Last revised: August 2011

Web Resources for Art, Art History and Archaeology

Scope: Included in this guide is a selection of freely-accessible Web sites useful in the study of art, art history and archaeology. For a guide to related print and online subscription research materials, refer to Research Resources for Art, Art History and Archaeology. For further information email Louise Greene or call 301-405-9064.

Table of Contents

• General Sites
  
  Gateways | Research Sites

  Sites by Subject
  

  African/African American Art | American Art | Archaeology | Architecture |
  

  Asian Art | Byzantine and Medieval Art | Classical Art | Contemporary Art |
  

  Islamic Art | Latin American Art

  E-Journals

  Libraries

  Museums

  Organizations

  Images

General Sites

Gateways

• Art History Resources on the Web (http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html)
  Christopher Witcombe's directory of art information on the Web organized by period and style, with links to information, images, research resources, museums and galleries, and more.
• Art Source (http://www.ilpi.com/artsource/welcome.html)
  Selected general art and architecture sites, libraries, museums, organizations, and programs.
• Digital Librarian: Art (http://www.digital-librarian.com/art.html)
  Links to a wide variety of art-related information and resources.
• History of Art Virtual Library (http://www.chart.ac.uk/vlib/)
  Links to libraries, university art history departments, online teaching resources, research tools, and more.
• Mother of All Art History Links Page (http://www.art-design.umich.edu/mother/)
  Includes links to art history departments, research resources, image collections, museums, and textual, linguistic and religious resources.

Research Sites

• AATA Online (http://aata.getty.edu/NPS/)
  Abstracts of international conservation literature.
• Artcyclopedia (http://artcyclopedia.com)
  Access to images and information on artists and their work.

• arthistoricum.net (http://www.arthistoricum.net/index.php?&L=1)
  Virtual library for art history.

• ArtLex: Visual Arts Dictionary (http://www.artlex.com/)
  A dictionary of art criticism, history, technique, aesthetics, and education.
• Conservation Online (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/)
  Resources for conservation professionals.
• The Dictionary of Art Historians (http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/)
  A biographical dictionary of scholars and professionals in the arts.
• Getty Research Institute (http://www.getty.edu/research/index.html)
  Includes access to the Getty Vocabulary Databases (the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, the Cultural Objects Name Authority, the Union List of Artists' Names and the Thesaurus of Geographic Names).
• The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism (http://litguide.press.jhu.edu/)
  A guide to people, places, events and ideas including the arts.
• Multilingual Glossary of Art Terms (IFLA) (http://www.ifla.org/VII/s30/pub/mg1.htm)
  In English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish.
• Timeline of Art History (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm)
  An interactive guide to art from prehistory to the present illustrated with images from the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Words of Art: An Online Glossary of Theory and Criticism for the Visual Arts (http://web.ubc.ca/okanagan/creative/links/glossary.html)
  A guide to terminology in the visual arts and art theory.

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SITES BY SUBJECT

• African Americans in the Visual Arts: A Historical Perspective (http://www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aavaahp.htm)
  Biographical information, images, and references for further reading.
• African Art Museum: Tribal Masks and Statues of Africa (http://www.zyama.com/)
  Images and information on African tribal art and artifacts organized by country.
• Art History Resources on the Web: The Arts of Africa (http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHafrica.html)
  Christopher Witcombe's directory of African art information on the Web.
• Modern African Art: A Basic Reading List (http://www.sil.si.edu/SILPublications/ModernAfricanArt/modern-african-art.htm)
  Compiled by Janet Stanley, National Museum of African Art Library.
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html)
  A division of the New York Public Library
• African Art on the Internet (http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/art.html)
  A directory of resources through Stanford University Libraries.

• African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning (http://www.lib.virginia.edu/clemons/RMC/exhib/93.ray.aa/African.html)
  Bayly Art Museum online exhibition catalogue.
• African Art Museum of Maryland (http://www.africanartmuseum.org/)
  Information about exhibitions, events, and activities.
• Anacostia Community Museum (http://anacostia.si.edu/)
  Information and exhibitions from the Smithsonian Institution's museum of African American history and culture.
• Carl van Vechten Photographs: Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vvhtml/vvhome.html)
  Images and information.
• Cutting to the Essence, Shaping for the Fire (http://www.fa.indiana.edu:80/~conner/africart/home.html)
  An exhibition of Yoruba and Akan art in wood and metal.
• Museum for African Art, New York, NY (http://www.africanart.org/)
  Exhibitions and information about the permanent collection.
• Narratives of African American Art and Identity: The David C. Driskell Collection (http://www.driskellcenter.umd.edu/narratives/exhibition/index.htm)
  An online exhibition with links to related sites.
• National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C. (http://www.nmafa.si.edu/)
  The Smithsonian Institution, exhibitions, information, and research resources.

• Smithsonian American Art Museum (http://americanart.si.edu)
  Exhibitions, information, and research resources.
• Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) (http://sirismm.si.edu/siris/saam.htm)
  Access to SIRIS online catalogs and databases, including Smithsonian Libraries, Art Inventories, Archives and Manuscripts, Research and Bibliographies, and Smithsonian Chronologies.

• WWWorld of Archaeology (http://www.archaeology.org/wwwarky/index.html)
  The Archaeological Institute of America, links to archaeology information worldwide and online access to Archaeology.

• Architecture and Building Internet Resources Database (http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/rsrce/webresources)
  Jeanne Brown's guide to Web resources in architecture and building through the University of Nevada.

