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Research Guides@Tufts

Art History 101: Historiography and Methodology: Home

 

Welcome to my Research Sources page for FAH101: Art History Historiography and Methodology!

Chao Chen, your Art History Research Librarian
Email: chao.chen@tufts.edu; Tel: 617• 627• 2057

 chao chen  

Overviews | Bibliographies | Visuals

Overviews

  • This type of sources offer overviews and summaries; use them to gather, possibly, the following information:
    1. An art historian's contribution in the field of art history.

    * their "new" approach/method/theory
    * their "impact" on the scholarship of a particular type of art
    2. Seminal publications by and about an art historian (as mentioned in the essays and listed in the bibliographies)

    * note authors/scholars who are experts on the art historian or the theory
    * note major journals in the fields, where you are likely to find current scholarship on your topics.
    * Are there scholars/journals from other fields as well?
    3. People, events, ... related to an art historian

    * how an art historian is shaped by their education;
    * who or what influenced their theory;
    * what was the field of study like prior.

 

Bibliographies & Review of Books

  • 1.  You might consider such questions as:
    • Does the reviewer agree or disagree with the book’s theses and approaches?
    • Does the  reviewer provide new evidence not included in the book?
    • What does  the reviewer see as the relevance of the book?
    • What  questions not included in the book does the reviewer identify?
    • Based on  this book review, what do you think are a few of the major questions or  methodologies being used in your chosen field? 
    2.

    What's the next larger context?

    When there Aren't any (or many) books published on your topic, try place your idea in the knowledge hierarchy. For examples:

    connect Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling with 16th-century Italian art, focusing on patronage in Rome during the Renaissance and Baroque periods;

    or, dealing with influential Italian artists through history, etc.?

Primary Sources and More Resources Guides

Tufts libraries hold many primary materials, digital and in-print. For examples:

  • American History, 1493-1945.
    Correspondence, diaries, government documents, business records, books, pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, photographs, artwork and maps
  • American Indian Histories and Culture, 1500-1998.
    Manuscripts, maps, atlases, legal documents, diaries, artwork, photographs, and newspapers
  • American West, 1718-1968.
    Manuscripts, rare books, pamphlets, periodicals, broadsides, ephemera, maps and illustrative material

 

More Resources Pages:

Serivces and Tools

Evaluationg Information

Books | Articles

Finding Books    

Path of Discovery in JumboSearch, (our book catalog and more)

  1. Find a relevant book (e.g., from your assigned readings?)
  2. Note the descriptive language of the Catalog record.
  3. Use that language in further searches

e.g., Click on subjects in the record to see further results and related topics; and/or combine these subject phrases with other keywords for a more focused search:

Title: Exploring the invisible: art, science, and the spiritual
Author: Gamwell, Lynn
Subjects: Art and science 
  Art, Abstract
  Spirituality in art
  • 1.

    Monographs—comprehensive and extensive study of a singular topic; you can use this kind of books to fill in gaps in your knowledge about a subject. e.g.

    Murray, Stephen. Notre-Dame, Cathedral of Amiens: The Power of Change in Gothic. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
    2.

    “Thematic Studies” are books of chapters and essays related to each other with a sustained argument; you can pick the relevant chapter or essay for, often, Thought-provoking Arguments on a topic. e.g.,

    Raguin, Virginia Chieffo, Kathryn Brush, and Peter Draper. Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings. Toronto, Ont: University of Toronto Press, 1995.
    3. Publication types reveal how (and when, and where) a given topic has been studied:

    In what types of journals and publications (besides art history journals) did you find relevant work? What does this suggest about research on your topic?

    What sorts of audiences seem to be addressed in work on this topic? How can you tell?

    What aspects of the search results surprised you? Why? Did “peripheral materials” lead you anywhere? How?

    Based on your search, how would you characterize the main approaches to your topic? What do you think are some of the central debates in the study of your topic? What is your evidence for thinking so?
    4.

