Art 1-4

Question 1

first used by Manet and the Impressionists in 19th century French painting, where color was applied in small “dabs,” as opposed to the traditional method of smoothly blending colors and values (lights and darks) together. This method results in more of a “patchwork” effect, where the dabs render the facets of light on forms, and/or the planes of the forms’ volume, by means of color and value. Broken color has continued to be used in much modern and contemporary painting.

Answer 1

broken color

Question 2

A quality applied to various art forms (poetry, prose, visual art, dance and music), referring to a certain ethereal, musical, expressive, or poetic quality of artistic expression.

Answer 2

lyrical

Question 3

The areas of a painting or sculpture which are occupied by forms or images, as contrasted with negative space, which are the “empty” areas where no forms/images are located

Answer 3

positive space

Question 4

French term, meaning to rub a crayon or other tool onto paper or other material, which is placed onto a textured surface, in order to create the texture of that surface on the paper. The Surrealist artist Max Ernst used this technique in some of his collages.

Answer 4

frottage

Question 5

An adjective used to describe a style of painting which is based not on linear or outline drawing, but rather patches or areas of color. In painterly two-dimensional images, the edges of forms tend to merge into one another, or into the background, rather than be separated by outlines or contours. Titian and Rembrandt are two artists with ______ approaches; Botticelli’s work is not _______, but more linear/drawing oriented.

Answer 5

painterly

Question 6

A formal visual vehicle much in currency during 20th century art, the ____ is a geometric construct of squares or rectangles that form the underlying or actual structure of some two-dimensional modern art. Though the meaning of the grid to artists is hard to describe in words, it is more than just a visual armature. In a way, it can be said to represent the modern and postmodern stance of the 20th century; and often seems to inspire almost a reverence, as a symbol of aesthetic purity and integrity, particularly of modernism. Many artists have used the grid; two who come to mind are Jasper Johns (paintings) and Louise Nevelson (sculpture).

Answer 6

grid

Question 7

A quality of two-dimensional images which has to do more with space than with volume; an ‘airiness,.’ seen more in contemporary than traditional images. Also refers to atmospheric perspective, which is a less technical type of perspective, using faded and lighter colors to denote far distance in landscapes.

Answer 7

atmospheric

Question 8

The outer edge of forms which implies three dimensions, in contrast to an outline, which is a boundary of two-dimensional, flat form. Also, a type of line drawing which captures this three-dimensional outer edge, with its fullness and recession of form.

Answer 8

contour

Question 9

An Italian term for oil paint applied very thickly onto the canvas or other support, resulting in evident brushstrokes (visible).

Answer 9

impasto

Question 10

Material or technique an artist works in; also, the (usually liquid or semi-liquid) vehicle in which pigments are carried or mixed (e.g., oil, egg yolk, water, refined linseed oil).

Answer 10

medium

Question 11

___, the modification of a (usually) natural form by simplification or distortion. ____ is the category of such modified images. (See also non-objective.)

Answer 11

abstract/abstraction

Question 12

The process of using pigments dissolved in hot wax as a medium for painting; mostly used long ago, but there are some contemporary artists who have used ____, such as Jasper Johns.

Answer 12

encaustic

Question 13

The ________ (drawing and engraving) are said to depend for their effect on drawing, as opposed to color. The term graphic describes drawings or prints which lean more toward drawing (line) than color (mass). I think that this division is less pertinent in modern and contemporary art than in traditional art or art of the past.

Answer 13

graphic/graphic arts

Question 14

A light value of a color, i.e., a light red; as opposed to a shade, which is a dark value, i.e., dark red.

Answer 14

tint

Question 15

Shapes or forms used in visual art, as contrasted with lines; also ______ often form the large part(s) of the compositional structure, without the additional complexity of detail.

Answer 15

mass/masses

Question 16

generally is one which contains a large amount of blue, as opposed to a warm color, which will contain more yellow.

Answer 16

cool colors

Question 17

a technique first used by the Dada and Surrealist artists in the early 20th century, to tap into their subconscious to write poetry (Freud’s ideas on the subconscious had been introduced in the early part of the 20th century). They would try to connect with their subconscious to access a ‘stream of consciousness,’ or more ‘free’ type of poetry. Visual artists in these movements also tried to draw or paint “automatically,” by allowing their subconscious to play a large part in the creative process. The Abstract Expressionists of the 1940’s and ‘50’s also used this method, for example, Jackson Pollock’s “drip” paintings.

