Exam #1 | Terminology Flashcards
Formal Analysis
Analyzing the physical aspects of a piece of art.
SMT-CBD
Scale - Size - How large a piece is can say something about it
(wallet sized vs mural vs Sistine Chapel)
Medium - Materials - What an artist chooses
(doodled with pencil/charcoal vs watercolors vs single piece of marble
Tonal Value - Light vs. Dark - Is the artist making a statement with use of color?
Composition - where is the artist drawing your eye to?
Brushwork - Visible vs perfected - Is the artist using loose brushwork to communicate something?
Depth - Is the artist creating the illusion of space and/or time? If so, how is that being done?
subject matter
What story is the art telling?
Is it a historical or mythological event, or something else?
Can be closely linked with Historical Context.
content
The connotative, symbolic, and suggestive aspects of the image.
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Subject matter is the literal, visible image in a work
composition
The arrangement of visual elements as distinct from the subject in a piece of art.
It means ‘putting together’ and can be used in visual arts as well as music, writing and photography.
medium
The materials that are used to create a piece of art.
scale (& hieratic)
The ratio between the size of the subject and its artistic representation.
Can also refer to the Formal Property of the actual physical size of a piece of art.
style
Style is basically the manner in which the artist portrays his or her subject matter and how the artist expresses his or her vision.
Style is determined by the characteristics that describe the artwork, such as the way the artist employs form, color, and composition, to name just a few.
chromatic
Chromatic means having color or multiple hues, relating to or produced by color.
‘Chroma’ is the purity or intensity of color. It refers to the brightness or dullness of any color.
achromatic
An achromatic color is a one that lacks hues.
Such as: white, grey and black.
primary colors
Colors that can’t be created by mixing of other colors.
Primary colors include yellow, blue, and red.
Instead, they combine to create secondary colors.
Secondary colors in turn combine to create tertiary colors.
In effect, all colors stem from the three primaries…
(this is why printer use Cyan, Yellow, and Red as their base)
secondary colors
A secondary color is a color made by mixing of two primary colors in a given color space.
Secondary colors in turn combine to create tertiary colors.
tertiary colors
A tertiary color or intermediate color is a color made by mixing:
(in a given color space such as RGB, or CMYK)
- full saturation of one primary color
- with-
- half saturation of another primary color and none of a third primary color
THIS IS VERY CONFUSING………..
analogous colors
Analogous colors means the color grouping has similarities.
These color scheme types have close relationships to one another.
complementary colors
A pair of colours which cancel each other out when mixed together.
They are situated opposite one another on the colour wheel.
value
The relative lightness or darkness of colour.
The highest value will be white, and the lowest value will be black.
pigment
The colouring component of art mediums.
Such as:
* Paint
* Pastels.
As opposed to:
* The binding agent.
binder
A paint substance which holds together the pigment and ensures that it sticks to surfaces.
A binder also gives the paint a uniform consistency.
hue
The ACTUAL color of something.
Often referred to as a color, but hue is more technically correct.
trompe l’oeil
Literally means ‘trick of the eye’.
Trompe l’oeil is the technique of using realistic imagery to create an optical illusion of depth.
chiaroscuro
From the Italian for ‘light-dark’.
Used to refer to a strong contrast between light and dark in drawings and paintings.
Often used to create a sense of volume.
additive process
An additive process in art involves adding material to the piece.
Coiling a clay pot is additive because you add clay.
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A subtractive process involves taking material away from the piece.
subtractive
Subtractive sculpture is the oldest form of sculpture and involves removing material, as in wood carving or stone sculpture, to create a finished work.
Subtractive sculpture is by far the most technically difficult and due to the nature of the medium is the most restrictive in expression.
linear perspective
A technique where the illusion of depth is created on a flat surface.
vanishing point
A point of disappearance in perspective drawings.
At this point, receding parallel lines appear to converge.
contour lines
From the French for ‘outline’, this refers to the technique where an artist draws a line that defines a form or edge.
As its word origin suggests, it creates an outline of the subject.
aerial / atmospheric perspective
Method of creating the illusion of depth, or recession, in a painting or drawing by modulating colour to simulate changes effected by the atmosphere on the colours of things seen at a distance.
emphasis (Focal point)
Popular Art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States during the mid- to late-1950s.
