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	Contemporary Artists - Reference Sources

This guide is intended to help you find information on contemporary artists. It includes a selected list of reference sources which should get you started. Since information of this sort, particularly about younger artists, is often difficult to locate, you may have to use some ingenuity and be persistent.

Searching for books

ROGER is the UCSD on-line catalog. Use ROGER to find materials located at the UCSD campus. ROGER lists books, periodicals and non-print materials and indicates whether the material is available. MELVYL" is the on-line catalog for all UC campuses. MELVYL lists books, periodicals and non-print materials as well as indexes for articles in databases such as Mags, News, Current Contents, Art (Art Index) etc. Using MELVYL you can connect to other on-line catalogs and library systems.

Subject headings

The Subject headings used in the on-line catalogs are taken from the Library of Congress Subject Headings list (LCSH), a four-volume set of red books located near the AAL Information and Service Desk.

Representative subject headings for this subject are:

Art, Modern--20th Century Happening (Art)

Minimal art Fluxus

Video art Artists' books

Serial art Installations

Mail art Performance art

Computer art Body art

Conceptual Art Earthworks (Art)

For additional subject headings, consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

A complete list of art movements are shown as "see also" under Art, Modern- 20th century.

Search for information on artists in several ways:

ROGER (UCSD only) MELVYL all UC's, plus Stanford and CA State Library)

by author Abramovic, Marina fi pa Abramovic, Marina

(books by artists)

by words Abramovic Marina fi tw Marina Abramovic

in title or or

Marina Abramovic Abramovic Marina

by subject Abramovic, Marina fi su Abramovic, Marina

(books about artists)

Search for information on specific artists by doing a subject search. Some examples of subject headings are:

Ethnic art - United States Art, Jewish

Indians of North America, Art Mexican American Art

Afro-American Artists Art, British

MELVYL databases: for current events, exhibits, new artists

MAGS: 2,105,478 magazines and scholarly Abstracts available for many

journal citations articles.

NEWS: Five major U.S. newspapers 2,447,542 citations from 1982 to present available.

CC: 6,500 scholarly journals Over 5 million citations from 1989 to present.

ART: 200 international arts publications Over 279,000 citations

Selected Art Periodicals

Afterimage TR640 .A2 Nike NX1 .A1 .N4

Art News N1 .A6 Oxford Art Journal N1 .O98

Bomb NX458 .B65 Parachute NX1 .P34

Flash Art N1 .A1 .F53 .C5 Parkett NX3 .P37

Frame/work TR1 .F73 Public Culture NX180 .S6 .P8

Leonardo N1 .A1 .L4 Third Text NX596.3 .A1 .T55

New Art Examiner NX1 .N42 Whitewalls NX1 .W5

Indexes

• Artbibliographies Modern. Oxford, England: 1973-present (semiannual).

CD-ROM 1984- /Print: AAL Index Table N6490z .A7.

Abstracts of the current literature of modern art, photography and design. Strong in documentation of 20th C. material. As of 1988, dropped 19th century and architecture coverage and increased photography coverage. Dictionary arrangement of artists and subjects. Indexes periodicals, books, exhibitions catalogs, theses, essays, and festschriften. Entries often contain abstracts and listings of number of illustrations in article.

• Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Institute for Scientific Information (annual). CD-ROM: ask at SSHL Ref desk /Print: SSHL Ref. AI 3 .A7

Index Table 4. Issued in three parts: Citation index, Permuterm Subject Index, and Source Index.

• Art Index. New York: H.W. Wilson.

Available on MELVYL (Art) covering materials published from 1984 onward/Print: AAL Index Table N7425z .A74. 1972-1994.

Index to domestic and foreign periodicals, some yearbooks and museum bulletins. Alphabetical listings of subjects, artists, and authors, includes cross references. Lists reproductions, articles, and book reviews, and information on exhibitions.

• Bibliography of the History of Art: BHA. (formerly RILA) Santa Monica: Getty Art History Information Program; 1979-present (annual). AAL Ref CD-ROM: covering materials published from 1973 to present/Print: AAL Index Table N7510z .B53.

