Art and Architecture Collection > Art History: A Research Guide

Biographical Dictionaries

Hundreds of dictionaries have been produced to document facts about artists’ lives. Many of these tools are specialized in scope and coverage. Nevertheless, a few titles stand out as critical resources for investigation of both well-known and obscure artists. The following is a sample of reference titles with broad to specific coverage:

Benezit, Emile. Dictionary of Artists. 14 vol. Paris: Éditions Gründ, 2006.
The long-awaited English translation of Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs, this tool provides international coverage of artists from antiquity to the early-to-mid 20th century. Some entries also contain a reproduction of the artists’ signature.

Thieme, Ulrich and Felix Becker. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann Verlag, 1992. 37 vol. This biographical dictionary is so respected and known within the art field that it is usually referred to as “Thieme-Becker.” Excellent resource for obscure artists. An expanded version, from the publisher K.G. Sauer, has been in process since 1992, in alphabetical progression. They also produced a bio-bibliographic dictionary of the original edition.

Artist Biographies Master Index. Edited by Barbara McNeil. Detroit: Gale, 1986. A good general source for 275,000 names, culled from other biographical reference works

Folk Artists Biographical Index. Edited by George H. Meyer. Detroit: Gale, 1987.
A substantial resource on genre artists.

Groce, George C. and David Wallace. The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America 1564 – 1860. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969.
A time period-specific dictionary with fairly comprehensive coverage.

Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers. Edited by Glenn B. Opitz. Poughkeepsie: Apollo Book, 1983.
A reprint of a classic resource much used by experts in Americana.

Marlor, Clark S. Brooklyn Artists Index. New York: n.p., 1993.
A geographical artist biographical dictionary complied from local and regional resources.

St. James Guide to Black Artists. Edited by Thomas Riggs. Detroit: Gale, 1997.
Published in association with the NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Shipp, Steven. Latin American and Caribbean Artists of the Modern Era. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003.
Provides entries for 12,700 artists in those geographical regions.

Who Was Who In American Art. Edited by Peter Hastings Falk. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1985. 3 vol.
Compiled from American Art Annual 1898-1893 and Who’s Who in American Art 1935-1947, among other sources.

Who’s Who in American Art (Annual) New York: R.R. Bowker, 2007/2008.
Biographical entries for artists, historians, critics, museum and other professionals; coverage is selective, however, since entrants have to be nominated for inclusion.

Wood, Christopher. The Dictionary of Victorian Painters. 2nd Edition. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1978.
A specialized resource for identifying English painters of the nineteenth century.