Glossary of Art Terms

abbozzo - In painting, blocking in-- the first sketching done on the canvas, and also the first underpainting. In sculpture, a mass of material that has been carved or manipulated into a rough form of the ultimate work. Italian for "sketch."

abrasive - A substance which wears down a surface by the friction of rubbing against it. Sandpaper, for instance, has an abrasive surface used to smooth rough surfaces. To wear down by rubbing is to abrade. As a technique of shaping solid forms, this is called abrasion.

absorbent ground - A ground or coating on a surface that can absorb the liquid from paint applied to it.

absorption - Refers to the light absorbing behavior of some surfaces-- various characteristics determine the degree to which surfaces absorb certain colors. The light which is absorbed is converted to heat, while light not absorbed is either transmitted (by transparency or translucent surfaces) or reflected (by opaque surfaces).

abstract- The emphasis of a derived, essential character that has only a stylized or symbolic visual reference to objects in nature.

Abstraction-Creation Group - An international school of painters and sculptors of the 1930s, who typically employed geometric shapes and forms. Piet Mondrian was the most prominent figure in the Abstract-Creation Group.

absurd - Ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable, because of a flaw in logic. Also, pertaining to the view that there is no order or value in human life or in the universe-- a condition in which human beings exist in a meaningless, irrational world in which people's lives have no purpose or meaning.

academy figure - Sometimes simply called an academy, an academic figure is a two-dimensionally drawn or painted figure of a nude model, about half-size, typically used for instruction and not considered a work of art at the time it was made. Such life studies have been standard exercises in art schools (academies) since the sixteenth century.

accelerator - A substance which speeds up a chemical change. An accelerator is added to oil paints to speed drying (also called a "drier"), and to polyester resin to promote curing. Alum is added to plaster as an accelerator to quicken its setting.

accent - In design, a distinctive feature or quality, such as a feature that accentuates or complements a decorative style. In line drawing, accenting lines is the gradual increase or decrease in the weight or thickness of lines as produced by a pencil or similar medium by the amount of pressure exerted on it while drawing. Accenting should not be confused with shading-- the filling in of areas to represent shadow. Accenting refers only to lines used for the contours or outlines in the drawing of a subject. Generally, lines representing the nearest parts of a subject are accented most boldly. Also see value and gradation.

accidental color - Color obtained by mixing on a painting's surface without conscious preliminary planning during the process of painting.

acculturation - Borrowing between cultures, or, the modifying of one person's or group's culture by contact with a different culture. Also, the process by which people acquire knowledge of the cultures in which they live.

achromatic - Color having no chroma-- black, white and grays made by mixing black and white. All other colors employ chromatic pigments. (pr. ay'crow-ma"tick) Also see grisaille.

Action Painting- A type of "Gestural Abstractionism," practiced by Jackson Pollock, in which the emphasis was on the heroic aspects of the artist's gesture in making art. Pollock stood on his canvases, pouring liquid paint in linear webs, and, in effect, incorporated his own physical nature into the components of the picture.

adsorption - When a thin layer of a substance adheres strongly to another, holding to it on a molecular level as if it were glued to it. This situation is more likely to occur with substances in a gelatinous state and with the receiving surface absolutely clean. Often a truly adsorbed layer becomes so firmly attached to the receiving surface that it can be removed only by vigorous abrasion. One example of adsorption occurs in lithography, with the crayon or tusche on the stone or plate so that an adsorbed layer of fatty acid is in position to receive the printing ink.

aesthetic experience or æsthetic experience - Experience of intrinsic features of things or events traditionally recognized as worthy of attention and reflection, such as literal, visual, and expressive qualities, which are studied during the art criticism process.

aesthetic value or æsthetic value - The value (worth) a thing or event has due to its capacity to evoke pleasure that is recognized as arising from features in the object traditionally considered worthy of attention.

à la poupée - In intaglio, a means of printing several colors at one time by applying each color to the plate separately with a felt pad. A French term.

alchemy - The ancient and medieval chemical practise especially concerned with the attempt to convert base metals into gold.

alla prima- A painting technique in which pigments are laid on in one application, with little or no drawing or underpainting.

altarpiece- A panel, painted or sculpted, situated above and behind an altar.

altered proportion - A technique used by an artist to change the size relationship of shapes in an artwork.

ambivalence - Mixed feelings. The sort of conflicting attitudes, such as love and hate, that one can feel toward a person, a thing, or an idea.

