• to understand subject analysis
• to condense & 'translate' author's concepts into LC Subject Headings
• to work with & find answers in LC guidelines
• to work independently

Answer one or both of the following, in your own words:

• What is "Art"?
• Name the Southern states:

The Art & Architecture Thesaurus summarizes indexing steps as:
- determining what an item is about
- translating these concepts into the indexing vocabulary

LC's memo H 180, Assigning and Constructing Subject Headings, gives 16 points to consider. Some may seem obvious, such as providing access to the most important topics, or expressing topics objectively and without bias. Others guide the cataloger in providing specific subject access without cluttering the record (and taking up time) with excess headings.

Keep H 180 handy for guidance in any subject cataloging situation. H 1250 and H 1148, Pattern Headings: Art, are available online from LC's Cataloging Policy & Support Office website, but you may find printed copies easier to consult (and underline!).

Exercises

1. Subject analysis: What's this about? What LC terms express this?
2. Art Subject Heading strings: Place of origin
3. Art Subject Heading strings: Historical periods, post-1500 and pre-1500
4. Art Subject Heading strings: Permanent location
5. First aid station: What's wrong?
6. First aid station: Themes
7. First aid station: Catalogs and other subdivisions
8. First aid station: What's this about? What terms express this?

1. SUBJECT ANALYSIS: What's this about? What LC terms express this?

Assume these titles summarize the concepts of each book. Try noting the topics first in your own words, then find the corresponding LC subject headings. What did you learn about the terms Fresco and Arts?

a) The great age of fresco : Giotto to Pontormo : an exhibition of mural paintings and monumental drawings ...

____________________     ____________________

b) Asian arts : the online journal for the study and exhibition of the arts of Asia

____________________     ____________________

2. ART SUBJECT HEADING STRINGS: Place of origin

This exercise points out the importance of each element in the entire subject heading "string" to indicate the geographic origin of the art. H 1250 1., a. shows the valid possibilities. In the first example, the string includes (1) a qualified heading, that is, a term (such as Art) modified by a national, regional, ethnic, or religious adjective; and (2) the geographic subdivision for the place of origin. The memo also describes when not to subdivide geographically, and various ways to reflect the time period, covered in later exercises.

Each title in italics is an actual book title. Look at the related heading/s on the chart, and determine which subdivisions, if any, are needed to express place of origin. Check your answers here.

a) House of miracles : votive sculpture from northeastern Brazil
b) Hong Kong now! [publ. 1997]
c) Corpus vasorum antiquorum. $p Japan. $p Rotfigurige Vasen ...
d) Die Symbolik der Löwenjagd
e) American light : the luminist movement, 1850-1875
f) Yoruba, sculpture of West Africa
g) El esplendor del gótico catalán : la miniatura a comienzos del siglo XV

Art form, (qualifier)	$z Place of origin
Style or movement	$z Place of origin
Theme	[no place]
a) Sculpture, Brazilian	Brazil, Northeastern
Votive offerings
b) Art, Chinese
c) Vases, Red-figured
Vases, Greek
d) Hunting in art
Lions in art
e) Luminism (Art)
f) Sculpture, Yoruba
g) Illumination of books and manuscripts, Catalan
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Gothic

3. ART SUBJECT HEADING STRINGS: Historical periods, post-1500

This exercise points out how modern (post-1500 A.D.) periods are expressed in art headings. Note that starting in February 2001, elements of art headings follow the pattern [topic]--[place]--[period].

Is the art from a particular place, or a broad area? Is the period specific, or does it include the whole modern era? The heading [art form], Modern implies the broad area (no place or group limitation), so is not subdivided geographically. The heading [art form], [place or ethnic qualifier] when not subdividied chronologically implies the modern period.

Read H 1250, 1. d. (1) and H 1148 1., then determine which subdivisions, if any, are needed to express the period. Refer to Exercise 2 for help assigning the place of origin.

a) Modern Scandinavian prints [since the late 19th century; publ. 1997]
b) Beyond the veil : art of African American artists at century's end [20th century]
c) English icon : Elizabethan & Jacobean portraiture
d) Genoa : drawings and prints, 1530-1800
e) American light : the luminist movement, 1850-1875
f) Larousse encyclopedia of modern art, from 1800 to the present day [publ. 1965]

Art form, (qualifier)	$z Place of origin	$y Period
Style or movement	$z Place of origin	[no period]
a) Prints, Scandinavian		20th century
b) Art, African American
c) Portrait painting, English
Portrait painting, English
d) Drawing, Italian
Prints, Italian
e) Luminism (Art)
f) Art, Modern

3. ART SUBJECT HEADING STRINGS: Historical period, pre-1500

This exercise points out how pre-modern (i.e., pre-1500) historical periods are expressed in art headings. Notice that century subdivisions in H 1148 only go back to the 10th century.