Answer 17

automatic writing

Question 18

the subject of the artwork

Answer 18

subject matter

Question 19

A type of modern sculpture consisting of combining multiple objects or forms, often ‘found’ objects. (A found object is one that the artist comes upon and uses, as is or modified, in an artwork.) The most well known assemblages are those made by Robert Rauschenberg in the 1950’s and ‘60’s; for example, one assemblage consisted of a stuffed goat with an automobile tire encircling its stomach, mounted on a painted base. The objects are combined for their visual (sculptural) properties, as well as for their expressive properties.

Answer 19

assemblage

Question 20

An undercoating medium used on the canvas or other painting surface before painting, to prime the canvas; usually a white, chalky, thick liquid. In the mid-20th century, _____ became available already commercially prepared; before this time, artists often mixed their own ____ mixture.

Answer 20

gesso

Question 21

A type of space in modern painting characterized by the distribution of forms equally “all over” the picture surface, as opposed to the traditional composing method of having a focal point, or center of interest. In “all-over” space, the forms are seen as occupying the same spatial depth, usually on the picture plane; also, they are seen as possessing the same degree of importance in the painting. (In traditional painting, the focal point (or center of interest) is meant to be the most significant part of the painting, both visually and subject-wise, for instance, a portrait; whereas with “all-over” space, there is no one center of interest visually or subject-wise.) The Action painter, Jackson Pollock, was the first to use all-over (also called infinite) space, in his famous “drip” paintings of the 1940’s and ‘50’s, and this spatial concept has influenced most two-dimensional art since that time.

Answer 21

all-over-place

Question 22

A dark value of a color, i.e., a dark blue; as opposed to a tint, which is a lighter ____ of a color, i.e., light blue. Also, to _____ a drawing means to add the lights and darks, usually to add a three-dimensional effect.

Answer 22

shade

Question 23

Developed in 15th century Italy, a mathematical system for indicating spatial distance in two-dimensional images, where lines converge in a single vanishing point located on the horizon line, as seen by a stationary viewer. (See also two-point linear perspective.)

Answer 23

one point linear perspective

Question 24

A type of kinetic sculpture (that which moves), invented and first used by the artist Alexander Calder. Trained as an engineer, Calder built many hanging mobiles with various attached forms, which moved and changed with air currents, etc.

Answer 24

mobile

Question 25

A drawing stick made of pigments ground with chalk and mixed with gum water; also, a drawing executed with these ______ sticks; also, a soft, subdued tint (light shade) of a color.

Answer 25

pastel

Question 26

Pencil, pen, ink, charcoal or other similar mediums on paper or other support, tending toward a linear quality rather than mass, and also with a tendency toward black-and-white, rather than color (one exception being pastel).

Answer 26

drawing

Question 27

The term _____ describes the most recent art, in this case as distinguished from modern art, which is generally considered to have lost its dominance in the mid-1950’s.

Answer 27

contemporary art

Question 28

A French term which refers to: the subject matter or content of a work of art; also refers to a visual element used in a work of art, as in a recurring _____ (i.e., Warhol used the ___ of soup cans in his early works; or Mondrian used rectangles as a visual ___.

Answer 28

motif

Question 29

The category of fine art printing processes, including etching, lithography, woodcut, and silkscreen, in which multiple images are made from the same metal plate, heavy stone, wood or linoleum block, or silkscreen, with black-and-white or color printing inks.

Answer 29

print making

Question 30

First used in the early years of the 20th century (in the Dadaist movement), a found object is any object that an artist comes upon, and uses in an artwork, or as the artwork itself. Marcel Duchamp called these works ‘readymades.’ He exhibited a urinal in the Society of Independent Artists exhibition in New York in 1917, under the signature ‘R Mutt’; Dada was the precursor to Surrealism, and was an ‘anti-art’ movement after World War I, which sought to avoid order and rationality in art. Dada also questioned the very meaning of art: what is art? who decides if an object is art? is it art because an artist places it in a museum and calls it art? etc. Later, Picasso made a bull’s head from found objects: the seat and handle bars of a bicycle.

