ABOUT ART HISTORY RESEARCH net (AHR net)

 

AHR net originated as a single database Design Abstracts Retrospective which was conceived as a retrospective version, or or “prequel” to our database Design and Applied Arts Index [now issued by ProQuest]. Design and Applied Arts Index originated in 1987 and Design Abstracts Retrospective covers journals not included in Design and Applied Arts Index, i.e. from 1900 to 1986.

 

Design Abstracts Retrospective

 

Design Abstracts Retrospective covers much the same subject fields as Design and Applied Arts Index, e.g. architecture, furniture design, textile design, graphic arts and design illustration, ceramics, glass, interior design, theatre design, metalwork, jewellery, etc. It contains abstracts of all the articles and an index of all the images in the journals covered.

 

Arts + Architecture ProFiles - A+A P

 

Soon after launching Design Abstracts Retrospective, we decided to compile biographical and historical data on all the architects, designers, craftspeople, firms, studios, workshops, guilds, and organisations whose work is discussed or illustrated in Design Abstracts Retrospective for which we created a second database, Profiles [now called Arts + Architecture ProFILES]. All the biographical/historical data is contained in this database which is linked to Design Abstracts Retrospective

 

A+A P currently includes biographical and historical data on nearly 45,000 architects, painters, sculptors, designers, craftspeople, firms, studios, workshops, guilds, and organisations. [For convenience subsequently referred to as “creatives”]

 

Most of the names are of creatives whose work is discussed or is illustrated in the four AHR net databases: ReView, Design Abstracts Retrospective and Research Sources 1 and 2.

 

The coverage of A+A P is international. In the case of an individual, each entry contains, at a minimum, their dates of birth and death [if traced]; country or countries where they work or have worked; their area of creative activity; and their gender [where identified]. Most of the entries contain a detailed profile. Entries that are still being researched are marked PROFILE PENDING

 

• Profiles on Request. AHR net has an extensive research library and we have access to numerous online research sources. Should an entry be required that is marked PROFILE PENDING, users of AHR net are welcome to contact us at info@arts-search.com and we can supply a completed profile.

 

Most of the entries date from the years 1880 to 1960, making A+A P probably the largest online arts biographical ‘dictionary’ for these years.

 

Given the publications that have been digitized and indexed by AHR net, there are certain areas of strength in A+A P. Among these are:

 

Artists and designers associated with the Wiener Werkstätte (1903-1932)

 

US industrial designers 1950 to 1980

 

US craftspeople 1945 to 1980

 

Graphic designers from 1945 to 1960

 

British and Irish architects 1850s to the 1930s

 

British, Irish and US artists and designers of the Arts and Crafts movement 1880s to the 1920s

 

Poster designers from the 1890s the 1920s

 

Italian painters, architects and designers 1900 to 1925

 

British advertising and commercial artists from the 1920s to the 1950s

 

German architects and decorative and fine artists 1890s to the 1920s

 

French fine and applied artists from the 1890s to the 1920s

 

British and Irish architects and decorative and fine artists from the 1880s to the 1920s

 

Australian fine artists 1915 to 1925

 

British furniture designers 1880 to 1900

 

Dutch architects and designers 1919 to 1930

 

 

As of August 2020, A+A P contains biographical data on nearly 12,.000 painters, over 3,700 sculptors and over 7,200 architects

 

In addition to the profiles, A+A P also contains supplementary bibliographies and over 100,000 Internet links which are regularly checked for broken links

 

ReView

 

With the growing demand for journals to be made available fully searchable online we decided to launch a third database ;ReView. Initially only three titles were available; the British journal The Studio (1893-1923); the French journal Art et Décoration (1897-1910); and the German journal Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration. We have since added over 100 more titles and many more journals will soon be available on ReView.

 

As with Design Abstracts Retrospective, we are compiling biographical and historical data on all the names discussed or illustrated in the journals digitized for ReView. These are also added to A+A P which is linked to ReView. We are also adding supplementary bibliographies and Internet links to the profiles. A+A P currently contains over 100,000 Internet links, many of which are archived.

Research Sources

 

In 2017 we launched a new feature - Art History Research net Research Sources. These databases contain a wealth of digitized material on a specific topic. So far two databases are available:

 

Research Sources: 1. British and Irish Architecture and Decorative and Applied Arts 1850s to the 1930s.

 

This is an ongoing project to digitize every book, exhibition catalogue, pamphlet and conference paper, as well as much of the journal literature published in Britain and Ireland during the late nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth century. This project is well on the way to being completed.

 

Research Sources 2: THE POSTER

 

This contains extensive research data on the history of the Poster, including a 5,000 entry A Bibliographical and Online Survey of the History of the Poster, which is available as a downloadable PDF; an International Directory of Poster Collections; and digitizations of virtually every book, exhibition catalogue and journal on the Poster published between the 1890s and the early 1920s.

 

As with Design Abstracts Retrospective and ReView, biographical and historical data on all the names whose work is discussed or illustrated in the publications digitized for Research Sources 1 and 2 are entered into Arts + Architecture ProFILES, which now contains nearly 45,000 entries.

 

 

We are currently collecting literature for a third AHR net Research Sources database. This will be on International Exhibitions and World's Fairs 1851-1939

 

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