H 1250 1., d. explains the use of the second heading for example d), and H 1148 2. gives the period subdivisions to use under headings for [art form], Chinese. Refer to Exercise 2 for help assigning the place of origin.

a) Cyprus : Byzantine mosaics and frescoes
b) The early stained glass of Canterbury Cathedral, circa 1175-1200
c) Tomb treasures from China : the buried art of ancient Xi'an [221 B.C.-960 A.D.]
d) L'art de l'Ancien empire égyptien
e) Celtic art : from its beginning to the Book of Kells

Art form, (qualifier)	$z Place of origin	$y Period
Style or movement	$z Place of origin	[no period]
a) Mosaics, Byzantine
b) Glass painting and staining, English
Glass painting and staining, Romanesque
c) Art objects, Chinese
Art objects, Chinese
Art objects, Chinese
d) Art, Egyptian
Egypt $x History $y Old Kingdom, ca. 2686-2181 B.C.
e) Art, Celtic

4. ART SUBJECT HEADING STRINGS: Permanent location

In this exercise, we see how to express the present location (as opposed to place or origin) of art in a heading. H 1250 1. g. prescribes an unqualified heading, followed by the geographic subdivision. This means art from one place but located in another requires two headings: one for origin, one for location.

Although art changes hands and location is hardly "permanent", there is a difference between temporary locations (such as places of exhibition) and owning locations. The owner also gets a subject heading, provided here per H 1250 1. h.

a) Corpus vasorum antiquorum. $p Deutschland. $p Erlangen, Antikensammlung der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
b) Modern Scandivnavian prints
"Drawing from the British Museum's fine collections, this catalog ... "
c) Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage, Leningrad. [Chicago] : Art Institute of Chicago ; New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : distrubted by H.N. Abrams, 1988
d) A golden legacy : ancient jewelry from the Burton Y. Berry collection at the Indiana University Art Museum [Bloomington, Ind.]
e) American marine painting : a loan exhibition on display at Virginia Museum, September 27-October 31, 1976, and the Mariners Museum, November 8-December 12, 1976

Art form	$z Permanent location
Ownership
a) Vases
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. $b Antikensammlung
b) Prints
British Museum
c) Painting
Gosudarstvennyĭ Ėrmitazh (Russia)
d) Jewelry
Berry, Burton Y. (Burton Yost) $x Art collections
Indiana University, Bloomington. $b Art Museum

6. FIRST AID STATION: Themes

H 1250 1. f. shows how to express readily-identifiable themes in subject headings. Before starting this exercise, print out the authority records indicated for each subdivision:

--Art               Art sh 85-7461
--In art            Art sh 85-7461
... in art          Art sh 85-7461
--Art and the ...   Art and the war sh 85-7979
--Illustrations     Illustration of books sh 85-64408
--Portraits         Portraits sh 85-105182

Consider the type of heading and its treatment in the work cataloged. A subdivision may be "valid", but not in a particular case.

Heading type	Tag	Heading	Subdivision
[topic]--[subdiv.]	600	Isaac (Biblical patriarch)--Sacrifice
[topic]--[subdiv.]	650	Bowling--Equipment and supplies
lived before 1400	600	Akhenaton, King of Egypt
lived before 1400	600	Ruth (Biblical figure)
lived after 1400	600	Ruth, Babe, 1895-1948
lived after 1400	600	Sacagawea, 1786-1884
UT as physical object	630	Bible
countries, cities, etc.	651	Great Britain--Biography
city	651	Butte (Mont.)
countries, cities, etc.	651	Turtle Creek (W. Va.)
deity or legendary fig.	650	Athena (Greek deity)
[topic] in art	650	Sasquatch
[topic] in art	650	Turtles
[topic] in art	650	Prints, Japanese
corporate bodies	610	Cistercians
class of persons	650	Poets, Georgian
ethnic group	650	Georgians (Transcaucasians)
individual war	650	Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1965
individual war	650	Zulu War, 1879
subj. of sacred work	630	Bible. N.T. Revelation
subj. of literary form	650	Laudatory poetry, Yoruba
person's written works	600	Blake, William, 1757-1827

7. FIRST AID STATION: Catalogs and other subdivisions

H 1250 1. h. provides for access by owner. Works about art in private or public collections, or works that simply list and describe art, may require headings subdivided by terms like catalogs, exhibitions, etc. As in Exercise 6, the kind of heading and treatment in the work cataloged determines the subdivision. LC memos H 1427, Collections of Objects, and H 1593, Exhibitions, are two more sets of guidelines to keep handy.

