Liberal Arts -- Art Research Guide

Get the complete story. Seek as many of these as possible:

• Overview of the subject
  • Compile a chronology. 
    • Use biographies. 
    • Use Art History Survey Books
  • Chronologies contain salient points such as
    • did your subject rise in stature? when?
    • Birth, death, education?
    • Family ties, milestones, major works?
    • Prizes garnered by your subject. 
• Dictionaries/Encyclopedias
  • biographies
  • Major works
  • Movements your artist belongs to
• WWW at large
  • Websites devoted to your subject
  • Museums which have featured your subject
  • Provenance of major works by the artist  
• Compile a bibliography
  • Literature review.  What's been written about your subject? 
  • Print sources
• Correct pronunciation
• Visual materials
  • Catalogues of any museum exhibitions
  • Oeuvre catalog by archivists or scholars of your subject

  Adapted from Lois Swan Jones, Art Information and the Internet: How to Find It, How to Use It .  Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. 1999.

Email research@babson.edu for a consultation, we will be happy to assist you.

Browsing through the print art collection is both informative and rewarding. Our art books are on the third floor. Check the following call number ranges:

N     Visual Arts
NA   Architecture
NB   Sculpture
NC   Drawing. Design. Illustration
ND   Painting
NE   Print Media
NK   Decorative Arts
NX   Arts in General

Use the following resources to find background information and scholarly articles. Try searching by artist, title of a work, or art genre/movement.