Dictionary of Fine Arts
By Students’ Academy
Copyright22011Students’ Academy
Smashwords Edition
Chapter 1
A
ABC Art
ABC Art refers to an art movement and style which was prevalent in the 1960's. This art movement endeavours to use a minimal number of textures, colors, shapes and lines to create simple three-dimensional structures. ABC Art is also known as minimalism.
Abstract
Abstract art is a very special form of classic art. This kind of art looks as if it contains little or no recognizable or realistic forms from the physical world. The main focus of this kind of art is on formal elements such as colors, lines, or shapes. Artists often "abstract" objects by changing, simplifying, or exaggerating what they see.
Abstract Expressionism
Abstract Expressionism is related to the values or beauties of art which are not easily perceivable with eyes. This is the art that rejects true visual representation. It has few recognizable images with great emphasis on line, color, shape, texture, value; putting the expression of the feelings or emotions of the artist above all else.
Accent
In terms of art, Accent refers to the process of singling out or stressing on something. Accent is the emphasis given to certain elements in a painting that allows them to attract more attention. Details that define an object or piece of art.
Accession
Accession refers to the process of increasing an art collection by addition; something added to what you already have ("the art collection grew through accession").
Acrylic Paint
Acrylic Paint is mostly used by the artists on their canvases which need to be prepared in short time. Acrylic paint is a fast-drying synthetic paint made from acrylic resin. Acrylic is a fast-drying water-based "plastic" paint valued for its versatility and clean up with soap and water.
Aerial Perspective
Aerial Perspective is also called atmospheric perspective. It refers to creating a sense of depth in painting by imitating the way the atmosphere makes distant objects appear less distinct and more bluish than they would be if nearby.
Aerial View
When an object is viewed from above, looking downward, it is called an Aerial View; it is also called “Birds Eye View”.
Alla Prima
Alla Prima is the method of oil painting in which the desired effects of the final painting are achieved in the first application of paint as opposed to the technique of covering the canvas in layers with the final painting being achieved at the end.
Analogous Colors
Analogous Colors are a set of three or five colors that are closely related in hue(s). They are usually adjacent (next) to each other on the color wheel.
Applied Art
Applied Art refers to the use of the principles and elements of design to create functional pieces of works of art.
Approximate Symmetry
Approximate Symmetry refers to the use of forms which are similar on either side of a central axis. They may give a feeling of the exactness or equal relationship but ar sufficiently varied to prevent visual monotony.
Art
Art generally refers to the completed work of an artist which is the expression of creativity or imagination, or both that portrays a mood, feeling or tells a story; works of art collectively.
Art Brut
French for "raw art", the art of children and outsiders (naive artists and the mentally ill); actually, anyone not producing art for profit or recognition.
Art Deco
Art Deco is a very popular style of design and decoration in the 1920's and 1930's characterized by designs that are geometric and use highly intense colors, to reflect the rise of commerce, industry and mass production.
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau refers to a decorative art movement that emerged in the late nineteenth century; art characterized by dense asymmetrical ornamentation in sinuous forms, it is often symbolic and of an erotic nature.
Artist
A person who happens to be a practitioner of art is called an Artist; he is generally recognized as a professional by critics and peers.
Asymmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical Balance refers to the placement of non-identical forms to either side of a balancing point in such a way that the two sides seem to be of the same visual weight.
Atmospheric Perspective
Atmospheric Perspective is a very special technique which is often used by painters for representing three-dimensional space on a flat two-dimensional surface by creating the illusion of depth, or recession within a painting or drawing.
Chapter 2
B
Balance
In terms of art, Balance refers to a feeling of equality in weight, attention, or attraction of the various elements within a composition as a means of accomplishing unity.
Bird’s-Eye View
Bird’s Eye View is also called an Aerial View. It is the process of seeing from a point of view from an altitude or from a distance; a comprehensive view in a downward direction.
Bitmap Image
Bitmap Image is a pixel-based image with one bit of color information per pixel, also known as a bitmapped image. The only colors displayed in a bitmapped image are black and white. Its quality decreases when the image is enlarged.
Bristol Board
Bristol Board is a high quality heavy weight drawing paper, sometimes made with cotton fiber prepared or glued together, usually with a caliper thickness of 0.006" and up, used for many types of two-dimensional artwork, including lettering.
