Abstract
A term generally used to describe art that is not representational or based on external reality or nature.
Glossary of Art Terms
A
Abstract Expressionism
An artistic movement made up of American artists in the 1940s and 1950s, also known as the New York School, or more narrowly, action painting. Abstract Expressionism is usually characterized by large abstract painted canvases, although the movement also includes sculpture and other media.
Abstraction
The process of creating art that is not representational or based on external reality or nature.
Action painting
A term coined by art critic Harold Rosenberg in 1952 to describe the work of artists who painted with gestures that involved more than just the traditional use of the fingers and wrist to paint, including also the arm, shoulder, and even legs. In many of these paintings the movement that went into their making remains visible.
Aesthetic
Relating to or characterized by a concern with beauty or good taste (adjective); a particular taste or approach to the visual qualities of an object (noun).
Allover painting
A canvas covered in paint from edge to edge and from corner to corner, in which each area of the composition is given equal attention and significance.
Alter ego
Another side of oneself, a second self or identity.
Appropriation
In the visual arts, appropriation is the intentional borrowing, copying, and alteration of preexisting images and objects.
Art Nouveau
Decorative style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that flourished principally in Europe and the U.S. Although it influenced painting and sculpture, its chief manifestations were in architecture and the decorative and graphic arts. It is characterized by sinuous, asymmetrical lines based on organic forms.
Arts and Crafts
Informal movement in architecture and the decorative arts that championed the unity of the arts, the experience of the individual craftsperson, and the qualities of materials and construction in the work itself.
Assemblage
A three-dimensional composition made from a variety of traditionally non-artistic materials and objects.
Atelier Populaire
French for “popular workshop,” the renegade print workshop established at Paris's École des Beaux-Arts during nationwide protests in France in May 1968. The workshop created new images daily to respond to events.
Automatism
The process of writing or creating art without conscious thought. The term was borrowed from physiology, which uses the term to denote involuntary processes that are not under conscious control, such as breathing. The Surrealists later applied to techniques of spontaneous writing, drawing, and painting.
Avant-garde
French for “advanced guard,” this term is used in English to describe a group that is innovative, experimental, and inventive in its technique or ideology, particularly in the realms of culture, politics, and the arts.
B
Background
The area of an artwork that appears farthest away from the viewer; also, the area against which a figure or scene is placed.
Batik
A wax-resist dyeing technique that is often used to make highly patterned cloth.
Bauhaus
A German school of art, design, and architecture, founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. The school’s curriculum aimed to re-establish the bond between artistic creativity and manufacturing that had been broken by the Industrial Revolution.
Belle Époque
French for “beautiful era,” a term that describes the period in French history beginning in 1890 and ending at the start of World War I in1914, which was characterized by optimism, relative peace across Europe, and new discoveries in technology and science.
Ben-Day dots
Colored dots (generally in four colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) used to create shading and secondary colors in the mechanical reproduction of images.
Binder
A component of paint that creates uniform consistency or cohesion.
Biomorphic
Derived from the Greek words bios (life) and morphe (form), a term referring to abstract forms or images that evoke associations with living forms such as plants and the human body.
Body language
The gestures, facial expression, and postures that convey a person's physical, mental, or emotional state.
Bourgeois
A person whose political, economic, and social values are believed to be determined mainly by concern for material wealth and conventional respectability (noun). Characteristic of those persons (adjective; often used synonymously with "middle-class").
C
Canvas
Cotton or linen woven cloth used as a surface for painting.
Caricature
A rendering, usually a drawing, of a person or thing with exaggerated or distorted features, meant to satirize the subject.
Cartes-de-visite
Small handheld photographic cards, first popularized in the 1850s. Inexpensive and mass-produced, these cards depicted individual or celebrity portraits, and were popularly traded or collected in albums.
Cartography
The study and practice of making maps.
