Art Definition Term begins with - A | Unique Gift Ideas

Coarse particles of natural sands and synthetic materials used to scrape away irregularities in a surface. The most common form is sandpaper, properly called coated stock.

Absorption

The capacity of a material to soak up liquid.

Abstract

Art in which the artist attempts to convey his or her attitudes and emotions through nonrepresentational means. Art that does not imitate reality. Non representational, non-figurative art work. Refers to the process of modifying what has been observed for expressive purposes. Not realistic, though the intention is often based on an actual subject, place, or feeling. Pure abstraction can be interpreted as any art in which the depiction of real objects has been entirely discarded and whose aesthetic content is expressed in a formal pattern or structure of shapes, lines and colors. When the representation of real objects is completely absent, such art may be called non-objective. In painting and sculpture, emphasizing a derived essential character having little visual reference to objects in nature. In painting and sculpture, emphasizing a derived essential character having little visual reference to objects in nature. A 20th century style of painting in which nonrepresentational lines, colors, shapes, and forms replace accurate visual depiction of objects, landscape, and figures.

Abstract Art

Art that departs significantly from natural appearances. Forms are modified or changed to varying degrees in order to emphasize certain qualities or content. Recognizable references to original appearances may be slight. The term is also used to describe art that is nonrepresentational.

Abstract Expressionism

An art movement, primarily in painting, that originated in the United States in the 1940s and remained strong through the 1950s. Artists working in many different styles emphasized spontaneous personal expression in large paintings that are abstract or nonrepresentational One type of Abstract Expressionism is called action painting. See also expressionism.

Academic Art

Art governed by rules, especially art sanctioned by an official institution, academy, or school. Originally applied to art that conformed to standards established by the French Academy regarding composition, drawing, and color usage. The term has come to mean conservative and lacking in originality.

Accent

Emphasis given to certain elements in a painting which makes them attract more attention. Details that define an object or piece of art.

Acetate

Thin, flexible sheet of transparent plastic made with acetic acid and sulfuric acid on cellulose, and used for textile fibers, photographic films, and varnishes.

Achromatic

Having no color or hue; without identifiable hue. Most blacks, whites, grays, and browns are achromatic.

Acid

A class of chemical compounds commonly used in printmaking and glass etching to eat away unprotected areas of the surface to create a design.

Acid Free

A type of paper or liquid product with a pH level of 7 or above.

Acrylic

A clear plastic used as a binder in paint and as a casting material in sculpture. A water-soluble paint made with pigments and synthetic resin; used as a fast-drying alternative to oil paint. This rapid drying paint is easy to remove with mineral spirits.

Acrylic Paintings

Many artists prefer the sharper and more dominant effect of acrylic colors. Acrylics are based on water, and can be used on many surfaces without a medium- layer. They allow sharp brush-strokes but also a more delicate shading, although it is more difficult to create a smooth change between different shades. They are usually very bright. The price of materials for acrylic painting can vary.

Action Painting

A style of nonrepresentational painting that relies on the physical movement of the artist in using such gestural techniques as vigorous brushwork, dripping, and pouring. Dynamism is often created through the interlaced directions of the paint. A subcategory of Abstract Expressionism. Action Paintings are generally dynamic and spontaneous artworks, where the artist creates the piece with gestural movements - splashing or dribbling, with no preconceived notion of its outcome.

Additive Color Mixture

When light colors are combined (as with overlapping spotlights), the result becomes successively lighter. Light primaries, when combined, create white light. See also subtractive color mixture.

Additive Sculpture

Sculptural form produced by combining or building up material from a core or armature. Modeling in clay and welding steel are additive processes.

Adsorption

The collecting of liquid on a surface by condensation.

Aerial Perspective

Capturing the earth’s atmosphere by using painting techniques that make distant objects appear to have less color, texture, and distinction.

Aerial Photography

Identifying a specialized branch of photography concerned with making photographs from aircraft for a variety of uses.

Aesthetic

The study and philosophy of the quality and nature of sensory responses related to, but not limited by, the concept of beauty. Relating to the sense of the beautiful and to heightened sensory perception in general.

African Blackwood

A wood from eastern African that is dark purplish brown with black streaks.