American Gothic - A realistic, yet hard-edged style of painting associated with the works of Grant Wood (American, 1892-1942). Also the title of a famous painting by Grant Wood.

amorphous - An anomalous, shapeless form, without crystalline structure. Amorphous materials have no sharply defined melting point, and surfaces of pieces that break have undulating surfaces like those of lumps of broken glass or of resin, both of which are examples of amorphous materials.

analogous colors - Color that are next to each other on the color wheel and are closely related. For example, blue, blue-green, and green all have the color blue in common. Families of analogous colors include the warm colors (red, orange and yellow) and the cool colors (green, blue and violet). Analogous colors are sometimes referred to as adjacent colors. (pr. a-na"lah-gus')

Analytic Cubism- An art movement developed jointly by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in which the artists analyzed form from ever possible vantage point to combine the various views into one pictorial whole.

anamorphic image- An image that must be viewed by some special means, such as a mirror, to be recognized.

anamorphosis - An image that appears distorted unless it is viewed from a special angle, or with a mirror, or with some other device. A famous example of such an anamorphic image is that of a skull in the painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein (German, 1497/8-1543). In photography, an anamorphic lens is capable of compressing a wide angle of view onto a standard frame of film. A similar projection system can be used to reform such an image onto a wide screen.

aniconic- Non-image representation

anima - The inner self of a person. In Jungian psychology, a person's unconscious or true inner self-- the feminine inner personality in the unconscious of the male, in contrast to the animus, which represents male characteristics within a female personality.

anti-art - Art, either Dada or in its tradition, which rejects conventional theories and forms-- techniques, materials, and means of display. Marcel Duchamp (French-American, 1887-1968) is credited with introducing the term c. 1914, and its spirit is summed up in his attempt to exhibit a urinal, Fountain of 1917, as well as in the reproduction of the Mona Lisa on which he drew a mustache in 1919.

anti-intellectualism - Any point of view which opposes, fears, mistrusts, or shuns reason-- logical, rational thought, intelligence, good judgment, sound sense-- or intellectuals, or intellectual views.

Art Brut- A term coined by Jean Dubuffet, to characterize art that is genuine, untaught, coarse, even brutish.

Arte Povera - Italian for "poor art," it was mostly sculptural work made from everyday materials including soil, cement, twigs, newspapers, instead of traditional materials like stone and bronze. This largely Italian movement, named by the critic Germano Celant in 1967, endured through the 1970s, concerned with metaphorical treatments to do with nature, culture, history, and contemporary life. Artists associated with Arte Povera include Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

assemblage- A three-dimensional composition made of various materials such as found objects, paper, wood, and cloth.

asymmetry, asymmetrical balance - The parts of a design organized so that one side differs from the other without destroying the overall harmony.

attention - Concentration of thought upon a subject. A close or careful observing or listening. Focusing one's ability or power to concentrate mentally. Giving observant consideration. When demanded by a teacher, attention means "Stop, Look and Listen." Stop working, talking, moving, and put things down. Look toward the teacher or the student who's been called upon. Listen means: think about what's being said and speak only when called upon. When a student needs to let a teacher know he needs attention, the appropriate means is to raise a hand when the speaker has stopped. Raising a hand does not guarantee that a student will be called upon, although teachers should try to share time as much as possible and appropriate.

automatism- The process of yielding oneself to instinctive motions of the hands after establishing a set of conditions within which a work is to be carried out.

avant-garde- Artists who work in the most advanced stylistic expression.

balance - A principle of design, it refers to the way the elements of art are arranged to create a feeling of stability in a work. Balance can be symmetrical, or formal; or it can be asymmetrical, or informal. It can also be radial.

beader - A punch with a hollow end used in chasing to leave dotted impressions on metal surfaces.

beaux-arts - The high arts. French.

bevel - The meeting of a line or surface with another at any angle other than 90°, or the angle at which they meet. Also, carving or cutting to make a bevel; a chamfer. It may also be an instrument which is formed by joining two rules as adjustable arms in order to measure or draw angles of any size or to fix a surface at an angle; an instrument also known as a bevel square.

bilateral - Refers to two sides.

binary colors - Colors made by the mixing of two hues. Examples are orange, green, and purple.

binocular vision - Seeing with two eyes simultaneously gives the viewer the ability to perceive depth. Stereoscopic images depend on the use of binocular vision.

biomorphic form - An abstract form whose shapes are more organic than geometric, more curvaceous than linear. Much of the work of Hans [Jean] Arp (German-French, 1887-1966) was composed as biomorphic forms. For example:

bird's-eye view - As if seen from an altitude or from a distance; a comprehensive view; also called an aerial view. A variation on landscape, the horizon for a bird's-eye view is usually placed very high in the picture, or outside of it completely. Sometimes called a bird's-eye survey. Examples:

bland - Without impact or strength. Bland art is too mild.

blanket - The felt or foam rubber used between the paper and the roller on an intaglio press. Also, a rubber-surfaced fabric used on the cylinder of an offset printing press.

bleach-out - A bromide print that is underdeveloped, so that it can be used as the foundation of a line drawing, and then bleached away.

blend - In artwork, to merge colors applied to a surface, whether with a brush, crayon, colored pencil, or other medium.

blind pressing - In printmaking, making an embossed print with an uninked plate. This is also called blind printing. When using an intaglio plate this is more specifically called either an inkless intaglio or a gypsographic print.

block - A body of material for carving. The term is also applied to a piece of material for block printing, or to wood used to beat and consolidate large masses of clay.

blotto painting - A painting made by applying tempera paint onto one side of a sheet of paper, then folding the paper and pressing the two sides together.

blue pencil - May refer to a pencil of a certain pale tone used to mark artwork and photographs because it does not reproduce on certain photographic films insensitive to blue. Such films are employed in preparations for some printing processes.