General

• Asia Society: Arts & Culture (http://www.asiasociety.org/arts-culture/visual-arts)
  Exhibits, events and information on the visual arts of Asia.
• Asia-art.net (http://www.asia-art.net/)
  Information about Asian art history, techniques, paintings, artists, galleries, museums, and more.
• Asian Art (http://www.asianart.com/index.html)
  Articles, exhibits and links to related sites.
• Art History Resources on the Web: Asian Art (http://witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks3.html)
  Christopher Witcombe's directory of Asian art information on the Web.
• East Asia Collection, UM Libraries (http://www.lib.umd.edu/EASIA/)
  Home page for the East Asia Collection, University of Maryland Libraries.
• Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (http://www.asia.si.edu/default.htm)
  The Smithsonian Institution, exhibitions, information, and research resources.
• Many Faces, Many Paths: Art of Asia (http://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/online/bumper/bumper.htm)
  Exhibition of Buddhist and Hindu art.

• Arts of China Consortium (http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/html/chinese/index.html)
  Information on symposia, conferences and other events related to Chinese art.
• China the Beautiful: Chinese Art and Literature (http://www.chinapage.com/china.html)
  Primary resources on Chinese painting, calligraphy, poetry, literature and more.
• International Dunhuang Project (Based at the British Library, London, UK) (http://idp.bl.uk/)
  Images and information on manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artifacts from Dunhuang and other Silk Road sites, and links to related sites.
• Internet Guide for Chinese Studies: Culture and Art (http://sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/igcult.htm)
  Links to resources on the arts of China and Tibet.

Japan

• JapaneseArt.org (http://www.japaneseart.org/)
  Information on Japanese art including antiques, auctions, events, museums and more.
• The Virtual Museum of Japanese Arts (http://web-japan.org/museum/menu.html)
  Examples and descriptions of Japanese traditional arts and crafts.

• The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies (http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/)
  Information on related organizations and publications.
• Musee Cluny (http://www.musee-moyenage.fr)
  Information about the collections.

• Diotima: Women and Gender (http://www.stoa.org/diotima/)
  Resources for the study of women in the ancient world.
• Perseus Digital Library (Via Research Port)
  Images, maps, information and other resources on ancient Greece.
• TOCS-IN (http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/amphoras/tocs.html)
  Indexes to journals in the classics.

• Art: 21 -- Art in the Twenty-First Century (http://www.pbs.org/art21/series/index.html)
  Information on contemporary visual artists in conjunction with the PBS series. Includes artist biographies and visual images.

• Reference Tools in Islamic Art and Architecture (http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/iaa/)
  Organized by subject and medium, and searchable by geographic and cultural region.

• Archivos Virtuales: Papers of Latino and Latin American Artists (http://www.aaa.si.edu/guides/site-archivos)
  A database of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
• Art Museum of the Americas: Organization of American States (http://www.museum.oas.org/index.html)
  Exhibitions of Latin American art.
• FAMSI (http://www.famsi.org/)
  Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies.
• LANIC - Art in Latin America (http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/art/)
  Latin American Network Information Center, resources orgainzed by geographic region.
• Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America 1520-1820 (http://www.smith.edu/vistas/index.html)
  Images, primary sources, and information on colonial history and culture.

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E-JOURNALS

• Art & Antiques Magazine (http://www.artandantiquesmag.com/)
  Access to selected full text articles.
• Art Daily (http://www.artdaily.com/)
  Online newspaper since 1996.
• ARTINFO (http://www.artinfo.com/)
  News, information, artists, exhibits.
• ART iT (http://www.art-it.asia/top/?lang=en)
  A bilingual Japanese-English online publication linking contemporary art in Japan to the region and the world.
• ArtNet (http://www.artnet.com/)
  Includes feature articles, reviews, and images.
• Arts Journal (http://www.artsjournal.com/)
  A digest of information from English-language arts publications.
• BOMB (http://www.bombsite.com/)
  Information on artists, writers, filmmakers, and performers.
• Journal of Contemporary Art (http://www.jca-online.com/)
  Articles, interviews, and images.
• Leonardo (http://www.leonardo.info/)
  Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology.
• MUSEO Contemporary Art Magazine (http://www.museomagazine.com)
  An independent multi-media quarterly, formerly the annual contemporary art journal of Columbia University.
• Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide (http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org)
  A journal of nineteenth-century visual culture.

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LIBRARIES

Library Directories

• The Library Index (http://www.libdex.com/)
  A directory of libraries worldwide.

• Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/avery/)
• Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/)
• American Memory Collection
• Prints and Photographs Division
• National Gallery of Art Library (http://www.nga.gov/resources/dldesc.htm)
• National Trust Library (http://www.lib.umd.edu/NTL/ntl.html)
• NY Public Library Art and Architecture Division (http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/artarc/artarch.html)

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MUSEUMS

• Virtual Library Museums Pages (International Council of Museums) (http://icom.museum/vlmp/)

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (http://www.metmuseum.org/)
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (http://www.mfa.org/)
• The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (http://www.moma.org/)
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (http://www.nga.gov/)
• National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (http://www.nmwa.org/)

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ORGANIZATIONS

• American Association of Museums (http://www.aam-us.org)
• College Art Association (http://www.collegeart.org)
  
• National Endowment for the Arts (http://arts.endow.gov/)
  

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IMAGES

Many of the above sites include visual images; for additional image resources, refer to the guide Visual Image Resources on the Web (http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/artimagesweb.html).

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