Art Terms

Posted in In the News on Oct 13 by Courtney Hill

Puzzled by a specific term. Here are some popular art terms and definitions.

Abstraction
The process of leaving out of consideration one or more properties of a complex object so as to attend to others

Adumbration
A sketchy, imperfect or faint representation

Altarpiece
A painted or carved screen placed above and behind an altar or communion table

Aquatint
A method of etching that imitates the broad washes of a watercolor

Baroque
An elaborate ornamentation in decorative art & architecture that flourished in Europe in the 17th century

Carver
An artist who creates sculpture

Charcoal
Impure carbon prepared from vegetable or animal substances. Finely prepared charcoal in small sticks used as a drawing implement.

Chiaroscuro
The arrangement and relationship of light against dark parts in a work of art

Classical Style
The artistic style of ancient Greek art with its emphasis on proportion and harmony

Commission
To order an original work of art from the artist

Conservation Framing
Using materials and techniques in the framing process to ensure framing do not damage artwork. Hinging the artwork instead of mounting it, using high-quality acid-free boards and mats, using no staining paste, and glazing with conservation glass or acrylic are generally accepted procedures used to help preserve artwork. The same procedures are sometimes referred to as "preservation framing."

Copperplate
An engraving consisting of a smooth plate of copper that has been etched or engraved

Crosshatching
Shading consisting of multiple crossing lines

Diptych
A painting or carving on two panels

Display
Something shown to the public; a visual representation of something

Distort
To twist and press out of shape

Dry mount
The process of using dry adhesive substances to mount paper artwork or photographs to a board, using high heat and a dry mount press.

Ecce Homo
A representation of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns

Edition
Number of prints made from an original. This number generally does not include any artist proofs or any special editions.

Enamel
When painting, used upon a ground of metal, porcelain, the colors afterward being fixed by fire

Engraving
Making engraved or etched plates and printing designs from them

Etching
Making engraved or etched plates and printing designs from them

Fauvism
An art movement launched in 1905 with work characteristic of bright, non-natural colors and simple forms. This influenced Impressionists.

Fillet
A thin moulding used as an accent in framing inside another moulding, liner or mat.

Fine Art
The products of human creativity; works of art collectively

Folk Art
Genre of art of unknown origin that reflects traditional values of a society

Fresco
The art of painting on freshly spread plaster before it dries, or in any manner

Genre
A class of art having a characteristic form or technique

Glaze
A glossy finish on a surface, to varnish

Gold leaf
Very thin leaves of real gold that are burnished onto a wood frame that has been coated with several layers of other material in preparation. The process is expensive because of the use of precious metal.

Gouache
A watercolor executed by using opaque watercolors mixed with gum

Grisaille
Chiaroscuro painting in shades of gray imitating the effect of relief

High Renaissance
The artist style of early 16th century painting in Florence and Rome ; characterized by technical mastery, heroic composition and humanistic content

Hue
Color or shade of a color

Idiom
The style of a particular artist, school or movement

Illustration
A general term used for a drawing or an original work of art

Image
A visual representation of an object, scene or person produced on a surface.

Image Size
The size of the work reproduced on a print, not the overall paper size.

Impasto
Painting that applies the pigment thickly so that brush or palette knife marks are visible

Impression
A print on paper from a wood block, metal plate, linoleum, etc.

Intaglio
A printing process that uses an etched or engraved plate, the plate is smeared with ink and wiped clean, then the ink left in the recesses makes the print

Landscape
A painting depicting an expanse of natural scenery

Laquer
A varnish consisting of a solution of shella in alcohol, often used for varnishing metals

Lithography
The process of putting designs or writing, with a greasy material, on a stone, and of producing printed impression there from. The original painting is photographed and the image is burned into four plates for a full color printing process. The ink comes from a roller on a printing press. High quality lithographs use a very fine dot screen on acid free paper with fade resistant inks.

