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Glossary Alphabetical, N - Z N - Z 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.Naive art Art made by people with no formal art training or in the style of those who would not have training. Thus, works display a simple approach to subject matter, non-scientific perspective. (4) Naturalism Representational art in which the artist interprets visual reality whilst retaining something of the natural appearance or look of the objects depicted. Naturalism varies greatly from artist to artist, depending on the degree and kind of subjective interpretation. (4) Negative shape A background shape seen in relation to foreground shapes. (4) Negative space Empty space in an artwork. (1) Neoclassicism New classicism. A revival of classical Greek and Roman forms in art, music, and literature, usually executed with sharp outlines, reserved emotions, deliberate (often mathematical) composition, and cool colours. Popular particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe and America, it was part of a reaction to the excesses of Baroque and Rococo art. (1&2&4) Neo-Expressionism “New” expressionism, neo - expressionist works depict intense emotions and symbolism, sometimes using unconventional media and intense colours with turbulent compositions and subject matter. (2) Neo-impressionism A movement in painting that was an outgrowth of and reaction to Impressionism. It was originated by Georges-Pierre Seurat (French, 1859-1891), who employed a technique called pointillism (also called divisionism, or confettiism), based on the scientific juxtaposition of touches or dots of pure colour. (1) Neo-Plasticism Also called De Stijl. An art movement advocating pure abstraction and simplicity with form reduced to the rectangle and colour to the primary colours plus black and white. Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872-1944) was the group's leading figure, publishing a manifesto titled Neo-Plasticism in 1920. (1) Neutrals Colours not associated with any single hue i.e. Blacks, whites, greys, and dull grey-browns. A neutral can be made by mixing complementary hues. (4) Non-objective art Artworks having no recognizable subject matter. Also known as non-representational art. (1) Non-representational Art without reference to anything outside itself-without representation. Also called non-objective i.e. -without recognizable objects. (4) Objet d'art French for "art object." The phrase usually refers to small, exquisite, and decorative art (5) Oeuvre The total body of work produced by an artist. French for “work”. (2) Oil paint Slow drying paint made of pigments mixed with an oil. Oil paints are usually opaque and traditionally used on canvas. ( 1) Op Art Short for Optical Art, a style popular in the 1960s that was based on optical principles and optical illusion in which artists sought to create an impression of movement on the picture surface. (1) Opaque Impenetrable by light; neither transparent nor translucent. (4) Optical colour mixture Apparent rather than actual colour mixture, produced by interspersing brush strokes or dots of colour instead of physically mixing them. The implied mixing occurs in the eye of the viewer and produces a lively colour sensation. (4) Orphism A style of painting related to Cubism, that employed overlapping planes of bright, contrasting colours. It was generally both more abstract and more colourful than other forms of Cubism. The name, chosen by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire (French, 1880-1918) in 1913, harkened back to Orpheus, the singer and poet of Greek mythology. (1) Outer Art A movement dating from 1990 with a focus on making artwork that is as ugly as possible, wrong as possible, and generally as impossible as possible. Used as a protest against random modern art, where anything could mean art. (2) Outsider Art Works that include ethnic and folk art, completed by those outside mainstream society such as the mentally ill, convicts or other culturally isolated individuals. (17) Overpainting A finishing layer of paint applied over another layer of paint, or underlayer, once it has dried (1) Paint Name for the combination of Pigment and a binding liquid. Types of paint include tempera, watercolour, oil paint, gouache, enamel, encaustic, fresco, lacquer, oriental lacquer, acrylic, and secco. ( 1) Painterly A painting technique in which forms are created with patches of colour, exploiting colour and tonal relationships. The opposite approach is known as linear, in which things are represented in terms of contour, with precise edges. (1) Pale colours Colours having high lightness and low saturation. When prepared by mixing pigments, a large amount of white is mixed with a small amount of a hue. (1) Palette knife A knife used by painters for mixing, applying and cleaning paints. ( 1) Palette The surface upon which a painter will mix his colours. Also the term for the colour range used by an artist. ( 3) Panel A hard, base material upon which paint can be applied, often wood. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with board. ( 1) Paper Matted or felted sheet, usually made of cellulose fibres, formed on a wire screen from water suspension. Fine arts papers are made of pulped linen and cotton rags, while lower quality papers, such as newsprint, are made of wood pulp or a combination of wood pulp and cotton rag. ( 8) Parergon The segment of an artwork that is secondary to the main theme or subject matter. (2) Passage Refers to a particular segment of a painting or other work of art. It is often used to direct discussion to a transition from one colour or tone to another, or to the use of a noteworthy technique in a section of a picture, or to an area that has been overpainted by someone who did not paint the original picture. (1) Passe-Partout A mat or other border used to frame or mount a picture. ( 1) Pastels Sticks of powdered pigment held together with a gum binding agent ( 4) Pastiche A work of art made in admitted imitation of several styles of other works, used often to ridicule or satirize the style of the artist it imitates (1) Patina A sheen or colouration on any surface, either intended or unintended (1) Pearlescent A kind of light that seen in the sun's glow at dawn, giving a pearl-like quality. (1) Pencil An implement for drawing or writing, consisting of a thin rod of graphite, coloured wax, chalk, charcoal, or another such substance, either encased in wood or held in a mechanical holder. (1) Pentimento A condition of old paintings where lead-containing pigments have become more transparent over time, revealing earlier layers. (3) Penumbra A partial shadow between regions of complete shadow and complete illumination. (1) Perspective A system for creating an illusion of depth or three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. Usually refers to linear perspective, based on the fact that parallel lines or edges appear to converge and objects appear smaller as the distance between them and the viewer increases. Atmospheric perspective (aerial perspective) creates the illusion of distance by reducing colour saturation, contrast, and detail, thus mimicking the hazy effect of atmosphere on distant objects. (4) Photo Realism A painting and drawing style of the mid-20th century in which people, objects, and scenes are depicted with such naturalism that the paintings resemble photographs – an almost exact visual duplication of the subject. (2) Pigment Finely powdered colour material, which produces the colour of any medium. Pigment becomes paint, ink, or dye when mixed with oil, water or another fluid. When pressed into wax it becomes a crayon, pencil or chalk. ( 1) Plasticiser Ingredients added to paint to either make it flow or be easily redissolved. ( 3) Pochade A small colour sketch prepared by an artist with the intention of referring to it later in the studio when painting a larger more developed version. (1) Pointillism A method of painting developed in France in the 1880s in which tiny dots of colour are applied to the canvas. When viewed from a distance, the points of colour appear to blend to make other colours and to form shapes and outlines. (1) Polychromatic Having many colours. (4) Pop Art A style focused on depicting commonplace images and objects often related to mass production and commercial products such as Coca Cola bottles or Campbell's Soup Cans and iconic personalities including Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy. (2) Portrait A work of art that represents a specific person, a group of people, (can be an animal but this definition is not applied on this website). Portraits usually show what a person looks like as well as revealing something about the subject's personality. (1) Positive shape A figure or foreground shape, as opposed to a negative ground or background shape. (4) Positive space Space in an artwork that is filled with something, The opposite of negative space (1) Post-Impressionism A general term applied to various personal styles of painting by French artists (or artists living in France) concerned with the significance of form, symbols, expressiveness and psychological intensity. It developed from about 1885 to 1900 in reaction to what these artists saw as the somewhat formless and aloof quality of Impressionist painting. (4) Post-Minimalism Although minimalist art of the 1960s had a stripped-down, prefabricated look, striving to be free of symbolic undertones, art with minimalist tendencies from the 1970s onward typically became more content-laden. The term Post-Minimalism was coined by Robert Pincus-Witten in Artforum, November, 1971, (19) Post-Modern An attitude or trend of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, in which artists and architects accept all that modernism rejects. In most visual arts, Post-Modern is characterized by an acceptance of all periods and styles, including modernism, and a willingness to combine elements of all styles and periods. Although modernism makes distinctions between high art and popular taste, Post-Modernism makes no such value judgments. (4) Precisionism A style of early twentieth century painting in which are depicted scenes of mechanical and industrial subject matter, such as smokestacks, steel foundries, or grain elevators. These subjects were usually reduced or simplified to geometric forms and rendered in bright and clear light, by a combination of abstraction and realism. (1) Prehistoric art Art created before written history. Often the only record of early cultures. (4) Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood A group of English artists that formed an association in 1848 to recapture the beauty and simplicity of the medieval world. Their painting style customarily using bright colours, and attention to detail, reacted to the sterility of English art, along with the materialism resulting from England's industrialization. They identified Raphael (Italian, 1483-1520) with the scientific interests of Renaissance art, which they felt had led to modern technological development. They aimed to study nature, to sympathize with what was direct, serious and heartfelt, and to infuse their works with literary symbolism,. (1) Primary colours Those hues that cannot be produced by mixing other hues. Pigment primaries are red, yellow, and blue; light primaries are red, green, and blue. Theoretically, pigment primaries can be mixed together to form all the other hues in the spectrum. (4) Primer In painting, a first layer of paint or sizing applied to a surface that is to be painted. (4) Principles of art Refers to the different ways that the elements of art may be used in a work of art. Artists "design" their works to varying degrees by controlling and ordering the elements of art. To do