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Feb 6, 2020 · Art terms are a fundamental part of creating art because they summarise complicated concepts succinctly. And given that art terms are used by course instructors and educational books across the board, it’s a good idea to get yourself familiar with them if you want to further your skills.
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Learn about the materials, techniques, movements, and themes of modern and contemporary art from around the world.
Oct 5, 2023 · Making Art Accessible to All. From A to Z, our glossary breaks down the complexities of artistic jargon, ensuring everyone can appreciate, understand, and engage with the world of art.
- Abstraction
- Art Deco
- Arts and Crafts
- Avant-Garde
- Barbizon School
- Baroque
- Belle Epoque
- Classical
- Chiaroscuro
- Composition
Works that do not seek to depict a scene or object, but instead use colour, shape, line and form to create compositions that are non-representational or non-objective. Famous exponents of this type of art are Jackson Pollock, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Mark Rothko and Piet Mondrian. Kandinsky's Composition VII (1913)
Taken from the French term 'Arts Decoratifs'; Art Deco is an artistic and design style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s. It is characterised by bold geometric shapes, stylised forms, and an emphasis on luxury and glamour. Art Deco originated in France and quickly spread throughout Europe and the United States, becoming a popular design style for...
The Arts and Crafts movement was a design and social movement that originated in Britain in the late 19th century and spread worldwide. The movement aimed to promote traditional craftsmanship and oppose the mass-produced, machine-made goods that dominated the industrial era. It had a significant influence on architecture, decorative arts, and desig...
French military term for ‘advanced guard’ (ie normally a reconnaissance unit which scouted out the battlefield); in artistic terms, avant-garde means those who innovate, experiment or invent. So the impressionists in the 1860s would have been considered avant-garde.
An art movement that emerged in the mid-19th century in France, named after the village of Barbizon (on the edge of the Fontainebleau Forest near Paris, a gathering place for artists). Members of the school focused on painting landscapes and other scenes from nature, often working outside, and seeking to capture light and atmosphere. By contrast wi...
Extravagant and intricate art from the 17th and early 18th century, characterised by dramatic lighting, intense emotion and a sense of immediacy and energy. Baroque artists often use strong contrasts between light and dark (known as chiaroscuro) and dramatic poses. Eventually the Baroque era was replaced by the Rococo period. The most famous Baroqu...
French term meaning ‘beautiful era’; describes the period from 1890 to the start of World War I in 1914; Monet was productive during this period, which also saw Pablo Picasso and Henri Matissedevelop into mature artists.
Classical art refers to the art of ancient Greece and Rome, produced between the 5th Century BC to the 4th Century AD. It is characterised by its emphasis on symmetry, proportion, and idealised beauty, as well as its use of naturalistic forms and realistic depictions of the human figure. Not much classical painting survives because the pigments wer...
An Italian term that means ‘light-dark’, used to describe a dramatic colour contrast in a painting. Early exponents of chiaroscuro were the Renaissance and Baroque artists Caravaggio, Rembrandt and da Vinci.
The arrangement of different elements of a painting to produce (hopefully) a coherent whole; critics will often remark on the cluttered/(dis)organised/unusual composition.
Glossary of art terminology, with dictionary descriptions and definitions of common art, painting and sculpture words, phrases and terms.
In this list, you'll find 25 words that will help you discuss art with ease. From general concepts, like brushwork and composition, to specific techniques, including c hiaroscuro and trompe l'oeil, this arsenal of art terms offers everything you need to make the most out of your next museum visit.
Jan 1, 2019 · Easy to understand explanations of the most common art terms, written by an artist. Includes over 50 photos and graphics.
