Citing Images
When you're writing about an image or multimedia piece in a paper or presentation, you should provide the following pieces of information in the caption and in the bibliography...if you have a list of works of art cited:
- creator(s)
- title
- year(s) of creation
- materials or format
- owner (such as a museum or private owner), if applicable
- if from a digital source: date you found the work online
- name of the Web site where you found it
If you're just referring to the piece in your paper, use
- creator
- title
- year
- materials or format
the first time you mention it, and just the creator and title thereafter.
Examples of Citing Images
If the image is from an electronic resource
Footnote:
Artist’s name (first and last), TITLE, year, medium, size, museum (or place where the image is held) date accessed and url.
Bibliography (remember to indent the second and subsequent lines):
Artist’s name (last and first, or just first initial), TITLE, year, medium, size, museum (or place where the image is held), date accessed and url.
If the image is in a publication
Footnote:
Artist’s name (first and last), TITLE, year, book title (place of publication: publisher, year), page or plate number.
Bibliography:
Artist’s name (last and first, or just first initial), TITLE, year. In book title. Place of publication: publisher, year, page or plate number.
Chicago Style Citations
- Purdue Online Writing Lab gives excellent examples (for footnotes/endnotes and bibliographies) on how to cite using the Chicago citation style: books, periodicals, web sources, film & television, and much more.
- Examples for how to cite an image using the Chicago Style, from the Colgate University Visual Resources Library
Chicago vs. Turabian
Q. Is Chicago Style the same as Turabian Style?
A. Almost, but not quite.
Here's an in-depth explanation of the difference. Turabian is sometimes called "Chicago Style for students." The current edition of Chicago (17th) is considered equivalent to the current Turabian (9th). Comparison guide.
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The Notes & Bibliography citation style is preferred in Humanities disciplines, including Art History. It requires referencing sources in footnotes and listing publication information in a bibliography. This is distinct from the author-date style, which is preferred in the social and physical sciences, and uses in-text citations plus a reference list
Managing Information
Use citation management/PDF organizing software to save time and energy when organizing and citing research materials.
The library has compiled a list of citation management tools, including Zotero and ZoteroBib. For advice choosing a citation manager or managing information, contact us for a consultation!
​Zotero is a free, open sourced, web-based tool for managing citation, organizing PDF's and creating bibliographies. It is a downloadable software program designed for humanities and social sciences research. Developed at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, it is particularly suited for historical sources.
ZoteroBib is a free, quick and easy online bibliography and citation maker that saves time and trouble. Add sources using the ZoteroBib search box. Then copy and paste the complete bibliography (or footnotes or in-text citations) into your paper in the citation style of your choice. (As great as ZoteroBib is, it isn't perfect. Check your citations carefully using citation style guides or ask a librarian for assistance.)
Light
Ben Shahn, photographer. Itinerant photographer in Columbus, Ohio, August, 1938. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). (accessed April 14, 2021). Source: Flickr Commons.
Gather information
In Chicago Style, you'll be following
14.235: Citing paintings, photographs, and sculpture
So, make sure you have the following pieces of information:
- photographer/artist/creator
- title
- creation date(s)
- Medium
- Publisher or publication venue
- Publication date
- Page number, if available
- Dimensions, if available
- Repository, if applicable
- URL, if applicable
To cite a work of art that appears as a numbered illustration in published material, see: 14.158: Citing illustrations and tables. For that, you will need bibliographic information (author, book title, publication place, publisher, etc.).