|
|
|
Glossary |
|
|
|
Abstract Art
Art that departs significantly from usual appearances. Forms are modified or changed to varying degrees in order to emphasize certain qualities or content.
Abstract Expressionism
An art movement, primarily in painting, that originated in the United States in the 1940s and remained strong through the 1950s. Artists working in many different styles emphasized spontaneous personal expression in large paintings that are abstract or nonrepresentational One type of Abstract Expressionism is called Action Painting.
Acrylic
Pigment dispersed with acrylic resin (synthetic resins made by polymerization of acrylic acid esters). A medium for painting introduced during the early 1960s. The acrylics can be diluted with water to simulate wash work. They dry out quickly and may be varnished or not as desired.
Allegory
A work of art where symbols or symbolic messages are used to convey the 'meaning' of the work. Thus it alludes to more than is apparent at first sight. The hidden meaning, symbols and cross-references may not always be easy to follow and may be deliberately obscure in the manner of a brain-teasing puzzle. Allegory and realism were combined with notable success by the Dutch 17th-century masters, and by 19th century realists such as Winslow Homer.
Analytical Cubism
The works of Picasso and Braque of c.1907-12 in which they fragmented form, but still used conventional painting techniques.
Antique
Antique generally refers to a decorative object or work of art created in an earlier period, that is valued for its beauty, workmanship and age. The term is also used to describe the art of ancient Greece and Rome.
Aquatint
An intaglio printmaking process in which value areas rather than lines are etched on the printing plate. Powdered resin is sprinkled on the plate and heated until it adheres. This causes the powder to melt and separate into thousands of tiny specks. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath. The acid bites around the resin particles, creating a rough surface that holds ink. Also, a print made using this process.
Archaism
Imitating early, often primitive, styles.
Artist's Proof
Limited edition prints, exclusively for the artists own use or sale. They are marked A/P and are not numbered
Asymmetry
The opposite to the perfect equal balance of symmetry, in painting asymmetry generally produces a happier composition.
Atelier
French term for “artist’s workshop.” The reference is to a place where an artist teaches students and/or has apprentices working under his/her supervision
Avant-Garde
The word is tied to a French word meaning "advance guard". It is a description of a group involved in the invention and application of new ideas and techniques in an original or experimental way. Practitioners and/or advocates of a new art form may also be called avant-garde. Some avant-garde works are intended to shock those who are accustomed to traditional, established styles.
Baroque
A theatrical style of painting and sculpture that developed among painters and sculptors in Italy at the end of the 16th century and dominated the 17th century. It was intended to evoke compelling effects of drama and grandeur. The subject was usually religious. The movement spread throughout Europe and employed strong sense of movement and contrast between light and dark.
Binder
The material used in paint that causes pigment particles to adhere to one another and to the ground. Linseed oil or acrylic polymer are some of the binders
Bird Eye View
Depiction of a scene viewed from a higher position. The view includes the entire spread of the subject with a high horizon line allowing most of the composition to lie below it.
Bistre
Brown pigment made from charred wood, used as ink or chalk
Bleed
Bleed is what happens when: 1) One layer or area of colour seeps into another and changes it.
2) In printing, a picture or text that runs of the edge of the paper is said to bleed
Bloom
Blue or white 'film' that develops on badly stored oil paintings.
Body Art
Art that takes the body as its subject or object (or both). Refers to such use in performance art, contemporary sculpture or video.
Brindled
The effects of a darker color on a work, usually spotted or streaked
Brushwork
A painter's individual handling of paint texture, especially oils. Can be very distinctive-thin, thick, flat, juicy, rough and so on- and a major element in an artist's style, or can be virtually anonymous, even mechanical and boring.
Calendar Painting
A painting possessing a pleasant subject matter, rarely coupled with lasting art value.
Calligraphy
In printing and drawing, a free and rhythmic use of line to accentuate design. It is seen at its best in Japanese wood-block prints and Chinese scrolls.
Canvas
A heavy, woven fabric used for support for oil paintings and considered desirable by painters because of the regular texture and flexibility. Inexpensive, flexible, durable, shapeable. In common use by 1500. Linen is the traditional material; cotton duck has been used widely since 1945.
Caricature
A picture, usually a portrait or figures which are exaggerated often humorously distorted features to convey a satire---foibles of society, institutions, etc.
Cartoon
1. A humorous or satirical drawing.
2. A drawing completed as a full-scale work drawing, usually for a fresco painting, mural, or tapestry
Carving
A sculptural process formed by removing material from a block or mass of wood, stone, or other material, using sharp hand or machine tools
Casein
Milk protein that is used as a binder in casein colors for paintings, as an adhesive, and a binder for gesso when preparing grounds for painting.