this, they use such principles as balance, coherence, emphasis, eurythmy, harmony, horror vacui, movement, pattern, proportion, rhythm, unity, variety (1) Puce Brownish purple. (1) Purple A mixture of red and violet hues. It is the only colour on a conventional twelve-colour colour wheel that is not natural to the visible spectrum (as the spectrum consists in differences in wavelength, purple is a created colour that bridges the wavelength gap between the upper and lower ends of the spectrum). (1) Rayonism A type of abstract or semi-abstract painting characterized by the fragmentation of forms into masses of slanting lines. In addition, the Rayonists expounded a theory that "The rays which emanate from the objects and cross over one another give rise to rayonist forms. The artist transforms these by bending them to his desire for aesthetic expression." (1) Realism A type of representational art in which the artist depicts as closely as possible what the eye sees. Also, a mid-nineteenth-century style, based on the idea that ordinary people and everyday activities are worthy subjects for art. (4) Refraction The bending of light from one course in one medium to a different course through another medium of different refractive index. (3) Refractive Index The relationship of the speed of light through a vacuum and the speed through another substance. (3) Renaissance Literally, “rebirth”. The period in Europe from the 14th to the 16th century, characterized by a renewed interest in Classical art, architecture, literature and philosophy. The Renaissance began in Italy and gradually spread to the rest of Europe. (2) Representational art Art in which it is the artist's intention to represent a particular subject; especially pertaining to realistic portrayal of subject matter. (4) Resin Natural or synthetic organic compound consisting of a noncrystalline solid or viscous liquid substance or mixture, usually transparent or translucent yellow to brown, it can melt and burn and, after drying sets hard. Used as varnishes as well as turpentine ( 8) Rococo From the French rocaille meaning "rock work." This late Baroque (c. 1715-1775) style used in interior decoration and painting was characteristically playful, pretty, romantic, and visually loose or soft; it used small scale and ornate decoration, pastel colours, and asymmetrical arrangement of curves. It aimed to portray the carefree life of the aristocracy rather than on grand heroes or pious martyrs. Love and romance were considered better subjects for art than historical or religious subjects. Rococo was popular in France and southern Germany in the 18th century. (1&4) Romanticism A literary and artistic movement of late 18th and 19th century Europe, aimed at asserting the validity of subjective experience as a countermovement to the often-cold formulas of Neoclassicism. Pictures characterized intense emotional excitement and powerful forces in nature, exotic lifestyles, danger, suffering, and nostalgia. Has developed to represent art of any period based on spontaneity, intuition, and emotion rather than carefully organized rational approaches to form. (4) Rubénisme The doctrine that colour, rather than form, was the most important element in painting. A movement in seventeenth century France which highly valued the colouristic brilliance and painterly style of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). (1) Sacral-Idyllic A landscape scene whose theme is usually of country life. (2) Sanquine A red-brown chalk. ( 3) Saponification The process in which a paint binder, under moist and alkaline conditions, becomes transparent or discoloured. (3) Saturation A colour's purity or intensity of hue. A pure hue has the highest saturation. (1) Scrumbling A technical term describing the laying of paint on a ground with a palette knife and then brushing it so that a previously-applied bottom layer of paint shows through. The goal is to create an impression of texture. (11) Seascape A picture of a scene at sea or a scene prominently including a portion of the sea. (1) Secondary colours Pigment secondaries are the hues produced in slightly dulled form by mixing two primaries. (4) Segantini stitch In painting, a divisionist brushstroke technique characterized by short, slanting, hatched brushstrokes. It was named after Giovanni Segantini (Italian, 1858-1899). (1) Sepia Dark reddish brown. Usually refers to pigments of inks used in drawing, printmaking, and photography. (1) Sfumato The technique of blurring or softening sharp outlines by subtle and gradual blending (feathering) of one tone into another. This effect slightly lessens the perception that a still image is entirely still, instead lending a vague sense of movement. Best known in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and Correggio (1) Sgraffito Technique in which the surface layer is incised or cut away to reveal a contrasting colour. (3) Shade A hue with black added. (4) Shellac A yellow resin formed from secretions of the LAC insect, used in making varnish. ( 3) Sienna Yellowish brown. (1) Silverpoint A drawing method using a piece of metal, usually silver wire, drawn on a ground prepared with Chinese white, sometimes with pigment added. (3) Sinopia A red-brown chalk used for marking-out frescoes ( 3) Site-specific art Any work made for a certain place, which cannot be separated or exhibited apart from its intended environment (4) Social realism A type of realism, which is more overtly political in content, critical of society and marked by its realistic depiction of social problems. (1) Still Life A painting or other two-dimensional work of art representing inanimate objects such as bottles, fruit, and flowers. Also, the arrangement of these objects from which a drawing, painting, or other work is made. (4) Still-life A picture of inanimate objects such as vessels, food, flowers, books, clothing. (1) Stipple