AHN term ID Midterm

Aesthetics

Philosophical theories relating to beauty.

Appropriation

As an artistic strategy, the intentional borrowing, copying, and alteration of preexisting images, objects, and ideas.

Arch

In architecture, curved structural element.

Bird’s-eye view

Incorporating high-level perspective.

Buttress

Architectural support, consisting of massive masonry against an exterior wall.

Capital

Sculpted block that tops column.

Chiaroscuro (Italian)

Relative contrast of dark and light in a painting, used to create “depth.”

Clapboard

Thin board with the lower edge thicker than the upper, used to cover exterior of buildings.

Classical

Referring to art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.

Column

Architectural element used for support.

Composition

Arrangement of elements in an artwork.

Content

Subject matter, ideas contained in a work of art.

Cupola

A small dome, often crowning a tower on the roof of a building.

Form

Referring to purely visual components – line, color, shape, texture, mass.

Gable

Triangular wall space found on end of wall or building between two sides of pitched roof.

Genre scene

Depicting scenes of everyday life.

Grand Manner

Grand, elevated style popular during Neoclassical period of 18th century, Roman & Greek inspiration.

History painting

Historical, mythological figures generally conveying high moral or intellectual ideas in grand style.

Limner

Untrained, self-taught painter, often anonymous.

Linear, linearity

Indicating emphasis on line as opposed to mass, color.

Materialism

A theory that physical matter is the only or fundamental reality and that all being and processes and phenomena can be explained as manifestations or results of matter.

Medium

Materials from which given work is made.

Memento mori (Latin)

“Reminder of death,” object such as skull, candle symbolizing transience of life.

Motif

Recurring element, theme, or subject in art.

Neoclassicism

Emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity.

Non-representational

Any artwork of abstract nature, not attempting to reproduce natural world.

Oculus

In architecture, a circular opening, usually found as windows or at apex of a dome.

Oil painting

Executed with pigments floating in a medium of oil.

Painterly

Style of painting that emphasizes techniques and surfaces effects of brushwork.

Pedestal

Platform or base supporting sculpture.

Pediment

Triangular gable in classical or neoclassical architecture.

Perspective

System for representing three-dimensional space.

Picture plane

Theoretical spatial plane corresponding with actual surface of painting.

Pilaster

In architecture – engaged column, used for decoration, not for structural support.

Portal

Grand entrance, door, or gate, usually to an important building.

Portico

In architecture, a projecting roof or porch, supported by columns.

Post-and-lintel construction

In architecture, system of construction with two vertical elements supporting one horizontal element.

“Race”

Idea that the human species is divided into distinct groups on the basis of inherited physical and behavioral differences. Genetic studies in the late 20th century refuted the existence of biogenetically distinct races, and scholars now argue that “races” are cultural interventions reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century.

Relief sculpture

Sculpted image or design whose flat background surface is carved away to a certain depth.

Sculpture in the round

Three-dimensional sculpture, carved free of any attaching background or block.

Stained glass

Decorative process in glassmaking by which glass is given a color, often used in windows.

Stepped gable

Gable or end of roof that has the form of descending steps along its diagonal sides.

Style

Particular manner, form, or character of representation, construction, or expression typical of an individual artist or of a certain school or period.

Trompe l’oeil

“Trick the eye,” highly realistic illusion of reality in painting, re-creating of natural space.