Covers worldwide literature on Western art in all media from late antiquity (4th century) to the present. Includes books, periodical articles, conference proceedings, Festschriften, collected essays, exhibition catalogues, museum publications, and doctoral dissertations. Reprints, translation, and revised editions are also cited. Reviews of books and exhibitions, obituaries, interviews, and published lectures are covered. Includes descriptive abstracts. Classified arrangement with author and subject indexes. Cumulative indexes in separate volumes.

• Lauck, Johhny. Comic Book Index. Battle Creek, MI.: Alternative Concepts, 1996.

AAL Ref PN6725 .L36 C66 1996.

• Parry, Pamela Jeffcott. Contemporary Art and Artist: An Index to Reproductions. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978.

AAL Ref N6490 .P3234.

• Photographers on Disc: an international index of photographers, exhibitions and collections. New York: G. K. Hall, 1997.

AAL Ref CD-ROM: based on the George Eastman House interactive catalog, an ongoing documentation project conducted by the Eastman House in Rochester, New York.

• Robertson, Jack. Twentieth-Century Artists on Art: an Index to Artists' Writings, Statements and Interviews. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985.

AAL Ref NX456 .R59 1996.

Lists approximately 14,400 artists alphabetically with 27,500 citations to primary documents from 930 publications. Includes artists of over sixty nationalities practicing all visual art media including painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, video, performance and earthworks.

Bibliographies

• Bell, Doris. Contemporary Art Trends 1960-1980; a guide to sources. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1981.

AAL Ref N6490z .B44.

• Chiarmonte, Paula. Women Artists in the United States: a selective bibliography and resource guide on the fine and decorative arts, 1750-1986. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990.

AAL Ref N6536z .W65 1990.

Divided into two parts. Part one includes information on Feminist art criticism, women's art organizations, galleries, and alternative spaces and lists biographical reference tools. Part two has extensive entries on Photography and Performance art and includes an index which focuses on minority art and artists. The minorities headings are subdivided into African American, Latina, Native American, and Asian American art and artists.

• College Art Association. Gay and Lesbian Caucus. Bibliography of Gay and Lesbian Art. New York: College Art Association, 1994.

AAL Ref N72 .H64 .C64 1994.

1,200 entries are divided into seven sections that list all periods of Western and non-Western art, from antiquity to the present. Concentrating mainly on painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture and photography, the work also contains sections devoted to Aids and the arts, video, film, commercial arts, advertising, fashion and body art, theory and criticism.

• Findlay, James A. Modern Latin American Art: a bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983.

AAL Ref N6502.5z .F56 1983.

The entries cover the history of twentieth-century Latin American art and the transitional period of the late nineteenth century when appropriate. The bibliography is arranged first by broad geographic area and then by country. Within each geographic area or country subarrangement is by subject. Each subject is subdivided by type of material.

• Havlice, Patrice Pate. Earth Scale Art; a bibliography, directory of artists, and index of reproductions. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1984.

AAL Ref Bio N6494 .E27z .H37.

• Igoe, Lynn . 250 Years of Afro-American Art: an annotated bibliography. New York: Bowker, 1981.

AAL Ref N6538 W5z I38

Lists books and articles on individual artists, including both living and dead. Organized in three parts: 1) basic bibliography of books, exhibition catalogs, and periodical and newspaper articles that refer to more than one artist; 2) subject list; 3) individual artists, the most extensive part.

• Goldman, Shifra. Arte Chicano: a comprehensive annotated bibliography of Chicano Art, 1965-1981. Berkeley, CA.: Chicano Studies Library Publications Unit, University of California, 1985.

AAL Ref NX512.3 .M4z .G65.

Arranged alphabetically by subject, author/artist and title. The subject headings were taken from the Chicano Thesaurus. Citations provide complete bibliographic data and includes a brief descriptive annotation.

• Gray, John. Action Art: a bibliography of artist's performance from futurism to fluxus and beyond. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993.

AAL Ref NX600 .P47z .G73.

