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Glossary Alphabetical, A - M A - M listing of all terms Acknowledgements to the original sources for many definitions can be established by checking the number at the end of each definition (1,2,3etc) against the list at the bottom of this section.Abbozzo A sketch or outline drawn in a single colour and used by an artist as an "underpainting". (5) Absidiole This is a form of abstract art where patterns are meant to be read as independent relationships. It may represent nothing at all, or it may represent something. However, it does it without reference to the original source. (5) Abstract art Art that is non-representational or non-objective. Art that departs significantly from natural appearances. Forms are modified or changed to varying degrees in order to emphasize certain qualities or content such as place, content or feeling using composition or organisation of colour, line, light, and shade. Recognizable references to original appearances may be slight. (2&4 ) Abstract Expressionism An art movement, primarily in painting, that originated in the United States in the 1940s and remained strong through the 1950s. Artists working in many different styles emphasized spontaneous personal expression in large paintings that are abstract or non-representational, or non-objective. (4) Abstract Surrealism See Surrealism. (4) Academic art Art that was considered acceptable by the academies of painting and sculpture in the 17th through 19th centuries. It covered standards for composition, drawing, and colour usage. The term has come to mean conservative and lacking in originality. (4) Accelerator A substance that speeds up a chemical change. An accelerator is added to oil paints to speed drying (also called a "drier"), ( 1) Accession An object of art becoming part of a permanent collection of a museum or other collector. (2) Acetone A solvent used as a paint remover. Used in cleaning up epoxy resins, polyester resins, many inks and adhesives. Often used in the cleaning and restoration of old paintings. ( 1) Achromatic Having no colour or hue i.e. consisting of blacks, whites, and greys. (4) Acrylic A rapid drying paint which is easy to remove with mineral spirits. In addition, a plastic substance commonly used as a binder for paints. ( 2) Action Painting A style of non-representational painting that relies on the physical movement of the artist to create art through vigorous brushwork, dripping, and pouring. Dynamism is often created through the interlaced directions of the paint. (4) Additive Colour The colour that results from the mixture of two or more coloured lights. (3) Aerial Perspective A term used in landscape painting to portray distance within a painting. Often achievable through depiction of different weather patterns in fore and backgrounds (2) Aesthetic value The value or worth of a thing or event due to its capacity to evoke pleasure from features within it (1) Aidoion A Greek word used to refer to the private parts of men and women alike, usually on nude sculptures. Plural ta adoia. (1) Airbrush A small-scale paint sprayer that allows the artist to control a fine mist of paint. Patented by Charles Burdick, an Englishman, in 1893. ( 4) Alizarin Originally a bright red pigment, made from madder, which is derived from the root of the plant Rubia tinctorum. ( 1) Alkyd Synthetic resin used in paints and mediums used as a binder for the pigment. It also speeds the drying time. ( 6) Alla Prima Technique where the final surface of a painting is completed without underpainting, in one sitting. Italian for "at the first". (3) Alligatoring The crackled texturing of a painted surface akin to alligator skin. Can be intentional though usually unwanted. (2) American Impressionism A style that evolved from French Impressionism but placed more emphasis on form or recognizable subjects. Chief exponents were William Merritt Chase and his student, Charles Hawthorne. They espoused painting 'en plein air' (finishing the work on location) and depicting the changing effects of light with masses of colour whilst modelling and defining the forms with distinct colour variations. (13) Analogous Colours Colours that are closely related, or near each other on the colour spectrum or wheel, especially those colours that share common hues. (2) Anamorphic Art Art where the observer is first deceived by a barely recognizable image, and is then directed to a viewpoint dictated by the formal construction of the painting. The spectator must re-form the picture him/herself. Best illustrated by the way stage design is created to give effect of exaggerated perspective. (2) Anti-cerne A white space in the form of a line between two areas of colour in a picture. (1) Applied Art Art in which aesthetic values are used in the design or decoration of utilitarian objects. (4) Aquamarine A pale blue to greenish blue colour (1) Aquarelle brush A style of watercolour brush, used flat for large areas and on the edge for fine light ( 1) Aquarelle Term for “Watercolour” in French, referring to the act of drawing or painting with transparent watercolour. ( 2) Art Brut Art produced by “Outsiders” (naïve artists, the mentally ill as well as the art of children.). Often celebrated in the work of Dubuffet who appreciated its being done for its own sake and not for concern of profit. Coined in 1945 by French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), the word is French for “raw art”. (14) Art Deco An art style of the 1920s and 1930s based on the application of modern materials (steel, chrome, glass). The name came from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris, which celebrated living in the modern world. It was popularly considered to be an elegant style of cool sophistication in architecture and applied arts ranging from luxurious objects made from exotic material to mass produced, streamlined items available to a growing middle class. The style is characterized by repetitive, geometric patterns of curves and lines. (1&2) Art gum An eraser that crumbles as it erases, causing neither scratching nor discolouration. ( 1) Art Nouveau A decorative art style, especially associated with the sinuous curves of plant forms. It was prevalent from 1895 to 1905. Art Nouveau began in France, and they leaned on earlier styles including Rococo, Gothic, and Oriental. Artificialism An art movement founded in Czechoslovakia in 1927 to oppose naturalism in art; the movement was short-lived as its members went on to become involved in poetism and eventually surrealism. (10) Artwork A general term referring to any artistic work (1) Assemblage A modernist art term descriptive of three-dimensional work composed of various materials that are seemingly unrelated but create an overall unity. (6) Atmospheric Perspective Used by artists to create sense of depth through use of blurring of distant objects, often more blue in colour. (2) Attributed An indicator where the authorship of a work of art is not confirmed, but that on documentary or stylistic grounds can be assigned to a particular artist. (2) Avant-Garde Individuals considered as the leaders (and often regarded as radicals) in the invention and application of new concepts in a given field. French for advance guard" or "vanguard." Azurite A mineral copper ore used as a deep blue pigment with a greenish tint Used often in wall paintings, it was popular during the Renaissance for underpainting as a cheaper medium than ultramarine ( 1) Balance The achievement of equilibrium within an artwork. Can be seen through e.g. structure around a central point, combining small figures in the distance with large figures close by. Can involve colour and "depth.” abstract to non-abstract etc (5) Barbizon School A group of French naturalist painters who lived in the village of Barbizon on the outskirts of the Forest of Fontainebleau from the 1830s. Most were landscape painters. There was no agreed-upon style but they were revolutionary because of their commitment to portraying nature as a worthwhile subject in its own right rather than romanticized and sublime. They also depicted working peasants, a subject that was also startling because it prompted a turn from gentile subjects towards social realism. The Barbizon artists are considered the first "plein-air" painters, those who painted directly in nature rather than completing their scenes in studios from sketches. (14) Baroque A theatrical style of painting and sculpture that developed among painters and sculptors in Italy at the end of the 16th century. It was intended to evoke compelling effects of drama and grandeur. The subject was usually religious. The movement spread throughout Europe and employed strong sense of movement and contrast between light and dark. (6) Bauhaus A design school founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, in Germany. The Bauhaus attempted to achieve reconciliation between the aesthetics of design and the more commercial demands of industrial mass production. (2) Bay Area Figurative A style of painting that was a reaction to the Abstract Expressionism that was prevalent in New York, adapting it by going back to nature and including a more figurative imagery. The images were very abstract and painted with much expressionist style, but with a rejection of total abstraction. Begun with teachers at the California School of Fine Art in the 1940s in the San Francisco Bay Area, it lasted until the mid 1960s. (2) Beaux-Arts A French term for the “high arts”, which were officially promoted in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the official state school founded in the late 19th century. (2) Biedermeier Subsequent to the French Empire style, it was a simple adaptation of it. Was prominent in Germany and Austria from 1815 to 1848 and was popular especially among the middle classes. (1) Binary colours Colours made by mixing two hues. Examples are orange, green, and purple. (1) Binder A substance which when mixed with pigment makes paint adhere to a surface: Oil is the binder for oil paints, gum Arabic for watercolours. ( 2) Biomorphic form An abstract form whose shapes are more organic than geometric, more curvaceous than linear. (1) Bistre A brown, transparent pigment. ( 3) Bleed To allow a wash of watercolour or other thin medium to run into and