Subject Access in Art Repositories

For educational purposes only. Do not distribute.

Subject A
S bj Access to Art Works:
A W k
Issues and the CONA Example

Patricia Harpring
Managing Editor, Getty Vocabulary Program
27 March 2011

© 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Patricia Harpring. Do not distribute. For educational purposes only.

Table of Contents
Issues for recording subject
Subject in General
Do repositories record subject?
Subject in CONA is compliant with CCO/CDWA
What is CONA?
General subject vs. Specific subject
Subjects from ULAN
Subjects from TGN
Subjects from AAT
Subjects from CONA Iconography Authority
Subjects are another art work in CONA
Subjects from other sources
How many terms are required?
For non-narrative works
What if subject is unknown or uncertain?
How to index subject of the work at hand (vs. subject as represented in
authority)


Patricia Harpring, March 2011 Subject Access for Art Works: CONA page 1 © 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust


What is Subject?
The subject matter of a work of
art (sometimes referred to as In CCO and CDWA it is
its content) broadly defined
is the narrative, iconic, or non-
objective meaning conveyed “Core” information
by a figurative or an abstract For all objects, even
composition. those that have no
It is what is d i t d i and b
i h t i depicted in d by subject
“subject” in the
a work of art. traditional sense
It also covers the function of
an object or architecture that
otherwise has no narrative
content.

What is Subject?
The subject matter of a work of
art (sometimes referred to as Using fields specifically
its content)
dedicated to subject
is the narrative, iconic, or non-
objective meaning conveyed assures that subject
by a figurative or an abstract matter is consistently
composition. recorded and indexed in
It is what is d i t d i and b
i h t i depicted in d by the same place using the
a work of art. same conventions for
It also covers the function of every object represented
an object or architecture that
in the database
otherwise has no narrative
content.



What is Subject? Quick overview

You are probably
accustomed to R i l i
Representational, narrative
thinking of Tells a story
subject in these
Representational, not a story
ways:
Portraits, landscapes, still lifes, genre
scenes, architectural drawings, allegories
But th
B t these may Nonrepresentational
N t ti l
also be Abstract
“subject”: Decoration
Function
Implied themes or attributes


Issue: One of the primary ways by which users
want to retrieve information and images of art is
by subject content
However, few repositories of art or of images
record subject terms

How does the community overcome this problem?
We all recognize the problem; but there is no
easy solution




Repositories of objects would be
best source of current data for
objects; but do they index subject
content?
OCLC study in 2009
Cataloging data from 9 art museums
was analyzed for compatibility to
CCO and CDWA
See D-Lib Magazine for article on the
project


15. Subject Term

Results of analysis show the percentages of records that have
correctly included data for core CCO/CDWA fields
Most museums generally are compliant with most of the core fields
Some are missing data due to incorrect parsing (e.g., work type, role
creator, which can be extrapolated and inserted globally in export)
Exception: Only one of the nine museums had subject indexing



However, subject
may often be
found in title or
work type
but how to index
it as subject?
j
Automated
parsing (matched
against controlled
subject lists) or
entered by hand
as subject?
Combination of
Title: Modern Rome–Campo Vaccino auto parsing and
Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851) human editing
1839 would be best
oil on canvas solution
36 1/8 x 48 1/4 in. (unframed), 48 1/4 x 60 3/8 x 4 3/8 (framed)
J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, California); 2011.6

Using organizational categories for online data to extrapolate that
subject = “cityscape”
Example from Getty museum Web site; JPGM is a contributor to CONA
We will try to map this category label to the controlled CCO/CDWA/CONA
general subject terms to provide minimum subject access



Works in art libraries &
special collections often
have subject access
In this example, subject
access is through the
group, not item-level

Portrait of Li Hongzhang in Tianjin, 1878, Liang Shitai (also known
as See Tay) (Chinese, active in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tianjin,
1870s–1880s), albumen silver print. The Getty Research Institute,
2006.R.1.4


Subjects in CONA:
What is CONA?
New vocabulary in development:
Basic structure is the same as other three Getty
vocabularies, AAT, ULAN, and TGN (ISO compliant for
controlled vocabularies)
Also compliant with CDWA and CCO
Contains information about built works and
movable works (e.g., paintings, drawings,
sculptures, prints, furniture, etc.)

