This guide walks you through the steps of researching an artist and of researching a work of art.
The following resources can provide lots of great biographical information on artists. Check for bibliographies on articles.
In many databases you can narrow your search to certain "content types." Look for:
Off-campus access is limited to SIA faculty, students, and staff, unless otherwise noted.
The more traditional resources in this guide may not cover contemporary artists. A few suggestions are listed below for locating information on contemporary artists.
Cleveland Institute of Art's Contemporary Artist Index is a database that lists over 31,000 artists appearing in more than 1,800 exhibition catalogs and art publications.
Gallery websites will often contain some basic information on the artists they represent. A simple Google search may lead you to an artist's gallery.
If not, try searching for the artist in the ArtNet Artists A-Z list. Artist information will often include a link to a list of dealers representing the artist as in the example below from ArtNet for the artist Rashaad Newsome
One of the dealers listed is Marlborough Gallery. If you go to the Marlborough Gallery website, you will find a lot of biographical information provided on the artist's page.
Selected examples of subject search terms to use in databases and library catalogs. Terms can all be modified by place names, e.g., Expatriate artists -- United States. You may also search by the name of an artist, either as an author or as subject.
| African American artists | Cartoonists | Landscape painters |
| African American women artists | Child artists | Lithographers |
| Art teachers | Commercial artists | Mexican American artists |
| Artist colonies | Costume designers | Painters |
| Artists | Designers | Performance artists |
| Artists -- Africa | Engravers | Portrait painters |
| Artists -- Asia | Etchers | Potters |
| Artists -- Biography | Expatriate artists | Pre-Raphaelites |
| Artists -- Europe | Fashion designers | Printmakers |
| Artists -- Great Britain | Fashion illustrators | Sculptors |
| Artists -- New York | Folk artists | Textile designers |
| Artists -- Latin America | Furniture designers | Women artists |
| Artists -- Psychology | Glass artists | Women fashion designers |
| Artists -- United States | Illustrators | Women painters |
| Artists and community | Indian artists | Women potters |
| Artists and patrons | Industrial designers | Women sculptors |
| Artists with disabilities | Interior decorators | Wood-engravers |
| Botanical artists | Jewish artists | Woodworkers |
All Library Guides by Sotheby's Institute of Art New York Library are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 3rd-party content including, but not limited to images and linked items, are subject to their own license terms.
