Catalogues Raisonnés
"All the works of an artist". A scholar or a group of scholars documents every work of an artist's career. Each work is pictured, with scholarly opinions, provenance (where the work has been), literature about the work, and spurious works (forgeries). The first place to start when researching an artist or individual work. Not all artists have catalogues raisonnés.
Jacob Lawrence : the complete prints (1963-2000) : a catalogue raisonné
Seattle, Wash. : University of Washington Press, 2005.
Lilly Library NE539.L35 A4 2005
Corpora
Like a catalogue raisonné, only for a single kind of object. Famous corpora are written for Greek pottery (Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum), stain glass windows (Corpus Vitrirarum) and Florentine altarpieces (Offner).
The image of the Black in western art.
Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press : In collaboration with the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research ; [Houston, Tex.] : Menil Collection, 2010-
N8232 .I46 2010 (4 vols) and Artstor
Some Corpora are being issued online. This is one (through Artstor).
Permanent Holdings Catalogs (of museums)
Detailed catalogs of a period or genre of art in a particular museum. Like a catalogue raisonné, it will contain a collection of scholar's opinion on an object, conservation reports, provenance and literature (written about it). If you know of the location of a work of art, check for permanent holdings catalogs.
African American masters : highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Everett, Gwen.
New York : H.N. Abrams ; [Washington, D.C.] : Smithsonian American Art Museum, 200s
Lilly Library N6538.N5 E84 2003
