LibGuides: All Databases: Benezit Dictionary of Artists

Benezit Dictionary of Artists

About the Database
Creating Persistent Links

Benezit Dictionary of Artists This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive and definitive resource for artists’ info, including 149,000 biographies as well as auction records, exhibition histories, and over 11,000 images of artists’ signatures, structures, sculptures, and stamps of sale.

Click here for Database Tutorial made by KU Librarians.

Creating a persistent link:

To share a persistent link from Benezit Dictionary of Artists, you will need to add Kettering University's proxy to ensure all users both on and off campus can access it.

To do so, first, copy the URL that appears in the search bar for the resource you wish to share, which in this case is:

https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/display/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00141033?rskey=JvfYzm&result=1

Next, add Kettering University's proxy BEFORE the URL as shown below:

https://kettering.idm.oclc.org/login?url= added to

https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/display/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00141033?rskey=JvfYzm&result=1 equals the new persistent link:

https://kettering.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/display/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00141033?rskey=JvfYzm&result=1

Using this Database

Since its first publication in 1911, the Benezit® Dictionary of Artists has become one of the most comprehensive and definitive resources of artists’ biographies available. Revered for its global scope and its excellent coverage of European artists, Benezit’s distinguishing features include its entries on obscure artists, historic auction records, and over 11,000 images of artists’ signatures, monograms, and stamps of sale. Under the supervision of its Editor in Chief and specialist advisors, Benezit is continually updated to reflect new scholarship, with a special focus on contemporary artists with current or recent exhibitions.

Benezit is unique: its diverse coverage and detailed histories of artists’ works make it an essential resource for collectors, curators, professionals, and students – anyone needing authoritative information on individual artists and the collection, display, and sale of their works. Available alongside the acclaimed Grove Dictionary of Art, Benezit offers rare insight into an artist’s life and work.

Key Features of Benezit include:

Nearly 170,000 entries on artists from the first English edition (2006), plus revisions and new biographies exclusively available online
More than 11,000 images of artists signatures, monograms, and stamps of sale
Detailed museum listings, bibliographies, exhibition information, and auction records
Comprehensive coverage on artists across all media
Regular updates to reflect new scholarship, with new articles and images, revised articles, additions to bibliographies, and corrections
An essential source for research on artists outside the traditional canon, with bibliographies to encourage further study
Historical auction records and exhibition histories support research on the reception and value of art across time

Benezit Dictionary of Artists can easily be searched using the main search box on the homepage.

The library's subscription includes only the Benezit Dictionary of Art, not Grove Art Online. Both show in search results despite not having access to both. Once you enter a search term or name, the results page will have red and green lock icons to indicate whether you can view a particular item, as seen in the image below.

Click on the artist's name to be taken to their page. Many, but not all, entries have extensive information, including biography, birth & death dates and location, exhibitions (where and when), museum and gallery holdings, auction records, images of the artist's signature, and a bibliography.