Art 318: Survey of 19th and 20th Century Arts

The Chicago Manual of Style Notes-Bibliography system is primarily used by those working in literature, history, and the arts.  It consists of two parts:

1. A superscripted note number (¹) in the text, placed at the end of a sentence or clause and a note containing the citation, placed either at the bottom of the page (footnote) or at the end of the paper (endnote).
2. A bibliography.

Citation guides and manuals

BibMe guide to Chicago Style citations: this guide provides an easy to follow overview and guide with examples.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): Purdue OWL's Chicago guide is incredibly comprehensive and provides a helpful sample paper as an example.

Chicago Manual of Style Notes-Bibliography Citation Quick Guide: the official online manual.

• MLA Style Center - Search FAQs or ask the experts at MLA a question
• Citing Museum Exhibit in MLA
• Citing Artwork from an Exhibit in MLA
• How-to-Guide: Image Citation from Academy of Art University Library

The main components to note when citing artworks are:

• Artist's name
• Title of work
• Date of composition
• Medium
• Name and location of owning institution
• Where you found the image

Chicago Manual of Style image citations

When citing an artwork you see online, follow this format in your bibliography:

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Artwork. Year artwork was created. Description of materials. Dimensions. Museum, City. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL.

For instance,

Homer, Winslow. The Gulf Stream. 1899. Oil on canvas, 71.4 x 124.8 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Accessed October 19, 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11122.

For Chicago Manual of Style image citations, consult the following sections of the manual:

• 14.235: Citing paintings, photographs, sculpture
• 14.235 Citing exhibition catalogs

MLA image citations

For MLA image citations, the general MLA image citation format should look like this:

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Artwork OR description. Year of creation. Museum name, Link starting with www.

For instance:

Homer, Winslow. The Gulf Stream. 1899. Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11122. 

Consult the MLA citation style guide for more information.