Art History: Get Started
Resources for research on the history of art.
In this guide
This guide is designed to help students do research and find resources in art history.
Use the tabs above to navigate through the other pages of the guide:
- Find Books - Get books available through the library and beyond.
- Find Articles - Find articles about art, art movements or artists.
- Get Help - Get help from a librarian 24x7, get support from a tutor, or find a handout or tutorial to help you with your research.
"Red" by Franz Weissman. Retrieved through PCC Visual Resources Collection through ARTstor.
Art History Databases
- PCC Visual Resource CollectionThe PCC Visual Resource Collection was created to enhance the studio and art history curriculum at Portland Community College. The collection contains traditional survey images, along with images of architectural, design and art historical significance not available anywhere else, including art process images, images of work in the PCC campus art collections and images collected on faculty research trips.
- ARTstor This link opens in a new windowAs of August 1, 2024, the ARTstor platform is retired. The ARTstor Digital Library now resides on the JSTOR platform. JSTOR images include more than 3.5 million images. You must register for a JSTOR account to save any images for future reference and to use JSTOR's presentation tools. To register for a user account, you must either be logged into JSTOR from on campus or through the JSTOR database link on the library website. To stay logged in, select “Keep me Logged In” when registering for an account.
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowLimited to 5 concurrent users. Features over 45,000 articles and images covering every aspect of the visual arts. There are over 7,000 searchable images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as links to other museums and galleries.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR has full text of over 1000 scholarly journals in the arts and sciences, as far back as 18xx up to 3-5 years ago. Note: It does not include current issues of the journals. All ARTstor image collections are now part of JSTOR, and can be searched using the "Images" tab then selecting "ARTstor collections".
- Fine Arts (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new windowProvides more than 150 full-text magazines and journals that are covered in indices such as the Wilson Art Index and RILM, this collection will provide support for research in areas such as drama, music, art history, and filmmaking.
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowFull text for more than 4,500 scholarly social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals. 3,700 are peer-reviewed.
Regional Museums
- Portland Art Museum
The oldest museum in the Pacific Northwest, the Portland Art Museum is internationally recognized for their collection.
The Portland Art Museum offers a College Creative License to students with a valid student ID that includes unlimited admission for a year for a nominal fee.
- Seattle Art Museum (SAM)Includes information about the SAM, Seattle Asian Art Museum and the Olympic Sculpture Park
- Tacoma Art Museum
The collection of the Tacoma Art Museum focuses on Western American Art including a permanent collection of Dale Chihuly's work. - Museum at Warm SpringsMuseum project supported by the Tribal Council of The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation
- Listing of Oregon Art Galleries
From Art-Collecting.com. Includes a Portland Gallery Guide, Artists websites, and other art resources. - Listing of Washington Art GalleriesFrom Art-Collecting.com. Includes major regional libraries around Washington, artists websites and other art resources
- Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA)"PICA’s programming supports the experiments of the most vital and provocative artists of our time. Our vision is international, intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and decidedly forward thinking (even when those explorations look back in history). PICA is unique among institutions for working right alongside artists at the increasingly blurry boundaries between forms and at the edge of new ideas. "
Museums of note
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
"The Met" is located in New York, New York, but has travelling collections located around the world. - Museum of Modern Art
Known as MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art located in New York, New York has a collection world renowned collection of modern and contemporary art. Some of the collection can be viewed via the site. - Smithsonian Museums
The Smithsonian has 19 museums and galleries including the African American History and Culture Museum, African Art Museum, American Art Museum, American Indian Museum, Freer Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Renwick Gallery, and the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. Most of the museums have virtual galleries you and browse through. - Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Devoted to art produced from 1940 to present in all mediums.
Librarian
Art History Films
- Art and Architecture films from Films on Demand
All the videos in the Art and Architecture collection of Films on Demand collection are available to stream online.
This work by PCC Library is licensed by Portland Community College under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.- Last Updated: Mar 26, 2025 4:52 PM
- URL: https://guides.pcc.edu/arthistory
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Subjects: Art: Visual & Performing, Humanities