Chromogenic color print
Photographs made from a positive color transparency or a negative. The color is achieved in the print by the layering of silver salts sensitized to the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. After each emulsified layer has been exposed, colors emerge in a chemical development process.
City planner
An individual who helps guide and shape the future development of a community. A city planner considers environmental and social issues, and what kinds of resources are needed to improve the quality of life for the community residents, particularly in terms of what types of new building projects may be necessary.
Cityscape
An image with urban scenery as its primary focus; an urban environment.
Cladding
A metal covering that sheathes a metal structure.
Classical
Relating to ancient Greece and Rome, especially in the context of art, architecture, and literature.
Classicism
The principles embodied in the styles, theories, or philosophies of the art of ancient Greece and Rome.
Cold War
The period of protracted conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies that lasted from the late 1940s through the 1980s.
Collage
The technique and resulting work of art in which fragments of paper and other materials are arranged and glued to a supporting surface.
Color
The perceived hue of an object, produced by the manner in which it reflects or emits light into the eye. Also, a substance, such as a dye, pigment, or paint, that imparts a hue.
Color Field paintings
Paintings of large areas of color, typically with no strong contrasts of tone or obvious focus of attention.
Column
A decorative or structural feature, most often composed of stone, typically having a cylindrical or polygonal shaft.
Combine
The technique of affixing cast-off items to a traditional support, like a canvas.
Commission
To request, or the request for, the production of a work of art.
Communist party
A political party advocating communist principles and ideologies, as developed by such political figures as Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
Complementary colors
Colors located opposite one another on the color wheel. When mixed together, complementary colors produce a shade of gray or brown. When one stares at a color for a sustained period of time then looks at a white surface, an afterimage of the complementary color will appear.
Composition
The arrangement of the elements within a work of art photograph. The composition is the interplay between the subject, foreground, background, and other elements in the photograph.
Compression
The state of being pressed down under a weight or squeezed together.
Concept
A scheme; a plan. An idea.
Conceptual
Emphasizing ideas rather than objects.
Conceptual art
Art that emerged in the late 1960s, emphasizing ideas and theoretical practices rather than the creation of visual forms. In 1967, the artist Sol LeWitt gave the new genre its name in his essay “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art,” in which he wrote, “The idea itself, even if not made visual, is as much a work of art as any finished product.”
Constraint
Something that restricts, limits, or regulates.
Constructivism
Developed by the Russian avant-garde at the time of the October Revolution of 1917, the goal of this idealistic movement was to make art universally understandable and essential to everyday life.
Consumer
A person who acquires goods or services for direct use or ownership.
Consumerism
A preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of manufactured goods.
Contrast (photography)
In photography, the range of light to dark areas in the composition. An image with high contrast will have a greater variability in tonality while a photograph with low contrast will have a more similar range of tones.
Cor-Ten steel
A steel alloy that develops a rust-like appearance when exposed to weather for several years, eliminating the need for repainting. Because of this quality, it is also called weathering steel.
Costume
What a figure is wearing.
Cropping
In photography, editing, typically by removing the outer edges of the image. This process may happen in the darkroom or on a computer.
Cubism
An artistic movement begun in 1907, when artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque together developed a visual language whose geometric planes and compressed space challenged the conventions of representation in painting. Traditional subjects—nudes, landscapes, and still lifes—were reinvented as increasingly fragmented compositions. Its influence extended to an international network of artists working in Paris in those years and beyond.
Cultural icon
A person, symbol, object, or place that is widely recognized or culturally significant to a large group of people.
Curator
A person whose job it is to research and manage a collection and organize exhibitions.
D
Dada
An artistic and literary movement that grew out of dissatisfaction with traditional social values and conventional artistic practices during World War I (1914–18). Dada artists were disillusioned by the social values that led to the war and sought to expose accepted and often repressive conventions of order and logic by shocking people into self-awareness.