Answer 30

found object

Question 31

A description of images which are partly or wholly derived from natural forms, such as curvilinear, irregular, indicative of growth, biologically-based, etc.

Answer 31

organic

Question 32

A painting technique (the opposite of glazing), consisting of putting a layer of opaque oil paint over another layer of a different color or tone, so that the lower layer is not completely obliterated, giving an uneven, broken effect.

Answer 32

scumbling

Question 33

Methods of indicating three-dimensional space in two-dimensional images. Examples are: the modeling of forms with light and shade to indicate volume; overlapping of forms to indicate relative spatial position; decrease in the size of images as they recede in space; vertical position in the image (the further away an object is, the higher it is normally located in the image); the use of increased contrast of light and dark (value) in the foreground; the decreasing intensity of colors as they recede in space; the use of a perspective system, of lines converging toward the horizon line.

Answer 33

spatial cues

Question 34

The process of arranging the forms of two- and three-dimensional visual art into a unified whole, by means of elements and principles of design, such as line, shape, color, balance, contrast, space, etc., for purposes of formal clarity and artistic expression.

Answer 34

composition

Question 35

Italian term meaning scratched; in painting, one color is laid over another, and scratched in (with the other end of the brush, for example) so that the color underneath shows through.

Answer 35

sgraffito

Question 36

Art which is based on images which can be found in the objective world, or at least in the artist’s imagination;

Answer 36

Representational Art

Question 37

A method of painting first begun in the 1960’s, consisting of the application of (liquid) paint directly to canvas by pouring or rolling, rather than with the traditional brush, and without the prerequisite layer of priming normally done to stretched canvas. Helen Frankenthaler is one example of an artist who worked with ____ ____. This way of applying paint gives a totally different image than one brushed on - obviously a more fluid image, with translucent fields of color - perhaps like the aurora borealis - an effect impossible with traditional brushes.

Answer 37

stained canvas

Question 38

A more recent version of perspective than one-point perspective; using two (or more) points instead of one on the horizon line gave artists a more naturalistic representation of space in two-dimensional images.

Answer 38

two point linear perspective

Question 39

A two-dimensional combining of photographs or parts of photographs into an image on paper or other material (a technique much used by the Surrealists in the 1920’s, such as Max Ernst).

Answer 39

photomontage

Question 40

A color which in color theory is neither warm nor cool. ____ _____ are said to result from the combination of two complementary colors (e.g., red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple)

Answer 40

neutral color

Question 41

Pertaining to the process involved in the initial stages of art-making (i.e., the initial conception, or idea). Also, the name of a contemporary art movement which is mainly concerned with this process of conceiving of and developing the initial idea, as opposed to the carrying-out of the idea into concrete form.

Answer 41

conceptual

Question 42

Italian term for light and dark, referring to the modeling of form by the use of light and shade.

Answer 42

chiaroscuro

Question 43

Italian term, from the word meaning ‘repent’; refers to the lines or marks which remain after an artist corrects his/her drawing (or painting). Traditionally, this meant that these lines or marks remained unintentionally, in the quest for the perfectly drawn figure, for instance. However, at the end of the 19th century (with Cezanne), these marks became part of the visual expression; his figure drawings, for example, often show several contours in the search for the “correct” one contour. With Cezanne’s drawings, these multiple contours in fact aid in the expression of three dimensions, more than one contour alone would do, giving a sense of roundness and volume. In addition, these _______ contribute in an expressive sense. In drawings and paintings since, some artists have taken advantage of this expressive function of _______, particularly in painting, and have left the marks/lines deliberately, or even created them on purpose. They can add richness to a work.

Answer 43

pentimenti

Question 44

A painting which consists of one center panel, with two paintings attached on either side by means of hinges or other means, as “wings.”

Answer 44

tripycht

Question 45

art which is not based on external appearances; this covers several types of art - abstract, non-objective, and decorative; as contrasted with representational art, which is art based on “real” imagery, whether actually existent or existent only in the artist’s imagination.

Answer 45

non-representational

Question 46

The flat surface on which an image is painted, and that part of the image which is closest to the viewer

Answer 46

picture plane

Question 47

A mathematical ratio first used by the Greeks in their architecture, and developed further in the Renaissance, which was said to be in tune with divine proportion and the harmony of the universe. It has been used by artists to divide the picture surface (as a compositional device); among others, Seurat and Mondrian are thought to have used this ratio to create compositions.

