East Asian Art Resources: Getting started

Basic English-language resources for researching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art

KU Library Catalog

KU Catalog. Search collections available in all library locations at the Univ. of Kansas

Other Library Catalogs

WorldCat. Includes millions of records describing items owned by OCLC member libraries, including the KU Libraries.

Catalog for the Spencer Art Reference Library at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Located in Kansas City, MO, this art research library is open to the public but materials must be used on-site. The hours are listed on the library's website.  

Lawrence, KS Public Library. Located at 7th & Vermont, this public library has a good art collection.  

Selected Online Projects

Online Museum Resources on Asian Art, from Asia for Educators at Columbia Univ., is intended to catalog visual materials available on the websites of museums and arts-related educational institutions; includes collections databases, digital image libraries, archived websites of special exhibitions, online presentations of focused collections, and websites for teaching with and about art.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: Asian Art, sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this resource offers essays, images from the Mets collection, and a timeline.

 

Background

The University of Kansas has had a strong program in East Asian Studies and East Asian Art History for over 50 years. The Kress Department of Art History has four faculty teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art. The Spencer Museum of Art has a collection of Asian art, a curator of Asian art, and an active exhibition program. To support the multiple academic disciplines that study East Asia, the KU Libraries offers an East Asian Library where the librarians select materials in the languages of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean and offer expert research assistance. In addition to the thousands of books written in the vernacular languages, the KU Library also purchases materials in English and European languages that document the history and culture of East Asia. The focus of this LibGuide is on those materials that support the study of East Asian art.

Articles & Databases

Bibliography of Asian Studies, sponsored by the Association of Asian Studies, includes citations to Western-language periodical articles, monographs, chapters in edited volumes, conference proceedings, anthologies, and Festschriften, etc.; search by keyword, phrase or name; refine your search by using the options listed on the left.

JSTOR offers full-text searching of core academic journals in a variety of disciplines.

Art full text covers many of the major Asian art magazines from 1984 to present; prior to 1984, citation searching for Asian art articles is available through Art Index Retrospective

Art Bibliographies Modern provides citation searching for articles dealing with Asian art and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Web Directories

Websites organized by category and subcategory assembled by specialists in the subject field.  

Art History Resources on the Web. Directory of art history links organized by time period and location. Extensive list of links to museums and galleries section organized by country.

Voice of the Shuttle. Directory of websites related to the Humanities with divisions such as Architecture, Art (Modern & Contemporary), Art History, etc.

Fine Arts & Humanities Librarian

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Andi Back
Contact:
Art & Architecture Library

(785) 864-3020

aback@ku.edu

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