combine with another area of colour. (2) Bloom A film on the surface of an oil painting that has been improperly varnished or stored. Appearing firstly as an opaque blue tinge, it then turns white, yellow, and eventually black as the condition (sometimes known as a 'chill') advances. (2) Blotto painting A painting made by applying tempera paint onto one side of a sheet of paper, then folding the paper and pressing the two sides together. Like an inkblot, a blotto painting is apt to be symmetrical and non-objective. Making one is largely an aleatoric act -- leaving much to chance. (1) Body Colour Opaque paint, which is able to eliminate any underlying colours from view. ( 3) Boston School A distinct local style in Boston tied to the Museum of Fine Arts School and focused on beauty, elegance, refinement, and avoidance of that which was considered common and vulgar. Paintings of the Boston School are distinctive for their focus on beauty and excellent craftsmanship. Favoured subjects were portraits, especially of elegant women, tastefully presented interiors, sun-filled landscapes, and impeccably arranged still lifes. Narrative genre scenes and labouring people were avoided as subjects. (15). Brayer A tool used to roll ink onto a surface by hand. ( 1) Bridge A tool used by a painter to keep the hand away from the artwork. A bridge typically rests on two points where a mahlstick leans on one. ( 1) Brightness The degree or intensity of lightness in a colour (1) Brilliance Brilliance is the combination of high lightness and strong saturation of hue. Prepared by mixing a large amount of hue pigment with a small amount of white. (1) Brindled The effects, usually spotted or streaked, of a darker colour on an artwork. (2) Bristol board A robust drawing surface used for many types of artwork. ( 1) Brown The combination of all three primary colours but dominated by red. Variations of brown are:- Madder; Ochre; Burnt Sienna; Burnt Umber; Mars, Raw Sienna; Raw Umber; Rowney Transparent; Sepia and Vandyke (2) Buffer A substance that reduces acid migration. ( 1) Butcher Paper A type of paper sold in rolls typically 36 inches wide. It has a fairly hard surface, with one side having slightly smoother texture than the other. Useful as a base material for very large drawings, paintings, and collages. ( 1) Byzantine art Styles of painting, design, and architecture developed from the fifth century A.D. in the Byzantine Empire of eastern Europe. Characterized in painting by formal design, frontal and stylised figures, and a rich use of colour, especially gold, in generally religious subject matter. (4) Cadmium Substance, especially cadmium sulphate, from which reds, oranges, and yellows are extracted for use in paint pigments. ( 1) California Style A movement in watercolour painting that flourished in California between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s and "gave the traditional watercolour medium a bold new look". They and their followers painted boldly and directly in realist style onto large sheets of paper with minimal sketching and often allowed the white of the paper to show through. Their subject matter was the landscape and genre of Southern California. (16) Calligraphy The art of beautiful writing. Broadly, a flowing use of line, often varying from thick to thin. (4) Camaieu A painting, using varying shades of the same colour. (2) Camera Lucida An art tool that uses a prism to concentrate and project light onto paper (or some other surface) so you can trace the resulting image. ( 5) Canvas Closely woven cloth used as a support for paintings, usually made of flax or cotton. ( 3) Card or cardboard A stiff paper used as a base material for artworks. In some instances, it is made from plastics. ( 1) Caricature A representation of a person or thing in which the characteristic features are exaggerated. (2) Cartoon A caricature or comic drawing or an animated film composed of a series of comic drawings. (2) Casein A dried lumpy curd of skimmed milk, which when mixed with water and dry pigments, makes an excellent paint. Casein paint is too inflexible for use on canvas. It dries quickly with a waterproof surface. ( 2) Cerulean blue A particular blue pigment (1) Ceruse A white, lead-based paint. ( 2) Chiaroscuro Italian for "light-dark." The gradations of light and dark used especially to create the illusion of rounded, three-dimensional forms rather than through use of lines. Highly developed by Renaissance painters. (4) Chroma key Indication of the level of intensity and saturation of a hue. A high chroma key is bright and pure. A low chroma key is dull and murky. (1) Chroma A term for the saturation of hue but not the darkness or lightness of colour. (2) Chromatic pigments Pigments that are neither black, white, nor grey (1) Chrome yellow A yellow pigment (1) Cissing An application of colour that was intended to result in a covering of even thickness, but resulted instead in running streaks and bare spots, usually because of poor wetting of the surface. (1) Citrine A yellow colour (2) Clarafactionism An art movement that began in the 1950s, influenced by Surrealism and Futurism, characterised by a