explore the hidden life of your objects

Welcome toResearch Clinic –

Paintings and Prints

Presented by Spencer Art Reference Library Staff

Marilyn Carbonell, Head Library ServicesAmelia Nelson, Public Service LibrarianTracey Boswell, Reference & Cataloging LibrarianRoberta Wagener, Library Assistant for ReferenceLihui Xiong, Library Cataloging Assistant for Asian Languages

Research Clinic Program

• Designing a Research Strategy• Types of resources• Researching your object – examples– Paintings– Prints– Japanese Prints

• Explore the Hidden Life of your Object in the Spencer Art Reference Library

Making Connections

– Artist– Signature– Date– Title– Material– Measurements– Subject – Any history that

you know about your work of art

Night Scene, 1981-1982 Neil Welliver , American , 1929-2005The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Research StrategyGeneral

Resources

Books & More

Articles and More

What else is out there?

General ResourcesTypes of Information• Contextual• Biographical• Exhibitions• Bibliography• Style & Signature

– Encyclopedias• Oxford Art Online• Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of

Art History

– Indexes and Biographical Dictionaries• Benezit Dictionary of Artists• Jacobsen's Biographical Index

of American Artists• Index to Artistic Biography• Biographical Dictionary of

Kansas Artists

The Duck Pond, ca. 1888-1893 Theodore Robinson, American , 1852-1896The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Books & MoreLibraryOneSearch.nelson-atkins.org• Surveys• Collection Handbooks• Exhibition Catalogs• Biographies• Artist Monographs

– Specific exhibition– Series of work– Overview– Highlights

• Catalogues Raisonnés– Comprehensive

• Correspondences, diaries, letters, writings

Articles and More

LibraryOneSearch.nelson-atkins.org

• Journal Articles– Interviews– Biographical information– New theories and findings– Exhibition reviews

• Newspapers– Obituaries

• Art Sales

What else is out there?

• Museum collections• Newspapers• Public libraries• Special Collections• Historical Societies• Archives• Google & Google

Scholar

Paintings – Getting Started

LandscapeGeorge Van Millet

When photographing your artwork

– Artist– Signature– Date– Title– Material– Measurements– Any history that you know

about your work of art

Paintings – General ResourcesLearning about your artist• Jacobsen’s Biographical Index of

American Artists - information, painter, Kansas City, Mo, education, awards, status and listing of several sold works with prices. Call No. Reading Room N6536 .J326 2002

• Falk Who Was Who in American Art - information, brief description of his work and the sources of the information Call No. N6512 .F265 1999

State or Regional Books• Gerdts, William H. Art Across

America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting 1710-1920. [Missouri section in volume 3 p. 29-65] Call No. Reading Room ND212.5 .R43 G47 1990

Paintings – Books & More

Paintings – Articles & MoreSpencer Collection ArticlesSpecialized databases were you can search for articles from thousands of art and design journal

Find DatabaseQuickly link to articles, museum websites, historical newspapers, art sale and more

What else is out there?MuseumsNewspapersPublic librariesSpecial CollectionsArchivesGoogle

Prints

Prayer Meeting, 1949Thomas Hart Benton, American, 1889-1975

Prints – General ResourcesLearning about your artist• Benezit, Dictionary of Artists. Entry on

Benton with signature example, bibliography and art sales v. 2, pg. 185-187.

• Falk, Who Was Who in American Art. Entry on Benton with signature example, v. 1, pg. 287.

For well-known artists, consulting a biography about them is a good source of general information:

• Benton, Thomas Art. An Artist in America. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1983. (ND 237 .B47 A3 1983 BENTON)

You can also find major exhibition catalogs as well:

• Adams, Henry. Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original. Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1989.

Prints – Books & MoreCatalogue Raisonné:• Fath, Creekmore. The Lithographs of Thomas Hart Benton. Austin: University of Texas

Press, 1979.

Using the online catalog, there also are four other titles that cover Benton’s lithographs:

Prints – Articles & More• Using the Spencer Collection Article Search,

I found articles on Benton’s Lithographs:

Searching for online articles & more

Prints – Art Sales Using the art sales databases and auction catalogs, you can find price information.

Prints-Art Sales

What else is out there?

•Artists’ Files Our library has four folders with information on Thomas Hart Benton in our collections

•Newspapers You can find an obituary and other information on Benton at our library in the historical New York Times database

•Museums•Public libraries•Special Collections•Archives•Google

Japanese PrintsUkiyo-e (1600-1900): Pictures of the floating world

Developed in the city of Edo (now Tokyo)

Subject includes• popular actors• Beautiful women• Famous warriors• Stoning landscapes• Non-realism Shunga

(Erotic prints)

Japanese or Chinese Prints

Based on a character in the Chinese Ming Dynasty novel Water MarginTitle : Warrior Huarong shooting geese

Researching – digital image search

• Find a comparison image

• museum collections• library books • and internet image search such as

http://www.tineye.com• http://ukiyo-e.org/• Google image

-http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en

Japanese Prints

• Take a look at the back of the print to find:Ink bleed-through -- reverse side where most of the colors and outlines of the scene can be distinguished

Japanese Prints- woodblock or modern

• Use magnifying glass to view:

• Woodblock prints will show paper fibers on unprinted areas

• Photographic copies will show tiny dots over all the surface

symbolism

title

artist name

Questions?

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Need more?Spencer Art Reference LibraryContact:Reference Desk, 816.751.1216

Marilyn Carbonell, Head, Library ServicesAmelia Nelson, Librarian, Public Services Tracey Boswell, Catalog/Reference LibrarianLihui Xiong, Library Cataloging Assistant for Asian LanguagesRoberta Wagener, Assistant, Public Services

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Where we’ll help you use these resources to learn about your object!