Guyla - A Glossary of Art Terminology

Abstract: To draw from, separate; art drawn from reality in which designs and forms may be definite and geometric or fluid and amorphous. The depiction of the essential content of a thing, a nonrepresentational summary. Often used interchangeably with non-objective; more precisely, imagery which departs from representational accuracy, often to an extreme degree, for some affective or other purpose unrelated to verisimilitude. Abstraction has also been seenas a gradual separation of signifier and signified, until the signified is suppressed altogether in favor of an art of pure signifiers.

Absurd: Generally, a state of irrationality or meaninglessness. More specifically, absurdity is a flaw in logic or a basic premise of existentialism which asserts that the meaning of the world does not precede the existence of beings capable of formulating a conception of meaning.

Acid Free: Term used to describe materials having a pH of 7 or higher when the concern is that there be little or no acid present to accelerate aging or deterioration. Acid Free is usually used to describe the low acid content of art and framing papers and textiles. The use of acid free materials in framing will help retain value and appearance of an artwork.

Acrylic Paint: Acrylic paint, widely used since the 1960s as a quicker-drying substitute for oil paints, is made from synthetic emulsion materials - acrylic resins - that are water soluble while wet but once they have dried and cured become tough and flexible. Acrylic is capable of effects ranging from translucent watercolour-like washes to opaque hard-edges in bright colors. The positive characteristics of acrylic paint include little or no fumes, quick drying time, environmental safety, water cleanup and long-lasting colorfastness. Acrylics work well when the painting is going to hang in a high-traffic, public area where people might touch the piece or it might be exposed to dust. Acrylic is easily washable and resists cracking or environmental damage.

Acrylic Resin: Any group of synthetic resins made by polymerization of acrylic esters. Polymethyl methacrylic in solid form, best known by the trade names Plexiglas and Lucite, is a permanent, non-yellowing, glass-like plastic that is frequently used in modern sculpture and constructions. It may be cast, extruded, machined, and welded or shaped by heating.

Acrylic on paper: This is an original, one-of-a-kind work of art painted by the artist using acrylic paint and applied to a paper surface, similar in nature to a watercolor.

Aesthetic: The science of the "the philosophy of art" in a work of art, as conceived variously by artists and, especially, philosophers with reference to noble aspects of experience beyond superficial appearance or mere prettiness. The theme preoccupied philosophers in ancient Greece, but the term itself first appeared in the eighteenth-century writings of Alexander Baumgarten. The aesthetic appeal of a work of art is defined by the visual, social, ethical, moral, and contemporary standards of society.

Air Brush: A device which sprays paint with compressed air to offer a broad range of applications, from wide patches to thin mists enabling precise details and is used to spray paints, dyes or inks. The principle is the same whether one uses an inexpensive contraption with one's breath or a rather expensive mechanical version of a device invented in the late nineteenth century by Charles Burdick. Air brush painting was particularly popular in 1960s and 1970s advertising and van painting, and its effect of photographic verisimilitude was adopted for use in pop art and photorealism.

Album: Typical storage format of print and drawing collections until the nineteenth century. Drawings, whether by the same artist or not, were mounted onto pages of a blank bound book.

Alla Prima: At the first; an oil painting executed in one sitting working paint into wet paint.

Allegory: A work of art which represents a type of figurative expression, usually a narrative with one or more personifications, and often with some moralizing conclusion. Allegories often make frequent allusions to Scripture and to Greek and Roman legends and literature. More recently, it has been used in postmodernism to describe the relation of one text to another, particularly where they purport to be about the same thing but actually introduce unbidden levels of signification alien to each other.

Allusion: A passing reference to an event, object or person presumed to be familiar to the audience, most commonly to increase affective potential without extensive digression. As such, it is a less precise artistic borrowing than appropriation or citation.

Analogous Colors: Colors that are closely related, or near each other on the color sprectrum. Especially those in which we can see common hues.

Analogy: A comparison in which two things have sufficient numbers of similar characteristics to conclude that they will probably share others. It is commonly used when a familiar thing is used to explain something less familiar and as such is a basic component of symbolism.

Anatomy: The study of the human body. In art, it is the special study of the bones and muscles and how they work.

Applique: An alien material applied to the surface of an art object or painting for purposes of ornamentation or aesthetic intent.

