Finding Books & Exhibition catalogs on Artists
The KU Library Catalog can be searched by artist's name to reveal various publications available on individuals.
To learn of books and exhibition catalogs published on an artist that are not owned by KU but available through Interlibrary Loan, search the database WorldCat.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowThis resource functions as a massive catalog of books in thousands of libraries all over North America.
- The Cleveland Institute of Art's Contemporary Artists IndexAllows you to search the contents of over 1400 exhibition catalogs by artist's name or by catalog title. By searching the artist's name, you discover not only the catalogs from the artist's solo exhibitions but also the catalogs for group shows that included the artist's work.
Interviews & Statements
"Hearing" directly from the artist about his/her artwork can be an important step in understanding the work. The term "interviews" is a subject heading and can be combined with an artist's name when searching the Library Catalog. The Robertson volume (listed below) is a bibliography of citations to such interviews and statements. You can also find compilations of interviews in books or interviews may be included in journal articles that you find through indexes such as Art Index or Art Bibliographies:Modern.
- Twentieth Century Artists on Art by2nd enlg. ed. New York: G.K. Hall; London: Prentice Hall International, c1996. This book reminds us that an artist's own statements about his or her art are important primary documents for students of modern art, and it provides a way to locate this valuable material.
- Speaking of Art byLondon; New York: Phaidon, 2010. The 43 best interviews from the Audio Arts archive ranging from talks with artists of the 1970s to stars of the contemporary scene.
- Talking art : interviews with artists since 1976 byLondon: Art Monthly: Ridinghouse, 2007. Interviews with more than 60 influential artists of the last quarter of the twentieth century originally published in the British magazine Art Monthly.
- The artist interview : for conservation and presentation of contemporary art, guidelines and practiceHeyningen: JAP SAM Books, 2012. A manual for obtaining authentic, content-related and technical information on modern and contemporary art through interviews with artists.
- Gerald A. Matt: Artists Talks byNuremberg: Verlag fur moderne Kunst, 2014. Includes conversations with Marina Abramovic, Peter Blake, Candice Breitz, Glenn Brown, Ellen Cantor, Clifton Childree, David Claerbout, Dawn Clements, Jean Conner, Urs Fischer, Rainer Ganahl, Shaun Gladwell, Greg Gorman, F.C. Gundlach, Subodh Gupta, Mona Hatoum, Scott Hocking, Dorothy Iannone, Isaac Julien, Jesper Just, Emilia Kabakov, Rachel Kheedori, Barbara Kruger, Marilyn Manson, McDermott & McGough, Malcolm McLaren, Josephine Meckseper, Boris Mikhailov, Wangechi Mutu, Ernesto Neto, Ulrike Ottinger, Mike Parr, Susan Philipsz, Daniel Pitin, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Thomas Ruff, Stefan Sagmeister, Kiki Seror, Raqib Shaw, Jan Svankmajer, Gert & Uwe Tobias, Tomak, Francesco Vezzoli, Banks Violette, Not Vital and Andro Wekua.
Artists' Biographies
- Oxford art online This link opens in a new windowOnline encyclopedia great for finding information about individual artists and movements. Includes the important and comprehensive Grove Dictionary of Art. Full text.
- AskART This link opens in a new windowA good place to find information about lesser-known American artists and view reproductions of their work. Entries include bibliographies.
- AHR netIncludes Arts + Architecture ProFILES, a biographical dictionary of modern designers, craftspeople, artists and architects.
- the-artists.orgBased in Portugal, this free site lists 10,000 famous, established and emerging modern and contemporary artists with their portrait, biography and/or portfolio and links to web resources. Can be search by movement, school, style, medium, or art prize.
Finding Articles on Artists
Journal articles on articles can be a rich source of information, especially for artists who are not well documented in books. A researcher has a choice of looking in a citation index that covers art magazines specifically and then using 
to locate the online or print version of the article OR starting with a general index that may cover many fewer art articles but immediately presents the online article. The choice may be made based on how thorough and how much time the researcher has available.
Suggested Art Indexes (citations only):
- Art Full TextIndexing of art, architecture, & design publications; also references for artworks that appear as illustrations for articles or in advertisements.
- ARTbibliographies modern This link opens in a new windowCitations with abstracts covering all aspects of modern and contemporary art from mid-19th century-present.
- Design and applied arts index This link opens in a new windowIndexes more than 500 design and craft journals; especially good for information on designers and craftsmen.
Suggested General Indexes (full text):
- Academic search complete This link opens in a new windowIndexing and abstracts for more than 13,000 journals, with full text for more than 8,750 of those titles, over a broad spectrum of subjects.
- ProQuest research library This link opens in a new windowIndexes more than 2550 full text general interest magazines and scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines and newspapers.
Some Biographical Dictionaries of Artists
There are literally hundreds of specialized dictionaries of artists. Some document artists who lived at a particular time or in a specific place; some record artists who worked in a particular medium or style. These can be found in the Library Catalog.
You can also use Oxford Art Online, AskArt (expecially good for American artists), or Design ProFILES (part of Designinform and especially good for craftspeople and designers.)
Here are a few examples of published dictionaries:
A Biographical Dictionary of Artists by New York, NY: Facts on File, c1995. E-version of this single volume dictionary that covers prominent artists from all time and places.
Art Now by Köln: Taschen, c2002. Featuring over 130 artists in A-Z entries with biographical information and exhibition history as well as images of important recent work.- Dictionary of International Contemporary Artists byMilan: Flash Art Books, 1995. Includes about 400 internationally recognized contemporary artists; each entry has an image of the artist's work along with a list of exhibitions and bibliography.
Writing about Art
- Writing about ArtA tutorial prepared by Marjorie Munsterberg of City College, New York, and intended to help students improve their ability to write about visual things.
- A Short Guide to Writing about Art by10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, c2011. Useful guide that is now in its 10th edition. Shows how to analyze art and suggests tools needed for effective writing.