Organized into three sections. The first section focuses on the formative years of artists' performance. Section two chronicles Action Art between the mid 1950's to the mid 1970's. The third section is devoted to biographical and critical studies of more than 115 individual performance artists and artists groups.

• Langer, Cassandra. Feminist Art Criticism: an annotated bibliography. New York, NY: G.K. Hall, 1993.

AAL Ref N72 .F45z .L36.

• Lockard, Ray Anne. Aids and Art: a bibliography.

AAL Ref N72 .A34z .L63.

• McLellan, Hillary. Virtual Reality: a selected bibliography. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications, 1992.

AAL Ref QA76.9 .H85 .M4z.

Includes entries for topics such as Computers Animation and Virtual Environments, Architectural Walk-Through, Pixel-Planes, Tactile Interface, and Cyberspace.

• Pincus, Robert. Art Reviews and Commentaries from the San Diego Union. 2 vol. Denver: W. C. Thomas, 1993.

AAL Ref N7445.2 .P56.

A collection of reviews that date from 1985-1991. Entries are listed by date of review and includes a cumulative index.

• Zippay, Lori, ed. Artists' Video; an International Guide. New York: Abbeville Press, 1991.

AAL Ref N6494 .V53 .A78.

Catalog of Electronic Arts Intermix's international collection of artists' videotapes alphabetically lists over 1,500 works from the late 1960's to the early 1990's by more than 120 artists from the United States, Europe, Latin America, Australia and Japan. Each entry includes substantial biographical information as well as a short analysis of selected videotapes and an extensive bibliography that includes books; anthologies; exhibition and festival catalogs; articles and essays; special video issues of publications; periodicals and distribution catalogs.

Biographical Sources

• Artist Biographies Master Index Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 1986.

AAL Ref Bio N40 .A78 1986.

Consolidated index to more than 275,000 biographical sketches of artists, living and dead, as they appear in a selection of principal current and retrospective biographical dictionaries devoted to the fine and applied arts.

• Cerrito, Joanne, ed. Contemporary Artists. 4th ed. New York: St. James, 1996.

AAL Ref Bio N6490 .C6567.

International in scope. Gives biographical information, list of individual exhibitions, selected group exhibitions, bibliographies, and comment on work by the artist and a scholar or critic. Bibliographies include books by and about artist, exhibition catalogs, and journal articles. Contains examples of work.

• Contemporary Art of Africa. New York: Abrams, 1996.

AAL Ref Bio N7391.65 .C66 1996.

• Cummings, Paul. Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.

AAL Ref N6512 .C854.

Alphabetical in format, the artists' entries include where they studied art, and with whom; teaching experience; commissions executed; scholarships and awards; artists' address and their dealer of record; important one-man retrospectives; group exhibitions and bibliography.

• Gumbo Ya Ya: an anthology of contemporary African-American women artists. New York: Midmarch Arts Press, 1995.

AAL Ref Bio N6538 .N5 G85 1995.

• Havlice, Patricia Pale. Index to Artistic Biography. New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1981. (includes 1981 supplement).

AAL Ref Bio N40 H38.

Indexes 64 (plus 70 more in the supplement) biographical works in ten languages. Contains artists names, dates, nationality, media and letter code referring to biographical source referenced. Works are listed by code in front.

• Heller, Jules. North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: a biographical dictionary. New York: Garland, 1995.

• Hesse, Gritta. Kunstler der Jungen Generation/Artists of the "Young Generation." Munich: Saur, 1987.

AAL Ref Bio N6490z .H47 1987.

International in scope. Contains 17,000 entries published through 1985 on work of about 6,500 artists. Gives brief biographical data. Bibliographic entries includes books and journal articles mostly in German, but some in English.

• Lester, Patrick. The Biographical Dictionary of Native American Painters. Tulsa: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.

AAL Ref Bio E54.5 .L47 1995.

• Marks, Claude. World Artists 1950-1980. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1984.

AAL Ref Bio N6489 .M37 1984.

• Marks, Claude. World Artists 1980-1990. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1991.

AAL Ref Bio N6489 .W67.

