Art Vocabulary Review

This set of flashcards covers key terms and definitions related to art, useful for reviewing vocabulary in preparation for an exam.

Acrylic

A fast drying water-soluble petroleum based painting medium.

Actual Texture

Texture created, not represented, opposite of simulated texture. Examples include brushstrokes and collage.

Additive Color

Color based on projected light.

Analogous Color

A color scheme using colors adjacent to an initial point on the color wheel.

Armature

A wire or wood substructure used to support a clay sculpture.

Assembly

A sculptural process where disparate materials are combined to form final artwork.

Asymmetric

Lacking symmetry.

Atmospheric Perspective

Use of color to simulate the illusion of space.

Axis

An imaginary line around which objects are arranged.

Balance

The property of equality in visual weight.

Binder

A transparent fluid used to suspend colored pigment and attach it to a support.

Buon Fresco

Literally 'good fresco'; a mural process where pigment is absorbed into wet plaster.

Calligraphy

Beautiful writing.

Carving

A sculptural process where material is removed to reveal the final artwork.

Casting

A sculptural process where material is substituted to form the final artwork.

Charcoal

An art medium made from burned wood used to make dark marks on paper.

Closed Form

Sculptural forms not penetrated by exterior space.

Color Scheme

An organized approach to color selection.

Complementary Color

Colors that create a neutral gray when blended, located opposite on the color wheel.

Composition

The arrangement of visual elements.

Contour

The exterior boundary of a form.

Contrast

Areas with high differences in value, color, or texture.

Cool Color

A color tending toward blue/white in hue.

Crosshatching

Intersecting marks that create value on a form.

Design

A plan for the arrangement of visual elements.

Drawing

The process of making marks on a support.

Edge

Exterior boundary of a shape.

Edition

A series of prints made from a single matrix.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

Continuous range of radioactive energy by wavelength.

Elements of Design

The physical components of visual art.

Emphasis

The strategy of directing attention using high contrast.

Encaustic

A painting process using wax as the binder.

Figure/Ground Relation

Specifies which objects qualify as figures against the ground.

Figure

A shape that appears in front of a background.

Forced Perspective

Use of perspective to create a distorted scale relation.

Form

The physical components of visual art.

Found Objects

Material incorporated into artwork not typically considered artistic.

Freestanding

Sculpture that can be viewed from all angles.

Fresco Secco

The process of painting on dry plaster.

Fresco

The process of painting on wet or dry plaster.

Fugitive

Pigments that change color or become transparent over time.

Geometric

A shape with mathematically regular contours.

Gesture

Direction interpreted as movement.

Graphite

A carbon-based mineral used for pencil leads.

Ground

The stage on which a figure resides.

Gum Arabic

A water-soluble resin used as a binder in watercolor.

Hard-Edged

A shape with clearly defined boundaries.

Horizon Line

The visual limit where sky and land meet.

Hue

The quality of wavelength in color; the color name.

Impasto

Thick application of paint.

Implied Line

Invisible line perceived by alignment of unrelated shapes.

Impressionism

A 19th-century art movement focusing on light variations.

Ink

A liquid pigment used with pens.

Installation

An art practice surrounding the viewer in an environment.

Intaglio

A printing process where a metal plate is scratched to produce images.

Interactive

Artwork that requires viewer participation.

Interval

The space between elements of an artwork.

Kinetic Art

Art incorporating motion into its design.

Line

An infinite series of points with limited length.

Linear Perspective

Geometrical illusion of recession of space.

Lithograph

A printing process using the repulsion between oil-based ink and water.

Local Color

The color of an object under even illumination.

Lost Wax

A casting method where wax is melted out and replaced with metal.

Low Relief

Sculpture attached to a base, lacking undercut.

Mass

The quality of possessing three dimensions.

Matrix

Any material used to produce an image in printmaking.

Metalpoint

Drawing with a ductile metal held as the pigment.

Mixed Media

Combining unconventional materials in a single artwork.

Mobile

A kinetic sculpture moved by wind or gravity.

Modeling

A sculptural process where material is added to form artwork.

Mold

A hollow form used to shape a substance.

Monochromatic

Of or using a single color.

Motion

Change in position over time.

Negative Space

Absence of mass in space.

Non-Objective Art

Art with no direct pictorial reference.

Observed Color

Color perception that varies with light direction.

Oil Pastels

Solid pigment sticks used originally for marking.

One-point perspective

Drawing system making 3D objects converge at one point.

Open Form

Sculptural forms penetrated by exterior space.

Orthogonal

Lines receding to the vanishing point in perspective.

Overlap

A shape obscuring or lying over another.

Painting

The process of applying liquid pigment to a surface.

Pastel

Solid sticks of pigment.

Performance Art

An approach where the object is participants' actions.

Performance

Artworks consisting of actions, documented photographically.

Perspective

A system portraying three dimensions on a flat surface.

Pigment

Substance that gives color to a medium.

Planographic

A printing process occurring on a flat surface.

Positive Space

Area occupied by a solid or filled object.

Primary Colors

Three basic colors from which all other colors are mixed.

Principles of Design

Strategies for arranging elements of art to create visual effects.

Print

Artwork made by transferring pigment from a matrix to a support.

Printmaking

Producing multiple identical images from a single matrix.

Refracted Light

Light separated into colors after passing through a prism.

Relief

Physical projection of artwork beyond the support.

Reproduction

A mechanically produced print.

Rhythm

A pattern formed by repeated objects in art.

Scale

The size of an object.

Sculpture

The production of artwork existing in three dimensions.

Secondary Colors

Colors formed by mixing two primary colors.