™ Contributions will be accepted in late 2011 or 2012
Editorial manuals, fields are available online
NOTE: All system screen shots in this presentation are
from the CONA internal editorial system, NOT
available to the public, not published



Elements of a CONA record
titles/names creator date
Irises Vincent van Gogh 1889
Les Iris (Dutch, 1853-1890) work type
Piante di iris painting
style
y
Die I i
Di Irisse
Post Impressionist
Irysy subject
Irissen botanical
materials nature
oil on canvas, applied irises
with brush and palette regeneration
work knife soil
notes 800123
This work was painted when
measurements
p
the artist was recuperating g 71 x 93 cm (28 x 36 5/8
(
from a severe attack of inches)
mental illness; it depicts the
garden at the asylum at current location
Saint Rémy...
Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles,
sources California, United States)
J. Paul Getty Museum. Handbook of the creation location
Collections. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Saint Rémy de Provence (Provence
Museum, 1991. Alpes Côte d'Azur, France)
© 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Patricia Harpring. Do not distribute. For educational purposes only. image: c. j. paul getty museum

simplified Entity Relationship Diagram for Getty Vocabularies
•Equivalence
relationships SUBJECT ISO-compliant thesaurus
between MAIN TABLE
basic record information,
terms/names that unique ID, parent_key, record type,
are linked to the descriptive/scope note, flags
same concept ID

NAMES / TERMS •Hierarchical
multiple relationships
names, one is flagged
preferred; dates for names
between different
concept IDs; each
record is linked to
Language its immediate
Contributors
parent
Sources •Associative
relationships
between different
ASSOCIATIVE concept IDs; are
RELATIONSHIPS reciprocal
links between subjects, dates



simplified Entity Relationship Diagram for Getty Vocabularies
SUBJECT Source
MAIN TABLE controlled
basic record information,
unique ID, parent_key, record type,
Relationship
descriptive/scope note, flags
Types
controlled

Language
NAMES / TERMS Biography Revision
multiple • Controlled display bio,
controlled
History
names, one is flagged
preferred; dates for names values identified name,
Coordinates birth/death editor Contributor
dates, places controlled
by IDs; other action, date of
shorteraction
controlled lists in the Nationality
Language DB simply list
Events controlled
Contributors
terminology (e.g.,PLACE
event, dates
“preferred,” “TYPES/ROLES
“ f d ” “non-
“non- Events
Sources preferred”)
multiple
controlled
Creator Nationality place types or roles, one is
Depicted flagged preferred, dates
Location
Subject Physical controlled
Location ASSOCIATIVE
Style RELATIONSHIPS
Character-
links between subjects, dates istics Place Type /
Role controlled

Populated by Getty
• CONA complies with entity relationship
Vocabularies diagram for an art work and authorities

Personal and
Corporate Name Image
Authority Records

Geographic Place
Authority

Work Records
Source Records
Concept
Authority

• CONA uses this same model; no full
Subject
image records (only links to images)
Authority
• Authorities are linked to Work and
Image
from CCO and CDWA • Authorities are linked to each other




• CONA complies with entity relationship
Linked to Getty
diagram for CCO/CDWA
Vocabularies
• Is the first Getty vocabulary to be actually
linked to the others (others have controlled
lists based on another vocabulary, e.g.,
ULAN “roles” in ULAN)

TGN

Work Records
Source Records

AAT

Iconography • Subject fields are in the CONA work record
Authority • The subject authorities that control values in
the fields come from controlled lists and
from the ULAN, TGN, AAT, and
Iconography Authority

General subject vs.
Specific subject
General subject is drawn from a controlled list
suggested in CDWA and CCO
Specific subject is controlled by authorities:
ULAN, AAT, TGN, Iconography Authority
Minimum requirement for CONA is one general
subject term, although a default “undetermined” is
undetermined
available if absolutely necessary
Obviously more subject terms would allow better
retrieval on subject




