Skip to Main Content

Chicago referencing: Referencing particular types of material

Referencing: creating footnotes and bibliographies in the Chicago style,

 

Contents of this page

AI tools

artnet database entries

Artprice database entries

ArtTactic reports

Exhibition catalogues

Interviews and transcripts'Lectures

Legal material

One source quoted in another

Sales catalogues

Wall text from galleries, and similar material

 

AI tools

Important: please ensure you have read and understood SIA's guidelines for the use of AI, available on Canvas.

 

Note

Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, March 7, 2023, https://chat.openai.com/chat. 

 

Bibliography entry

Not needed.

 

 

artnet database entries

Notes

artnet, 'Faith Ringgold.'

artnet, 'Price Database Fine Art and Design.'

  • use the second example above if citing one of the artnet databases as a whole

 

Bibliography

artnet. 'Faith Ringgold.' Auction results. Accessed 22 October 2021. https://www.artnet.com/.

artnet. 'Faith Ringgold. Listen to the Trees.' Accessed 22 October 2021. https://www.artnet.com/.

  • use the above format when citing a record for a specific artwork

artnet. 'Price Database Fine Art and  and Design.' Accessed 22 October 2021. https://www.artnet.com/.

artnet 'Price Database Decorative Art.' Accessed various dates June-August 2021.  https://www.artnet.com/.

  • the general URL shown above can be given for all artnet database citations

 

Artprice database entries

Note

Artprice, 'Edmonia Lewis.'

Bibliography entry

Artprice, 'Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907).' Accessed 28 January 2022. http://www.artprice.com/.

  • use the above format both for the landing page for an artist, and their decision support tools page
  • the general URL shown above can be given for all data retrieved from the Artprice database
  • when citing a graph or chart from Artprice, it will often be preferable to reproduce the graph as an illustration.  Citation information will then appear in the illustration caption, rather than as a footnote and bibliography entry

 

Artprice - the database as a whole

Note

Artprice.

  • the  above is all that is needed if citing the Artprice database as a whole

Bibliography entry

Artprice. Accessed 28 January 2022. http://www.artprice.com/.

 

ArtTactic reports

Note

ArtTactic, Impressionist & Modern Art, 12.

  • when citing multiple ArtTactic reports with similar titles, remember that in order to differentiate between them you may need to give fairly full titles in your footnotes

Bibliography

ArtTactic. Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sales in London: June 2018. London: ArtTactic, 2018. https://arttactic.com/.

  • if the period covered by the report (e.g. June 2018) appears on the cover, treat it as part of the title, as in the example above, even if this date is not adjacent to the title and does not look like part of the title
  • treat ArtTactic as the author, unless an individual author is mentioned on the cover or first page.  There is no need to mention an analyst or researcher listed on the report's final page
  • the year of publication is the copyright date (©2018) given on the report's final page
  • the general URL shown above can be given for all ArtTactic reports.

 

Exhibition catalogues

 

Interviews and transcripts

For some MA programmes, transcripts of any interviews you have conducted and have cited in your dissertation must be included as appendices.  For other MA programmes, transcripts are optional. Ensure you are aware of the rules for your programme.

When transcripts are included, each should be in a separate appendix, except in the case of very short interviews, which may be grouped together in a single appendix. Appendices should be designated by either Arabic numerals or letters.

When referring to an interview transcript that is included in your dissertation, you do not need to include a footnote or bibliography entry. Simply add a suitable parenthetical note in your text, such as (see Appendix 2) or (see page 83, below).

If referring to an interview you have conducted, but where a transcript is not included in your dissertation, see Chicago 14.211, plus 14.212-14.214, for citation rules.

 

Lectures

Note

Hacking, 'Photography from China.'

Bibliography

Hacking, Juliet. "Photography from China.'  Lecture delivered at Sotheby's Institute of Art, London, 21 February 2022.

or, in the case of a lecture delivered by Zoom:

Hacking, Juliet. 'Photography from China.'  Lecture delivered at Sotheby's Institute of Art, London, 21 February 2022. Via Zoom.