Bolognese school - A group of artists in and near Bologna, Italy from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries.

bright - A short, flat brush with a long handle, typically used with oil, acrylic and alkyd paints.

bristol board - A sturdy drawing surface used for many types of two-dimensional artwork, including lettering. It is available in several finishes, including a smooth plate finish and a medium vellum. It can be used on both of its sides.

broad manner - May refer to a bold manner of painting, or to a style of engraving in which the the engraved lines are thick and bold.

broadside - In printing, a large sheet of paper in which is printed text with little or no graphic, often an advertisement or an announcement. Broadsides have often been folded. Also called a broadsheet. Examples:

brushstroke - The result of a brush loaded with paint or ink leaving some of that paint on a surface. Because brushstrokes can vary so greatly, their individual and cumulative effects are of great concern in the discussion of paintings.

buckeye - Any kitsch which is painted in oil and produced for the mass market, characterized by sloppy yet facile rendition, and stereotyped, flamboyant, or sentimental treatment of subject matter, typically landscape. Although most commonly used to refer to such work produced during the second half of the nineteenth century, since the production of such painting has never ceased, the term might be applied to later examples as well.

calendar painting - painting having pleasing subject matter, but rarely having lasting value as art.

calotype - An early photographic process, it was patented in 1840 by William H.F. Talbot (English, 1800-1877), the first process to employ a negative to produce a positive image on paper. Also known as Talbotype. Examples:

calligraphy- Elegant writing as a decorative art.

camaïeu - A painting technique, in which the painter creates a monochromatic image by employing two or three tints of a single pigment without regard to local or realistic color. Or, a woodblock print that imitates highlighted drawing on tinted paper.

cameo - A small-scale low relief in a stratified or banded material, usually a gemstone such as onyx or sardonyx, but also in

camera obscura- An ancestor of the modern camera in which a tiny pinhole, acting as a lens, projects an image on a screen, the wall of a room, or the ground-glass wall of a box; used by artists in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries as an aid in drawing from nature.

canon- Rule, i.e., of proportion.

canvas - Commonly used as a support for oil or acrylic painting, canvas is a heavy woven fabric made of flax or cotton. Its surface is typically prepared for painting by priming with a ground. Linen-- made of flax-- is the standard canvas, very strong, sold by the roll and by smaller pieces. A less expensive alternative to linen is heavy cotton duck, though it is less acceptable (some find it unacceptable), cotton being less durable, because it's more prone to absorb dampness, and it's less receptive to grounds and size. For use in painting, a piece of canvas is stretched tightly by stapling or tacking it to a stretcher frame. A painting done on canvas and then cemented to a wall or panel is called marouflage. Canvas board is an inexpensive, commercially prepared cotton canvas which has been primed and glued to cardboard, suitable for students and amateurs who enjoy its portability. Also, a stretched canvas ready for painting, or a painting made on such fabric.

Caravaggisti - Artists influenced by "Caravaggio", Michelangelo Merisi (Italian, Lombard, 1571/73-1610) -- his dramatically contrasting dark-light effects; painters of "night pictures" in the "dark manner", a manner known as tenebrism (or by the equivalent Italian term tenebroso). (pr. kah'rah-vah-jee"stee) Examples of works by Caravaggio and his followers:

cartoon- In painting, a full-size preliminary drawing from which a painting is made. Before the modern era, cartoons were customarily worked out in complete detail; the design was then transferred to the working surface by coating the back with chalk and going over the lines with a stylus, or by pricking the lines and "pouncing" charcoal dust through the resulting holes.

casein paint - A paint much like opaque watercolor in which casein-- a milk glue-- is its binder. Casein is a white, tasteless, odorless protein precipitated from milk by rennin. Casein is the basis of cheese, and is used to make plastics, adhesives, and foods, as well as paint. Casein paint can be used on paper or board for light impasto, for underpainting, wall decoration, etc. Casein paint is too inflexible for use on canvas. It dries quickly with a waterproof surface, and may be varnished. Here's a link to Shiva brand casein colors. (pr. kay'seen) An example of a painting produced with casein:

charcoal - Compressed burned wood used for drawing. Examples of charcoal drawings:

chi/rho- A monogram for Christ.

chiaroscuro- The treatment and use of light and dark, especially the gradations of light that produce the effect of modelling.

chroma- Of the two variables of color, the apparent amount of light reflected and the apparent purity, value and tonality represent lightness; chroma, saturation, and intensity represent purity.

