Back to Product Reviews

Choice, March 2006
Reference Reviews v.15 no.5, 2001

With indexing of 460 periodicals as far back as 1984 and full text of 131 journals from 1997, Art Full Text’s coverage of fine, decorative, and commercial art is international in scope for periodicals published in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Dutch. Users search the product using basic and advanced functions and a subject thesaurus developed specifically for Wilson’s art databases. Searchers may limit results by date, physical description, and document type (e.g., art reproductions); these options help researchers zero in on a single artist or an individual work. Searches may also be limited by full-text and PDF page images, and by whether an article is peer-reviewed. Daily updates make this product imperative for the student or scholar researching timely topic.

In Art Index Retrospective: 1929-1984, 55 years of art journalism are accessible to researchers. Also covering fine, decorative, and commercial art, this resource provides an opportunity for long-forgotten and underused information from print editions of Art Index to resurface and benefit students, educators, and art historians while stimulating use of older periodical collections as well. Like Art Full Text, this database offers articles in five languages in addition to English. Information is retrieved using WilsonWeb’s seamless interface, with its All Smart Search feature that rewards beginners with results comparable to those found by an experienced searcher. Wilson’s in-house indexing reconciles subject headings and name variants to ensure comprehensive results. The interface’s search utility automatically switches search terms like "action painting" to "abstract expressionism" so that users get results despite their lack of knowledge of preferred tent1inology. Art Index Retrospective is another indispensable resource for scholars.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Both databases: for lower-level undergraduates and above.

Reviewed by: R. Tolley-Stokes, East Tennessee State University

Review from: Reference Reviews v.15 no.5, 2001

Art Index Retrospective is a bibliographic database that cumulates citations to volumes 1-32 (1929-1984) of the printed Art Index. Periodical coverage includes English-language periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins, as well as periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Dutch. This database is available on WilsonWeb, CD-ROM, and magnetic tape.

I used their online version, WilsonWeb, and found it very user friendly and accessible. There is an excellent Help, which takes users through the strategies and tools for searching and locating materials in the most efficient manner. There are three ways to search: SearchPlus, Search, or Browse. The database is searchable by keyword, subject heading, personal name, article title word, organization, publication, and year. Users also have the option of saving, printing, or e-mailing the results of each search. The online version not only lists the results but also offers links within them. I found this extremely helpful, because it allowed me to search deeper within my results instead of having to begin a new search. Another excellent feature is the ability to store the results of each search, so that you can access and print your ‘History’.

This is a content-driven site and is therefore focused on delivery of this content, not on bells and whistles which would slow the download of the pages. In some ways this might seem like a drawback – all business, no fun – but this approach allows users direct access to the materials and search results.

The Table of Contents for Art Index Retrospective includes the following, all of which are hyperlinks:

• Introduction to Art Index Retrospective

• Document Types List

• Art Index Retrospective Fields

• Illustration Abbreviation List

• Journal List

• Languages List

• Physical Description List

• Sample Searches

• Searching for an Author Using the Browse (Index)

• Searching for an Art Reproduction

• Searching for an Artist

• Stopwords

• Using Limit Fields

The breadth of content is hard to ignore. The publications covered focus on advertising art, antiques, archaeology, architecture and architectural history, art history, computers in art, crafts, decorative arts, fashion, folk art, graphic arts, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, motion pictures, museology, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, television, textiles, and video.

The navigation for Art Index Retrospective has been built and reproduced for the web in a very innovative and consistent way. Users always have access to the Search Options, Help, Technical Support, History, and much more.

Art Index Retrospective is a tremendous resource for those needing to isolate content within periodicals in this field. Historians, students, and researchers would all benefit from this resource. I would highly recommend Art Index Retrospective for its comprehensive content and excellent search options.

Dr. Erica Wadley
LearnKey, Inc.