abstract art Art that departs significantly from natural appearances. Forms are modified or changed to varying degrees in order to emphasize certain qualities or content. Recognizable references to original appearances may be slight. The term is also used to describe art that is nonrepresentational.
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 nonrepresentational One type of Abstract Expressionism is called action painting. See also expressionism.
academic art Art governed by rules, especially art sanctioned by an official institution, academy, or school. Originally applied to art that conformed to standards established by the French Academy regarding composition, drawing, and color usage. The term has come to mean conservative and lacking in originality.
academy An institution of artists and scholars, originally formed during the Renaissance to free artists from control by guilds and to elevate them from artisan to professional status. In an academy, art is taught as a humanist discipline along with other disciplines of the liberal arts.
achromatic Having no color or hue; without identifiable hue. Most blacks, whites, grays, and browns are achromatic.
acrylic (acrylic resin) A clear plastic used as a binder in paint and as a casting material in sculpture.
action painting A style of nonrepresentational painting that relies on the physical movement of the artist in using such gestural techniques as vigorous brushwork, dripping, and pouring. Dynamism is often created through the interlaced directions of the paint. A subcategory of Abstract Expressionism.Accent: A detail, brushstroke, or area of color placed in a painting for emphasis.
acrylic Paint made from pigments and a synthetic plastic binder, water-soluble when wet, insoluble when dry. Developed commercially in the 30s and 40s and perfected in the 50s through 70s, this popular alternative to oil paint can also duplicate many of watercolor's unique characteristics when used in a fluid manner. • Go to Acrylics section.
aesthetic Relating to the sense of the beautiful and to heightened sensory perception in genera
Alla Prima Italian phrase meaning "first time". Painting directly in one session with no under-drawing or painting. Usually refers to oil or acrylic painting.
analogous colors A grouping of related colors next to each other on the color wheel. Example: Yellow, Yellow Green, and Green. • Go to Color section.
aperture In photography, the camera lens opening and its relative diameter. Measured in f-stops, such as f/8, f/ I 1, etc. As the number increases, the size of the aperture decreases, thereby reducing the amount of light passing through the lens and striking the film.
applied art Art in which aesthetic values are used in the design or decoration of utilitarian objects.
armature A rigid framework serving as a supporting inner core for clay or other soft sculpting material.
Art Nouveau A style that originated in the late 1880s, based on the sinuous curves of plant forms, used primarily in architectural detailing and the applied arts.
assemblage Sculpture using preexisting, sometimes "found" objects that may or may not contribute their original identities to the total content of the work.
asymmetrical Without symmetry.
atmospheric perspective See perspective.
automatism Automatic or unconscious action. Employed by Surrealist writers and artists to allow unconscious ideas and feelings to be expressed.
avant-garde French for advance guard" or "vanguard." Those considered the leaders (and often regarded as radicals) in the invention and application of new concepts in a given field.
axis An implied straight line in the center of a form along its dominant direction.
balance An arrangement of parts achieving a state of equilibrium between opposing forces or influences. Major types are symmetrical and asymmetrical. See symmetry.
Baroque The seventeenth-century period in Europe characterized in the visual arts by dramatic light and shade, turbulent composition, and exaggerated emotional expression.
Bauhaus German art school in existence from 1919 to 1933, best known for its influence on design, leadership in art education, and a radically innovative philosophy of applying design principles to machine technology and mass production.
curvilinear Formed or characterized by curving lines or edgesAtmospheric perspective: Suggesting perspective in a painting with changes in tone and color between foreground and background. The background is usually blurred and hues are less intense.
background The area of a painting farthest from the viewer. In a landscape this would include the sky and horizon. In a still life or portrait it could be a wall or room interior. • See Foreground, Middle ground.
binder That which holds the paint together, such as linseed oil for oil painting, polymers for acrylics, gum arabic for watercolors and gouache.
blending Fusing two color planes together so no discernable sharp divisions are apparent.
blocking in The simplifying and arranging of compositional elements using rough shapes, forms, or geometric equivalents when starting a painting.
blotting using an absorbent material such as tissues or paper towels, or a squeezed out brush, to pick up and lighten a wet or damp wash. Can be used to lighten large areas or pick out fine details. • See our tutorial.
