Art Glossary

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

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abstract art Art that departs significantly from natural appearances. Forms are modified or changed to varying degrees in order to emphasize certain qualities or content. Recognizable references to original appearances may be slight. The term is also used to describe art that is nonrepresentational.

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. See also expressionism.

acrylic (acrylic resin) A clear plastic used as a binder in paint and as a casting material in sculpture.

aesthetic Relating to the sense of the beautiful and to heightened sensory perception in general.

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. 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.

arabesque Ornament or surface decoration with intricate curves and flowing lines based on plant forms.

armature A rigid framework serving as a supporting inner core for clay or other soft sculpting material.

Art Nouveau A style that originated in the late 1880s, based on the sinuous curves of plant forms, used primarily in architectural detailing and the applied arts.

assemblage Sculpture using preexisting, sometimes "found" objects that may or may not contribute their original identities to the total content of the work.

avant-garde French for advance guard" or "vanguard." Those considered the leaders (and often regarded as radicals) in the invention and application of new concepts in a given field.

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Baroque The seventeenth-century period in Europe characterized in the visual arts by dramatic light and shade, turbulent composition, and exaggerated emotional expression.

Bauhaus German art school in existence from 1919 to 1933, best known for its influence on design, leadership in art education, and a radically innovative philosophy of applying design principles to machine technology and mass production.

Byzantine art Styles of painting, design, and architecture developed from the fifth century A.D. in the Byzantine Empire of eastern Europe. Characterized in architecture by round arches, large domes, and extensive use of mosaic; characterized in painting by formal design, frontal and stylized figures, and a rich use of color, especially gold, in generally religious subject matter.

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calligraphy The art of beautiful writing. Broadly, a flowing use of line, often varying from thick to thin.

caricature A representation in which the subject's distinctive features are exaggerated.

cartoon 1. A humorous or satirical drawing. 2. A drawing completed as a full-scale working drawing, usually for a fresco painting, mural, or tapestry.

casein A white, tasteless, odorless milk protein used in making paint as well as plastics, adhesives, and foods.

casting A process that involves pouring liquid material such as molten metal, clay, wax, or plaster into a mold. When the liquid hardens, the mold is removed, leaving a form in the shape of the mold.

classical 1. The art of ancient Greece and Rome. More specifically, Classical refers to the style of Greek art that flourished during the fifth century B.C. 2. Any art based on a clear, rational, and regular structure, emphasizing horizontal and vertical directions, and organizing its parts with special emphasis on balance and proportion. The term classic is also used to indicate recognized excellence.

collage From the French coller, to glue. A work made by gluing materials such as paper scraps, photographs, and cloth on to a flat surface.  

color wheel A circular arrangement of contiguous spectral hues used in some color systems. Also called a color circle.

complementary colors Two hues directly opposite one another on a color wheel which, when mixed together in proper proportions, produce a neutral gray. The true complement of a color can be seen in its afterimage. 

composition The bringing together of parts or elements to form a whole; the structure, organization, or total form of a work of art. See also design.

cool colors Colors whose relative visual temperatures make them seem cool. Cool colors generally include green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, and violet. The quality of warmness or coolness is relative to adjacent hues. See also warm colors.

Copyright - the legal right granted to a creator, a publisher, or a distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of an artistic, literary, musical, or dramatic work.  Signified by the mark ©, the year declared, and the name of the owner.  The past tense is copyrighted (not "copywritten"). 

            Under the Berne Convention, each and every work of art is either a copyrighted work or one in "the public domain." If the artist is alive or has been dead less than seventy years, all rights to reproductions of his or her work reside with the artist or with the artist's estate.

Cubism The most influential style of the twentieth century, developed in Paris by Picasso and Braque, beginning in 1907. The early mature phase of the style, called Analytical Cubism, lasted from 1909 through 1911. Cubism is based on the simultaneous presentation of multiple views, disintegration, and the geometric reconstruction of objects in flattened, ambiguous pictorial so space; figure and ground merge into one interwoven surface of shifting planes. Color is limited to neutrals. By 1912 the more decorative phase called Synthetic (or Collage) Cubism, began to appear; it was characterized by fewer, more solid forms, conceptual rather than observed subject matter, and richer color and texture.

