Art History & Visual Art – Specialized Topics

This research guide provides resources, including print books and ebooks, article databases, images, streaming media, and digital resources, on specialized topics related to art history and visual and material culture.

Start by exploring resources in:

• the general Art History & Visual Art guide
• the Quick Links section of this guide

Then, expand your search by:

• using the tailored resource lists in each section of the menu on the left-hand side of this guide
• viewing the list of additional art guides in the Related Guides section at the bottom of this page (on focused topics in art, critical and curatorial studies, and visual literacy)

Listed below are a few key resources for art, and related multidisciplinary studies, that can be used to search across all of the topics in this guide.

For more specialized databases and research materials, explore the topic-specific resources listed in the tabs on the left-hand side of this guide.

Here is a small selection of recently acquired titles for art. 

Click on an image to be redirected to the item record in the UBC Library Catalogue.

Ceramics: An Atlas           Kapwani Kiwanga:                    Picturing the Artist's Studio:   James Baldwin: Voices   Jack Bush:
of Forms                           The Length of the Horizon        Delacroix to Picasso              of Queer Resistance       Catalogue Raisonné
                                                                                                       

The Fluxus Newspaper,      Jeff Wall: 11 Rooms               Vancouver Special, 2023     Henry Tsang:              Who was who was who in
1964-1979                                                                                                                      In Plain Sight              Canadian contemporary art    

Reckoning: Protest.             Leaning out of Windows:         Photography in             Resist! The Art                 Gordon Parks: Born
Defiance. Resilience.           Art & Physics Collaboration     Canada, 1839-1989     of Resistance                   Black, a personal report

Visual Culture of              Alanis Obomsawin:               Still Life:                                  Matthew Wong,                    Design Against Design:
Post-Industrial Europe     Lifework                                Timeless Beauty                     Vincent van Gogh                Cause and Consequence

For a detailed description of what constitutes a primary source, and how to search for primary source materials in UBC Library collections, see the Primary Sources guide.

General instructions for finding art books are provided below. For information about locating art books on specialized topics, use the tabs listed on the left-hand side of this guide to find tailored resource lists.

Search Summon and the Library Catalogue to find print and e-books.

Books in the call number ranges listed below are located on Levels 3 & 4 of the Music, Art & Architecture Library:

Additional call numbers to consider:

• E-F - History of the Americas.
  • Materials related to Indigenous art can be found within this call number
• GN - Anthropology.
  • Additional materials related to Indigenous art can be found here. 
• GV - Recreation, Leisure.
  • Materials related to dance and performance.
• LC - Special aspects of education.
  • Materials related to art and social justice, and/or activism.
• QA - Mathematics.
  • Materials related digital art and new media art. 
• SB - Plant Culture.
  • Materials related to ecological art and installation art.

Note: some topics are interdisciplinary and may not be limited to the call numbers above. 

For more information on how these call numbers are organized by the Library of Congress, see: 

• Library of Congress Classification Outline

​New Art Books

To browse new art books recently acquired by the Music, Art & Architecture Library, see: New Books & Materials. Search by using: 

(1) the "Restrict to subject" option and selecting "Fine Arts" in the drop down menu.

(2) the "Call number range(s)" option and identifying a specific call number to search (eg., AM, N-NX, ND249, TR).

(3) "More Options" and selecting "Music, Art & Architecture Library." Note: this retrieves new books from all three disciplines.

UBC Library 

Select UBC Departments

UBC Art Galleries and Museums