Casting
A method used by sculptors to make copies of their original works. Material such as clay, metal or plastic is placed in a mold and allowed to harden, thereby taking on the shape of the confining mold. Most commonly casting is done at a foundry from a mould made from a clay or wax original form. Molten metal is poured into the mold and hardens. The method is most often associated with bronze sculpture and is known as the lost wax method when a wax form is used
Chalk
Soft, fine, grained rock used for drawing. The white variety is processed from calcium carbonate, the black from carbonaceous shale, and the red from hematite (iron ore).
Charcoal
One of the oldest drawing materials, charred sticks were used with the cave-paintings. It is often the medium for preliminary drawing
Chiaroscuro
The handling of light and shade. The effect of reflected light and what goes in the shadows also helping to bring about volume.
Classic
Much used and abused word. Sometimes it means logical, symmetrical, well established, archetypal; sometimes it means the moment of highest achievement by an artist or of a general style. Not an alternative word for Classical.
Classical
Classical suggests a continuation of style or approach which can be traced directly to the ancient world.
Collage
Collage, coming from the French word coller (meaning stick), is a technique in which pieces of paper, cloth and other miscellaneous objects are pasted onto a flat surface.
Commercial art
Art commissioned exclusively for commercial purposes, such as advertising or packaging.
Composition
The arrangement of the shapes and areas of a picture, considered as surface pattern only.
Conceptual Art
In Conceptual Art it is the 'concept' behind the work, rather than the technical skill of the artist in making it, that is vital. Conceptual Art became a major international phenomenon in the 1960's and its manifestations have been diverse. The ideas expressed through Conceptual work have been drawn from philosophy, feminism, psychoanalysis, film studies and political activism. The notion of the conceptual artist as a maker of ides rather than objects undermines traditional ideas about the status of the artist and the art object.
Connoisseurship
Knowledge, understanding and appreciation of works of art, with emphasis on visual and aesthetic Qualities.
Conservation
Creating the environment in which a work of art is properly looked after, without undue interference, and without the need to restore and repair. It is different from Restoration
Constructivism
A modern aesthetic movement that began in Russia and was founded in 1913 by Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953). The underlying theory is that a work of art should be an autonomous object with a life of its own and that it should reflect economy and precision. The style is non objective, and the materials are often iron, tin, wood, glass, plaster, and plastic--an attempt to bridge the gap between everyday life and art. It was first called Tatlinism when it appeared about 1913 in the work of Vladimir Tatlin. Another early name was Production Art with focus on creating artist engineers. Dynamism and kinetic art were outgrowths.
Conte
A French brand of chalk or crayon, named after Nicolas-Jacques Conte (1755-1805), the scientist who invented it. They are sticks of compressed compound of binder and pigment. They are grease free. Seurat used black conte crayon on rough, grainy paper to create exquisite small-scale drawings, which show simplified forms and subtle gradations of tone.
Contemporary Art
Usually taken to mean works of art produced since 1960.
Contrapposto
Italian word of counterpoise. The counter positioning of parts of the human figure in a central vertical axis, when the weight is placed on one foot, causing the hip and shoulder lines to counterbalance each other, often in a graceful S-curve.
Copy
A duplicate of a work of art. Before the invention of color photography, artists would frequently produce copies of paintings for different clients, though assistants in the artist’s studio would carry out these copies.
Coulisse
Compositional elements - clumps of trees, groups of figure, buildings, etc - arranged in tiers at the sides of a picture to direct the eye into the center picture space.
Craquelure
The network of cracks that can develop on the surface of old oil paintings.
Crayons
Chalks mixed with oil or wax.
Cross hatching
Using patterns of parallel, criss-crossing lines to create tones on drawings and engravings.
Cubism
This revolutionary method of making a pictorial image was invented by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in the first decade of the twentieth century. Cubist art depicts real objects although it may appear abstract or geometrical. These are flattened onto the canvas so that different sides of each shape can be shown simultaneously from various angles. Cubist art defines objects in two dimensional terms of the canvas, instead of creating illusion of an object in space, as artists had endeavored to do since the Renaissance. Cubism gave rise to an extraordinary reassessment of the interaction between form and space, changing the course of Western art forever.
Curator
Someone who organizes an exhibition, sets the agenda for it and chooses the participating artists.
Dada
The first of the modern anti-art movements. Deliberately used the absurd, banal and offensive to shock and to challenge all existing ideas about art, life and society. Originated in New York in 1915, and in Zurich in 1916.
Deaccession
The term referring to the removal of artwork from the collection of a museum, either via an exchange or sale.
