Tempera and gold on canvas
This assignment will give you practice in using KU library resources to research an artwork and discover reliable and useful information about it. Please note that you will need to be logged in as a KU user to access some of the databases needed to complete this assignment. Unlike previous assignments, you will submit this assignment in a bulleted fashion following the formatting instructions below.
Please follow the instructions with great care and in the specified order.
- 1. Choose an artwork we have studied this semester about which you would like to know more. Identify the work by the name of the artist, title, and date.
~ Go to the KU Library online catalog: http://www.lib.ku.edu/
~ Select from the menu at the left under “Find”: “Library Catalog.”
~ In the online catalog, find three books about the artist responsible for the work you have chosen – books that you suspect might contain useful information about that work. The best way to do this will probably be through a “Subject Headings” search using the artist’s name as your search term (e.g. “Hepworth, Barbara”). Make sure in the case of each book to consider its publication date and the language in which it is written; realize that an older book or a book written in a foreign language might not be as useful to you as a more recent one written in English. Note also the type of book (e.g. exhibition catalogue, critical study, biography), and whether or not the book covers the artist’s entire career and body or work or focuses on some aspect of it. Realize that, for example, a book on Picasso’s early career (i.e. the 1890s and 1900s) would probably not provide you with detailed information about his 1937 Guernica reproduced in the Stokstad & Cothren textbook.
- 2. List the three books you have chosen using the “notes and bibliography” format specified in the Chicago Manual of Style: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
Example:
Taylor, Joshua C. Learning to Look: A Handbook for the Visual Arts. 2nd ed. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1981.
- In addition to searching for three books on your chosen artwork, find two relevant journal articles that discuss your work.
~ Go to the “Art History Resources” guide on the KU Libraries website: http://guides.lib.ku.edu/art
~ In the box titled “Starting Points” click on one of the links to a recommended database (e.g., Art Full Text) and search for two journal articles (NOT encyclopedia articles) that you suspect or hope might provide information about the work you chose above in step number 1. Try using different search terms and different databases to see how your results vary. Note the focus and nature of the articles you find – e.g. exhibition review, book review, feature article, scholarly article – as well as the language of publication, with a view toward identifying what would most likely be useful to you.
- 4. List the two articles you have chosen using the “notes and bibliography” format specified in the Chicago Manual of Style: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
Example:
Kessler, Marni R. “Unmasking Manet’s Morisot.” Art Bulletin 81, no. 3 (September 1999): 473-89.
- Find a biographical article on the artist you have chosen.
~ Return to the “Art Resources” guide on the KU Libraries website: http://guides.lib.ku.edu/art
~ At the base of the box titled “Starting Points,” click on “Oxford Art Online.”
- 6. After reading the article, write down one interesting fact about that artist that you did not learn from the textbook.
- 7. Cite the biographical article using the format specified by the Chicago Manual of Style: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html (hint: use the “Cite” link at the upper right of the Oxford Art Online page you have accessed).
Example:
Curtis, Penelope. “Hepworth, Barbara.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed April 15, 2015, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T037619.
Your paper should be no more than one-page, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and 12-point type. Unlike previous assignments, please list the various books, articles and biographical information in a bulleted format.