Byzantine art Styles of painting, design, and architecture developed from the fifth century A.D. in the Byzantine Empire of eastern Europe. Characterized in architecture by round arches, large domes, and extensive use of mosaic; characterized in painting by formal design, frontal and stylized figures, and a rich use of color, especially gold, in generally religious subject matter.
calligraphy The art of beautiful writing. Broadly, a flowing use of line, often varying from thick to thin.
camera obscura A dark room (or box) with a small hole in one side, through which an inverted image of the view outside is projected onto the opposite wall, screen, or mirror. The image is then traced. This forerunner of the modern camera was a tool for recording an optically accurate image.
caricature A representation in which the subject's distinctive features are exaggerated.
cartoon 1. A humorous or satirical drawing. 2. A drawing completed as a full-scale working drawing, usually for a fresco painting, mural, or tapestry.
casein A water-soluble protein found in milk that is used as a binder for creating casein paints. Casein is sometimes used as an underpainting for oil or acrylic painting.
cast shadow The dark area that results when the source of light has been intercepted by an object.
ceramic Objects made of clay hardened into a relatively permanent material by firing. Also, the process of making such objects.
chiaroscuro Italian for "light-dark." The gradations of light and dark values in two-dimensional imagery; especially the illusion of rounded, three-dimensional form created through gradations of light and shade rather than line. Highly developed by Renaissance painters.
classical 1. 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. 2. 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. The term classic is also used to indicate recognized excellence.
charcoal Used for drawing and for preliminary sketching on primed canvas for oil painting. Natural vine charcoal is very soft and can be easily rubbed off with a soft rag. Natural willow charcoal is harder than vine charcoal and gives a darker line. Compressed charcoal is available in several forms. You can choose from stick form, wood-encased pencils, and peel-as-you-go paper wrapped pencils. These charcoal formulations range from extra soft to hard. Powdered charcoal is used to transfer drawings to surfaces by dusting through "pounced" lines on the drawing.
chiaroscuro1) The rendering of light and shade in painting; the subtle gradations and marked variations of light and shade for dramatic effect. 2) The style of painting light within deep shadows. Carrivagio and Rembrandt are considered masters of chiaroscuro.
chroma The purity or degree of saturation of a color; relative absence of white or gray in a color.
collage A composition made of cut and pasted pieces of different materials, sometimes photographs or drawn images are used.
color field painting A movement that grew out of Abstract Expressionism, in which large stained or painted areas or "fields of color evoke aesthetic and emotional responses.
color wheel A circular arrangement of contiguous spectral hues used in some color systems. Also called a color circle.
complementary colors Two hues directly opposite one another on a color wheel which, when mixed together in proper proportions, produce a neutral gray. The true complement of a color can be seen in its afterimage.
composition The bringing together of parts or elements to form a whole; the structure, organization, or total form of a work of art. See also design.
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 commercialization of art.
content Meaning or message contained and communicated by a work of art, including its emotional, intellectual, symbolic, thematic, and narrative connotations.
contour The edge or apparent line that separates one area or mass from another; a line following a surface drawn to suggest volume.
contrapposto Italian for "counterpoise." The counterpositioning of parts of the human figure about a central vertical axis, as when the weight is placed on one foot, causing the hip and shoulder lines to counterbalance each other, often in a graceful S-curve.
cool colors Colors whose relative visual temperatures make them seem cool. Cool colors generally include green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, and violet. The quality of warmness or coolness is relative to adjacent hues. See also warm colors
complementary colors Colors at opposite points on the color wheel, for example, red and green, yellow and purple. (See Primary and Secondary Colors)
composition The arrangement of elements within an artwork.
cross-hatching Using fine overlapping planes of parallel lines of color or pencil to achieve texture or shading. Used in traditional egg tempera technique; drawing in pencil, chalk, pen and ink; and engraving, etching, and other printmaking techniques.
Cubism The most influential style of the twentieth century, developed in Paris by Picasso and Braque, beginning in 1907. The early mature phase of the style, called Analytical Cubism, lasted from 1909 through 1911. Cubism is based on the simultaneous presentation of multiple views, disintegration, and the geometric reconstruction of objects in flattened, ambiguous pictorial so space.
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 attitude, generated in part by the horrors of World War I and in part by a rejection of accepted canons of morality and taste. The anarchic spirit of Dada can be seen in the works of Duchamp, Man Ray, Hoch, Miro, and Picasso. Many Dadaists later explored Surrealism.
depth of field The area of sharp focus in a photograph. Depth of field becomes greater as the f-stop number is increased.
design Both the process and the result of structuring the elements of visual form; composition.