Airbrush

A small-scale paint sprayer that allows the artist to control a fine mist of paint. Used for detailed shading and retouching for pictures and photographs.

Alabaster

A fine-textured, usually white, gypsum that is easily carved and translucent when thin.

Albany Slip

A natural common surface clay which becomes a shiny brown or black glaze from cone 4 upwards.

Alkalies

Base compounds of sodium, potassium and alkaline earths which function as low-temperature fluxes for silica.

Alkyd

Synthetic resin used in paints and mediums. As a medium works as a binder that encapsulates the pigment and speeds the drying time.

Alla Prima

Technique in which the final surface of a painting is completed in one sitting, without under painting. Italian for "at the first".

Aluminum

A lightweight, silver-colored metal used extensively in commercial applications, and occasionally by metal artists. In a process called anodizing, aluminum is given a tough porous coating that can be colored with dyes.

Amboyna Burl

A dome-shaped growth on the trunk of a paduak tree, which are native to southeast Asia.

Amorphous

In ceramics refers to without specific form.

Analogous Colors

Closely related hues, especially those in which we can see a common hue; hues that are neighbors on the color wheel, such as blue, blue-green, and green.

Anegre Wood

A light-tan wood native to Africa.

Aniline Dye

Coloring agent derived from coal tar that is used to color fabric, paper, leather and other materials.

Annealing

1. The gradual cooling of glass from higher working temperatures to room temperature, in order to reduce the amount of internal strain inherent in glass. 2. The process of rendering metal more malleable by heating it to a specific temperature.

Anodizing

Method of dyeing an aluminum surface by coating the metal with an anodic film of aluminum oxide while it is in an acid bath. The metal is then washed and immersed in organic dyes, allowing the oxide film to absorb the dye, followed by a final washing, drying and sealing with lanolin.

Anticlastic Raising

The process of forging a piece of metal so that it has opposite curvature at a given point. The metal is worked in a way that stretches the outside areas of the metal and creates a concave curve, while the center section of the metal is compressed and forced into a convex curve.

Antique Finish,Antiquing

A technique or paint applied to the surface of an object to artificially create the appearance of age or wear through distressing, staining, glazing, or discoloring.

Antique Glass

Glass which is mouth-blown into a cylinder, scored along its length, reheated and allowed to flatten into a sheet. The term antique describes the method by which it was made, not its age.

Aperture

In photography, the camera lens opening and its relative diameter. Measured in f-stops, such as f/8, f/ I 1, etc. As the number increases, the size of the aperture decreases, thereby reducing the amount of light passing through the lens and striking the film.

Applied Art

Art in which aesthetic values are used in the design or decoration of utilitarian objects.

Appliqué

A technique whereby pieces of fabric are layered on top of one another and joined with decorative stitches.

Aquatint

A process where the plate is etched through a porous ground of powdered and melted resin, so as to produce a texture when printed. An intaglio printmaking process in which value areas rather than lines are etched on the printing plate. Powdered resin is sprinkled on the plate and heated until it adheres. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath. The acid bites around the resin particles, creating a rough surface that holds ink. Also, refers to a print made using this process. A print produced by the same technique as an etching, except that the areas between the etched lines are covered with a powdered resin that protects the surface from the biting process of the acid bath. The granular appearance that results in the print aims at approximating the effects and gray tonalities of a watercolor drawing.

Arabesque

Ornament or surface decoration with intricate curves and flowing lines based on plant forms.

Arcade

A series of arches supported by columns or piers. Also, a covered passageway between two series of arches or between a series of arches and a wall.

Arch

A curved structure designed to span an opening, usually made of stone or other masonry. Roman arches are semicircular; Islamic and Gothic arches come to a point at the top.

Archival Quality

Refers to materials that meet certain criteria for permanence such as lignin-free, pH neutral, alkaline-buffered, stable in light, etc. A quality level for art materials, such as paper, that has a neutral or slightly alkaline pH, resulting in high-level aging properties. A non-technical term used to denote material that will last over long periods (several decades) with minimal deterioration because of its chemical stability and physical durability.

Armature

An internal frame or skeleton which supports a modeled sculpture. A typical armature for a small sculpture is made of heavy gauge wire, bent and twisted to form the basic shape. Often the armature is designed to leave one or more pins protruding from the base of the finished sculpture to facilitate attaching it to the plinth.

