Skip to Main Content

Art & Design Research Guide: Citation Help

A research guide to access hard-copy and online resources in the discipline of art & design.

Presentation on Finding High Quality Images

Finding Credible Image Sources: Slides

MLA Citation Help

Librarians can help with citations

Chat below or text 619-592-8884
Is chat offline?
Email your question!

Citing Images Using MLA

The below information (in black) is from the OWL Purdue MLA Formatting and Style Guide.

Note: If the website begins with https://, that portion of the url can be omitted and the url can begin with www.

Information needed for your citation:

  • artist's name
  • title of the work of art (put in italics)
  • date of creation
  • institution and city where the art is housed
  • if online, the name of the website (include even if it's the same name as the museum; put in italics)

An Image (Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph)

Provide the artist's name, the work of art italicized, the date of creation, the institution and city where the work is housed. Follow this initial entry with the name of the Website in italics, and the date of access.

 

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado, www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74. Accessed 22 May 2006.

 

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive, www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

 

If the work/image cited is available on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author.

 

Adams, Clifton R. “People Relax Beside a Swimming Pool at a Country Estate Near Phoenix, Arizona, 1928.” Found, National Geographic Creative, 2 June 2016, natgeofound.tumblr.com/.