Asian Art Sources   Tags: china japan korea art "art history", courseguidespring13  

Research Guide for the study of the visual arts in China, Japan, and Korea in western languages.  For delving deeply in vernacular-language material, see the Area Studies sites associate with the region.

CHECK THIS OUT!  Temporary Trial Database:
China full-text Database - 10,000,000 pieces of writing in over 20,000 different kinds of periodicals published between 1911 and 1949.  Ends 2-28

Oxford Art Online
- Dictionary of Art and the Encyclopedia of Esthetics.  Includes Asian topics, history.  Updated periodically.

Oxford Reference Online - Art and Architecture
- group of electronic dictionary sources published by Oxford U Press.  Short definitions but updated coverage of major initiatives and artists.

Encyclopedia of World Art - hardcopy only
- older, but longer essays on art topics and issue  + half of every volume is plates, may in color; nothing after 1958.

Pelican History of Art (series) Lilly Reference Lilly N5300.P38 - includes William Watson's volumes Arts of China After 1620
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Keep in mind that specialized Dictionaries can answer many simple art questions.  These are just some examples:

Symbol Dictionaries

A dictionary of Chinese symbols : hidden symbols in Chinese life and thought.
Eberhard, Wolfram, 1909-1989.
New York : Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. 
Lilly Library Reference DS721 .E32613 1986
Perkins Reference DS721 .E32613 1986

Artists Biographical Dictionaries

Modern Chinese artists : a biographical dictionary.  
Berkeley : University of California Press, 2006.
Lilly Library N7348 .S85 2006

Nihon bijutsukan = The art museum of Japan. / 日本美術館 = The art museum of Japan.
Tōkyō : Shōgakkan, 1997.
Lilly Library Reference N7350 .N64 1997
East Asian Reference N7350 .N64 1997