Notes on the Current AAE Style Guide (2013)

The first edition of the Association of Art Editors Style Guide was produced in 2006. The present revised edition was created in 2013 with a dual aim: to bring the Style Guide into alignment with The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition; and to make it reflect changes that occurred in manuscript preparation, editing, and publishing after 2006—largely due to evolving technologies.

The Style Guide is intended for authors of texts on art—any kind of text—and for editors of these texts and their publishers. Its purpose is to provide guidelines for authors and editors in the writing and redaction of manuscripts. Uniformity of usage is not the purpose of this guide. Rather, it aims to ensure uniformity of comprehension about the issues that authors and editors deal with.

Although it would have its practical purposes, a definitive, this-way-only manual would be inadequate to the profession, since art history is an aggregate of many different methodologies and fields of specialization. Nor is it likely, or expected, that all publishers (or editors) will abandon long-cherished systems, especially when those systems adequately serve their purposes. Rather, we offer a guide to several generally accepted styles. Authors should consult with their publisher/editor before making final stylistic decisions; if the publisher is unknown at the time of writing, the author very often will be responsible for revising the manuscript later to accord with house style.

Note: “See Chicago” (appearing throughout) refers to The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition.

The style manuals and publications of various institutions were also among the sources consulted for substance and examples. We gratefully acknowledge: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York; the College Art Association, New York; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

This revised edition of the Style Guide, like the original, is dedicated to Virginia Wageman (1941–2003). A co-founder and early president of the AAE, she was an untiring campaigner for high editorial standards. Virginia’s loving devotion to her craft, fund of common sense, and sunny disposition made working with her deeply rewarding.