Decollage
It has come from the French word decoller, which means unstick. Decollage is the opposite of collage, which is building up of layers. Decollage is the tearing away of layers of paper or other fine art materials to expose underlayers to create an effect
Deconstruction
The currently fashionable idea that the true meaning of a work of art is found, not by examining what an artist professed to mean or tried to say, but by analyzing the way he or she expressed it
Dendrochronology
Technique useful for dating panel paintings, by counting the annual growth rings in timber
Device
An emblem or motto that an artist or printmaker uses instead of a signature
Diorama
A term originally applied to three-dimensional appearing scenes, often with a painted background, and lit and viewed through a peephole, which gives the three-dimensional effect. The term, Diorama, also refers to the viewing light box, which was invented in 1822 by L.J.M. Daguerre.
Diptych
A picture made in two parts. An altarpiece that is a diptych usually has the two parts hinged together.
Distemper
Powdered colours mixed with size; impermanent. Used by scene painters in the theatre. Old paintings in distemper have a very dark and dusty appearance.
Documentation
Traditionally it has referred to mediums that record events or people such as photographs, videos or written materials
Donor
Somebody who commissions a work of art and gives it to an institution (such as a charitable organization). In the Renaissance the image of the donor was often included in the picture.
Draughtsman
Someone who draws, but has to be quiet exceptional to deserve the name
Dry Brush
A technique whereby a watercolour brush is squeezed almost dry, to produce a fine opaque line.
Dry Mounting
Attaching a two-dimensional work such as a photograph or print to cardboard backing with a thin sheet of dry-mounting tissue placed between the paper and the mount.
Dry Point
A type of print technique. A metal plate is scratched with a sharp tool, called a dry point. The main characteristics are the slightly softer lines than those with an engraving. Often used to add extra touches to etchings and engravings.
Earth Art
A work of art either made from sod or earth or resulting from modification of a portion of land. The first exhibition of Earth Art was in 1968 in New York City and had entries mostly composed of natural materials as mediums.
Easel
An upright tripod, for supporting or displaying an artist's canvas or board.
Easel Picture
A picture of a size to fit on and be painted at an easelin a studio-so in practice not much taller than two metres (6'4'').
Echoppe
An oval beveled needle used for etching and line engraving.
Eclectic
Borrowing freely from a wide variety of sources.
Edition
All the impressions made from a single printing plate and issued at the same time.
Egg Tempera
Paint for which egg yolk is the binder mixed with water and pigment. When exposed to air and sunlight, it becomes very durable.
Emblem
An object symbolizing or suggesting another object. 2) A picture, possibly with a motto or set of verses, that spells out a message of moral instruction. Very popular in 17th century Holland.
Embossing
A technique of creating raised figures or relief designs on a surface.
Emulsion
A medium containing materials that do not mix naturally - such as oil and water - but which are made to do so by adding an emulsifying agent. Egg yolk is such an agent, tempera is an emulsion.
Engraving
Printmaking method in which a sharp tool (burin) is used to scratch lines into a hard surface such as metal or wood. Widely used the world over, since the early Renaissance.
Environmental Art
Large-scale outdoor art that is large enough for viewers to enter and move about. In other words, artwork that is not just something to be observed but something to be experienced first hand. Environmental Art was introduced in the late 1950s as a part of the breaking down between barriers of art and life.
Epigraphy
Deciphering and interpreting ancient inscriptions carved on stone, clay, metal or other hard surfaces.
Expressionism
An artistic movement originating in the early 20th century, which sought to express emotions rather than to represent external reality: characterized by Symbolism and distortion. Expressionist artists sought to develop pictorial forms which would express their inner most feelings rather than represent the external world. Expressionist painting is intense, passionate and highly personal, based on the concept of the painter's canvas as a vehicle for demonstrating emotions. Violent, unreal colour and dramatic brushwork make the typical Expressionist painting quiver with vitality. It is therefore a style conveying heightened sensibility through distortion of colour, drawing, space, form or intense subject matter or a combination of these. Notable proponent Vincent van Gogh, with his frenzied painting technique and extraordinary use of colour, was the inspiration for many Expressionist painters.
Eye Level
The perceived line that runs across a painting, level with the viewers eyes. This perspective allows the viewers to imagine where the artist was in relation to his/her subject
Fake
A work of art deliberately made or altered so as to appear to be better, older or other than what it infact is.
Fauvism
A French word for wild beast and a term assigned contemptuously to a group of Post-Impressionist Parisien painters who used color flamboyantly and sensuously, even squeezing it directly onto surfaces from the tube.
