Online Articles, Books and Essays devoted to American Representational Art

Online Articles, Books and Essays Devoted to American Representational Art

Introduction

Online Articles, Books and Essays devoted to American Representational Art is a catalogue published by Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) since 2003. Each entry focuses on representational art.

Contents are cross-referenced in TFAO's catalogue Topics in American Art, which contains links to thousands of Resource Library articles and essays by topic. Each topic also contains links to other online texts from museums and other sources, online video and audio recordings, plus references to topical videos in DVD and VHS format, paper-printed books and articles.

Contents are valuable to educators designing course content, scholars, students and librarians conducting research, plus art lovers everywhere seeking greater understanding of American art. Enjoy!

(above: Henry Ossawa Tanner, Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures, 1909, oil on canvas, 48.7 x 40 inches, Dallas Museum of Art. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)

History

In 2003 Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) initiated a catalogue of substantive texts published on the Web that were not published in Resource Library. At that time, online publication of articles and essays pertaining to American representational art was not yet widespread. TFAO believed that a catalogue of such texts would be useful to the public.

Since inception, individual pages in this catalogue were periodically amended as TFAO added content, corrected errors and reorganized sections for improved readability. In 2011 TFAO decided to substantially reduce seeking new content for this catalogue for two reasons. First, TFAO's Resource Library had published a large volume of articles and essays concerning numerous Distinguished Artists and American Art topics. Second, the Web had amassed a substantial amount of literature published by thousands of sources.

Since 2013 Online Articles, Books and Essays devoted to American Representational Art has become largely dormant.

Permissions from sources

When Resource Library published over time more than one article concerning an institution, there was created as an additional resource for readers a sub-index page containing links to each Resource Library article or essay concerning that institution, plus available information on its location and other descriptive information. .

Unless specifically described in editor's notes or headers within Resource Library or Resource Library Magazine pages containing articles and essays by named authors, such materials were published in 1997 through 2016 by either permission of a named institutional source within the Art Museum, Gallery and Art Center index, an author within the Author Study and Index, or a non-institutional source. In some cases, both the source and author provided permissions.

Permissions, in most instances, were provided by institutional sources specifically identified within the article or essay pages. As noted above, when Resource Library or Resource Library Magazine published over time more than one article or essay concerning an institution, it created, as an additional resource for readers, a sub-index page containing links to each Resource Library or Resource Library Magazine article or essay concerning that institution, plus available information on its location and other descriptive information. A typical notation at the end of an article or essay might be "Read more information, articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the (named institution) in Resource Library (or Resource Library Magazine in instances of publication by Traditional Fine Arts Organization's predecessor)" or similar wording.

An invitation to museums

TFAO advocates for museums to permanently make available materials about special exhibitions on their websites. Most museum websites have a "past exhibitions" section. Often, when information about an exhibition is first posted, a permanent URL is created that is carried forward in website sections for future, current and past exhibitions. A common format is: https//museumname.org/exhibitions/name of exhibit.

A wide variety of materials are posted by museums for an individual exhibition. Contents on a page for an exhibition may include narrative paragraphs about the exhibition, photos of art objects, plus links to: a press release for the exhibition, newspaper and magazine articles, promotional PSA videos, lecture videos, gallery guides, brochures and checklists.

Once a museum has decided upon a URL format for presenting online exhibition information, it is important that the format be maintained permanently. This is to prevent dead links in articles, research papers and other materials published by outside persons and organizations.

An effect of Covid temporary museum closures in 2020-21was that scores of art museums greatly enhanced the quality and quantity of online exhibit presentations.

TFAO catalogues providing useful resources

American Representational Art links to dozens of topics in American Representational Art

Audio Online a catalogue of online streaming audio recordings

Collections of Historic American Art notable private collections

Distinguished Artists a national registry of historic artists

Geographic Tour of American Representational Art History a catalogue of articles and essays that describe the evolution of American art from the inception of the United States to WWII.

Illustrated Audio Online streaming online narrated slide shows

Articles and Essays Online substantive texts published outside of Resource Library

Videos Online a comprehensive catalogue of online full motion videos streamed free to viewers

Videos an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format

Books general reference books published on paper

Interactive media media in CD-ROM format

Magazines paper-published magazines and journals

How to find content on our site using search engines

Conduct keyword searches within TFAO's website and Resource Library, a collection of articles and essays honoring the American experience through its art, using the advanced search feature of these search engines:

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Or, before entering keywords in a basic search, enter site:tfaoi.org.

Also see Indexes and information retrieval for more information.

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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 22,500+ 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.

What you won't find:

User-tracking cookies are not installed on our website. Privacy of users is very important to us. You won't find annoying banners and pop-ups either. Also, our pages are loaded faster without cookies. We want you to view Resource Library content as quickly as possible. Resource Library contains no advertising and is 100% non-commercial. .

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

Links to sources of information outside of our web site 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 web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.