General Subject

advertising & commercial allegory animal
apparel architecture botanical
cartographic ceremonial object
j cityscape
didactic & propaganda funerary art genre
history & legend human figure interior architecture
landscape literary theme machine
military mixed motif nonrepresentational art
object (utilitarian) performance portrait
religion and mythology
li i d th l seascape still lif
till life

• Choose appropriate general subjects
• In addition, add terms to describe
subject as specifically as possible

General Subject

• General depicted subject chosen from
controlled list in CONA



General Subject

• May also list Indexing Type and Subject Extent,
if applicable and supported by incoming data

Analyzing the subject
Three levels of analysis
(“indexing type” in CONA)
Of-ness
Objective description
About-ness
Identification of named subject
Interpretation of the meaning or theme

Loosely based on method prescribed by Erwin Panofsky




Description
Identification
Interpretation
* Subject Indexing type may be used as a
human figures systematic method for analysis, even if
women the three levels are not labeled
nudes
fruit Class Paintings
* Work Type painting
* Title* Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

mask
* Creator Display Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
* Creation Date 1907
* Subject
human figures
females

African
nudes
fruit
African mask
Iberian art
Avignon (Provence, France)

Iberian
tribal art
brothel
prostitution
y
Style: Cubist

Carrer d'Avinyó (Barcelona,
* Measurements 243.84 x 236.22 cm (8 feet x 7 feet 8
inches)
* Materials and Techniques oil on canvas
Description In this epoch-making work, which prefigured
Cubism, Picasso amalgamated the simplified iconic

Spain)
forms with Cézanne's reduction of the underlying
structure of natural forms. The artist modeled
several faces on African masks and iconic Iberian
forms.
* Current Location Museum of Modern Art (New York, New

brothel
York, USA)

prostitution

© 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Patricia Harpring. Do not distribute. For educational purposes only. Image © Museum of Modern Art, 2011

Description
Identification
Interpretation
Issue: But if you do not label
indexing type, identification and
interpretation, cannot
distinguish a portrayal of the
“Resurrection” from this
Resurrection
allegory for the “Resurrection”?

Subject:
animal
religion and mythology
literary theme
allegory
pelican
blood
feeding
Hugh of Fouilloy, De Avibus
Psalm 102:6
Holy Eucharist
Resurrection of Christ



Subjects from ULAN
ULAN is used to record artist and
repository of the CONA object
But is also linked to Depicted Subject, in
order to control names of any person or
corporate body that is a subject of the work


CONA creator controlled by ULAN

ULAN record for artist




Bust of Jacob van Reygersberg
Rombout Verhulst; 1671; marble; height: 24 3/4 inches; J.
Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, California); 84.SA.743

• Subjects that are historical
people (vs. fictional) are
l ( fi ti l)
controlled by ULAN

• Issue: Scope of ULAN is artists, architectural firms, repositories
• Facet for non-artists has been added in ULAN, to record patrons and
sitters, etc.; had already included many patrons, rulers, etc.

Subjects from TGN
TGN is used to record the geographic
location of a work in CONA
But is also linked to Depicted Subject, to
control names of any existing or historical
place depicted in the work




Boy Viewing Mount Fuji
Katsushika Hokusai, (Japanese, 1760-1849); 1839,
Edo period; ink and color on silk; height: 127.0
width: 69.2 cm; Freer Sackler Museums, Smithsonian
Institution; Washington (DC); Gift of Charles Lang
Freer; F1898.110

• Physical features (e.g., mountains) and administrative
places (e.g., cities, empires) are controlled by TGN

Subjects from AAT
AAT is used to record the work type,
type
materials, style, etc. of a work in CONA
But is also linked to Depicted Subject, to
control generic terms describing the subject
y
AAT and all of the Getty vocabularies are
thesauri; the variant terms and hierarchical
links may be used in retrieval of the works