Fiberglass
Strong, durable, non-flammable glass with hair-like filaments. In sculpture, fiberglass reinforces polymer resins. Fiberglass is a trade name for glass cloth.
Figurative
A word with two meanings, one having to do with drawing and painting the human figure and the other as a term for representational, making the distinction between abstraction and realism. The latter definition pertains to recognizable subjects such as landscape, still life, portraits, figures, etc.
Fixative
A transparent spray that fixes chalks, charcoal and pastel to paper and stops smudging and rubbing.
Fluxus
An international art movement that was the precursor of Performance and Conceptual Art. Fluxus began in Germany and spread to New York as well as California, Japan and other European countries. The word Fluxus first appeared in 1961 on a New York Gallery A/G lecure series invitation written by George Maciunas. Fluxus, in several languages, means flow or change and is a state of mind rather than a style.
Foreshortening
The representation of forms on a two-dimensional surface by presenting the length in such a way that the long axis appears to project toward or recede away from the viewer.
Foxing
A discoloration of paper in books, prints, etc., due to dampness. Characterized by brown spots.
Fresco
Fresco is a wall painting in which lime proof pigments are mixed with water and applied to lime plaster that is still wet. The plaster serves both as ground and binder. It also provides lights and highlights for the finished work, being the only source of white.
Futurism
An Art movement founded in Italy in 1909 by artist Filippo Marinetti, who demanded revolution, action and annihilation of the thinking of the past and focus on elements of the future- speed and energetic movement made possible by technology. Futurism had strength until the end of World War I, and eventually was taken over by the Nazis to justify implementing a New Era.
Galvanized Metal
Usually the Iron or Steel that has been coated with electroplated zinc so it is resistant to weather. This is used in welding sculptures.
Genre
A particular category of subject matter-such as portrait, landscape, marine or history painting.
Genre Painting
Painting that depicts scenes of everyday life rather than idealized or religious subjects. Genre Painting was particularly popular in Holland in the seventeenth century, and artists often specialized in subjects such as tavern scenes, musical parties, or simple interiors. The style became more prevalent in the eighteenth century in France, Italy and England.
Gesso
A mixture of glue and chalk or plaster of Paris applied as a ground or coating to surfaces in order to give them the correct properties to receive paint. Gesso can also be built up or moulded into relief designs or carved.
Gilding
The process of covering surfaces with gold or metal leaf to create the appearance of the item being made of solid or inlaid gold or metal.
Glass Print
A cross between photography, printmaking and etching. The design is drawn on a glass plate and then printed onto light-sensitive paper
Glazing
Old master technique of covering a layer of already- dried oil paint with a transparent layer of a different colour. One of the reasons for the rich, resonant and subtle colour effects in old masters. It is a very strong durable technique. Putting glass, in a frame, over a picture to protect it
Gothic
Predominant in the middle ages (from around 1150 to 1500), this is the style of the great cathedrals of Europe. Gothic paintings and sculptures are characterized by elongated figures which are highly patterned. In painting, there is often little attempt to depict three-dimensional space. The perspective that was employed is usually random and unconvincing. Towards the end of the fourteenth century there was a move towards greater elegance and refinement, and an increased interest in natural themes. Minutely detailed depictions of plants and animals became a common feature in paintings
Gouache
Also known as body colour, Gouache is an opaque watercolour wherein the pigments(particles of colour) are bound together with glue or a binder. Gouache thus differs from transparent watercolour where the tone can be lightened simply by adding water where as in Gouache lighter tones are achieved by adding white. The thick texture of gouache can produce the same effects as oil paint but it has the disadvantage of producing a final tone which when dry is lighter than it appears during application.
Graphic art
Art primarily dependent on the use of line, not colour, such as drawing, illustration, engraving and printmaking.
Grisaille
A monochrome painting executed entirely in shades of gray
Gum Arabic
Binder used for watercolours-the gum comes from certain varieties of acacia tree.
Half-tone
Any tone or shade that lies between the extremes of light and dark
Happenings
A name used to describe unplanned multi-media theatrical events intended to break down the division between art and life. The movement dates back to early 1960s when it originated in America but was also practiced in Europe and Japan.
Hatching
Parallel lines placed side by side in differing densities, used in drawing to create tone and shadow.
Horizon Line
In linear perspective, lines or edges parallel to the land or sea plane and moving away from the viewer appear to converge at vanishing points is the horizon line.
Hue
The perceived color of an object identified by a common name such as red, orange, blue.
Icon
1) A sacred image-especially the images of Christ, the Virgin and the Saints produced for the Greek and Russian orthodox churches. 2) A highly influential and widely admired cultural image.
Illusionism
The technique of creating as closely as possible an illusion of visual reality.