Daguerreotype
A photographic technique invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre in 1839. A daguerreotype uses a silver or silver-coated-copper plate to develop an image in a camera obscura. The image is formed when the light-sensitive plate is exposed to light through a camera lens. A daguerreotype was a unique, direct positive image that could not produce copies.
De Stijl (The Style)
Meaning “the style” in Dutch, a term describing a group of artists and architects whose style is characterized by the use of primary colors, rectangular shapes, and asymmetrical compositions. The movement was a direct response to the chaotic and destructive events of World War I, and its members believed that developing a new artistic style represented a means of rebuilding and creating a harmonic order.
Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)
Artist group active in Munich, Germany, from 1911 to 1914, and closely associated with the development of Expressionism. The group’s aim was to express their own inner desires in a variety of forms, rather than to strive for a unified style or theme.
Design brief
A written record describing the elements and scope of a design project.
Die Brücke (the Bridge)
Artist group active in Dresden, Germany, from 1905 to 1913, and closely associated with the development of Expressionism. The group is associated with an interest in the distortion of reality and expressive use of color to respond to the turmoil of modern urban society.
Diptych
A work of art made up of two parts, usually hinged together.
Direct positive
A photographic term referring to a positive image made directly by exposure to light and by development without the use of a negative. In a direct positive print an image is produced on a surface and then treated chemically to imitate the tonal range of nature.
Documentary photography
A genre of photography that aims to objectively chronicle a subject or event.
Dome
In architecture, a hemispherical roof or ceiling.
Draftsman
A person who draws plans or designs, often of structures to be built.
E
Earthwork
Artistic manipulation of the natural landscape, typically though not exclusively enacted on a large scale.
École des Beaux-Arts
French for “school of fine art,” a term for art schools that advance a classical approach to art, design, and literature based on ancient Greek or Roman forms.
Elevation
A scale drawing of the side, front, or back of a structure.
Embroidery
The craft of decorating fabric or other materials with thread or yarn using a needle.
Emulsion
A combination of two or more liquids that do not blend easily on their own, such as oil and water. For example, painters can use egg yolk to emulsify oil paint and water.
Enamel
A type of paint made from very fine pigments and resin that form a glossy surface. Also, the application of this paint to a material in order to create a smooth and glossy surface.
Enlargement
A photographic print that is bigger than the original negative. Because enlargements can be made, cameras can remain small and portable yet photographers can still produce big photographic prints. Before the development of enlargement techniques, the size of a photograph was determined by the size of its negative.
Ephemera
Transitory written and printed matter (receipts, notes, tickets, clippings, etc.) not originally intended to be kept or preserved.
Etching
A type of print made by scratching marks onto the surface of a metal plate (usually copper, zinc, or steel) that has been treated with an acid-resistant waxy ground. When the plate is placed into a vat of acid, the acid bites through the exposed portions of the plate. The plate is inked, and an image is created by running the plate and paper through a printing press.
Existentialism
A philosophical attitude emerging from the early 20th century, associated especially with Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, which stresses the free will of the individual in determining his or her relationship to the external word.
Exposure
The action of exposing a photographic film to light or other radiation.
Expression
A facial aspect indicating an emotion; also, the means by which an artist communicates ideas and emotions.
Expressionism
An international artistic movement in art, architecture, literature, and performance that flourished between 1905 and 1920, especially in Germany and Austria, that favored the expression of subjective emotions and experience over depictions of objective reality. Conventions of Expressionist style include distortion, exaggeration, fantasy, and vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of color.
Exquisite Corpse
A game in which each participant takes turns writing or drawing on a sheet of paper, folds it to conceal his or her contribution, then passes it to the next player for a further contribution. The game gained popularity in artistic circles during the 1920s, when it was adopted as a technique by artists of the Surrealist movement.
F
Facade
Any public-facing side of a building, often featuring decorative finishes.
Fauves
French for “wild beasts,” the term was coined in 1905 by art critic Louis Vauxcelles to describe paintings by artists like Henri Matisse and André Derain, which were characterized by a tendency toward vibrant color and bold brushstrokes over realistic or representational qualities.
