Art terms
This glossary explains some of the techniques, mediums, art movements, and other terms you’ll encounter on our website, along with links to examples in the collection.
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Showing 17 of 314 art terms
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Mail art
A practice emerging in the 1960s based on sending and exchanging works of art through the postal service. In the following decades, mail art networks expanded
5 examples
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Manifesto
A public declaration, often political in nature, of a group or individual’s principles, beliefs, and intended courses of action. Manifestos typically materialize
9 examples
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Mass production
The production of large amounts of standardized products through the use of machine-assembly production methods and equipment.
8 examples
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Melodrama
A drama, such as a play, film, or television program, characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters, and interpersonal conflicts. Behavior
8 examples
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Merz
A term invented by Dadaist Kurt Schwitters to describe collage and assemblage works he made from scavenged scrap materials. He took the word Merz from
4 examples
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Metabolist architecture
A movement in Japanese architecture of the 1960s reflecting the belief that cities could be designed according to organic paradigms. Metabolist architects
3 examples
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Mexican Muralism
A movement beginning in the early 1920s in Mexico in which the government commissioned artists to make art that would educate the mostly illiterate population
4 examples
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Mezzotint
An intaglio printmaking technique that creates soft, velvety gradations of tone. The term comes from the Italian mezzotinto, meaning “half tint.” In this
7 examples
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Minimalism
A primarily American artistic movement of the 1960s, characterized by simple geometric forms devoid of representational content. Relying on industrial
8 examples
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Mobile
A type of sculpture consisting of balanced, separate parts that move, especially in response to air currents.
3 examples
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Model
A detailed three-dimensional representation, usually built to scale, of another, often larger, object. See also, Architectural Model);
8 examples
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Monochrome
A work of art rendered in only one color.
9 examples
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Monotype
A unique print, typically painterly in effect, made by applying paint or printing ink to a flat sheet of metal, glass, or plastic. The painted image is
8 examples
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Montage
An assembly of images that relate to one another in some way to create a single work or part of a work of art. A montage is more formal than a collage,
3 examples
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Multiple
A term referring to small-scale, three-dimensional works of art conceived and produced in relatively large editions, and often issued by the same individuals
12 examples
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Munsell Color System
A system developed in Germany around 1910 by painter, professor, and color theorist Albert H. Munsell, who wanted to describe color with the same degree
0 examples
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Mural
A large painting applied to a wall or ceiling, especially in a public space.
7 examples
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