Bright Brush
Bright Brush is a kind of brush which has the same shape as a "flat" however the hairs are not as long as those on the flat brush.
Brush
Brush is an implement that has hairs or bristles firmly set into a handle.
Brushstroke
When an artist leaves a mark by a loaded (filled) brush on a surface, it is called a brushstroke.
Brushwork
Brushwork refers to the distinctive technique in which an artist uses to apply paint with a brush onto a medium, such as canvas.
Chapter 3
C
Calligraphy
Calligraphy a distinctive style of artistic handwriting created by using special pen nibs that allow a calligrapher to vary the thickness of a letter's line elements; an elegant, decorative writing, developed to an art form itself, used to enhance the artistic appeal and visual beauty of handwritten papers and manuscripts.
Canvas
Canvas is a heavy, closely woven fabric; an oil painting on canvas fabric; the support used for an acrylic or oil painting that is typically made of linen or cotton, stretched very tightly and tacked onto a wooden frame. Linen is considered far superior to the heavy cotton for a canvas.
Center of Interest
Center of Interest is an emphasized area of the composition in a work of art.
Ceramics
Ceramics refers to the art of making objects of clay and firing them in a kiln. Wares of earthenware and porcelain, as well as sculpture are made by ceramists.
Charcoal
Charcoal is the compressed burned wood used for drawing.
CMYK
CMYK is the abbreviation for cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K). It is the colors used in a four color printing process.
Collage
Collage is a technique with was introduced by the Cubists; it is the technique of creating a work of art by adhering flat articles such as paper, fabrics, string or other materials to a flat surface such as a canvas whereby a three-dimensional result is achieved.
Color
Color is a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect; the visual response to the wavelengths of light, identified as red, blue, green, etc.; primary and secondary colors; warm, cool, and neutral colors, color value; hue; and intensity.
Color Permanence
Color Permanence refers to a pigment's lasting power. Tubes and other containers of paint are sometimes labeled with a code indicating a color's degree of permanence.
Color Separation
Color Separation refers to a traditional photographic process of separating artwork into component films of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black in preparation for printing to ultimately create a full-color printed product. Recent computer innovations have obviated the need for separated film negatives in certain applications.
Color Wheel
Color Wheel is a round diagram that shows the placement of colors in relationship to each other. It is from the color wheel that “color schemes” are defined (see illustration).
Commercial Art
Commercial Art refers to the art that is made for the purposes of commerce. The term is somewhat obsolete and is currently being replaced in many colleges with the term "Visual Communication."
Commission
Commission generally refers to the act of hiring someone to execute a certain work of art or set of artworks.
Complementary Colors
Complementary Colors generally refer to two colors directly opposite one another on the color wheel. When placed next to one another, complementary colors are intensified and often appear to vibrate. When mixed, brown or gray is created. Red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and violet have the greatest degree of contrast. Red-violet and yellow-green, red-orange and blue-green, and yellow-orange and blue-violet are also complementary colors.
Composition
In terms of art, Composition refers to the arrangement of the design elements within the design area; the ordering of visual and emotional experience to give unity and consistency to a work of art and to allow the observer to comprehend its meaning.
Computer Graphics
Computer Graphics refers to visual images made with the assistance of computers. Computer graphics are often made with software called drawing, painting, illustrating and photographic programs or applications.
Contrast
Contrast is the difference between elements or the opposition to various elements.
Cool color
Cool Color refers to those colors whose relative visual temperatures make them seem cool. Cool colors generally include green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, and violet.
Cropping
Cropping is the process of cutting out of extraneous parts of an image, usually a photograph; excluding part of a photo or illustration to show only the portion desired or to fit a given space requirement.
Cubism
Cubism is a technique of art that uses two-dimensional geometric shapes to depict three-dimensional organic forms; a style of painting created by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in the early 20th century whereby the artist breaks down the natural forms of the subjects into geometric shapes and creates a new kind of pictorial space.
Chapter 4
D
Decorative Arts
Decorative Arts is a collective term for such art forms as ceramics, enamels, furniture, glass, ivory, metalwork and textiles, especially when they take forms used as interior decoration.