Fauvism
The style of painting practiced by les Fauves (French for “wild beasts”) in the early 20th century, associated especially with Henri Matisse and André Derain, whose works emphasized strong, vibrant color and bold brushstrokes over realistic or representational qualities
Figurative
Representing a form or figure in art that retains clear ties to the real world.
Film still
A photograph taken during the production of a film that shows a particular moment or scene. These photographs are often used as advertisements or posters for the film.
Foreground
The area of an image—usually a photograph, drawing, or painting—that appears closest to the viewer.
Form
The shape or structure of an object.
Formal
Relating to the shape or structure of an object.
Found objects
An object—often utilitarian, manufactured, or naturally occurring—that was not originally designed for an artistic purpose, but has been discovered and repurposed in an artistic context.
Framing
The method by which information is included or excluded from a photograph. A photographer frames an image when he or she points a camera at a subject.
Free association
A technique developed by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to help discover ideas and associations that a patient had developed, initially, at a subconscious level.
Frottage
Technique of reproducing a texture or relief design by laying paper over it and rubbing it with some drawing medium, for example pencil or crayon. Max Ernst and other Surrealist artists incorporated such rubbings into their paintings by means of collage.
Futurism
An Italian movement in art and literature, founded in 1909 by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, characterized by an aesthetic that glorified the mechanical world, war, and dynamic speed.
G
Gelatin silver print
A black-and-white photographic print made by exposing paper, which has been made light-sensitive by a coating of gelatin silver halide emulsion, to artificial or natural light; a photographic process invented by Dr. Richard Leach Maddox in 1871
Genre
A category of artistic practice having a particular form, content, or technique.
Geometric
Resembling or using the simple rectilinear or curvilinear lines used in geometry.
Gesture
A category of artistic practice having a particular form, content, or technique.
Globalization
The transformation of a local or regional phenomenon into a global one.
Gouache
An opaque watercolor paint; a painting produced with such paint.
Graphic
A visual representation or design on a surface.
H
Happening
A performance, event, or situation considered as art, especially those initiated by the artists group Fluxus in the early 1960s. Such events are often planned, but involve elements of improvisation, may take place in any location, are multidisciplinary, and frequently involve audience participation.
Harlem
A neighborhood in northern Manhattan, New York City. In the 1920s and 1930s, the area was epicenter of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural and intellectual movement in which arts, literature, and music by African-Americans flourished.
Harlequin
A clown figure, traditionally presented in a mask and multicolored costume.
Hegemony
The political, economical, or ideological dominance of one group or nation over another.
Hieroglyphics
A pictographic communication system, closely associated with the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are stylized, recognizable pictures of the things and ideas represented.
Horizon line
A line in works of art that usually shows where land or water converges with the sky.
I
Iconoclasm
The doctrine or practice of attacking settled beliefs or institutions.
Iconography
Subject matter in visual art, often adhering to particular conventions of artistic representation, and imbued with symbolic meanings.
Identity
The characteristics that determine one's self.
Impasto
An Italian word for “paste” or “mixture”, used to describe a painting technique where paint (usually oil) is thickly laid on a surface, so that the texture of brush- or palette-knife strokes are clearly visible.
Impressionism
A 19th-century art movement, associated especially with French artists, whose works are characterized by relatively small, thin, visible brushstrokes that coalesce to form a single scene and emphasize movement and the changing qualities of light. Anti-academic in its formal aspects, Impressionism also involved the establishment of independent exhibitions outside of the established and official venues of the day.
In situ
In its original position or place.
Inclined plane
A flat slanting surface, connecting a lower level to a higher level. Examples include slides, ramps, and slopes.
Industrial design
A field of design concerned with the aesthetics, form, functionality, and production of manufactured consumer objects.
Innovation
A new invention or idea.
