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Art and Design: MLA Citing Sources for Artists

A basic research guide to Art and Design for Marshall University students.

How to cite uncommon sources

Wall Plaques

Format of information (wall text, object label, brochure), Gallery Name, Number or Exhibition Title, Museum Name, City, State.

Example: 
Wall text, Playful Performers, National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.

Artwork in a Museum

Frank Duveneck, Whistling Boy, oil on canvas, 1872, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH.

Duveneck, Frank, Whistling Boy, oil on canvas, 1872, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH.

Comic Books

For MLA help with citing a comic book, head to this website: Comic Art in Scholarly Writing: A Citation Guide for different examples of citations based on what kind of comic you're looking to cite.

Images

For Titled Images

Source Reference List Citation

Library database

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved from Oxford Art Online database.

Free Web

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved from http://www.uwm.edu/~wash/rousseau.jpg

Image reproduced in a printed source

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris. By Claire Fresches et al. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art. 232.

The plate/image number (or, if this number is not available, the page number on which the image is printed) should follow the name of the publisher as shown.
 

 

 

For an Untitled Image

Create a brief title for it and place it in brackets, unitalicized.

Source Reference List Citation

Library database

Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Image reproduced in a printed source

Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. River of shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the technological wild West. By Rebecca Solnit. New York, NY: Viking. 52.

The plate/image number (or, if this number is not available, the page number on which the image is printed) should follow the name of the publisher as shown.

Sources that help you cite with MLA