ART GLOSSARY

A     B     C     D     E     F     G     H     I     J     K     L     M    N     O     
P     Q     R     S     T     U     V     W     X     Y     Z

 

 

A

Abstract art – is a kind of art which does not follow any usual painting style. The elements in the abstract art do not resemble to their usual form.

Acrylic paint – this paint consists of tincture of colors mixed with synthetic blended water. The acrylic paint is water soluble and has the property of drying soon. The paintings created with the acrylic paints remain water proof.

Action painting – a painting with no theme but is created by the result of the artist’s action with the brush, the strokes of the artists and his various movements are captured in the medium.

Alabaster – This material is used in sculpting, it comes from the family of gypsum; it appears to be smooth and finely grained. This stuff is very soft and it is used for delicate decorations in sculpting.

Applied art – is a form of visual enhancement which is applied to decorate the useful substances.

Art – is a form of creation by the mankind, this creative work can be innovative, imaginary or a reproduction.

Art nouveau – a new style originated during the 1880’s, this style is based on the curving and structure of plants.

Assemblage – this is a new kind of art form, where numerous objects are coupled together to produce one sculpture or any other kind of art work. This innovative idea is used to bring out the significant properties of the objects used.

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B

Baroque – This is an art movement or revolution which originated during the seventeenth century. Mostly the catholic countries only adopted this kind of art form. The paintings and sculptures created using this form mainly emphasized on emotional expressions, shades etc.

Bauhaus – A very popular German art school during the 1900’s, which gave very famous artists to the world and is also responsible in motivating artists to use technology. This art school stressed on combining art forms with the machinery.

Biomorphic – this introduced a style of creation derived from the biological organisms or plants. This became popular in the mid twentieth century.

Broken art –this is a new art style where the strokes are not smooth but they are broken or dabbed. The paintings even looked like a patchwork. The color combination also was not soothing; they used a contrast combination of dark and light colors.

Bronze – This is mainly used in sculpting, where this metal is heated and is poured as molten liquid in the cast. This process is called as casting. A sculpture cast made out of bronze is also called as a bronze only.

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C

Canvas – This is a piece of fabric in which painting is executed. The fabrics used are linen, cotton, hemp and other fibers. Since these fabrics are very tender they are placed on a wooden board.

Calligraphy – This is a new hand writing style which is very beautiful. The writing strokes vary from thick to thin.

Cartoon - this is referred to as an art work done at the beginning before starting the work. It does not try to bring out the originality of the images. Nowadays cartoons are used to depict a story and are very popular among the children.

Carving – The process of creating some art from a solid mass of substance. Usually sharp tools are used in carving. It involves removal or breaking of substance from the original mass.

Casting – casting is a process by which statues are formed by pouring molten liquid over a cast. Normally the metal bronze is used for this purpose to obtain a full sized image.

Collage – this is a kind of art where scraps of paper are glued on some base medium like charts. Normally this form is followed to depict a theme.

Complementary colors – this is a method where the colors are placed in a wheel across each other, contrast colors are placed in the opposite sides. And when these contrast colors are allowed to blend they form a new neutral soothing color. Thus a compliment or the opposite of the original color is obtained.

Composition – this process involves merging of colors or any other art element. This is very important for any art work.

Contemporary art – the modern or latest style of art work can be referred to as contemporary art.

Copyright – these are exclusive rights provided to the artists so that no one has the liberty to duplicate their work without prior permission.

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D

Design – is to create or execute an artistic style. This is the main key to an artist’s work.

Diptych – the art of connecting two separate paintings and combining them into one is called as diptych. The two paintings are usually hinged together.

Drawing – the art of portraying or illustrating some existing or imaginary object is referred as drawing. The drawing can be of various forms and structures.

Dome - this curved art structure is used mainly in palaces and churches. This is an arch which remains curved.

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E

Earth art – this art form refers to using the earth’s elements such as rocks even plants are used.

Edition - this refers to the number of prints made for the particular art work, where this art work can be a painting or a book.

Exhibit – this means to display the work of the artists, generally all the art works are displayed or exhibited in a gallery.

Etching – in this process, first wax is poured over a metal plate then the metal is subjected to nitric acid. The resulting form is used on paper.

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F

Fresco –fresco painting involves producing an art form or painting in a different medium like plaster, these paintings are usually done on wall. Where the paint is first applied in thin layers and it dries out soon and gets adsorbed.

Figure – the identifiable object and that which can be distinguished easily is said to be a figure.

Figurative – this kind of art is drawn or formed mainly based on figures. This way of depiction can be realistic or a bit of imagination can be added.

Fine art: this is a form of art where usefulness is emphasized. Depicting emotions also can be used here.

Fork art – a kind of art where the artists are not professionally trained, but they follow their own folk style.

Formal - normally artists refer the existing elements of art to be formal, such as the color, composition etc are described as formal elements.

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G

Gallery – this is a room or auditorium where the works of the artists are displayed. Normal people are allowed to see the various artworks.

Genre – this is kind of painting which depicts the usual activities of a human being. The every day life of a man is captured here.

Glazing – this process is used to enhance the original painting. Here a semi transparent oil paint is smoothed over the painting. This modifies the original color of the painting.

Gothic – this construction style was famous in Europe in the middle ages. Arches, vaults and tall stone buildings are its specialty.

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H

Hacking – the method of drawing, painting or any other processing in which the lines are merged closely to bring out the darkness of that particular region.

Hue – the original color of the object is called the hue.

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I

Impasto – this kind of painting was introduced in Italy, here thick oil paint is applied to the canvas. Since the paint is very thick every stroke of the artist remains prominent in the painting.

Intensity- the level of brightness or darkness of the colors in the painting is referred to as intensity.