Installation
A form of art, developed in the late 1950s, which involves the creation of an enveloping aesthetic or sensory experience in a particular environment, often inviting active engagement or immersion by the spectator.
Institutional critique
An art term describing the systematic inquiry into the practices and ethos surrounding art institutions such as art academies, galleries, and museums, often challenging assumed and historical norms of artistic theory and practice. It often seeks to make visible the historically and socially constructed boundaries between inside and outside and public and private.
Intaglio
A type of print made by first applying a “ground” (an acid-resistant coating) to a metal plate. The artist then uses different types of special tools to remove the ground wherever they desire, and the plate is then submerged in acid. The acid bites into the exposed parts of the plate. Ink is then applied to the plate using a rolled up cloth or roller. The ink stays only on the exposed areas, creating an image. The image is printed onto dampened paper using a printing press.
International Style
A style of architecture that appeared from 1932 to 1960 and favored boxy structures, lack of decoration, and the use of materials such as steel, concrete, and glass.
Irony
An expression or statement in language or imagery that signifies its own opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
J
Jury
A committee, usually of experts, that judges contestants or applicants in a competition or exhibition.
Juxtaposition
An act of placing things close together or side by side for comparison or contrast.
K
Kinetic sculpture
Sculpture that depends on motion.
Kinetoscope
Motion picture viewer comprising a wooden box with an eye-hole in the top where observers can watch the electrically controlled film.
L
Lacquer
Any of various clear or colored synthetic organic coatings that typically dry to form a film.
Landscape
The natural landforms of a region; also, an image that has natural scenery as its primary focus.
Lever
A rigid bar that pivots on a point and is used to lift or move loads. Examples include shovels, nutcrackers, seesaws, and elbows.
Line
A long mark or stroke.
Lithography
A printmaking technique based on the repulsion of oil and water, in which an oily substance is applied to a stone or other medium to transfer ink to a paper surface.
M
Magic lantern
Apparatus used to project an image, usually onto a screen. In use from the 17th to the early 20th century, it is a precursor of the modern slide projector. A transparent slide containing the image was placed between a source of illumination and a set of lenses to focus and direct the image.
Manifesto
A public declaration, often political in nature, of a group or individual’s principles, beliefs, and intended courses of action.
Material
An element or substance out of which something can be made or composed.
McCarthyism
Joseph McCarthy was a Senator from Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957. McCarthyism is a term used to describe the tactics employed by him during the early years of the Cold War. McCarthy was known for aggressively pursuing those whom he believed were Communists or spies for the Soviet Union. His methods included baseless accusations and attacks on a person's character or patriotism.
Medium
The materials used to create a work of art, and the categorization of art based on the materials used (for example, painting [or more specifically, watercolor], drawing, sculpture).
Merz
A term invented by the artist Kurt Schwitters to describe his works made from scavenged fragments and objects.
Metaphysical
Transcending physical matter or the laws of nature. Metaphysics refers to the branch of philosophy that studies that fundamental nature of being and knowing.
Mexican Muralist movement
This art movement began in Mexico in the early 1920s when, in an effort to increase literacy, Education Minister José Vasconcelos commissioned artists to create monumental didactic murals depicting Mexico's history on the walls of government buildings. Artists of the Mexican Muralist movement include José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Middle ground
The part of the picture that is between the foreground and background.
Minimalism
An artistic movement of the 1960s in which artists produced pared-down three-dimensional objects devoid of representational content. Their new vocabulary of simplified, geometric forms made from humble industrial materials challenged traditional notions of craftsmanship, the illusion of spatial depth in painting, and the idea that a work of art must be one of a kind.
Minotaur
A monster in classical Greek mythology that is half man and half bull.
Model
A detailed three-dimensional representation, usually built to scale, of another, often larger, object. In architecture, a three-dimensional representation of a concept or design for a building.
Modern
Modern can mean related to current times, but it can also indicate a relationship to a particular set of ideas that, at the time of their development, were new or even experimental.
