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Researching Contemporary Artists

Begin with the following resources to find information on contemporary visual artists. Just-emerging artists may not be documented well or easy to find. Ask for a librarian's help both in using these resources and to find other sources not included in this guide.

• Biography
• Databases
  • Periodical Databases
  • Image Databases
• Alternate Sources
• Theory and Criticism
  • Artists' writings and interviews
  • Dictionaries
  • Surveys
• Streaming Video and Sound

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Biography

The following resources summarize information on contemporary artists and their work. These are usually used in conjunction with more in-depth information resources such as artist's monographs (a book dedicated to one artist), exhibition catalogs (individual or group shows), museum catalogs, periodicals, and viable free-web resources.

Note that most of these works tend to include more established artists.

Print and Online Reference Resources

Grosenick, Uta. Art Now (directory to international contemporary artists)
HUNT FA-REF N6490.4 .A37 VOLS. 1-2, 2002; 2005

Pendergast, Sara and Pendergast,Tom, eds. Contemporary Artists. Chicago: St. James Press, 2002.
HUNT FA-REF-4 N6490 .C6567 2002, 2 Vols.
Previous editions by various editors are shelved next to this current edition.
An excellent way to begin research on a contemporary artist. Contains comprehensive biographical information, individual and group shows, publications on and by the artist and a summary statement about the artists work.

Evans, Martin Marix ed., et.al. Contemporary Photographers. New York: St. James Press, 1995.
HUNT FA-REF-4 TR139 .C664 1995
Same excellent format as in Contemporary Artists (see above).

Cream Series: Contemporary Art in Culture. (London: Phaidon)
Cream (1998) HUNT FA-REF-4 N6490 .C729 1998
Fresh Cream (2000) HUNT-FA-REF-4 709.04 F885
Cream 3 (2003) HUNT-FA-REF-4 N6490 .C742 2003

Oxford Art online
Four encyclopedias that you can search at one time.

Grosenick, Uta, ed. Women Artists in the 20th and 21st Century. Köln : Taschen, 2001.
HUNT FA-REF-4 N8354 .W653 2001

Gaze, Delia, ed. Dictionary of Women Artists. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997.
HUNT FA-REF-4 N8354 .D53 1997

Riggs, Thomas,ed.St. St. James Guide to Black Artists. Detroit: St. James Press, 1997
HUNT FA-REF-4 N40 .S78 1997
Same excellent format as in Contemporary Artists (see above).

Sitsky, Larry, ed. Music of the Twentieth Century Avant Garde: A Biocritical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn. and London: Greenwood Press, 2002.
HUNT FA-REF-4 ML390 .M9574 2002

Who's Who in American Art. New York: R.R. Bowker. Annual.
HUNT FA-REF-4 N6536 .W5
Very brief information

Who's Who in Art. London: The Art Trade Press, Ltd. Annual.
HUNT FA-REF-4 N40 .W6
Very brief information

You also may want to try this link:

Biographical Information Online (interdisciplinary biographical reference guide)
A guide to full-text and citation biographical databases across disciplines available to Carnegie Mellon users.

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Databases

Note: For a full list of arts and other databases available to Carnegie Mellon users, go to Arts Databases by Name.

Cameo (Carnegie Mellon library catalog online)
Contemporary art is a collecting priority for the University Libraries, so Cameo is a good place to start in finding artist monographs (books on one artist), exhibition catalogs (on individual artists and group shows) and other works such as recordings, videos and CD's.

Periodical Databases
Periodical literature is one of the best ways to look for more in-depth information on just-emerging artists because journals, magazines and newspapers are published more frequently (that is, periodically - thus the term, periodical) and tends to be current or even up-to-the-minute. Some of these databases are full-text and/or in PDF format. Note: If you don't find an article online, check the University Libraries e-journals list for alternative sources.

Periodicals: Art

Art Abstracts (1984-present)
Find articles, reviews, and art reproductions in 300+ key international arts periodicals covering all aspects of art and art history including related disciplines of architecture, archeology, design, film, museology and photography.

