Research Guides: Art: Primary Sources

Send Me SFMOMA

Send Me SFMOMA
"Text 572-51 with the words “send me” followed by a keyword, a color, or even an emoji and you’ll receive a related artwork image and caption via text message. For example “send me the ocean” might get you Pirkle Jones’ Breaking Wave, Golden Gate.... Each text message triggers a query to the SFMOMA collection API, which then responds with an artwork matching your request."

Art Primary Sources

Many museums, databases, and archives provide images of the art work in their collections and provide excellent information about the art work.

Art Project
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Explore museums around the world, includes:
* Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin - Germany
* Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC - USA
* The Frick Collection, NYC - USA
* Gemäldegalerie, Berlin - Germany
* The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC - USA
* MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC - USA
* Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid - Spain
* Museo Thyssen - Bornemisza, Madrid - Spain
* Museum Kampa, Prague - Czech Republic
* National Gallery, London - UK
* Palace of Versailles - France
* Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - The Netherlands
* The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg - Russia
* State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow - Russia
* Tate Britain, London - UK
* Uffizi Gallery, Florence - Italy
* Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam - The Netherlands
Harvard Art Museums
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Vatican Museums
RIBApix
A database of images from the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Archnet
Archnet is an open access, intellectual resource focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation issues related to the Muslim world. Archnet’s mission is to provide ready access to unique visual and textual material to facilitate teaching, scholarship, and professional work of high quality.

Archnet is an authority, a growing repository, and a tool for teaching and learning about the architecture of Muslim societies, past, and present. Archnet is a partnership between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT Libraries.
Art Museum Image Gallery
Access through the Boston Public Library

Over 96,000 high-quality art images with full descriptions gathered from the collections of distinguished museums around the world.

American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection This link opens in a new window
American Antiquarian Society (AAS) collection documents the life of America's people from the Colonial Era through the Civil War and Reconstruction, to provide digital access to the most comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912. The collection includes 5 series by date and 50 subject subsets, which can be searched separately or together.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1 (1684-1820)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 2 (1821-1837)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 3 (1838-1852)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 4 (1853-1865)
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 5 (1866-1912)
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
The Oxford Art Online is a comprehensive art reference collection that covers all the visual arts from prehistory to the 1990's. Through the Oxford Art Online gateway you can search the Grove Art Online encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, the Oxford Companion to Western Art, and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms together or individually.

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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Artstor has been fully incorporated into the JSTOR platform. Researchers can now find high-quality images for research and presentations through the Images search box.

Print Books

Behind the Picture: Art and Evidence in the Italian Renaissance by Martin Kemp
Call Number: N6915 .K46 1997
ISBN: 0300071957
Publication Date: 1997-12-22
Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents by Wu Hung (Editor); Peggy Wang (Editor)
Call Number: N7345 .C67 2010
ISBN: 9780822349433
Publication Date: 2010-09-01
A Documentary History of Art by Elizabeth Gilmore Holt
Call Number: N5303 .D6 1981 v. 1-2
ISBN: 9780691039978
Publication Date: 1982-10-21
From the Classicists to the Impressionists: A Documentary History of Art and Architecture in the 19th Century by Elizabeth G. Holt (Editor)
Call Number: N6450 .H6 1966
ISBN: 9780385066839
Publication Date: 1986-01-01
Georgia O'Keeffe: Art and Letters by Jack Cowart (Commentaries by); Juan Hamilton; Sarah Greenough (Editor)
Call Number: N6537.O39 A4 1987
ISBN: 0821216864
Publication Date: 1990-05-01
Italian and Spanish Art, 1600-1750: Sources and Documents by Robert Enggass; Jonathan Brown
Call Number: N6916 .E5 1992
ISBN: 0810110652
Publication Date: 1993-01-21
Leonardo on Painting: An Anthology of Writings by Martin Kemp
Call Number: ND1130 .L47213 1989
ISBN: 0300045425
Publication Date: 1989-03-01
Theories of Modern Art: A Source Book of Artists and Critics by Herschel B. Chipp; Peter Selz; Joshua C. Taylor (Introduction by)
Call Number: N6450 .C62; N6450 .T5 1968
ISBN: 9780520014503
Publication Date: 1968-01-01
Venezia E La Peste: 1348-1797 by Assessorato alla cultura e alle belle arti
Call Number: RC178.I9 V468
Publication Date: 1980
Visions of Symmetry: Notebooks, Periodic Drawings, and Related Work of M.C. Escher by Doris S. Schattschneider
Call Number: NC263.E83 S3 1990
ISBN: 0716721260
Publication Date: 1990-09-01