Impasto
The technique of painting in which oil paint is applied thickly, so that brush marks are evident.
Impressionism
A painting technique in which the artist concentrates on the changing effects of light and colour. Often this style can be characterized by its use of discontinuous brush strokes and heavy impasto. It was the first great modern art movement, beginning in France with an exhibition held in Paris in 1874. Two schools of Impressionism have evolved-American and French with French Impressionists less concerned with form than the Americans.
Indian Ink
Black ink made with carbon particles, so called because it was originally imported from India.
Inimage
A surrealist technique that is the opposite of collage: rather than pieces being glued together to make a composite image, pieces are cut away from an existing picture to make an image.
Intaglio
A design that is cut into a surface such as metal, jewel or stone.
Kiln
A furnace or oven built of heat-resistant materials for firing pottery, glass and sculptures.
Kinetic Art
Art, usually sculpture that incorporates movement as part of its expression – either mechanically, by hand or by natural forces. Kinetic art, not limited to any style, was first recognized in 1913 as an art form with the Dada artist, Marcel Duchamp. The style is rooted in modern technology and was most popular during the 1950s and 1960s. Today, it includes work with lasers, computers and other high-tech methods.
Kitsch
Mass produced, decorative, popular, cheap knick knacks, which are widely bought and condescendingly dismissed by the well educated as unsentimental, bad taste, rubbish. Art that has such characteristics or is deliberately 'vulgar' or 'trashy'.
Lacquer
Varnish made from natural resins. Tends to go yellow with age. Modern synthetic equivalents are also commonly referred to as lacquer.
Lacuna
A term used by art historians to indicate a gap, a void or missing part.
Lean
Oil paints with low oil content. They look spare and lack bulk, just like a lean person.
Limited edition
An edition of a specific number of prints, each one numbered and marked. Thus 6/50 means the 6th print out of a limited number of 50.
Linear Perspective
A method of depicting three-dimensional depth on a flat or two-dimensional surface. Linear perspective has two main precepts: 1. Forms that are meant to be perceived as faraway from the viewer are made smaller than those meant to be seen as close. 2. Parallel lines receding into the distance converge at a point on the horizon line known as the vanishing point.
Linocut
A relief print made from a piece of linoleum, mounted on a wooden block.
Linoleum
Linoleum, shortened to Lino, refers to a sheet material made of hessian, jute, etc, coated with a mixture of powdered cork, linseed oil, rosin and pigment. Linoleum is nice to use because it is strong but soft, and carves well and more easily than a block of wood.
Lithography
A flat-bed method which uses a stone or specifically prepared zinc plate. The principle is the mutual repulsion of grease and water. The drawing is made either with wax crayon or wax ink on the stone or plate. To print the stone or plate is damped with water, which adheres to all areas not treated with the wax ink or crayon and repels the oil-bound lithograph ink which is then rolled on and the print made.
Lost Wax
A method of creating a wax mold of a sculpture and then heating the mold to melt out the wax and replacing it with a molten metal or resin
Masking
To protect one area of work of art from what is being done to another area or to the work as a whole. Masking can be done by using protective tape or a varnish that can later be removed
Masonite
A brown building hard board, perfectly smooth on one side and criss-crossed with the marks of a wire screen on the other.
Masterpiece
A work of art of outstanding quality. Originally it was the work that an artist had to submit to his guild to prove his ability so that he could become a master.
Matte
Flat, non-glossy; having a dull surface appearance.
Medieval Art
The art of the Middle Ages ca. 500 A.D. through the 14th century. The art produced immediately prior to the Renaissance.
Medium
The material worked with and manipulated to make a work of art-such as oil paint, watercolour, charcoal or clay.
Mezzotint
An engraving technique on a copper plate that has been worked with a tool called a rocker, a crescent-shaped instrument with sharp teeth on the curve of the crescent. When the mezzotint is made, only the scored areas retain the ink and create the design other areas aew burnished or smoothed out by the artist. The smooth areas are the non-colored part of the image.
Miniature
A very small picture, usually a portrait, very finely painted, usually on ivory, velleum or card. The term comes from the Latin 'minium'-the red lead that produced the red ink used in medieval illuminated manuscripts to emphasize initial letters-it has nothing to do with the Latin minutus, 'tiny'.
Minimalism
A trend in painting and sculpture that developed primarily in the USA during the 1960s and 1970s. Minimal art usually three-dimensional, large scale and geometric, with the slick, anonymous precision qualities of manufactured or machine made objects and little obvious visual significance or personal craftsmanship, flourished as being designed for gallery and museum exhibition. The goal was to reduce geometric abstract painting and sculpture to the barest essentials.
