HIST 7638 - Research Prospectus: Find Objects & Decorative Arts
Professional Associations and Practice
- Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in AmericaA directory to help researchers locate primary source material about American collectors, dealers, agents and advisors who specialize in fine and decorative arts.
- The Decorative Arts TrustThe mission of the Decorative Arts Trust, a non-profit organization, is to promote and foster the appreciation and study of the decorative arts
Find Exhibition & Auction Catalogs
1. Search reference books that list or index exhibition catalogs, such as the following:
- Archives of American Art. Collection of Exhibition Catalogs. Boston: GK Hall, 1979.
- Yarnall, James L., and William H. Gerdts. The National Museum of American Art’s Index to American Art Exhibition Catalogues: From the Beginning through the 1876 Centennial Year. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall, 1986.
- Wilson, Raymond L. Index of American Print Exhibitions, 1882-1940. Metuchen, N.J: Scarecrow Press, 1988.
- Lancour Harold. American Art Auction Catalogues 1785-1942: A Union List. New York: New York Public Library. 1944.
- National Gallery of Art. Documenting the Salon: Paris Salon Catalogs 1673-1945. Washington: National Gallery of Art Library. 2016.
- Online: The Met has a collection of Digitized Auction Catalogs at the Internet Archive
2. Search WorldCat or any library online catalog, using a subject search, for the artist's name or art medium and "exhibitions," "auction," or "catalog"
3. Search article databases that index newspapers or journals from the appropriate time period, looking for announcements or reviews of exhibitions for the artist. If the article or review gives a title for the exhibition, search it in WorldCat to see whether a catalog was published.
- WorldCat (at OCLC FirstSearch) This link opens in a new windowBooks, multimedia held by libraries worldwide (more...).
Image Credit: Gustav Stickley. 1909-1912. Sideboard. Furniture. Yale University Art Gallery. http://artgallery.yale.edu/, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Matthew Newman. https://library.artstor.org/asset/AYALEARTIG_10312577940.
Find Catalogue Raisonnés
A catalogue raisonné is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The two databases listed here are a great first step in finding a catalogue raisonné for a graphic artist or a fine artist.
- The Print Council Index to Oeuvre-Catalogues of Prints by European and American Artists An online edition of The Print Council Index to Oeuvre-Catalogues of Prints by European and American Artists by Timothy A. Riggs, expanded and updated by Lauren B. Hewes and Nicole Simpson. The database now contains entries for European and American prints, print publishers, drawings, and photographs; and Japanese prints and photographs.
- Catalogues Raisonnés (IFAR) International Foundation for Art Research databases on oeuvre-catalogs for fine artists, one for published catalogues raisonnés and one for catalogues in production. Databases can be searched together or separately.
Use WorldCat and/or highly respected art library catalogs (such as the Met, the Getty, the National Gallery, or the Art Discovery Group Catalogue. In many cases, works may be cataloged with the subject heading catalogues raisonnés, and any search of WorldCat or a library catalog could start there.
Please note: Not all publications of an artist's oeuvre will be called a catalogue raisonné, and not all will have the catalogues raisonnés subject heading. Try searching (by title) for such terms as complete works (or complete paintings, drawings, graphic work, etc), oeuvre complete, oeuvre catalogue, or corpus. In the case of contemporary artists try looking for exhibition catalogs, which often make attempts to list an artist's works and exhibition history as well as a bibliography of reviews, articles, and other publications.
- WorldCat (at OCLC FirstSearch) This link opens in a new windowBooks, multimedia held by libraries worldwide (more...).
- GIL-Find (Catalog) This link opens in a new windowLibrary catalog, Georgia Southern University and USG library collections (more...).
