Art terms
Learn about the materials, techniques, movements, and themes of modern and contemporary art from around the world.
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Showing 23 of 342 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
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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
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Maps, borders, and networks
People have been creating maps since ancient times. The earliest map, thought to be a schematic representation of the night sky, was found in the caves While we often regard maps as objective representations, they are in fact laden with subjective views of the world. And maps change over time. Borders and boundaries are constantly in flux, shifting with wars and politics and in response to changes in international relations. Many artists have used maps to tell wide-ranging stories about conflict, migration, identity, and social, cultural, or political networks.
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Mass production
The production of large amounts of standardized products through the use of machine-assembly production methods and equipment.
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Media and performance art
Since the early 20th century, artists have been incorporating such non-traditional forms as dance, music, and their own actions into their art. The artists
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Medium format camera
Any camera that records an image, digitally or on film, larger than a 35mm frame but smaller than 4 × 5 inches. Between the 1920s and the 1950s, these
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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
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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
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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
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Metaverse
Online, multidimensional universe that can simultaneously accommodate individual users and groups as well as their identities, holdings, and transactional
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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
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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
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Migration and movement
People have always moved around the world. Early humans were nomadic, traveling in search of food, shelter, and safety. Today, people move for many different As people move, they bring their traditions, knowledge, and beliefs with them. Often, as much as they absorb the culture of their new home, they influence it with their own traditions.
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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
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Mobile
A type of sculpture consisting of balanced, separate parts that move, especially in response to air currents.
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Model
A detailed three-dimensional representation, usually built to scale, of another, often larger, object. See also, Architectural Model);
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Modern art
Modern art is generally described as art produced after the Industrial Revolution, a period of global change that reached its peak in the mid-1800s with
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Monochrome
A work of art rendered in only one color.
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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Mural
A large painting applied to a wall or ceiling, especially in a public space.
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