For information about formal analysis, see The Art of Writing about Art and A Short Guide to Writing about Art (also ebook version available).
As you view a work of art, ask yourself these questions:
In secondary sources, authors analyze and interpret primary source materials.
Secondary sources can be scholarly or popular. Scholarly sources (sometimes called "academic" or "peer-reviewed" sources) are written by and for experts and typically include bibliographies and citations. Popular sources are written for a general, non-expert audience and can be authored by anyone.
Examples: articles from art journals, books published by museums or university presses, exhibition catalogs
In the Seattle Art Museum website for the collection, look for a bibliography associated with an image to find secondary sources for your museum paper. Search Primo for the item.
Example of a book cited in a bibliography about Sakyamuni Descending the Mountain:
Examples of an article citation about Sakyamuni Descending the Mountain:
Start with Primo to find books and articles about the artwork you have chosen. Search:
Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art by Search these databases to find articles.
An interdisciplinary journal archive. It includes archives of over one thousand leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. Includes the Artstor image collections.