The movement presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular and mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane mass-produced objects.
International Style
The term international style was first used in 1932 to describe architects associated with the modern movement whose designs shared similar visual qualities – being mostly rectilinear, undecorated, asymmetrical and white.
representational art
Representational art refers to art which represents something, whether that be a tree in a landscape, apple in a still life, or figure in a portrait.
rhythms
(alternating, eccentric)
Rhythm in art and design refers to a relationship between elements that creates a sense of harmony.
Rhythm can be seen in patterns, in relationships between colours and shapes, and in repetitions of lines and forms.
foreshortening
A technique used in perspective drawing to create the illusion that an object recedes strongly into the distance or background.
Often employed on parts of the human body.
freestanding
Freestanding Sculpture is unattached to the background and has space on all sides.
Unlike relief, freestanding sculpture can be viewed from all sides.
It is also referred to as sculpture in round.
Doric order
The Doric order is characterized by a plain, unadorned column capital and a column that rests directly on the stylobate of the temple without a base.
The Doric entablature includes a frieze composed of trigylphs—vertical plaques with three divisions—and metopes—square spaces for either painted or sculpted decoration.
ionic order
Ionic columns normally stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the stylobate or platform while the cap is usually enriched with egg-and-dart.
Corinthian order
This architectural style is characterized by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls.
The Corinthian order is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture.
Flying buttress
Flying buttress, masonry structure typically consisting of an inclined bar carried on a half arch that extends (“flies”) from the upper part of a wall to a pier some distance away and carries the thrust of a roof or vault.
truss
A metal or wood framework consisting of rafters, posts, and struts, supporting a roof, bridge, or other structure.
cantilever
Cantilever, beam supported at one end and carrying a load at the other end or distributed along the unsupported portion.
The upper half of the thickness of such a beam is subjected to tensile stress, tending to elongate the fibres, the lower half to compressive stress, tending to crush them.
barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance.
The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design.
A pair of curves would form a pointed barrel vault.
groin vault
A vault produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults.
Sometimes the arches of groin vaults may be pointed instead of round.
ribbed vault
A ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave, composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs.
Variations were used in Roman architecture, Byzantine architecture, Islamic architecture, Romanesque architecture, and especially Gothic architecture.
cross-hatching
A mark-making process where lines that run in different directions are layered on top of each other.
Provides the illusion of shade.
kitsch
Art or other objects that, generally speaking, appeal to popular rather than “high art” tastes.
Such objects are sometimes appreciated in a knowingly ironic or humorous way.
Ron English is a great example of using kitsch in his art with irony.
airbrush
An airbrush is a small, hand-held instrument connected to a canister of compressed air that sprays paint in a controlled way giving an even and consistent surface.
Artists and illustrators often use airbrushing to create a high level of realism.
assemblage
Assemblage is an artistic form or medium usually created on a defined substrate that consists of three-dimensional elements projecting out of or from the substrate.
It is basically a three-dimensional collage.
installation
The term installation art is used to describe large-scale, mixed-media constructions, often designed for a specific place or for a temporary period of time.
lithograph
Lithography is a printing process that uses a flat stone or metal plate on which the image areas are worked using a greasy substance so that the ink will adhere to them by, while the non-image areas are made ink-repellent.
fresco
Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid lime plaster.
Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster.
With the setting of the plaster, the painting becomes an integral part of the wall.
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What is the difference between fresco and mural?
The main difference between fresco and mural is that fresco refers to painting that involves using water-soluble paints on wet limestone while mural is a large painting on a wall, ceiling or any other permanent surface
relief print
Relief printing is when an artist carves into a printing block that you then use to press onto paper and make a print.
The lines or shapes you carve into the printing block will not have ink on them, so will not show up on your paper.
haut-relief
French for high-relief or deep-relief.
In a haut relief sculpture, the figures project at least half of their natural circumference from the background.
The technique is ancient and is still used in contemporary art today.
Alto-rilievo in Italian
bas-relief
A French term meaning “low relief”.
Bas-relief is a sculpture technique in which figures and/or other design elements are just barely more prominent than the (overall flat) background.
Italian equivalent term is “basso-relievo”