Answer 47

golden section

Question 48

The actual color of a form or object, uninfluenced by the effects of light or reflected color. For instance, a vase may be turquoise (the local color), but appear pale blue because of sunlight hitting it in certain places; dark blue because of areas in shadow; and many subtle color shades in certain areas because of reflected light from surrounding surfaces.

Answer 48

local color

Question 49

A semi-mathematical technique for representing spatial relationships and three-dimensional objects on a flat surface.

Answer 49

perspective

Question 50

Referring to the actual color of a form or object, e.g., a red car.

Answer 50

hue

Question 51

A term used to describe art which is based on the figure, usually in realistic or semi-realistic terms; also loosely used to describe an artist who paints or sculpts representationally, as opposed to painting or sculpting in an abstract or non-objective manner

Answer 51

figurative

Question 52

During the Middle Ages, tradesmen formed _____ for economic, social and religious purposes; there were often several trades in one guild. Originally, painters were in the same guild as physicians and apothecaries (pharmacists), in Florence, Italy. All painters had to join the guilds, unless they were in the personal service of a ruling prince. Only a Master could set up a studio in business, take pupils and employ journeymen. To become a Master, a painter had to submit a ‘master-piece’ to the guild as proof of competence. Guild officers supervised the number of apprentices, work conditions, and also materials (they bought in bulk, chose panels to work on). They had a trade union mentality, which centered on uniformity of performance; this led to painters like Michelangelo and da Vinci insisting on the freedom and originality of the artist, with the status of a professional and scholar/gentleman (an inspired being, rather than an honest tradesman). This new attitude toward artists led to the decline of the guilds, and the use of academies, which took over the teaching of art.

Answer 52

guild

Question 53

Representational painting which, unlike ideal art, desires to depict forms and images as they really are, without idealizing them.

Answer 53

realism

Question 54

In color theory, colors which contain a large amount of yellow, as opposed to cool colors, which contain more blue.

Answer 54

warm colors

Question 55

The relation of one part to the whole, or to other parts (for example, of the human body). For example, the human body is approximately 7 to 7-1/2 times the height of the head; the vertical halfway point of the body is the groin; the legs are halved at the knees, etc.

Answer 55

proportion

Question 56

A product of _____ a crayon or other tool onto paper or other material over a textured surface, in order to reproduce that texture into a two-dimensional image

Answer 56

rubbing

Question 57

A term used to describe visual art which is not based on existing, observable forms, but rather on abstract or idealized forms, such as geometric, mathematical, imaginary, etc.

Answer 57

non-objective

Question 58

Painting entirely in monochrome (tones of one color), in a series of grays. Strictly speaking, monochrome is in any one color, such as red, blue or black; _____ means in neutral grays only (French term). ______ may be used for its own sake as decoration, or may be the first stage in building up an oil painting (to establish the tonal range of the image). ______ was also formerly used as a model for an engraver to work from.

Answer 58

grisaille

Question 59

Italian term, meaning to represent freedom of movement within a figure, as in ancient Greek sculpture, the parts being in asymmetrical relationship to one another, usually where the hips and legs twist in one direction, and the chest and shoulders in another.

Answer 59

contrapposto

Question 60

A layer of color or tone applied to the painting surface before the painting itself is begun, to establish the general compositional masses, the lights and darks (values) in the composition, or as a color to affect/mix with subsequent layers of color. _______ is generally a thin, semi-opaque layer of paint.

Answer 60

underpainting

Question 61

Three-dimensional effect created by the use of changes in color, the use of lights and darks, cross-hatching, etc.

