Concepts Flashcards
Conceptual Pictorial Representation
Concerned with a form of pictorial representation, depicting what the mind ‘knows’ as opposed to what it sees.
Perceptual Pictorial Representation
Concerned with a form of pictorial representation, depicting what the senses ‘perceive’ as opposed to what the mind knows.
Axial Perspective
Otherwise known as “fishbone perspective” - a form of perspective in which parallel lines converge to a vertical axis in lieu of the vanishing point of “linear perspective”.
Axial perspective was used in ancient Greece as well as in ancient Rome, and was discussed by Vitruvius. Plato opposed the use of (axial) perspective in art, as proportions were not consistent. Plato favored mathematical “truth” as he understood it, over the “truth” that could be depicted in art using perspective.
Repoussoir
French for ‘push back’. This is typically a prominent dark form in the foreground or middle distance (such as a large tree in a landscape) that emphasises aerial perspective and guides an observers eyes to the back into the image.
Chiaroscuro
Italian for ‘light-dark’ - referring to the use of strong colour value contrasts to achieve a sense of volume in three-dimensions
Trompe l’oeil
Complex system of foreshortening to make an imagined appear part of the three-dimensional surface of the artwork, projecting from/into the support.
Foreshortening
Foreshortening is a technique used in perspective to create the illusion of an object receding strongly into the distance or background. The illusion is created by the object appearing shorter than it is in reality, making it seem compressed. It is an excellent way to maximize the depth and dimension of paintings and drawings.
Foreshortening applies to everything that is drawn in perspective. This includes buildings, landscapes, still life objects, and figures.
A familiar example of foreshortening in the landscape would be that of a long, straight, flat road lined with trees. The two edges of the road appear to move towards each other as they reach into the distance. At the same time, the trees look smaller and the road looks much shorter than it would if it were to go straight up a very high mountain in front of us.
Apotropaic
Intended to ward off evil influences or bad luck / imbued with such power as to ward off evil
From the Greek apotropeios (to ward off evil) / apotropein (to turn away/from)
Direct meaning
Depicting meaning representationally, with an person or thing that directly embodies the desired subject (eg a deity or ruler)
Symbolic meaning
Depicting meaning through use of non-representational signs such as halos or colours associated with the chosen topic.
Allegorical meaning
Depicting meaning through personification of abstract ideas, for example a blindfolded woman holding a sword and balance to represent justice.
Symmetry/assymetry
Pictorial device to enforce meanings such as state order vs dynamism/violent emotion
Scale
device to emphasise a figures importance - often the im most important figure is the largest, and placed in a central position of a group of three, posed frontally and looking straight ahead (while neighbouring figures are in profile)
Linear perspective
Technique developed by Renaissance innovator Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), in order to render distance in an image in a scientifically measurable way/according to fixed laws. This technique is based on the observation that all parallel lines running into space at right angles to a ‘window’ through which an image is visualised (e.g. painting as a window to an imagined space) converge upon a central vanishing point at a viewer’s eye level. These lines, called orthogonals, then provide a geometric network defining pictorial space.
The development of this technique opened the door to the idea of a picture as an illusionistic representation of objects in space as seen from a fixed viewpoint, and imposed a rational order on the visible world.
Grisaille
A method of painting in grey monochrome, typically to simulate sculpture.
