Painting 1

representational

Refers to works of art that have recognizable subject matter; can be naturalistic or abstract, but remains “representation” in that there is a recognizably represented subject

naturalism

Based on literal or closely-observed depictions of the natural world. Art that aims to depict the physical appearance of things.

abstraction

A visual representation that may have little resemblance to the real world.  Abstraction can occur through a process of simplification or distortion in an attempt to communicate an essential aspect of a form or concept.

non-objective

A work of art that has no reference to or basis in observed reality.

form and content 

Physical forms and compositional principles can and should reinforce the content of any work. Content may include your emotional, intellectual, symbolic, spiritual, and/or narrative intentions, as well as subject matter (the imagery included within a piece). Unity of form and content is important to communicating an idea or message feature in any work of art or design.

sfumato

A painting technique that uses fine shading to create soft transitions between colors and tones. The word comes from the Italian word sfumare, which means "to evaporate" or "to tone down"..It appears smoky

“muddy”

 When the intensity or saturation of a color (hue) is compromised by overly mixing the complimentary hue to a paint.

tempera

a painting medium made by blending egg yolks with water, pigments, and occasionally other materials, such as glue

gesso

a thick medium usually made from glue, gypsum, and/or chalk and often forming the ground, or priming layer, of a canvas; a gesso ground gives a smooth surface for painting and seals the absorbency of the canvas

chiaroscuro

iterally "light-dark"; an Italian word designating the relative contrast of dark and light in a painting, drawing, or print; used to create spatial depth and volumetric forms through slight gradations in the intensity of light and shadow

genre scene

"low life" or everyday life as a subject for a painting.

"genre"

history painting, portraiture, landscape, still life, genre or "low life”

vanitas

 pieces-an image, especially popular in Europe during the seventeenth century, in which all the objects symbolize the transience of life; these paintings are usually of still life or genre subjects

"linear" and "painterly" styles

Ingres vs. Delacroix; descriptive terms indicating an emphasis on line vs. painting which emphasizes the techniques and surface effects of brushwork (also light and shade)

idealism

a style through which artist strive to make their forms and figures attain perfection, based on pervading cultural values or their own mental image of what the ideal is

Realism

an art movement invented by Gustave Courbet in1850 to designate a kind of naturalism with a social or political message, the term soon lost its didactic import and became synonymous with naturalism

avant-garde

French: the troops out in front, daring and innovative; denotes those artists or concepts of a strikingly new, experimental, or radical nature for the time

Impressionism

a less austere realism; characterized by scenes of leisure in the city and the country and depicted the pleasures of life among the upper-middle class

Post Impressionism

refers to the work of painters who assimilated much from Impressionism, but moved on to develop different styles (e.g. Cézanne, Seurat, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh), encompasses the entire generation of diverse innovators, including sculptors and photographers as well as painters, whose principal work falls between about 1880 and 1910

nonobjective

a term describing any artwork of an abstract nature; nonrepresentational art does not attempt to reproduce the appearance of the natural world

Expressionism

terms describing a work of art in which forms are created primarily to evoke subjective emotions rather than to portray objective reality

Formalism

an approach to the understanding, appreciation, and valuation of art based almost solely on considerations of form; this approach tends to regard an artwork as independent of its time and place of making

Surrealism

an art movement proposed in 1924 by the French poet Breton; "pure psychic automotism. . . beyond all reason. . ."

Cubism

"passage" techniques (developed by Cézanne, shapes closed on one side are open on another so that they can merge with adjacent shapes); the complete flattening of space and the use of independent facets or block of color; was the joint intervention of two men, Picasso and Braque

Cubist related styles: 

Futurism-emerged on Feb. 20, 1909, an outspoken attack by Filippo Marinetti in a Paris newspaper, against everything old, dull, "feminine," and safe; promoted the supposedly exhilarating "masculine" experiences of warfare and reckless speed to liberate Italy from its outworn past.   Suprematism-(K. Malevich, N. Goncharova, Max Weber), "the supremacy of pure feeling in creative art," eliminates objects and focuses entirely on formal issues

Precisionism

an American style of the 1930's that featured clean lines and machine or industrial subjects

Abstract Expressionism

New York School); dedicated to promoting the abstract tradition of the European avant-garde

action painting-gesturalism

the motivation behind painting and drawing in which the brushwork or line visibly records the artist's physical gesture at the moment the paint was applied or the lines laid down; associated with such styles as European Baroque, Zen painting, and Abstract Expressionism

color field painting

distinguished by broad sweeping fields of color, and action painting (gesturalism)

rhythm

sense of visual pace and momentum often created through repetition

unity

the degree of agreement existing among the elements in a composition

harmony

the pleasing combination of parts which make up a whole composition

emphasis

similar to the pictorial idea of focal point; special attention given to some aspect of a composition to increase its prominence

visual flow

using various visual elements to direct the viewer’s eye around the picture plane (i.e. directional forces, converging lines, repetition)

contrast

 the juxtaposition of opposing elements (color or value, size, position, etc.); allows us to emphasize or highlight key elements by breaking or disrupting an established order or system

proximity

the degree of closeness in the placement of elements; shapes or forms placed near one another are frequently interpreted as similar, and this is used to create visual order or connection

continuation

 a line or edge that continues from one form or shape to another, allowing the eye to move smoothly through a composition this line can be actual or implied

direction

implied or actual movement of an element within a composition

closure

the mind’s inclination to connect fragmentary information to produce a completed form

implied or psychic lines

lines of sight or pathways created by connecting similar forms or following the gaze of figures

line quantity

refers to the unique thickness, thinness, pressure, speed, and character of a drawn line

directional lines

viable or impled paths that guide the eye across a composition

converging lines

create depth and appear to meet at a vanishing point

biomorphic

geometric

figure/ground relationship

how the human eye separates a primary subject from its surrounding area; construction of space

value contrast

dark versus light

tint

shade

simultaneous contrast

emotional/expressive color

chosen to convey an inner emotional state

subjective color

not realistic to the object being depicted

Mineral pigments

from a mineral source, inorganic

inorganic pigements

made from compounds that do not contain carbon, salts and metallic oxides

Organic pigments

contain carbon molecules like plant extracts and petro chemical preparations, less stable than inorganic

synthetic pigments

but through a process like adding minerals to brighten or heated to change color

tromp l’oeil

creates the impression of real space and forms; to fool the eye

Monika Baer

Still Life; German; Living born 1964; contemporary - intersection of abstraction and figuration

Joaquin Sorolla

Still Life; Spanish; 1863-1923; Luminism and Spanish Impressionism

Janet Sobel

Abstract; Ukrainian-born American Abstract Expressionist; Drip painting; 1893-1968

William de Kooning

Abstract; Dutch; Abstract Expressionist; 1904-1997