Art Terms (P)

Question 1

Painterly

Answer 1

Painterly refers to the application of paint in a ‘loose’ or less than controlled manner, resulting in the appearance of visible brushstrokes within the finished painting

Question 2

Palette

Answer 2

A palette is a smooth, flat surface on which artists set out and mix their colours before painting, often designed to be held in the hand

Question 3

Pan-Africanism

Answer 3

The term pan-Africanism refers to an ideology of racial solidarity with Africa and its diaspora formed in the mid-nineteenth century

Question 4

Panel

Answer 4

A panel is a rigid support or surface for painting on

Question 5

Papier Collé

Answer 5

French term which translates as pasted paper, papier collé is a specific form of collage that is closer to drawing than painting

Question 6

Participatory Art

Answer 6

Participatory art is a term that describes a form of art that directly engages the audience in the creative process so that they become participants in the event

Question 7

Pastel

Answer 7

Pastel is a coloured drawing medium made from pure coloured pigment mixed with a binder to form a stick

Question 8

Patina

Answer 8

The word patina usually refers to a distinct green or brown surface layer on bronze sculpture

Question 9

Pendant

Answer 9

A pendant picture is one of two pictures designed to hang together as a matching pair

Question 10

Performance Art

Answer 10

Artworks that are created through actions performed by the artist or other participants, which may be live or recorded, spontaneous or scripted

Question 11

Performativity

Answer 11

The term performativity describes the interdependent relationship between certain words and actions – as when a word or sentence implies an action

Question 12

Perspective

Answer 12

The term perspective refers to the representation of objects in three-dimensional space (i.e. for representing the visible world) on the two-dimensional surface of a picture

Question 13

Photobook

Answer 13

The photobook is a book of photographs by a photographer that has an overarching theme or follows a storyline – a convenient and reasonably cheap way of disseminating the work of a photographer to a mass audience

Question 14

Photogram

Answer 14

A photogram is a photographic print made by laying objects onto photographic paper and exposing it to light

Question 15

Photography

Answer 15

Photography refers to the process or practice of creating a photograph – an image produced by the action of light on a light-sensitive material

Question 16

Photojournalism

Answer 16

Photojournalism is a form of journalism which tells a news story through powerful photography which traditionally are black and white images

Question 17

Photomontage

Answer 17

A photomontage is a collage constructed from photographs

Question 18

Photorealism

Answer 18

Photorealism is a painting style that emerged in Europe and the USA in the late 1960s, characterised by its painstaking detail and precisio

Question 19

Picture Plane

Answer 19

A picture plane refers to the physical surface of the painting

Question 20

Pictures Generation

Answer 20

The name pictures generation was given to a group of American artists who came of age in the early 1970s and who were known for their critical analysis of media culture

Question 21

Picturesque

Answer 21

The word picturesque refers to an ideal type of landscape that has an artistic appeal, in that it is beautiful but also with some elements of wildness

Question 22

Plane

Answer 22

A plane surface is a flat surface, and any distinct flat surface within a painting or sculpture can be referred to as a plane

Question 23

Plaster of Paris

Answer 23

The material plaster of Paris is a fine white powder which, when mixed with water, forms a white solid

Question 24

Plein Air

Answer 24

The French term plein air means out of doors and refers to the practice of painting entire finished pictures out of doors

Question 25

Plinth

Answer 25

A plinth is a heavy base or box on which a sculpture stands or is presented

Question 26

Pluralism

Answer 26

In an art context, pluralism refers to the late 1960s and 1970s when art, politics and culture merged as artists began to believe in a more socially and politically responsive form of art

Question 27

Political Pop

Answer 27

The art movement political pop emerged in China in the 1980s, and combined western pop art with socialist realism to create art that questioned the political and social climate of a rapidly changing China

Question 28

Polyptych

Answer 28

A polyptych is a painting or other two-dimensional artwork made up of more than three panels

Question 29

Pop Art

Answer 29

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in America and Britain, drawing inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture. Different cultures and countries contributed to the movement during the 1960s and 70s

Question 30

Post-Impressionism

Answer 30

Post-impressionism is a term which describes the changes in impressionism from about 1886, the date of last Impressionist group show in Paris

Question 31

Post-Painterly Abstraction

Answer 31

Post-painterly abstraction is a blanket term covering a range of new developments in abstract painting in the late 1950s and early 1960s, characterised by a more rigorous approach to abstraction

Question 32

Postcolonial Art

Answer 32

Postcolonial art refers to art produced in response to the aftermath of colonial rule, frequently addressing issues of national and cultural identity, race and ethnicity

Question 33

Postmodernism

Answer 33

Postmodernism can be seen as a reaction against the ideas and values of modernism, as well as a description of the period that followed modernism’s dominance in cultural theory and practice in the early and middle decades of the twentieth century. The term is associated with scepticism, irony and philosophical critiques of the concepts of universal truths and objective reality.

Question 34

Primitivism

Answer 34

The term Primitivism is used to describe the fascination of early modern European artists with what was then called primitive art – including tribal art from Africa, the South Pacific and Indonesia, as well as prehistoric and very early European art, and European folk art

Question 35

Print

Answer 35

A print is an impression made by any method involving transfer from one surface to another

Question 36

Process Art

Answer 36

The term process art refers to where the process of its making art is not hidden but remains a prominent aspect of the completed work, so that a part or even the whole of its subject is the making of the work

Question 37

Proof

Answer 37

Proof is a printing term applied to all individual impressions made before work on a printing plate or block is completed, in order to check progress of the image

Question 38

Psychedelic Art

Answer 38

Psychedelic art is generally associated with the 1960s and work made by artists under the influence of the mind-expanding drug LSD

Question 39

Psychogeography

Answer 39

Psychogeography describes the effect of a geographical location on the emotions and behaviour of individuals

Question 40

Public Art

Answer 40

The term public art refers to art that is in the public realm, regardless of whether it is situated on public or private property or whether it has been purchased with public or private money

Question 41

Purism

Answer 41

Purism was a movement formed around 1918 which proposed a kind of painting in which objects are represented as powerful basic forms stripped of detail