Individual States Representational Art History Project
Clicking on an individual state name below will take
you to a TFAO page containing links to essays and articles published in
Resource Library concerning that state, links to information on selected
museums, links to other online resources, followed by listings of paper-published
resources and videos.
New York *
Texas *
About the project
For several individual states within the United States TFAO's Resource Library and/or other online sources have published one or many articles and essays covering the representational art history of that state. For other states, however, this history has yet to be published online.
The primary goal of this project is to make available online for free reading, for each individual state within the United States, at least one article or essay surveying the representational art history of that state. Texts for an individual states may be provided in one or more of the following ways:
A secondary goal of the project is to gather and list for each state a comprehensive list of resources.
Status for individual states
For states marked with an asterisk (*), TFAO's published articles and essays covering a state provide a basic history composite for that state. If significant text already is published online for a state, TFAO will place relatively less importance on pursuing further texts concerning that state's art history.
Method of presentation
The page presenting resources -- both fine art and craft arts -- for an individual state contains, in order of presentation:
Search Resource Library for articles and essays
concerning both individual artists and museums in individual states. Resource
Library articles and essays for individual artists within states are
not listed beneath state names. Articles and essays about museums themselves
are also not included in this project. TFAO's Distinguished Artists catalogue provides access to biographies on thousands of historic
American artists.
Method of research
TFAO is conducting this project through volunteers at this time, although project contractors may be considered in the future. Research includes for each state:
1. contact with librarians and curators
2. for selected states, review of relevant books identified by TFAO as having been published by art museums within the state. Please click here to view a list of these museums. [last reviewed 12/08]
3. analysis of books listed in Smithsonian American Art Museum REGIONAL ARTIST BIBLIOGRAPHY and OUTDOOR SCULPTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY (Link found expired as of 4/24/09 audit. Source site may contain this content via a revised URL)
4. analysis of books listed in Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting, 1710-1920. by Gerdts, William H. Three Volumes: The East and the Mid-Atlantic, The South and the Midwest, The Plains States and the West. 1213 pages. Publisher: Abbeville Press (October 15, 1990). ISBN-10: 1558590331. ISBN-13: 978-1558590335. From Library Journal: "...These volumes are not dictionaries, but rather geographically arranged, more selective, narratives. (The author specifically excludes artists chiefly active in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.) There are very brief introductions to regions and illuminating summaries about art institutions and art activities embedded in the various state-by-state essays; coverage varies according to material, from four pages (Nevada) to 120 (northern and southern California). Gerdts provides no overarching conclusions but rather vast amounts of distilled information on even the smallest art centers. The extensive bibliographies, also geographically arranged, will be an aid to further research. Some 900 of the 1000 artists discussed are illustrated." text courtesy of Amazon Books. Color emphasis by TFAO. ["The East and the Mid-Atlantic" reviewed 1/09. The other two volumes are in progress]
5. Google Books and Amazon.com searches for books and online resources. Google Books searches were made with the phrase "art in [state name]" plus Google advanced search with phrases "biographies of historic [state name] artists," "gallery specializing in historic [state name] artists" "[state name] artists project" and "early painters of [state name]" for online and paper-printed resources. When a book reference says "Original from..." followed by the name of a university, followed by "Digitized..." it means that Google Books has placed the entire contents of the book into its servers. When the term Full View" appears it means that the entire text of the book may be read free online or be downloaded for future reading. .Amazon.com books searches were made with the phrases "[state name] artists" and "[state name] art" [last reviewed 12/08]
6. search of the TFAO Author index plus Audio Online and Videos Online catalogs for relevant titles [last reviewed 12/08]
Do you know of additional sources whether online or
paper-printed? TFAO welcomes your suggestions. Please send them to: 
Return to Special
Projects
Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.
Search
Resource Library
Copyright 2009 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.