Studio Art Library Resources: Subject & Material Guides

If you'd like to research conservation and restoration techniques, you could try some of the options below.  Also, check out Art & Archaeology Technology Abstracts, an online journal that indexes abstracts of articles about conservation.

While none of the Princeton Libraries place too great an emphasis on collecting "how-to" books or guides to art techniques, there are still some great resources available for people who want to learn more about art practices and materials.  The other sections in this page (see the drop-down menu) offer some medium-specific information.  Here are some general tips:

Catalog Seaching.

Try searching the catalog for keywords such as "artist's handbook" or subjects like "Painting -- Technique" and "Drawing -- Technique."  Then try clicking on subject headings in the records to find books with similar topics.  See the Browsing page for information on how to browse by call number too.

Online Databases & Indexes.

"Technique" is a subject heading in BHA and Art Index, and you can narrow down your results even more after a subject search.  Grove Art Online certainly has articles on most kinds of materials, and there are bibliographies at the end of each article that you can look up for more information.  See the Databases page for more on indexes.

Outside Web Resources.

This is one subject area where academic sources might not be the most useful.  Try searching the web for guides on how to do certain techniques.  Youtube has many instructional videos that could be helpful.

By the way, these subject and material guides focus mainly on art materials and techniques, but if you want to learn more about architecture techniques, try the handbooks and manuals page in the Architecture Libguide!

The following are art supply stores near Princeton University, in no particular order or ranking: