Referencing: Print, Online & Media Resources: Art

The APA Manual (6th ed.) does not give specific examples of artwork. This guide is based on section 7.10 which covers "nontext materials" and on examples for other types of sources.

 

Original Drawing / Painting / Sculpture / Photo / Etc.
If the artist is unknown, begin with the title. If the year is unknown, use (n.d.) for "no date."

Reference: Artist. (Year). Title [Description of material]. Institution, Museum, or Collection, Location.

• Pratt, C. (1965). Young girl with seashells [Oil on board]. Memorial University Art Gallery Permanent Collection, Corner Brook, NL.

 

Reproduction in a Book

Reference: Artist. (Year of book's publication). Title of Artwork [Description]. Institution, Museum, or Collection, Location. In Author/Editor's name, Book Title (p.age no). Location: Publisher. (Original work year).

Example:

• Jacque, H. (2010). Labrador black duck [Clay tile]. Lawrence O'Brien Auditorium, Goose Bay, NL. In D. Brown, Uncommon clay: The labradoria mural (p. 18). St. John's, NL: Creative Publishing. (Original work 2009).

 

Reproduction in a Print Journal

Reference: Artist. (Year). Title [Description]. Institution, Museum, or Collection, Location. In Author. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume #(issue #), page #.

Example:

• Carr, E. (1935). Scorned as timber, beloved of the sky [Oil on canvas]. Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, Vancouver, BC. In S. R. Udall.Georgia O'Keeffe and Emily Carr: Health, nature and the creative process. Women's Art Journal, 27(1), 23.

 

Reproduction in an Online Journal
Provide the DOI number (Digital Object Identifier). Provide URL of the journal's homepage only if DOI is not available. 

Reference: Artist. (Year). Title [Description]. Institution, Museum, or Collection, Location. In Author. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume # (issue #), page #. Retrieved from: journal homepage URL.

Example:

• Sherman, C. (1980, July/August). Untitled film still #56 [Photograph]. Collection of M. Harron. In C. Townsend. Art as commodity as art.Art Monthly (368), 2. Retrieved from: http://www.artmonthly.co.uk

 

Reproduction on a Website
If no date is available for the website, use (n.d.) for "no date". If no author is available, just include the title followed by the date.

Reference: Artist. (Year). Title [Description]. Institution, Museum, or Collection, Location. Webpage/document Author. (Year, Month day). Title of web page/document. Retrieved from: http://URL.

Example:

• Shepherd, H. P. (1962). Sunday morning [Oil]. Collection of Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL. The rooms. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.therooms.ca/artgallery/shepherds.asp

Source: Memorial University Libraries

Artwork viewed online

The name, caption, or your own description of the artwork acts as the title.

The official title of the artwork is italicised, but a descriptive title of an image is unitalicised and in 'single quotation marks'. Use “n.d.” where the date of the image is unknown:

Reference:

Artist, Initial(s), year created, Title or 'Description', Medium (Photo etc),  Name of site sponsor site, place of sponsor site if available, viewed date Month, year, <URL>

Example:

• Cher, V 2005, Sad teenager, Painting, Museum of Bad Art, Needham, MA, viewed 30 October 2012, http://www.museumofbadart.org/coll6/image03.php
• Rothgeb, E n.d., Ronan the pug, Painting, Museum of Bad Art, Needham, MA, viewed 30 October 2012, http://www.museumofbadart.org/coll8/image04.php

In-text citation:

• (Artist, date)

Example:

• But are artworks like Sad Teenager (Cher, 2005) and Ronan the Pug (Rothgeb, n.d.) truly bad, or is it a matter of opinion?

 

Artwork reproduced in a book

Reference: Author, Initial(s), year of publication, Title: subtitle, Publisher, Place of publication.

Example:

• Chadwick, P 2007, Italian art, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards, N.S.W.

