Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Presented byAnna Huber

Annica StiversBecky Rice

Megan HenningMelissa Ludeman

Monique Lloyd

Need for an Art Thesaurus

• Common ground for documenting art: archive, library, museum, visual resource

• Improve access to cultural heritage info

• Use standard vocabulary

• Semantic network - link concepts

What is the AAT?

• AAT is the Art & Architecture Thesaurus

• Structured vocabulary ≈ 131,000 terms

• Terms describe art, architecture, decorative arts, material culture, and archival materials

• Global and general in concept

• Covers time of Antiquity to present

History of the AAT

• Founded by Dora Crouch, Pat Molholt, and Toni Petersen late 1970s

• Initial work: Troy, NY 1980 – 1983

• Became project of Getty Art History Information Program (AHIP) 1983

• Published by Oxford University Press 1990 and 1994 in print and electronic format

AAT Contributions

• AAT is a work in progress --- updated monthly

• AAT is a compilation---not comprehensive

• Entries dependent on contributors and projects

• Richest in terminology used for art of Western Europe and North America

AAT Online Tool

• AAT online tool is free to all users athttp://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/

• Search by keyword term

or browse the hierarchy

Framework of the AAT

• Discipline-specific faceted subject thesaurus

• Framework inspired by Ranganathan’s classification of information into 5 categories/facets

Image courtesy of Mystic Seaport http://www.mysticseaport.org/library/msitia/facets.html

Seven Facets of the AAT

• Associated Concepts (beauty, freedom)

• Physical Attributes (round, waterlogged)

• Styles and Periods (French, expressionist)

• Agents (corporations, landscape architects)

• Activities (engineering, drawing)

• Materials (iron, clay)

• Objects (paintings, gardens)

• Seven facets are further divided into 33 sub-facets or hierarchies

Semantic Network of AAT

• Hierarchical Relationships – link broader and narrower concepts

• Equivalence Relationships – link terms that represent the same meaning

• Associative Relationships – link terms to related concepts

Parts of an AAT Record

Concept

Hierarchical Relationships

Scope Notes

Sources

Associative Relationships

Equivalence Relationships

Sample Record/Concept

• Use the AAT to search the term, “film”Art & Architecture Thesaurus

1. Use results to identify facets.

2. Look at a full record display and identify important information.

Uses of the AAT

• Cataloging - provides data value standard of preferred terminology

• Retrieval – provide search assistant in databases

• Research Tools - facilitates information-sharing between collections

Who Uses the AAT?

• The Getty Research Instituteuses in the library catalog

• National Art Library (NAL) London primary source of terminology in library catalog

• National Graphic Design Image Database uses AAT to describe attributes of posters, advertisements, etc.

• Research Libraries Information Network(RLIN) offers AAT browser as part of database package of authority files

Evaluation of AAT Tool

Bridge of standardization for documentation of art and architecture

Large, Controlled Vocabulary

Independent Application

Sensitivity - regional terms and culturally appropriate terms

Evaluation of AAT Tool

− Currently AAT is largely focused on Western Civilization terms and languages

− Formulation and use of faceted “strings” may be overly complicated for all but highly expert AAT catalogers

AAT Activity

Claude MonetHaystacks at Chailly at Sunrise

1865Oil on Canvas

30 X 60 cmSan Diego Museum of Art

Art & Architecture Thesaurus

AAT Activity

landscapes (environments)

agricultural landscapelandscapistsimpressionist

oil painting (visual work)oil-painting (technique)

nature?French?

Not Found in the AAT

• Personal Names (Georgia O’Keefe)

• Geographic Place Names (Iran/Persia)

• Building Names (Eiffel Tower)

• Historical Events and Dates (French revolution)

• Iconographic Themes (Cupid)

Future of the AAT

• Broadening the scope of the AAT

• Continued development of multilingual equivalents of AAT terms

National Museum of Africa

• Complete translations of AAT into other languages

Spanish AAT http://www.aatespanol.cl/