Important Terms

Question 1

biomorphic lines

Answer 1

Lines that re-create biological or organic surfaces. These are nongeometric, curvilinear lines

Question 2

diptych

Answer 2

a painting, especially an altarpiece, on two hinged wooden panels that may be closed like a book.

Question 3

symmetrical composition

Answer 3

A composition that is balanced horizontally or vertically, with matching images or other compositional parts, including shape, line, and color, on either side of the midline.

Question 4

curvilinear lines

Answer 4

Lines that are organic or biomorphic and natural, the opposite of geometric lines

Question 5

anamorphosis

Answer 5

A distorted image drawn on a flat surface that becomes recognizable when the viewer sees it from a particular angle or by using a device such as a mirror.

Question 6

analogous colors

Answer 6

Three adjacent colors on the color wheel that are often found in combination in nature. As a color scheme, they blend together. They can be further identified as warm colors (red, yellow and orange), evoking a happy psychological response, and cool colors (blue, green, and purple), evoking a melancholy or sad psychological response.

Question 7

scale

Answer 7

The proportion that de nes the size of an object or the illusion of size between one or more objects.

Question 8

atmospheric perspective

Answer 8

A painting technique that modifies color and contrast based on how we normally see, which creates a sense of distance and depth within the image. Items in the distance are less detailed and have less saturated color than items in the foreground.

Question 9

geometric line

Answer 9

Lines that are angular, not curvilinear.

Question 10

complementary colors

Answer 10

On a color wheel, complementary colors appear opposite one another. Complementary colors intensify one another by creating an afterimage of their complements on the viewer’s retina.

Question 11

Postmodernism

Answer 11

The late-20th-century movement in art and theory that questions the Modernist idea that humanity is continuously improving on what we inherit from our ancestors. In art, it questions the Modernist privileging of the artist as genius, empowering instead the viewer with the responsibility for interpretation.

Question 12

installation

Answer 12

An artistic display that fills real space and transforms the perception of a space, usually found in museums, galleries, and public and private spaces.

Question 13

triptych

Answer 13

a picture or relief carving on three panels, typically hinged together side by side and used as an altarpiece.

Question 14

expressional lines

Answer 14

Lines that are not descriptive but are expression, which can occur in representations from abstract art to natural subjects.

Question 15

descriptive lines

Answer 15

Lines or detail that aid in identifying an object or figure. It follows the actual line of the model.

Question 16

color

Answer 16

A term applied to what the eye sees when light is reflected off of an object. For example, red, yellow, and blue are primary colors. A synonym is hue.

Question 17

asymmetrical composition

Answer 17

A composition balanced with nonmatching elements. They are dynamic in nature and the focal point is usually not in the middle of the composition.

Question 18

shading

Answer 18

A shadowing technique that adjusts degrees of light and dark to create the illusion that an object or figure has mass and occupies a three-dimensional space.

Question 19

classical antiquity

Answer 19

• Greek culture at its apogee in the 5th century B.C.;
• statuary is marked by naturalistic but idealized proportions and details and by dynamic stability, suggesting perfect human beings.
• The term and its variants (classicizing and neoclassical) refer to iterations of the same principles in later periods.

Question 20

Renaissance

Answer 20

Originating in Italy, a period from the late 14th century through the 16th century characterized by a rebirth of interest in the literature and philosophy of classical Greece and ancient Rome, with an emphasis on art, culture, and learning.

Question 21

relief sculpture

Answer 21

Sculpture that projects into space from a base; projection of a figure or design from the background on which it is carved, molded, or stamped.

Question 22

vanishing point

Answer 22

The point at which parallel lines appear to meet on a horizon line; part of the illusion of distance in a work of art.

Question 23

chiaroscuro

Answer 23

The shading of light and shadow toward the edges of figures and objects to enhance a sense of their three-dimensional volumetricity. This is specifically the use of black in shading. The word is derived from the Italian chiaro (clear) and oscuro (dark).

Question 24

value

Answer 24

The proportion of light and dark in an artistic work.

Question 25

focal point

Answer 25

The center of focus or the most important part of a work of art, where the eye lands first and usually lands last.

Question 26

linear perspective

Answer 26

The mathematical system of creating the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface that was first known in ancient Greece and was redeveloped in the early 15th century in Florence. It is based on a single vanishing point located on a horizon line. The artist Filippo Brunelleschi is generally credited with its Renaissance reinvention.

Question 27

proportion

Answer 27

the relationship of size between one part of a depicted object and the others

Question 28

void

Answer 28

Vacant space. In sculpture, the surrounding shape to the volume or mass of the sculpture.

Question 29

point of view

Answer 29

Where the viewer is visually in the composition—above, below, or with a head-on view of a scene. Although not normally included as an element of formal analysis, this is an important consideration.

Question 30

Composition

Answer 30

Two-dimensional works: combination of color, line, and shape.

Three-dimensional works: combination of mass, space and color or light

Question 31

saturation

Answer 31

The intensity of a color from bright to dull.

Question 32

sculpture in the round

Answer 32

A three-dimensional sculpture free of a backing; it can be viewed from all sides.

Question 33

hierarchical scale

Answer 33

a technical term to describe how we assign importance to images by increasing their size in relation to others on the picture plane.

Question 34

Futurism

Answer 34

A 20th-century movement announced by a manifesto written in 1909 by F. T. Marinetti. The Futurists’ goal was to create an art that could express the speed of new technology and the dynamism of the so-called Machine Age.

Question 35

kinetic art

Answer 35

Art, usually sculpture, that incorporates movement. Some works are suspended and move by currents of air and wind (mobile stabiles); others are planted and move because of solar, water, or electric motor energy.

Question 36

Op art

Answer 36

Art that revels in unusual optical effects, yielding visual illusions that play with the viewer’s perception.

Question 37

performance art

Answer 37

A nontraditional theatrical presentation that seeks to form a direct connection between the artist and the audience through use of visual art and performed acts.

Question 38

illusionism

Answer 38

The use of painting techniques that replicate real three- dimensional forms.

Question 39

luminism

Answer 39

A term coined in the 1950s to define a style of 19th-century American landscape painting characterized by glowing light and atmosphere, within which objects are rendered with care to preserve their wholeness and physical identity. It is a peculiarly American balance between the known and the observed, and in this, it contrasts with French Impressionism. It is also characterized by a distinctive stillness and sense of suspended time that owes something to the suppression of brushstroke.

Question 40

raking light

Answer 40

Rays of light that are parallel to the surface of a painting, revealing surface texture.

Question 41

tenebrism

Answer 41

A strong contrast of light and dark in painting; introduced in Baroque art of the 17th century.

Question 42

contour

Answer 42

An outline of a figure or object. A contour drawing traces full outlines of a figure.

Question 43

croquis drawing

Answer 43

A quick sketch of a live model, intended to capture the dynamic and mass depiction of a temporary pose.

Question 44

metalpoint

Answer 44

• A drawing technique developed for writing on wax, wood, or parchment covered with a gesso-like base.
• Metalpoint has been used by artists and scribes since the Middle Ages.
• The metalpoint tool was often made of a thin metal wire with a tip enabling the artist to create fine line drawings.