In-text citation:

• Artemisia Gentileschi’s c.1618 painting ‘Judith with Her Maidservant’ (Chadwick 2007, p. 111)

If the book has plates inserted between the numbered pages, use the plate number instead of the page number.  E.g. (Chastelle 1963, plate 11)

 

 

Artwork reproduced in a published catalogue or exhibition

Treat the curator as the first editor, and reference the catalogue as an edited book.  Refer to the work in the text and then cite the book:

Reference: Editor, Initial(s) & Editor, BB (eds) year of publication, Title: subtitle, Publisher, Place of publication.

Example:

• Gianelli, I, Blackall, J & Christove-Bakargiev, C (eds) 2002, Arte povera: art from Italy 1967-2002, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW.

In-text citation:

• (Author, date)

Example:

• Luciano Fabro's 1964 scuplture Ruota (Gianelli, Blackall & Christov-Bakargiev 2002) is...

Source: James Cook University

There are two styles of MHRA referencing - footnotes/bibliography style and author/date style. This guide covers notes/bibliography style. For more information on both types of styles please see information here from the Univeristy of St. Andrews, and here from the MHRA style guide online. 

Right click + open image in new tab to see a larger version. 

Source: Swansea University

A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph

Provide the artist's name, the title of the artwork in italics, and the date of composition. Finally, provide the name of the institution that houses the artwork followed by the location of the institution (if the location is not listed in the name of the institution, e.g. The Art Institute of Chicago).

Example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid.

If the medium and/or materials (e.g., oil on canvas) are important to the reference, you can include this information at the end of the entry. However, it is not required.

 

For photographic reproductions of artwork (e.g. images of artwork in a book), treat the book or website as the container, i.e. the thing you reference. Remember that for a second container, the title is listed first, before the contributors. Cite the bibliographic information as above followed by the information for the source in which the photograph appears, including page or reference numbers (plate, figure, etc.).

Example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800, Museo del Prado, Madrid. Gardener's Art Through the Ages, 10^th ed., by Richard G. Tansey and Fred S. Kleiner, Harcourt Brace, p. 939.

 

If you viewed the artwork on the museum's website, treat the name of the website as the container and include the website's publisher and the URL at the end of the citation. Omit publisher information if it is the same as the name of the website. 

Example: Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo del Prado, museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74.

Source: Purdue University

Please note that there are two style of Chicago referencing: author/date style and notes/bibliography style. This guide covers notes/bibliography style. 

Artwork viewed in person

If you have viewed this work in person, cite as below.

Footnote:

1. Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Slave, 1513-15, marble, 2.09 m., Paris, The Louvre.

Bibliography:

Buonarroti, Michelangelo. The Slave, 1513-15. Marble, 2.09 m. Paris, The Louvre.

Dior, Christian. May, 1953. Silk, Length at CB ((a) to waist): 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) Length at CB (b):

         45 1/2 in. (115.6 cm) New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Artwork reproduced in print

If you find an image of the work of art in a website, book, article, use the format below.

Delaroche, Paul. "Portrait of a Woman," 1829. Pastel drawing, 10 by 12 in. (Ackland Art Museum,

         Chapel Hill, NC). In European Drawings from the Collection of the Ackland Art Museum, by

         Carol C. Gillham and Carolyn H. Wood. Chapel Hill: The Museum, University of North Carolina,

         2001, page 93.

Art Found on the Web:

Dior, Christian. May, 1953. Silk, Length at CB ((a) to waist): 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) Length at CB (b): 45 1/2

         in. (115.6 cm) New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed January 5, 2011.

         http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80002249.

Art Found in an Article:

Abdel Hadi Al-Gazzar, Un Djinn Amoureux, 1953. Gouache and india ink on paper, 53 by 28 centimeters.

         Alexandria, Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts. "Exceeding Realism: Utopian Modern Art on

         the Nile and Abdel Hadi Al-Gazzar's Surrealistic Drawings." South Atlantic Quarterly 109, no. 3

         (Summer 2010): 585, Figure 1.

Source: Dickinson

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