Art & Architecture Library Research Guide 

Reference books are usually encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, atlases, etc. They are intended to provide quick, reliable information, summaries of complex matters, and, very importantly, bibliographies--suggestions for futher reading. They can be in digital as well as paper form.

These reference materials are invariably written by experts in their fields, so they are more trustworthy than Wikipedia--all have gone through a process of editorial review. For an illustrated explanation, see the  presentation, "What is a referred or scholarly article?"

Art encyclopedias:

The Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 1996. 34v. (REF N31.D5 1996. Also online.)

Encyclopedia of World Art. New York, McGraw-Hill [1959-c1987]. 17v. (REF N31.E56)

Biographical Dictionaries:

Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Saur. München: Saur, 1992-2002. 33 v. (N40. A63 1992)

Bénézit, E. (Emmanuel). Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Paris: Gründ, 2006. 14v. (REF N40.D5213 2006)

Gaze, Delia, ed.; Mihajlovic, Maja and Shrimpton, Leanda, picture eds. Dictionary of Women Artists. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1997. (REF N8354 .D53 1997)

Falk, Peter Hastings, ed.-in-chief. Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1999. (REF N6536 .W56 1999 +)

Who's Who in American Art. New York [etc.]. R. R. Bowker, 2002. (REF N6536. W62)

Who's Who in Art. London: The Art Trade Press, Ltd., 2000. (REF N40. B46 1999)

Classical sources:

Brill's New Pauly : encyclopaedia of the ancient world (REF DE5 .N4813 2002)

The Oxford companion to classical civilization (REF DE5 .O92 1998)

Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology (REF DE5 .S7 1867)