A Working Bibliography - The University of Sydney

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INTRODUCTORY NOTES:
This a teaching and initial research bibliography which has been established over a number of years with
Australian students who have no access to vernacular language materials in mind. For deep research, vernacular
language speaking and reading ability is necessary, but this bibliography may also be useful for initial research by
those without linguistic access to the art writings of the cultures concerned. It is usually updated every other
year, depending on particular interests and available resources. Since this work originates as a personal teaching
bibliography for different courses which naturally include frequent reference to my own works, I include lists of
these at three places. The bibliography is available as a PDF file via the website of the Department of Art History
and Film at: http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/arthistory/index.php?page=staff&id=johclark
Please contact the author at arthistory.enquiries@arts.usyd.edu.au or at john.clark@arts.usyd.edu.au with any
notable omissions or additions. It is desirable for speed and accuracy of updating if you can do so with a
country-specific file of additions only saved in the same categories and in .doc format for PC, and only if the text
mentioned is available via reasonable international circulation. Thematic or artist titles should be preceded by the
name in square brackets eg [Xu Bing], [Noumea] to facilitate A-Z sorting. At the minimum a title should be held
in a national library which can be accessed by international document request facilities. Some countries have
valuable material in English but in obscure academic journals and some have extensive writings on modern art
which are nonetheless difficult to access abroad because of small-volume and / or selective coterie circulation at
home. But if a text is both important and can be found by international document search, it should be included.
Entry is by Country, Topic, and Artist. In some sections which give works on specific artists, authors follow the
name of the work or artist. Artists who cross cultural boundaries are generally given under contemporary art
sections by their culture of origination, although there are no hard-and-fast rules for such affiliation, and some
categories of overseas artists have been generated where there is sufficient material. There has been no attempt to
restrict the bibliography to books alone, but obviously it is not possible to include too many journal articles, book
reviews, or notes on particular exhibitions. Catalogues are usually included if little other material is available on a
given artist or if they contain useful general essays. Since some works not dealing specifically with modern art
also refer to its important proto-history in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they are also included here. In
general, the art works referred to are after 1850.
In general this bibliography seeks a balance between art historical quality, availability, and relevance. Thus texts of
inadequate analytical or art historical reference have also been brought in since for some art cultures there is little
other written work available in English. Many areas like modern history or writings on modern culture including
literature are included on an ad hoc basis where these are available and seem useful, especially in areas where I
have worked. Further suggestions for inclusion of minimum materials in political and cultural history adjacent to
the field are welcome.
For users of this bibliography in Australia:
Works given are mostly those available in Australia and chiefly at the Australian National University Library,
National Library of Australia, The Canberra School of Art Library, University of Sydney Fisher Research and
Schaeffer Fine Arts Libraries and private sources in Canberra and Sydney. In the Sydney area, after holdings of
the University of Sydney Fisher Research and Schaeffer Fine Arts Libraries, the best source for some of this
material is probably the Art Gallery of New South Wales library which may be used for reference during
weekdays. Fisher Research Library East Asian Collection is the recipient of an important ongoing donation of art
catalogues via the National Art Center in Tokyo and also benefits from purchases under the Morrissey Bequest.
Details of these may be accessed off-campus by the library’s English on-line catalogue, as well as by CJK
terminals if one is available in your library for full details. The catalogues are almost all in Japanese but frequently
include many plate titles and essays in English or other European languages. There are also quite extensive
holdings of books on Asian Art at the State Library of New South Wales, and especially of pre-Second World
War books on India, including important runs of early Indian art journals.
For their assistance in updating this bibliography at various times I am grateful to Edan Corkill, Kikuchi Yôko,
Lai Meilian, Phoebe Scott, Michael Fitzhenry, Helena Spanjaard, Helena Poropat, and Thomas Berghuis. From
2007, I have placed this bibliography under the collective authorship of those doing the updating and their names
are given on the title page.
John Clark, April 2007.