Appropriation: More aggressive than allusion or citation, appropriation is the excision of material from one context and its reuse in another context, usually with intent to expose some unrecognized irony in the original or to undermine notions of authorial responsibility. The range of possibilites extends from simple reuse, as in the art of collage, to more blatant transpositions of ideas or works.

Aquatint: capable of producing unlimited tonal gradations to re-create the broad flat tints of watercolor by etching tiny crackles and pits into the image on a copper or zinc master plate.

Arches: A type of high quality heavy paper often used in printmaking and drawing.

Archetype: An essentialist term imported from Jungian analysis, it means basic, unchanging images of a primordially mythic character that reside in the collective unconscious. The presumption is that these images are universal, transcultural, and transhistorical.

Archival Paper: A paper with long-standing qualities, acid free, lignin free, usually with good color retention.

Armature: A rigid framework, often of wood or steel, used to support a sculpture or other large work while it is being made.

Art: Any simple definition would be profoundly pretentious and tendentious, but it can be said that all the definitions offered over the centuries include some notion of human agency, whether through manual skills (as in the art of painting or photography), intellectual manipulation (as in the art of politics), or public or personal expression (as in the art of conversation). As such, the word is etymologically related to artificial -- i.e., produced by human beings. Since this embraces many types of production that are not conventionally deemed to be art, perhaps a better term would be culture. This would explain why certain preindustrial cultures produce objects which Eurocentric interests characterize as art, even though the producing culture has no linguistic term to differentiate these objects from utilitarian artifacts.

Art Appreciation: The introduction of basic principles of visual literacy -- especially the fundamentals of formal analysis without reference to iconography or historical context -- to general audiences for the purpose of enhancing their enjoyment of works of art in non- academic contexts.

Art Conservation: Principally, the technical study of the best ways to preserve and protect artworks from physical deterioration. Some programs in art conservation also address related issues, such as the ethics of conservation, art restoration, museology, and so on.

Artist Proof: Additional proofs from a print run that are not included in the regular edition or are outside the standard edition. They are traditionally the property of the artist intended for the artist's own private collection and use as part of the original artist-publisher agreement and usually limited to 10% of the edition. These prints extend the edition beyond the original numbered run. Artist Proof works are marked AP either with or without a number that denotes how many were run.

Artwork: A work of art. Sometimes, like oeuvre, it can also signify an entire body of works.

Assemblage: The technique of creating a sculpture by joining together individual pieces or segments, sometimes "found" objects that originally served another purpose.

Atelier: The atelier is a common feature of the Continental art world. It is a studio, open freely but not free, which provides a nude model in fixed sessions, but no tuition or control. The most famous was opened c.1825-30 in Paris by a model called Suisse, and was used by Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Cézanne, and other Impressionists. The Atelier Julian, opened in Paris in 1860, was not an atelier libre since it provided a teacher, though it was more liberal than the official École des Beaux Arts, for which it often served as forcing ground or alternative. Most of the NABIS worked at the Julian, as did Matisse, Derain and Uger. Sometimes these ateliers libres are called Academies.

Atmospheric Perspective: In painting, creating the illusion of distance by blurring outlines, loss of detail, and loss of color intensity.

Attribute: An object familiarly associated with an office, person, or personification, as in the sceptre of a king, the tablets of Moses, or the scales of Justice.

Attribution: The act of giving credit for an unsigned work to an artist on the basis of similarity of style, iconography, or some other material evidence.

Authenticity: Generally, the condition of that which is reliable, trustworthy, real, original, unique.

Autobiographical Art: Art produced specifically to exploit, illustrate, or record events in the life of the artist, and/or art produced to give expression to personal thoughts or to vent feelings peculiar to the artist responsible. Autobiographical art is usually indifferent to public theme.

Autograph: A painting or other work of art is said to be autograph when it is thought to be entirely from the hand of the artist to whom it is attributed. In the case of frescoes or other very large undertakings, it can hardly be expected that the artist should execute every part with his own hand, but the expression "Studio of" in connection with smaller works indicates a desire not to suggest that the work is a copy. In some cases, especially that of Rubens, one often finds that the original sketch is autograph and the execution of the finished, large, canvas was entrusted to assistants overseen by the master, who usually added the final touches.

Avant-Garde: Art which departs from the existing norm in an original, experimental or unexpected manner. Ahead of its time.

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