chromolithography - A lithographic process using several stones or plates--one for each color, printed in register. The result is color prints, to be distinguished from colored prints that have the color hand-applied after printing.

cinquecento - The 1500s-- the sixteenth century. Especially used to refer to Italian art of that century, the time of the High Renaissance and Mannerism. (Italian for 500) (pr. cheen'kway chayn'toh) Examples of works from the Italian cinquecento:

cissing - In painting, an application of color that would have resulted in a flat area of paint (covering with an even thickness), but resulted instead in running streaks and bare spots, usually because of poor wetting of the surface.

classical - This term has come to have several meaning. Originally it was used when referring to the art of ancient Greece produced during the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. Later it included all works of art created from 600 B.C. until the fall of Rome. Still later it was used to describe any art form thought to be inspired or influenced by ancient Greek or Roman examples. Today, classical is used to describe perfection of form, with an emphasis on harmony and unity and restraint of emotion. Usually, it is applied to works that are representational but idealistic. Classic is used to describe anything which is the epitome of its type.

cliché - An idea or expression that has lost its originality or its force, and become trite because of its overuse. A stereotype. Most clichés become popular over the years because they express a thought aptly and concisely, when, if used too often, their aptness can be overwhelmed by their dullness.

coarse - Of low, common, or inferior quality. Lacking in refinement or delicacy. Indecent or vulgar. Or, consisting of large particles, not fine in texture. Do not confuse it with course, which is pronounced identically.

codex - A manuscript book, its text handwritten on a number of separate pages. It cannot be mechanically printed nor can it be written on a rolled scroll. The earliest known codices date from the fourth century A.D. In Mesoamerican, a painted and inscribed book on long sheets of fig-bark paper or deerskin coated with plaster and folded into accordion-like pleats.

cognitive - Having to do with the mental process or faculty of knowing, including such things as analysis, application, awareness, comprehension, perception, reasoning, synthesis, evaluation, and meta-cognition.

collage- A composition made by combining on a flat surface various materials such as newspaper, wallpaper, printed text and illustrations, photographs, and cloth.

collodion wet plate - A photographic process invented in 1851, involving the use of a thick glass plate on which to create a negative, exposing it in the camera with its emulsion still wet. Also called wet plate and wet collodion process. It was the standard photographic process for a time, replaced in the 1870s by the gelatin dry plate process. Examples:

color-field painters- A term used to describe the work Mark Rothko and other painters of Abstract Expressionist or New York School who explored the optical and mystical effects of fields of color.

color wheel - A radial diagram of colors in which primary and secondary, and sometimes intermediate colors are displayed as an aid to color identification, choosing, and mixing. A color wheel with primary (red, yellow, blue) and secondary (orange, green, violet) colors can be seen to the left below. The complement to each color is the color opposite that color on the color wheel. To the right below are diagrams of complementary colors, demonstrating the ratios devised by Johannes Itten, in response to these colors' relative intensities and values.

combine - Any painted assemblage that is neither simply painting or sculpture, but rather a hybrid painting-sculpture. The term combine was coined by Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925-).

complementary after-image - The image (in a complementary color) that is retained briefly by the eye after the stimulus is removed.

complementary colors- Those pairs of colors, such as red and green, that together embrace the entire spectrum. The complement of one of the three primary colors is a mixture of the other two. In pigments, they produce a neutral gray when mixed in the right proportions.

conceptual - In general, referring to concept or conception. In reference to art, imagery which departs from perceptual accuracy to present a mental formulation of the object, rather than its appearance alone. As examples, the rigidly formal art of ancient Egypt may be viewed as conceptual, whereas the Realism of Gustave Courbet (French, 1819-1877) is perceptual. Nevertheless, it should not be thought that perceptual art is really without ideas (or ideology), however.

Conceptual Art - Art that is intended to convey an idea or a concept to the perceiver, rejecting the creation or appreciation of a traditional art object such as a painting or a sculpture as a precious commodity. Conceptual Art emerged as a movement in the 1960s. The expression "concept art" was used in 1961 by Henry Flynt in a Fluxus publication, but it was to take on a different meaning when it was used by Joseph Kosuth (American, 1945-) and the Art & Language group (Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge, Michael Baldwin, Harold Hurrell, Ian Burn, Mel Ramsden, Philip Pilkington, and David Rushton) in England. For the Art & Language group, concept art resulted in an art object being replaced by an analysis of it. Exponents of Conceptual Art said that artistic production should serve artistic knowledge and that the art object is not an end in itself. The first exhibition specifically devoted to Conceptual Art took place in 1970 at the New York Cultural Center under the title "Conceptual Art and Conceptual Aspects." Because Conceptual Art is so dependent upon the text (or discourse) surrounding it, it is strongly related to numerous other movements of the last century. Examples of Conceptual Art:

concretion - In the work of Surrealist Jean (or Hans) Arp (French, 1887-1966), sculptural form characterized by twisting and growing effects.

