AP Art History Vocabulary Review

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards for AP Art History, covering key terms and their definitions relevant to the course.

Abstraction

Visual language using shapes, color, lines, and forms, often non-representational.

Acropolis

A fortified part of an ancient Greek city, typically built on a hill.

Altarpiece

An object or work of art placed with an altar, usually complementing its religious message.

Ambulatory

A walkway around the apse of a church or cathedral.

Animal Style

A pattern made up of stylized animals that are tightly intertwined.

Anthropomorphic

Incorporating human characteristics into non-human entities.

Apadana

A great audience hall in Persian palaces.

Apse

A semicircular recess at the end of a church, usually accompanied by an altar.

Apotropaic

Having the power to ward off evil influences or bad luck.

Arabesque

Repeating patterns including split leaves, zigzags, spirals, etc.

Arcadian Setting

Depictions of an idyllic place of rural peace and simplicity, from Renaissance art.

Architrave

A main beam resting across the tops of columns.

Ashlar Masonry

Stone masonry formed with stones of the same size, shape, and texture.

Assemblage

A 3-D mixed media work made of a collection of items or people.

Atmospheric Perspective

A method of creating the illusion of depth by changing color.

Avant-garde

New and unusual ideas in art, often experimental or radical.

Axial Plan

Symmetrical arrangement of elements of a building along a central axis.

Barrel Vault

A continuous semicircular vault formed by the extrusion of a single curve.

Bay (of a church)

A basic, three-part unit in medieval construction, repeating throughout design.

Basilica

A large oblong hall or building used as a Christian church.

Bas Relief

Sculpture where sculpted elements project slightly from a flat background.

Buddha

The founder of Buddhism, central to its teachings and practices.

Calligraphy

Artistic, ornamental written script used in Central and East Asian traditions.

Cantilever

A long projecting beam anchored at one end to a support.

Catacomb

An underground cemetery with recesses for tombs, used by ancient Romans.

Cathedral

The principal church of a diocese associated with the bishop.

Central Plan

A structure organized around a central space in a symmetrical layout.

Chiaroscuro

A technique of using stark lights and darks to create depth in art.

Circumambulation

To walk all the way around something, often for religious purposes.

Clerestory

High section of a wall above eye level to emit light.

Cloisonne

A technique of using metal to create a pattern on another surface.

Codex

A manuscript book constructed from sheets of paper.

Coffer

An indentation in a ceiling that reduces weight and serves as decoration.

Collage

A piece of art made by sticking various materials onto a backing.

Color Field

An art movement focused on expressionist abstraction with saturated hues.

Column Capital

The decor on the top of a column.

Concrete

Heavy rough rock material used for construction, first engineered by Romans.

Corbeled Arch

Arch structure created by stacking bricks and stones.

Courtyard Style

Architectural style with a central courtyard.

Cubiculum

Private room on the upper floor of a Roman house or burial chamber.

Cuneiform

One of the earliest forms of writing from Sumerians using wedged hieroglyphs.

Cupola

Dome-like structure on top of a building.

Daguerreotype

First commercially successful photographic process using mercury.

Diptych

A two-part artwork displayed together.

Earthwork

Using natural landscape formations to create site-specific art.

Emaki

Horizontal Japanese scrolls depicting a continuous narrative.

Embroidery

Raised ornamental designs on cloth made by sewing.

Enamel

An opaque or transparent glassy substance applied for decoration or protection.

Encaustic

Hot wax painting involving heated beeswax with colored pigments.

Engaged Columns

Columns embedded in a wall, partly projecting from the surface.

Engraving

Art of cutting or carving a design on a hard surface to create prints.

Etching

A print created by scratching into a metal surface and inking grooves.

Exemplum Virtutis

A message of morality and courage associated with Neoclassical art.

Fecund Female Figure

Paleolithic figurines portraying exaggerated fertile women.

Fetish (object)

An object worshipped or obsessed over for powers.

Flying Buttress

Stone arches that transmit the weight of a roof to a wall.

Folio

A sheet of paper folded to form multiple pages in a book.

Foreshortening

Technique to indicate perspective by distorting parts of a subject.

Forum

Public plaza for various social, political, and economic activities.

Fresco

A mural painting technique on drying plaster for integration.

Frieze

Horizontal decorative band adorning a temple's facade.

Groin Vault

Intersection of two barrel vaults creating expansive interior space.

Harlem Renaissance

Artist movement celebrating African American culture in early 20th century.

Hierarchy of Scale

Depicting figures larger or smaller to imply power or status.

Hieroglyphs

Egyptian writing system with logographic and alphabetic elements.

Horror Vacui

Filling all parts of a space with detail, 'fear of empty space'.

Humanism

Outlook prioritizing human over divine matters, emerging during the Renaissance.

Hypostyle

Building style having a roof supported by rows of pillars.

Icon

Devotional panel depicting a sacred image.

Iconoclasm

Destruction of images for religious or political reasons.

Illuminated Manuscript

Handwritten book decorated with gold, colors, and pictures.

Impasto

Visible thick application of paint on a surface.

Installation

3D works meant to alter the perception of a space.

Isocephalism

Human figures with heads kept at the same height in art.

Keystone

The center stone in an arch that holds other stones in place.

Kitsch

Cheap, vulgar art forms reflecting popular culture.

Kiva

A chamber used by Pueblo Indians for religious rites.

Kouros/Kore

Freestanding statues from Archaic Greece used as grave markers.

Lamassu

An Assyrian protective deity with a human head, lion body, and bird wings.

Linear Perspective

Using points on a horizon for perspective in drawing.

Literati

Group of Chinese scholars who painted for personal enjoyment.

Lost-Wax Process

Metal casting method where molten metal fills a wax mold.

Lunette

Crescent-shaped space containing sculpture or painting.

Mana

A person's life force expressed through ritual and objects.

Megalith

A large stone monument.

Mihrab

A niche in a mosque wall indicating the direction of Mecca.

Minaret

Tower on a mosque used to summon prayer.

Modernism

Art produced from the 1860s to 1970s reflecting new ideas and styles.

Mohammed

The prophet of Islam who transcribed the Quran.

Moralized Bible

Illustrated bibles made in thirteenth-century France and Spain.

Mosaic

Art formed by assembling small pieces of stone, tile, or glass.

Mosque

A Muslim place of worship.

Mudra

Hand gesture in Hindu and Buddhist art expressing meaning.

Narrative

Events connected to form a story.

Narthex

The lobby area of a church.

Nave

Central area of a church.

Necropolis

A large cemetery in an ancient city.

Nike

Greek goddess of victory.

Oculus

Circular opening in a dome or wall.

Papyrus

Material made from the papyrus plant for writing and drawing.