AP Art History Materials, Mediums and Techniques

Altarpiece

painted or sculpted panel set on an altar of a church

Applied Art

art that is engraved or incised onto functional objects

Aquatint

type of etching where the artist sprinkles layers of powdery resin on the surface of the plate, heats it to harden the powder and dips it in an acid bath; the acid eats around the resin powder creating a rich tonal surface

Automatism

in painting, the process of yielding oneself to instinctive motions of the hands

Benday Dots

printing technique that involves the modulation of color through the placement of individual colored dots

Black-Figure

silhouetting of dark figures against light background of natural, reddish clay, with linear details incised through the silhouettes

Buon Fresco

true fresco; paint is applied to a wet layer of plaster; more durable than fresco secco; requires quick brushwork

Burin

a steel-cutting tool used to make engravings

Calligraphy

decorative and beautiful handwriting

Canon of Proportion

a system of measurement by which artists can regulate size, scale, and proportions

Canvas

heavy woven material used as the surface for a painting; largely replaces wood; widely used first in Venice

Chiaroscuro

use of strong contrasts between light and dark, typically for modeling

Cloisonne

enamelwork (enamel is a smooth substance made of fused glass powder which can be colored) in which colored areas are separated by thin bands of metal, usually gold or bronze

Combines

mixed-media pieces that were three dimensional; created by Rauschenberg

Daguerreotype

a type of early photograph developed by Louis Daguerre; shiny surface and no negatives

Diorite

a dark grey stone used in Egyptian sculpture; naturally quarried along the Nile

Encaustic

method of painting that uses colored waxes burned into a wooden surface

Engraving

a metal plate is engraved with various lines and designs; the incised lines are filled with ink (excess is wiped away); paper is laid atop the metal plate and pressure is applied to transfer the ink to paper

Etching

a metal plate is covered with a waxy coat; the artist scratches the design into the wax; the plate is dipped into acid; wax is cleaned off the plate; ink is applied into the lines, paper is laid down, and pressure is applied to transfer the ink to the paper

Faience

a type of ceramic covered with colorful, opaque glazes that form a smooth, impermeable surface; first created in Egypt

Foreshortening

visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space

Found Objects

objects that originally have a non-art function but that are used to create or embellish artwork

Fresco Secco

dry fresco; artist lets the plaster for the wall dry before painting on it; less durable

Glazes

thin transparent layers placed over a painting to alter how colors appear

Grisailles

term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near monochrome, usually in shades of grey; particularly used in large decorative shames in imitation of sculpture

Ground/Horizon Line

horizontal line at eye level that determines ground space that figures are rooted upon

Impasto

thick and very visible application of paint

Installation

an artwork that creates an artistic environment in a room or gallery

Linear Perspective

a mathematical system for creating the illusion of space and distance on a flat surface

Mobiles

sculpture made from several different items that dangle from a ceiling and can be set into motion by air currents

Mosaic

a decoration using pieces of stone, marble or colored class, called tesserae, that are cemented to a wall or floor

Oil Paint

pigment mixed with oil, typically linseed

Orthogonals

straight lines emanating from the vanishing point

Parchment

sheep or goat hide that has been soaked in lime, dried, and scraped until it can be cut into pages

Pietra Serena

grey stone typical of Italian Renaissance churches

Pointillism

a painting technique that uses small dots of color which the eye then combines at a distance; created by Georges Seurat

Porphyry

hardest known stone in antiquity; known for its red-purple hue denoting royalty

Portrait Bust

sculpture representation of the upper part of the human figure including the head and neck and usually part of the shoulders and breast

Positive/Negative

Positive: area of artworks where there is mass and subject

Negative: area that is void of mass

Predella

base panel of an altarpiece filled with paintings

Quatrefoil

shape of plan in which the parts resemble a cloverleaf

Ready-mades

a commonplace object selected and exhibited as a work of art

Relief Sculpture

figures project from a background of which they are a part. degree of relief: 1) high, 2) bas/low, 3) sunken/incised. in 3), artist cuts the design into the surface so that the highest projecting parts of the image are no higher than the surface itself

Repousse

"to push back"; a sculptural technique where a thin sheet of metal, gold, or bronze is fit into a mold; the mold is beaten from the backside/inside, leaving a raised design on the surface/exterior

Sculpture-in-the-round

sculpture than can be seen from all sides and is not affixed, aka free standing sculpture

Sfumato

forms are subtly rendered with a misty effect

Subtractive

sculptural process including the removal of material of a block through cutting, chiseling, or scraping away

Tempera

pigment mixed with egg-yolk

Tenebrism

dramatic dark and light contrast in painting; created by Caravaggio

Terra-cotta

a hard ceramic clay used for building or for pottery

Triptych

a three paneled painting or altarpiece

Vellum

calf hide that has been soaked in lime, dried and scraped until it can be cut into pieces

Vanishing point

a point in the picture plain that is the intersection of orthogonals

Watercolor

a painting method where the pigment is suspended in a water-soluble compound; water is added to create paint

Woodcut

relief printing; an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed; surface is covered with ink, paper is applied to top to transfer the image

Buon Fresco