cone - A three-dimensional shape having a surface formed by a straight line (the side length) passing through a fixed point and moving along a circular curve. It usually refers to a right circular cone-- a cone in which the side length remains a constant length. The volume of a right circular cone equals one-third of pi (3.14159) times radius squared times height. Its surface area (including circular side) equals pi times radius times the sum of radius plus side length. Lateral area (not including circular side) equals pi times radius times side length.

configuration - Arrangement of parts or elements of a form, or of a figure, especially the pattern formed by the arrangement of parts within a form.

connoisseur- An expert on works of art and the individual styles of artists.

consistency - Agreement among things or parts. Compatibility between related aspects. Continuously similar in certain respects. Also, degree or texture of density, firmness or viscosity. In order to visualize the meaning of consistency in the first sense, consider an image with deliberately inconsistent aspects.

conté crayon and Conté Crayon - The common and brand name for a drawing medium comparable to colored chalk. It is available in several colors. Most common are red-brown (called sanguine, French for blood), black, grays, and white.

contextuality- The causal relationships among artists, art work, and the society or culture that conditions them.

continuous narration- The convention of the same figure appearing more than once in the same space at different stages in a story.

contour drawing - Drawing in which contour lines are used to represent subject matter. A contour drawing has a three-dimensional quality, indicating the thickness as well as height and width of the forms it describes. Making a contour drawing with a continuous line is a classic drawing exercise (sometimes modified as a "blind continuous-line contour"): with eyes fixed on the contours of the model or object, drawing the contour very slowly with a steady, continuous line, without lifting the drawing tool or looking at the paper. There are other variations on this method.

contrapposto- The disposition of the human figure in which one part is turned inopposition to another part, creating a counter positioning of the body about its central axis. Sometimes called weight shift because the weight of the body tends to be thrown to one foot, creating tension on one side and relaxation on the other.

contrast - A large difference between two things; for example, hot and cold, green and red, light and shadow. Closely related to emphasis, a principle of design, this term refers to a way of combining elements of art to stress the differences between those elements. Thus, a painting might have bright color which contrast with dull colors, or angular shapes which contrast with rounded shapes. Used in this way, contrast can excite, emphasize and direct attention to points of interest.

conversation piece - A portrait of a group of earnest people.

cool colors - Color often associated with water, sky, spring, and foliage, and suggest coolness. These are the colors which contain blue and green and appear on one side of the color wheel opposite the warm colors. Psychologically, cool colors are said to be calming, unemphatic, depressive; optically, they generally appear to recede.

cube - A polyhedron having six square faces. It is also one type of hexahedron, as well as one type of prismatoid. Calculate its volume by multiplying the length of one edge by itself, then again by that product. A quantity is cube when it is multiplied twice by the same quantity.

cultural constructs- In the reconstruction of the context of a work of art, experts consult the evidence of religion, science, technology, language, philosophy, and the arts to discover the thought patterns common to artists and their audiences.

culture- The collective characteristics by which a community identifies iteself by which it expects to be recoznized and respected.

curvilinear - Formed or characterized by curving lines. Elements of late Gothic and Art Nouveau ornament are examples of curvilinear treatment of form.

dabber - A soft pad holding the wax ground used in etching.

decagon - A closed two-dimensional figure bounded by ten line segments.The formula with which to find an equilateral decagon's area is 7.6942 times the length of one side squared.

decollage - The tearing away of parts of posters or other images which were adhered to each other in layers, so that portions of the underlayers contribute to the final image. (pr. de'coh-lahzh") Decollage should not be confused with collage-- which is its opposite-- or with décolletage-- which is another subject altogether.

deconstruction- A method of analysis proceeding by re-reading the received art-historical picture and showing where and how it is false to the realities of the cultures it attempts to explain and to the meanings of particular works of art.

decoupage- A technique of decoration in which letters or images are cut out of paper or some such material and then pasted onto a surface.

deduction - Reaching a conclusion only when it follows necessarily from stated facts or proposals; reasoning from the general to the specific. One cannot contradict such a conclusion without questioning one or more of the premises from which it followed.

degenerate - Being in decline; having fallen to an inferior or undesirable state, especially in mental or moral qualities. Also, a depraved, corrupt, or vicious person. Because modernism was so counter to the fascist aesthetic, Adolf Hitler (German, 1889-1945) branded modernist art entartete-- degenerate or degenerative. The fascists favored a strongly classical style in contrast to the prevailing artworld styles of Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Dadaism, and modernism in general. Rather than censor modernist art, the Nazis confiscated it, and mounted exhibits of what they called "degenerate art." They expected Germans to recognize these works as presenting "negativity and the incomprehensibility of the world," which pitted modernist aesthetics against what fascists characterized as their own positivism, progressive goals, and noble ideals -- an ostensibly hopeful Weltanschauung (world-view) that led to their ruthlessly forcing their "solutions" on the world.