Mannerism
A deliberate simulation or exaggerated display

Medium
A liquid with which pigment is mixed by a painter

Mezzotint
Print produced by an engraving that has been scraped to represent light or shade

Model
The act of representing something

Modernism
Genre of art and literature that makes a self-conscious break with previous genres

Monochrome
Painting done in a range of tints and tones of a single color

Montage
A collage made by sticking together pieces of paper or photographs

Mural
A painting that is applied to a wall surface

Numbered
A numbered print is designed to show the limit or size of a print edition. The number is generally placed over the size of the edition. For example 12/500 indicates that the print is number twelve out of an edition of 500. Lower numbers used to mean a sharper image, but with modern printing, the last print should be as sharp as the first "off the press".

Oil paint
A paint made by grinding a coloring substance in oil

Open Edition
The print produced has an unlimited size. The print may or may not be signed by the artist. An unsigned, unnumbered print is basically just a poster.

Original
Buying an original means you have the only one. It is the actual painting or work of art done by the artist. Most times, no reproductions are made of a painting. When a print has been made, the original painting is what was photographed for the reproduction. This makes the original to a limited edition print more valuable in that the piece becomes well known and more appreciated. Usually the original is larger than the print.

Painting
The work of a painter; a painted representation of any object or scene; a picture.

Palette
The range of color characteristic of a particular artist, painting, or school of art

Pastel
A crayon made of paste composed of a color ground with gum water

Pencil
A slender cylinder or strip of black lead, colored chalk, slate, graphite used for drawing

Pigment
Dry coloring matter; especially an insoluble powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint

Pointillism
A genre of painting characterized by the application of paint in dots and small strokes; developed by Georges Seurat and his followers in late 19th France

Polychrome
Having or exhibiting many colors

Pop Art
An American school of the 1950's that imitated the techniques of commercial art and the styles of popular culture and mass media

Portrait
Any likeness of a person; a painting of a person's face and sometimes their body

Post Modernism
Genre of art, literature and architecture in reaction against principles and practices of established modernism

Print
A printed picture produced from a photographic negative

Quattrocentro
The Italian Renaissance art & literature in the 15th century

Rabbet
The groove under the lip of the moulding that allows space for the mat, glass, art and mounting board.

Remarque
A small original sketch done by the artist, often outside the actual image of the print. It may be in pencil, watercolor or pen and ink. A remarqued print is more desirable to many serious art collectors. A remarque adds value to a print in that it then becomes one of a kind with the addition of the original artwork by the artist.

Renaissance
The period of European history at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world; a cultural rebirth from the 14th century through the 17th century

Representation
Creation that is a visual or tangible rendering of someone or something

Rococo
A fanciful asymmetric ornamentation in art and architecture that originated in France in the 18th century

Romanticism
A movement of literature and art during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that celebrated nature rather than civilization

Scratch
A depression scratched or carved into a surface

Semblance
Picture consisting of a graphic image of a person or thing

Sketch
A preliminary drawing for a later elaboration

Signature
Sometimes refers to the signature on the plate itself but is generally the artist's actual signature on the print after printing.

Signed Only
The artist signs the print only. It is not numbered and is sometimes referred to as an "open edition".

Signed and Numbered
Refers to an artist's signature (generally in pencil) and the numbering of the edition.

Sold Out
A limited edition print is no longer available at issue price and is being sold at secondary market prices.

Still life
A work of art depicting inanimate objects such as fruit, flowers, bottles

Synthetism
A genre of French painting characterized by bright flat shapes and symbolic treatments of abstract ideas

Triptych
A painting or carving consisting of three panels

Trompe L'oiel (Pronounced 'Tromp-Loy')
A painting rendered in such great detail as to deceive the viewer concerning its reality

Vignette
A small illustrative sketch or painting that appears to float suspended on a surface

Virtue
Artistic quality

Wash
A thin coat of water-based paint

Watercolor
A painting produced by using water-soluble pigments

Work
The total output of an artist