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drypoint An intaglio printmaking process in which lines are scratched directly into a metal plate with a steel needle. Also, the resulting print.

droit moral - is the basis for all copyright laws. This French term for "moral right" refers particularly to certain rights that all civilizations should recognize are held by those who create intellectual properties – artists, (or their estates). These are artists' rights to:

1. Attribution -- the right to be identified as the creator of a work
2. Disclosure -- the right to decide when and where to publish the work
3. Withdrawal -- the right to withdraw a work from circulation
4. Integrity -- the right to preserve the integrity of the work

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eclecticism The practice of selecting or borrowing from earlier styles and combining the borrowed elements.

edition In printmaking, the total number of prints made and approved by an artist, usually numbered consecutively. Also, a limited number of multiple originals of a single design in any medium.

encaustic A painting medium in which pigment is suspended in a binder of hot wax.

engraving An intaglio printmaking process in which grooves are cut into a metal or wood surface with a sharp cutting tool called a burin or graver. Also, the resulting print.

etching An intaglio printmaking process in which a metal plate is first coated with acid-resistant wax, then scratched to expose the metal to the bite of nitric acid where lines are desired. Also, the resulting print.

expressionism The broad term that describes emotional art, most often boldly executed and making free use of distortion and symbolic or invented color. More specifically, Expressionism refers to individual and group styles originating in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. See also Abstract Expressionism.

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Fauvism A style of painting introduced in Paris in the early twentieth century, characterized by areas of bright, contrasting color and simplified shapes. The name les fauves is French for "the wild beasts."

figure Separate shape(s) distinguishable from a background or ground.

fine art Art created for purely aesthetic expression, communication, or contemplation. Painting and sculpture are the best known of the fine arts.

folk art Art of people who have had no formal, academic training, but whose works are part of an established tradition of style and craftsmanship.

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. 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.

form In the broadest sense, the total physical characteristics of an object, event, or situation.

format The shape or proportions of a picture plane.

fresco A painting technique in which pigments suspended in water are applied to a damp lime-plaster surface. The pigments dry to become part of the plaster wall or surface.

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gesso A mixture of glue and either 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 molded into relief designs, or carved. When used for molds into which molten metal is poured, it must be hardened with sand as grog.  Like all other dusts, airborne gesso is hazardous to breathe -- every user must wear an appropriate facemask. 

glaze In ceramics, a vitreous or glassy coating applied to seal and decorate surfaces. Glaze may be colored, transparent, or opaque. In oil painting, a thin transparent or translucent layer brushed over another layer of paint, allowing the first layer to show through but altering its color slightly.

gouache An opaque, water-soluble paint. Watercolor to which opaque white has been added.

ground - A surface to which paint is applied, or the material used to create that surface. A painting's ground is usually specially prepared on its support. Traditionally, for oil paint on canvas use a ground of oil and white pigment, and on wood surfaces either an oil ground or gesso.

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hard-edge A term first used in the 1950s to distinguish styles of painting in which shapes are precisely defined by sharp edges, in contrast to the usually blurred or soft edges in Abstract Expressionist paintings.

hatching A technique used in drawing and linear forms of printmaking, in which lines are placed in parallel series to darken the value of an area. Cross-hatching is drawing one set of hatchings over another in a different direction so that the lines cross.

Hellenistic Style of the last of three phases of ancient Greek art (300-100 B.C.), characterized by emotion, drama, and the interaction of sculptural forms with the surrounding space.

hierarchic proportion Use of unnatural proportion to show the relative importance of figures.

horizon line In linear perspective, the implied or actual line or edge placed on a two- dimensional surface to represent the place in nature where the sky meets the horizontal land or water plane. The horizon line matches the eye level on a two-dimensional surface. Lines or edges parallel to the ground plane and moving away from the viewer appear to converge at vanishing points on the horizon line.

hue That property of a color identifying a specific, named wavelength of light such as green, red, violet, and so on.