Mixed Media
Traditionally been applied to combined mediums in two-dimensional work such as acrylic and watercolor or gouache and tempera.
Modeling
1. In sculpture, shaping a form in some plastic material, such as clay, wax or plaster. 2. In drawing, painting or printmaking, the illusion of three-dimensionality on a flat surface created by simulating effects of light and shadow.
Monochrome
A picture painted in different tones of any one colour.
Monolith
A sculpture cast or carved as a single piece.
Monotype
A single print made by painting onto glass or metal and then transferring the image onto a piece of paper pressed over it.
Montage
A picture composed of other existing illustrations, pictures, photographs, newspaper clippings, etc., that are arranged so they combine to create a new or original image. A collage.
Mosaic
A pattern, design or image created with small arranged pieces of tesserae and set in a grout to hold them in place. Mosaic is one of the oldest of the decorative arts and was popular with the ancient Romans and Greeks.
Motif
A recurring or dominant theme, pattern or subject.
Mount
Works on paper are usually mounted on a piece of board and have a border between them and the frame. Good mounting and framing can bring a picture alive. In general, the bottom border is made about 20 percent deeper than the others.
Mural
Any large-scale wall decoration done in painting, fresco, mosaic or other medium.
Naturalistic
Descriptive of an artwork that closely resembles forms in the natural world. Synonymous with representational.
New Media
New Media can be defined as an interactive and intelligent transaction and management of knowledge using all the possible media and emerging technologies. Interaction Design, Information Design and Intelligent Systems Design are the three core areas of the New Media discipline.
Object d'art
Small decorative objects such as snuff boxes, scent bottles and figurines.
Ocre
A pigment made from clay. Ranges from pale yellow to reddish brown depending on the clay. The stuff you buy in tubes is a sort of dirty yellow.
Oeuvre
The total body of work produced by an artist.
Oil paint
Oil paints are made by mixing powdered pigments with oil. Oil painting developed in the 15th century and became the dominant style of painting in the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the advantages of oil paints are their flexibility, versatility, portability, strength and rich appearance.
Old Master
Describes any artist from the early renaissance to roughly the mid 19th century. Popularity speaking, describes any such artist whose reputation has stood the test of time, although reassessments and rediscoveries do occur
Oleograph
A special type of print made on a textured surface that deliberately imitates the look of an oil painting.
Op Art
An abstract style popular in the 1960s that was based on optical principles and optical illusion creating the sensation of movement. Op Art deals in complex colour interactions to the point where colours and lines seem to vibrate before the eyes.
Organic
What is usually meant is that everything in a work of art hangs together with nothing extraneous or irritatingly out of place.
Original Print
A print where the artist originates the image to be printed-not a reproduction of an already existing painting.
Overpainting
Layers of paint applied over the initial layers once they have dried, so that the layers don't mix.
Paint
Paint consists of colouring matter dispersed in a binder. There are many types of colouring matter and binders, which produce anything from watercolours to oil paints.
Painterly
A picture painted in a painterly manner is one in which the artist has deliberately used the physical properties of paint. Thus for oils it might be subtlety or intensity of colour, thick impasto and juicy swirls; for watercolour it might be transparency and washes
Palette
The surface on which artists layout and mixes their paints. Traditionally it is oval in shape, with a hole for the thumb. The term also refers to the range of colours that an artist uses. Most artists establish a preferred and limited range, which they get to know well and which is very recognizable
Palette Knife
A knife with a blunt flexible blade used for mixing paint and for scraping paint off or spreading it on a canvas.
Panel
A firm support (such as wood, board or metal) on which a picture is painted. canvas, even when tightly stretched, is not firm.
Panorama
A scene or landscape painted on a cylindrical surface. The viewer stands in the middle with a 360 degree view and hopes to have the illusion of a real open-air view.
Pantograph
A simple tool for enlarging or reducing drawings in size by tracing their outline. It looks like four rulers hinged together.
Papier mache
It literally means 'chewed paper'. Shredded paper mixed with flour and water paste to form a pulp that can be shaped into 3-D objects. These are lightweight but firm when the mixture dries.
Paradigm
Example or pattern.
Parchment
The skin of an animal prepared as a material for writing or painting. Parchment is usually made of sheep or goat skin.
Passage
A small but distinctive part of a work of art.
Pasteboard
A stiff support made by pasting layers of paper together.
Pastel
Pastel mediums are colored sticks similar to chalk or crayon that consist of powdered pigment and enough non-greasy binder (methyicellulose) to hold it together. Pastels vary according to the amount of chalk they contain, and the deepest toned are the most pure.
