LibGuides: Art History: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

On-line Dictionaries; Directories

Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon Online (Artists of the World eBook Online) This link opens in a new window
This eBook contains authoritative biographical information on more than 1 million artists (De Gruyter). Note: As of 2023, it is no longer being updated.
● Online First: new, edited articles from A to Z are published online immediately
● Continual updates: details, exhibitions, sources are continually supplemented and updated
● Links to the database Paintings in Museums – Germany, Austria, Switzerland (for purchasers of this database): learn more about where the works are located with a single click
● Multiple search criteria – for professional and scholarly searches
● Explanations of the used abbreviations in German and English
(De Gruyter)

Dictionary of Art Historians
Biographical and methodological information about art historians can be difficult to find. This database is designed to give researchers a beginning point to learning the background of major art historians of western art history. A free, scholarly database for the use of researchers, students and the public.

International Handbooks of Museum Studies This link opens in a new window
The International Handbooks of Museum Studies bring together original essays by a global team of experts to provide a state-of-the-art survey of the field of museum studies.
Lexikon des Mittelalters & International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages This link opens in a new window
The standard encyclopaedia for medieval studies. It deals with all branches of Medieval Studies and covers the period from 300 to 1500 AD/CE for the whole of Europe and parts of the Middle East and North Africa. Users can perform automatic bibliographic searches in the International Medieval Bibliography Online. International Encyclopaedia of the Middle Ages Online is a supplement to Lexikon des Mittelalters online, providing original articles that cover the time period 300-1500 CE, in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Art resource containing Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, and The Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, with access to more than 23,000 subject entries, 21,000 biographies, 500,000 bibliographic citations, 40,000 image links and 5,000 images.
The entire text of The Dictionary of Art, ed. Jane Turner (1996, 34 vols.) and The Oxford Companion to Western Art, ed. Hugh Brigstocke (2001).
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Premium Collection contains over 200 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. It is a fully-indexed, cross-searchable database of these books, giving subscribers unprecedented access to a comprehensive information resource. Includes added functionality and more detailed information across a broad subject range from titles in the world-renowned Oxford Companions Series.

Print Dictionaries & Encyclopedia (Selected)

Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. by London: Routledge, 1996b
Call Number: Art Ref NA380 .P43 1996b
Dictionary of the Middle Ages. by Joseph R. Strayer, editor in chief.
Call Number: Ref D114 .D5 1982 v.1-13
Publication Date: New York: Scribners, 1982-1989
Enciclopedia dell'arte medievale. by Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1991-2002
Call Number: Art Ref N5965 .E5 1991 v.1-12
Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture. by Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009 3 vol.
Call Number: Art Ref N6260 .G75 2009
Reallexikon zur Byzantinischen Kunst by Restle, Marcel.
Call Number: Art Ref N6250 .R43 v1 (1996)-v6 (2005) in progress
Summa Artis, historia generale de arte. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1961-
Call Number: N5300 .P63 v.1-49 (in 51vols) Art Restricted
See catalog record for list of contents. Vol. 49 is accompanied by 6 DVDs highlighting the most important art museums in Spain: [1] Museo del Prado. [2] Museu nacional d'art de Catalunya. [3]. Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. [4]. Instituto valenciano de arte moderno. [5]. Museo nacional centro de arte Reina Sofía. [6]. Museo Thyssen Bornemisza. v.49 DVD (6 DVDs shelved at CIRC-DESK)

Biographical Sources (Selected)

Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon: die bildenden Kunstler der aller Zeiten und Volker. by Munchen: Saur, 1992- 62 vol.
Call Number: Art Ref 40 .A63 1992
Contemporary Artists. by Detroit: St. James Press, 2002 2 vol
Call Number: Art Ref N6490 .C6567 2002
Dictionary of Artists. by Paris: Grund, 2006 14 vol.
Call Number: Art Ref N40 .B4713 2006
English edition of E. Benezit's Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintures, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous le temps et de tous le pays.
Jacobsen's Biographical Index of American Artists Native to the United States of Working in the United States from 1606 to 2002. by Carrollton, Tx.: A. J. Publications, 2002 4 vol.
Call Number: Art Ref N6536 .J33 2002