|
abstract
|
In painting and sculpture, emphasizing a derived, essential character having little visual reference to objects in nature.
|
|
academy
|
A place of study, derived from the name of the grove where Plato held his philosophical seminars. Giogio Vasari founded the first academy of fine arts, properly speaking, with his Accademia di Disegno in Florence in 1563.
|
|
Avant-garde
|
Artists whose work is in (or work that reflects) the latest stylistic direction.
|
|
broken colour
|
A painting technique using short, thick strokes laid over a ground colour to create rich textures and vibrant effects of light.
|
|
chiaroscuro
|
In painting or drawing, the treatment and use of light and dark, especially the gradations of light that produce the effect of modeling.
|
|
closed form
|
A form, especially in painting, with a contour that is not broken or blurred.
|
|
collage
|
A composition made by pasting together on a flat surface various materials such as newspaper, wallpaper, printed text and illustrations, photographs, and cloth.
|
|
Colour-field painting
|
A style of painting characterized by radical simplicity (disciplined line) and purity of shape and colour.
|
|
Complementary colours
|
Those pairs of colours, such as red and green, that together embrace the entire spectrum. The complement of one of the three primary colours is a mixture of the other two. In pigments, they produce a neutral gray when mixed in the right proportions.
|
|
contour
|
A visible border of a mass in space; a line that creates the illusion of mass and volume in space.
|
|
Cool colour
|
Blue, green, and violet. Psychologically, cool colours are calming, unemphatic, depressive; optically, they generally appear to recede.
|
|
diptych
|
A two-paneled altarpiece; also, an ancient Roman and Early Christian two-hinged writing tablet, or two ivory memorial panels.
|
|
form
|
In its widest sense, total structure; a synthesis of all the elements of that structure and of the manner in which they are united to create its distinctive character. The form of a work is what enables us to apprehend it.
|
|
genre
|
A style or category of art; also, a kind of painting realistically depicting scenes from everyday life.
|
|
hieroglyphic
|
A system of writing using symbols or pictures; also, one of the symbols.
|
|
hue
|
The name of a colour. The primary colours (blue, red and yellow) together with the secondary colours (green, orange and violet) form the chief colours of the spectrum.
|
|
icon
|
A portrait or image; especially in the Greek church, a panel with a painting of sacred personages that are objects of veneration. In the visual arts, a painting, a piece of sculpture, or even a building regarded as an object of veneration.
|
|
idealization
|
The representation of things according to a preconception of ideal form or type; a kind of aesthetic distortion to produce idealized forms.
|
|
impasto
|
A style of painting in which the pigment is applied thickly or in heavy lumps.
|
|
line
|
The mark made by a moving point and having psychological impact according to its direction and weight. In art, a line defines space and may create a silhouette or define a contour, creating the illusion of mass and volume.
|
|
local colour
|
In painting, the actual colour of an object.
|
|
mass
|
The effect and degree of bulk, density, and weight of matter in space. As opposed to plane and area (volume), mass is three-dimensional.
|
|
monochrome
|
A painting in one colour; also, the technique of making such a painting.
|
|
montage
|
A composition made by fitting together pictures or parts of pictures; also, motion-picture effects produced by superimposing images or showing them in rapid sequence.
|
|
monumental
|
In art criticism, any work of art of unpretentious grandeur and simplicity, regardless of its size.
|
|
mosaic
|
Patterns or pictures made by embedding small pieces of stone or glass in cement on surfaces such as walls and floors; also, the technique of making such works.
|
|
pastel
|
Finely ground pigments compressed into chalk-like sticks. Also, work done in this medium, or its characteristic paleness.
|
|
perspective
|
The most common type, all parallel lines or lines of projection seem to converge on a single point on the horizon, known as the vanishing point, and associated objects are rendered smaller the further from the viewer they are intended to seem. Atmospheric or aerial perspective creates the illusion of distance by the greater diminution of colour intensity, the shift in colour toward an almost neutral blue, and the blurring of contours as the intended distance between eye and object increases.
|
|
pictograph
|
A picture, usually stylized, that represents an idea; also, writing using such means.
|
|
plasticity
|
In art, the three-dimensionality of an object.
|
|
plein-air painting
|
The representation of the observed effects of outdoor light and atmosphere practiced by some late 19th-century Impressionists.
|
|
pointillism
|
The method of painting, of some French Impressionists in which a white ground is covered with tiny dots of colour, which, when viewed at a distance, blend together to produce a luminous effect.
|
|
primary colours
|
The hues red, yellow, and blue. From these three colours, with the addition of white, it is theoretically possible to mix the full colour spectrum. The primary colours cannot be produced by mixing other colours together.
|
|
Salon
|
The government-sponsored exhibition of works by living artists held in Paris, first biennially and (since the mid-18th century) annually.
|
|
saturation
|
The purity of a hue; the higher the saturation, the purer the hue. Value and saturation are not constantly related. For example, high-saturation yellow tends to have a high value, but high-saturation violet tends to have a low value.
|
|
scale
|
The dimensions of the parts or the totality of a building or an object in relation to its use or function.
|
|
secondary colours
|
The colours (green, orange, and purple) that result from mixture of pairs of primary colours.
|
|
style
|
A manner of treatment or execution of works of art that is characteristic of a civilization, a people, or an individual; also, a special and superior quality in a work of art.
|
|
triptych
|
A three-paneled altarpiece.
|
|
value
|
The amount of light reflected by a hue; the greater the amount of light, the higher the value.
|
|
warm colour
|
Red, orange, or yellow. Psychologically, warm colours tend to be exciting, emphatic, and affirmative; optically, they generally seem to advance or to project.
|