photo realistic style of painting (if not of subject-matter). (10) Classical Abstraction The exercise of rigorous intellectual discipline and technical control in abstract painting and sculpture. (2) Classical art The art of ancient Greece and Rome. More specifically, Classical refers to the style of Greek art that flourished during the fifth century B.C. The term is also used to describe any art based on a clear, rational, and regular structure, emphasizing horizontal and vertical directions, and organizing its parts with special emphasis on balance and proportion. Designed to project Greek and roman values of reason, objectivity, discipline, restraint, order, harmony (2&4) Closed form A form that is self-contained, having achieved an artistic balance, a sense of calm and an internal completeness within itself. (4) Cobalt A metal, resembling nickel, from which a range of blue pigments are made. ( 1) Cockling Wrinkling or puckering in painted paper caused by applying washes onto a flimsy or improperly stretched surface. (3) Coherence Coherence is a quality of being ordered or integrated. Cold Colour A colour within the range from blue to green which, when contrasted with other colours, appears to indicate distance and therefore depth. (2) Collage A work made by gluing materials such as paper scraps, photographs, and cloth on to a flat surface. From the French coller, to glue. (4) Colonnade A row of columns usually spanned or connected by beams or lintel. (4) Colour Field Painting Art style of flat, impersonal works, often on a large scale to suppress the artist's feelings with a transcendent beauty. Painted with solid areas of colour covering the entire canvas, artists were interested in the lyrical or atmospheric effects of vast expanses of colour, filling the canvas, and by suggestion, beyond it to infinity. It was the natural successor to Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s and 1960s. Most colour-field paintings are large and are meant to be seen up close so that the viewer is immersed in a colour environment. (1&2) Colour Wheel A circular grid that represents the colours of the spectrum. The grid shows the relationships colours have with each other (complimentary, opposite, etc.) (1) Colour Aspect of any object described in terms of hue, brightness, and saturation. (8) Complementary colours Colours that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green, blue and orange, and violet and yellow. When complements are mixed together, they form the neutral colours of brown or grey. (1) Composite colour A colour formed by mixing two or more hues or tints. (2) Composition The organization of form in a work of art, i.e., the layout of shapes, masses, areas of light and dark, etc. (2) Conceptual art An art form in which the originating idea and the process by which it is presented take precedence over a tangible product. Conceptual works are sometimes produced in visible form, but they often exist only as descriptions of mental concepts or ideas. This trend developed in the late 1960s, in part as a way to avoid the commercialisation of art. (4) Constructivism A modern aesthetic movement that turns to shapes in nature and machines for models of formal and functional autonomy. The underlying theory is that a work of art should be an autonomous object with a life of its own and that it should reflect economy and precision. The style is non-objective, and the materials are often iron, tin, wood, glass, plaster, and plastic--an attempt to bridge the gap between everyday life and art. (2) Conte A trade name for a brand of French crayons made from a unique compound of pigments with a chalk binder. Conte crayons are free from grease, making them acceptable for lithographic drawing. ( 1) Contemporary Art Generally defined as art that has been produced since the second half of the twentieth century. (2) Context The varied circumstances in which a work of art has been produced. The range of subject matter includes information relating to the artist, the setting for the work or the interpretation of the work. A complex subject. (1) Contour The edge or apparent line that separates one area or mass from another; a line following a surface drawn to suggest volume. (4) Contrapposto The pose of the human form in which the head and shoulders face in a different direction from the hips and legs; a spiral twist. (2) Contrast A large difference between any two aspects within an artwork e.g. hot and cold, green and red, light and shadow. (1) Cool colours Colours whose “visual temperatures” make them seem cool relative to adjacent colours. Cool colours generally include green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, and violet. (4) Copal A hard resin used in making varnishes and painting mediums. ( 3) Corealism A term coined in 1993 by painter and cartoonist Nik Swider to describe his style of painting. (10) Coulisse Features added to the sides of an artwork, such as clumps of trees, groups of figure, buildings, etc, arranged in tiers, to help direct the eye into the centre picture space. Common in baroque painting. (2) Craquelure The network of cracks which sometimes appears on paint and