Patina
The mellow tone and slightly worn look that surfaces acquire with age, especially metal and wood. Usually considered to be attractive.
Patron
Somebody who commissions works of art from living artists-and so often influences the content or appearance of the work.
Pedestal
The base on which a statue is placed.
Pen and Ink
A tool used for writing or drawing in ink and the description of that process. The earliest pens were made from reeds and quills of feathers, and some drawing specialists still use these items.
Pendant
A painting designed to make a pair with, or companion to another.
Performance Art
Art in which there is no concrete single object, but rather a series of events performed by the artist in front of an audience, possibly including music, sight gags, recitation, audio-visual presentations, or other elements.
Perspective
The basic rules of linear or geometric perspective were established in the Renaissance and were: a fixed, single viewpoint with lines that meet at a vanishing point, so creating the illusion of 3-D space.
Plastic arts
Strictly speaking, only those arts that involve moulding and modelling (such as sculpture made from clay). However, in practice it often refers to all the visual arts.
Polychrome
Having many colours as opposed to monochromatic, which means only one hue or colour.
Portfolio
A case, usually big and flat, for carrying works of art on paper.
Portrait
A painting, sculpture, drawing or photograph that is a likeness of a human being or animal, living or dead. Portraits can be full length, heads, torsos or portrait busts, life size or disproportionate, abstract or realistic and executed in many mediums.
Primary colours
Red, yellow and blue. In theory all other colours can be made from them but coloured pigments and coloured lights can and do behave differently.
Primer
A primer is applied to a support to isolate the support from the ground and the final paint surface. Without a primer, raw canvas or raw wood would simply absorb the paint and or react chemically with it, thereby making the artist's task impossible or even destroying it-unless of course, the artist wants the effect of the paint being absorbed by (therefore staining) raw canvas or wood
Print
The image made by pressing an inked or painted surface onto a piece of paper.
Proof
A trial print. It allows the artist and the printmaker to see what is happening. They can then make adjustments before arriving at the final version from which the print run will be made.
Provenance
The pedigree of a work of art-a list of who owned it and when
Purism
Fashionable Parisan art movement of the 1920s. Used cubist ideas to produce figurative art (lots of still lifes) that was supposedly pure in design, form and colour. Most of it was rather boring and forgettable.
PVA
Polyvinyl Acetate - man made resin used as a paint medium and in varnishes and adhesives.
Raku
A ceramic-making method, it is an ancient Japanese technique defined by the process of rapid heating and cooling.
Ready-made
A mass produced object taken by an artist and turned into his/her own creation by the addition of a signature or some other small alteration.
Realism
In painting, this implies the putting down of the actual as it appears to the artist when he looks at it. It refers to the progressive movement in art and literature in the mid 19th century that was concerned with social realities and showing facts rather than ideals and aesthetics.
Recession
The illusion of depth in a picture.
Relief
1. Sculpture in which figures or other images are attached to a flat background but project out from it to some degree (bas-relief, haut-relief).
2. A printmaking technique in which portions of a block meant to be printed are raised above the surface.
Renaissance
Renaissance refers to the great revival of art, literature and learning in Europe in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The term also alludes to the spirit, culture, art, science and thought of this period. Throughout the middle ages man lived in fear of God and within the omnipresence of the Church. The art of this period generally showed the heavens and saints and bore little relation to what was happening on earth. However from the fourteenth century onwards man began to realize his importance and effect on the world and nature around him. This 're-birth' or Renaissance was reflected in art: figures became more life-like, space became more real and the Christian story began to be told from a human point of view. Along the following decades, artists were able to recreate the world on panels, frescos and altar pieces with increasing ease. Beginning with the stylized works of Giotto and Massaccio, the Renaissance culminated in the monumental creations of Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo.
Retrospective
An exhibition that shows a comprehensive selection of an artist's works covering his or her whole life or a particular period. Can make or break the artist's reputation or spirit, works that are incomprehensible or neglected when seen in isolation can blossom when seen in their full context; works that looked wonderful on their own can suddenly seem boringly repetitive when shown together.
Rocker
A crescent-shaped tool with sharp points used in printmaking, especially mezzotints. The artist uses the rocker in a rocking motion to make marks all over the copper plate.
Romanticism
A movement in the art, music and literature that flourished in Europe and the USA during the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries. This movement in art was characterized by an emphasis on feeling and content rather than order and form. Romantic artists turned away from intellectual disciplines and placed more importance on imagination and individual expression. Their paintings often depict 'grand emotions' such as fear, desolation, victory and true love. The movement died out by the mid nineteenth century, however romantic tendencies survived into the twentieth century in artistic strains such as Expressionism.