 

Legal material

The Chicago Manual does not provide full guidelines for legal documents such as legislation or the official records of court cases. Instead it advises use of specialised legal citation guides.  SIA does not require the use of such guides.  You can improvise your own common-sense format for footnotes and bibliography entries, making sure you include key information such as name of legislation or court case, date and, if available, URL.

 

One source quoted in another

What do you do if you want to use a quotation from one author that you have found in a later work by another author? 

Firstly, try to locate the original text.  The later author may have taken the quotation out of context or even made an error in transcribing it.  You can ask the library if you need help finding the original.

Occasionally, however, it is not possible to access the original.  In this case you should only the later source, which you have been able to consult, in your bibliography.

Because the earlier source does not appear in your bibliography, you need to create a fuller footnote than usual, as in this example:

 

Louis Zukofsky, 'Sincerity and Objectification,' Poetry 37 (February 1931): 269, quoted in Costello, Marianne Moore, 78.

 

In this case, the original source is a journal article.  More examples of full footnotes, for books, journal articles and other common kinds of source, are in the Chicago Manual's sample citations section. The main part of the Manual has even more examples, for a very wide range of materials.

 

Sales catalogues 

 

 

Treat the auction house as the publisher. Include the full name of the auction house as given on the catalogue you are citing. 

When an auction takes place in an auction house’s own premises, give the location of those premises as the place of publication, e.g. London, Hong Kong or New York. 

When an auction takes place elsewhere, give the location of the auction house’s principal premises in that country as the place of publication. For instance, in the case of an auction taking place at an English country house, give London as the place of publication. 

When referring to a specific lot, there is no need to give page numbers.  

When a sale takes place over multiple days, give the date as follows: 8-9 November 2004. 

If in an assignment you cite more than one sale with the same name, at the same auction house, , you will need to include the sale date in the note. 

 

Example: entire auction catalogue 

Note 

Sotheby’s, Surrealist Art. 

Bibliography entry 

Sotheby’s. Surrealist Art Evening Sale: Auction in London, 26 February 2019. London: Sotheby’s, 2019. 

  • count as the title all text on the title page up to and including the sale date

 

Example: specific lot in sales catalogue 

Note 

Sotheby’s, Surrealist Art, lot 6. 

Bibliography entry (no need to give lot number(s)) 

Sotheby’s. Surrealist Art Evening Sale: Auction in London, 26 February 2019. London: Sotheby’s, 2019. 

 

Example: specific lot on auction house website

Note

Sotheby's, 'Contemporary Curated,' lot 4.

Bibliography entry 

Sotheby's. 'Contemporary Curated: Live Auction 2 October 2020, 3:00PM BST, New York.'  https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/contemporary-curated-3.

  • there is no need to include lot number(s) in your bibliography, unlike your footnotes
  • if citing only one lot, give the URL for that lot; otherwise, give the URL for the sale as a whole, as in the example above

 

Example: essay by named author in sales catalogue 

Note 

 Minter, 'Yeats,' 15. 

Bibliography entry 

Minter, Charlie. “John Butler Yeats: The Artist.” In Yeats: The Family Collection; Auction in London, 27 September 2017, by Sotheby’s, 14-15. London: Sotheby’s, 2017. 

 

Longer notes: for use in assignments which have no bibliography 

Sotheby’s, Surrealist Art Evening Sale: Auction in London, 26 February 2019 (London: Sotheby’s, 2019). 

Sotheby’s, Surrealist Art Evening Sale: Auction in London, 26 February 2019 (London: Sotheby’s, 2019), lot 5. 

Sotheby's, 'Contemporary Curated: Live Auction 2 October 2020, 3:00PM BST, New York,'  lot 4, https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/contemporary-curated-3/barkley-l-hendricks-latin-from-manhattan-the-bronx.

Charlie Minter, 'John Butler Yeats: The Artist,' in Yeats: The Family Collection; Auction in London, 27 September 2017, by Sotheby’s (London: Sotheby’s, 2017), 14. 

 

Wall text from galleries, and similar material

It is not compulsory to create a footnote: it may be easier to specify where the text is from in the body of your assignment.  However, if it will be tidier, you can move this information into a footnote.  If you do so, the footnote does not have to be formatted in any particular way. In either case, if the text has a named author, mention them.

There is usually no need to create a bibliography entry.