De Stijl Dutch for "the style," a purist art movement begun in the Netherlands during World War I by Mondrian and others. It involved painters, sculptors, designers, and architects whose works and ideas were expressed in De Stijl magazine. De Stijl was aimed at creating a universal language of form that would be independent of individual emotion. Visual form was pared down to primary colors, plus black and white, and rectangular shapes. The movement was influential primarily in architecture.
drawing The act of marking lines on a surface, and the product of such action. Includes pencil, charcoal, pen and ink, conte crayon, markers, silverpoint, and other graphic media on paper.
dry brush Any textured application of paint where your brush is fairly dry (thin or thick paint) and you rely the hairs of your brush, the angle of attack of your stroke, and the paper's surface texture to create broken areas of paint. Study the range of technique in Andrew Wyeth's drybrush watercolors. Used for rendering a variety of textured surfaces: stone, weathered wood, foliage, lakes and rivers, bark, clouds.
earth art; earthworks Sculptural forms of earth, rocks, or sometimes plants, often on a vast scale and in remote locations. Some are deliberately impermanent.
eclecticism The practice of selecting or borrowing from earlier styles and combining the borrowed elements.
edition In printmaking, the total number of prints made and approved by an artist, usually numbered consecutively.
easel A stand or resting place for working on or displaying a painting. A simple easel can be a tripod with a cross bar for the painting to sit on.
ebony pencil A drawing pencil that features a thick core of graphite formulated to be very black and smooth. Capable of a wide tonal range with rich darks. For sketching and drawing.
Elements of art- Line, color, shape (form), value, texture, space. The basic components used by the artist when producing works of art.
etching An intaglio printmaking process in which a metal plate is first coated with acid-resistant wax, then scratched to expose the metal to the bite of nitric acid where lines are desired. Also, the resulting print.
expressionism The broad term that describes emotional art, most often boldly executed and making free use of distortion and symbolic or invented color. More specifically, Expressionism refers to individual and group styles originating in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. See also Abstract Expressionism.
eye level The height of the viewer's eyes above the ground plane.
Fauvism A style of painting introduced in Paris in the early twentieth century, characterized by areas of bright, contrasting color and simplified shapes. The name les fauves is French for "the wild beasts."
figure Separate shape(s) distinguishable from a background or ground. 2 A human or animal form.
fine art Art created for purely aesthetic expression, communication, or contemplation. Painting and sculpture are the best known of the fine arts.
ferruleThe metal cylinder that surrounds and encloses the hairs on a brush. Customarily made of nickel or nickel-plated base metal.
fixative A resinous or plastic spray used to affix charcoal, pencil, or pastel images to the paper. Used lightly it protects finished art (or underdrawing) against smearing, smudging, or flaking.
flat color Any area of a painting that has an unbroken single hue and value.
flat wash any area of a painting where a wash of single color and value is painted in a series of multiple, overlapping stokes following the flow of the paint. A slightly tilted surface aids the flow of your washes. Paper can be dry or damp.
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.
foreshortening The representation of forms on a two-dimensional surface by presenting the length in such a way that the long axis appears to project toward or recede away from the viewer.
form In the broadest sense, the total physical characteristics of an object, event, or situation.
formalist Having an emphasis on highly structured visual relationships rather than on subject matter or nonvisual content.
format The shape or proportions of a picture plane.
fresco A painting technique in which pigments suspended in water are applied to a damp lime-plaster surface. The pigments dry to become part of the plaster wall or surface.
frontal An adjective describing an object that faces the viewer directly, rather than being set at an angle or foreshortened.
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.
foreshortening The technique of representing a three dimensional image in two dimensions using the laws of perspective.
fresco Meaning "fresh" in Italian, fresco is the art of painting with pure pigments ground in water on uncured (wet) lime plaster. An ancient technique used world wide by artists of many ages and cultures. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is a famous example fresco painting. Durability is achieved as the pigments chemically bind with the plaster over time as it hardens to its natural limestone state.
genre A category of artistic work marked by a particular specified form, technique, or content.
genre painting The depiction of common, everyday life in art, as opposed to religious or portrait painting for example.
gesso Ground plaster, chalk or marble mixed with glue or acrylic medium, generally white. It provides an absorbent ground for oil, acrylic, and tempera painting.
gestalt Gestalt theory states that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
giclees Editioned prints made with high resolution ink jet printers using pigmented inks and archival, artist-grade papers.
glazed wash Any transparent wash of color laid over a dry, previously painted area. Used to adjust color, value, or intensity of underlying painting.
gesso A mixture of glue and either chalk or plaster of Paris applied as a ground or coating to surfaces in order to give them the correct properties to receive paint.
glaze In ceramics, a vitreous or glassy coating applied to seal and decorate surfaces. Glaze may be colored, transparent, or opaque. In oil painting, a thin transparent or translucent layer brushed over another layer of paint, allowing the first layer to show through but altering its color slightly.