Art Index Retrospective (1929-1984)
Contains the same kinds of information as Art Abstracts (above).

Bibliography of the History of Art
Very scholarly and international in scope. This database may be hit or miss for finding information on very contemporary artists.

ArtBibliographies Modern 1974-present (updated irregularly)
Journal articles, exhibition catalogs, exhibition reviews, books, dissertations and essays in books or exhibition catalogs. Covers modern and contemporary art, art history, photography and design beginning with artists and movements in the late 19th century, and photography since it's invention in 1839.

International Index to the Performing Arts (1998-present)
Covers nearly all aspects of the world of the performing arts, except music. Both scholarly and popular subjects are addressed. The database of current coverage indexes articles from more than 140 international performing arts periodicals from 9 countries, and also indexes feature performing arts articles and obituaries appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Most records include an abstract in addition to the citation. The retrospective database draws citations from 46 periodicals and dates back to 1864.

Periodicals Interdisciplinary

Proquest Direct (Periodical database)
Indexes a large segment of news resources. Many articles full-text or in PDF format.

Wilson Select Plus (Periodical database)
Indexes a wide selection of arts and humanities periodicals. All articles found here are completely full-text or PDF format.

Image Databases

Images on artists and their works abound everywhere in print, online and on the free-web. Ask a librarian for help in locating the best resources and/or visit the University Libraries Visual Resources Collection web site
for more comprehensive look at good image resources.

The following are image databases with high resolution images you may want to check before you start perusing the free-web.


ArtStor (Andrew Mellon Foundation)
A growing image library containing approximately 300,000 images pertaining to art, architecture and archeology. Much of this collection is historical, but you will have some luck finding contemporary artists here by searching "all collections" in the database

Digital Image Database (University Libraries, Slide Collection,
Carnegie Mellon)
A growing collection of images from the Slide Collection available to authenticated Carnegie Mellon users. To date there are 4,000 images in the database, but most of the collection is still not digitized. Contact Amy Mans in the Slide Libraryfor research help in locating very contemporary work.

Grove Art Online Image Search
As of 2005, Grove Art encyclopedia online has begun adding images within the text of articles in addition to linking these comprehensive image sites:-Art Image Links includes international museum and gallery websites selected by the editors of Grove-Art Resources contains 90,000 images in art history, with a good 20th century representation-The Bridgeman Art Library contains 100,000 art images from major international museums, galleries and auction houses.

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Alternate Sources

If you can't find information in some of the basic resources above, try any of these alternatives:

• Browse the Hunt location FA-REF-4 N500's-N6000's
  behind the Arts Reference Desk
  
  This range of call number includes:

• Major biennial/triennial exibition catalogs
  e.g. Whitney Biennial, Documenta, Venice Biennial (Bienale di Venezia), Carnegie International…
• Contemporary or modern art history surveys
• Subject-specific surveys (e.g. a survey on installation art)
• Selected major gallery or museum catalogs

• Browse the Current Journals section of Hunt Library on the 4th floor or recent back issues of journals on the 3rd floor of Hunt.

• Art: A Research Guide
  • Basic Reference Resources
  • see also resources By Topic

• Search other local library catalogs or WorldCat to find publications on artists in libraries all over the U.S. Use Interlibrary Loan to request needed material.

• Free links on the Worldwide web
  • Here are a few examples of resources that are free on the web and reliable. Use these alternatively with established print resources, databases or online resources you trust.
    
    
    • Google museums, galleries and exhibitions by name to access information about artists exhibitions or their permanent collections
      !!For example: The-artists.org (cited below) hosts the extensive online Documenta Archive.
      
      
    • Artcylopedia (John Malyon, Alberta, Canada)
      Free-web encyclopedia of thousands of links to artists and their work with introductory biographies for each artist.
      Includes a glossary and handy gateway to museum links worldwide.

      the-artists.org
      A free-web resource with 20th-21st century artists biographies and photo portraits, selected images of artists works. Also includes images and links via art movements or medium. Site began in 1998, based in the Netherlands and is hosted at Hostmysite.com in the United States. Partners with the for-profit sector, so expect promos and advertisements that may not be related to your search. Artists and galleries can also pay to be included in the site.

