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Art & Design Research Guide

A guide to art & design resources at UMSL Libraries and on the web.

Welcome!

This guide offers an introduction to Art & Design resources at UMSL Libraries. Use this guide for help with:

  • Searching using Discover@UMSL, the library's main search tool for books, articles, and more
  • Locating reference texts for background information
  • Finding and navigating art & design databases
  • Finding and using images for classwork/research
  • Citations
 
Questions? 

Please contact a librarian using the online chat or by emailing/scheduling an appointment.

 
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Digital Design

Traces the history of digital design from its precursors in the nineteenth century to its technological and cultural ascendency today, providing a multifaceted account of a digital revolution that touches all aspects of our lives.

Power, Image, and Memory

Examines a wide variety of artistic traditions, showing how art commemorating historical events can shape collective memory, and with it, the identities of social groups and nations.

In Light of Rome

This comprehensive study of Rome's contribution to the early history of photography traces the medium's rise from a fledgling science to a dynamic form of artistic expression that forever changed the way we perceive the Eternal City. The authors examine the diverse transnational group of photographers who thrived in the cosmopolitan art center of Rome--and the pivotal role they played in the refinement and technical development of the nascent medium in the nineteenth century.

Turning Points

This collection of essays brings together international voices from across the field to share the lived experience of responsive teaching during the pandemic, and how we might rebuild a better educational ecosystem. Chapters address how new technologies, more inclusive spaces, and a heightened focus on relationships will reshape the studio art programs of the future.

Rashid Johnson

Working with a variety of media that includes painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance, Rashid Johnson has created a nuanced and iconographic body of work that connects literature, music, and art. Personal references and pervasive cultural narratives are interweaved with the legacy of modernist abstraction, producing what critics have labelled 'conceptual post-black art'.