Library Guides: Art (Contemporary): Encyclopedias

Top Pick

Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Covers all of the visual arts: people, places, major works, styles, periods, techniques, etc.

Oxford Art Online combines several key encyclopedias and dictionaries important for the history of art and architecture. Together these provide the largest and most authoritative list of biographies of artists in English, as well as an excellent collection of scholarly encyclopedia articles on important topics in the visual arts. Included are Grove Art Online, the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and others.

Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (2nd ed.)
Great for theories, theorists, trends, and concepts such as "the sublime."
The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, 2011
From Native American to now. (e-book)
A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, 2015
Brief but informative entries. Especially good for critical terms. (e-book)
Styles, Schools and Movements, 2005
A chronological arrangement so use the index to find a specific topic.
International Art Galleries, 2005
History of the major commercial galleries of the world's art capitals.
Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts, 2004
LGBT+ artists and imagery in painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and architecture.
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 2000
Mostly mass media and entertainment but also other aspects of pop culture. The paper version is 5 volumes.
The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons, 1999
Comic strips, comic books, and other toons. 7 volumes.
Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art, 2016
Reviews the scholarly literature on 35 broad topics. Use the index for specifics.
Encyclopedia of American Folk Art, 2004
Artists, media, genres, ethnicities, etc.

The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, 2005
History, technology, theory, and bios. (e-book)
Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, 2008
Includes photographers, critics, formal aspects, hardware, institutions, movements, publications, regions, techniques, and styles. 2 volumes.
Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, 2006
Includes photographers, critics, formal aspects, hardware, institutions, movements, publications, regions, techniques, and styles. 3 volumes.
The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 2007
The technologies and practices of photography.

A Dictionary of Modern Design, 2016
Brief entries, but convenient. (e-book)
The Design Encyclopedia, 2004
Well-rounded treatment of design with a focus on the 20th century.
Design: Intelligence Made Visible, 2007
Useful as a supplement to the above.
Encyclopedia of Interior Design, 1997
Styles, rooms, movements, designers, furnishers, trade names, etc. for all periods and most cultures. 2 volumes.
Encyclopedia of Furnishing Textiles, Floorcoverings and Home Furnishing Practices, 1200-1950, 2007
Rich in detailed historical information.
Encyclopedia of Furniture Materials, Trades and Techniques, 2000
Technical aspects.
Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Design since 1900, 2005
Shorter entries on modern design.

Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education, 2004
Encyclopedic articles on issues in art education with extensive bibliographies. (e-book or book)
Encyclopedia of Creativity, 1999
Aspects of creativity such as cognitive and learning types, developmental stages, cultural differences, teaching, etc.
International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2002
Summaries of child development, multiculturalism, and other huge topics. (e-book)