Art final terms/concepts
Italian Baroque
(1590-1680) Emphasis: Religious works. Patron: church. Style: Dynamic. Qualities: Drama, intensity, Movement, Theatricality of Motion, Space, Time.
Egyptian
(3100 bc- 30bc) Art with an afterlife focus: pyramids and tomb painting
the Calotype/Talbotype
- Camera-‐based photographs - Negative-‐positive process for printing - Reproducible
photogenic drawing/photogram
- Object in direct contact with light sensitized paper - Negative/positive process - Not Reproducible
3 basic theories for analyzing the quality of art
1) formal theories - Identifying formal or stylistic novelty is believed to be the most important criteria for judging the quality of a work 2) contextual theories - judge art based on its relationship to the culture and values of the time and place the work was made. 3) expressive theories - value the artist's expression of his/her personality, life experience, or worldview
3 typical functions of drawing
1. As a sketch, notation or record of something observed, remembered or imagined 2. As a study or preparation for another, usually larger and more complex work of art 3. As an end in itself, a complete work of art
Prehistoric
1.Paleolithic - (human use of tools to the Old Stone Age) 2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) 3.Neolithic (New Stone Age) Prehistoric art includes cave paintings, reliefs, sculpture of stone, ivory and bone • The term "pre-historic" indicates it is before written documentation
3 types of sculpture
3 Typ es of Sculpture • Bas-Relief • Freestanding sculpture • Installation
Photo Secession
A group dedicated to advancing photography as a separate art form.
linear perspective
A studied method for creating the illusion of deep space. Vanishing point -‐ the point at which parallel lines come together, or converge. Horizon line -‐ the line in a picture where a viewer's line of sight stops and on which the artist often places the vanishing point. Vantage point - where the viewer is positioned
canon of proportions
Ancient Egyptian art used canon of proportion based on the fist
abstract
Art that departs significantly from the actual appearance of things in the world.
nonrepresentational
Art that makes no concrete reference to nature or reality
the "New York School"/Abstract Expressionism
Artists insisted subjects were not "abstract," but rather primal images, deeply rooted in society's collective unconscious. • The paintings did not express mere emotion but universal truths about the human condition. • Action/experience/process of painting itself part of the work's content • AbEX painting was judged by its style, individuality, and communication of emotion
prefabrication
Assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site , and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the constructions site where the structure is to be located.
Impressionism
Characteristics of Impressionism: - Advocated painting outside or "plein-‐air painting" - Chose subjects found in nature - Studied the effects of atmosphere and light on people and objects • They produced atmospheric paintings with new techniques and modern, everyday subject matter. • Painters: Claude Monet, Pierre-‐Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas
Classicism
Classicism in the arts, refers to a high regard for classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for test which the classicists seek to emulate.
megalith
Comes from the Greek word meaning "large stones" Most famous architectural monument is Stonehenge in Southern England.
Content
Content refers to a work's essence, or what is being depicted.
Style
Distinctive uses of the visual elements of art
post-and-lintel construction
Dry Masonry = stone connected only by the force of its weight, found in post-and lintel construction and arches (Stonehenge, Machu Picchu)
Baroque Outside Italy (Flanders, Spain, Holland)
Dutch- painted in realism. Painted everyday scenes and perfected genre painting. Spain and Flanders- adopted the Venetian use of color and created energetic motion with brushwork. (flanders-used religous or moral themes).
Neoclassicism
Emphasized emotional restraint, purity of form and subjects that inspired morality. Linked to "Age of Reason" or the Enlightenment era in which it took shape. Enlightenment philosophy valued reason, the laws of nature, and science above emotion or faith. Placed more value on the politically charged spirit in France at the time. Characteristics of Neoclassicism: • Clarity of form • Sober colors • Shallow space • Strong horizontals/verticals that suggest timelessness (rather than motion) • Classical themes
Fauvism
Fauvism did not last very long but it was the 1st art movement of the 20th century in France. Bright, non-descriptive, cheery or garish colors; bold linear patterning; and distorted perspectives. Term means "the wild ones".
Form
Form refers to the work's style, techniques and media used, and how the elements of design are implemented.