Gothic Primarily an architectural style that prevailed in western Europe from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries, characterized by pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses, that made it possible to create stone buildings that reached great heights.
graded wash A wash that smoothly changes in value from dark to light. Most noted in landscape painting for open sky work, but an essential skill for watercolor painting in general.
graphite A type of carbon used for pencils, transfer sheets and as a dry lubricant. Synthetic graphite is made from carborundum
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.
hatching A technique used in drawing and linear forms of printmaking, in which lines are placed in parallel series to darken the value of an area. Cross-hatching is drawing one set of hatchings over another in a different direction so that the lines cross.
highlight A point of intense brightness, such as the reflection in an eye.
horizon line In linear perspective, the implied or actual line or edge placed on a two- dimensional surface to represent the place in nature where the sky meets the horizontal land or water plane. The horizon line matches the eye level on a two-dimensional surface
hue That property of a color identifying a specific, named wavelength of light such as green, red, violet, and so on.
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.
icon An image or symbolic representation often with sacred significance.
iconography The symbolic meanings of subjects and signs used to convey ideas important to particular cultures or religions, and the conventions governing the use of such forms.
Impressionism A style of painting that originated in France about 1870. Paintings of casual subjects, executed outdoors, using divided brush strokes to capture the mood of a particular moment as defined by the transitory effects of light and color. The first Impressionist exhibit was held in 1874.
intaglio Any printmaking technique in which lines and areas to be inked and transferred to paper are recessed below the surface of the printing plate. Etching, engraving, drypoint, and aquatint are all intaglio processes.
intensity The relative purity or saturation of a hue (color), on a scale from bright (pure) to dull (mixed with another hue or a neutral. Also called chroma.
intermediate color A hue between a primary and a secondary on the color wheel, such as yellow-green, a mixture of yellow and green.
International Style An architectural style that emerged in several European countries between 1910 and 1920. Related to purism and De Stijl in painting, it joined structure and exterior design into a noneclectic form based on rectangular geometry and growing out of the basic function and structure of the building.
kiln An oven in which pottery or ceramic ware is fired.
kinetic art Art that incorporates actual movement as part of the design.
India Ink 1. A black pigment made of lampblack and glue or size and shaped into cakes or sticks. 2. an ink made from this pigment.
key The lighness (high key) or darkness (low key) of a painting.
landscape A painting in which the subject matter is natural scenery.
lens The part of a camera that concentrates light and focuses the image.
local color The actual color of an object being painted, unmodified by light or shadow. (An orange is orange)
Mannerism A style that developed in the sixteenth century as a reaction to the classical rationality and balanced harmony of the High Renaissance; characterized by the dramatic use of space and light, exaggerated color, elongation of figures, and distortions of perspective, scale, and proportion.
mat Border of cardboard or similar material placed around a picture as a neutral area between the frame and the picture.
matte A dull finish or surface, especially in painting, photography, and ceramics.
medium 1) The type of art material used: pencil, ink, watercolor, oil, acrylic, egg tempera, etc. 2) The liquid mixed with paint to thin, aid or slow drying, or alter the working qualities of the paint.
middle ground The area of a painting between the foreground and the background. In a landscape this usually where your focal point would be.
Minimalism A nonrepresentational style of sculpture and painting, usually severely restricted in the use of visual elements and often consisting of simple geometric shapes or masses. The style came to prominence in the late 1960s.
mixed media Works of art made with more than one medium.
mobile A type of sculpture in which parts move, often activated by air currents.
modeling 1. Working pliable material such as clay or wax into three-dimensional forms. 2. In drawing or painting, the effect of light falling on a three-dimensional object so that the illusion of its mass is created and defined by value gradations.