delineate - To depict by drawing with a tool which leaves a linear trail behind the drawer's gesture. May also mean, more loosely, to describe.

density - May refer to the variations perceived in the sight of things near and far due to atmospheric variations.

depth - The apparent distance from front to back or near to far in an artwork. Techniques of perspective are used to create the illusion of depth in paintings or drawings. Examples of these techniques are: controlling variation between sizes of depicted subject, overlapping them, and placing those that are on the depicted ground as lower when nearer and higher when deeper.

descriptive approach to representation- In artistic representation, that which is known about an object is represented. To represent a human profile "descriptively" would require the artist to depict both eyes rather than just one.

diagonal - Having a slanted direction.

diptych - A picture or bas-relief made of two panels hinged together, often an altarpiece. Also, any picture consisting of two individual surfaces. Also, an ancient Roman or Early Christian two-hinged writing tablet, or two ivory memorial panels.

directrix - The fixed curve traversed by a generatrix in generating either a cone or a cylinder.

disegno interno- "Inner design," a reference to the Platonic Idea which underlay the visible world.

di sotto in su- A technizue of representing perspective in ceiling painting.

distemper - A water-soluble paint using egg-yolk or glue size as a binder. Used mostly for flat indoor wall decoration. Examples of works made with distemper:

distort - To change the way something looks-- sometimes deforming or stretching an object or figure out of its normal shape to exaggerate its features-- making it more interesting or meaningful. El Greco's (Greek-Spanish, 1541-1614) elongated figures are examples of moderate distortion. More extreme examples of distortion are found in the painting entitled Guernica by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973).

douanier- In french, "customs collector," a term that came to be applied to Henri Rousseau, the French "primitive" painter

double loading - Loading a brush with two colors side by side. This is a technique typical of tole and decorative painting. In order to double load, use a paint of creamy consistency, and drag one edge of the brush through the lighter color as many times as needed to fill that edge with color; then stroke the clean edge of the brush through the darker color in the same manner. Once the brush is loaded this way, blend the colors at the center of the brush by stroking on the palette. Using this technique, each brushstroke (application of color) deposits a gradation of the two blended colors.

dragging - Applying relatively dry oil paints lightly over a surface, creating an area of broken color-- the new color having attached to the high spots but not to the low, so that irregular portions of the undercolor remain exposed. Also known as scruffing. Also see dry brush painting and overpainting.

dry brush - Applying relatively dry inks or waterpaints lightly over a surface, creating an area of broken color-- the new color having attached to the high spots but not to the low, so that traces of the paper or undercolor remain exposed. This may be done by holding the brush so that the side of its bristles lie flat against the paper, or by pulling it rapidly across the surface. In oil painting, dragging stroke or scruffing is the name given to this effect.

ecorche- A figure painted to show the muscles of the body without skin.

elevation- A geometric projection of a building on a plane perpendicular to the horizon; a verticle projection. A head-on-view of an external or internal wall, showing its features and often other elements that would be visible beyond or before the wall.

encaustic- A painting technique in whcih pigement is mixed with wax and applied to the surface while hot.

engraving- The process of incising a design in hard material, often a metal plate.

etching- A kind of engraving in whcih the design is incised in a layer of wax or varnish on a metal plate. The parts of the plate left exposed are then etched by the acid in whcih the plate is immerse after incising.

fin de siecle- Literally, the end of the centruy, a period at the end of the 19th century and just before World War I in whcih art and literature languished in a kind of malaise compounded of despondency, boredom, morbidity, and hypersensitivit to the esthetic.

foreshortening- The use of persepctive to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.

formalism- Strict adherence to, or dependence on, stylized shapes and methods of composition.

found objects- Images, materials, or objects as found in the everyday environment that are appropriated into works of art.

Fresco- Paitning on plaster, etiher dry or wet. In the latter method, the pigments are mixed with water and become chemically bound to the plaster.

frottage- A process of rubbing a crayon or other medium across paper placed over surfaces with strong and evocative texture pater to combine patterns.

genre- A kind of painting realistically depicting scenes from everyday life.

gesso- Plaster mixed with binding material and used as a ground for painting.

grisaille- A monochrome painting done mainly in neutral grays to stimulate sculpture.

ground- A coating applied to a canvas or some other surface to prepare that surgace for paitning also background.

hard-edge - Refers to a twentieth century movement in painting in which the edges of shapes are crisp and precise rather than blurred. Example of a painting made in this manner:

harmonious colors - Colors that look good together because they are complementary colors, analogous colors, or otherwise related.

harmony - A principle of design, it refers to a way of combining elements of art to accent their similarities and bind the picture parts into a whole. It is often achieved through the use of repetition and simplicity.

hashira-e - In Japanese art tradition, a narrow vertical print to be hung. Also see hoso-e, kakemono, and kakemono-e.

heighten - In drawing and painting, to raise the value of areas with white or a pale color in order to complete the rendition of forms. Along with its opposite -- shading -- an important aspect of chiaroscuro.

