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Art History

This guide provides an introduction to resources that support research in the field of art history. You'll find helpful tips and tools to find and access art journals, films, images, exhibition catalogs and reviews, and more!

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What is a catalogue raisonné?

A catalogue raisonné is a scholarly compilation of an artist's body of work which will include annotated listings of all known artworks by an artist, or all works they have created in a particular media (i.e, prints or photographs). They are critical research tools for provenance and attribution of artwork, are thoroughly comprehensive, and can take years to publish. In addition to the complete list of works, the catalogue may include the following information about the works listed:

  • Title and title variations
  • Dimension size
  • Date of the work
  • Medium
  • Current owner/location at the time pf publication
  • Exhibition history of the work
  • Provenance (ownership history)
  • Condition of the work
  • Bibliography/literature that discusses the work
  • Essays on the artist
  • Critical assessments and remarks
  • Full description of the work
  • Signatures, inscriptions, and monograms of the artist
  • Reproduction of each work
  • List of works attributed, lost, destroyed and fakes

A few examples:

How can I search for catalogue raisonnés?

  1. Start by searching the artist's name as a keyword and the keyword: catalogue* raisonne* using the advanced search option in UC Library Search. Most catalogues raisonnes will be assigned a subject heading "catalogues raisonnes" (plural) or the title of the work may be singular to "catalogue raisonne" so truncating using the * will search both the singular and plural. Using the advanced search will help you with the AND operator linking these two keywords and ensuring they both appear in each record of the search results. 

screen shot of the advanced search function in UC Library Search

 

Organizations

Other Terms to consider:

  • Ouevre
  • Catalogo Razaonado
  • Catalgo Ragionato
  • Catalogo Generale
  • Opera Completa
  • Werkverzeichnis
  • Leben und Werk
  • Critical catalogue
  • Life and work

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