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Graduate students' guide to resources in art history: Home

Research guide for graduate students in art history lists core resources, print and electronic.

John Singer Sargent, Smoke of Ambergris

John Singer Sargent.  Fumée d'Ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris), 1880.  Oil on canvas.  Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA.

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Use the online catalog to search:

  • by Title to find specific books that you already know about
  • by Name to find books on a given artist or by a given author
  • by Keyword to find books on particular topics

Research resources for art history

Welcome to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute library! 

This guide provides links to core resources useful to researchers working in the area of art history.  Many of the databases, in particular, are resources that should be a basic part of every art historian's toolkit.  Check out the box below this one to find guides that will help you with more specialized areas of research.

Use the contents list below, or use the tabs above, to find materials appropriate for different stages of the research process or different areas of research.

Background/Context: Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and guides
Historical and bibliographic guides: Art history and theory
Finding books: Online catalogs and union catalogs
Finding articles and dissertations: Databases
Finding specialized information:
           Catalogues raisonnés
           Primary source materials
           Archival materials
           Auction sales
          Exhibition catalogs and reviews
Finding biographical information:
            The Americas
            United Kingdom
            Europe
            "Non-Western" (e.g. Asia, Africa)
Guides to terms and techniques for specific media:
            Paintings
            Prints
            Drawings
            Photographs
            Sculpture
            Decorative Arts
Finding Images

More Clark library research guides

Subject Guide

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