  • !! Know how to evaluate what you find. Look at the guide, Evaluating Web Information http://www.library.cmu.edu/Research/Arts/Art/Web%20evaluation.html

    
    

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Theory and Criticism

There are many good reference resources you might begin with in order to gain access to writings, theories and documents on contemporary artists. Here are a few basic references you might consider in browsing some theoretical aspects of contemporary art. Ask a librarian for more help on how to locate critical works on contemporary artists.

Dictionaries

Atkins, Robert. ArtSpeak: a Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords, 1945 to the present. New York: Abbeville, 1997.
FA-REF-4 N6490 .A87 1997

Daly, Steven and Wice, Nathaniel. alt.culture: an a-z guide to the '90s- underground, online, and over-the counter. NY: New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
FA-REF-4 HQ 2042.W53

Mora, Gilles. Photospeak: a Guide to Ideas, Movements and Techniques of Photography, 1839 to the Present. New York: Abbeville, 1998.
FA-REF-4 TR15 .M63 1998

Nelson, Robert S. and Richard Schiff. Critical Terms for Art History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
FA-REF-4 N34 .C75 2003

Walker, John A. Glossary of Art, Architecture and Design since 1945. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1992.
FA-REF-4 N34 .W34 1992

Surveys

Art: A Research Guide: Surveys, Post 1940

 

Critical Writings: Compliations

Alberro, Alexander and Stimson, Blake, eds. Conceptual Art : A Critical Anthology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999.
FA-REF-4 N6494 .C63 C597 1999

Bradley, Will and Esche, Charles eds. Art and Social Change: A Critical Reader. Millbank, London: Tate Publishing, 2007.

Gayford, Martin and Wright, Karen, eds. The Grove Book of Art Writing: Brilliant Writing on Art from Pliny the Elder to Damien Hirst. New York: Grove Press, 1998.
FA-REF-4 N7443 .G727 2000

Harrison, Charles and Wood, Paul, ed. Art in Theory, 1900-1990
and Art in Theory, 1900-2000. Oxford and Cambridge: Blackwell 1993 and Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003
FA-REF-4 N6490 .A7167 1993; 2003

Hassan, Salah and Dadi, Iftikhar. Unpacking Europe: Towards a Critical Reading. Rotterdam, The Netherlands : Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen : NAi Publishers, 2001.
FA-REF-4 N6758 .M87

Murray, Chris, ed. Key Writers on Art: The Twentieth Century. London and New York; Routledge, 2003.
FA-REF-4 N6490 .A7167 1993; 2003

Prosyniuk, Joann et.al., ed. Modern Arts Criticism: a Biographical and Critical Guide to Painters, Sculptors, Photographers and Architects from the Beginning of the Modern Era to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991.
FA-REF-4 N6489 .M63 1991 3 Volumes.

Robinson, Hilary, ed. Feminism-Art-Theory: An Anthology 1968-2000. Oxford, England and Malden, Massachusettes: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.
FA-REF-4 N72 .F45 F442

Smith, Paul and Wilde, Carolyn, eds. A Companion to Art Theory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002.
FA-REF-4 N61.C58

Artist Writings or Interviews: Compliations

Stiles, Kristine and Selz, Peter, ed. Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: a Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
FA-REF-4 N6490 .T492 1996

Robertson, Jack S. Twentieth-Century Artists on Art: an Index to Writings, Statements, and Interviews by Artists, Architects, and Designers. Second enlarged edition. New York : G.K. Hall ; London : Prentice Hall International, 1996.
FA-REF-4 NX456 .R59 1996

Robinson, Hilary, ed. Feminism-Art-Theory: An Anthology 1968-2000. Oxford, England and Malden, Massachusettes: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.
FA-REF-4 N72 .F45 F442 2001

PressPLAY: Contemporary Artists in Conversation. New York, NY: Phaidon, 2005
FA-REF-4 N6490 .P74 2005

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Streaming Video and Sound

UbuWeb
Avant-garde visual, concrete and sound poetry, film, video and more

 

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