Art and Art History  

Books & Media
Search the Library Catalog to find books, video's, government publications and journal titles. The catalog can be searched by author, title, keyword or subject and contains the holdings of Connecticut College as well as Trinity College and Wesleyan University. To search for books and media outside of the local catalog, use WorldCat.

Shain Library has an extensive collection of art books, many of which are shelved on the second floor of the Library in the “N” section of the Library-of-Congress-classified materials. Also see the “Oversize N’s” in the southeast corner of the same floor beyond the elevator. Photography books are are in the “TR’s”  and are shelved on the third floor. The following breakdown may be helpful:

N--Visual Arts (General)
NA--Architecture
NB--Sculpture
NC--Illustration, Design, Drawing.
ND--Painting.
NE--Printing.
NK--Decorative Arts, Applied Arts.
NX--Arts in General

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Handbook

Dictionary of art (34 volumes)
REF N31 D5 1996
(also available online for CC users at  http://www.groveartcom/index.html)

Encyclopedia of world art (17 volumes, including 2 supplements), 1959-1987
REF N31 E533

Oxford companion to art, 1970
REF N33 .O9

Oxford dictionary of art,  1997
Art in the ancient world : a handbook of styles and forms
REF N5345 .A88

Oxford companion to Western art
REF N33 O923 2001

Oxford companion to Christian art and architecture
REF N7830 M87 1996

Oxford guide to classical mythology in the arts, 1300-1990s (2 volumes)
REF NX650 M9 R45 1993

Dictionary of symbols in Western art
REF N7740 C29 1995

Biographical Dictionaries

E. Benezit. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays (14 volumes)
REF N40 B47 1999

Who's who in American art (1936- )  Latest edition in Reference.
REF N6536 W5

Who was who in American art  (artists active from 1898 to 1947)
REF N6512 .F26 1985

Contemporary artists
REF N6490 C6567 1996

Contemporary women artists
REF N8354 .C66 1999

Encyclopedia of artists  (6 volumes)
REF N31 .E53 2000

World artists 1980-1990 : an H.W. Wilson biographical dictionary
REF N6489 W67 1991

Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American painters, sculptors & engravers
REF N6536 F5 1986

Painting

Havlice, World painting index (2 volumes and 2 supplements of 2 volumes each)
REF ND45 .H38                

Looking at paintings : a guide to technical terms
REF ND31 .C37 1992

Design

Byars, Design encyclopedia
REF NK1370 B93 1994                

Landmarks of twentieth-century design : an illustrated handbook
REF NK1390 H44 1993                

Encyclopedia of interior design
REF NK1165 E48 1997

Photography

Encyclopedia of photography
REF TR9 .I24 1984                

Macmillan biographical encyclopedia of photographic artists & innovators
REF TR139 B767 1983