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icon An image or symbolic representation often with sacred significance.

iconography The symbolic meanings of subjects and signs used to convey ideas important to particular cultures or religions, and the conventions governing the use of such forms.

illustrate - To create designs and pictures for books, magazines, or other print or electronic media to make clear or explain the text or show what happens in a story. 

illustrator -  A person who creates designs and pictures for books, magazines, or other print or electronic media. Specialties include fashion illustrator and medical illustrator.

impasto In painting, thick paint applied to a surface in a heavy manner, having the appearance and consistency of buttery paste.

Impressionism A style of painting that originated in France about 1870. Paintings of casual subjects, executed outdoors, using divided brush strokes to capture the mood of a particular moment as defined by the transitory effects of light and color. The first Impressionist exhibit was held in 1874.

intaglio – (pr. in-tahl'yoh)  Means “below the surface”.   Graphic processes in which prints are made from ink trapped in the grooves drawn/cut into a metal plate. Etching, engraving, drypoint, and aquatint are all intaglio processes. See also print.

intensity The relative purity or saturation of a hue (color), on a scale from bright (pure) to dull (mixed with another hue or a neutral. Also called chroma.

intermediate color A hue between a primary and a secondary on the color wheel, such as yellow-green, a mixture of yellow and green.

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kore Greek for "maiden." An Archaic Greek statue of a standing clothed young woman.

kouros Greek for "youth." An Archaic Greek statue of a standing nude young male.

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lithography A planographic printmaking technique based on the antipathy of oil and water. The image is drawn with a grease crayon or painted with tusche on a stone or grained aluminum plate. The surface is then chemically treated and dampened so that it will accept ink only where the crayon or tusche has been used.

local color The actual color as distinguished from the apparent color of objects and surfaces; true color, without shadows or reflections.

logo Short for "logotype." Sign, name, or trademark of an institution, firm, or publication, consisting of letter forms borne on one printing plate or piece of type.

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Mannerism A style that developed in the sixteenth century as a reaction to the classical rationality and balanced harmony of the High Renaissance; characterized by the dramatic use of space and light, exaggerated color, elongation of figures, and distortions of perspective, scale, and proportion.

mass Three-dimensional form having physical bulk. Also, the illusion of such a form on a two-dimensional surface.

mat Border of cardboard or similar material placed around a picture as a neutral area between the frame and the picture.

matte A dull finish or surface, especially in painting, photography, and ceramics.

medium (pl. media or mediums) 1. A particular material along with its accompanying technique; a specific type of artistic technique or means of expression determined by the use of particular materials. 2. In paint, the fluid in which pigment is suspended, allowing it to spread and adhere to the surface.

Minimalism A nonrepresentational style of sculpture and painting, usually severely restricted in the use of visual elements and often consisting of simple geometric shapes or masses. The style came to prominence in the late 1960s.

mixed media Works of art made with more than one medium.

mobile A type of sculpture in which parts move, often activated by air currents. See also kinetic art.

modeling 1. Working pliable material such as clay or wax into three-dimensional forms. 2. In drawing or painting, the effect of light falling on a three-dimensional object so that the illusion of its mass is created and defined by value gradations.

modernism Theory and practice in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century art, which holds that each new generation must build on past styles in new ways or break with the past in order to make the next major historical contribution. Characterized by idealism; seen as "high art," as differentiated from popular art. In painting, most clearly seen in the work of the Post-Impressionists, beginning in 1885; in architecture, most evident in the work of Bauhaus and International Style architects, beginning about 1920.

monochromatic A color scheme limited to variations of one hue, a hue with its tints and/or shades.

montage 1. A composition made up of pictures or parts of pictures previously drawn, painted, or photographed. 2. In motion pictures, the combining of separate bits of film to portray the character of a single event through multiple views.

mosaic An art medium in which small pieces of colored glass, stone, or ceramic tile called tessera are embedded in a background material such as plaster or mortar. Also, works made using this technique.

mural A large wall painting, often executed in fresco.

