AP Art History - Essential Vocabulary

i'm suffering

ambulatory

A place for walking, especially an aisle around the apse or a cloister in a church or monastery.

anthropomorphic

Having human characteristics

apse

A semicircular or polygonal recess at the end of a church, often where the altar is located.

ashlar masonry

Stone blocks cut to fit together tightly with minimal mortar.

atmospheric perspective

A technique used in painting to create the illusion of depth by depicting distant objects as lighter and less detailed.

avant garde

people and ideas that are ahead of their time.

barrel vault

also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, formed by a single curve along a given distance.

basilica

a large, oblong hall or building wit double colonnades and a semicircular apse, used in Ancient Rome as a court of law.

cartoon

full-scale preparatory drawing for a fresco, oil painting, or tapestries.

cloisonne

a style of enamel decoration in which the enamel is applied and fired in raised cells.

crypt

an underground room or vault beneath a church, used as a chapel or burial place.

dauguerreotype

a photographic process developed in the 1830s that creates a positive image on a polished metal plate.

diptych

a 2-leaved hinged tablet folding together to protect writing.

hypostyle

having a roof supported by pillars, typically in several rows.

ionic

columns characterized by the use of volutes.

kitsch

art considered to be in poor taste due to its mass production or overly sentimental value.

kouros

an Ancient Greek statue of a young boy, typically free-standing and first appeared in the Archaic period.

lamentation

the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping.

linear perspective

a type of perspective used by artists in which the relative size, shape, and position of objects are determined by drawn or imaged lines converging at a point on the horizon.

lost wax process

a method of metal casting where a molten metal is poured into a mold that has been shaped by means of a wax model, which is melted and removed.

mihrab

a niche in a mosque that indicates the qibla, the direction of Mecca.

mudhra

a stylized and symbolic hand gesture in Buddhism and Hinduism.

nave

the central part of a church that extends from the entrance to the altar, typically flanked by aisles.

nirvana

a transcendent state in Buddhism where one is free from suffering and the cycle of birth and rebirth.

odalisque

a female slave or concubine in a herm, especially in relation to Turkey.

pagoda

a tiered tower with multiple eaves, commonly found in East Asian architecture, often associated with Buddhist temple complexes.

pendentive

a curved triangle of a vaulting formed by the intersection of a dome and its supporting arches.

pieta

a representation of the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Jesus Christ, often depicted in sculpture or painting.

pylon

an upright structure that is used for support or for navigational guidance.

vellum

fine parchment made originally from the skin of a calf.

veristic

extremely naturalistic.

assemblage

a work of art made by grouping found or unrelated objects.

biomorphic

forms or images are ones that are abstract but refer to living forms such as plants or the human body.

buttress

a projecting support of stone or brick built against a wall.

camera obscura

a darkened box with a convex lens for projecting the image of an external object onto a screen inside. Important historically in the development of photography.

cantilever

a long projecting beam or girder fixed at only one end, used chiefly in bridge construction.

caryatid

stone carving of a female Greek figure, used as a pillar to support the entablature of a building.

central plan

any structure designed with a primary central space surrounded by symmetrical areas on each side. also known as Greek cross plan.

chiaroscuro

an Italian artistic term used to describe the dramatic effect of contrasting areas if light and dark in an artwork.

classicizing

imitate a classical style, typically Greek or Roman

clerestory

an upper level of the nave of a church, above eye level and pierced with windows.

contrapposto

an Italian term, used in visual arts to describe a human standing with most of its weight on one foot.

entablature

the horizontal structure supported by columns, consisting of architrave, frieze, and cornice.

fresco

a painting done rapidly in watercolor on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling so that the colors become fixed as it dries.

hajj

Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

hierarchical scale

technique used in art, mostly in sculpture and painting, in which the artist uses unnatural proportions or scale to depict the relative importance of the figures in the artwork.

impasto

technique of laying on paint thickly so that it stands out against a surface.

lintel

horizontal support of timber, stone, concrete, or stell across the top of a door or window.

mosaic

decoration of a surface with designs made up of closely set, usually variously colored, small pieces of material such as stone, mineral, glass, tile, or shell.

orthogonal

perspective lines drawn diagonally along parallel lines that meet at a vanishing point.

pediment

the triangular upper part of the front of a building in classical style.

photo montage

montage constructed from photographic images.

pueblo

Native American settlement of the Southwestern U.S.

Qibla Wall

a niche in the wall of a mosque, points towards Mecca and shows prayer direction.

register

a horizontal level in a work that consists of several levels arranged one above the other.

relief sculpture

in sculpture, any work in which the figures project from a supporting background, usually a plane surface.

repousse

hammered into relief from the reverse side.

salon

annual exhibition of works of art by living artists.

sfumato

the technique of allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another, producing softened outlines or hazy forms.

trompe l’oeil

art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions.

tymapnum

a vertical recessed triangular space forming the center of a pediment, typically decorated.

voussior

a wedge shaped or tapered stone used to construct an arch.

Bauhaus

German art school operating from 1919 to 1933.

Bodhisattva

Sanskrit term for anyone who has generated bodhicitta.

Corbeled Arch

an arch-like construction method that uses the corbeling technique.

cornice

generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building.

doric

Greek order consists typically of a channeled column with a base.

enamel

an opaque glassy substance applied to metallic substance.

encaustic

also known as hot wax painting, uses heated beeswax.

enconchados

an inlay technique of shell used in painting and decorative arts.

foreshortening

portray or show as closer than it is or as having less depth or distance.

frieze

a broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration, especially on a wall near the ceiling.

groin vault

produced by the intersection at right sections of two barrel vaults.

groundline

a line drawn to signify the surface of the ground.

iconoclasm

the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices.

intaglio

a design incised or engraved into a material.

japonism

refers to the incorporation of concepts of Japanese art into European art and design.

kore

an archaic Greek statue of a young woman, standing and clothed in long, loose robes.

literati

well-educated people who are interested in literature.

Mecca

Islam’s holiest city, birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad.

minaret

a tall, slender tower, part of a mosque where prayer is c

moralized bibles

small group of illustrated bibles made in the 13th century.

oculus

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

parchment

a fine animal skin used for writing or painting, often prepared for manuscripts in medieval times.

predella

a step or platform on which an altar is placed.

readymade

first used by Marcel Duchamp to describe the works of art he made from manufactured objects,

stele

stone or wooden slab, typically taller than it is wide.

stupa

a dome shaped structure erected as a Buddhist shrine.

tapa

cloth made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree.

tenebrism

style of painting using profoundly pronounced chiaroscuro.

triptych

a picture of relief carving on three panels.

Ukiyo-e

genre of Japanese art. Artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties, kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers, history scenes and folk tales, travel scenes and landscapes.

Westwork

monumental, west-facing entrance of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanequse church.