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Chicago Manual of Style in the Context of Art History

This guide provides guidance in using the Chicago Manual of Style in the context of Art History papers and projects

Integrating Effectively

Shiny and Green: A Short Guide to Art-Historical Usage

of the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., Notes and Bibliography Style

(by Jenny Anger, January 2020)

Note that all examples are made up, but form is correct.  WC=Works Cited

It is not enough to write (even with correct citation):

Text:      The painting is “shiny and green.”1

Note:     1Blueberry Monroe, Applesauce Mthetwa (Johannesburg: Cool Press, 1999), 42.

WC:       Monroe, Blueberry. Applesauce Mthetwa. Johannesburg: Cool Press, 1999.

The following examples show different ways of setting up the previous quote appropriately as well as examples of how to cite. Note that the first example below uses the identical footnote and bibliographic reference as the example above; what makes it different is that the text complements the citation so that the context of the quotation is amplified.

BOOK

Text:     In her biography of Applesauce Mthetwa, Blueberry Monroe describes this particular painting as “shiny and green.”1

Note:     1Blueberry Monroe, Applesauce Mthetwa (Johannesburg: Cool Press, 1999), 42.

Shortened repeat version instead of Ibid.:

            2Monroe, Applesauce Mthetwa, 44.

WC:       Monroe, Blueberry. Applesauce Mthetwa. Johannesburg: Cool Press, 1999.

ARTICLE IN JOURNAL

Text:      Reviewing Applesauce Mthetwa’s retrospective, Blueberry Monroe characterized the surface of her paintings as “shiny and green.”1

Note:     1 Blueberry Monroe, “Seeing Applesauce Mthetwa with Fresh Eyes,” Taipei Art World 2, no. 45 (2001): 3.

Shortened repeat version instead of Ibid.:

2Monroe, “Seeing Applesauce Mthetwa,” 5.

WC:       Monroe, Blueberry. “Seeing Applesauce Mthetwa with Fresh Eyes.” Taipei Art World 2, no. 45 (2001): 3-7.

ARTICLE/CHAPTER IN BOOK

Text:      John Petrovich believes that calling Mthetwa’s painting “shiny and green,” as many have done, denigrates the work.

Note:     1John Petrovich, “Calling Paintings Names,” in Painting Today, ed. Yuki Banana and Lottie Spinach (Bogota: Painting Matters Press, 2014), 67.

Shortened repeat version instead of Ibid.:

                1Petrovich, “Calling Paintings Names,” 67.

WC:       Petrovich, John. “Calling Paintings Names.” In Painting Today, edited by Yuki Banana and Lottie Spinach, 57-87. Bogota: Painting Matters Press, 2014.

JOURNAL ARTICLE IN BOOK

Text:      In her contemporary review of Mthetwa’s painting, Kiki Chen termed it “shiny and green.” 1

Note:     1Kiki Chen, “My Love for Applesauce Mthetwa,” Berlin Kunstszene 42, no. 9 (1961): 52, in Applesauce Mthetwa, by Blueberry Monroe (Johannesburg: Cool Press, 1999), 42.

            2Chen, “My Love,” 54. [if the page in Monroe is the same, but if not:]

            3Chen, “My Love,” 57, in Monroe, Applesauce Mthetwa, 43.

WC:       Monroe, Blueberry. Applesauce Mthetwa. Johannesburg: Cool Press, 1999.