varnish of an oil painting as the paint ages and settles. Also known as CRACKLE. (2) Crayon Commonly used as a general term for children’s wax-based drawing sticks, technically it is any drawing material that can be produced into stick form. ( 2) Crosshatching Drawing sets of close parallel lines that crisscross each other at angles, to indicate tone and texture. (3) Cubism The movement that searched for basic geometric forms in nature, then took them apart followed by an imaginative reorganization of those elements in various contexts. Since Cubism was chiefly concerned with the liberation of form, colour played a subordinate role in Cubist art. Major Cubist achievements took place between 1907 and 1914. (2) Curvilinear Formed or characterized by curving lines or edges. (4) Cyan Blue-green colour (1) Dada A movement in art and literature, founded in Switzerland in the early twentieth century, which ridiculed contemporary culture and conventional art. The Dadaists shared an antimilitaristic and antiaesthetic attitude, generated in part by the horrors of World War I and in part by a rejection of accepted canons of morality and taste. (4) Damar A resin from conifer trees, used in making oil mediums and varnishes. ( 3) Dark A shade; a colour having low lightness and low saturation, and reflecting only a small fraction of incident light. (1) De Stijl A purist art movement with the style pared down to primary colours, plus black and white, and rectangular shapes. The movement began in the Netherlands during World War I by Mondrian and others, involving painters, sculptors, designers, and architects. The name was associated with their work as their works and ideas were expressed through the De Stijl (Dutch for “the style”) magazine. Their work exerted tremendous influence on the Bauhaus and the International Style. (4) Dead Colour A term for colours used in underpainting. (3) Deckle Edge The ragged edge found on handmade papers. (3) Decoupage The act of cutting out paper designs and applying them to a surface to make an all over collage. (3) Deep colours A colour, which has low lightness and strong saturation. (1) Diluents Liquids, such as turpentine for oil paint and water for watercolours used to dilute paints. ( 3) Dipper A container for oils and mediums, which clips to the side of the palette. ( 2) Diptych An artwork presented on two hinged panels. (2) Distemper A blend of glue, chalk and water-based paint, used mostly for murals and posters. ( 3) Distressed Material that shows signs of age, through use, abuse or exposure to an adverse environment (1) Divisionism A system of painting using small dots of usually different colours. thus producing a composite effect in the eye of the beholder. (1) Double loading Loading a brush with two colours side by side. In order to double load, use a paint of creamy consistency, and drag one edge of the brush through the lighter colour until the edge is filled with colour; then stroke the clean edge of the brush through the darker colour in the same manner. Once the brush is loaded this way, blend the colours at the centre of the brush by stroking on the palette. Using this technique, each brushstroke deposits a gradation of the two blended colours (1) Dragging Applying relatively dry oil paints lightly over a surface, creating an area of broken colour, the new colour having attached to the high spots but not to the low, so that irregular portions of the undercolour remain exposed. This may be done by holding the brush so that the side of its bristles lie flat against the paper, or by pulling it rapidly across the surface (1) Drier A material that accelerates or initiates the drying of an oil paint or oil by promoting oxidation. ( 3) Drolerie French for humorous picture, often showing animals behaving as humans. (2) Dry-brush A technique used with watercolours, acrylics and inks, in which a brush, which is only just moist, is charged with pigment and rubbed along its side across the paper to leave an uneven area of colour. The paper or paint below shows through to provide a broken or mottled effect. (2) Drying Oil Oil that, when spread into a thin layer and exposed to air, absorbs oxygen and converts into a tough film. ( 3) Earth Art Works of art that use natural materials such as earth. The phrase, came to mean any art that used terrain for materials. (5) Earth Colours Pigments that exist naturally in the earth in form of clays, rocks or earths, for example the ochres and umbers, browns and yellows. (2) Easel Used as a support for painter’s artworks. ( 1) Eclecticism The practice of selecting or borrowing from earlier styles and combining the borrowed elements. (4) Egg Tempera A medium predominantly used for painting until the introduction of oils. It is very fast drying so does not lend itself to blending very well. ( 2) Emulsifier A catalyst combining oil, water and varnish into a painting medium. ( 1) Emulsion An agent used to combine materials which would not otherwise mix (i.e. oil and water, or water and resin. Emulsifying agents can be naturally based substances (e.g. egg-yolk), 'artificial' (e.g. gums and varnishes) or 'saponified' (e.g. fatty oil, wax). ( 