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Art History Subject Guide

Here you can find art history-related resources to aid your research and writing, as well as information on art near Worcester. 

Citing Images

It is important to always cite your images!  Keep track of where you find images as you go, so when you are completing the project you can easily create citations.

Images are often included in an Appendix at the end of a paper OR interspersed within a paper.  Consult your professor for their requirement. 

You should always number figures whether they are in an Appendix or within the text.  Refer to images by number, not by position on the page. 

See the Chicago Manual of Style​ for more.

Figure Number. Artist, Title. Year, material, size.  Host Institution, Location.  Source/From/In: Source. 

​Image scanned from a book:

Fig. 1. Louise Nevelson, Sky Cathedral. 1958, Painted wood, 11' 3 1/2" x 10' 1/4" x 18". Museum of Modern Art, New York.  Source:  Robert Rosenblum. On Modern American Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999, Fig. 81​.

Images downloaded from a database:

​Fig. 2. Wang Yuping, World Art No.5. ​2016, Watercolor on paper, 16 1/2 × 22 in. Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing. ​Available from: Artsy, http://www.artsy.net.

​Images downloaded from museum website:

Fig. 3. Helen​ Frankenthaler, Nature Abhors a Vacuum​.  1973, acrylic on canvas, 103 1/2 x 112 in.  Patrons' Permanent Fund and Gift of Audrey and David Mirvish, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.  From National Gallery of Art. https://www.nga.gov/Collection/art-object-page.131133.html.

For More: Dartmouth University's PDF Guide to Image Citations

Editing Images

  • Adobe Photoshop - Clark offers Photoshop on computers in Jonas Clark 103 and 105, the Fuller Music Lab (Traina), and in the Lab in Academic Commons (otherwise, not free, but a powerful image editor)
  • GIMP - free, open sourced, similar in style and interface to Photoshop
  • Paint.net - free image editor, uses layers and filters but does not rival Photoshop
  • Photo Pos Pro - basic version free, but does not have all layers options, some one-click and manual editing
  • Final Cut Pro (for videos) - Clark offers Final Cut in the Fuller Music Lab (Traina)

Finding Images

This guide provides help finding and citing images.  See the box at left for info on citations, and below for help finding images.  Review the "in-depth subject guides" for specific website and museum suggestions.

Online

  • Use Google Images.  This is a very general source, but can be useful for quickly finding an image.  BE CRITICAL.  Look at the source of an image before​ you use it.  Pinterest, blogs, and non-educational websites are ​not credible image sources; museum websites, Wikimedia commons, or some of the databases listed below are​ acceptable sources.
  • Use museum databases (see box at right).  These will give you high-quality images with all necessary citation information.
  • Use other credible free onli​ne sources (again, NOT Pinterest, personal blogs, etc.):
  • ​Shared Shelf Commons
  • Artsy
  • WorldImages
  • Artcyclopedia
  • WikiCommons
  • ​See "Citing Images" box at left for citation advice

In Books & Journals (print)

  • Many images aren't online in databases or in museum collections.  Books can be a good source for finding images, as long as you make a high quality scan.
  • The catalog record will tell you if a book has illustrations:

​ 

  • Scan these images and cite! (see citation guide at left)

Using Images

​In a Paper​

  • Cite ALL images (see guide at left)
  • Use "figure #" to refer to image in caption AND in paper -- don't refer to "image at right" as this could change when re-formatted
  • To publish a work with images, you must request permissions from the copyright holders

In a Presentation

  • ​Present using: PowerPoint (PC & Mac) or Keynote (Mac)
  • Use high-quality images - don't resize small images, they may pixelate or blur
  • Keep it clean & consistent (use plain backgrounds and unobtrusive transitions)

​​See also: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts

Additional Help

Tips for Using Images

  1. Use high-quality images
  2. Cite all images
  3. Use the complete image, not a cropped section (OR cite as a "detail" of the larger image)
  4. Number figures when in a paper

Museums to Search

Museum databases are a great resource for images.  Here are some:

Help! I'm stuck

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