Using the Library
ORBIS
The Yale University Library has 12+ million volumes available in 22 different libraries on campus, including the Art and Architecture Library. Orbis is the central catalog and searches every Yale library EXCEPT for the Law Library, which has its own catalog, Morris. Other libraries/collections with strong holdings in the arts include the Yale Center for British Art Reference Library, Arts of the Book Collection, Sterling Memorial Library, and the Visual Resources Collection.
Sample Orbis Searches
To find books on a specific artist, search the artist's name as both an AUTHOR or SUBJECT, using the Advanced Search function. The artist is often listed as the "author" for exhibition or collection catalogs but as subject for books about the artist. Or you can search the artist as KEYWORD and find titles where the artist's name is menioned anywhere in the title's record.
Author (sorted by name) search: pollock jackson (~39 entries)
Subject search: pollock jackson
Subject index has 13 headings for Jackson Pollock (~64 entries total)
Advanced search: pollock jackson as both author OR subject (~68 entries)
Keyword search: "jackson pollock" (102 entries with the phrase "Jackson Pollock")
Notice that the results screen from the subject search has subdivisions like "Exhibitions," "Criticism and Interpretation," and "Themes, Motives." These subdivisions can help you narrow down your search.
Helpful Sections In The A&A Library: NJ18
Books in the NJ18 sections of the stacks are on individual artists. They are filed in alphabetical order by artist's last name. For example, books about Charles Rennie Mackintosh are at NJ18 M144, and books about Monet are at NJ18 M77.
Keep in mind that there is an NJ18 regular size section and an NJ18 oversize, in the LC class. Old Yale class books use J18 instead.
Reference, Biographical Info & Arts Call Numbers
The reference & biography section is a great place to find information about artists. It is located at the right hand side of the reference collection. The N call numbers begin with general works, and then are subdivided by subject and geographic area. Here is a partial list of call numbers pertaining to the Fine Arts with sample titles. See the Library of Congress Classification Outline for a comprehensive list of subject headings.
N Visual Arts (General)
Benezit's Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays par un
groupe d'ecrivains specialistes francais et etrangers.
N40 B44 1999 (LC) A premiere biographical source for artists of all nationalities and periods. Translated into English.
Contemporary Artists - N6490 +C6567 1996 (LC)
Dictionary of Women Artists - N8354 D53X 1997 (LC)
NA Architecture
Contemporary Architects - NA40 +C65 1994 (LC)
NB Sculpture
Dictionary of American Sculptors - NB236 +O64 1984 (LC)
NC Illustration, Design, Drawing
Contemporary Designers - NK1166 C66 1996 (LC)
The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons - NC1325 W67 1999 (LC)
ND Painting
American Paintings at Yale University - ND235 N4 Y35 (LC)
Paintings in the National Gallery, London - ND450 B34X 2000 (LC)
NE Printing
Dictionary of printmaking terms - NE850 .S65 2002 (LC)
NK Decorative Arts, Applied Arts
The Design Encyclopedia - NK1370 B93X 2004 (LC)
Interior Design and Sapce Planning - NK2110 D35X 2001 (LC)
NX Arts in General
A Dictionary of the Avant-Garde - NX456 K67X 2001
TR Photography
Contemporary Photographers - TR139 +C66 1995 (LC)
Catalogues raisonnés
A catalogue raisonné is a comprehensive listing of an artist's entire work, or work in a particular medium, and generally includes the date, history, provenance, location, and other critical information about each work. If you cannot find a catalogue raisonee for an artist look for titles like "catalog(ue)" or "collected works" as well. With German art history texts or when searching German library catalogs, try using "werkverzeichnis" as a search term in lieu of catalogue raisonné.
Author: Rewald, John, 1912-
Title: The paintings of Paul Cézanne : a catalogue raisonné / John Rewald in collaboration with Walter Feilchenfeldt and Jayne Warman.
Published: New York : H.N. Abrams, 1996.
Description: 2 v. : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm.
Location: ART AND ARCHITECTURE, Locked Case 1 (Non-Circulating)
Call Number: NJ18 C34 R49 FLP 4170 1996 (LC)+ Oversize
Status: Not Checked Out
Library has: v.1-v.2
Subjects (Library of Congress): Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906 --Catalogues raisonnés. <-- identified as a catalogue raisonné
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