The Rosetta Stone
Found in 1799. • Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek). • Gave contemporary scholars the ability to read about history and culture of ancient Egyptians as recorded in sculptural reliefs, scrolls, and other artifacts
dome
Hemispherical forms -extensions of the principle of the arch - capable of enclosing vast amount of space
Naturalism
Idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the works. Example - Naturalism reserved for citizens of lower status
autochrome
Invented by Louis Lumiere in 1907. • Glass plates coated with 3 layers of dyed potato starch that served as color filters.
daguerreotype
Invented in 1829 by Niepce and Louis-Jacques- Mande Daguerre. • Image is developed by mercury vapors on a polished silver plate previously made sensitive to light and exposed. • Resulting image is almost three dimensional in its detail, appearing right beneath a reflective mirrored surface. Drawbacks: • Long exposures: 5 - 40 minutes. • Image reverses left to right. • delicate, had to be sealed behind glass. • No negative, therefore no copies could be made.
chiaroscuro
Italian term for modeling specifically in drawing or painting that describes a very gradual change in value
Realism
Major movement to follow in France • The first recognized movement of "modernism" • Characterized by a turn away from typical history painting and classical subjects toward the everyday world of real French people. Realist artists chose to represent subjects evident in everyday life while emphasizing the two-‐dimensionality of the canvas and highlighting the physical properties of the pigments.
Hellenistic Greek
Man at the center of the universe, perfection, intense movement of body, dramatic facial expression, detailed body. was theatrical and idealized
Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia extending to the Dead Sea (present day Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan)
Minimalism (via Frank Stella)
Minimalism was called "ABC Art" Frank Stella is understood as a critical bridge between Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism ("Forefather for Minimalism") Stella's Aluminum and Copper series were highly influential for minimalists
Late classical Greek
More naturalistic Increased focus on gods/goddesses Bodies became more sensual and graceful Consistently showed a shift in weight
Upper & Lower Egypt
Old Kingdom • Before the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt (c. 5500 BCE), art consisted mainly of funerary offerings (small figures, carved ivory, pottery). • At period's end, large limestone figures were created as were the major pyramids.
Op Art (via Frank Stella)
Op, or Optical, art typically employs abstract patterns composed with a stark contrast of foreground and background - often in black and white for maximum contrast - to produce effects that confuse and excite the eye
camera obscura
Optical principle known in ancient Chinese & Greek philosophy (c. 470-322 BCE) and first clearly defined by Leonardo da Vinci. "If the façade of a building, or a place, or a landscape is illuminated by the sun and a small hole is drilled in the wall of a room in a building facing this, which is not directly lighted by the sun, then all objects illuminated by the sun will send their images through this aperture and will appear, upside down, on the wall facing the hole." --da Vinci
wet look
Phidias's style was marked by stunning naturalism, or bodies with realistic detail, as if in the natural world (relaxed, fluid, moving, and effortlessly casual)
photography
Photography is science and art. The word photography comes from the Greek word meaning "to write with light."
Empire Roman
Pure realism joined with Greek idealism invented the equestrian portrait. Stocicism- said it was best to be indifferent to emotion and the things of this world, maintaining that virtue was the most important goal in life.
2 types of drawing
Receptive - drawings that we use to capture the physical appearance of something before us. Projective - drawings of things that only exist in our minds
Rococo
Rococo is unique within the French Baroque period and strays from Classicism. It was adored by aristocrats who wanted to assert their power as patrons of art directed for the private/domestic rather than public realm • More ornate style that shows sweetness, gaiety, and light; painterly and pastel features • Characterized by representation of leisurely activities of upper class society by a frivolous choice of themes. • Represents artifice and fantasy on a smaller scale
Romanticism
Romanticism reflected the revolutionary spirit of the times in early 19th century France. • A favorite theme was nature being depicted as unpredictable and uncontrollable. Also undefeated human genius, spirit, and raw emotion were common themes. • Romanticism sought extremes of emotion enhanced by strong brushwork and colors
hierarchical scaling
Scale - The relative size of an object compared to other objects of its kind, its setting, or human dimensions in the work. Artist uses unnatural proportion or scale to depict the relative importance of the figures in the artwork
High Renaissance(in Rome,Florence, and venice)
Serenity & Divine beauty.
Mesopotamian
Shift from cave dwellings and architectural monuments like stonehenge. To more sophisticated and imaginative depictions of people Sumer Akkad Babylonia Assyria Persia
Conceptual art (via Frank Stella)
Sol LeWitt coined the term "conceptual art" in his essay from 1967 • First made simple cubic sculptures often associated with minimalism • Employed systems to devise an art free from stylistic and iconographic associations. • Ideas that underlie and inform these systems were the content
flying buttress
Specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture (purpose of buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outward)
2 main sculptural processe
Subtractive Process - unwanted materials are removed to create the desired form Additive Process - desired materials are added and shaped into the desired form
contrapposto
The "Kritios Boy" is the first Greek sculpture to exhibit "contrapposto"—a shift in weight (implying movement).
Mortuary temple
The Mortuary Temple was not a tomb, but a place where they could worship during life and be worshiped after death. Built in harmony with the cliffs but imposing order on chaos
The visual elements of art
The Visual Elements of Art • Color • Shape • Line • Light • Value • Texture • Space • Time • Motion
acropolis
The center of civic life was the acropolis, a site for temples and gathering places situated on an elevated site above a city.
Humanism
The concept that human beings are the center of the universe and the "measure of all things."
Ka
The life force that defines personality and survives life on earth after death
idealization
The representation of forms according to an accepted standard of beauty
Classicism
This strain of the Baroque is a more reserved style, inspired by Raphael • Rise in interest in the ideal landscape • In architecture, it is a balanced Classical style with emphasis on symmetry and rhythm • Calling it "Classicism" links it to antiquity and the High Renaissance, and suggests the qualities of balance and restraint in those time periods • The work still expresses the theatricality of the Baroque
Mastaba
Tombs for the elite • Included provisions for the deceased to enjoy in the afterlife • Stored the "ka" • Perpetuated the memory of the deceased (who were typically rulers or aristocrats)
Cubism
Transcribed natural forms into largely angular geometric equivalents. Second major art movement of the 20th century (after Fauvism) • Traced its heritage to the more intellectual movements of Neoclassicism and the art of Cézanne. • Pablo Picasso was Cubism's driving force and worked with Georges Braque. • Cubism has virtually nothing to do with cubes. It is a radical way of looking at objects/scenes in the world, inspired by Cézanne's paintings which Picasso saw at a retrospective of the elder's work in 1907. Major influences on cubism include: • geometrization of nature • abandonment of scientific perspective, • rendering of multiple views • emphasis on the two-dimensionality of the canvas
Post-Impressionism
Two groups of Post-Impressionism: 1. One group had a systematic or "scientific" approach to composition, brushwork, and color. Artists included Georges Seurat & Paul Cezanne 2. And a second that had more texture and expression in their brushwork, and coordinated line and color with symbolism and emotion. Artists included Vincent van Gogh
death mask
Wax death masks were common and often converted to bronze or terra-cotta sculptures.
Ziggurat
a multi-level structure accessed by series of ramps/stairs and made of sunbaked mud bricks and fired bricks. Temple at top.
impasto
actual texture w/paint
found objects
art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects that are not normally considered art.
Gothic Medieval
art is about redemption. Barbaric Goths were responsible for this art style.
Romanesque medieval
art that was obsessed with salvation. God depicted as merciless judge Humans shown as pitiful creatures These are not classical figures
site-specific sculpture
artwork created to exist in a specific place
Stylization
conforming to a conventional style, specifically to represent or design according to a style or stylistic pattern rather than according to nature or tradition. Example - Stylized representation is for the King and his warriors
Republican Roman
developed lifelike qualities, was more realistic and individualistic.
expressionistic
form and color are freely distorted in order to achieve a heightened emotional impact
constructed sculpture
forms are built from materials such as wood, paper, string, sheet metal, and wire. Introduced by Picasso.
pigment
ground natural materials (from plants, clay, soil, minerals, etc) mixed with a vehicle (aka "binding agent") to form paint
modeling
implied dimensionality in drawing, photography, & painting. modeling with drawing: Stippling, Hatching, Cross-hatching, Contour hatching implies texture and it also creates a "value pattern" in an image
kouros & kore
kouros and kore (masculine and feminine) - - Earliest sculpted figures of the Greek Archaic Period
casting
liquid metal material is poured into a mold to create a form (oldest and most common is bronze)
dry media
pencil, charcoal, Conté crayon, and pastel drawing pencils are made of graphite and come in varying degrees of hardness; softer graphite gives darker/thicker lines, harder graphite gives lighter/thinner ones.
representational
presents objects from the world in a recognizable manner (although not always in a realistic way).
carving
removing portions of a block of material to create a form.
Early Renaissance
resurgence of classicism, very humanistic.
Composite view
shoulders in frontal view, head and legs in profile = reserved for relief sculptures of royals and their entourage
steel cage construction
skeletal forms on to which steel I-beams can be riveted or welded.
balloon framing
style of wood house building that uses long vertical 2x4's for the external walls which extend uninterrupted from the sill on the top of the foundation all the way up to the roof.
atmospheric perspective
technique of rendering depth or distance in painting by modifying the tone or hue and distinctness of objects perceived as receding from the picture plane, especially by reducing distinctive local colors and contrasts of light and dark to a uniform light bluish-gray color.
Venus
term archeologists use for prehistoric female figurines with exaggerated reproductive body parts
glazing
the application of multiple layers of transparent films of paint to a surface
vehicle
the liquid binding agent that holds pigment and forms paint that will adhere to surfaces
figure-ground
the relationship between the positive and negative shapes in a piece. positive and negative shapes in a piece can be reversed or are ambiguous
liquid media
various types of ink (pens, markers, brush drawings) brush drawings are made with washes of ink thinned with water felt and fiber-‐tipped marker pens are new types of ink media
Late Empire Roman
was centered around christian art. two periods of art, Era of Persecution, Era of Recognition.
Byzantine Medieval
was christian art based on a more spiritual, otherworldly style. Heavy with symbols and decoration.
Early Greek
was known as greek golden age, used Phidias's style which was marked with naturalism
arch
• Arches span distances. • Arches support other structures, such as roofs. • Arches serve as an actual symbolic gateway (Arch of Triumph in Paris, France) Vault- an extended arch
celluloid film
• Emulsion - an active layer of small particles of a photosensitive silver salt suspended in gelatin. • Negative - celluloid film which has been exposed to light and chemically treated. - Areas of light and dark are reversed on a negative.
6 historic painting medium
• Encaustic - One of the earliest methods for applying pigment to a surface. It uses a pigment in a wax vehicle that has been heated to a liquid state. It hardens quickly so the molten wax must be kept at a constant temperature. • Extremely durable • Colors remain vibrant • Surface will retain a hard luster • Used by the Egyptians and the Romans • Fresco - the art of painting on plaster. Popular in the Renaissance and was revived by Mexican Muralists after WWI - Buon Fresco - "true fresco" applied to damp, lime plaster with pigments mixed only with water - Fresco Secco - "dry fresco" pigment mixed with glue applied to dry wall plaster (less permanent) • Tempera - historically uses ground pigments mixed with a vehicle of egg yolk or whole egg thinned with water. Popular for centuries, however is rarely used today. Used by the Greeks & Romans and was the only painting medium of artists in the Middle Ages. Went away in 1300s with introduction of oil painting. • Oil - consists of ground pigments combined with a linseed oil vehicle and a turpentine medium or thinner • Acrylic - is a mixture of pigment and a plastic vehicle that can be thinned with water. Advantages of acrylic paint over oil paint: • Far less messy to use • Can be used on larger variety surfaces • Surfaces don't need special preparation • less-toxic, non-flammable solvents • Watercolor - Originally defined as any painting medium that employs water as a solvent; today refers to a specific technique really called aquarelle
4 main types of printmaking
• Relief printing - the parts of the printing surface that carry ink are led raised, while remaining (white) areas are cut away • Intaglio - lines and areas to be inked are recessed below the surface of the printing plate (3 types: engraving, dry-point, etching) • Lithography - Artist draws image on surface of a stone or plate with grease pencil or crayon and image is then chemically treated to "fix" it on the stone (which is dampened with water and then inked). Ink is repelled by the wet areas and drawn to the oiled areas • Screenprinting - stencils are applied to fabric stretched across a frame and paint or ink is forced through the unblocked portions of the screen onto paper or another surface beneath. The process is also called silkscreen printing.
3 most famous Roman structures
• The Aqueducts - series of arches for irrigation and water. • The Pantheon - Made of a rectangle and a dome. The interior of the dome is coffered - carved with recessed squares. Oculus - a large 30 ft hole in the center of the dome that let light in. • The Colosseum - Made of two, back to back amphitheaters. The Coliseum was a major feat of architectural engineering and practical design. Contained columns of all 3 styles, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
The principles of design
• Unity/Variety • Balance/Imbalance • Emphasis/Focal Point • Rhythm • Scale • Proportion
Pop Art
•Recognizable imagery, drawn from popular media and products. •Usually very bright colors. •Flat imagery influenced by comic books and newspaper photographs. •Images of celebrities or fictional characters in comic books, advertisements and fan magazines. •In sculpture, an innovative use of media.
