Research Guides: Art + Design: Find Articles

Search in a Database

Photograph of a large work by Polly Apfelbaum. It appears to be a large circle on the ground made up of many smaller pieces of dyed velvet.
Polly Apfelbaum, Blossom, 2000, synthetic velvet and fabric dye, approx. 18' (548.6 cm) in diameter,
Museum of Modern Art, New York, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/86477?locale=en.

Our library subscribes to many databases that you can search to find citations and/or full-text to articles from newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals.

Here are the databases I suggest for contemporary art and design research. If your topic is more historical in nature (before the 1960s), all of these databases do cover that time period, but you may want to check out the Art History guide for a few more options.

Art, Design & Architecture Collection (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
This database collects newspaper, magazine, and scholarly journal articles related to all time periods of art, design, and architecture. A search in this also searches ARTbibliographies Modern, Design & Applied Arts Index, Arts & Humanities Database, and the International Bibliography of Art.
Art Index (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
This is known as the go-to database of art history and covers all time periods. You can search through scholarly journals and magazines in all areas of art, architecture, and design published since 1984.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a great place for scholarly art research (it also includes other subjects). You can find articles from the 1800s to present and book chapters also show up in a search! If you don't absolutely need something that was published in the last 6 years, search as is. If you do want to find resources from the past 6 years, under "Select an access type" choose "All Content." If you only find a citation, use the other box on this page to see if we have access to the journal or book, otherwise see the Interlibrary loan tab.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
This database covers lots of subjects, but it's great for searching art related scholarly journals. It automatically only searches "only content I have access to," so if you're not finding something try checking "all content" instead. You might have to interlibrary loan something but first use the other box on this page to double check we don't have access to it elsewhere.

Already have a citation but not full-text?

Use this search box to see if our library has a specific journal when you know the journal title you're looking for, like if you only found a citation but no full-text.

If we don't have access to the journal and/or specific issue, go to the Interlibrary Loan tab to learn how to get it for free!