Contemporary Art Library
With 65,640 documents in all (including 51,396 books) and a range of periodicals, Beaux-Arts de Paris library is one of the top French contemporary art libraries. It offers up-to-date documentation on creativity and its context - history of Western and non-Western art, human and social sciences - in order to support students in their learning and artistic projects. It is also open to a wider public, upon request. The heart of the collection consists of monographs from the 1960s to the present and more than 500 specialised journals, the primary source for information on young creative activity, current debates and exhibitions. The library also offers entries organised by disciplinary, chronological or geographical field and a remarkable set of collective exhibition catalogues.
The entire catalogue can be consulted on site or via the portal:
This portal also gives access to numerous electronic resources through the PSL Explore and the Specialised Art and Design Resource (B SAD - Base Spécialisée Art et Design) platforms that can be consulted at the library and remotely (password request required). The B SAD is a joint project with contributions from all art school libraries. Founded on the principle of open access to collections, the library provides students with two spaces.
Salle Stratis Andreadis
(where most of the book collections can be accessed)
Open access:
- artist monographs from the 20th and 21st centuries, recent catalogues from collectives, Western art history and human sciences collections, “classical” fine art document collections ;
- on display: Beaux Arts de Paris teaching and examination panel documentation, class bibliographies, documentation on current trends, new titles (latest acquisitions, latest journal issues).
Certain documents are available on request.
Salle Dorette Karaiossifoglou
Mainly devoted to periodicals, the audiovisual collection and to “themes in art” as well as to pre-20th century artist monographs.
Open access: periodicals (specialised contemporary art journals, cinema, humanities, etc.), the video collection which can be consulted on-site, as well as the DVD collection available on loan, the collection of works focusing on the audiovisual sector (cinema, video), literature and pre-20th century artist monographs.
On request: recordings of cultural programming lectures since 1982 and a VHS collection. The library coordinates the photography of graduation diplomas and carries out the processing, archiving and distribution of these photos of diplomas (photo library made up of diploma photos since 2001, accessible on-site through the library catalogue. Some 4th year student research papers are listed in the catalogue and can be consulted as open access documents in the Stratis Andreadis Room, along with the diploma dissertations of graduate artists on the AIMS (artiste intervenant en milieu scolaire) school programme.
Practical information:
Have access to the library:
- Teachers, students and staff of the School,
- PSL students,
- Former students of the School,
- The outside public, upon registration, who can prove that they are doing research related to contemporary art.
Opening hours
Monday from 2pm to 7pm,
Tuesday to Friday from 11am to 7pm.
Closed: university vacations (five weeks in August, two weeks for the Christmas vacations, one week during the spring vacations).
In July and September, the reception is reserved for students of the School graduating or writing their thesis, by appointment.
Questions and information :
Salle Dorette Karaiossifoglou
Salle Stratis Andreadis
Salle Stratis Andreadis
Salle Stratis Andreadis