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neutrals Not associated with any single hue. Blacks, whites, grays, and dull gray-browns. A neutral can be made by mixing complementary hues.

nonrepresentational Art without reference to anything outside itself-without representation. Also called nonobjective-without recognizable objects.

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oeuvre - The collected works of an artist. Literally, the French word for work. (pr. oo'vre) Also see catalogue raisonné and collection.

offset printing - These prints are created by first photographing the original work with a process camera, producing four separate color negatives: black, cyan, magenta & yellow. The four negatives are then photographed through a special screen, combining the colours to create a vivid, full color reproduction. Each color ink is applied to the paper by a rubber offset sheet, which is attached to plates fitted to the cylinders of a rotary press. The print is thus referred to as an "offset lithographic reproduction.  Also called photo-offset and offset lithography.

oil paint Paint in which the pigment is held together with a binder of oil, usually linseed oil.

opaque Impenetrable by light; not transparent or translucent.

open form A form whose contour is irregular or broken, having a sense of growth, change, or unresolved tension; form in a state of becoming.

optical color mixture Apparent rather than actual color mixture, produced by interspersing brush strokes or dots of color instead of physically mixing them. The implied mixing occurs in the eye of the viewer and produces a lively color sensation.

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painterly Painting characterized by openness of form, in which shapes are defined by loose brushwork in light and dark color areas rather than by outline or contour.

pastels 1. Sticks of powdered pigment held together with a gum binding agent. 2. Pale colors or tints.

perspective A system for creating an illusion of depth or three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. Usually refers to linear perspective, which is based on the fact that parallel lines or edges appear to converge and objects appear smaller as the distance between them and the viewer increases. Atmospheric perspective (aerial perspective) creates the illusion of distance by reducing color saturation, value contrast, and detail in order to imply the hazy effect of atmosphere between the viewer and distant objects. Isometric perspective is not a visual or optical interpretation, but a mechanical means to show space and volume in rectangular forms. Parallel lines remain parallel; there is no convergence.

perspective rendering A view of an architectural structure drawn in linear perspective, usually from a three-quarter view or similar vantage point that shows two sides of the proposed building.

photorealism A style of painting that became prominent in the 1970s, based on the cool objectivity of photographs as records of subjects.

pictorial space In a painting or other two-dimensional art, illusionary space which appears to recede backward into depth from the picture plane.

picture plane The two-dimensional picture surface.

pigment Any coloring agent, made from natural or synthetic substances, used in paints or drawing materials.

pointillism A system of painting using tiny dots or "points" of color, developed by French artist Georges Seurat in the 1880s. Seurat systematized the divided brushwork and optical color mixture of the Impressionists and called this technique divisionism.

polychromatic Having many colors; random or intuitive use of color combinations as opposed to color selection based on a specific color scheme.

Pop Art A style of painting and sculpture that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in Britain and the United States; based on the visual clichés, subject matter, and impersonal style of popular mass-media imagery.  

Post-Impressionism A general term applied to various personal styles of painting by French artists (or artists living in France) that developed from about 1885 to 1900 in reaction to what these artists saw as the somewhat formless and aloof quality of Impressionist painting. Post-Impressionist painters were concerned with the significance of form, symbols, expressiveness, and psychological intensity. They can be broadly separated into two groups, expressionists, such as Gauguin and Van Gogh, and formalists, such as Cezanne and Seurat.