    Exhibition and museum catalogues are uniquely valuable sources, some of which serve as case studies for this course. These catalogues may include:

    * Fundamental data on each work of art;

    * Official images of the artworks;

    * Curatorial statements/essays;

    * essays by art critics/historians;

    * list of scholarly publications on the art,

    * sometimes, artists’ interviews,

    * and more.

 

Finding Journal Articles 

1. All Subjects

2. History of Art Databases

Tip: Crash the Research Party

Subject-specific databases such as Art & Architecture Source. is where art historians and scholars are having their research party, sharing with each other their scholarship. Throw art historians/artists/ their works that interest you into the database; then "listen to" the conversations about them: how scholars have studied them? If you don’t yet have specifics in mind, entering keywords of topical themes, and observe which art historians/artists/artworks are being associated with these topics, how and why?

3. Related Subject-Databases:

 

 

  • First Group of Search Words:

    *People: an artist, a (literary) writer, an architect, an art historian/critic, a filmmaker/director, authors of books/articles, etc.

    *Objects: buildings, works of art, movies, novels, titles of books/articles, etc.

    A search simply by names of people or titles focuses on an essential element in a topic, while opens to all possible perspectives and approaches towards a subject. From the breadth of such search results, you have the flexibility in pursuing any narrower focus that interests you.

    Second Group of Search Words:

    *Theoretical approaches /Theme/Genre/Style/Case Studies: post-colonialism, road films, video art, magic realism, Gothic architecture, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston as a case study in discussing a current art museum issue, etc.

    *Time/Cultural/Geographical locations: medieval Spain, etc.

    Approach a topic from many contexts/ positions in order to collect sufficient evidence and give your argument and reasoning depth.

    Examine search results to discover the current scholarship on your topic: "issues" addressed; the central debates on these issues, evidence and methods applied in analysis of these issues, and so on.

    Connections:

    A logical combination of any of the above elements to state their relations and contextualize your search.

    Take the artist Lorna Simpson as an example:

    feminism (method/theory to be applied in your analysis);
    women, racism, stereotype (an issue/problem);
    Human figure, Human body (a visual theme).

 

  • 1. limit your search to Reviews or Book Reviews
    2. Use keywords such as "review", "current research".

 

  • A Few Notes:

    Popular Press vs Scholarly Journals

    For some current artists, there may not be much scholarship on their works yet. You are more likely to find exhibition reviews in popular press and trade publications. However, there are surely scholarship on the same types of works from the past.

    Exhibition reviews in popular press are likely opinion pieces. Ask yourself if these reviews are seeking to promote the artist, to criticize him/her, to judge his/her work, or simply to inform. Have the reviews changed over time? Why? How would you use these "public receptions" with other scholarly criticism?

    Two sample reviews:

    Tuchman, Phyllis. "Review: Rothko Rising." Art Journal 58, no. 1 (Spring, 1999): pp. 110-112.

    Johnson, Ken. "ART IN REVIEW; Mark Rothko -- 'A Painter's Progress : The Year 1949'." The New York Times, February 6, 2004, sec. E; Part 2; Leisure/Weekend Desk.

    Source of the two samples: Barnet, Sylvan, A Short Guide to Writing About Art (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2011), p169.

    Popular Press as Primary Sources

    If you are examining the public/popular reception (vs critical responses) of an artist throughout time, popular press are your primary sources.

    One past research paper was looking at contemporaneous reviews of Tissot's 1885 exhibition entitled Femme à Paris, held at the Galerie Sedelmeyer.

    Another project was researching both the critical and popular receptions of particular iconic fashion designers and architects. The historical popular press would be especially relevant.

 

 

**For some very recent artists/artworks or less studied past figures, you might need to use newspapers/magazine; then, apply scholarship on related themes/genres in study these new or old cases.

Current Newspapers

Historical Magazines and Newspapers

**A complete list of newspapers, current and historical.