Modernism Theory and practice in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century art, which holds that each new generation must build on past styles in new ways or break with the past in order to make the next major historical contribution.
monochromatic A color scheme limited to variations of one hue, a hue with its tints and/or shades.
motif A term meaning "subject". Flowers or roses can be a motif.
montage 1. A composition made up of pictures or parts of pictures previously drawn, painted, or photographed. 2. In motion pictures, the combining of separate bits of film to portray the character of a single event through multiple views.
mosaic An art medium in which small pieces of colored glass, stone, or ceramic tile called tessera are embedded in a background material such as plaster or mortar. Also, works made using this technique.
mural A large wall painting, often executed in fresco.
naturalism Representational art in which the artist presents a subjective interpretation of visual reality while 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.
naive art Art made by people with no formal art training.
negative space The areas of an artwork that are NOT the primary subject or object. Negative Space defines the subject by implication.
Neoclassicism New classicism. A revival of classical Greek and Roman forms in art, music, and literature, 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.
neutrals Not associated with any single hue. Blacks, whites, grays, and dull gray-browns. A neutral can be made by mixing complementary hues.
nonobjective See nonrepresentational and abstract art.
nonrepresentational Art without reference to anything outside itself-without representation. Also called nonobjective-without recognizable objects.
opaque A paint that is not transparent by nature or intentionally. A dense paint that obscures or totally hides the underpainting in any given artwork.
palette 1) The paint mixing and storing surface of various shapes or, 2) The selection of colors an artist chooses to work with.
painterly Painting characterized by openness of form, in which shapes are defined by loose brushwork in light and dark color areas rather than by outline or contour.
pastels 1. Sticks of powdered pigment held together with a gum binding agent. 2. Pale colors or tints.
performance art Dramatic presentation by visual artists (as distinguished from theater artists such as actors and dancers) before an audience, usually apart from a formal theatrical setting.
perspective Representing three-dimensional volumes and space in two dimensions in a manner that imitates depth, height and width as seen with stereoscopic eyes.
Photorealism A style of painting that became prominent in the 1970s, based on the cool objectivity of photographs as records of subjects.
pictorial space In a painting or other two-dimensional art, illusionary space which appears to recede backward into depth from the picture plane.
picture plane The two-dimensional picture surface.
pigment Any coloring agent, made from natural or synthetic substances, used in paints or drawing materials.
Pointillism A system of painting using tiny dots or "points" of color, developed by French artist Georges Seurat in the 1880s.
polychrome Poly=many, chrome or chroma=colors. Can refer to artwork made with bright, multi-colored paint.
polyptych A single work comprised of multiple sections, panels, or canvas. Diptych= two, triptych=three.
Pop Art A style of painting and sculpture that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in Britain and the United States; based on the visual clich¾ s, subject matter, and impersonal style of popular mass-media imagery.
positive shape A figure or foreground shape, as opposed to a negative ground or background shape.
positive space The areas of an artwork that IS the primary subject or object. Positive Space defines the subjects outline.
Post-Impressionism A general term applied to various personal styles of painting by French artists (or artists living in France) that developed from about 1885 to 1900 in reaction to what these artists saw as the somewhat formless and aloof quality of Impressionist painting. Post-Impressionist painters were concerned with the significance of form, symbols, expressiveness, and psychological intensity. They can be broadly separated into two groups, expressionists, such as Gauguin and Van Gogh, and formalists, such as Cezanne and Seurat.
Post-Modern An attitude or trend of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, in which artists and architects accept all that modernism rejects. In architecture, the movement away from or beyond what had become boring adaptations of the International Style, in favor of an imaginative, eclectic approach. In the other 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.
Prehistoric art Art created before written history. Often the only record of early cultures.
primary colors Red, yellow, and blue, the mixture of which will yield all other colors in the spectrum but which themselves cannot be produced through a mixture of other colors.
prime In painting, a first layer of paint or sizing applied to a surface that is to be painted.
principles of design are concepts used to organize or arrange the structural elements of design. The way in which these principles are applied affects the expressive content, or the message of the work. Balance Proportion Rhythm Emphasis Unity.
print (artist's print) A multiple-original impression made from a plate, stone, wood block, or screen by an artist or made under the artist's supervision. Prints are usually made in editions, with each print numbered and signed by the artist.
proportion The size relationship of parts to a whole and to one another.
realism 1. A type of representational art in which the artist depicts as closely as possible what the eye sees. 2. Realism. The mid-nineteenth-century style of Courbet and others, based on the idea that ordinary people and everyday activities are worthy subjects for art.
relief The apparent or actual (impasto, collage) projection of three-dimensional forms.
relief printing A printing technique in which the parts of the printing surface that carry ink are left raised, while the remaining areas are cut away. Woodcuts and linoleum prints (linocuts) are relief prints.
relief sculpture Sculpture in which three-dimensional forms project from a flat background of which they are a part. The degree of projection can vary and is described by the terms high relief and low relief (bas-relief.)
resist Any material, usually wax or grease crayons, that repel paint or dyes.
