Information Services

Collection Development Policy

Art, Art History and Architectural Studies

Purpose

The Art Dept (ART), Art History Dept (AHI), Architectural Studies (ARC), and Museum Studies disciplines are supported by the library collections for both reference and research. Monographs range from technical manuals (for instance, anatomical drawing and architectural drafting) to exhibition catalogs (for instance, museum and gallery shows) to critical theory (for instance, gender issues and aesthetics) to art history surveys (for instance, by Janson or by Gardner ) to catalogues raisonne (for instance, Picasso and Klee). While such monographs form the core of the collection, the collection also includes both print and electronic periodicals (for instance, Art Bulletin), both print and electronic indexes (for instance, Art Index), non-print materials (for instance, videos and DVDs), and subscriptions to on-line databases (for instance, Dictionary of Art and ARTstor).

Subjects

Subjects in studio art (ART) include painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, ceramics, collage, drawing, and graphic design. Art history (AHI) subjects span prehistoric through contemporary (with emphasis on 19 th and 20 th centuries), cover both Western (European, American, and Islamic) and beyond-Western (with emphasis on African and Chinese), and focus upon the media of painting and architecture.

Formats

The library houses monographs, exhibition catalogs and serials. Our monograph collection includes biographies, historical surveys, catalogues raisonne, museum guidebooks, collection handbooks, technique manuals, and exhibition catalogs. Serials include both contemporary art periodicals and academic journals. Electronic on-line resources include image databases, periodical indexes, and encyclopedic reference works.

Languages

The collection includes materials primarily in English, with a small number of reference works and monographs in European and Asian languages.

Geographic Areas

The collection focuses upon Europe , USA , Africa , Islamic cultures, China , and Japan , with emphasis upon Europe and USA . Within USA , contemporary art originating from New York City , and historical art and architecture of New England , all garner special attention.

Chronological Spans

All periods from pre-historic to contemporary are included in the collection.

Special Collections

The Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection, housed in Shain Library's Special Collections and the Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room, is a significant resource for the study of Asian art.

Wetmore Print Collection

The Wetmore Print Collection, housed in Cummings Arts Center , comprises many hundreds of original European and USA prints. Also, several other smaller collections of European, USA , and Japanese prints accompany the Wetmore. These very artworks, not their surrogates, are directly studied in courses of the AHI, the Art, and the Asian Studies Depts.   Additionally, their digital images are mounted on a public website.

Visual Resources Library

The collection, housed in Cummings Arts Center , serves primarily AHI faculty in support of their classroom lectures, so it accordingly directly reflects the AHI course curriculums. These include art, architecture, decorative arts, and museum studies, all in a variety of presentation media. While 35mm color slide transparencies had traditionally formed its core, digital images now predominate. Such digital images are accessed on CD-ROMs and DVDs, as well as over the campus network and on course review websites. In addition, the Visual Resources Library offers mostly Mac but also PC workstations, maintains slide and digital projectors, and houses an archive of black & white lantern slides.

Ordering Library Materials

Recommendations and requests for purchase of art, art history and architectural studies materials should be addressed to Mark Braunstein , Library Liaison to the department.

Liaison

Mark Braunstein
Visual Resources Librarian
Cummings 212
(860) 439-2729
mark.braunstein@conncoll.edu