Before starting this exercise, print out the authority records indicated for each subdivision:

--Art collections            Art collections sh 99-2459
--Private collections        Private collections sh 88-1143
--Catalogs                   Catalogs sh 99-1246
--Catalogs and collections   Catalogs and collections sh 99-1254
--Catalogues raisonnés       Catalogues raisonnés sh 99-1388
--Collectors and collecting  Collectors and collecting sh 99-5241
--Exhibitions                Exhibitions sh 99-1275

Heading type	Tag	Heading	Subdivision
corp. body, not art museum	610	California Cattlemen's Association
corp. body, not art museum	610	L.L. Bean, Inc.
indiv. collector	600	Frank, Jane, 1942-
indiv. collector	600	Kress, Samuel H. (Samuel Henry), 1863-1955
subject	650	Hunting in art
objects	650	Painting
objects	650	Pyxides (Toilet paraphernalia)
objects	650	Bronzes, Islamic
artist	600	Myron, 5th cent. B.C.
artist	600	Sham, Foon, 1953-
archaeological site	651	Dur Site (Umm al-Qaywayn, United Arab Emirates)
art corp. body	610	Museum of Bad Art (Boston, Mass.)
art corp. body	610	Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, Md.)
indiv. collector	600	Walters, Henry, 1848-1931
families	600	Hohenzollern, House of

8. FIRST AID STATION: What's this about? What terms express this?

This brings us full circle, back to subject analysis and 'translating' concepts into LC's terms. In the first exercise, fresco in one title became Mural painting and decoration in the LC Subject Heading. The term arts in the other title had to be evaluated in light of definitions in LCSH. Here we have six works on 'primitive' art or artists called 'primitives':

a) The Flemish primitives. Vol. I. The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden groups. Vol. II. The Dirk Bouts, Petrus Christus, Hans Memling and Hugo van der Goes groups.
b) Grandma Moses, American primitive
c) Some American primitives : a study of New England faces and folk portraits
d) Ornament and sculpture in primitive society : Africa, Oceania [and] Siberia
e) Fünf primitive Meister : Rousseau, Vivin, Bombois, Bauchant, Seraphine
f) Prehistoric and primitive art

What is primitivism? Does the concept vary among these titles? How about the Art & Architecture Thesaurus record:

Descriptor: primitivism
Term ID: 56548
Hierarchy: Associated Concepts [BM]

Scope note - A term sometimes used for artistic styles or movements intended, often romantically or sentimentally, to emulate the appearance of art that was formerly designated primitive and other art made by people operating outside of mainstream art markets. Distinct from "primitive art" and "primitive architecture," which are outdated terms formerly used for art and architecture of certain people considered to be outside the spheres of influence of other, politically dominant cultural groups. For the Russian art movement, active from about 1905 to 1920, which combined influences from Russian folk art with ideas borrowed from Cubism and Futurism, use "Primitivist."

Synonyms and spelling variants {UF}:

neoprimitivism
neo-primitivism

This exercise is meant to provoke thought and discussion. Some subject headings taken from cataloging records follow. Consider the choices after printing out the authority records indicated:

Art, Amateur  sh 85-7536  
Art brut  sh 85- 7984
Art, Prehistoric  sh 85-7853
Art, Primitive  sh 85-7854
Outsider art  sh 93-1184
Primitivism in art  sh 106699

Art form, (nat'l., regional, ethnic, relig. qualifier)	$z Place of origin	$y Period
Artist	[no place]	[no period]
a) Painting, Flemish
Painting, Gothic	Flanders
Painting, Renaissance	Flanders
b) Moses, Grandma, 1860-1961
Painting, American
Primitivism in art	United States	19th century
c) Portraits, American	New England
Primitivism in art	New England
New England--Biography--Portraits
d) Art, African
Art	Oceania
Art	Russia (Federation)--Siberia
e) Primitivism in art	France
f)Art, Prehistoric
Art, Primitive

Congratulations! You have met many situations familiar to catalogers of works about art. Answers, comments, and a list of resources follow.

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