Sacral-Idyllic
Usually a country landscape life scene.
Salon
1. Fashionable gathering of artists, writers and intellectuals held in a private home.
2. In France, a state-sponsored exhibition of art, held in Paris, controlled by the Academy of Fine Arts.
Sculpture
Three dimensional work of art made by carving, modelling or constructing. Like a picture, it has no useful function in itself.
Secondary colours
A hue created by combining two primary colors: blue + yellow = green; yellow + red = orange; blue + red = purple.
Serigraphy
Also more popularly known as silk-screen printing. Basically it is a method of refined stenciling. A screen of silk organdie, or fine wire mesh is stretched over a frame. On this screen a stencil is placed. The ink which is of thick consistency is forced through the screen on to the paper by a squeegee. Multi-colour work is just a matter of preparing as many screens as the colours called for.
Sfumato
The Italian word meaning smoke. It is a technique of painting in thin glazes to achieve a hazy, cloudy atmosphere, to give the impression that the objects or landscape meant to be perceived as distant from the picture plane.
Sketch
A rapidly executed work in any medium. Used by artists to sort out general ideas for a painting or sculpture, or to note the essential features of it.
Statue
A carved or modeled figure, especially of a person or animal.
Still Life
A depiction of inanimate objects such as fruit, flowers, jugs, plates, bottles or dead birds or animals. The pioneers of modern art used them to break new ground in ways of seeing. The only Perceptual art subject that can be prearranged and (almost) totally controlled by the artist.
Stippling
A pattern of closely spaced dots or small marks used to create a sense of three-dimension on a flat surface especially in drawing and printmaking.
Stretcher
A device used to strain a canvas when preparing it for doing a painting. The four corners are mitered in such a way that wedges can be driven into them to increase the tension on the canvas.
Surrealism
A movement in art and literature in the 1920's, which was characterized by the evocative juxtaposition of incongruous images in order to include unconscious and dream elements. In the words of its main theorist, the French writer Andre' Breton, its aim was to 'resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality', and the ways in which this was achieved varied widely. Artists painted unnerving and illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from collections of everyday objects or developed techniques of painting which would allow the unconscious to express itself. Surrealist pictures, while being figurative, represent an alien world, whose images range from dreamlike serenity to nightmarish fantasy.
Symbolism
A literary and artistic movement that flourished in France in the late nineteenth century. Symbolist artists rejected realism, believing that painting should convey ideas and states of mind rather than simply describe the visible world. Their styles varied from jewel-like richness to pale serenity but their common interest was in conveying a feeling of other-worldliness. Subjects of a religious or mythological flavour were popular and eroticism, death and sin were common themes.
Tapestry
It is a type of weaving where the crosswise yarns are manipulated freely to create patterned or pictorial effects.
Tempera
A paint made from ground pigment (colour) bound together with egg yolk and water. This was the most common technique for the production of easel paintings until the late fifteenth century.
Terra cotta
It is a term applied to any unglazed clay object that has had an initial firing. The clays which range in color from red to black, the most common being reddish-brown
Tertiary Colours
The colours positioned between the primary and secondary colours on the colour wheel.
Texture
In art, texture may refer to the illusion of roughness or smoothness often achieved with contrasting patterns.
Tone
Tone are depths of the same colour.
Underpainting
Complete detailed design for a picture made in a dull monochrome then painted over to make the finished work.
Vanishing Point
In linear perspective, the point on the horizon line where parallel lines appear to converge.
Vignette
Either a small, usually figurative design, such as a portrait or a still life, without a border and shading off at the edges, or a scene describing a brief, often domestic, narrative incident. Originally it meant a design of vine leaves and tendrils.
Wash
Very watery watercolour or ink flooded onto paper from a brush to cover a large area.
Watercolour
Pigment or colour bound by a water soluble medium such as gum Arabic. This is usually diluted with water to the point where it becomes translucent. Watercolours can be used effectively to create atmospheric effects and was particularly popular with English eighteenth and nineteenth century landscape painters
Waterpaint
A thick, water based paint, similar to emulsion paint, it has a texture of oil paint when wet but dries without the sheen of oil. Therefore being quiet similar to Gouache however unlike Gouache it is crack resistant, making it an ideal medium for large scale work such as wall painting.
Waterscape
A painting to include a body of water; especially to include a riverscape or marinescape or oceanscape.
Woodcut
One of the most basic printing techniques, whereby the design to be printed is cut into a block of wood. Most 15th and 16th century prints, especially for book illustration used the technique.
Yellowing
Oil paintings can darken or yellow with age. Yellowing is caused by old linseed oil or by dirt or smoke
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
