Getting Started: Contemporary Art
This section provides information on Contemporary art resources, including print books and ebooks, article databases, images, streaming media, and digital resources.
Get started with the Quick Links section of this guide before exploring the resources in this section.
Note:
Print materials on art are located in the Music, Art & Architecture Library.
Print materials on related history, aesthetics, and humanities topics can be found at the Koerner Library and/or Rare Books & Special Collections.
Databases
Start your search by looking at the Databases section of the general Art History & Visual Art guide.
Then explore the topic-specific databases below.
- ARTbibliographies ModernProvides full abstracts of journal articles, books, essays, exhibition catalogs, PhD dissertations, and exhibition reviews on all forms of modern and contemporary art
- Art Index Retrospective: 1929-1984Provides high-quality indexing of nearly 600 publications - many of which are peer-reviewed - and citations of over 25,000 book reviews. Coverage includes fine, decorative and commercial arts.
- Black Thought and CultureContains 1,297 sources with 1,098 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans.Includes interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamplets, letters & other fugitive material.
- Canadian NewsstreamCanadian Newsstream offers the full text of almost 400 Canadian newspapers from Canada's leading publishers, including The Globe and Mail, National Post and the Vancouver Sun.
Articles / Journals
Print & Electronic Journals @ UBC Library
To find a specific journal, search by Title here:
For a selective list of print journals related to Modern art, browse the UBC Library Catalogue with the following subject headings, while using the "Subject begins with" or "Subject contains" search options. Here are a few examples:
Select Art Publications
This is a selection of art journals in UBC Library holdings related to Contemporary art:
- Canadian Art
Online coverage: 1993-Present. - Artforum
Online coverage: 1993-2019. - C Magazine
Online coverage: 1997-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .C1 (1983-Present). - Border Crossings
Online coverage: 1996-Present. - Frieze: contemporary art and culture
Online coverage: 1991-Present. - BOMB Magazine
Online coverage: 1991-Present. - E-flux Journal
Online coverage: 2008-Present. - Mousse Magazine
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .M68 (2006-Present). - Woman's Art Journal
Online coverage: 1980-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1.W65 A77 (1980-81; 1992-93; 1998-Present). - Aperture
Online coverage: 1952-Present. - art press
Online coverage: 1999-Present
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1.A782 P78 (1986-Present). - Afterimage
Online coverage: 1995-Present. - Yishu: journal of contemporary Chinese art
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N7345 .Y574 (2002-Present). - Flash Art
Online coverage: 2003-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1. F57 A78 (1971-Present). - Art in America
Online coverage: 2002-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library (ASRS) at: N1 .A45 (1913-2014). - Oxford Art Journal
Online coverage: 1996-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1. O9 A78 (1978-2005). - Modern Painters
Online coverage: 1994-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .M65 (1989-Present). - Afterall
Online coverage: 1998-Present. - N.paradoxa
Online coverage: 1996-2010. - Parkett
Online coverage: 1984-2017. - ARTnews
Online coverage: 1923-24; 1997-2000.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .A61. - Art Nexus
Online coverage: 1997-2011.
Books
Highlighted Resources
A Companion to Contemporary Art Since 1945 by Call Number: N6490 .C65615 2006 (UBCO)ISBN: 9781405135429Publication Date: 2006
Postwar: art between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945-1965 by Call Number: N6493 1945 .P67 2016ISBN: 9783791355849Publication Date: 2016
Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985 by Call Number: N66 .T49 2012ISBN: 9781444338577Publication Date: 2012
Globalization and Contemporary Art by Call Number: N72.G55 G59 2011ISBN: 9781405179508Publication Date: 2011
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art by Call Number: Online / N6490ISBN: 9780191792229Publication Date: 2015
ArtSpeak: a guide to contemporary ideas, movements, and buzzwords, 1945 to the present by Call Number: N6490 .A874 2014 (Reference)ISBN: 9780789211507Publication Date: 2013
Sourcebooks & Documents
Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: a sourcebook of artists' writings by Call Number: N6490 .T492 2012ISBN: 9780520253742Publication Date: 2012
Feminism-Art-Theory: an anthology, 1968-2000 by Call Number: N72.F45 F442 2001ISBN: 9780631208495Publication Date: 2001
Images
- Artstor on JSTORA digital image library for the arts and sciences with an unparalleled range of images licensed for educational use at UBC.
- Oxford Art OnlineOxford Art Online is the access point for Grove Art Online, the Benezit Dictionary of Artists, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and the Oxford Companion to Western Art.
- Google Arts & CultureOnline platform featuring high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from over 2000 leading museums and archives throughout the world who have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute.
- MoMA (Museum of Modern Art): The CollectionThe evolving collection contains almost 200,000 works of modern and contemporary art. More than 88,000 works are currently available online.
Websites
- Contemptorarycontemptorary was co-founded by Eunsong Kim and Gelare Khoshgozaran in March 2016 to support an archive of queer and women of color artists, and the emerging and alternative perspectives of radical aesthetics.
- SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)One of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a thriving cultural center for the Bay Area. The collection includes painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, design, and media arts.