Art Terms (U-Z)

Question 1

Underground Art

Answer 1

First used in relation to the cultural phenomenon of the 1960s and early 1970s where groups of artists, writers and other creatives and thinkers were regarded as existing outside or on the fringes of popular culture

Question 2

Vanishing Point

Answer 2

The point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge

Question 3

Vanitas

Answer 3

A still life artwork which includes various symbolic objects designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the worthlessness of worldly goods and pleasures

Question 4

Verism

Answer 4

From Italian term ‘verismo’, meaning realism in its sense of gritty subject matter

Question 5

Verso / Recto

Answer 5

Terms used for the front and back of a single sheet of paper, or the right-hand and left-hand page of an open book

Question 6

Video Art

Answer 6

Art that involves the use of video and /or audio data and relies on moving pictures

Question 7

Virtual Reality

Answer 7

A technology that enables a person to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it based on a real or an imagined place

Question 8

Visual Ethnography

Answer 8

Ethnography is the study and interpretation of social organisations and cultures in everyday life. It is a research-based methodology, and when this research is conducted using photography, video or film, it is called visual ethnography

Question 9

Vitrine

Answer 9

A large, glass cabinet used for displaying art objects

Question 10

Vorticism

Answer 10

The vorticists were a British avant-garde group formed in London in 1914 with the aim of creating art that expressed the dynamism of the modern world

Question 11

War Artists

Answer 11

War artists are artists who are commissioned through an official scheme to record the events of war

Question 12

Watercolour

Answer 12

Refers both to the medium and works of art made using the medium of watercolour – a water soluble paint with transparent properties

Question 13

Watermark

Answer 13

An image or mark in a sheet of paper (usually the papermaker’s trademark) visible when viewed by transmitted light

Question 14

White Cube

Answer 14

Refers to a certain gallery aesthetic characterised by its square or oblong shape, white walls and a light source usually from the ceiling

Question 15

Wood Engraving

Answer 15

A printmaking method distinct from woodcut in that the line is incised into the woodblock, rather than the background being cut away to leave a line in relief

Question 16

Woodcut

Answer 16

A method of relief printing from a block of wood cut along the grain

Question 17

Zero

Answer 17

Group of artists who practised a form of kinetic art using light and motion