BHA: Bibliography of the History of Art

BHA is an international English- and French-language bibliographic database, which deals with art-historical literature from every country in the world published from 1973 up to and including 2007. BHA is produced by The Getty Research Institute on the basis of reports from local editors. In Denmark this function was undertaken by Danmarks Kunstbibliotek.

What subjects does BHA concern itself with?

Global art- and architecture history in the broad sense corresponding to BDK’s criteria see here, as well as, in a limited sense, archaeology and folk art.

Which publications does BHA include?

A selective number of books, periodicals and catalogues, not least articles in books, periodicals and catalogues. The selection is base don a quality or topical evaluation, as well as, to a certain extent, size so that quite brief texts are not usually carried.

What can BHA be used for?

In addition to books BHA also includes articles in books, periodicals and catalogues and can therefore give a highly comprehensive orientation as to what is published within one’s field which is not normally to be retrieved in a search of the library’s catalogues
Literature, which is registered in BHA, is provided with comprehensive subject heading and period designations just as, attached to every single title there is a resumé which outlines the text’s basic thesis and content in all important respects. A subject search in BHA thus gives a good overview of international research in, and publications about, this subject, including Danish research in international art historical subjects, BDK does not itself includes.

How does one search in BHA?

Search for author, title or subject either as free text search or subject search and the search can be restricted to, for instance, publications since 2006, or solely publications in English.

Can one order material on BHA?

A bibliography is an list/indexof literature dealing with a specific subject area, and therefore it is not possible to order/request material directly from BHA.
All Danish publications and many foreign ones can be found in Danmarks Kunstbibliotek or other Danish libraries and can therefore be requested, via either the Library’s catalogue or bibliotek.dk