Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a controlled vocabulary
used for describing items of art, architecture, and material culture. The AAT contains generic terms, such as "cathedral," but no proper names, such as "Cathedral of Notre Dame." The AAT is used by, among others, museum
s, art libraries, archive
s, catalogers, and researcher
s in art and art history
. The AAT is a thesaurus
in compliance with ISO and NISO
standards including ISO 2788
and ANSI/NISO Z39.19.
The AAT is a structured vocabulary of around 34,000 concepts, including 131,000 terms, descriptions, bibliographic citations, and other information relating to fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and material culture.
as well as more efficient retrieval of information
; a controlled vocabulary was a solution to both these problems. The project was conceived by library directors and architectural experts Toni Petersen, Dora Crouch, and Pat Molholt and was originally headquartered part time at RPI in Troy, NY, then at Bennington College in Bennington, VT and later moved to Williamstown, Massachusetts
, with the J. Paul Getty Trust
providing technical advice and funding. In 1983 the Getty Trust took over editor
ial responsibility. The AAT offices relocated to the Getty's Los Angeles headquarters in order to better coordinate with two other similar Getty projects, the Union List of Artist Names
(ULAN) and Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
(TGN) soon after its publication.
The AAT was published in 1990 and 1994 in both print and electronic form. By 1997, the size and frequency of updates made hard-copy publication unfeasible and the decision was made to publish via a searchable online Web interface and in data files available for licensing. The online Web interface is freely-accessible from any computer connected to the Internet. Final editorial control of the AAT is maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program
.
Since 2008, Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program (TELDAP)http://teldap.tw/en collaborated with Getty Research Institute
(GRI) in developing the Chinese-language Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT-Taiwan). The initial goal of this project is to provide multilingual search and corresponding images in integrate digital archives systems of Taiwan
, and broaden the inclusion of terms related to Asian art, architecture and material culture in AAT.
The AAT can be used in three ways: at the data entry stage, by catalogers or indexers who are describing works of art, architecture, material culture, archival materials, visual surrogates, or bibliographic materials; as knowledge bases, providing information for researchers; and as search assistants to enhance end-user access to online resources.
s, librarian
s, visual resource curator
s, archivist
s, museum personnel, and specialists in thesaurus
construction. Its hierarchy
was inspired by the Medical Subject Headings
. All eras from antiquity to the present are covered, and it is not limited geographically.
As of January 2007, the AAT contained approximately 131,000 terms. While the thesaurus contains many variations on a term, such as singular and plural forms
, spelling variants, various forms of speech, and synonym
s, one is always flagged as the preferred term. Terms are updated monthly and regular users are encouraged to propose new terms.
system as well as a hierarchical one. There are seven facets:
The record for each concept includes its place in the hierarchy (with a link to its parent), as well as links to related terms, related concepts, sources for the data, and notes.
Controlled vocabulary
Controlled vocabularies provide a way to organize knowledge for subsequent retrieval. They are used in subject indexing schemes, subject headings, thesauri, taxonomies and other form of knowledge organization systems...
used for describing items of art, architecture, and material culture. The AAT contains generic terms, such as "cathedral," but no proper names, such as "Cathedral of Notre Dame." The AAT is used by, among others, museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s, art libraries, archive
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
s, catalogers, and researcher
Researcher
A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...
s in art and art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
. The AAT is a thesaurus
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...
in compliance with ISO and NISO
Niso
Niso is a genus of very small parasitic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Eulimidae. -Species:According to the World Register of Marine Species the following species with accepted names are included within the genus Niso * Niso aeglees Bush, 1885* Niso albida...
standards including ISO 2788
ISO 2788
ISO 2788 is an ISO international standard intended to ensure consistent practice within a single indexing agency, or between different agencies. The official title of the standard is "Guidelines for the establishment and development of monolingual thesauri."...
and ANSI/NISO Z39.19.
The AAT is a structured vocabulary of around 34,000 concepts, including 131,000 terms, descriptions, bibliographic citations, and other information relating to fine art, architecture, decorative arts, archival materials, and material culture.
History
The AAT project began in the late 1970s in response to the gradual automation of records by art libraries, art journal indexing services, and catalogers of museum objects and visual resources. Automation required consistency in catalogingCataloging
Cataloging is the process of listing or include something in a catalog. In library science is is the producing of bibliographical descriptions of books or other kinds of documents...
as well as more efficient retrieval of information
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...