Art Deco

An art style of the 1920s and 1930s based on modern materials (steel, chrome, glass). A style characterized by repetitive, geometric patterns of curves and lines.

Art Moderne

An art style of the late 1800's featuring curving, often swirling shapes based on organic forms. This painting, printmaking, decorative design, and architectural style developed in England in the 1880s. Art Nouveau, primarily an ornamental style, was not only a protest against the sterile Realism, but against the whole drift toward industrialization and mechanization and the unnatural artifacts they produced. The style is characterized by the usage of sinuous, graceful, cursive lines, interlaced patterns, flowers, plants, insects and other motifs inspired by nature.

Art Nouveau

French for "The New Art." An international art movement and style of decoration and architecture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, characterized particularly by the curvilinear depiction of leaves and flowers, often in the form of vines. These might also be described as foliate forms, with sinuous lines, and non-geometric, "whiplash" curves. The roots of Art Nouveau go back to Romanticism, Symbolism, the English Arts and Crafts Movement and William Morris (English, 1834-1896). In America, it inspired, among others, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). The name is derived from "La Maison de l'Art Nouveau," a gallery for interior design that opened in Paris in 1896. Art Nouveau is known in Germany as Jugenstil and in England as Yellow Book Style, and epitomizes what is sometimes called fin de siècle style. It reached the peak of its popularity around 1900, only to be gradually overtaken by art deco and other modernist styles.

Artifact

A product of human workmanship of archeological and/or historical significance.

Artist Proofs

Prints created by a print publisher for the artist to review and work with the publisher to make any necessary adjustments to coloring, tone, darkness, etc., before the numbered edition prints are printed. Approved artist proofs are signed, numbered and inscribed as artist proofs (AP). Artist proofs that are not approved by the artist are destroyed. Artist proofs are considered of higher value than the proofs in the numbered edition because of their limited quantity. Generally they make up between 5% and 10% of the total edition number. Therefore the edition may be 100 and there are 10 artists proofs totaling 110 images all together. The proofs are marked with roman numerals, for example: II/V (second of the 5 total proofs).

Arts and Crafts

Also known as Mission style, this decorative style was a rustic answer to the mass-produced and ornamental forms that dominated the Victorian style. Popular between the 1860s and 1939, this form appears blocky and rectangular and often uses quartersawn oak. arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. The chief influence behind this movement was William Morris. By the mid-19th cent., factory processes had almost entirely driven artisans from their ancient trades and threatened to obliterate the techniques they used to produce beautiful objects of utility. The Gothic revival, however, had brought into existence a great body of knowledge concerning the arts of the Middle Ages, and Morris, together with the Pre-Raphaelite painters and a small group of architects and designers, returned to these arts as a rich source of inspiration.

Ash

The residue ash made by burning tree, plant, or vegetable material; can be used alone or with other materials for glaze at stoneware temperatures; it is traditional in Asia where wood has been a common fuel; volcanic ash can also be used.

Assemblage

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

Asymmetrical

Without symmetry.

Atelier

French term for "artist’s workshop."

Atomospheric Perspective

A device for suggesting three - dimensional depth on a two-dimensional surface. Forms meant to be perceived as distant from the viewer are blurred, indistinct, misty and often bluer.

Authenticity Statement

A document that insures the originality of the artwork you buy, in cases where signing the work itself is impossible. May include a signature of the artist, date of creation, number, dimensions, materials, and any other detail you find relevant.

Autochrome

A practical, additive photo process perfected in 1907 using a glass plate dusted with transparent grains of potato starch dyed red, green and blue. These starch grains act as tiny color filters, allowing light to affect a piece of film sandwiched behind the glass plate. Film is then reverse processed into a positive transparency. Graininess and spots often appear in the finished image because starch grains could not be evenly mixed.

Avant-Garde

A group active in the invention and application of new ideas and techniques in an original or experimental way. A group of practitioners and/or advocates of a new art form may also be called avant-garde. Some avant-garde works are intended to shock those who are accustomed to traditional, established styles. French for advance guard" or "vanguard." Those considered the leaders (and often regarded as radicals) in the invention and application of new concepts in a given field.

Aventurine