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Art & Art History

This guide presents the major reference books and searching tools that are used to gather information in the Salmon Library on art and art history topics. For assistance in library research please ask at the Reference Desk.

Searching Primo

 

At UAH, our collection can be searched through Primo Pathfinder. In the Advanced Search box, you can search for multiple keywords, swapping them out to find which one generates the most useful search results for you. This will yield results across all of the Salmon Library's physical and online resources, including ebook and article databases.

Primo keyword search

Find Books

Use the Salmon Library catalog (http://librarycatalog.uah.edu) to find books in the library. A keyword search using geographical locations, such as Italy and Art, or period categories, such as Impressionism, will give call numbers for books in the library. When researching an artist, consider the following examples for library catalog searching and try similar sub-headings for your artist or topic.

  • Art-Renaissance
  • Art-Renaissance--History
  • Art-Renaissance-Italy
  • Art-Renaissance-Italy--History

Illustration Indexes

Quality illustrations enable you to analyze the primary work of an artist. Illustrations may be found in exhibition catalogs or museum catalogs or catalogues raisonne for an individual artist or a period. Search for exhibition catalogs in the library catalog, for example:

  • Chinese painting and exhibitions
  • Impressionism and exhibitions

Use the name of museum as an author/name:

  • Museum of Modern Art

Use the artist name and exhibitions or catalogues raisonne in keyword:

  • picasso and (exhibitions or catalogue raisonne)

Specific illustrations may also be located through the following indexes:

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Chronologies

Use these reference resources first for background/general information on your topic.