Praxis II Art: Content and Analysis (5135) Practice Flashcards

A collection of vocabulary flashcards derived from the Praxis II Art Study Guide, covering technical terms, historical movements, and architectural elements.

Hue

The characteristic of a color, such as red, yellow, or green.

Intensity

How bright or dull a color is.

Value

The lightness or darkness of a color.

Texture

How something feels, or appears to feel, which can be real (three-dimensional) or implied (two-dimensional).

Organic Shapes

Asymmetrical shapes often found in nature.

Positive Space

The subject of the artwork.

Negative Space

The area that surrounds the subject of the artwork.

Balance

How an artwork’s visual weight is organized, categorized as either symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Unity

Harmony throughout an artwork created by elements working together, often through repetition or similarity.

$10H$ Pencil

The pencil with the hardest lead that stays the sharpest and leaves the lightest mark.

$10B$ Pencil

The pencil with the softest lead that wears down quickly and leaves the darkest mark.

Tortillon

A paper tool wrapped tightly into a point used to blend pencil and charcoal drawings.

Mahlstick

A stick with a padded head used to rest and support the hand to keep it steady while drawing or painting.

Blind Contour Drawing

A drawing exercise where the artist looks directly at the subject and draws its outline without looking at the paper.

Gesture Drawing

A technique used to quickly capture the action and form of a model, often completed in $30$ to $60$ seconds.

Vanishing Points

Points along the horizon where objects appear to disappear in the distance in perspective drawing.

Sgraffito

A technique of scratching through a layer of wet paint to reveal the layer or canvas surface underneath.

Alla Prima

A painting technique, also called direct painting, where wet oil paint is applied onto wet layers that have not dried.

Plein Air

A French term meaning 'outdoors,' referring to the technique of painting in the natural environment.

Trompe l’oeil

A French phrase meaning 'to deceive the eye,' used for realistic paintings that create the optical illusion of three dimensions.

Impasto

A technique where paint is applied very thickly with a brush or palette knife, making brushstrokes visible and adding texture.

Brayer

A hand tool with a handle and a smooth rubber roller used to smooth out and apply ink in printmaking.

Intaglio

A printmaking technique where the image is carved into a surface, and ink is held within the recessed lines.

Lithography

A printmaking process using a greasy medium on limestone or aluminum where ink sticks only to the greasy areas.

Collography

A technique where materials of various textures are attached to a surface to create a print.

Monotype

A printmaking method that produces only one unique print, created on a nonabsorbent surface before being transferred.

Bas-relief

Also called low relief, a sculpture where the form has shallow depth and is not raised far from its background.

Haut-relief

Also called high relief, a sculpture where more than half of the form projects from the background.

Earthenware

A porous and less durable type of clay fired at temperatures less than $1200^{\text{o}}\text{C}$.

Porcelain

A high-fire clay made with kaolin, fired at $1800^{\text{o}}\text{C}$, which is hard, nonporous, and translucent when finished.

Leather Hard

The stage of clay that has partially dried but is still workable for carving or adding handles.

Bisque

Clay that has been fired once in a kiln and remains porous before glazing.

Lost-wax Casting

A technique used to produce a metal copy of a sculpture from an original mold using a wax shell.

Warp

In weaving, the lengthwise threads held stationary on a loom.

Weft

In weaving, the thread passed back and forth perpendicularly between the stationary lengthwise threads.

$24$-karat Gold

Pure gold, representing $24$ out of $24$ parts.

Filigree

A jewelry technique involving the careful bending of thin wire to resemble a lace pattern.

Annealing

The process of heating metal and then cooling it slowly to make it easier to work with.

Daguerreotype

The first practical photographic process, developed in $1837$, creating images on silvered copper plates.

Rule of Thirds

A compositional technique where an image is divided into $9$ equal parts via two horizontal and two vertical lines, with the subject placed at an intersection.

Aperture

The opening in a camera lens, measured in $f$-stops, which determines the depth of field.

Focal Length

The measurement in millimeters that determines the magnification of a camera lens.

Site-specific Art

Artwork created to be displayed in a certain location, losing its meaning if removed.

Happening

A performance or event in the context of fine art that often includes audience participation and improvisation.

Chiaroscuro

The use of strongly contrasting tones of light and dark to create a dramatic, high-contrast scene.

Doric Order

The simplest Greek column design, featuring a flat top and no adornment, with a height $4$ to $8$ times its diameter.

Corinthian Order

The most ornate Greek column order, featuring floral designs and a height $10$ times its diameter.

Flying Buttress

A masonry support in Gothic architecture that transmits the thrust of a roof or vault to an outer support.

Caryatid

A stone carving of a draped female figure used as a support pillar in place of a column.

Entablature

The upper section of a classical order, divided into the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

Nave

The center aisle of a basilica or church running from the entrance to the apse.

Oculus

A circular opening in the center of a dome or a wall.

Pilaster

A flat, upright architectural element projecting from a wall that appears as an inset column but provides no support.

Keystone

The wedge-shaped stone at the top of an arch that locks all pieces in place.

Stringcourse

A projecting horizontal band of bricks or stonework on a building.

Fauvism

An art movement ($1905$-$1908$) emphasizing strong, unusual colors to express mood rather than representational reality.

Cubism

An early $20\text{th}$-century movement using geometric shapes and showing several viewpoints of a scene simultaneously.

De Stijl

A Dutch movement starting in $1917$ that reduced artwork to geometric shapes, lines, and primary colors.

Dada

An anti-art movement originating in $1915$ that reacted to the horrors of World War I by challenging traditional artistic values.

Abstract Expressionism

A $1940\text{s}$ and $1950\text{s}$ American art style focused on total freedom of expression through action painting or color field painting.

The Armory Show

The first major exhibition of modern art in America, held in $1913$, which introduced audiences to Cubism and Impressionism.

Golden Mean

A geometric proportion of $1$ to $1.618$ used in art and architecture to achieve beauty and harmony.