Monochrome
Having a single color. A work of art rendered in only one color.
Mood
A state of mind or emotion, a pervading impression.
Motif
A distinctive and often recurring feature in a composition.
Multiple
A term for small-scale, three-dimensional works conceived by artists, and often produced commercially, in relatively large editions.
Mural
A large painting applied to a wall or ceiling, especially in a public space.
N
Narrative
A spoken, written, or visual account of an event or a series of connected events.
Negative (photographic)
A previously exposed and developed photographic film or plate showing an image that, in black-and-white photography, has a reversal of tones (for example, white eyes appear black). In color photography, the image is in complementary colors to the subject (for example, a blue sky appears yellow). The transfer of a negative image to another surface results in a positive image.
Nomadism
The way of life of people who have no permanent home but move from one location to another, often following the seasons, trade routes, or food supplies.
O
Obelisk
A tall, four-sided monument that tapers into a pyramid-like form.
Opaque
Impenetrable to the passage of light.
Organic
Having characteristics of a biological entity, or organism, or developing in the manner of a living thing.
Ornamentation
Accessories, decoration, adornment, or details that have been applied to an object or structure to beautify its appearance.
P
Paint
A combination of pigment, binder, and solvent.
Palette knife
A flexible, thin blade with a handle, typically used for mixing paint colors or applying them to a canvas.
Papier-collé
French for “glued paper,” a collage technique using cut-and-pasted papers.
Papier-mâché
French for “chewed-up paper,” a technique for creating three-dimensional objects, such as sculpture, from pulped or pasted paper and binders such as glue or plaster.
Paranoiac critical method
Emerging from psychological methods, a creative process, developed by Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí in the 1930s, for the exploration of the creative potential of dream imagery and subconscious thoughts.
Pattern
A series of events, objects, or compositional elements that repeat in a predictable manner.
Performance art
A term that emerged in the 1960s to describe a diverse range of live presentations by artists.
Perspective
In art, a technique used to depict volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface, as in a painted scene that appears to extend into the distance.
Photocollage (also see Photomontage)
A collage work that includes cut- or torn-and-pasted photographs or photographic reproductions.
Photogram
A photographic print made by placing objects and other elements on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light.
Photojournalism
A type of journalism that uses photographs to tell a news story.
Photomontage (also see Photocollage)
A collage work that includes cut- or torn-and-pasted photographs or photographic reproductions.
Photostat
A machine that makes quick duplicate positive or negative copies directly on the surface of prepared paper. Also, the resulting copies.
Pictograph
An image or symbol representing a word or a phrase.
Pictorialism
An international style of photography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized by the creation of artistic tableaus and photographs composed of multiple prints or manipulated negatives, in an effort to advocate for photography as an artistic medium on par with painting.
Pigment
A substance, usually finely powdered, that produces the color of any medium. When mixed with oil, water, or another fluid, it becomes paint.
Plan
A scale drawing or diagram showing the structure or organization of an object or group of objects.
Plasticizer
Any of a group of substances that are used in the manufacture of plastics or other materials to impart flexibility, softness, hardness, or other desired physical properties to the finished product.
Pliable
Capable of being shaped, bent, or stretched out.
Pointillism
A technique of painting developed by French painters Georges-Pierre Seurat and Paul Signac, in which small, distinct points of unmixed color are applied in patterns to form an image.
Pop art
A movement composed of initially British, then American artists in the 1950s and 1960s, which was characterized by references to imagery and products from popular culture, media, and advertising.
Popular culture
Cultural activities, ideas, or products that reflect or target the tastes of the general population of any society.
Portrait
A representation of a particular individual.
Pose
The way a figure is positioned.
Positive
In photography, images capable of being produced in multiples that result from the transfer of a negative image to another surface, such as a photographic print on paper.
Primary color
One of three base colors (blue, red, or yellow) that can be combined to make a range of colors.