© J. Paul Getty Trust; Patricia Harpring 2011

Thesaurus: A semantic of unique concepts
Thesaurus: A semantic network
network of unique
concepts representedheadings
represented by terms – not by terms – not headings
Thesauri may be monolingual or multilingual
Thesauri may have the following three relationships:
Equivalence Relationships Animal Kingdom
Hierarchical Relationships .......Vertebrates (phylum)
Associative Relationships ............Mammalia (class)
................ Carnivora (order)
hierarchical
..................... Felidae (family)
....................... Felis (genus)
associative ..................... Felis domesticus (preferred, species name)
Felis silvestris (preferred, species name) •domestic cat (preferred, common name)
•wild cat (preferred, common name) •Felis catus equivalence
•house cat

Jean-Baptiste Perroneau, Portrait of Magdaleine Pinceloup, © J. Paul Getty Museum; Chat Noir, Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, © Sta.
Barbara Museum of Art. Egyptian Cat, © Metropolitan Museum. Cat and Kittens, © National Gallery of Art. Maneki Neko, Japanese, ©
© 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Patricia Harpring. Do not distribute. For educational purposes only. private collection.

AAT record • Terms in other
languages and
hierarchy of
“Nature” in the
AAT may be
used to retrieve
van Gogh’s Irises
in CONA



• Issue: Are required generic
subject terms (i.e., non-
proper names) within scope
of AAT?
• Yes. The scope of AAT
allows generic terms for
subject access
bj t
• For example, physical
activities

• This is an example of how adding
works to CONA requires adding
new terms/names to AAT, TGN, and
ULAN,
ULAN as well as to the CONA IA
• Getty programmer is creating load
mechanism allowing interim records
to be loaded while awaiting
verification against controlled
terminology (controlled lists, and
also AAT, TGN, ULAN, and IA)

Subjects from the CONA
Iconography Authority
The CONA Iconography Authority (IA), contains
g p y y ( ),
names/terms and other information for iconography and
other subject terminology not contained in the other linked
vocabularies
The IA includes proper names for events,
religion/mythology, fictional characters, named animals,
p
themes from literature, and fictional places
E.g., mythological and fictional places and characters
(e.g., Zeus), the names of specific events, (e.g., the
American Civil War), or iconographic themes (e.g., the
Adoration of the Magi)




Named Events (1000001)
American history (1000029)
American Civil War (1000030)
Battle of Bull Run (1000098
Plains Wars (1000068)
Battle of Little Bighorn (1000
Vietnam War(1000043)
Ancient Greek history (1000067)
Battle of Salamis (1000068)

• CONA Iconography Authority
is a thesaurus in structure
• Includes equivalence,
hierarchical, and associative
relationships
• Links to AAT, ULAN, TGN,
other CONA IA records

• Includes basic searching capabilities




unique ID of record
type
descriptive note
date for subject

names
multiple languages
qualifier
unique ID of name
languages
source

links to sources
to AAT, TGN, ULAN, CONA IA


Subjects from other sources
CONA allows references to other sources of
subject, such as Iconclass or LC subject headings
For contributors who are already using these
sources for subject indexing
These references are in the Depicted Subject of the
Work record (not in the CONA IA)




Iconclass

LC subject headings

Subjects in which authority?
• Issue: Where to place subjects that conceptually could
p j p y
belong to multiple vocabularies/authorities? Examples:

• What if a place is known in literature, but exact location is
unknown?
• TGN = “lost settlement”
• but a mythical place is in CONA Iconography Authority
• What if a person is probably historical, but a large legend
and iconography surrounds the person?
• John the Baptist in CONA IA “Christian iconography”
• but Herod Antipas in ULAN non-artists as a ruler




Herod Antipas in ULAN is linked to John the Baptist in CONA IA

• CCO/CDWA say that a subject
could go in multiple authorities;
but in practice, it is easier to
establish rules and enter in
only one authority
• In CONA, IA is linked to
ULAN, etc., better allowing us
to enter each subject only once

Subject may be
another art work in CONA
CONA depicted subject fields link to other CONA
records
(separately from Associative Relationships, which
are also links between CONA records)




