How to find bibliographic citations that refer to objects in the Museum’s collection
Here are some starting points:
The Museum’s website
- Many object records in the Collections Search on the Museum’s website include bibliographical references. Search the Collections by accession number, keywords, atist names, etc.
- Articles in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History contain bibliographic references for particular objects, artists and broader topics in art history. Also included in the Timeline is a bibliography of more than 3200 Museum publications, published since 1964, as well as other publications focused on works of art in the Museum’s collection. The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History is searchable by accession number, keywords, atist names, etc.
WATSONLINE
- The Museum publishes catalogs that document the permanent collections of each curatorial department. These catalogs may contain extensive bibliographies, and can be found here.
- If the artist of the work is known, try a subject search by artist’s name (last name first). If the work of art is particularly well known, you may also try a keyword search by the title of the work [e.g. , The Harvesters, Portrait of Gertrude Stein, Aristotle contemplating the bust of Homer]. Note: Watsonline is a library catalog and not an object database, and it is not searchable by accession number.
- Other important sources for bibliographic citations are catalogues raisonnés and subject bibliographies. These types of materials can be easily located using the advanced search feature. For example:
- To find a catalogue raisonné for Picasso enter Subject Word “Picasso” AND Subject Word “catalogues raisonnes”
- To find a bibliography on Picasso enter Subject Word “Picasso” AND Subject Word “bibliography”
The Museum’s Periodicals
- Both of the Museum’s major periodical publications are available through JSTOR and contain robust bibliographies. (Note that the most recent 3-4 years of the Museum’s Bulletin and Journal are available only in print form only and are not on JSTOR.)
As a last resort you may also wish to contact the Central Catalog central.catalog@metmuseum.org.
- The Central Catalog is a paper file of object information which includes description and sometimes bibliography. This file has not been updated since 2004 and does not include information for objects from Egyptian, Lehman, Photographs, objects in Greek and Roman acquired since 1972, or on prints from the Department of Drawings and Prints.
To find bibliographical citations for a work of art owned by an institution other than the Met, first find out who does own it and check that institution’s collection database and online library catalog. The Watson Library has extensive holdings of exhibition catalogs and collection catalogs from institutions around the world. Use WATSONLINE to identify them.