A term describing a wide variety of techniques used to produce multiple copies of an original design. Also, the resulting text or image made by applying inked characters, plates, blocks, or stamps to a support such as paper or fabric.
Procession
An organized group of people advancing in a formal succession for ceremonial purposes.
Profile
A side view, usually referring to that of a human head.
Prop
An object used to aid or enhance a story or performance.
Proportion
Refers to the harmonious relation of parts to each other or to the whole.
Pulley
A simple machine that uses grooved wheels and a rope to raise, lower, or move a load. Examples may be found on a flagpole or crane.
R
Ratio
The relation between two similar values or objects with respect to the number of times the first contains the second. For example, having twice as much of an item is to have a ratio of two to one, written 2:1 or 2/1.
Rayograph
A term invented by Man Ray to describe what is conventionally known as a photogram, or photographic print made by placing objects and other elements on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light.
Readymade
A term coined by Marcel Duchamp in 1915 to describe prefabricated, often mass-produced objects isolated from their functional context and elevated to the status of art by the mere act of an artist’s selection and designation.
Rendering
A representation, executed in perspective, of a proposed structure.
Replica
A copy or reproduction.
Representation
The visual portrayal of someone or something.
Rural
An area, generally agricultural, that is not densely populated.
S
Satire
A genre of visual art that uses humor, irony, ridicule, or caricature to expose or criticize someone or something.
Scale
The ratio between the size of an object and its model or representation, as in the scale of a map to the actual geography it represents.
Screenprinting (also Silkscreening)
A printing technique in which areas of a silkscreen, comprised of woven mesh stretched on a frame, are selectively blocked off with a non-permeable material (typically a photo-emulsion, paper, or plastic film) to form a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed. Ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface with a squeegee, creating a positive image.
Screw
A threaded cylindrical pin or rod with a head at one end, used as a fastener to hold things together or lift materials. Examples include corkscrews, drills, and threaded jar lids.
Secondary color
A color made by mixing at least two primary colors.
Self-portrait
A representation of oneself made by oneself.
Setting
The context or environment in which a situation occurs.
Shade
In painting, a color plus black.
Shape
The form or condition in which an object exists or appears.
Shutter
A mechanical device for controlling the aperture, or opening, in a camera through which light passes to the film or plate. By opening and closing for different amounts of time, the shutter determines the length of the photographic exposure.
Silkscreening (also Screenprinting)
A printing technique in which areas of a silkscreen, comprised of woven mesh stretched on a frame, are selectively blocked off with a non-permeable material (typically a photo-emulsion, paper, or plastic film) to form a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed. Ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface with a squeegee, creating a positive image.
Site-specific
Describes a work of art designed for a particular location.
Solvent
A substance capable of dissolving another material. In painting, the solvent is a liquid that thins the paint.
Spring
A flexible mechanical device, such as a coil, that stores and releases potential energy, as in a spring mattress.
Stain
In artistic contexts, paint thinned by a considerable amount of solvent. Stains are absorbed into the canvas, rather than remaining on its surface.
Stencil
An impervious material perforated with letters, shapes, or patterns through which a substance passes through to a surface.
Still life
A representation of inanimate objects, as a painting of a bowl of fruit.
Street photography
A type of photography that captures subjects in candid moments in public places.
Strobe
Fast bursts of intermittent light used to illuminate moving subjects.
Style
A distinctive or characteristic manner of expression.
Subconscious (also Unconscious)
The part of the mind below the level of conscious perception. The Surrealists derived much inspiration from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud’s theories on dreams and the workings of the subconscious mind.
Subject matter
The visual or narrative focus of a work of art.
Sublime
Awe-inspiring or worthy of reverence. In philosophy, literature, and the arts, the sublime refers to a quality of greatness that is beyond all calculation.
Suburban
Relating to or characteristic of an area, usually residential, on the outskirts of a city.