Stipple is a method of application employing dots rather than lines to create an effect on an artwork. (1) Stretcher A wooden chassis for textile supports with expandable corners. ( 3) Style A characteristic handling of media and elements of form that gives a work its identity as the product of a particular person, group, art movement, period, or culture. (4) Subtractive Colour Colour resulting from the absorption of light rather than the emission of light. (3) Surrealism A movement in literature and the visual arts based upon revealing the unconscious mind in dream images, the irrational, and the fantastic. Developed in the mid1920s and remaining strong until the mid1940s, it grew out of Dada and automatism. Surrealism took two directions: representational with their uses of impossible combinations of objects depicted in realistic detail and abstract through the use of fantastic shapes and vaguely defined creatures. (4) Symbolism An art movement that used symbols to convey imprecise, mysterious or ambiguous meanings and ideas. Influenced by Romanticism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, it rejected the purely visual realism of the Impressionists, and the rationality of the Industrial Age. It thrived in France in the late nineteenth century and its influence spread throughout much of Europe. Various approaches were taken, from the literary approach, where some of the imagery of writers was employed, including icons as severed heads, monsters and glowing or smoky spirits, synthesized from elements of Bible stories and ancient myths. Another group, taking a more formal approach, developed linear stylisations and innovative uses of colour produced emotional effects. (1) Synchromism A style of painting employing pure colours in harmonious abstract arrangement, first exhibited in Paris in 1913. (1) Tachisme Art characterized by abstract painting where the artist applied the colour in blots or stains Coined by the French art critic Charles Estiennie, in the early 1950s. (5) Tempera A water-based paint that uses either egg, egg yolk, glue, or casein as a binder ( 4) Tint Term for a hue lightened with white. In addition, in a mixture of colours, the tint is the dominant colour. (3) Tonalism A term used as both a style of painting and an art "movement", often seen as an opposite of Impressionism. Tonalists believed the tone or value changes (light to dark) held primacy in creating both form and light. (20) Toner A dye that can bleed or migrate through dried paint films. ( 3) Traction In oils, the movement of one paint layer over another. (3) Tragacanth A gum, extracted from certain Astragalus plants, used as a binding agent in watercolour paints and pastels. ( 3) Triptych A painting or carving that has three side-by-side parts, panels, or canvases. Typically, a triptych has three hinged panels, the two outer panels designed so that they can be folded in towards the central one. (1) Trompe l’Oeil A painting or other work of two-dimensional art rendered in such a realistic manner as to ‘trick’ the viewer into thinking it is three-dimensional reality. A French term meaning “deception of the eye.” (2) Ukiyo-e Japanese pictures (17th to 19th centuries) celebrating the culture of the Yoshiwara (brothel) quarter of Edo (Tokyo). Geishas were favourite subjects, but so were landscapes and scenes from historical legends, epics, and folktales. (5) Ultramarine Blue pigment originally made from ground lapis lazuli. (1) Underpainting The traditional stage in oil painting of using a monochrome colour as a base for composition of the final picture. (3) Value The lightness or darkness of tones or colours. White is the lightest value; black is the darkest. The value halfway between these extremes is called middle grey. (4) Varnish Generally, a more or less transparent film-forming liquid that dries into a solid film, thus protecting what is underneath. ( 3) Veduta An accurate representation of an urban landscape. Italian for "view". (3) Venice Turpentine A semisolid mixture of a resin and an essential oil. Used primarily in making mediums and diluents for oil painting. ( 3) Verdaccio Old term for green underpainting. (3) Vermilion A red pigment. (1) Viridian A green pigment. (1) Vorticism A short-lived modernist English art movement centred on hard edges and angles, as seen in Cubism but often applied to powerful machinery and massive structures. Founded in 1914 by painter Wyndam Lewis (English, 1882-1957), along with poet Ezra Pound (American, 1885-1972), who devised the group's name, the vortex represented "the point of maximum energy," seen as the essential characteristic of modern life. (1) Warm colours Colours whose relative visual temperature makes them seem warm. Warm colours or hues include red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, and yellow. (4) Wash A thin layer of transparent or heavily diluted paint or ink. (3) Watercolour Paint that uses water as a medium. ( 1) White Spirit A thinner used with oil paints replacing Turpentine. ( 3) Whiting Chalk, which is purified, ground with water and dried to form an inert pigment. ( 3) Xanthic Relating or tending toward a yellow colour. "Xanthic" has its roots in the Greek word "xanthos" which means "yellow." (1) Yamato-e The Japanese naturalistic narrative style of painting (circa, 10th century) (5) Yellowing The effect of yellow discolouration on oil paintings, usually caused by either excessive use of linseed oil when originally painted, through subsequent application of varnishes that are prone to yellow with age, or, most often, an accumulation of dirt embedded into the varnish. (2) Zenga Japanese paintings (in ink) characterized by their boldness and spontaneity. (5) Zoomorphic Describes the forms of works of art and ornaments based on animal shapes. (3) 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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