Topics in American Art - How to research topics not listed

Topics in American Art

with content focusing on representational art

(above: Mathias Joseph Alten, Mission San Juan Capistrano, c. 1934, oil on canvas, 26 x 32 inches, Grand Valley State University Art Gallery. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

How to research topics not listed (and gain insight into interconnectivity of disparate facts)

For researchers wishing to study American art history from perspectives beyond those presented as topics, e.g. ethnic orientations as described in Ethnic Ancestry, Culture and Influences in American Art, the TFAO Free Online Digital Library contains thousands of texts and catalogues with external resources related to a plethora of subjects. An easy way to identify specific facts and interconnectivity of disparate facts is via keyword search.

Method one:

Before entering keywords in a basic Google search, enter site:tfaoi.org. See Indexes and information retrieval for more information.

Method two:

Conduct keyword searches within TFAO's Resource Library and other parts of TFAO's website using the advanced search feature of:

After entering keywords, select tfaoi.com or tfaoi.org as the sole domain to be searched.

Since TFAO's website contains a through collection of content focusing on American representational art within a single domain, keyword searches within it can produce amazing results.

Museums with local focus

Since American art museums often focus on local art history, an index to assist in identification of articles and essays with a regional focus is useful. See Resource Library's Sources of Articles and Essays Indexed by State within the United States for a handy guide.

Researching individual artists

Determining that one particular topic is the best location for an article or essay devoted to an artist is a subjective exercise. During a lifetime, an artist may produce significant work on several topics. Experts argue about whether the artist's earlier, mid-career or later work -- or devotion to one particular subject over another -- is the most significant. Resource Library articles and essays devoted exclusively to individual artists known for their devotion to a topic included in this catalogue may, for various reasons, not be listed within a topic. If they are deceased artists, a proven way to access biographical information is TFAO's America's Distinguished Artists, a catalogue companion to Topics in American Art.

More on conducting research

We welcome researchers to read TFAO's General Resources page, with information on evaluating website pages, plagiarism, copyright abuse and more. The page Accuracy and trustworthiness from America's Distinguished Artists may also be useful. Also see the Indexes and information retrieval page of TFAO's Resource Library.

Return to Topics in American Art - Site Guide

About Resource Library

Resource Library is a free online publication of nonprofit Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO). Since 1997, Resource Library and its predecessor Resource Library Magazine have cumulatively published online 1,300+ articles and essays written by hundreds of identified authors, thousands of other texts not attributable to named authors, plus 24,000+ images, all providing educational and informational content related to American representational art. Texts and related images are provided almost exclusively by nonprofit art museum, gallery and art center sources.

All published materials provide educational and informational content to students, scholars, teachers and others. Most published materials relate to exhibitions. Materials may include whole exhibition gallery guides, brochures or catalogues or texts from them, perviously published magazine or journal articles, wall panels and object labels, audio tour scripts, play scripts, interviews, blogs, checklists and news releases, plus related images.

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(left: JP Hazeltine, founding editor, Resource Library)

Links to sources of information outside our website are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other websites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. We neither recommend or endorses these referenced organizations. Although we include links to other websites, we take no responsibility for the content or information contained on other sites, nor exert any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see our General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

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