Substantial and critical articles on "influential" artists. International in scope. Lists exhibitions, collections, and includes bibliography of books and periodical articles about the artist.

• Prosyniuk, Joann, ed. Modern Arts Criticism. 4 vol. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991-.

AAL Ref N6490 .M54.

A biographical and critical guide to painters, sculptors, photographers, and architects from the beginning of the modern era to the present.

• Naylor, Colin, ed. Contemporary Masterworks. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991.

AAL Ref Bio N6490 .C65675 1991.

• Naylor, Colin, ed. Contemporary Designers. Chicago: St. James Press, 1990.

AAL Ref Bio NK1166 .C66 1990.

• Piland, Sherry. Women Artists: an historical, contemporary, and feminist bibliography. 2nd ed. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1994.

AAL Ref Bio N8354z .B32 1994.

• Watson-Jones, Virginia. Contemporary Women Sculptors. Phoenix, Az.: Oryx, 1986.

AAL Ref Bio NB212 .W37 1986.

Entries include information on education and training, individual and group exhibitions, work in public and private collections, awards and teaching positions, and includes a selected bibliography, an artist statement and an example of work.

• Willis-Thomas, Deborah. An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography of Black Photographers, 1940-1980. New York: Garland, 1989.

Ref Bio TR139 .W55 1989.

Continues Black Photographers, 1980-1940. When possible gives biographical information, discussion of work, collections, selected exhibitions, and selected bibliography. Includes entries for photographers about whom very little is known. More than 300 pages of examples of photographs by the artists. Appendixes include bibliography and selected exhibitions 1969-87.

• Who's Who in American Art 1995/96. 20th ed. New York: R. R. Bowker, 1993.

AAL Ref Bio N6536 .W5 V. 1995-1996.

Entries include representatives from all segments of the art world including artists, historians, educators, collectors, librarians, critics, curators and dealers. The biographies are arranged alphabetically and are also indexed by geographic location and professional classification. A necrology is also included, cumulative from 1953.

• Who's Who in Art. 27th ed. Detroit, MI.: Gale, 1996.

AAL Ref Bio N40 .W6 v.27.

• Who's Who in Graphic Art. 2 vol. Zurich: Amstutz & Hedeg Graphics Press, 1982.

AAL Ref Bio NC45 .W5.

• Who's Who in Graphic Design. Zurich: Benteli-Werd Verlags, 1994.

AAL Ref Bio NC999.2 .W56 1994.

Profiles more than 300 leading graphic designers from 46 countires.

Dictionaries

Atkins, Robet. Art Speak: a guide to contemporary ideas, movements, and buzzwords. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990.

AAL Ref N6490 .A87 1990.

Directories

• Art Books, 1950-1979: including an international directory of museum permanent collection catalogs. New York: Bowker, 1979.

AAL Ref N7425z .A73.

• Guide to Women's Art Organizations and Directory for the Arts. New York, Midmarch Associates, 1982.

AAL Ref NX504 .G84.

• Cohen, William. Art of our Time in Southern California: a guide to the documentation of contemporary art. New York: Garland Press, 1986.

A brief guide to research collections in Southern California holding primary or ephemeral source material on contemporary art in the region. These include artists files; slides registries and slide files; oral histories and transcripts; artists' and institutions' papers; films and videos (both documentary and artist-generated), and artists' books.

AAL Ref N6530 .C2 .C62 1986.

• Gould, Cecil, ed. International Directory of Art and Artists. 2 vols. Chicago: St. James, 1990.

AAL Ref N31 .I58 1990.

• Morgan, Ann Lee, ed. International Contemporary Arts Directory. Chicago: St. James Press, 1985.

AAL Ref N6485.3 .I57 1985.

Includes detailed information for both museum and library holdings. Entries for galleries include artists represented and information on exhibitions. Also lists information about periodicals, grants, associations and includes bibliographies on selected topics and artists.

Encyclopedias

• Photographers Encyclopedia International: 1839 to the present. 2 vol. Hermance, Switzerland: Editions Camera Obscura, 1983.

AAL Ref TR139 .A94 1985.

