Multiple countries and era
Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon by Call Number: Art Library, N40 .A64 1992 vol. 1 - 112ISBN: 9783598227400The most comprehensive and scholarly biographical artist dictionary available, Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon (AKL), covers painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, and some decorative artists of all nationalities and eras. Locations of selected works are also given. Includes indispensable bibliographical information on older publications. A good source for minor artists.
Note: “I” and “J” are alphabetized together; umlauted words are spelled with the vowel plus an e.
True name, not anglicized version, of the artist is used.
As there are many unexplained abbreviations, Meyer's brief Index of the Most Common German Abbreviations Used in Thieme-Becker's Kunstler-Lexikon (1971) is essential (N 40 .T4 suppl.).
Benezit Dictionary of Artists by Call Number: Art Library, Reference N40 .D5213 2006 v.1-14ISBN: 2700030702The most comprehensive artist biographical dictionary available in English "Benezit" covers thousands of painters, sculptors, designers and graphic artists from 5 B.C. to the present. Entries vary from a few lines to several paragraphs.
This first English translation extensively revises and enlarges the previous edition (1999). Longer entries list prizes won by the artist and museums where their works can be found. "Prices" for select works are included as well; volume 1 has a historical currency conversion chart. Many entries include facsimiles of signatures; monograms are listed at the end of each letter of the alphabet. There is also an author index and list of works cited.
Grove Art Online by ISBN: 9781884446054Publication Date: 2003 (updated regularly)Online version and regularly updated edition of the Dictionary of Art, the most comprehensive art encyclopedia available in English. Covers art and artists worldwide, from pre-history to the 21st century and all media (the "fine arts" as well as jewelry, fashion, video/digital/time-based art, furniture, textiles, etc.). For some media and parts of the world Grove Art provides the first essays in English.
- Union List of Artists Names (ULAN)
Use ULAN to determine if multiple names refer to the same person or for brief biographical information, especially for lesser known artists. Contains over 300,000 names and other information about artists from Antiquity to the present and from all over the world. The scope of the ULAN includes any identified individual or "corporate body" (i.e., a group of people working together) involved in the design or creation of art and architecture.
Each record covers one artist including their preferred name. Records include alternate names, relationships (including student-teacher relationships), locations and important dates (for birth, death, and activity), notes, and bibliographic sources.
Western Europe & North America
The Art Book by Call Number: Art Library, Reference N40 .A775 1994ISBN: 0714830321The Art Book is unique because it emphasizes images over text; each page is a full color reproduction of a work with a very brief entry about the artist. 500 artists from medieval to modern times are included in alphabetical order. References link similar styles and movements. A brief Glossary of Terms, a Glossary of Artistic Movements and a Directory of Museums and Galleries completes the work. This is a great resource for quickly sampling a wide-variety of artists. For a similar treatment of twentieth-century western art, see The 20th-Century Art Book (Art Ref. N 6490 .T85 1996).
The Oxford dictionary of art and artists (2015 ed.) by ISBN: 9780191782763Covering Western art from the ancient Greeks to the present day, this dictionary contains clear and concise entries on styles and movements, materials and techniques, and museums and galleries. It also includes biographical entries for artists, critics, collectors, dealers, and patrons, with places and full dates of birth and death (in many instances correcting misinformation that has found its way into other sources). For this new edition, entries have been thoroughly revised and updated, and almost fifty new entries have been added
Dictionary of Art and Artists by Call Number: Art Library, Reference N31 .M8 1997ISBN: 0140513000Covers "the arts of painting, sculpture, drawing, and the other graphic processes, chiefly in Western Europe" and from 1300's to the 1900's. Definitions of technical terms predominate, and biographies emphasize 20th century artists. Each entry features extensive cross-referencing and listings of galleries where the artist's work can be seen.
The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists by Call Number: Art Library, Reference N33 .L353 2000ISBN: 0300087020Covers all aspects of Western art from 1300 to the present day. It provides information on painters, sculptors, and graphic artists, technical processes, terminology, theory, schools, movements, patrons and collecting, and much more. There are also extended conceptual entries ranging over such subjects as abstraction, allegory, genres, iconography, illusionism, minimalism, realism, and symbolism. Written by Erika Langmuir and Norbert Lynton, the 3,000 entries are unusually readable and lucid, providing vivid characterizations of artistic styles and artists. Entries vary between short and encyclopedic; major artists and artists whose careers or talents have recently been reassessed or who seem to merit reassessment are given a fuller treatment. There is extensive cross-referencing between entries.
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