Japanese Art Resources (in English)

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This subject guide lists selected resources on Japanese art (in English) available through the
UBC Library and on the web. For addtional help with your research, schedule an appointment
with the Art librarian or visit our reference desk in the I. K. Barber Learning Centre.

UBC Departments

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Librarian

UBC Vancouver Vanessa Kam (Art + Architecture + Planning)

Workshops | How To Cite | Course Materials

Articles

For help finding articles, see the UBC Library's Finding Journal Articles guide.

To find articles on a topic, begin your research in the indexes/databases listed on this page:

General

ARTbibliographies Modern
Covers all aspects of modern and contemporary art, including performance art, installation works, video arts, computer and electronic art, body art, graffiti, artists' books, theatre arts, crafts, jewellery,design, illustration, photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture and drawing, as well as art history and theory.
Art Full Text
Indexes art, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning journals. Reproductions of works of art appearing in periodicals are also indexed.
Art Retrospective
A bibliographic database that cumulates citations to Art Index volumes 1-32 of the printed index published between 1929-1984.

Japanese Art Databases

Asia-Studies Humanities
Asia-Studies Humanities includes English-language literature on the arts, culture, history, language, literature, philosophy, and religion in the 53 countries covered by Asia-Studies Full-text Online.
Bibliography of Asian Studies
More than 700,000 records for western-language materials on all subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide since 1971.

Librarian

UBC Vancouver Vanessa Kam (Art + Architecture + Planning)

Journals

To find journals, search the UBC Library Catalogue by the subject Art--Japan--Periodicals or
Art, Asian--Periodicals for a list of Japanese art journals. Current issues of art journals are located
across from the reference desk on level 3 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Recommended Japanese Art journals (available in print and/or online via UBC eLink):

Artibus asiae
Arts asiatique
Arts of Asia
Asian art & Culture (former title: Asian Art)
Bijutsushi (other title: Journal of the Japanese Art Historical Society)
Bijutsu kenkyu, the journal of art studies
Kobijutsu (other title: Quarterly review of the Fine Arts)
Kokka
Oriental art
Orientations

To find other journals and more specific articles, please see the Articles tab on this guide.

Librarian

UBC Vancouver Vanessa Kam (Art + Architecture + Planning)

Books

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Handbooks, Histories & Surveys

Iconography, Myths & Religion

UBC Library Catalogue

Books can be found in the UBC Library catalogue using subject headings:

General

Art, Japanese
Art--Japan--History

Japanese artists

Artists--Japan--Biography
Artists, Japanese

Historical Periods

Art, Japanese--To 794
Art, Japanese--Heian period, 794-1185
Art, Japanese--Kamakura-Momoyama periods, 1185-1600
Art, Japanese--Edo period--1600-1868
Art, Japanese--Meiji period, 1868-1912
Art, Japanese--20th century

Aesthetics and Religious Art

Aesthetics, Japanese
Art, Buddhist--Japan
Art, Zen--Japan
Buddhist art and symbolism--Japan
Shinto art

Visual Arts

Art metal-work--Japan
Calligraphy, Japanese
Color prints, Japanese
Color prints, Japanese--Edo period, 1600-1868
Erotic art--Japan
Folk art--Japan
Handicraft--Japan
Painting, Japanese
Pottery, Japanese
Prints, Japanese
Lacquer and lacquering--Japan
Sculpture, Buddhist--Japan
Sculpture, Japanese
Zen calligraphy--Japan

Performing Arts

Flower arrangement, Japanese
Japanese tea ceremony
Kabuki
Performing arts--Japan
Performing arts--Japan--History

Context and Influence

Art and literature--Japan
Art and state--Japan
Art and society--Japans
Art, Japanese--Influence
Art, Japanese--European influences
Art, Japanese--Western influences
Art, Modern--Japanese influences

Catalogues, Museums, & Patronage

Art, Japanese--Catalogs
Art museums--Japan--Directories
Art museums--Japan
Art patronage--Japan

Librarian

UBC Vancouver Vanessa Kam (Art + Architecture + Planning)

Exhibition Catalogues

Exhibition catalogues received before 1985 are listed in the Exhibition Card Catalogue in Art + Architecture + Planning, level 3 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Check this catalogue by name of museum, artist or art form. Catalogues received since 1985 are listed online.

Exhibition catalogues can be found in the UBC Library catalogue using subject headings such as:

Librarian

UBC Vancouver Vanessa Kam (Art + Architecture + Planning)

Images

Artcyclopedia
Database of art viewable on the internet. Search by artist, medium, subject, art movement, geography, and museum/gallery name. Provides translation for non-English websites, as well as an interactive map, external fine art links, and a high-definition image gallery.
ARTstor
ARTstor is a digital library of more than one million images licensed for educational use at UBC, covering the areas of art, architecture, the humanities and the social sciences.
Database of Japanese Art in Overseas Collections
Images and textual information on Japanese art in foreign collections, including paintings, prints, ceramics, lacquerware, etc. Over 5,883 items.
The Floating World of Ukiyo-e
Library of Congress exhibition which showcases the Library's holdings of Japanese prints, books, and drawings from the 17th to the 19th centuries. These works are complemented by related works from the Library's collections created by Japanese and Westerns artists into the 20th century.
Grove Art Online
Provides web access to the entire text of The Dictionary of Art (1996, 34 vols.) with annual additions of new material and updates to the text, plus extensive image links and all the sophisticated search advantages possible with an online reference source.
Kyoto National Museum
Searchable collections of the Kyoto National Museum. Contains over 10,000 images of over 5,000 objects or sets of objects from the museum collection, making it one of the most comprehensive collections of East Asian Art images on the Internet.
LUNA Commons
LUNA Commons is a digital library of over 300,000 images licensed for educational use at UBC covering the areas of art, architecture, and material culture. Images span ancient history through the present, and cover a number of cultures and geographic areas.
MIT Visualizing Cultures
Collaborative collection of images and essays, with topical units focusing on Japan in the modern world, with themes like cultures of modernization, war and peace, consumerism, and images of "Self" and "Others".
UCSF Japanese Woodblock Collection
Searchable collection of over 400 Japanese woodblock prints on health-related themes such as contagious disease, drug advertisements, foreigners and disease, religion and health, and women's health.
Ukiyo-e Techniques
Intended to help students, collectors and researchers better understand the Ukiyo-e technique. Focuses on techniques utilized in prints, and is not meant to be a survey of Japanese prints or a history of Ukiyo-e. Photographs and video clips show demonstrations of the techniques by master printmaker Keiji Shinohara. These demonstrations are accompanied by traditional and contemporary prints.
Viewing Japanese Prints
Provides an overview of the Ukiyo-e, Shin Hanga, and Sôsaku Hanga traditions, with profiles and works by representative artists. Examples from the 17th through 20th centuries are shown.
World Painting Index
A print index available in the AArP reference collection.

Librarian

UBC Vancouver Vanessa Kam (Art + Architecture + Planning)

Websites

See the Web Resources in Art page for additional links to useful web sites.

Librarian

UBC Vancouver Vanessa Kam (Art + Architecture + Planning)

Last Modified 11:47 am, Sep 7 2011

The University of British Columbia

Japanese Art Resources (in English)