Turn off pop-up blocker.  The images in ARTstor are recognized as "pop-ups" by your computer.  For the ARTstor images to display, you must turn off any pop-up blockers that are running on your computer.  Turn off pop-up blocker before beginning any research in ARTstor.

Once you have turned off pop-up blocker, go to the library Web page at

www.montgomerycollege.edu/library.

Click on the link in the center of the page that says "Databases by Subject:

or go to http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/library/fulltextremote.htm

Click on "Art" in the list of subject on the left, or scroll down to the box marked "Art."  ARTstor is the first link. 

If you are opening this page from off-campus or from the College's wireless network, you will be asked to log in with your student ID number, which begins with an M.

 When the ARTstor page opens, go to the top right  and click on the button.  Wait a moment, and ARTstor will open.

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Finding Your Images

To find images, type your artist's name in the Basic Search box.  If your artist has a unique name, you can search by just their last name.  If there is more than one artist with the same last name, use both first and last names.  By default, ARTstor will only include images that have all of the words in the record.  You do not have to combine them with "and."

Advanced Search.  The Basic Search may give you photographs or paintings of the artist which were created by others, not just works by that artist.  To get only images of items created by your artist, use the "Advanced" search.  Next to the top box on the right, where it says "in any field," use the drop-down menu to switch to "in Creator only."

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Artists' Countries and Dates

Once you have a group of images, choose one or more and click on the information underneath the image to see the complete record.  Some of the records will tell you the country of the artist and when he or she lived, and some will not.  If none of the ARTstor images give the information, you can look up your artist in our collection of Art Reference works at http://www.xreferplus.com/topic.jsp?sub=7.  There is also a link to the electronic Art Reference books in the Art subject box underneath the ARTstor link.

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Finding Paintings

To find only paintings by your artist, go back to the Advanced Search page.  On the bottom left there is a drop-down menu where you can select from a list of "Object Classifications."  One of the classifications is "Paintings."  Select "Paintings" and search for your artist again "in Creator only."

Search within results.  Most of the records do not indicate whether the image is of a figure, landscape, room interior, or whether it is part of a series.  You can use the "Search" box on the upper right that says Search within these search results" to see if there are images identified as a landscape, figure, or interior.

Back button.  If there are no images identified as a figure or an interior, you will get a screen that says "0 images, 0 pages of 0" in the upper.  To return to the images on your previous screen, use the "Back" button to the right of the "Home" button in the toolbar.  To find these you will have to look at each of the images until you find a figure, a landscape, or a room interior.

Series.  If you don't find a series of subjects by looking at images, the Art Reference books can help you.  Do some background reading about your artist.  If he or she is known for creating a series on a subject, one or more of the books is likely to mention it.  Then you can search by the subject of the series.

Medium.  In the ARTstor records, the medium of the work is identified in the field "Material."

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If you have more questions about ARTstor, please let the librarians help you.

The librarians are here to save you time and make your research experience less stressful.  The four Germantown librarians together have done hundreds of college assignments, and used hundreds of databases.  We are happy to help you with your assignment.

You don't have to come in to the library.  You can ask a question in any one of the four ways mentioned on the page on the library Web site.

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Web Page created by Nancy Nyland, Librarian, Germantown Campus, for Montgomery College Libraries
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