Welcome to the I.U. Fine Arts Library! This guide will provide you with basic information for doing research on Chinese painters at the Fine Arts Library. Please feel free to ask for assistance from our reference staff. You may also contact us at 812-855-4597 or by email at libart@indiana.edu.
IUCAT and the card catalog are the primary indexes to the Fine Arts Library's collections. The IUCAT database does not include all the books that were part of the Library's holdings before 1976; therefore, you should always check both IUCAT and the card catalog before assuming that we do not have a book. The following headings may be used in the card catalog and in IUCAT for subject searches:
CHIEN HSUAN
HSIEH HUAN
LANDSCAPE PAINTING, CHINESE
PAINTING, CHINESE
SHEN CHOU
Personal names can often be problematic when researching Chinese painters. If you do not obtain results with your initial search, try reversing the word order or use an alternative spelling as suggested below.
Instead of Ch’ien Hsuan try Qian Xuan
Instead of Hsieh Huan try Xie Huan
Instead of Shen Chou try Shen Zhou
Keyword searches are often useful, too--particularly when you are using online periodical indexes, databases or World Wide Web search engines/directories. Some good keyword searches on this topic are:
CHINESE AND PAINTING
CHINESE AND LANDSCAPE AND PAINTING
You can also use the name of a specific artist or a dynasty.
SUNG YUAN DYNASTIES
HSIEH HUAN
Keyword searches are also more versatile than subject searches. For instance, in IUCAT you can limit your search to works about Chinese painters published in English by adding the language code for English (eng) to your search.
CHINESE AND LANDSCAPE AND PAINTING AND ENG
Most of the libraries at I.U., including the Fine Arts Library, use the Library of Congress call number system. Works on Chinese landscape painting are usually found in the ND1366 area. General works on Chinese painting are in the ND1040 call number range with books on specific Chinese artists located in ND1049 and then arranged in alphabetical order.
| ND1049 .C514 | Ch’ien Hsuan |
| ND1049 .S44 | Shen Chou |
For a complete list of electronic databases available through the I.U. Bloomington Libraries, see Alphabetical List of All Databases. The Fine Arts Library Web page contains a list of all periodical indexes and other online resources that are specifically related to the Fine Arts. For this assignment, you will probably find the following resources to be the most helpful: Art Full Text & Art Index Retrospective and The Dictionary of Art. (General periodical indexes such as Academic Search Elite and Carl Uncover may also be potential resources for articles.)
You might also find useful material in the online edition of the Bibliography of Asian Studies.