Stewart Library - Weber State University
Art 3040 Modern Art (c. 1850-1950)

What is modern art?

Movements, Periods & Artists

Note: For every movement, period and artist below you can find:

Post-Impressionism

 

Art Nouveau

Early Modern Sculpture

French Expressionism:  Fauvism

German Expressionism

Cubism

Futurism

Early Modernism in America

Art between the Wars

Russia:  Constructivism

American Art 1920 - 1940

 

Research Resources

Library Resources

Reference Books:  

Stewart Library owns or has access to a large number of resources to help in your research.  If you're not sure of a topic or need some background information, reference books can be very helpful.  Some good ones to start with are:

  • A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art
in Oxford Reference Online
  • A Dictionary of Architecture
 in Oxford Reference Online
  • The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art & Artists
 in Oxford Reference Online
  • The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms
 in Oxford Reference Online
  • The Oxford Dictionary of Art
 in Oxford Reference Online
  also print:  Ref. Table 3A
 
 
from the Getty
 
  • The Wilson chronology of the arts
 REF Table 2B
  • The Continuum encyclopedia of native art : worldview, symbolism, and culture in Africa, Oceania, and North America
 REF   E98.A749 2000
  • Atlas of western art history : artists, sites, and movements from ancient Greece to the modern age
 REF   G1046.E46S7 1994
  • Encyclopedia of artists (Oxford)
 WSU Davis REF N31.E53 2000
  • The Oxford companion to Western art
 REF   N33.L353 2000
  • Yale dictionary of art and artists
 REF   N33.L353 2000
  • The Prestel dictionary of art and artists of the 20th century.
 REF   N33.P74 2000
  • A dictionary of art titles : the origins of the names and titles of 3,000 works of art
REF   N33.R56 2000
  • The New York Times guide to the arts of the 20th century
 REF   N5300.O9462 2001
  • The Grove dictionary of art. From expressionism to post modernism : styles and movements in 20th-century Western art
 REF   N6490.G7243 2000
  • Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean art
REF   N6502.E53 1999
  • Encyclopedia of American art before 1914
REF   N6507.E53 1999
  • African-American art
 REF   N6538.N5P38 1998
  • Encyclopedia of comparative iconography : themes depicted in works of art
 REF   N7560.E53
  • Contemporary women artists.
REF   N8354.C66 1999
  • Sculpture since 1945
REF   NB198.C38 1998
  • Outsider, self taught, and folk art annotated bibliography : publications and films of the 20th century
 REF   NX456.N49 2002
  • Twentieth-century artists on art : an index to writings, statements, and interviews by artists, architects, and designers
REF   NX456.R59 1996
  • The Quotable Artist
REF   PN 6084.A8Q68 2002
  • The Focal encyclopedia of photography
REF   TR9.F6 1993
  • The Encyclopedia of crafts
REF   TT9.S37
  • Fairchild's dictionary of home furnishings; furniture and bedding, accessories, curtains and draperies, fabrics and fibers, and floor coverings.
REF   TX326.H6
  • Dictionary of the History of Ideas
REF   Z5956.O85S45 2002

You can find many other referencebooks on art topics  by browsing the following call number areas:  

N   General Visual Arts

NA  Architecture

NB  Sculpture

NC  Drawing, Design, Illustration

ND  Painting

NE  Print Media

NK  Decorative Arts

NX  Arts in General

TR  Photography

TT  Handicrafts, Arts & Crafts

TX  Home Economics


Finding Books:  

Use the WSU online catalog   to find books and other materials, including DVDs and videos,  which the Library owns.  The catalog will provide the location and availability of the resource,  We also have a subscription to Netlibrary, which provides access to electronic books.   To find books in other libraries, use WorldCat.


Finding Articles:  

The best way to find articles is to use one of the Library's article databases.   These databases provide references to articles in journals.  In many cases, the actual article is available onlline.

Our  databases are available from home or work.  Just click on the link and enter your WSU username and password when prompted. 


Useful databases for Art research  include:

  • Academic Search Premier is a general database that allows you to search important journals in many fields, including all areas of history.  It has many full-text articles and is a good place to begin your research.  
  • Art Full Text   Citations and abstracts from 1984 to present, selected fulltext articles from 1997 to the present, covering Art History, Decorative Arts, Folk Art, Industrial Design, Motion Pictures,  & Television.

  • Bibliography of the History of Art - The premier international scholarly reference in art history. Including citations to writings from 1973 to present, covering visual arts in all media including traditional fine arts; decorative and applied arts; material culture; photography and contemporary new media; and visual arts aspects of performing arts. Includes access to RILA (International Repertory of the Literature of Art), and AA Repertoire d'Art et d'Archeolgie). 1973 to present. Use this to find citations. Use interlibrary loan to order items.

  • Arts & Humanities Search - Citations from many of the world's leading arts and humanities journals. 1980 - present, updates weekly. 
  • Reader's Guide Retrospective   Indexes and some abstracts to articles in popular magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Life and many others.  1890-1982.
  • WorldCat  Over one billion items in 10,000 libraries worldwide.
  • Philosopher's Index   indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, and metaphysic logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language.  1940 - present.
  • America: History and Life    Indexes scholarly literature on the history and culture of the United States and Canada. 1964-Present.
  • Ethnic NewsWatch     Full text  Articles from minority and ethnic newspapers, magazines, and journals in English and Spanish. 1960-present.
  • GenderWatch Full text  Newspaper, magazine, and journal articles addressing the impact of gender in society.  1990-Present (with selected articles from the 1970's and 1980's)
  • Lexis/Nexis Academic  - Full-text coverage of many newspapers from across the US and around the world.   Good for reviews.

 

To find out what online journals are available search our Ejournals Database.  You can search the name of the journal by title or title keyword.

Browsing Current  Periodicals: 

You can also browse through journals and magazines.  This can be helpful when you're looking for a topic.  Current issues are on the 1st floor south, older volumes on the 2nd floor.  Use the call number areas listed under books.   For example:

N 1       General Visual Arts

NA 1    Architecture

TT1      Arts & Crafts

Interlibrary Loan:

If we do not own a particular book or article you need, we will borrow it for you from another library through Interlibrary Loan .

 

Web Resources

There's a lot of good information out on the web.  Unfortunately, some of it's not so good, so be sure to evaluate, evaluate, evaluate! 

Databases & Gateways

Images

Museums

Research Tips

  • Clearly identify your information need
  • Identify key words and search terms to match your topic
  • Develop search statements using advanced search techniques such as Boolean logic, adjacency searching and truncation.
  • Use the Online catalog to find books, videos and other materials
  • Use an  appropriate article database to find journal articles, ask a librarian for help if you're not sure what's best
  • Use Interlibrary loan to get materials that are not in Stewart Library
  • Use search engines to find Web information
  • Carefully evaluate the information you find for usefulness and quality
  • Revise your search terms and strategy to expand or narrow your results, be creative, look in other areas
  • Use appropriate style to document and cite research
  • Ask for HELP at  Reference , via phone or email.

Updated July 25, 2008 .
Weber State University, Stewart Library. Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved.