Cumulative Terms List

“A House is a Machine for Living In”: a phrase coined by Le Corbusier, indicating his belief about the essence of modern architecture – that a house should be modern, technological and efficient
Abbey: building(s) occupied by monks or nuns
Abstraction: Works of art reduced to basic forms with little or no desire for pictorial representation
Abstract Expressionism: First major American avant-garde movement; emerged 1940s in NYC; artists focused on automatism and revealing their subconscious through artmaking
Acropolis: Greek, “high city;” means a rugged, raised rock; site of the city’s most important temple(s)
Acroterion: acroteria (pl); sculpture in the round placed on a roof
Action painting: artist pours, drips, dribbled or splattered pigment; applied in an unorthodox manner that involve the artist’s body
Adobe: clay and straw that is sun-baked
Agora: An open square or space used for public meetings or business in ancient Greece
Ahu: pedestal or platform for the moai on Easter Island
‘Ahu ‘ula: “red garment”; term is used for Hawaiian feather cloaks
Aka: an elephant mask of the Bamileke people in Cameroon
Albumen print: the first commercially available method of producing a photo on paper from a negative; egg white (albumen) and salt cover a piece of paper, and are coated with silver nitrate (which makes the paper light-sensitive); it is placed against the negative (a dry-glass plate), and then exposed to light, which transfers the image from the negative to the paper; some argue it is a printed rather than developed photo
Alcazaba: Citadel and barracks for elite guard
Ali’i: Hawaii’s ruling hereditary elite
Allegory: Work of art which possesses a symbolic meaning in addition to a literal interpretation
Altarpiece: a painted and/or sculpted panel set on an altar of a church or a private space
Amarna Style: an artistic style during the Amarna Period – Akhenaton’s rule – where traditional Egyptian conventions were abandoned for a more expressive and non-idealized style of art.
Ambulatory: a passageway around the apse or altar of a church
Amphiprostyle: having four columns both in the front and rear of a temple
Ancient Egypt: aimed to evoke timelessness and tradition through conventional images of power and rulership; frequently funerary; utilized twisted perspective and hierarchical scale; bodies based on a canon of proportion
Andachtsbild: German for devotional image; aid in prayer and contemplation
Aniconic: decoration with no human figures or animals
Animal style: a medieval art form in which animals are depicted in a stylized and often complicated pattern, usually seen fighting with one another
Animism: belief that gods/spirits are embedded in nature, and that they control nature
Ankh: an Egyptian symbol of life
Anthropomorphic: having characteristics of the human form, although the form itself is not human
Apadana: audience hall in Persian palace
Apocalypse: the last book of the Christian Bible (often called Revelations), which details God’s destruction of evil and consequent raising to heaven of the righteous
Apotropaic: believed to have the power to ward off danger, evil, or bad luck
Apse: the semicircular rounded end of a basilica OR the endpoint of a church where the altar is located
Aquatint: Metal plate is covered in wax; artist draws an image directly into the wax so that the plate is exposed; the plate is submerged into acid; the plate is removed and excess wax is removed; then the artist sprinkles powdery resin on the plate, which is heated to harden the powder and then the plate is dipped in the acid; this gives the plate a watercolor-like, loose effect on the surface, and helps to create modulations of tone
Arabesque: a flowing, intricate, and symmetrical pattern deriving from floral motifs
Arcade: a series of arches supported by columns
Archaic Greek: artwork is typically funerary or for ritual; male figures are nude, while female figures are clothed; bodies are idealized, with little negative space and no contrapposto
Art Deco: Descended from Art Nouveau; sought to upgrade industrial design in competition with “fine art” and to work new materials into decorative patterns that could be either machined or handcrafted; characterized by streamlined, elongated, and symmetrical design
Art for Art’s Sake: coined by James Abbott McNeill Whistler; expressed the inherent value in art, even if it lacks a moral, historical, or didactic message
Art Nouveau: an art style from generally 1890 – 1910 that focused on utilizing decorative and natural, organic forms to create elegant and curvilinear designs
Art of the Migration: artwork of the Germanic peoples from 300-900 CE; polychrome artwork done in animal style is common
Ashlar masonry: carefully cut and grooved stones that support a building without the use of concrete or other kinds of masonry
Assemblage: a three-dimensional work made of various materials such as wood, cloth, paper, and miscellaneous objects
Atmospheric/Aerial perspective: the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance (contrast decreases; colors become less saturated; lines are less crisp)
Atrium: an open-air courtyard in a Roman house or forum
Austrian Secession: Characterized by decadence, a breakdown of light, decorative patterning; a reaction to the traditional Viennese art community
Avant-garde: an innovative group of artists who generally rejected traditional approaches in favor of experimentation
Axial plan: a building with an elongated floor plan
Axis-mundi: axis that connects heaven and earth

Balustrade: a railing supported by balusters (molded shafts); typical ornamental on a balcony, bridge, or terrace.
Bandolier bag: a large, heavily beaded pouch that crosses the body
Baroque classicism: a style within the Baroque period that purposefully recalls art from ancient Greece and Rome
Barrel vault: an arch extended into space that is curved at the top
Basilica: in Roman and Christian architecture, an axially planned building with a long nave, side aisles, and apses (in Christian architecture, this is where the altar is placed)
Bay: a vertical section of a church that is embraced by a set of columns and is usually composed of arches and aligned windows
Bent-axis: a pathway through or up a building that is not straight or direct, but takes a bent or angled path instead
Bi: a round ceremonial disk, found in ancient Chinese tombs; characterized by having a circular hole in the center, which may have symbolized heaven (as opposed to a cong which symbolized the earth)
Bilongo: medicinal materials added to the stomach of a nkisi n’kondi figure
Biombo: Latin American colonial folding screen
Black-figure: silhouetting of dark figures against a light background of natural, reddish clay, with linear details incised through the silhouettes
Bodhisattva: a Buddhist deity who, choosing not to pass on to nirvana, remains to help others
Buddha: founder of Buddhism; multiple forms; has achieved full enlightenment
Bulbous: when describing a dome; fat or bulging at the bottom before tapering inwards slightly
Bundu: masks used by the Sande Society of the Mende peoples to initiate girls into puberty
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 that is used to make engravings
Burnishing: a technique where a printmaker uses a burnisher to rub a metal plate with one of many goals (to polish parts of the plate; to make corrections; to lighten the color of the plate)
Bushel: cylindrical earthenware pot
Buttress: an architectural structure built against a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall
Bust: a sculpture depicting a head, neck, and upper chest of a figure
Byeri: a reliquary guardian figure of the Fang peoples in Cameroon
Byzantine: Focused on formal religious imagery with figures who were often flattened and frontal; limited range of modeling; lack of depth or perspective

Calligraphy: decorative and beautiful handwriting
Camera Obscura: Latin, “dark room;” a lens projects an image on a wall of a box; used by artists as an aid in drawing from nature
Canon of proportion: A system of measurement by which artists can regulate size, scale, and proportions
Cantilever: a projecting beam that is attached to a building at one end and suspends outward beyond the edge of the building
Canvas: heavy woven material which is used as the surface for a painting; largely replaces wood; widely used first in Venice
Capital: top of a column
Caravanserai: roadside inns and towns along trade routes; often sites of cultural diffusion and exchange
Carpet page: when flat geometric decorative designs cover the whole page of a manuscript
Casta painting: Latin America colonial painting detailing the existing mixed-race population
Catacomb: an underground passageway used for burial
Cathedral: a larger place of worship than a church; a bishop manages the cathedral
Cella: the main shrine room of a temple where a cult statue is housed
Cenotaph: an empty tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person
Central plan: a building with a circular plan that radiates outward from a central point
Chahar bagh: “fourfold garden”; a garden often divided into quarters by divisions of water
Chamfered corner: a flattened corner of two buildings, often at 45 degrees
Chapter house: a building next to a church used for clergy meetings
Chasing: to ornament metal by indenting into a surface with a hammer
Chhatri: elevated, domed tower
Chiaroscuro: use of strong contrasts between light and dark, typically for modelling
Chicago Style: the first major modernist architectural movement in the United States; a style of architecture created by Louis Sullivan and other architects in Chicago; promoted new technologies (steel-frame construction) and an aesthetic that was simple, grid-like and lacked ornamentation
Church: a smaller place of worship than a cathedral; clergymen or priests manage the church
Citadel: fortress protecting a town
Classical Greek: Figures are based on a canon of proportions, based upon mathematical principles; bodies display idealism, rationalism, and humanism; bodies are typically nude or utilize wet drapery
Classicists: artists who believed in subdued painting, with a controlled use of line; inspired by the calm rationalism of the classical period
Clerestory: the third story of a church that is windowed and lets in light; also, at times, a roof that rises above lower roofs and thus has window space beneath that lets in light
Cloisonné: 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
Cloister: a rectangular open-air monastery courtyard with a covered arcade surrounding it
Codex: a manuscript in book form
Coffer: in architecture, a sunken panel in a ceiling to lighten the weight of the ceiling
Collage: art made from an assemblage of different forms onto a 2D surface
Collodion method: a wet-plate photography technique that took a glass plate and applied light-sensitive collodion (aka “gun cotton”) onto it; this allowed for a short exposure time (3 to 5 minutes), but the plate had to be developed while the gun cotton was still wet
Colonnade: a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature
Colophon: statement at the end of a book giving information about its authorship
Color field: A variant of Post- Painterly Abstraction whose artists sought to reduce painting to its physical essence by pouring diluted paint onto unprimed canvas in large sections
Compound pier: a pier with a group, or cluster, of shafts
Cong: a tubular object with a circular hole cut into it in the middle like a cross section
Constructivism: originated in Russia; often utilized photomontages to construct images of a utopian, politically-charged world
Continuous Narrative: an image that illustrates multiple scenes of a narrative within a single frame; therefore, some figures repeat
Contour rivalry: a visually complex technique where two images share parts or outlines, leading to a deliberately confusing overlapping of imagery
Contrapposto: a graceful arrangement of the body based on tilted shoulders and hips and bent knees
Conversation piece: an informal group portrait, popular in 18^th c. England, which showcased genteel sophisticated activities
Corbelled arch: constructed by offsetting successive courses of stone (or brick) so that they project towards the archway's center from each supporting side, until the courses meet at the apex of the archway
Corridor axis: a long hallway or path enclosed by large stone masonry, possibly symbolized the Nile
Creole: European born in the New World
Crossing square: a square that is created where the nave and transept intersect; determines the proportions of the church
Cubicula: small underground rooms in catacombs serving as mortuary chapels OR a Roman bedroom flanking an atrium
Cubism: Early-20th-century art movement that rejected naturalistic depictions, preferring compositions of shapes and forms that were abstracted
Cuneiform: wedge-shaped system of writing created by Sumerians
Cupola: a rounded, circular roof; achieved by rotating an arch on its axis 180 degrees; also known as a dome
Curtain-wall architecture: an exterior wall in architecture that is non-structural and purely decorative

Dada: An art movement prompted by a revulsion against the horror of World War I; characterized by a disdain for convention, often enlivened by humor
Daguerreotype: a type of early photograph developed by Louis Daguerre; shiny surface and no negatives
Daibutsu: Japanese term for “giant Buddha”
Daoism: a philosophical belief begun by Laozi that stresses individual expression and a striving for balance, particularly with individuals and nature
Decorative program: a work of art with multiple components, panels, or images that all are united through subject matter
De Stijl: Dutch, “the style;” early- 20th-century art movement founded by Piet Mondrian; developed a simplified geometric style
Di sottu in sù: “from the bottom up;” ceiling paintings seem to be hovering above the viewers; space moves vertically
Disguised symbolism: common place objects full of religious significance; requires an iconographic reading of the artwork
Documentary photography: Chronicled significant historical events or scenes from everyday life; typically related to photojournalism
Donor: a patron of a work of art; often seen in the work they commissioned
Drum: a circular or polygonal wall that supports a dome and raises it upward
Dry glass plate method: a photography technique that took a glass plate and applied light-sensitive gelatin onto it; the gelatin could dry and the plate was still able to be developed
Drypoint: An artist scratches directly into the surface of the plate with a stylus with pressure; this results in jagged, uneven lines and texture (shavings) surrounding the indentations; when inked, the plate yields a print with highly textured lines
Dutch Baroque: characterized by scenes with Protestant moral messages; exquisite attention to light and fabrics; patrons ennobled by new mercantile wealth; new types of art emerge (genre, landscapes, still lifes)

Early Christian: Christian re-adaptation of Greco-Roman imagery; characterized by short, squat figures, no individuality or consistent scale; no perspective
Early Medieval: artwork typically consisted of manuscripts created by monks in scriptoria; interlacing and other complex but spatially flat decoration fills the pages, particularly the borders; richly colored; frequently includes Biblical text
Earthwork: art made of the earth and located amongst nature, not in galleries or museums
Emaki: illustrated handscroll in Japan from the 11^th-16^th c.
Embroidery: a woven product in which the design is stitched into premade fabric
Embryo room: the central most room in a Hindu shrine; this room houses the deity’s statue and is believed to the deity’s dwelling place; typically, very small
Enamel: melted and fused glass powder mixed with pigment to create color; very smooth once cooled
Encaustic: paint made of pigment and wax
Enconchado: placing tiny fragments of mother-of-pearl or other shell onto a wooden support or canvas, and then covering with thin glazes of paint
Engaged column: a rounded column that is still attached to a wall
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
Entablature: lintel above the columns; contains the architrave and the frieze
Entasis: slight bulging or curve in the shaft of a column to correct the visual illusion of concavity
Entropy: decline into disorder; the inevitable disintegration of all objects in nature
Environmental art: American movement in the 1960s; used the land itself as the material; response to growing environmentalism in America
Escudo: a framed painting worn below the neck in a colonial Spanish painting
Etching: a metal plate is covered with a waxy coat; the artist scratches into the wax the design; 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.
Etruscan: Based upon Archaic Greek sculpture, but utilizes greater emotion; commonly funerary and joyful
Eucharist: service during a Catholic ceremony that commemorates the moment during the Last Supper when Christ transforms bread and wine into His body and blood
Exemplum virtutis: a painting that tells a moral tale for the viewer

Façade: front of building
Fasces: a bundle of rods, originally from Ancient Rome; symbol of power and unity
Fauvism: From the French word fauve, “wild beast;” Early-20th-century art movement led by Henri Matisse, for whom color became the formal element most responsible for pictorial meaning
Feminist art: emerged out of Women’s Liberation movement of 1960s/1970s; drew attention to women’s stories and issues
Fenestration: the arrangement of doors and windows on the elevation of a building
Ferroconcrete: reinforced concrete
Fête galante: French for “gallant party,” type of Rococo painting depicting the outdoor amusements of upper-class society
Fibula: a clasp used to fasten garments
Figura Serpentinata: Latin for serpentine figure, a spiral pose used in Mannerist art
Figurative: clearly derived from real objects or sources
Fin de siècle: French for “end of an era”; end of 19^th c. to 1914 in Europe; age of growing wealth but anxiety about political tensions
Fitted stone masonry: Inca technique where blocks of stone are kept to their natural shape as much as possible, with edges flattened off and then fitted together with other stones without mortar
Fluted shaft: shallow vertical grooves running along the long, narrow cylinder that comprises the majority of the column
Flying buttress: consists typically of an exterior masonry structure that is slanting from the main section of the building, typically forming an arch with the wall it supports to transfer vertical thrust away from the main wall and protect from wind pressure
Folk art: artwork made by untrained artists; typically, utilitarian and decorative, handmade, and reflects cultural traditions
Foreshortening: a visual effect in which an object is shortened and turned deeper into the picture plane to give the effect of receding in space
Form follows function: coined by Louis Sullivan; the function of the building should determine its design, rather than a building’s design that corresponded to architectural tradition
Formline style: characteristics of Northwest coastal Native American culture; masks are bilaterally symmetrical, with thick undulating black lines and ovoid shapes
Forum: a public square with market place in a Roman city
Found objects: objects that originally have a non-art function but that are used to create or embellish artwork; an object that an artist comes upon and finds, and then uses for art
Four Humors: Ancient Greek system of medicine and later adopted in the Renaissance; excesses or deficiencies of any of four bodily fluids (blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm) will affect attitude and health
French garden: a 17^th c. style of gardening that promoted a controlled and constructed look; not constructed to look natural but to show how man can manipulate nature to match his will
Fresco: a painting technique that involves applying paint onto a freshly plastered wall; the paint forms a bond with the plaster and becomes durable and long-lasting
Fresco secco: called dry fresco; the artist lets the plaster for the wall dry before painting on it
Frieze: a broad horizontal band of decoration and/or sculpture on architecture
Frontispiece: an illustration facing the title page of a book

Gallery: the second story of a church, placed over the side aisles and below the clerestory
Genesis: the first book of the Old Testament (aka Jewish Torah)
Genre scene: painting in which scenes of everyday life are shown
German Expressionism: Early-20th century art movement; characterized by bold, vigorous brushwork, emphatic line, and bright color; Two important groups: Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter
Ges: spirit double of an individual
Gestural: vigorous application of paint where the movements of the artist’s hand are visible
Gigantomachy: battle between gods and giants in Greek mythology
Giornata: literally “a day’s work”; used in buon fresco painting and denotes how much painting can be done in a single day as the artist is limited by needed to use plaster while it is fresh
Glazes: thin transparent layers placed over a painting to alter how colors appear
Gospels: first 4 books of New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) that chronicle the life of Jesus
Gothic: popular in the 13^th and 14^th centuries; characterized by rib vaults, pointed arches, flying buttresses, and stained glass
Gothic Revival: 19^th century – predominantly English – architectural movement to revive medieval Gothic architecture; also called Neo-Gothic
Gouache: opaque watercolor, as opposed to transparent watercolor
Grand Manner: art that is painted with grandiose subjects, such as battles, heroic actions, or religious or classical themes
Grand Manner Portraiture: a type of 18^th century portrait painting designed to communicate a person’s grace and class through certain standardized conventions, such as the large scale of the figure relative to the canvas, the controlled pose, the landscape setting, and the low horizon line
Groin vault: two intersecting barrel vaults
Ground/Horizon line: horizontal line at eye level that determines ground space that figures are rooted upon
Ground plan: bird’s eye map of building; also known as floor plan

Haggadah: literally “narration”; specifically, a book containing the Jewish story of Passover and the ritual of the Seder
Hajj: Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that is required according to the Five Pillars of Islam
Hammerbeam roof: a decorative open timber roof typical of English Gothic architecture
Happenings: A term coined by American artist Allan Kaprow in the 1960s to describe loosely structured performances; incorporate the fourth dimension (time); an act of performance art that is initially planned but involves spontaneity, improvisation and often audience participation
Harlem Renaissance: A rich period of cultural production for African Americans; celebrated their heritage and culture and redefined artistic forms of expression
Hasht Bihisht: refers to a specific type of floorplan common in Mughal architecture where the plan is divided into 8 chambers surrounding a central room
Haussmanization of Paris: urban development in Paris led by Baron von Haussmann; included: widening and beautifying boulevards; fenestrated buildings; modern bridges; train stations
Hellenistic Greek: Sculptural forms reveal greater emotion and movement in the body; subject matter expands to show unusual subjects, all of which utilize drama; departure from the previous period
Henge: a Neolithic monument, characterized by a circular ground plan of stone; commonly used for rituals and marking astronomical events
Heraldic composition: a central larger figure is flanked on either side by lesser figures
Heroic nudity: a figure’s nudity is an indication of its status as hero or semi-divine being
Hiapo: Niuean name for tapa cloth
Hierarchy of Genre: organized by the Académie; 1) history painting; 2) portraiture; 3) genre; 4) landscape; 5) animal scenes; 6) still lifes
Hierarchy of scale/Hierarchical Perspective: a person’s importance relates to his size relative to others in an artwork
Historical Narrative: A story or sequence of events that is (or purports to be) historically accurate
Horizon line: the physical line at which sky meets land; this will be wherever the vanishing point is
Horror vacuii: literally “fear of empty space;” filling entire surface of a space with detail
Horseshoe arch: a curved or pinched arch often found in Islamic architecture
Hudson River School: New York City-based landscape painters under the influence of Thomas Cole
Huipl: traditional woman’s garment worn by indigenous women from central America
Humanism: In the Renaissance, an emphasis on education and on expanding knowledge (especially of classical antiquity), the exploration of individual potential and a desire to excel, and a commitment to civic responsibility and moral duty
Hybrid: two or more different things joined together (usually animal forms)
Hypostyle: a hall with a roof supported by columns

Icon: a devotional panel depicting a sacred image
Iconography: Identification and interpretation of symbols or objects within an image
Ignudi: Michelangelo’s term for nude male figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling
Ikenga: a shrine figure symbolizing traditional male attributes of the Igbo people of Nigeria
Impasto: thick and very visible application of paint on the painting surface
Impluvium: a rectangular basin in a Roman house that is placed in the open-air atrium in order to collect rainwater
Impost block: a capital that utilizes at least one inverted pyramid
Impressionism: interested in Parisian leisure and modern life; focused on light and its reflections while painting outside; influenced by Japonisme
In situ: on site and in its original place
Incipit: Latin for “it begins”; typically, the opening words or text in a book
Incise: to cut into a surface with a sharp instrument; also, a method of decoration
Installation: An artwork that creates an artistic environment in a room or gallery
Interlacing: a decorative element found particularly in early Medieval European art that involved the crossing or weaving of visual elements
International Gothic Style: 14^th-15^th c. painting begun by Simone Martini; courtly, elegant, intricate interpretations of naturalistic subjects; catered to aristocrats; highly decorative and patterned
International Style: Early 20^th century architectural movement that rejected all historical ornamentation and utilized clean, straight lines
Intrigue Painting: secret planning of something illicit; a clandestine love affair
Isocephalism: tradition of depicting head of figures on the same level; implies a single ground line
Italian Baroque: theatrical multi-media art that retained an interest in classicism but added complex movement to the compositions; characterized by drama, intensity, engagement with the audience; often associated with Counter-Reformation propaganda
Italian Renaissance: Highly influenced by classical styles with a great emphasis on humanism, organization, modeling, balance; figures are calm and do not exhibit emotion; artists in guilds utilized chiaroscuro in tempera paint
Iwan: In Islamic architecture, a vaulted room opening to a courtyard

Jali: perforated and decorated screen, usually with calligraphic or geometric ornamentation
Jamb column: the side posts of a medieval portal
Jamb figure: decorative figures, usually highly stylized, carved onto jamb columns
Japonisme: denoting Japanese art or European art influenced by Japanese styles; a craze ensued for these kinds of artworks in 19th-century Europe
Jeronymite: A religious order that bases their Christian lives after St. Jerome

Ka: Egyptian notion of a soul imbedded in fleshly body, but upon death could live on
Keystone: the center stone of an arch that holds the others in place
Kiln: an oven used for making pottery
Kiswa: black cloth that covers the Kaaba
Kitsch: mass-produced imagery designed to please the broadest possible audience; generally, of questionable taste (popular, sentimental, shallow)
Kiva: a plaza that was the religious or social center for Native American pueblos
Kondo: a hall used for Buddhist teachings
Koran/Qur’an: the Islamic sacred text, dictated to the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel
Kouros (m) / Kore (f): an archaic Greek sculpture of an idealized standing youth
Krater: a large ancient Greek bowl used for mixing water and wine
Kufic: highly ornamental and geometric Islamic script
Kuosi society: Bamileke nobility and court officials

Lacquer: clear, thick, and highly glossy wood finish that dries clear; popular in Japanese decorative arts; copied in the Latin American enconchado technique
Lancet: a tall narrow window ending in a pointed arch
Landscape: A picture showing natural scenery, without narrative content.
Lamassu: Assyrian winged human-headed bull; guardians
“Less is a bore”: coined by Robert Venturi in reaction to Mies van der Rohe’s statement “less is more”; captured Venturi’s aesthetic – that architecture should be inspired by buildings of the past and pair elements together in new ways
“Less is more”: coined by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; captured his architectural aesthetic – that architecture should be simple, sleek, modern, minimalist
Linear perspective: a mathematical system for creating the illusion of space and distance on a flat surface
Literati: a sophisticated and scholarly group of Chinese artists who painted for themselves rather than fame or patrons; often became recluses and left urban life for nature
Lithograph: a printmaking technique that uses a flat stone surface as a base; the artist draws an image with an oil-based crayon that attracts the oil-based ink; water is applied to the paper to repel the oil ink and keep it from bleeding; paper, which absorbs the ink, is applied to the surface and a print emerges
Living rock: rock that is not detached and is still in its original setting
Lokapala: heavenly kings who watch over one of each of the cardinal directions
Lost-Wax Casting: a sculpture is carved out of clay and dipped into wax; the sculpture is put into a clay casing and heated, so that the wax will drip out of a hole at the bottom; as a result, space is left between the clay casing and clay interior; molten metal is then poured into this space; after cooling, the case is cracked so that the now-metal sculpture can be released
Lukasa: a memory board used by the Luba people of the Congo
Lunette: a crescent-shaped space, sometimes over a doorway, that contains sculpture or painting

Maithuna: depictions of couples explicitly engaged in sexual intercourse
Mana: supernatural power associated with those of high rank; also, a power embodied in sacred places or objects
Mandorla: a pointed vertical oval that typically surrounds Christ in traditional Christian art
Manifest Destiny: 19^th-century American attitude which maintained that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast
Mannerism: a style of European art that emerged in Italy after the 16^th c. Renaissance; characterized by elongation, artifice, tension, and instability
Maori: indigenous peoples of New Zealand
Marian Devotion: A prayer, act, or object dedicated directly to the Virgin Mary
Martyrium: shrine built over a place where a saint was martyred (or where a martyr was buried)
Mastaba: simple tomb with four sloping sides which covers an underground burial chamber
Mausoleum: a building that contains tombs
Mblo: a commemorative portrait of the Baule peoples in Côte d’Ivoire
Megalith: a large, single block or piece of stone used in large, stone structures
Memento mori: artistic or symbolic reminders of mortality
Mestizo: a person born of a Spanish father and an indigenous mother
Metopes: space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze; often decorated with low relief carving
Mihrab: a central niche, typically in a mosque which indicates the direction to Mecca
Minaret: a tall, slender column used to call people to prayer
Minbar: short flight of steps used as a platform by a preacher in a mosque
Miniature: small paintings on paper, prized for their detail and precision
Minimalism: Predominantly sculptural American trend of the 1960s whose works consist of a severe reduction of form, oftentimes to single units, that focused on reducing the form to its absolute and most basic essence; an extreme form of abstraction
Moai: large stone sculptures found on Easter Island; likely depict rulers or ancestors
Modeling: manipulation of light and shade to reveal three-dimensionality
Modernism: a style of architecture that emerged in the early 20^th century but became very popular after WWII; promotes architecture that is simple, sleek, minimal, proportional, geometric; this encapsulated modernity
Modular: Composed of smaller standardized units or elements that are repeated without alteration
Moko: facial tattoos used by the Maori
Monasticism: religious way of life in which one (a monk) renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work in a monastery
Moorish: related to the Muslim inhabitants of northern Africa and Iberia (Spain and Portugal)
Mooya: Kongo term for belly; believed to be the focal point for the soul
Moralized Bible: Bible in which the Old and New Testament stories are paralleled with one another in illustrations, text, and commentary; specifically made during the 13^th-14^th centuries for the French court
Mortise and tenon: an architectural joint made from two components (mortise hole and tenon tongue); tenon is inserted into the mortise and is cut to fit the hole exactly; tenon may be glued or otherwise adhered in place
Mosaic: a decoration using pieces of stone, marble, or colored glass, called tesserae, that are cemented to a wall or floor
Mosque: a Muslim house of worship
Muezzin: the person at a mosque who calls people to prayer on the minarets
Muqarnas: decoration inside a vault; 3D shapes that resemble intricate stalactites which are layered over one another in a complex pattern
Mural: large scale frescoes in Mexico; depicted non-European heroes and socially relevant messages

Narrative: artwork that conveys a story, either as an ongoing story or as a sequence of events
Narthex: an entrance to early Christian churches; typically separated from the liturgical spaces
Naturalism: attempting to portray objects from everyday life as they are
Naturalists: artists who believed in intense imagery, with a dramatic use of color
Nave: the main aisle of a church which accommodates the congregation
Ndop: a Kuba commemorative portrait of a king in an ideal state from the Congo
Necropolis (plural: necropoli): literally, a “city of the dead,” a large burial area or complex of funerary buildings or tombs
Negative space: empty space around an object or person, such as the cut-out areas between a figure’s legs or arms of a sculpture
Neoclassicism: A style of art and architecture that emerged in the later 18th century. Part of a general revival of interest in classical cultures, Neoclassicism was characterized by the utilization of themes and styles from ancient Greece and Rome
Neo-Expressionism: An art movement that emerged in the 1970s and that reflects the artists’ interest in the expressive capability of the human body
Nganga: ritual specialist and artist of nkisi n’kondi figure
Nimbus: a circle or oval shape surrounding a religious figure, representing spiritual light or glory
Nio: aggressive Buddhist guardian deities who protect Buddhist temples
Nkisi n’kondi: a Kongo power figure
Northern Renaissance: Eventually, interest in classicism like the South develops but early artwork in this style retained Gothic elongation; known for use of brilliant colors in oil paint; extraordinary realism with minute details; religious subject matter is humanized
Nsek-byeri: container or box that Fang ancestral remains were carried in; byeri protects this box

Oculus: a round opening at the top of a dome
Odalisque: woman in a harem in the Middle East
Ogival arch: Islamic pointed arch
Oil paint: pigment mixed with oil, typically linseed; oil dries slowly allowing for easier corrections and additions; fine detail and vibrant color can be achieved
Orant figure: a figure with its hands raised in prayer
Order: a style represented by a characteristic design of the columns and entablature
Orientalism: imitation, interest in, or depictions of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East Asian cultures; particularly popular in 19^th-century Europe as a result of Western colonialism
Orrery: a mechanical model of the solar system
Orthogonals: straight lines emanating from the vanishing point
Otoko-e: “men’s paintings”; military rule during Japanese shogunate led to interest in military scenes

Painterly: the look of a painting with thick vigorously applied paint
Panathenaic way: a ceremonial road for a procession built to honor Athena
Panchayatana: Hindu temple where the main shrine is surrounded by four smaller shrines
Papyrus: paper-like material prepared in ancient Egypt from Nile plants
Parapet: low protective wall or barrier
Parchment: sheep or goat hide that has been soaked in lime, dried and scraped until it can be cut into pages
Parthenos: virgin; often used to refer to Athena as Athena Parthenos
Passover: an eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the exodus of Jews from Egypt under Moses’ leadership
Pastiche: an artistic work that imitates that of another artist, work, time period, culture or style
Pediment: the triangular top of a classical building; typically on top of an entablature and a portico
Pendentive: a construction shaped like a triangle that transitions the base of a round dome onto a pier or the corner of a room
Peplos: a garment worn by women in ancient Greece, usually full length and tied at the waist
Performance art: Works in which movements, gestures, and sounds replace physical objects. Documentary photographs are generally the only evidence remaining after these events.
Peristyle: colonnade around the perimeter of the building
Perspective: depth and recession in a painting
Photogravure: a technique to copy a negative (technically, this is a print); used to capture middle tones on the value scale
Photomontage: process and the result of making a composite photograph by cutting, gluing, rearranging and overlapping two or more photographs
Piano nobile: (French: noble floor); the principle or main floor in a house; Americans would call this the second floor
Pieta: A painted or sculpted representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the dead body of Christ
Pietra dura: term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones to create images on a neutral colored stone
Pietra serena: grey stone typical of Italian Renaissance churches
Pilasters: flattened columns that are attached to a wall that serve no structural purpose and are simply decorative
Pilotis: slender columns with no ornamentation
Pinnacle: in Gothic churches, a sharply pointed ornament capping the piers or flying buttresses
Pishtaq: a rectangular frame around an arched opening, usually associated with an iwan
Pisupo: a term derived from a Samoan rendition of the words “pea soup”; terms refers to canned food, broadly
Plein-air: painting in the outdoors; allowed artists to capture effects of light and atmosphere more accurately; practiced by Impressionists
Polyptych: an altarpiece that consists of more than three leaves or panels
Pop art: Art that incorporated elements from consumer culture, the mass media, and popular culture, such as images from motion pictures and advertising
Porcelain: a ceramic made from clay that when fired in a kiln produces a product that is hard, white, brittle, and shiny
Portal: a church entryway which has been significantly decorated and is typically on the western side
Portico: a shallow columned porch
Portrait bust: a sculptured 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)
Post and lintel: architecture in which two or more vertical elements (posts) support and are capped by a horizontal element (lintel)
Post-Impressionism: retains Impressionism’s interest in color, but focused on exploration of structure and form; additionally, at times emotional content was added; move towards abstraction
Post-Modernism: Art after the 1970s that transformed traditional practices and focused on challenging the traditional art world, the art object and the identity of the artist
Poussinistes vs. Rubenistes: debate regarding line vs. color; Poussinistes argue for a linear rationalism whereas Rubenistes valued evocative and dramatic colors
Predella: base panel of an altarpiece that is filled with paintings
Prairie style: Native American decorative arts style that utilized colorful glass beads fashioned in floral patterns
Prehistoric: often utilized found objects; focused on animals, life cycles, fertility and typically used for rituals/religious ceremonies
Primitivism: artistic inspiration from “primitive” “unadvanced” “simple” non-western cultures
Profile: a view of an object or person from the side
Proto-Renaissance: characterized by a growing interest in reality; returned to bodies with mass-like forms and realistic modeling to achieve roundness; primarily a movement utilizing frescos made with tempera
Pueblo: village of adjoined flat-roofed structures; made of adobe or stone
Pwo: a female mask worn by men of the Chokwe people from the Congo to honor mothers
Pylon: the simple and massive gateway, with sloping walls, of an Egyptian temple
Pyxis: a small cylinder-shaped container with a detachable lid used to hold cosmetics and jewelry

Qiblah: the direction toward Mecca which Muslims face in prayer
Quadro riportato: Italian for "carried picture"; It is used in art to describe paintings that are seen in a normal perspective and painted into a fresco

Radiating Chapels: small chapels that are located around the nave, typically holding reliquaries
Radical naturalism: Everyday characteristics; figures are not ennobled; they are gritty, dirty, realistic
Rank badge: a symbol or insignia that indicates the military or political status of the wearer
Ready-mades: a commonplace object selected and exhibited as a work of art
Realism: rejection of anything that was not real or that was elite; focus on lower classes and their plight; favored accurate or objective depictions of ordinary world
Rebbelib: stick chart with shells denoting islands in large sections of water
Red-figure: in later Greek pottery, the silhouetting of red figures against a black background, with painted linear details; the reverse of black-figure painting
Refectory: dining rooms, particularly in monasteries
Register: A horizontal level of artwork that is delineated from other levels
Relic: an object that has religious significance
Relief sculpture: Figures project from a background of which they are a part. The degree of relief is designated 1) high; 2) low (bas); or 3) sunken. In the last, the artist cuts the design into the surface so that the highest projecting parts of the image are no higher than the surface itself.
Reliquary: a vessel for holding a sacred relic, typically made with precious metals and stones
Repoussé: “to push back;” a sculptural technique where a thin sheet of metal, gold, or bronze is fit onto a mold; the mold is beaten from the backside/inside, leaving a raised design on the surface/exterior.
Rib vault: a vault in which diagonal arches form rib-like patterns (quadripartite: consisting of four ribs)
Ribbon windows: slender, long, streamlined window panes
Rococo: 18^th-century artistic style focused on asymmetry, decoration, grace, detail, and frivolity; included interior design
Roman Republic: veristic sculpture portrayed civic pride, honor, intelligence, and merit
Roman Empire (Early/High): rounded arch and vault created; new building shapes achieved through the use of concrete; figures are idealized, in contrapposto, and display heroism, civic pride, and status
Roman Empire (Late): compositions become chaotic and abandon the idealism of the previous period; no central focus as figures are jumbled and start to stack on top of one another; figures lose idealism and rationalism
Romanesque: primarily an architectural movement in the 11^th-13^th centuries in Western Europe; large, monumental, solid, and dark interiors; constructed with ambulatories and reliquaries that accommodated and attracted pilgrims
Romanticism: explored scenes from the past, intense imagery, scenes of nature, and exotic subjects; glorification of emotion and feeling
Roof comb: a wall rising from the center or front of a building to give the appearance of greater height
Rose-window: a circular stained-glass window at the end of a transept or on the facade
Rosette: rose-shaped decoration
Rusticated: deeply and roughly incised stone to create a rough appearance and texture

Salon: formal exhibition of art organized, originally organized by the Académie
San Ildefonso: Neolithic Puebloan ceramic style; revived in the 20^th c.
Sancta Camisa: literally “sacred tunic,” believed to have been worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ’s birth
Sankofa: African artistic movement interested in reclaiming Africa’s rich indigenous artistic tradition
Satire: use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices
Scarification: ritual cutting of the body to create scars with particular patterns that denote status or identity
Scriptorium (plural: scriptoria): a place in a monastery where monks wrote manuscripts
Sculpture-in-the-round: Sculpture that can be seen from all sides and is not affixed. Also called free-standing sculpture.
Seder: a ceremonial meal celebrated at the beginning of Passover that commemorates the Jewish flight from Egypt; marked by a reading of the Haggadah
Sedes Sapientae: literally “throne of wisdom,” a common way to refer to Mary when the Christ child sits on her lap, as he embodies wisdom and her body acts as a throne for him
Seed beads: small glass beads; prized for their brilliant colors
Selenite: a transparent, colorless gypsum that looks like glass and was often used in windows
Sfumato: Forms are rendered subtly with a misty effect
Shamanism: religious belief which maintains that a shaman can interact with and affect nature
Shibboleth: a custom, principle, or practice that distinguishes one group from another, particularly an “in group” from an “out group”
Shiva: the Hindu god of destruction
Sibyl: ancient pagan soothsayers who can see the future and foretell the coming of Christ
Side aisle: on either side of the nave; used as walkways to help church goers move around
Silk screen: mesh cloth is stretched over a heavy wooden frame; the design (painted on the mesh or as a stencil) is transferred to the canvas by having a squeegee force color through the pores of the material
Sinification: spread, expansion, and adoption of Chinese culture, politics, language, etc.
Skeleton: supporting interior framework of a building
Soak-stain: artist pours paint onto canvas and avoids brushwork; manipulates the movement of paint using gravity or other means
Socialist realism: characterized by the glorified depiction of communist values or leaders; executed in a realistic manner
Spandrel: a triangular space enclosed by the curves of arches
Sphinx: hybrid animal, with body of lion and head of Pharaoh/god that exhibits protective qualities
Spolia: the reuse of architectural or sculptural pieces in buildings generally different from their original contexts
Square Schematism: when the proportions of a church are all based on the dimensions of the crossing square
Squinch: polygonal base of a dome that makes a transition from the round dome to a flat wall
Stoa: covered walkway attached to a building; used as a framing device for the structure
Stele (plural stelai): Stone slab used to mark a grave or site
Still Life: a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter
Stringcourse: a raised horizontal band on a building that visually denotes floors
Stupa: a dome-shaped Buddhist shrine
Stylized: a manner of depicting the visible world that privileges a certain look over realism and faithfulness to how things truly appear in nature
Stylobate: the floor of a temple
Sublime: inspiring great admiration, or awe in the extraordinary, powerful, and dramatic
Subtractive: a sculptural process including the removal of material of a block through cutting, chiseling, chipping, or scraping away.
Sumukhwa: Oriental Ink Movement in the 1980s; revival in Korea of traditional Korean and Chinese artistic traditions
Sunken relief: a type of relief carving where all lines are made into the surface, so that the design is set into the material
Superimposed: when one painting is painted over another, not necessarily at the same time.
Sura: verse or section of the Koran
Surrealism: 20^th-century movement; grew out of automatism and depicted dream-like states and hypnotic trances (all techniques for liberating the individual unconscious); meant to puzzle or challenge the viewer; often, there existed a multiplicity of interpretations
Swoon of the Virgin: popular image of a fainting Mary during the Crucifixion and Deposition
Symbolism: 19^th-century movement that depicted extreme emotion; often left up to the viewer’s interpretation; embodied a world of fantasy, sensation, imagination, emotion
Synesthesia: the “union of senses”; utilizing one sense causes a sensation with another

Taberna: single-room shops covered by a wide doorway
Talisman: intended to ward off evil with supernatural properties, or bring good luck
Tantric: referring to transcendence; often used to describe deeply meditative and intimate sexual activity
Tapa: Oceanic cloth made from bark that is soaked, beaten, dyed and decorated
Tarashikomi: a Japanese painting technique in which paint is applied to a surface that has not already dried (essentially, the Japanese term for wet-in-wet)
Tempera: pigment mixed with egg-yolk; known for its quick drying rate and flat opaque color
Tenebrism: a dramatic dark and light contrast in a painting; created by Caravaggio
Terra-cotta: a hard ceramic clay used for building or for pottery
Terrace: common element of Inca highland agriculture; flat arable land cut into cliffsides
Tessellation: decoration using polygonal shapes with no gaps
Tesserae: small pieces of colored stone or marble; used to create a mosaic
Theotokos: Greek for Mother of God; scene that shows or is dedicated to the Virgin Mary
Toilette: a woman doing her hair and makeup; common Old Master painted subjects
Torana: a gateway near a stupa that has two upright posts and three horizontal lintels; they are usually elaborately carved
Torons: wooden beams projecting from walls of adobe buildings
Totem: object or creature that connected to certain ancestral spirits
Transept: the “arms” of the cross-shape of a basilica plan Christian church; crosses the nave to create the crossing
Triclinium: a dining table in ancient Italy that has a couch on three sides for reclining at meals
Triforium: the second story of a church
Triglyph: part of a Doric entablature frieze; has three vertical grooves
Triptych: a three-paneled painting or altarpiece
Trompe l’oeil: literally “to fool the eye;” painting that represents an object as existing in three dimensions and therefore appears to be real
Tufa: a type of limestone
Tumulus: burial mounds in Etruscan architecture, tumuli covered one or more subterranean multi-chambered tombs cut out of the local tufa
Tuscan: an order of ancient architecture featuring slender, smooth wooden columns that sit on simple bases; no carvings on frieze or capitals
Twisted perspective: A convention of representation in which part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally; a composite view.
Two-point perspective: a mathematical way of rendering space that utilizes two vanishing points
Tympanum: a rounded sculpture placed in the portal and over the doorway of a church
Typology: the study and interpretation of stories and symbols in the Bible, especially the relationship between Old and New Testament (specifically, that the New Testament fulfills prophecies in the Old Testament)

Ukiyo-e: “pictures of the floating world”; 17^th-19^th woodblock prints popular in the West; typically showing genre scenes
Urna: red dot on the forehead of Buddhist figures
Ushnisha: top-knot on the top of Buddha’s head (references a humble crown)

Vairocana: the universal Buddha, a source of enlightenment
Vajrapani: Buddhist guardian figures, highly muscular, with thunderbolts
Vanishing point: a point in the picture plane that is the intersection of the orthogonals
Vanitas: a type of symbolism especially associated with Dutch and Flemish still lifes in the Baroque period; used to indicate vanity, futility, and human excess
Vault: a ceiling constructed with arches
Venice Biennale: a major show of contemporary art that takes place every other year in various venues throughout the city of Venice; begun in 1895
Vellum: calf hide that has been soaked in lime, dried and scraped until it can be cut into pages
Veranda post: vertical sculpture originally intended to be among structural posts of a palace porch
Veristic: sculptures from the Roman Republic characterized by extreme realism (and even exaggeration) of facial features
Vishnu: the Hindu god of preservation
Votive offering: a gift of gratitude to a deity
Voussoirs: stones that comprise an arch (excepting the keystone, which is the topmost stone)

Warp: basic threads of a textile
Wat: a Buddhist monastery or temple in Cambodia
Westwork: a monumental entrance to a church in which two towers flank a lower central entrance
Wet drapery: deeply incised drapery that is clingy and tight, so that it reveals the shape of the body
Wet-in-wet: painting technique with oil paint where layers of wet paint are applied to previously administered layers of wet paint; this allows the artist to mix colors on the canvas and create glazes
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 on top to transfer the image

Yakshi: female and male fertility figures in Buddhist and Hindu art
Yamato style: a Japanese handscroll style characterized by stylized figures with simple faces, and the use of bright pigments; often illustrated with an aerial view
Yin and Yang: Daoist concept of complementary opposites (yin is feminine; yang is masculine)

Zen: branch of Japanese Buddhism that teaches fulfillment through introspection, meditation, gardening, and tea drinking; almost always an elite Buddhist practice
Ziggurat: pyramid-like building whose stories indent as building progresses upward
Zoetrope: a cheaper version that included instructions for assembling it. This could be purchased in magazines and then crafted together by children
Zoopraxiscope: a device that projects sequences of photographs to give the illusion of movement; a cheaper version named a zoetrope could be purchased in a magazine, which included instructions to assemble it)