Online
Many museums host collections online and have a searchable repository of images. For specific works or museums, see the museum web page.
Catalogue raisonné: A catalogue raisonné is a comprehensive list of all known artworks by an artist. If one is available for your artist this is the best way to find a location of a work.
Museum holdings catalogs: If you know which museum holds a particular artwork, museum holdings catalogs are another good place to check. Like a catalogue raisonné, a museum holdings catalog will generally include a picture of the art work, critical commentary and a bibliography Find permanent holdings catalogs in the library catalog by searching for [name of museum] catalogs
Provenance research concerns the historical record of ownership of an object or artwork. It can be useful for tracing the origin of a work, determining a work’s authenticity and assigning a work to a particular artist. Provenance database information may also be used to explore patterns and trends in art collecting, social and political alliance, consumer behavior and market conditions.
This work by the Reed College Library is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International License.
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