2) En plein air Descriptive term for paintings that have been produced outdoors, rather than in the studio. French for "in the open air," The equivalent term in Italian is "alfresco," (1) Encaustic A painting medium where pigment has been suspended in a binder of hot wax. ( 4) Expressionism Art in which the emotions of an artist are paramount and take precedence over a rational and faithful-to-life rendering of subject matter. Expressionist compositions and forms therefore tend toward distortion and exaggeration. (2) Fat over Lean The recommended means of layering oil colour: the first layer of oil colours should be leanest (least oil, or more thinner with less oil) followed by layers with progressively more fat (more oil.) Following this principle results in a work less likely to crack after aging. Conversely, in order to encourage cracking, the painter should do the reverse. (1) Fauvism A style of painting characterized by areas of bright, contrasting colour, simplified shapes, violent distortions and broad, bold brushwork.. Introduced in Paris in the early twentieth century, the name les fauves is French for "the wild beasts." Fete galante A scene of an elegant, festive occasion in an open-air setting, depicting dancing, musicales, comedy, etc. A specialty of French rococo art. (2) Figurative Describes artwork representing the form of a human, an animal or a thing. Abstract artwork is the opposite of figurative art in certain ways. (1) Filler Inert pigment added to paint to increase its bulk. ( 3) Fine art Art created for purely aesthetic expression, communication, or contemplation. Painting and sculpture are the best known of the fine arts. (4) Fixative A solution, usually of shellac and alcohol, sprayed onto drawings, to prevent their smudging or crumbling. ( 3) Florida Highwaymen A group of African-American landscape painters in Florida in the 1950s and 1960s who painted fanciful land/skyscapes usually billowing cumulous clouds over bodies of water. Artists painted on upson board, (a product used by roofers), and then framed with crown moulding. (18) Fluorescent colours Colours that are especially bright and have the unique effect of "glowing" under ultraviolet or black light. (1) Folk Art Art of people who have had no formal, academic training, but whose works are part of an established tradition of style and craftsmanship. (4) Foreshortening The application of perspective to forms in order to create the illusion of three-dimensionality and depth. (2) Form Consists of the combination of all the characteristics that establish an artwork’s identity. It includes not only includes shape, but can include size, texture, colour, tone, and even movement and emotion associated with that object. (2) Formalist Having an emphasis on highly structured visual relationships rather than on subject matter or non-visual content. (4) Foxing A discolouration of paper in books, prints, etc., due to dampness. Characterized by brown spots. (2) Fresco Wall painting in which pigments are mixed with water and applied to lime plaster that is still wet. The plaster serves as both the ground and the binder for the medium. (2) Fugitive Colours Pigment or dye colours that fade when exposed to light. (3) Fugitive pigment Pigment that changes colour (both lighter and darker) after original application: fades either through prolonged exposure to light or atmospheric pollution, darkens when mixed with other substances. ( 2) Funism An art movement relating to art works that are intended to express fun, humour and joviality. The intention is to react to the perceived over-intellectualisation of other art movements. (10) Funk Art Artwork referring to subject matter that is offensive or intended to offend. Often refers to a movement born in the San Francisco area during the 1960s. The word funk derives from funky, a musical term. Peter Selz, then director of the University Art Museum in Berkeley, gave the name to the movement. (2) Futurism A group movement that originated in Italy in 1909. One of several movements to grow out of Cubism. Futurists added implied motion to the shifting planes and multiple observation points of the Cubists; they celebrated natural as well as mechanical motion and speed. Their glorification of danger, war, and the machine age was in keeping with the martial spirit developing in Italy at the time. (4) Gamboge A clear, transparent yellow used for gilding and watercolour. It is obtained from the yellow gum-resin of a variety of trees grown in India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Not suitable for oil painting due to its transparency. ( 2) Genre In painting, that which portrays scenes of "everyday people doing everyday things". (9) Gesso A mixture of glue and either chalk or plaster of Paris applied as a coating to surfaces in order to give them the correct properties to receive paint. ( 4) Giglee An inkjet printing process developed in the US circa 1990. The image is sprayed onto paper at the rate on one million droplets of ink per second, giving visual resolution of over 1800 dpi. The term Giclee is french for ‘squirt’ or ‘spurt’ and was adopted to give a more sophisticated air to