Renaissance Period in Europe from the late fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries, characterized by a renewed interest in human-centered classical art, literature, and learning. See also humanism.
representational art Art in which it is the artist's intention to present again or represent a particular subject; especially pertaining to realistic portrayal of subject matter.
reproduction A mechanically produced copy of an original work of art; not to be confused with an original print or art print.
rhythm The regular or ordered repetition of dominant and subordinate elements or units within a design.
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 colors, and asymmetrical arrangement of curves. Rococo was popular in France and southern Germany in the 18th century.
Romanesque A style of European architecture prevalent from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, with round arches and barrel vaults influenced by Roman architecture and characterized by heavy stone construction.
Romanticism 1. A literary and artistic movement of late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, characterized by intense emotional excitement and depictions of powerful forces in nature, exotic lifestyles, danger, suffering, and nostalgia. 2. Art of any period based on spontaneity, intuition, and emotion rather than carefully organized rational approaches to form.
scale The size or apparent size of an object seen in relation to other objects, people, or its environment or format. Also used to refer to the quality or monumentality found in some objects regardless of their size. In architectural drawings, the ratio of the measurements in the drawing to the measurements in the building.
scumbling Dragging a dense or opaque color across another color creating a rough texture.
secondary colors Colors obtained by mixing two primary colors: green, violet, and orange.
shade A hue with black added.
shape A two-dimensional or implied two-dimensional area defined by line or changes in value and/or color.
shutter In photography, the part of the camera that controls the length of time the light is allowed to strike the photosensitive film.
sketch A rough or loose visualization of a subject or composition.
still life Any work whose subject matter is inanimate objects.
study: A comprehensive drawing of a subject or details of a subject that can be used for reference while painting.
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.
Surrealism A movement in literature and the visual arts that developed in the mid1920s and remained strong until the mid1940s, growing out of Dada and automatism. Based upon revealing the unconscious mind in dream images, the irrational, and the fantastic, Surrealism took two directions: representational and abstract. Dali's and Magritte's paintings, with their uses of impossible combinations of objects depicted in realistic detail, typify representational Surrealism.
symbol A form or image implying or representing something beyond its obvious and immediate meaning.
symmetry A design (or composition) with identical or nearly identical form on opposite sides of a dividing line or central axis; formal balance.
tempera Pigments mixed with egg yolk and water. Also, a student-grade liquid gouache.
texture The actual or virtual representation of different surfaces, paint applied in a manner that breaks up the continuous color or tone.
three-dimensional Having height, width, and depth.
tint A hue with white added.
thumbnail sketch Small (credit card size or so) tonal and compositional sketches to try out design or subject ideas.
tone The light and dark values of a color.
Trompe l'oeil A term meaning "Fool the eye" in French. It involves rendering a subject with such detail and attention to lighting and perspective that the finished piece appears real and three-dimensional.
two-dimensional Having the dimensions of height and width only.
typography The art and technique of composing printed materials from type.
Underpainting The first, thin transparent laying in of color in a painting.
unity The appearance of similarity, consistency, or oneness.
value The relative lightness or darkness of colors or of grays.
vanishing point In linear perspective, the point on the horizon line at which lines or edges that are parallel appear to converge.
variegated wash A wet wash created by blending a variety of colors so that each color retains it's character while also blending uniquely with the other colors in the wash.
visualize To form a mental image or vision; to imagine.
volume 1. Space enclosed or filled by a three-dimensional object or figure. 2. The implied space filled by a painted or drawn object or figure. Synonym: mass.
warm colors Colors whose relative visual temperature makes them seem warm. Warm colors or hues include red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, and yellow.
wash A transparent layer of diluted color that is brushed on.
watercolor Painting in pigments suspended in water and a binder such as gum arabic. Traditionally used in a light to dark manner, using the white of the paper to determine values.
wet-on-wet The technique of painting wet color into a wet surface.
