Art History and Visual Arts

Locate exhibition and collection catalogs, as well as handbooks, using a variety of searching strategies.  

Museum catalogs

• Search as an author using the name of the museum or gallery.
  
  

Handbooks

• Use a keyword search adding "handbook," "guide" or "collection" to the name of the museum.

example: Smart Museum of Art collection
 

Exhibition catalogs

• For catalogs that  feature the works of individual artists, search for the artist's name as a keyword or subject with the word "exhibitions"

• Exhibition venues are often named in subject terms, for example, Musee du Louvre.
   
• Try searching by publisher for gallery catalogs, for example, Gagosian Gallery
   
• Find thematic exhibition catalogs using a combination of subject and key word terms, for example:
  World War, 1914-1918  and posters and exhibitions

A catalogue raisonne is a comprehensive catalog of an artist's work.

• To cast the widest net for catalogues raisonnes, do a keyword search for the artist's name plus the word "raisonne".

example: picasso raisonnes

• If a catalogue raisonne doesn't exist for your artist, try a keyword search using complete works to find the most comprehensive catalog or monograph on the artist.

example: duchamp complete works

• Browse by artist (last name, first name) as subject to see a list of our holdings broken down by date, topic and format.