Intermediate color – the category of color which does not come under the list of primary or basic colors is called as the intermediate color.

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K

Key stone – the stone present in the middle of the arch and this stone is responsible in holding other pieces together.

Kiln – normally after the pots are made they need to be burnt. This process would increase the longevity of the pots. The oven used for burning or heating the pots is called as kiln.

Knife painting – the art of painting with knives is called as knife painting. And this is best suited for the art of impasto which requires strokes to be prominent.

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L

Landscape –this is the outdoor scenery, normally painters try to depict these sceneries in their paintings. These sceneries can be natural forests, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, flora and fauna.

Lithography – the process of painting on a medium such as limestone with a particular kind of paint, later the limestone is subjected to chemical treatment. Then it is made wet and this will cause the medium to accept only the previously used colors.

Lyrical – this can be defined as the spiritual or emotional nature of art forms like painting, poetry etc.

Linen – a fabric derived from cotton and is mainly used as a canvas in painting.

Illuminate - this process of brightening up an image is called as illumination.

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M

Mannerism – this is a style which originated in the sixteenth century in Italy. The special characteristic feature of this style is the use of colors, the figures in the painting was not normal they seemed to be a little elongated and distorted.

Masterpiece – an art work which contains excellent quality and which is done with great skill is called as a masterpiece.

Minimalism – here the paintings of normal original form in minimized and they focus a lot on geometric shapes.

Matte – usually ceramics or paintings possess this kind art. They give a dull soothing finish.

Modeling – making statues or images from a medium like sand or clay is referred as modeling.

Modern art – the art which developed in the twentieth century is the modern art. This diverts from the original form of art and has its own cotemporary style.

Montage – the process of combining exiting art forms is called as the montage; these art forms can be previously drawn paintings, photographs or existing pictures.

Mosaic – filling up a base with colorful glass pieces or stones or any other articles is called as the mosaic.

Mural – this is a huge painting which can be hung on the wall.

Museum – this is a building or some space devoted to preserving and displaying antiquarian articles and facts. This place has a lot of historic and legendary values. We are able to still maintain the historic data only through the museums.

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N

Naturalism – as the name implies naturalism deals with depicting the painting or any other art form with reality. The artists pertain to naturalism by maintaining the originality of the objects.

Naïve art – this is a kind of art created by people who do not possess any professional training.

Neutrals – this is a form of coloring obtained by mixing complimentary contrast colors.

Non objective – this kind of art form does not depict any existing object but emphasizes on more abstract shapes and geometric shapes.

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O

Oil painting – in the early times water paints only were used, and they were subjected to frequent weathering. The advent of oil painting solved this problem. Oil paintings remain unaffected and they produce good quality.

Oil paint – this is a thick fluid and is not easily soluble in water. But sometimes oil paints may begin to decay to avoid this; oil paints should treat after using.

Opaque – if the medium proves to be impenetrable, then it is called as the opaque medium.

Optical color – here the color combination is not on the art form. The combination appears on the viewers’ perspective. These paintings produce a kind of optical illusion.

Original – any painting or other kind of the art work can be termed as original if the artist invented the form by himself and if no duplication was involved.

Over painting – the process of painting on an already finished picture is called as the over painting.

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P

Pastels – lighter shades of existing color or even can be referred as tints of color.

Performance art – this is a kind of art work where the artists performs some action as a part of his art work.

Photo montage – blending or merging two dimensional photographs together is called as the photo montage.

Primary colors – these are the basic colors and they do not result by combining already existing colors. Normally hues are said to be primary colors.

Pointillism – this is a kind of art work where images are drawn not smooth strokes but by joining the dots or points together. The dots will not be visible in the first sight itself only closer inspection will reveal the dots.

Portrait – this is a painting of a person. So many famous portraits are drawn by skilled artists, one such famous portrait is “the Mona Lisa “by the legendry learnado da Vinci.

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R

Realism – here the artist strives to bring out the original look and feel of the object that he is painting. There is no imagination used here, but the originality of the object should not be lost.

Relic – a legendary item which is passed on from one generation to the other.

Renaissance – this was the revolution started in Europe, which focused on art, cultural and literary work.

Reproduction – if any famous art piece needs to be recovered then reproduction process is performed in it. This process generally involves repainting. The reproduction technique is very useful as it enables to repair a damaged painting.

Romanesque – this is the roman style which was adopted in Europe, round arches take a major place in this Romanesque. They use heavy stone construction.

Rubbing – this is done over an already painted picture, this process brings out a three dimensional view of the picture.

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S

Secondary colors – these are obtained from merging and blending the primary colors. The resulting colors are slightly dull or slightly bright than the existing colors.

Shading - the process of enhancing an image or drawing by applying colors is called as shading.

Shaped canvas – this canvas originated after the advent of the normal rectangular canvas. Since it came in different shapes, it produced various forms of artistic work.

Stippling – the process of forming an image by adjoining dots or some other small fragments is called as stippling.

Studio – the place at which an artist works on his art work is called as the studio.

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T

Three dimensional images – an image which looks so natural with height, weight and depth is called as a three dimensional image.

Tint – a form of coloring which brings out a lighter shade.

Triptych- this is similar to the diptych, but instead of joining two paintings, here three paintings are joined together with hinges.

Two dimensional – this looks like a picture and has only both height and width. Our normal photographs are three dimensional.

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U

Under painting – the canvas is painted initially before the original painting is started. This enhances the painting and provides a lot of color combinations and paintings.

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V

Vault – a vault is a kind of roof built on an arch.

Vanishing point – This is the point at which all the horizontal lines converge together hiding the point.

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W

Warm colors – the colors which are not bright and those colors which contain a lot of yellow pigments mixed are called as warm colors.

Water colors – this was the basic coloring format, these water colors can be used in paper. And these are not water proof.