Getty Research InstituteThe Union List of Artist Names is a structured vocabulary of approximately 300,000 names and biographical records for artists, architects, and other creators involved in the production and documentation of art and architecture. Maintained by the Getty Research Institute as part of the Getty Vocabularies program, ULAN serves as a critical authority file for cataloging, indexing, and retrieval in museums, libraries, archives, and digital humanities projects worldwide.
Background
The Getty Vocabulary Program began developing ULAN in the mid-1980s as part of a broader effort to create standardized terminological resources for the art and cultural heritage communities. The program also produced the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) and the Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), which together with ULAN and the Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA) form the Getty Vocabularies suite.
ULAN was initially compiled from existing authority sources and has grown through contributions from museums, libraries, and other institutions that submit artist name data to the Getty. The vocabulary is continuously updated, with new records and corrections added on an ongoing basis.
Purpose & Scope
ULAN provides structured information about:
- Personal names: Artists, architects, sculptors, painters, photographers, and other visual arts practitioners
- Corporate bodies: Architectural firms, workshops, studios, and artistic collaborations
- Biographical data: Birth and death dates, nationalities, gender, roles, and associated places
- Name variants: Alternate spellings, transliterations, maiden names, and pseudonyms
- Relationships: Teacher-student, parent-child, collaborator, and other interpersonal connections
The scope is international and historical, covering creators from antiquity to the present across all geographic regions and artistic media.
Key Data Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Preferred Name | The established form of the name used for display |
| Variant Names | Alternative forms, transliterations, pseudonyms |
| Dates | Birth, death, and activity dates |
| Nationalities | One or more nationalities |
| Roles | Artist, architect, sculptor, painter, etc. |
| Relationships | Links to related persons or corporate bodies |
| Sources | Bibliographic citations for contributed data |
Serializations & Technical Formats
ULAN is available through multiple access methods:
- Online browser: The web-based search interface at getty.edu with full-text and fielded search
- Linked Open Data: RDF representation accessible via the
http://vocab.getty.edu/ulan/namespace - Bulk downloads: Relational tables and XML releases, though these may be discontinued in favor of LOD
- APIs: Programmatic access to vocabulary data
- OpenRefine reconciliation: Integration with the OpenRefine data cleaning tool
All releases are available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By) 1.0.
Governance & Maintenance
ULAN is maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California. The editorial team follows published guidelines for record creation and maintenance. External institutions contribute data through a formal contribution program, and the vocabulary grows through both contributions and Getty's own research projects.
The Getty Vocabulary Program publishes editorial guidelines that define standards for data entry, name formatting, source citation, and relationship recording. A dedicated editorial email address (ULAN@getty.edu) is available for inquiries and corrections.
Notable Implementations
ULAN is widely used across the cultural heritage sector:
- Museum collection management systems use ULAN for artist authority control
- Library catalogs reference ULAN identifiers for name disambiguation
- VIAF (Virtual International Authority File) includes ULAN as a contributing authority source
- Digital art history projects use ULAN for prosopographical research
- Wikidata maps entities to ULAN identifiers for cross-referencing
Related Standards
ULAN is part of the Getty Vocabularies family, which includes:
- Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT): Controlled vocabulary for art and architecture terminology
- Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN): Authority file for place names
- Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA): Authority file for cultural objects and works of art
These vocabularies are designed to work together, with cross-references between artist names in ULAN, subject terms in AAT, geographic names in TGN, and object records in CONA.