Research Guides: Philadelphia Arts and Culture: AMST 0801: Part 2: Context

What's On This Page?

Below are links to ebooks, websites, and books in the library that will help you provide context on your art object. Any of these sources would be a better choice than Wikipedia or even the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Background Information

Before you try finding articles related to your object, first build your foundation of knowledge about your artist and the style/period associated with your art object.

Online Books

Search Library Search for Ebooks

This search box is limited to only full-text, online books available through the Libraries website. Unlike Google Books, these results will include current, in-copyright books on your topic, that still allow you to search within the text for your artwork or artist. Start your search for books here.

More Background Information

The options below will take you directly to online books available through the library. Consider using these instead of Google Books to find relevant, timely sources.

Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists by Anne Lee Morgan
Call Number: Online Only

ISBN: 9780195373219

Publication Date: 2008
A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art (3 ed.) by John Glaves-Smith, Ian Chilvers
Call Number: Online Only

ISBN: 9780191792229

Publication Date: 2015
Encyclopedia of American Folk Art by Gerard C. Wertkin (Editor); Lee Kogan (Editor)
Call Number: Online Only

ISBN: 0203693418

Publication Date: 2004

Didn't find one that worked for you? Try searching these databases full of online books.

Grove Art Online [via Oxford Art Online]
Concurrent user limit: 11
Grove Art Online [via Oxford Art Online] provides Web access to 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).

Credo Reference
- Full-text entries from over 200 encyclopedias & dictionaries.
- Embellish your foundation of knowledge about a movement, artist, culture, etc.

Museum Websites

Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Authoritative website about artists and objects.
Rodin Museum
- One of the largest collections of works by Auguste Rodin in the world.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Search Collection and Biographies
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History)
- Authoritative website about the entire history of art.
- Includes images with descriptive information, essays, maps.
- Search by artist's last name or style/period of your work.
Other Museum Websites
- Are authoritative.
- Often have information about the artists and objects exhibited at the museum.

Sources for Additional Context

Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
From their website: The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia is a civic project to increase understanding of one of America’s greatest cities. Produced by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden, the Encyclopedia as a digital resource and print volume will offer the most comprehensive, authoritative reference source ever created for the Philadelphia region.