; a controlled vocabulary was a solution to both these problems. The project was conceived by library directors and architectural experts Toni Petersen, Dora Crouch, and Pat Molholt and was originally headquartered part time at RPI in Troy, NY, then at Bennington College in Bennington, VT and later moved to Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Williamstown is a town in Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,754 at the 2010 census...
, with the J. Paul Getty Trust
J. Paul Getty Trust
The J. Paul Getty Trust is the world's wealthiest art institution with an estimated endowment in April 2009 of $US 4.2 billion. Based in Los Angeles, California, it operates the J. Paul Getty Museum, which has two locations, the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Pacific...
providing technical advice and funding. In 1983 the Getty Trust took over editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
ial responsibility. The AAT offices relocated to the Getty's Los Angeles headquarters in order to better coordinate with two other similar Getty projects, the Union List of Artist Names
Union List of Artist Names
The Union List of Artist Names is a controlled vocabulary currently containing around 293,000 names and other information about artists. Names in ULAN may include given names, pseudonyms, variant spellings, names in multiple languages, and names that have changed over time...
(ULAN) and Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names is a product of the J. Paul Getty Trust included in the Getty Vocabulary Program. The TGN includes names and associated information about places. Places in TGN include administrative political entities and physical features . Current and historical places...
(TGN) soon after its publication.
The AAT was published in 1990 and 1994 in both print and electronic form. By 1997, the size and frequency of updates made hard-copy publication unfeasible and the decision was made to publish via a searchable online Web interface and in data files available for licensing. The online Web interface is freely-accessible from any computer connected to the Internet. Final editorial control of the AAT is maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program
Getty Vocabulary Program
The Getty Vocabulary Program is a department within the Getty Research Institute at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California. It produces and maintains the Getty controlled vocabulary databases, Art and Architecture Thesaurus, Union List of Artist Names, and Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names....
.
Since 2008, Taiwan e-Learning and Digital Archives Program (TELDAP)http://teldap.tw/en collaborated with Getty Research Institute
Getty Research Institute
The Getty Research Institute , located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts". A program of the J...
(GRI) in developing the Chinese-language Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT-Taiwan). The initial goal of this project is to provide multilingual search and corresponding images in integrate digital archives systems of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and broaden the inclusion of terms related to Asian art, architecture and material culture in AAT.
The AAT can be used in three ways: at the data entry stage, by catalogers or indexers who are describing works of art, architecture, material culture, archival materials, visual surrogates, or bibliographic materials; as knowledge bases, providing information for researchers; and as search assistants to enhance end-user access to online resources.
Terms
The initial core set of terms was derived from authority lists and the literature of art and architectural history; this core set was reviewed, approved and added to by an advisory team made up scholars from all relevant disciplines, including art and architectural historians, architectArchitect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s, librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
s, visual resource curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
s, archivist
Archivist
An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...
s, museum personnel, and specialists in thesaurus
Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a reference work that lists words grouped together according to similarity of meaning , in contrast to a dictionary, which contains definitions and pronunciations...
construction. Its hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
was inspired by the Medical Subject Headings
Medical Subject Headings
Medical Subject Headings is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences; it can also serve as a thesaurus that facilitates searching...
. All eras from antiquity to the present are covered, and it is not limited geographically.
As of January 2007, the AAT contained approximately 131,000 terms. While the thesaurus contains many variations on a term, such as singular and plural forms
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
, spelling variants, various forms of speech, and synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
s, one is always flagged as the preferred term. Terms are updated monthly and regular users are encouraged to propose new terms.
