Guides
Barnet, Sylvan. A short guide to writing about art. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson, 2008. Lilly N7476 .B37 2008
Carrier, David. Artwriting [electronic book]
D’Alleva, Anne. How to write art history. London, Laurence King Pub., 2006. Lilly N380 .D26 2006
Pointon, Marcia R. History of art : a students’ handbook. 4th ed. New York : Routledge, 1997. Lilly N380 .P56 1997
Munsterberg, Marjorie. Writing About Art [website]Sayre, Henry M. Writing about art. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Prentice Hall, 2002. Lilly N7476 .S29 2002
Images:
Cite these as you would for the resource in which the visual media is found. For specific works of art, see the section. Cite following the guidelines for the type of resource, but make a note of where the visual is included in the resource, ie page or figure number. Cite the creator of the image as the author and the title of the image instead of an article title.
Image in an Article:
Talbot, David. "Saving Holland." Technology Review 110.4 (2007): 52, figure 3. Print.
Vermeer, Dura. "High and Dry Concept." Technology Review 110.4 (2007): 56. Print.
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. “An Arrowhead, Made from a Copper Nugget, Found at a Melting
Alaskan Glacier.” Miller-McCune 3.6 (2010): 23, figure 4. Print.
Online Image:
If citing an image found using Google images, cite the original source – not Google.
Estrin, James. “A Worshiper at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.” New York Times.
New York Times. 27 Nov. 2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/nyregion
/for-catholics-the-word-was-a-bit-different-amen.html?ref=us.&_r=0>.
When citing a work of art, include the location of the piece and the owner or collection where it is housed along with the medium and size. See also captions and citing works of art below.
Dior, Christian. May. 1953. Silk. Length at CB ((a) to waist): 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) Length at CB (b): 45 1/2
in. (115.6 cm). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2012.
<http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80002249>.
Image or Photograph from a Book:
Gruen, Bob. “Madison Square Garden, July 1972.” Life. By Keith Richard with James Fox. New York:
Little, Brown and Company, 2010. Color plate 12. Print.
“Equality and Affection: Matched Costumes in ‘My One and Only Highland Fling.’” Astaire & Rogers.
By Edward Gallafent. New York: Columbia University Press. 225. Print
(Courtesy of Dickinson Library's guide: Art & Art History: Citing Images in MLA Style)
Work of Visual Art including Photographs in a Museum Collection:
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 5.7.6 – see also citing a website if you are citing an image from the web.
MLA does not require you to include the dimensions, but it is safer to include it when citing for art and art history. Also see guidelines from the Art Bulletin and College Art Association.
Artist. Title of Work. Date of Composition or N.d. Medium. Dimensions. Collection. City where located.
Calder, Alexander. Untitled. 1976. Aluminum and steel. 910.3 x 2315.5 cm (358 3/8 x 911 5/8 in.).
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
Heckman, Albert. Windblown Trees. N.d. Lithograph on paper. 11 3/8 x 16 1/8 in.
(28.9 x 40.8 cm). Private collection.
If you use a reproduction include the publication information of where the reproduction is found and page, figure, or plate number.
Munch, Edvard. The Scream. 1893. Oil, pastel and casein on cardboard. 91 x 73.5 cm. National
Gallery, Oslo. Edvard Munch: The Scream. Ed. Reinhold Heller. New York: Viking Press,
1973. 57. Print.
Pollock, Jackson. Number 27. 1950. Oil on canvas. 49 x 106 in. Whitney Museum of American
Art, New York. Imagining America: Icons of 20th-Century American Art. By John Carlin and
Jonathan Fineberg. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005. 106. Print.
(Courtesy of Dickinson Library's guide: Art & Art History: Citing Images in MLA Style)