hiding - The hiding power of a pigment refers to its opacity-- its capacity to cover colors beneath it in order to obscure them completely.

highlight - The area on any surface which reflects the most light. Also, to direct attention or to emphasize through use of color.

imitationalism - A theory of art which places emphasis on the literal qualities. According to this theory, the most important thing about a work of art is the realistic representation of subject matter. A work is considered successful if it looks like and reminds the audience of what is seen in the real world.

impasto - A thick or lumpy application of paint, or deep brush marks (brushstrokes), as distinguished from a flat, smooth paint surface. Example:

Impresionism - A style of painting that started in France during the 1860s. Impressionist artists tried to paint candid glimpses of their subjects showing the effects of sunlight on things at different times of day.

inkblot - An image formed by dripping ink onto a piece of paper, and then folding the paper in half.

intensity - The brightness or dullness of a hue or color.

intermediate colors - Also known as tertiary color, they are produced by mixing unequal amounts of two primary colors.

kakemono - In Japanese art tradition, a painting mounted for hanging vertically.

kitsch - Art characterized by vapidly sentimental, often pretentious poor taste. It is typically clumsy, repetitive, cheesy, and slickly commercial.

lean - When used to describe paint, signifies one with little oil in relation to pigment.

life drawing - Drawing the human figure from live model.

lightfast - Having the ability to resist fading on long exposure to sunlight. Denotes permanence when applied to pigment.

light perception - Discrimination between light and dark. Or, between brighter and darker light.

limners - May refer to any painter, but more often to itinerant American painters of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, who made literal and naive portraits. They were largely self-taught.

linear - A painting technique in which importance is placed on contours or outlines.

linear perspective - A system of drawing or painting in which the artist attempts to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface. The lines of buildings and other objects in a picture are slanted inward making them appear to extend back into space. If lengthened these lines will meet at a point along an imaginary horizontal line representing the eye level. Each such imaginary line is called an orthogonal. The point at which such lines meet is called a vanishing point. Examples of pictures employing linear perspective:

linseed oil - A drying oil used in paints, usually boiled to make it faster drying.

literal qualities - The realistic presentation of subject matter in a work of art; avoiding distortions, exaggerations, or embellishments.

loaded - In painting, a loaded brush is one that is charged or filled with paint to its capacity.

local color - The true color of an object or a surface as seen in typical daylight, rather than its color as seen through atmosphere or interpreted by the taste or imagination of the artist. Thus the characteristic local color of a lemon is yellow.

luminosity - A quality seen in some paintings of a glow coming from within, the illusion that there is actually a light coming out of the picture. Glossy colors are more likely to provide this luminous effect than matte colors.

lunette - A semicircular painting set separately within a work's frame.

marouflage - A painting done on canvas and then cemented to a wall or panel. (pr. may"re-flahzh')

medium - The material or technique used by an artist to produce a work of art.

megalography - A genre in which representations are intended to glorify or idealize excessively some event, person or thing.

mitsuda-e - In Japanese art tradition, a painting medium requiring oil and lead oxide.

mixed media or mixed-media - A technique involving the use of two or more artistic media, such as ink and pastel or painting and collage, that are combined in a single composition. Example:

monochromatic - Consisting of only a single color or hue; may include its tints and shades.

monumental - In art criticism, any work of art of grandeur and simplicity, regardless of its size, although it often connotes great size.

mottling - The appearance of spots or blotches of color in paint or on paper.

naive art or naïve art - The style of naive painting is characterized by a careful, simplifying approach, non-scientific perspective, bright colors, and often, an enchantingly literal depiction of imaginary scenes.

namban - In Japanese art, a picture of foreigners.

narrative art - Art which represents elements of a story.

negative space - Empty space in an artwork, a void.

Neo-Plasticism - Also called De Stijl. An art movement advocating pure abstraction and simplicity-- form reduced to the rectangle, and color to the primary colors, along with black and white.

neutral - A color not associated with a hue. Neutral colors include blacks, whites, grays and browns. A hue can be neutralized by adding some of its complement to it.

nude - An unclothed live model, or a work of art representing a person without clothing.

odalisque - A female slave or concubine in the harems of the Middle East The odalisque was a favorite subject of nineteenth century. European artists, sometimes called orientalists, and was depicted as a reclining nude or semi-nude in typically Turkish surroundings.

ontbijt - A type of still life painting, Dutch for "breakfast piece."

opacity - The quality of being opaque. In painting, the power of a pigment to cover or obscure the surface to which it is applied.

open shape - In an artwork, space that is not completely enclosed by a line. A mass penetrated or treated in such a way that space acts as its environment rather than as its limit.

oppression - The act of oppressing; unjust and arbitrary use of power. Or, the state of being oppressed. In art, oppression may be observed in any representation of any one people as inferior to others.

orientalism or Orientalism - Usually refers to western art whose subject or style is drawn from eastern influences. Most often this work was produced during the nineteenth century.

originality - The quality of being original. Used to describe works which were not derived from other works.

