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MLA Citation Style

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About Citing Works of Art

When citing an image or piece of art, note the artist's name, the title of the piece of art, the date of composition, and the institution that houses it. 

For reproductions of art, include the publication information for the source where it appears.

For each type of source in this guide, both the general form and a specific example will be provided.

The following format will be used:

Parenthetical Citation - entry that appears in the body of your paper.

Works Cited - entry that appears at the end of your paper.

Information on citing and several of the examples were drawn from the MLA Handbook (7th ed.)

Numbers in parentheses refer to specific pages in the manual.

Image from an Electronic Source (189-190)

General Format 
 
In-Text Citation:
(Artist Surname)
 
Works Cited:

Artist Surname, First Name. Title of Artwork. Composition Year. Publisher

OR 

Institution that houses the art. Web site Title. Medium. Date of Access [Day Month Year].

  
Example 
 
In-Text Citation:
(Escher)
     
Works Cited:

Escher, M.C. Castle in the Air. 1928. National Gallery of Canada. National Gallery of Canada: M.C. Escher Mindscapes. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.