Research guides: ART: Art History: ART 180: Modern Art History

Research essay – Key requirements

Bibliography will include a minimum of 10 usable academic works from a variety of sources.
The source must be useful/applicable to your topic.
The sources must come from all of the following:
- reference sources (encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, guides, etc.): find 5 sources total
- journal articles: find 3 useful articles
- academic websites (universities, museums, galleries, archives, online exhibits, catalogues, etc.)
- books
- newspapers (if applicable to your topic)
One high quality image of your selected art piece.

Getting started

The Art Story
TheArtStory.org helps millions of people each year understand and enjoy every style of art, from Classical Greek statues, to Dali’s Surrealist concoctions, to Contemporary Conceptual explorations.

Art History by Marilyn Stokstad & Michael W. Cothren, 2013
Call Number: N 5300 S923 2014
History of Modern Art by H. H. Arnason & Elizabeth Mansfield, 2010
Call Number: N 6490 A713 2010

Reference resources & images

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An archive of over 200 academic journals in the fields of Arts and Humanities. Often this is the only place to find these journals. Quality resource for historical research. Includes ARTstor content as of July 2024.
Canadian Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive and authoritative general reference work ever produced in Canada. It contains more than 20,000 articles.
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms This link opens in a new window
In Oxford Art Online.
Gale Virtual Reference Library Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
Search all Gale encyclopedias & handbooks with one search.
Oxford's Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
Grove Art features entries on artists, architects, craftsmen, patrons, movements, locations, and periods.

Topic: 3 ways in which 1 specific art piece exemplifies Modernism

The following is a starter list of some possible search terms to begin your research. Experiment with these – and other search terms of your choosing (including places, time periods, themes, and artist names) – by combining them in various ways when you search.

modernist art
modern art
modernism (art)
modernism (aesthetics)
modern movement (architecture)
avant-garde OR avant garde
avant-garde (arts) -- 20th century
surrealism
dadaism
constructivism
futurism
cubism
de stijl
vorticism

Art Canada Institute, Glossary of Canadian Art History
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
“With over 20,000 objects, the AGGV collection represents significant works produced in this region and art that represents our histories. Since its founding, we have been assembling work from around the Pacific Rim and have established one of the finest collections of Asian art in the world.”
Art Gallery of Ontario
“AGO’s collection of close to 95,000 works ranges from cutting-edge contemporary art such as Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt) by Pierre Huyghe to European masterpieces such as Peter Paul Rubens’s The Massacre of The Innocents; from the vast collection by the Group of Seven to works by established and emerging Indigenous Canadian artists; with a photography collection that tracks the impact of the medium with deep holdings of works by artists such as Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus; and with focused collections in Gothic boxwood miniatures and Western and Central African art.”
Guggenheim Bilbao Collection
Website highlights key works and artists represented in the Guggenheim Bilbao Collection.
MOMA – New York Museum of Modern Art
"Our evolving collection contains almost 200,000 works of modern and contemporary art. More than 81,000 works are currently available online..... The collection includes an ever-expanding range of visual expression, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, architecture, design, film, and media and performance art.”
The Met – Modern & Contemporary Art Collection search
The Modern and Contemporary Art department at The Met is devoted to the study, collection and exhibition of art from 1890 to the present. An era marked by seismic cultural, social and political shifts across the globe, artistic responses to these changes have shaped multiple modernities and diverse contemporary practices.
The Modern Collection – Art Gallery of Ontario
The AGO’s modern collection encompasses European and American art from 1900 to the 1960s.
National Gallery of Canada
“From its earliest acquisitions by living Canadian painters in the 1880s, the Gallery has built a world-class collection spanning all periods of Canadian art, richly representing works by Europeans—from old masters to contemporary artists—and notable for strong holdings in photography, Inuit art and contemporary American art.”
“Painting: Modern Movements” in The Canadian Encyclopedia
By Ihor Holubizky, 2009. Updated by Daniel Baird, 2017.
Tate Modern
Our mission is to increase the public’s enjoyment and understanding of British art from the 16th century to the present day and of international modern and contemporary art.
Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement, National Gallery of Canada exhibition
Incorporating the work of settler and Indigenous visual artists in a stirring affirmation of the female creative voice, Uninvited challenges the notion of the quintessential Canadian artist. It explores the diversity of women creators from coast to coast to coast, many of whom have been neglected by traditional art history.
Vancouver Art Gallery
The collection has a “focus on the historical and contemporary art of British Columbia and international centres, with special attention to the accomplishments of First Nations artists and the art of the Asia Pacific region"

Academic resources at the Camosun Library

Camosun library subscribes to a number of databases containing collections of scholarly articles, book chapters, and other resources related to art and art history topics. Use the databases below to find scholarly and peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
All topics, academic focus, some Canadian content.
Art & Architecture Source (formerly Art Source) This link opens in a new window
This database covers a broad range of related subjects from fine, decorative and commercial art, to various areas of architecture and architectural design. Includes full-text articles to over 650 journals.
Humanities Abstracts This link opens in a new window
History, literature, philosophy articles.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An archive of over 200 academic journals in the fields of Arts and Humanities. Often this is the only place to find these journals. Quality resource for historical research. Includes ARTstor content as of July 2024.
Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
All social science topics (anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, criminology articles); mainly journals, some magazines.

To cast your research net wider, start by using the Single Search search tool. Use the advanced search option to add and experiment with keywords. Refine your search using the publication date, source type, and subject tools located on the left hand side of your search results.

Evaluating sources

Students are often asked to evaluate information for its authority, validity, or reliability, but what does this mean?

When evaluating a source, ask yourself:

Who is the author? Are they subject experts on the topic? What are their credentials?
- Credentials could include professional expertise, community knowledge, scholarly education, personal background or experiences.
Is the knowledge holder or author a trusted member or representative of their community?
- Are they respected, scholars, practitioners, community members, professionals, or Elders?
- What groups or communities are they affiliated with?
Are the perspectives of the author(s) apparent? Have its creators shared their identities or identified their biases?
Think about the purpose of the information. Is it to provide facts, teach, entertain, sell a product, persuade or convince?
When was this information created or published? Is the information outdated or relevant? Does the information's timeliness impact how you interpret it?
Context and format matters when choosing a resource. Ask yourself:
- Does the resource type match what your instructor has requested? Is the information type a good fit for your topic or discipline?
- Does the information add to or support your research? Depending on your assignment requirements, using a variety of source formats can provide vital information to strengthen your research. Non-academic resources created by credible authors, Knowledge Keepers, scholars, and communities can also be high quality. Not all information is available in scholarly or peer-reviewed publications. For example, if you are researching a current election, you are likely to find more appropriate information in newspapers rather than scholarly articles.
Approach all information you use with informed skepticism. Be able to defend why you chose and trusted the source you used.

Lateral research

If you are unsure if an information source is useful or trust-worthy, dig deeper – take time to conduct lateral research.

Find context and perspectives about your source from other trusted sources.
- Look at other websites, books, news, etc. What do they say about the author or source? Do they reinforce or support the ideas presented in your source? Do they verify the author(s) have the expertise to make these claims or authority to share the information they are providing?
If you are evaluating a website, investigate where it links to, and what other sites might link to it. Ask yourself, are they reputable?
Lateral research takes time, especially when you are new to research. If you are unsure about a resource, ask your instructor or a librarian for help!

ART: Art History

Citation

Accessing the UVic Libraries

Interlibrary Loans (ILLs)

Camosun Single Search