Answer 61

modeling

Question 62

A type of contemporary art begun in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, which uses the landscape, or environment, as its medium, either by using natural forms as the actual work of art, or by enhancing natural forms with manmade materials. Two well-known earthwork artists are the husband and wife team of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and Robert Smithson. Some of these earthworks can be very large, measured in miles. The origin of earth art may have been the environment-conscious ‘60’s and ‘70’s, but ___ also refer back to ancient ____, such as the large Native American and other burial mounds. Christo’ and Jeanne-Claude’s work is various, usually temporary and site-specific, and ranges from “wrapping” an island or a building (such as the former German Reichstag headquarters), to erecting a very high “curtain” of fabric over miles of uninhabited (and inhabited) land. They work with an army of workers to erect these works, and also work with the surrounding community to get permission and establish guidelines of what they can and cannot do, during which meetings they explain their artistic purposes to community members, and often the residents evolve from their initial reluctance to give permission, to becoming enthusiastic supporters. It is a very interesting process to watch, and I think is another example of how some contemporary art tries to enlist the participation of the public in the art-making process, or at the very least to familiarize the public with artistic motivations. In Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work, I see a kind-of Quixotic whimsy - when they wrapped the former Reichstag headquarters building in Germany, it seemed to me to be a poetic expression of victory over the former Nazi Third Reich tyranny.

Answer 62

earthwork

Question 63

French word for cut and pasted scraps of materials, such as paper, cardboard, chair caning, playing cards, etc., to a painting or drawing surface; sometimes also combined with painting or drawing.

Answer 63

collage

Question 64

A style of painting which uses an analysis of tone (value) and color of its subject, resulting in a representation of the appearance of forms or landscapes.

Answer 64

naturalism

Question 65

Describing a quality related to the use of line in painting or sculpture; can refer to directional movement in composition, or the actual use of the element of line in the image or sculpture, as contrasted with the use of mass or shape forms.

Answer 65

linear

Question 66

Italian term meaning smoke, describing a very delicate gradation of light and shade in the modeling of figures; often ascribed to da Vinci’s work (also called blending). Da Vinci wrote that ‘light and shade should blend without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke’, in his Notes on Painting.

Answer 66

sfumato

Question 67

A style of painting begun in the 1950’s to ‘70’s, characterized by small or large abstracted areas of color. Mark Rothko is one of the earliest and best known color field painters; Morris Louis, Jules Olitski and Helen Frankenthaler are other examples.

Answer 67

color field painting

Question 68

The concept of _____ in drawing is twofold: it describes the action of a figure; and it embodies the intangible “essence” of a figure or object. The action line of a figure is often a graphic undulating line, which follows the movement of the entire body of the figure being drawn or painted. The term gestural is an extension of this idea to describe a type of painting which is characterized by brushstrokes with a gestural quality, that is, flowing, curved, undulating lines or forms. Gestural composition means a type of composition based on gestural directional movements. The work of Arshile Gorky, the Abstract Expressionist, is an example of gestural painting, which often connotes a spiritual or emotional content.

Answer 68

gesture/gestural

Question 69

beautiful personal handwriting, which has also been practiced in the Orient and Near East for many centuries. The term calligraphic is also applied to drawing or painting which contains brushstrokes reminiscent of calligraphy.

Answer 69

calligraphy

Question 70

The practice of overlapping parallel sets of lines in drawing to indicate lights and darks, or shading.

Answer 70

cross hatching

Question 71

The lightness or darkness of a line, shape or area in terms of black to white; also called tone;

Answer 71

value

Question 72

An attribute related to organic, since it describes images derived from biological or natural forms; it was a term frequently used in early- to mid-20th century art. The art of Miro, Arp and Calder contains examples of these simplified organic forms.

Answer 72

biomorphic

Question 73

a less technical type of perspective, which consists of a gradual decrease in intensity of local color, and less contrast of light and dark, as space recedes into the far distance in a landscape painting or drawing. Often, this far distance will also be represented by a light, cool, bluish-gray. (See also perspective.)

Answer 73

atmospheric perspective

Question 74

Italian term, meaning to paint on canvas or other ground directly, in full, opaque color, without any preliminary drawing or underpainting done first. (Underpainting is often done to establish the larger masses of the composition, or to establish tonal values (lights and darks)).

Answer 74

alla prima

Question 75

Generally considered to be the period from about 1905-6 to the mid-1950’s, when Pop art ushered in what is referred to as the postmodern period in art. ____ ____ is generally characterized by formal experimentation and exploration, and mostly seriousness of purpose. (Dada and Surrealism may be the exceptions to this rule.)