Suprematism
A term coined by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in 1915 to describe a style of painting that conforms to his assertion that art expressed in the simplest geometric forms and dynamic compositions reigned supreme over earlier forms of representational art.
Surrealism
A literary, intellectual, and artistic movement that began in Paris in 1924 and was active through World War II. Influenced by Sigmund Freud’s writings on psychology, Surrealists, led by André Breton, were interested in how the irrational, unconscious mind could move beyond the constraints of the rational world. Surrealism grew out of dissatisfaction with traditional social values and artistic practices after World War I.
Sustainable
Relating to a system or resource use that maintains its own viability by allowing for continual reuse, rather than depletion.
Symbol
A form, sign, or emblem that represents something else, often something immaterial, such as an idea or emotion.
T
Technique
The method with which an artist, writer, performer, athlete, or other producer employs technical skills or materials to achieve a finished product or endeavor.
Tempera
A type of paint in which pigment is mixed with a water-soluble binder, such as egg yolk.
Tenement
An urban dwelling made up of several apartments, often overcrowded and located in economically depressed sections of a city.
Tension
The state of being stretched or strained; in construction, the level of tautness when a load is applied to a structure.
Tint
In painting, a color plus white.
Tone
The lightness or darkness of a color. In painting, a color plus gray.
Translucent
Permitting the passage of light.
Triptych
A work of art consisting of three parts, usually hinged together.
Turpentine burn
A turpentine burn is made by soaking a rag in solvent and scrubbing the canvas directly. This technique removes paint and leaves a stain on the canvas.
Typography
The art and technique of designing and/or arranging type letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, and of printing from them.
U
Urban
Relating to or characteristic of a city.
Utopian
Having the characteristics of Utopia, an ideal or visionary system of political or social perfection.
V
Vantage point
A position or place that affords an advantageous perspective; in photography, the position from which a photographer has taken a photograph.
Vernacular photography
Images by amateur photographers of everyday life and subjects, commonly in the form of snapshots. The term is often used to distinguish everyday photography from fine art photography.
Victorian
Of or pertaining to the period of Queen Victoria’s reign in Great Britain (1837–1901); having the characteristics associated with that period, especially the observance of a conservative worldview or prudish thought and manner.
Viewpoint
The position from which something is viewed or observed.
Viscosity
The thickness of a liquid. In painting, the viscosity of oil paints is altered by adding a binder (such as linseed oil) or a solvent (such as turpentine).
W
Wax-print cotton
Cotton fabric printed on both sides in a wax-resist dye process.
Wedge
An object with two faces meeting sharply at an acute angle, used for raising, holding, or splitting objects, as in a knife or ax.
Welding
A process of joining two pieces of metal together by heating the surfaces to the point of melting and then pressing them together.
Wet-collodion
A photographic process invented in 1848 by F. Scott Archer, in which a glass plate, coated with light-sensitive collodion emulsion, is placed in a camera, exposed, developed, and varnished for protection before being used to create prints.
Wiener Werkstätte
An association of Vienna-based visual artists, craftspeople, and designers established in 1903 around the idea that fashionable art, design, furniture, and household goods should be accessible to everyone.
Woodcut
A term loosely applied to any printmaking technique involving a relief image cut into the surface of a wooden block. The wood is covered with ink and applied to a sheet of paper; only the uncut areas of the block will print, while the cut away areas do not receive ink and appear white on the printed image.
Z
Ziggurat
A terraced pyramid form comprising successively receding stories.
Zoetrope
19th century motion-picture device, invented by William George Homer, in which a strip of paper with a changing sequence of images is placed in the bottom of a circular drum. The drum has slots cut at equal distances around the outer perimeter, through which a viewer peers while the drum is turned, producing a rapid succession of images and creating the illusion of movement.
Zoopraxiscope
19th-century motion-picture device, designed by Edweard Muybridge, in which light is projected through rotating glass disks applied at the rim with a changing sequence of images, creating the illusion of movement.