Work Record:
Record Type [cont.]: item Class [cont.:photograph
[cont.]: [cont.:
*Work Type [link]: Albumen print
[link]:
*Title/Name:
*Title/Name: The Eiffel Tower: State of the Construction
*Creator Display: photographer: Louis-Emile Durandelle (French,
Display:
1832-1923)

• Subject for this photograph of
*Role [cont.] : photographer [link]: Durandelle, Louis-Emile
*Creation Date *: photographed 23 November 1888
*Subject : architecture Eiffel Tower
Related Works [link to work record]:

the Eiffel Tower under
Relationship Type: depicts
[link to work record]: Eiffel Tower
*Current Location [link]: J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles,
California, USA); 87.XM.121.16
*Measurements: 17 x 13 3/4 inches

construction i the built work,
i is h b il k
[controlled] Value 17 Unit in Type height
Value: Unit: Type:
Value:
Value 13.75 Unit in Type width
Unit: Type:
*Materials and Techniques [link to Concept Authority]: albumin
print
Style [link]: Belle Époque

Eiffel Tower
Description: This view was made about four months short of the
tower's completion. Louis-Émile Durandelle photographed the
tower from a low vantage point to emphasize its monumentality.
The massive building barely visible in the far distance is dwarfed
under the tower's arches...
Source: Getty Museum, Collections [online] (2000-)

Eiffel Tower (built work)

construction (assembling), <(assembling (additive 300054608


CONA built work record

• Variant names for the built work can
now be used to retrieve the record for
the photograph through the link
CONA movable work record for the photograph

Eiffel Tower (built work)

construction (assembling), <(assembling (additive 300054608




• Combine a link to the CONA record with
links to AAT and other vocabularies for
thorough indexing of subject
• Use Subject to record method of
representation and purpose for
architectural drawings

Subject*:
architecture Class: prints and drawings
Object Type: record drawing
Title: Plan and Elevation of the left side of the façade of San Lorenzo, and various other details
Creator: Aristotile da Sangallo (Italian) after Michelangelo
[link] Sangallo, Aristotile da Role: draftsman

San Lorenzo (Florence,
Date: late 15th century
Subject*:
architecture
San Lorenzo (Florence, Italy)
church
façade
elevation
plan

Italy) (built work)
Measurements: 32.0 x 21.5 cm (12 1/2 x 8 3/8 inches)
Material and Technique: pen and sepia ink
Inscription: Upper center: chiosi grande achoperatione; el tondo tanto grande che / vengha al pari de nichi;
Descriptive Note: This is a copy of a design by Michelangelo for the façade.
Current Location: Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, Germany; #33258

church
façade
elevation
plan
© 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Patricia Harpring. Do not distribute. For educational purposes only. image frrom Millon, Henry & Craig Hugh Smyth Michelangelo Architetto, Milan: Olivetti, 1988

Issue: This façade was
never constructed. Link to
built work?
Issue: As a design drawing,
link also as an Associative
Relationship to the actual
built work?

Subject*:
architecture Class: prints and drawings
Object Type: record drawing
Title: Plan and Elevation of the left side of the façade of San Lorenzo, and various other details
Creator: Aristotile da Sangallo (Italian) after Michelangelo
[link] Sangallo, Aristotile da Role: draftsman

San Lorenzo (Florence,
Date: late 15th century
Subject*:
architecture
San Lorenzo (Florence, Italy)
church
façade
elevation
plan

Italy) (built work)
Measurements: 32.0 x 21.5 cm (12 1/2 x 8 3/8 inches)
Material and Technique: pen and sepia ink
Inscription: Upper center: chiosi grande achoperatione; el tondo tanto grande che / vengha al pari de nichi;
Descriptive Note: This is a copy of a design by Michelangelo for the façade.
Current Location: Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, Germany; #33258

church
façade
elevation
plan
© 2011 J. Paul Getty Trust, author: Patricia Harpring. Do not distribute. For educational purposes only. image frrom Millon, Henry & Craig Hugh Smyth Michelangelo Architetto, Milan: Olivetti, 1988


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Subject Access in Art Repositories

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