionaries, subject encyclopedias, and related works. Listings often provide birth and death years, as well as giving the source of the biographical listing, publisher, year of publication, and other pertinent data.
Biography in Context This link opens in a new window
Provides biographical information on 650,000+ people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines. For more in-depth biographies of figures from American history, consult American National Biography.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
The included Lives & Perspectives Collection supports high-school curricula and university coursework by providing multidisciplinary content on notable figures and the societal forces that have shaped their lives.
Credo Reference
Provides full-text online access to hundreds of multidisciplinary reference book collections, including art, history, law, medicine, psychology, technology, bilingual dictionaries and encyclopedias.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
Credo is a vast, online reference library, providing access to the full text of hundreds of highly regarded and popular titles. And Credo brings the facts alive with images, sound files, animations, and much more. Find speedy, simple answers and authoritative, in-depth articles.Credo Reference contains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopaedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range or subject-specific titles covering everything from accounting to zoology, via maps, math, management, martial arts, media studies, medicine, mountains, moons, music, multimedia, mythology.
Frick Art Reference Library Periodicals Index
Indexes more than 150 prominent art history periodicals held by the Frick Art Reference Library, covering Western European and American fine arts and some decorative arts from the 4th-19th centuries.
**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
This database is only accessible at the following NYPL locations: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building; New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Thomas Yoseloff Business Center; All Branch Libraries
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
A searchable, digitized archive -- from the first date of publication to the last three to five years -- of major scholarly journals in many academic fields.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**
This database is only accessible at the following NYPL locations: Stephen A. Schwarzman Building; New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL); All Branch Libraries
Oxford Art Online
Oxford Art Online offers users the ability to access the vast content of Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms all in one interface.**Patrons should read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy of this resource before searching.**

Get Help

For further assistance in using any of these resources you can contact the Art & Architecture staff by visiting us in Room 300 of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building or through email at art@nypl.org.