Answer 75

modern art

Question 76

a style of art in 16th century Italy, characterized by somewhat distorted (usually human) forms and a high emotional key. Practitioners included the artist Pontormo. In modern and contemporary art, the term _____ when applied to a style or work of art is somewhat critical, implying that the style or work of art is done not from the inner convictions and perceptions of the artist, but rather out of the artist’s historical artistic habits or preconceptions. In other words, the work appears contrived or forced, as opposed to arrived at by genuine and self-aware creative impulses.

Answer 76

mannerism/mannered

Question 77

A term used by artists to describe the visual elements of a work of art, such as composition, space, color, etc., i.e., _____ elements.

Answer 77

formal

Question 78

A quality of two-dimensional images characterized by a sense of three dimensions, solidity, volume, as contrasted with atmospheric, which is characterized more by a sense of space, or airiness, than with volume.

Answer 78

volumetric

Question 79

In a painting or sculpture, the areas where there are no forms (the “empty” areas). In a painting, this means the areas which have no forms or objects (sometimes also called the ‘background’ ). In sculpture, this means the “holes” between forms or within a form (e.g., Henry Moore sculptures).

Answer 79

negative space

Question 80

Perspective applied to a single object in an image, for a three-dimensional effect, which often results in distortion with possible emotional overtones. It is used particularly with the human figure, in Renaissance and Mannerist art.

Answer 80

foreshortening

Question 81

A _____ is a thin layer of translucent oil paint applied to all or part of a painting, to modify the tone or color underneath. ______ is the process of using this technique.

Answer 81

glaze/glazing

Question 82

A general term used to describe traditional printing processes, such as etching, aquatint, drypoint, etc., where an image is made by the use of metal plates and engraving tools, and printed, usually through a printing press. The image can be incised into the plate, or drawn with fluid and then dipped in acid to etch the uncovered areas. These processes are still used by artists, but of course have been supplanted by more modern processes for general printing purposes.

Answer 82

engraving

Question 83

A type of art which began in the 1960’s (although the Dadaists had some event-oriented artworks in the early part of the 20th century), which consists of events, or performances, presented as art. Sometimes many artists (and others) are involved; sometimes it is performed by a single artist. In the 1960’s, Robert Rauschenberg and others were involved in ‘happenings,’ a similar endeavor, where, for instance, someone would be riding a bicycle around and through the performance area, another person would be reciting a prose poem, music might be playing, lights and images projected onto the walls, etc. ________ can sometimes be taken to extremes, as when, in the 1990’s, an artist shot himself as part of his performance piece.

Answer 83

performance art

Question 84

A type of painting representing scenes of everyday life for its own sake, popular from the 17th century to the 19th century.

Answer 84

genre

Question 85

The relationship of the picture surface (____) to the images on the picture surface (____). The figure is the space occupied by forms (e.g., a person in a portrait) (also known as the ‘positive’ space); the ground is the “empty” or unoccupied space around the person in the portrait (also known as the ‘negative’ space) (The ground is also commonly called the ‘background.’) In art since the early 20th century, this division of the picture plane has been seriously challenged, to the point where there is not a distinction of figure/ground, but rather one continuous surface and space, with no ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ space, just one interwoven space.

Answer 85

figure/ground

Question 86

A thin layer of translucent (or transparent) paint or ink, particularly in watercolor; also used occasionally in oil painting.

Answer 86

wash

Question 87

A technique used in drawing to indicate light and shade, or form, consisting of parallel lines of varying width, darkness and spacing. Cross-hatching is simply two or more overlapping sets of these parallel sets of lines, at a perpendicular or other angle to the first set of lines.

Answer 87

Hatching

Question 88

As opposed to subject matter, _____ is the “meaning” of the artwork, e.g., in Moby Dick, the subject matter is a man versus a whale; a complex system of symbols, metaphors, etc. describing man’s existence and nature.

Answer 88

content

Question 89

A preliminary drawing for a painting; also, a work done just to “_____” nature in general.

Answer 89

study

Question 90

The flat plane of the canvas or other support, which is the two-dimensional arena of the image.

Answer 90

pictorial/picture surface

Question 91

A type of art, usually sculptural, which is often large enough to fill an entire space, such as a gallery, and consists of a number and variety of components. _______ art perhaps began in the 1960’s with Ed Kienholz and George Segal, two American sculptors.