Design
The AAT is a faceted classificationFaceted classification
A faceted classification system allows the assignment of multiple classifications to an object, enabling the classifications to be ordered in multiple ways, rather than in a single, predetermined, taxonomic order. A facet comprises "clearly defined, mutually exclusive, and collectively exhaustive...
system as well as a hierarchical one. There are seven facets:
- Associated Concepts - abstract concepts, such as beauty, balance, connoisseurship, metaphor, freedom, socialism (Hierarchy: Associated concepts)
- Physical Attributes - perceptible or measurable characteristics such as size, shape, chemical properties, texture and hardness, such as strapwork, borders, round, waterlogged, brittleness. (Hierarchies: Attributes and Properties, Conditions and Effects, Design Elements, Color)
- Styles and Periods - stylistic groupings and distinct chronological periods, such as FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Louis XIV, T'ang Dynasty, ChippendaleChippendaleChippendale may refer to:*Thomas Chippendale, or his furniture*Thomas Chippendale, the younger, son of Thomas Chippendale*Chairface Chippendale, a supervillain*Chippendales, a chain of clubs and troupe of performers*Chippendale, New South Wales...
(Hierarchy: Styles and Periods) - Agents - people, groups of people, and organizations such as printmakers, landscape architectLandscape architectA landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
s, corporations, religious orderReligious orderA religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
s. (Hierarchies: People, Organizations) - Activities - areas of endeavor, physical and mental actions or methods, such as archaeologyArchaeologyArchaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, engineeringEngineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, analyzing, contests, exhibitionArt exhibitionArt exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
s, running, drawing (image-making), corrosionCorrosionCorrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
. (Hierarchies: Disciplines, Functions, Events, Physical and Mental Activities, Processes and Techniques) - Materials - physical substances, such as iron, clay, adhesive, emulsifier, artificial ivory, millwork, nylon. (Hierarchy: Materials)
- Objects - objects either fabricated or given form by human activity, such as paintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, amphoraAmphoraAn amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...
e, facadeFacadeA facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s, cathedralCathedralA cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
s, Brewster ChairBrewster Chair]A Brewster Chair is a rare style of chair made in mid-17th century New England.-Origin:The "Brewster Chair" was named after Willam Brewster, one of the Pilgrim fathers who landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. In 1830 the Brewster family of Duxbury donated Elder Brewster's original chair to...
s, gardenGardenA garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s (Hierarchies: Object Groupings and Systems, Object Genres, Components; Built Environment: Settlements and Landscapes, Built Complexes and Districts, Single Built Works, Open Spaces and Site Elements; Furnishings and Equipment: Furnishings, Costume, Tools and Equipment, Weapons and Ammunition, Measuring Devices, Containers, Sound Devices, Recreational Artifacts, Transportation Vehicles; Visual and Verbal Communication: Visual Works, Exchange Media, Information Forms)
The record for each concept includes its place in the hierarchy (with a link to its parent), as well as links to related terms, related concepts, sources for the data, and notes.
See also
- Union List of Artist NamesUnion List of Artist NamesThe Union List of Artist Names is a controlled vocabulary currently containing around 293,000 names and other information about artists. Names in ULAN may include given names, pseudonyms, variant spellings, names in multiple languages, and names that have changed over time...
(ULAN) - Getty Thesaurus of Geographic NamesGetty Thesaurus of Geographic NamesThe Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names is a product of the J. Paul Getty Trust included in the Getty Vocabulary Program. The TGN includes names and associated information about places. Places in TGN include administrative political entities and physical features . Current and historical places...
(TGN) - Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA)
- Categories for the Description of Works of ArtCategories for the Description of Works of ArtCategories for the Description of Works of Art describes the content of art databases by articulating a conceptual framework for describing and accessing information about works of art, architecture, other material culture, groups and collections of works, and related images. The CDWA includes 512...
(CDWA) - Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO)
- Getty Vocabulary ProgramGetty Vocabulary ProgramThe Getty Vocabulary Program is a department within the Getty Research Institute at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California. It produces and maintains the Getty controlled vocabulary databases, Art and Architecture Thesaurus, Union List of Artist Names, and Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names....
External links
- Art & Architecture Thesaurus Online Search the AAT online for free.
- About the Getty Vocabularies
- About AAT
- Getty Vocabulary Editorial Guidelines The editorial guidelines for the AAT, ULAN, and TGN contain rules and guidelines intended for use by the editors of the Getty Vocabulary Program using the in-house editorial system, VCS (Vocabulary Coordination System). Contributors to the Getty Vocabularies and implementers of the licensed vocabulary data may consult these guidelines as well.
- Training materials and presentations created by the Getty Vocabulary Program The documents on this page include presentations and other training materials for the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), the Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO), Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA), and standards in general.