In addition to what you can research about your comparison artist or art movement that is freely available on the web, there are three other types of research information that are particularly helpful for this assignment:
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art world/news articles/reviews (found online on the web or in library subscription databases)
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scholarly articles (found online in library subscription databases, or in the library)
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art books/exhibition catalogues (usually found in the library)
Here are several ways to look for each of these three types:
Newspapers and popular magazines
Art criticism and exhibition reviews often appear in local and national U.S. newspapers. If you are comparing your work to a single other artist, it can be very helpful to search local, national, or international newspapers for articles about their work.
Search for the artist's name between quotes " " (example, "sheila pepe")
For recent information on contemporary artists working today, you can search the big newspaper's websites directly:
Try one of the UK Libraries' subscription packages for access to archived newspaper and magazine content.
Again, search for the artist's name between quotes " " (example, "ghada amer"):
- Vogue ArchiveContains the full run of Vogue Magazine (US edition), from the first issue in 1892 to the present, reproduced in high-resolution color page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with indexing that enables researchers to find images by garment type, designer, and brand names as well as other keywords. Easily download and save images and PDFs of articles and advertisements.
- New York TimesRead recent stories from the New York Times. Includes full text and, since May 2020, some selected images. Coverage: 1980-current
- New York Times Historical EditionSearchable full-text from ProQuest, with keyword searching and date limiting. This title is part of Proquest Historical Newspapers.
- Access World NewsFull-text of over 600 U.S. newspapers (usually c. 1980s - present). There is a Major Newspapers shortcut that groups the following newspapers for single-search access: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, The Times (London), The Guardian (London), Investor's Business Daily, and The Economist.
- Nexis UniIncludes news from newspapers, magazines and journals, including local, regional and international newspapers. Some researchers prefer this interface to Access World News.
Scholarly articles
Scholars and critics write about contemporary art in scholarly journals and art magazines in addition to online sites and newspapers. The information in journal and magazines articles is often more detailed, more in-depth, and more centered on particular topics, so articles are rich sources for research papers on contemporary artists.
You can find scholarly journal articles and art world magazine articles in the UK Libraries' subscription databases. Search these databases, ARTbibliographiesModern and JSTOR/Project Muse, which are my top favorites for this assignment, for the name of your comparison artist or art movement:
- ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM)ABM is long-standing art indexing and abstracting database whose coverage is international and includes modern and contemporary art. It contains records for many more articles on contemporary art from a much wider array of art publications than JSTOR does, but it is not a full-text database, so many times you will have to go to the library to read the actual articles you find mentioned in the database.
- Art Index
Art Index is an art research database providing high-quality indexing for hundreds of national and international art periodicals, including 370 active indexed journals. In addition to indexed journals, Art Index includes information about more than 14,000 art dissertations and more than 229,000 image reproductions.
(Please note our subscription allows 8 simultaneous users across any location. To help other researchers, please close the browser when you are finished using this database.) - JSTORA huge benefit of JSTOR is that you can immediately access the full text all the articles it contains. It does not contain an extremely high number of articles on contemporary art, but the ones it does include are all from high-quality scholarly sources and all are instantly accessible.
- Project MuseProject Muse is similar to JSTOR, but it covers only new material from the journals, rather than all historic articles like JSTOR does.
Books and exhibition catalogues
Sometimes when an artist exhibits their work at a gallery or museum, the exhibit curator and/or other people associated with the exhibition publish a catalogue for the show, usually in the form of a printed book. Exhibition catalogues include lists of all the artworks in the show, usually include high-quality images or photographs of the work, and often include essays about the artist or the work in the show. Sometimes they include other information such as timelines of the artists' work or bibliographies of other writings about them.
Exhibition catalogues are the most frequent types of books about contemporary artists found in the library.
Contemporary artists' work is also written about in books that are not necessarily about only one artist, but are instead books that discuss a style of art, or an art movement, or a group of artists. There may be chapters or essays in library books that discuss a contemporary artist you are interested in, even if the whole book is not about that one artist.
Whether you're comparing your work to another artist or a whole art movement, research your comparison in the UK Libraries search tool, InfoKat Discovery, to find books and catalogues on the topic.
- InfoKat Discovery Library Catalog Search (UK Libraries Holdings)Searches the InfoKat Discovery catalog.
See further instructions and examples for searching InfoKat, the UK Libraries' catalog, below:
New York Times Digital Edition directions
November 2024
- New York Times upgrade: We have upgraded from a New York Times basic subscription to an all-access subscription, which includes Games, Wirecutter, Cooking, and other supplemental materials.
- New users must register for an account through this link. Once you register, you have access to the New York Times website through the University of Kentucky.
- If you’re an active subscription with a paid subscription like Cooking, Games/crosswords, or The Athletic, you need to cancel your subscription by canceling online or calling 800-698-4637 before creating an account. Once your subscription is canceled, visit accessnyt.com, type in University of Kentucky, and follow the instructions based on their location. Since the subscriber “Already has an account " they click “Log In" (found below "Create an Account"). Input your email address and the same “Password” created for their previous account. If the subscriber encounters an error message that subscriber can email edu@nytimes.com.
- Existing registered subscribers that do not have an active subscriptions can visit accessnyt.com, type in the name of the school, and follow the instructions based on their location. Since the subscriber "Already has an account " they click “Log In" (Found below "Create an Account"). Input their email address and the same “Password” created for their previous account. If the subscriber encounters an error message that subscriber can email edu@nytimes.com.
New York Times Digital Access
UK Libraries
January 2024
Margie Ruppel, Social Sciences Librarian, UK Libraries
Digital access is available for the New York Times through UK Libraries, for all faculty, students, and staff. Access is through the New York Times website, not through a library database. (However, UK Libraries also links to lots of New York Times through multiple library research databases.)
The New York Times license offers unlimited access to nytimes.com back to 1851, except for Cooking, The Athletic, and games.
New York Times Digital Edition
1.) Go to https://libraries.uky.edu/ and click on Databases.
2.) Navigate to “N” in the list of databases OR in the search box type: new york times.
3.) Click on New York Times Digital Edition (New Users).
4.) Under “Choose how to sign in,” select University of Kentucky. Next, log in with your current LINKBLUE username and password.
5.) Create an account. New York Times digital edition requires a one-time registration (this is in addition to step #4 where you logged in with LINKBLUE).
New Users:
· You must use your UKY email address to access the UK Library subscription.
· Choose a password of your own liking. It does not have to match your current LINKBLUE password.
Existing Subscribers- exception:
· If you are an existing subscriber with an active, paid account, you will need to cancel your subscription before accessing the paper via UK Libraries.
· You will be able to continue using the email address and password connected to your previous account to log in.
Note: Your pass will be active for three years. After expiration, activate a new pass by visiting NYTIMES.com/GroupPass while connected to the network of your participating organization.