the process. The process gives a continuous tone result that can be applied to nearly any paper surface. Prints are rich in colour with a flawless finish, which when printed on textured watercolur paper or canvas matches the feel of the original. ( 4) Gilt Gold leaf Me ( 4) Glair A varnish for tempera paints. Glair is prepared by mixing egg whites with a little water, and beating them. After the resulting bubbles have dissipated, it is then applied. ( 1) Glaze In oil painting, it is a thin transparent or translucent layer brushed over another layer of paint, allowing the first layer to show through but altering its colour slightly. ( 4) Gouache A heavy, opaque watercolour paint, producing a less wet-appearing and more strongly coloured picture than from ordinary watercolour. ( 1) Gradated wash A wash that is light or thin in an area where little colour has been applied, and gradually becomes darker or heavier into another area, where more colour has been applied. (1) Gradation A gradual, smooth change from one aspect to another e.g. from dark to light, large to small, rough to smooth or one colour to another. (1) Graffito A method in which a line is produced by scratching through one pigmented surface to reveal another (1) Graphite A form of carbon with a metallic lustre and a greasy feel. Compressed with fine clay, it is used in lead pencils, paints, and various coatings. ( 1) Grey scale The range of steps between black and white that can be separately identified within an image. (1) Grisaille A painting executed entirely in shades of grey. (2) Gum Arabic A gum, extracted from Acacia trees, used in solution as a medium for watercolour paints. ( 3) Gum A plant substance soluble in water. ( 3) Halftone The transition colour that a painter uses to move from light to dark. (12) Hard-Edge A term first used in the 1950s to distinguish styles of painting in which shapes are precisely defined by sharp edges, in contrast to the usually blurred or soft edges in Abstract Expressionist paintings. (4) Hatching A technique used in drawing in which lines are placed in parallel series to darken the value of an area. (4) High art Fine art or beaux-arts that represents the epitome of artistic achievement. Traditionally, high art consists of meticulous expression in fine materials, on subject matter that is refined or noble, with appreciation of it dependent on intelligence, social standing, educated taste, and a willingness to be challenged. (1) Historiated Adjective referring to ornamentation of something else, e.g. capital letters, with representation of e.g. plants, animals, or human figures, thus giving an added narrative function as distinct from pure decoration (1) Horror Vacui The compulsion to fill the whole space of an artwork. Horror vacui is indicated by a crowded design. In Latin, it is literally, "fear of empty space" (1) Hue That property of a colour identifying a specific, named wavelength of light. (4) Humanism A cultural and intellectual movement during the Renaissance, following the rediscovery of the art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. A philosophy or attitude concerned with the interests, achievements, and capabilities of human beings rather than with the abstract concepts and problems of theology or science. (4) Iconoclast art A type of art without religious figures created during the reigns of Leo III and a string of his successors (AD 730-843). These rulers banned religious figures. (5) Idiom A style or technique characteristic of an individual artist, period, movement, or medium. (1) Imbrication An overlapping effect such as produced by tiles, shingles, feathers or scales (1) Impasto In painting, thick paint applied to a surface in a heavy manner, having the appearance and consistency of buttery paste. (4) Impressionism Characterised by paintings of everyday subjects, executed outdoors, using divided brush strokes to capture the mood of a particular moment as defined by the transitory effects of light and colour. The style of painting originated in France about 1870 and was first exhibited in 1874. (4) Inimage A surrealist technique opposite to collage where pieces are cut away from an existing picture to make an image rather than pieces from various sources being glued together to make an image. (10) Ink Substance containing pigment(s) generally used for writing. Not usually applied in producing artworks as they are rarely sufficiently permanent. “Printing ink” has different constituents to writing ink, being a more close relation to paint. ( 1) Intensity The relative purity or saturation of a hue (colour), on a scale from bright (pure) to dull (mixed with another hue or a neutral (4) Intermediate colour A hue between a primary and a secondary colour on the colour wheel. (4) Intermediate colours Colours that have been produced by mixing unequal amounts of two primary colours. For example, adding more red to the combination of red and yellow will produce the intermediate colour of red-orange. Intermediate colours are located between the primary and secondary colours on a colour wheel. Also known as tertiary colour, (1) Intimism Depiction of intimate domestic interior