Answer 91

installation

Question 92

Colors which are located opposite one another on the color wheel (e.g., red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange);

Answer 92

complementary colors

Question 93

The lightness or darkness of an area in terms of black to white; also called value, i.e., a light or dark red, or light or dark gray.

Answer 93

tone

Question 94

A characteristic of some art, generally since the mid-19th century, leaning toward the expression of emotion over objective description. James Ensor, Edvard Munch and Vincent Van Gogh were perhaps the first expressionists, though there was not really a movement per se, but individual artists. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, expressionism became widely espoused, particularly by German and Austrian artists, such as Emil Nolde, Kirchner, Gustav Klimt, and others. Though there is variation, certain characteristics predominate: bright, even garish, color; harsh contrasts of black and white (as in woodcuts); exaggeration of form; and distortion or elongation of figures. There are still many artists whose work has expressionistic tendencies; in the 1980’s there was a period of art called Neo-Expressionist. (The word ‘neo’ before an art label means that there is a reprise of work similar to the original movement.)

Answer 94

expressionistic

Question 95

Knowledge of the meanings to be attached to pictorial representations; perhaps the visual equivalent of symbols or metaphors in literature.

Answer 95

iconography

Question 96

A thin piece of glass, wood or other material, or pad of paper, which is used to hold the paint to be used in painting; also, the range of colors used by a particular painter.

Answer 96

palette

Question 97

A term used to describe the period of art which followed the modern period, i.e., from the 1950’s until recently. The term implies a shift away from the formal rigors of the modernists, toward the less formally and emotionally stringent Pop artists, and other art movements which followed.

Answer 97

postmodern

Question 98

Art which aims to be the true, eternal reality. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this included some Neoclassical art, which emulated the forms and ideas found in classical art (Greece and Rome).

Answer 98

ideal art

Question 99

____ is the birth process of an artistic idea, from the initial creative impulse through aesthetic refinement, problem-solving, and visualization/realization. ____ is the second half of the creative process: the actual carrying out of the idea, in terms of method and materials, which often involves compromises and alterations of the initial conception.

Answer 99

conception and execution

Question 100

A system of lenses and mirrors developed from the 16th to the 17th centuries, which functioned as a primitive camera for artists. With the camera obscura, painters could project the scene in front of them onto their painting surface, as a preliminary drawing. Vermeer, among others, is thought to have used the camera obscura.

Answer 100

camera obscura

Question 101

Wall painting in water-based paint on moist plaster, mostly from the 14th to the 16th centuries; used mostly before the Renaissance produced oil paint as a more easily handled medium.

Answer 101

fresco

Question 102

A principle of visual movement in artworks, which can be carried by line, dots, marks, shapes, patterns, color, and other compositional elements. ____ in paintings or sculptures directs the viewer’s eye around or through the artwork, in a way which the artist consciously or unconsciously determines. One important function is to keep the viewer’s eye from “leaving” the work, and instead cause the viewer to follow an inventive (interesting) path within the work, or exit in one area, only to be brought back in another area.

Answer 102

Directional Movment

Question 103

A type of 20th century sculpture which consists of a stationary object, usually on a base of some kind. Described in contrast to a mobile, the free-hanging sculptural invention of sculptor Alexander Calder, stabiles were also created by Calder.

Answer 103

stabile

Question 104

In two-dimensional images, the center of interest visually and/or subject-wise; tends to be used more in traditional, representational art than in modern and contemporary art, where the picture surface tends to have more of an overall importance, rather than one important area.

Answer 104

focal point

Question 105

A type of painting/stretched canvas first begun in the 1960’s, where the canvas takes other forms than the traditional rectangle. Canvas is stretched over multiple three-dimensional shapes, which are combined to form a three-dimensional, irregularly shaped canvas on which to paint (often abstract or non-objective) images.

Answer 105

shaped canvas

Question 106

Two separate paintings which are attached by hinges or other means, displayed as one artwork.

Answer 106

Diptych

Question 107

A drawing technique consisting of many small dots or flecks to construct the image; obviously, this technique can be very laborious, so generally small images are ______. The spacing and darkness of the dots are varied, to indicate three dimensions of an object, and light and shadow; can be a very effective and interesting technique, which can also be used in painting

Answer 107

stippling