Covers all aspects of photography having any relation to the fine arts- inventors, creators, illustrators, reporters, photojournalists, essayists. This two volume work contains over 1600 biographies from 44 countries.

• Rosenakl, Chuck. Museum of American Folk Art; Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists. NY: Abbeville Press, 1990.

AAL Ref. Bio NK808 .R6 1990.

• Turner, Jane, ed. Dictionary of Art. 34 vol. New York: Grove Dictionaries, 1996.

AAL Ref. Dict. Art N31 .D5 1996.

Exhibitions

• Guide to Exhibited Artists. Santa Barbara: Clio Press, 1985-present.

AAL Ref Bio N40 .G83.

Divided into five parts: 1) European painters 2) North American painters

3) Printmakers 4) Sculptors 5) Crafts.

Index to Art Exhibition Catalogs on Microfiche, 1974-1982. New Jersey: Somerset House, 1983.

AAL Ref N4390 .I5.

• International Dictionary of Exhibiting Artists. 2 vol.: Oxford & Santa Barbara: Clio Press, 1983.

AAL Ref Bio N40 .D5.

International in scope. Divided by media: Vol. I: Painters, Printmakers, Draughtsmen, Collagists and Vol. II: Sculptors, Ceramists, Photographers, Conceptual Artists, Video Artists, Performance Artists, Environmental Artists, etc. Brief entries with some biographical information and list of exhibitions. Geographic, media and gallery lists.

• Worldwide Bibliography of Art Exhibition Catalogues, 1963-1987. 3 vols. New York: Worldwide Books, 1992.

AAL Ref N4396 .W675

Multimedia at AL

The Art and Architecture Library has many interactive CD-ROMS and videodics in the collection. Many can be circulated or viewed on-site. To access these use the subject "interactive multimedia" in ROGER.

Electronic Resources

This listing is just a small selection of the many on-line sources to contemporary art available on the Web. Museum sites usually have a selection of their collection on line.

• Anima: http://www.anima.wis.net/

The Arts Network for Integrated Media Applications has excellent sites relating to contemporary art. Nexus has artist's projects online. Techne leads you to experimental programs, tools and applications for research in information technology and design.

• Artscope: http://www.artscope.com

A good site for contemporary art images. Artscope is divided into sections including galleries, artists and shows. It also has links to mostly New York galleries such as Max Protech, PaceWildensein and Nancy Hoffman.

• artstream: http:www.airstream.com

British contemporary art, craft, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry and photography.

• Fluxus Online: http://www.panix.com/~fluxux/

This site has been organized by Nam June Paik and Paul Garrin.

• Kultur/Culture: http://www.socwork.gu.se/text/Links/Kultur.html

A Virtual Museum for Computer Art: http://www.unb.br/vis/museum/musingl.htm

• World Wide Arts Resources: http://www.concourse.com

With over 7000 resources this is one of the most comprehensive sites on the Web.

WWW Virtual Library: Museums- Art Galleries: http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/

• archive/museums/galleries.html

This page includes an eclectic collection of World Wide Web services connected with art galleries and archives as part of the WWW Virtual Library Museums page.

Electronic Research Guide

artistSearch® was created to describe strategies for finding out information about artists. The program is divided up into three parts:

* finding books about artists

* finding magazine articles about artists

* other sources of information

Each part describes sources for the information and includes examples and strategies for each of the sources. Special attention is given to finding information about artists of color and women artists.

http://gort.ucsd.edu/sj/artistSearch

Mailing Lists

• ARTCRIT (an art criticism discussion forum on visual arts)

send to: listserv@vml.yorku.ca

• ART-SUPPORT (a forum for the discussion of art related matters)

send to: mailbase@newcastle.ac.uk

• CAAH (art history forum-consortium of art and architectural historians)

send to: listserv@pucc.princeton.edu

• HUMBUL..(online bulletin board for the arts and humanities)

send to: listserv@ib.rl.ac.uk

• STUXCH-L (the study of art and architecture)

send to: listserv@psuvm.psu.edu

• PHOTOHST (discussion of the history of photography)

send to: listserv@asuvm.inre.asu.edu.