Art Terms (P) Flashcards
Painterly
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
Palette
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
Pan-Africanism
The term pan-Africanism refers to an ideology of racial solidarity with Africa and its diaspora formed in the mid-nineteenth century
Panel
A panel is a rigid support or surface for painting on
Papier Collé
French term which translates as pasted paper, papier collé is a specific form of collage that is closer to drawing than painting
Participatory Art
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
Pastel
Pastel is a coloured drawing medium made from pure coloured pigment mixed with a binder to form a stick
Patina
The word patina usually refers to a distinct green or brown surface layer on bronze sculpture
Pendant
A pendant picture is one of two pictures designed to hang together as a matching pair
Performance Art
Artworks that are created through actions performed by the artist or other participants, which may be live or recorded, spontaneous or scripted
Performativity
The term performativity describes the interdependent relationship between certain words and actions – as when a word or sentence implies an action
Perspective
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
Photobook
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
Photogram
A photogram is a photographic print made by laying objects onto photographic paper and exposing it to light
Photography
Photography refers to the process or practice of creating a photograph – an image produced by the action of light on a light-sensitive material
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a form of journalism which tells a news story through powerful photography which traditionally are black and white images
Photomontage
A photomontage is a collage constructed from photographs
Photorealism
Photorealism is a painting style that emerged in Europe and the USA in the late 1960s, characterised by its painstaking detail and precisio
Picture Plane
A picture plane refers to the physical surface of the painting
Pictures Generation
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
Picturesque
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
Plane
A plane surface is a flat surface, and any distinct flat surface within a painting or sculpture can be referred to as a plane
Plaster of Paris
The material plaster of Paris is a fine white powder which, when mixed with water, forms a white solid
Plein Air
The French term plein air means out of doors and refers to the practice of painting entire finished pictures out of doors
Plinth
A plinth is a heavy base or box on which a sculpture stands or is presented
Pluralism
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
Political Pop
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
Polyptych
A polyptych is a painting or other two-dimensional artwork made up of more than three panels
Pop Art
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
Post-Impressionism
Post-impressionism is a term which describes the changes in impressionism from about 1886, the date of last Impressionist group show in Paris
Post-Painterly Abstraction
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
Postcolonial Art
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
Postmodernism
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.
Primitivism
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
A print is an impression made by any method involving transfer from one surface to another
Process Art
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
Proof
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
Psychedelic Art
Psychedelic art is generally associated with the 1960s and work made by artists under the influence of the mind-expanding drug LSD
Psychogeography
Psychogeography describes the effect of a geographical location on the emotions and behaviour of individuals
Public Art
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
Purism
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