Orphism - A style of painting related to Cubism, sometimes called Orphic Cubism, that employed overlapping planes of bright, contrasting colors. It was generally both more abstract and more colorful than other forms of Cubism.

orthogonal - A line imagined to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane. The orthagonals in a painting appear to recede toward a vanishing point on the horizon.

outline drawing - A diagram or silhouette, made with one line describing the perimeter of a form, flat and two-dimensional.

overlap - When one thing lies over, partly covering something else. Depicting this is one of the most important means of conveying an illusion of depth.

overlay - Perhaps a layer of paint or some other material, such as wood veneer or gold leaf-- that is laid over or covers another surface.

overpainting - A finishing layer of paint applied over another layer of paint, or underlayer, once it has dried.

paint - Pigment which is dispersed into a liquid, called a vehicle, which includes a binder to make it adhere both to itself and to the surface to which it is applied. Types of paint include tempera, watercolor, oil paint, gouache, enamel, encaustic, fresco, and secco.

painterly - A painting technique in which forms are created with patches of color, exploiting color and tonal relationships.

painting - Works of art made with paint on a surface.

passage - Refers to a certain area of a painting or other work of art; a detail.

pastel - Pigments mixed with gum and pressed into a stick form for use as crayons.

pastose - Thickly painted

pattern - The repetition of any thing-- shapes, lines, or colors-- also called a motif, in a design.

personification - Representation of something inanimate or abstract as having personality or the qualities, thoughts, or movements of a living human being.

piebald - Patchy or spotted, especially in black and white

pointillism - A method of painting developed in France in the 1880s in which tiny dots of color are applied to the canvas. When viewed from a distance, the points of color appear to blend together to make other colors and to form shapes and outlines.

positive space - Space in an artwork that is filled with something, such as lines, designs, color, or shapes.

primer - An undercoating paint applied to a surface, sealing it, creating a better bond, and providing a ground for a painting.

principles of design or principles of art - Refers to the different ways that the elements of art may be used in a work of art. Artists "design" their works to varying degrees by controlling and ordering the elements of art. To do this, they use such principles as balance, dominance, harmony, movement, pattern, proportion, rhythm, unity, and variety.

public art - Art works that are designed specifically for, or placed in areas physically accessible to the general public.

realism or the Realist school and realism - The realistic and natural representation of people, places, and/or things in a work of art.

reflection - An image given back by a reflecting surface, such as that of a mirror or still waters.

regionalism or regionalism - Also known as American scene painting, a style of art that was popular in the United States during the 1930s.

retinal art - Refers to art whose appeal is mainly or exclusively to the eye rather than to the mind.

rhythm - A principle of design, it refers to a way of combining elements of art to produce the look and feel of movement, especially with a visual tempo or beat.

Rubénisme - The doctrine that color, rather than form, was the most important element in painting.

seicento - Italian for 600, it refers to the 1600s-- the seventeenth century. Especially used to refer to Italian art of that century, the time of the Baroque period. (pr. say-chayn'toh).

sfumato - In painting, the technique of blurring or softening sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending of one tone into another. Leaving a smoke like hazyness.

shape - An elements of art, it is an enclosed space defined and determined by other art elements such as line, color, value, and texture. In painting and drawing, shapes may take on the appearance of solid three-dimensional object even though they are limited to two dimensions-- length and width. This two-dimensional character of shape distinguishes it from form, which has depth as well as length and width.

stylize - To alter natural shapes, forms, colors, or textures in order to make a representation in a preset style or manner.

symbol - A form, image or subject representing a meaning other than the one with which it is usually associated.

symmetry or symmetrical balance - The parts of an image or object organized so that one side duplicates, or mirrors, the other.

Synchromism - A style of painting employing pure colors in harmonious abstract arrangement.

three-dimensional - Having, or appearing to have, height, width, and depth.

tondo - A painting in the shape of a circle.

tone - A quality of a color, such as its tint, shade, value, or brightness; or to create such a quality in a color. To tone down is to make a color less vivid, harsh, or violent; moderate. To tone up is to make one become brighter or more vigorous. May refer to the general effect in painting of light, color, and shade.

trecento - The 1300s-- the fourteenth century. Used to mostly refer to Italian art of that century.

triptych - A painting that has three parts, panels, or canvases. This was a common form for an altarpiece during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

two-dimensional - Having height and width, but no depth; flat

vanitas - Latin for vanity, refers to a type of still life consisting of a collection of objects that symbolize the brevity of human life and the transience of earthly pleasures and achievements. Such paintings were particularly popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in the Netherlands.

verisimilitude - Appearing to be true or real. See likeness, realism, representation, and simulacrum.

visual culture - A term which is used more and more in place of the term art.

yellowing - In painting, a tendency on the part of binding media to turn a tint towards yellow.

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