Post-Modern An attitude or trend of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, in which artists and architects accept all that modernism rejects. In architecture, the movement away from or beyond what had become boring adaptations of the International Style, in favor of an imaginative, eclectic approach. In the other visual arts, Post-Modern is characterized by an acceptance of all periods and styles, including modernism, and a willingness to combine elements of all styles and periods. Although modernism makes distinctions between high art and popular taste, Post-Modernism makes no such value judgments.

prehistoric art Art created before written history. Often the only record of early cultures.

primary colors - yellow, red (magenta), and blue (cyan) from which it is possible to mix all the other colors.  Also known as the subtractive or colorant primaries.  Thus Pigments that reflect light of one of these wavelengths and absorb other wavelengths may be mixed to produce all colors. Also, the light (-source) primaries: Lights of red, green, and blue wavelengths may be mixed to produce all colors. Light primaries are used in theatrical stage lighting, and in color videos and computer screens. 

primer - An undercoating paint applied to a surface, sealing it, creating a better bond (adhesion), and providing a ground for a painting. Applying such a ground is called priming. (pr. pri:'mr) Also see gesso.

 print (artist's print) A multiple-original impression made from a plate, stone, wood block, or screen by an artist or made under the artist's supervision. Prints are usually made in editions, with each print numbered and signed by the artist.

proportion The size relationship of parts to a whole and to one another.

Public Domain - When an artist has been dead more than seventy years, his or her work is in the public domain. Reproduction rights are then concerned with rights held by those who have produced photographs of the works (in other words, if you took a snapshot of a public domain work yourself, you could do anything you want with it). Normally, museums have commissioned photographs of their works and thus hold the rights to these photographs to be used in reproduction. So, a first step here would be to contact the museum where the work is held.

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realism 1. A type of representational art in which the artist depicts as closely as possible what the eye sees. 2. Realism. The mid-nineteenth-century style of Courbet and others, based on the idea that ordinary people and everyday activities are worthy subjects for art.

registration In color printmaking or machine printing, the process of aligning the impressions of blocks or plates on the same sheet of paper.

relief printing A printing technique in which the parts of the printing surface that carry ink are left raised, while the remaining areas are cut away. Woodcuts and linoleum prints (linocuts) are relief prints.

relief sculpture Sculpture in which three-dimensional forms project from a flat background of which they are a part. The degree of projection can vary and is described by the terms high relief and low relief (bas-relief.)

Renaissance Period in Europe from the late fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, characterized by a renewed interest in human-centered classical art, literature, and learning. See also humanism.

representational art Art in which it is the artist's intention to present again or represent a particular subject; especially pertaining to realistic portrayal of subject matter.

reproduction A mechanically produced copy of an original work of art; not to be confused with an original print or art print.

Rococo From the French rocaille meaning "rock work." This late Baroque (c. 1715-1775) style used in interior decoration and painting was characteristically playful, pretty, romantic, and visually loose or soft; it used small scale and ornate decoration, pastel colors, and asymmetrical arrangement of curves. Rococo was popular in France and southern Germany in the 18th century.

Romanticism 1. A literary and artistic movement of late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, aimed at asserting the validity of subjective experience as a countermovement to the often cold formulas of Neoclassicism; characterized by intense emotional excitement and depictions of powerful forces in nature, exotic lifestyles, danger, suffering, and nostalgia. 2. Art of any period based on spontaneity, intuition, and emotion rather than carefully organized rational approaches to form.

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screenprinting (serigraphy) silk screen  A printmaking technique in which stencils are applied to fabric stretched across a frame. Paint or ink is forced with a squeegee through the unblocked portions of the screen onto paper or other surface beneath.

secondary colors Pigment secondaries are the hues orange, violet, and green, which may be produced in slightly dulled form by mixing two primaries.

shade A hue with black added.

shape A two-dimensional or implied two-dimensional area defined by line or changes in value and/or color.

simultaneous contrast An optical effect caused by the tendency of contrasting forms and colors to emphasize their difference when they are placed together.

size Any of several substances made from glue, wax, or clay, used as a filler for porous material such as paper, canvas or other cloth, or wall surfaces. Used to protect the surface from the deteriorating effects of paint, particularly oil paint.

still life A painting or other two-dimensional work of art representing inanimate objects such as bottles, fruit, and flowers. Also, the arrangement of these objects from which a drawing, painting, or other work is made.

style A characteristic handling of media and elements of form that gives a work its identity as the product of a particular person, group, art movement, period, or culture.

stylized Simplified or exaggerated visual form which emphasizes particular or contrived design qualities.