scenes by Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947) and Edouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940) from the 1890s onwards. The styles owed much to the colouring and the move away from naturalism. (1) Kinetic art Art that incorporates actual movement as part of the design. (4) Kitsch Artwork completed in poor and/or undiscriminating taste. (2) Lacquer An extremely hard, waterproof varnish, shellac being an example ( 5) Lean Paint Paint thinned with a spirit, which therefore has low oil content. ( 3) Lightfast Resistant to fading or other changes due to light. (3) Lightness The dimension of a colour correlated with luminance. Pure white has the maximum brightness, and pure black the minimum brightness. (1) Linear A picture where importance has been attached to contours or outlines. (1) Linseed oil A drying oil used in paints, usually boiled, making it faster drying. ( 1) Local Colour The actual colour of an object or surface, unaffected by shadow colouring, light quality or other factors. (3) Loom State Canvas that has not been primed, sized or otherwise prepared beforehand for painting. (3) Los Cinco Pintores Artists belonging to a group of painters in Santa Fe, New Mexico and regarded as the "wild bunch" in the post World War I era. Commonalities were; awe for the New Mexico environment, fear of encroaching civilization, and their desperate need to record this era before it passed. Non-European trained, they painted in modernist, somewhat abstract styles. (2) Luminosity A quality, or sense of illusion, of a glowing of light coming from within a painting. (2) Lustre A high-gloss finish with iridescence (1) Magenta A colour also known as fuchsia and hot pink; a moderate to vivid purplish red or pink, named after the town of Magenta, in northwest Italy. (1) Magic Realism German art critic Franz Roh coined this phrase in 1924 to describe the less expressive (and more conservative) element of the neue sachlichkeit. (5) Mahlstick A long stick a painter uses to support his/her brush-holding hand ( 5) Mannerism A style characterized by the dramatic use of space and light, exaggerated colour, elongation of figures, and distortions of perspective, scale, and proportion that developed in the sixteenth century as a reaction to the classical rationality and balanced harmony of the High Renaissance. (4) Maroger Slow drying, painting medium consisting of 1 part lead carbonate, 1 part beeswax, and 10 parts of linseed oil cooked together. Developed by Jacques Maroger ( 7) Masstone The top tone or body colour of a paint seen only by reflected light. (3) Matt Flat, dull, nonglossy surface appearance. (3) Mauve Colour that is between pale bluish to deep purple. Derived from what the French mauveine. (1) Medium The liquid in which pigments are suspended. Also a material chosen by the artist for working. ( 3) Migration The action of a pigment or dye moving through a dried film above or below it. (3) Minimalism A twentieth century art movement and style stressing the idea of reducing a work of art to the minimum number of colours, values, shapes, lines and textures. No attempt is made to represent or symbolize any other object or experience. (1) Mixed Media Descriptive of art that employs more than one medium. The potential combinations are therefore virtually limitless but can come from e.g., paints, natural materials, man made items or different types of e.g. paints such as acrylic and watercolour or gouache and tempera. ( 2) Modernism An art style that aims to use new materials used such as paints and other materials, new ways of self-expression involving feelings and fantasies, innovative use of colour, bold brushstrokes and the requirement for the audience to interpret the art instead of merely viewing it. This approach contrasted with the more traditional forms of artistic expression of the late 19th and 20th century. (2) Monochromatic A colour scheme limited to variations of one hue, its tints and/or shades. (4) Montage A composition made up of pictures or parts of pictures previously drawn, painted, or photographed (4) Mottling The appearance of spots or blotches of colour in paint or on paper. (1) Mural A large wall painting. (4) Acknowledgements The following sources helped produce the definitions shown above (1) http://www.artlex.com (2) http://www.Askart.com (3) http://www.Rexart.com (4) http://www.Ackland.com (5) http://www.MindConnect.com (6) Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" (7) American Artist magazine, 12/2002 (8) Britannica (9) Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture", p. 13 (10) Daniel C Boyer, Artist (11) Marika Hershkovic,(Ed), "American Abstract Expressionism" (234) (12) Lydia A Miniter, Oradell New Jersey (American Artist, 6/2002 (13) Cynthia McBride, McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD (14) Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" (15) "A Studio of Her Own" by Erica Hirshler (16) Gordon McClelland and Jay Last, "The California Style" (17) Christies (18) Neal Auction Company (19) "Eva Hesse: Post-Minimalism into Sublime." (20) Cynthia McBride
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