Key Terms Flashcards
Abstract Art
To withdraw from realism and naturalism.
Accent
The part of an artistic composition which attracts your attention. As in a painting which uses strong, bright colours.
Acrylic
A clear plastic used as a vehicle in paints
Aesthetics
The beauty of an art form, how we feel about a piece of art work
Asymmetry
Not having the same measurement. Objects are unproportional or of different sizes with a picture. Tend to give the impression of activity whereas symmetrical designs tend to give the impression of inactivity.
Background
The part of the composition that appears to be behind the subject matter.
Canvas
Fabric, usually cotton or linen, used as a medium to paint on.
Ceramics
Objects made from baked clay, such as pottery vase, sculptures etc
Chiaroscuro
The art of modelling figures or objects in light and shade in order to get a three-dimensional effect on a two-dimensional surface
Chroma
The purity of the hue
Collage
The pasting on to a surface cutouts of unrelated materials such as cloth paper, photos etc to form a composition.
Composition
The combination of elements in a work of art eg. shape, size, texture, tone
Contour
The internal or external edge of an object in an art form
Cool Colours
A hue, generally in blue, green or violet which suggests a calming effect.
Design
A scheme, plan or concept, used to create an art work
Drawing
A visual representation of an artist’s idea or concept, using media such as pencil, charcoal, pastel etc
Elements (definition)
The basic visual qualities that, when combined, produce visual images.
Etching
A form of printmaking. Images are etched into the surface using acid to form line and tone
Expressionism
An art movement where artists emphasised feelings rather than reasoned thought.
Van Gogh, Georges Rounault
Fauvism
Use of pure, violent, brilliant, bold and startling colours.
Figurative Art
Art which clearly represents objects that are recognisable - nature, humans etc.
Focal Points
The areas in a work of art to which the eyes are drawn
Foreground
The part of a composition which appears to be closest to the viewer
Glaze
In painting, a transparent film of glassy coating painted over the final surface
Gouache
Watercolour made opaque with the addition of chalk
Ground
A coating, such as priming or sizing (gesso), applied to a support (canvas, wood) to prepare the surface for painting.
Horizon Line
A real or implied line across the picture plane parallel with the top and bottom edges. This tends to draw the viewer’s eye towards the linear perspective, all receding lines seem to converge to this line.
Hue
The property of colour that distinguishes one colour from another as red, green etc.
Icon
Used to describe panel paintings of religious figures. Works of importance.
Iconography
The meaning of the images or subject matter in paintings.
Image
A respresentation of an object, an individual or event.
Impasto
Paint laid in richly textured quantities
Intensity
The relative brilliance of a hue
Intrinsic
Belonging to a thing by its very nature
Landscape
The representation of scenery in nature
Mass
The actual or implied physical bulk, weight and destiny of three-dimensional forms
Medium
The process employed by the artist.
Or
The binding substance used to hold the pigments together, such as linseed oil for oil paint.
Middleground
The part of the composition which appears in the middle of the picture.
Modelling
The shaping of three-dimensional forms in soft materials such as clay, also the representation on a flat surface of three-dimensional forms by means of variations in the use of colour properties.
Monochrome
Variations of a single hue.
Montage
A composition formed of pictures or portion of pictures previously photographed, painted or drawn.
Mosaic
A decorative surface made from small glass or ceramic tiles.
Motif
A dominant or recurring feature in an art work.
Mural
A painting on a wall, usually large in size
Non-objective
A synonym for non-representational art, or art without recognisable subject matter.
Non-representational
Works so abstract they make no reference whatsoever to the world of the person, place or thing associated with them: a subject matter has been eliminated.
Oil Painting
The process of painting with a medium formed of ground colouts held together with a binding oil, usually linseed.
Opaque
Refers to something that cannot be seen through. Not transparent.
Painterly
Painting in which the buttery substance of the medium and the gestural aspect of paint application constitute a principle aspect of the art’s quality.
Painting
The art form where coloured pigments are applied to a flat surface. Different painting media include oil, tempera, watercolour, fresco, encaustic and acrylic.
Palette
A tray or planes surface on which a painter mixes colour
OR
The characteristic range and combination of colours typical to a painter or style
Perspective
A pictorial technique for representing three dimensional objects on a two dimensional surface
Pigment
Finely powdered colouring matter used to form paint.
Polychrome
Several colours
Primary Colours
Colours that in various combinations are capable of creating any other colour hue. Red Yellow Blue.
Prime
To prepare a canvas for painting by applying a ground.
Proportion
The relationship of one object to another in regard to size, height etc within a composition.
Realism
A mid - 19th century style that believes that art should be true to life without stylization
Saturation
The purity, vividness, or intensity of colour
Sculpture
A type of three-dimensional art. Wood, clay, bronze, stone, marble etc
Sfumato
Italian. “smoked”, a misty blending of light and dark to create soft edges and veiled effects. A type of chiaroscuro.
Shading
The property of colour that makes it seem light or dark.
Stereotyoe
Something that conforms to a fixed or general pattern
Still Life
An arrangement of inanimate objects - fruit, flowers, pottery etc - taken as a subject or motif for an art work
Stretcher
A wooden or metal framework upon which a painter’s canvas can be stretched
Style
Both form and style are concerned with those measurable aspects of art that caused the elements, principles and materials to come together as a composition; but they are equally concerned with the expressive content of the work
Stylize
To simplify forms for the purpose of increasing their aesthetic and expressive content
Subject
The identifiable object, incident, or situation represented in an artwork
Support
The physical material serving as a base for a painting, drawing etc
Symbol
A form, sign, image or subject standing for something.
Symmetry
An arrangement or balanced design
Technique
A person’s manipulative skills and abilities related to a particular activity (brushwork, shading, texturing)
Tempera
A painting technique using a medium pigment mixed with egg yolk or glue
Texture
The tactile quality of a surface or the representation of that surface
Triptych
A painting consisting of three panels
Value
The property of colour that makes it seem light or dark, shading.
Vanishing Point
In linear perspective, that point on the horizon toward which parallel lines appear to meet.
Warm Colours
Hues in red, yellow, orange and sometimes violet sections of the colour spectrum. Tend to excite and stimulate.
Baroque
1600 - 1750. Splendour and Flourish for God.
Neoclassical
1750-1850. Art that recaptures the style of the ancient greeks and romans.
Realism (d)
1850 - 1900. Celebrating real life.
Impressionism (d)
1850 - 1900. Capturing Light,
Cubism
1900 - 1920. New forms to express Modern Life
Surrealism
1915 - 1950. Painting the unconscious.
Abstract Expressionism / Pop Art
1940 - 1960. Abstractation and Expression without form - Art absorbs consummerism
Postmodernism
1970 - Reworking and mixing past styles.
