Tools

Topics & Collections

small text medium text large text

Researching Your Art
Evaluation and Appraisal

Few things are as exciting as discovering a painting that's been hiding in the attic or rediscovering one that's been on the wall for years. When you find such a "hidden treasure," all sorts of questions arise: Where did this come from? Who is this artist? Are they famous? and of course, how much is it worth?!? Where do you start? Here in Pittsburgh, you can start at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main!

While the folks on the Antiques Roadshow make it look really easy, researching art and determining its value is a highly-trained profession; however, there are a number of sources that you can use to do a preliminary search or to get a general idea.

We start with our online auction record sources and our print sales indexes & price guides. They tell you what art works have sold for at auction over the past few decades. If your artist is not listed in those, you'll want to check for biographical information. Although you may not have specific price information on the artist, the more you know, the better off you'll be. Finally, depending on your level of interest and your purpose in finding the value, you may want to contact an appraiser and get something in writing.

Online Auction Records

The online resources below are available for free only in the Music & Art Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main. To access them from home requires a paid subscription.

Artprice.com (covers 1700 to present)
Auction records for drawings, watercolors, paintings, tapestry, prints, posters, sculpture, installation and photography. In addition to historical data, the database covers upcoming auctions, and includes millions of records for over 300,000 artists, from thousands of international auction houses.

Artnet.com Price Database (covers 1985 to present)
The Fine Art Auctions Database contains over 2 million illustrated fine art auction records from major auction houses around the world, including Christie's, Sotheby's, and many others. It covers paintings, sculptures, prints, works on paper, photography and more.

ArtFact (covers 1989 to present)
A large database of antique auction sales results that includes the full text of auction catalog listings for every item. This is the primary database used by the experts on the Antiques Roadshow. Includes millions of sales results from hundreds of auction houses, as well as thousands of images.

  Return to the top

 

Auction Sales Indexes & Price Guides

The following sources list auction prices for artists. Current volumes are available at the Reference Desk in the Music and Art Department. Back issues are also available as indicated.

Art Sales Index
(1978 to date; now known as Hislop's Art Sales Index)
A widely used source. Runs from August to July. Over 100,000 sale results from 1,800 auctions per season. Covers over 27,000 artists. Drawings included from 1976. Bronzes/sculptures included from 1983/1984. Covers only works sold above a certain price.

Davenport's Art Reference & Price Guide
(1996/97 to date)
Contains over 90,000 artists. Artists included must have sold at an auction that produces a catalog and publishes in a major reference book. Each artist contains: birth and death dates, where they lived, subject matters, average prices. Good for finding range of prices for artists’ works and lesser known artists.

Gordon's Print Price Annual
(1996, 1999 to date)
Most authoritative and comprehensive source for prints. Contains more than 20,000 entries.

Lawrence's Dealer Print Prices International
(2000)
Not an auction sales index. Lists over 20,000 retail prices for artist's prints.

Descriptions of most of these resources come from the New York Public Library’s AUCTION SALES INDEXES: Books, CD-ROM's and On-Line Services (http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/artarc/auction/auctions.html)

  Return to the top

 

Artist Biographies

If you don't find a price in the above indexes, sometimes biographical information about the artist can be helpful in learning more about a painting.

Indexes

The following will lead you to information about an artist in biographical sources. Also ask for these at the Reference Desk.

Artist Biographies Master Index
Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., c1986.
rq N40 .A78 1986

Mallett, Daniel Trowbridge
Mallett's Index of Artists, International-Biographical; Including Painters, Sculptors, Illustrators, Engravers and Etchers of the Past and the Present
New York, R.R. Bowker company, 1948, c1935.
qr 927 M29

Havlice, Patricia Pate
Index to Artistic Biography
Metuchen, N.J., Scarecrow Press, 1973.
First Supplement, 1981
Second Supplement, 2002
r N40 .H38

Biographical Dictionaries

The following is a selective list of sources that contain information about artists. They are not indexed in the sources above, so they are additional places to look for biographical information on artists.

Bénézit.
Dictionnaire Critique et Documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs…
r N40 .B47 1976

A Biographical Dictionary of Women Artists in Europe and America Since 1850
r N6757 .D86 1989

Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers
r 927.5 B84d2 (Room Reference)

Contemporary Artists
rq N6490 .C6567 1989

A Dictionary of Canadian Artists
r N6548 .M28 1975x

Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers
rq N6536 .F5 1986

Thieme and Becker
Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart…
qr 927 T35

Who's Who in American Art
rq N6537 .W5

  Return to the top

 

Additional Sources

Art Index Retrospective and Art Full Text (opens in new window)
Periodical index to art magazines; Art Index Retrospective covers 1929-1984. Art Full Text covers 1984 to the present, with selected periodicals in full text from 1997 on. For instructions see A Quick Guide to Art Full Text + Art Index Retrospective

Grove Dictionary of Art Online
(click Grove's Dictionaries in Access PA Power Library)
Contains 45,000 articles on every aspect of the visual arts - painting, sculpture, graphic arts, architecture, decorative arts and photography - from prehistory to the present day.

Pittsburgh Artist File
Clippings file and indexes to local art shows such as Pittsburgh Associated Artist and The Carnegie International as well as documentation on Pittsburgh artists.

Artist File
Clippings file and index covering nationally- and internationally-known artists.

  Return to the top

 

Appraisers

Very often trying to find the value of an artwork is tedious and time-consuming, or your research has led you to believe that you have an artwork of value, but you’re not quite sure. That is when an appraiser can be an enormous help! You can find an appraiser by: