grisaille

grisaille (countable and uncountable, plural grisailles)

Unadapted borrowing from French grisaille.

ubor

Very pertinent relationships between these grisailles of the vegetal type and Islamic transennas have been established by Eva Frodl-Kraft, between that of Obazine with palmettes enchâssées, and a transenna from the Umayyad castle of Qasr-el Heir al Gharbi (about 727-750), today reconstructed at the National Museum in Damascus, and with a plaque, probably of Syrian origin, reused over a tomb in San Marco in Venice.

1982, Meredith P. Lillich, Studies in Cistercian art and architecture, page 134:

(art) In painting, a method of working which employs only varying values of gray to create form. Often a preliminary step in a fully colored painting.


duende

en-noun

duende (countable and uncountable, plural duendes)

Borrowed from Spanish duende and (especially in reference to Portuguese or Brazilian folklore) Portuguese duende. Doublet of duwende.

The duende is a momentary burst of inspiration, the blush of all that is truly alive, all that the performer is creating at a certain moment.

1998, Federico García Lorca, Norman Thomas Di Giovanni, In Search of Duende, New Directions, →ISBN, page VIII, →ISBN:

(art) Heightened inspiration or passion, especially in flamenco.


sfumato

sfumato (usually uncountable, plural sfumatos)

From Italian sfumato (“shaded, toned down”).

Another quality which was adopted from Leonardo, and of which the Florentines were especially enamoured, was the ‘sfumato’ system—the imperceptible softening of the transitions in half-tints and shadows.

1869, Charles Lock Eastlake, Materials for a History of Oil Painting, Volume II, Longmans, Green & Co., page 206:

1960, Helmut Ruhemann, Leonardo's Use of Sfumato, in The British Journal of Aesthetics, Volume 1, British Society of Aesthetics, page 233,
The interpretation of ‘sfumato’ is equally wrong. In ‘sfumato’ there is no blurring of the outlines which delineate the contours of figures and there is no blending or diminution of the definition of forms or for that matter any mellowing of colours.

It could be said that sfumato is less exact than line and that its forms are less precisely defined, but with these apparent omissions comes a sense of atmosphere. By casting its shadow over concrete form, sfumato dissolves it.

1991, Philip Sohm, Pittoresco, Cambridge University Press, page 4:

In baroque painting, sfumato is the blurring of outlines and colors amongst objects, as clouds and mountains, or the sea and the sky. Sfumato allows baroque subjectivity to create the near and the familiar among different intelligibilities, thus making cross-cultural dialogues possible and desirable.

2002, Scott Lash, Mike Featherstone, editors, Recognition and Difference, SAGE Publications, page 200:

2018, Lena Redman, Knowing with New Media, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature, page 234,
No smeared sfumatos—blurred lines and borders—or anaemic chewing of emotions, just forcefully chopped slabs of substance.

2022, Ellen Jones, Robin Myers (translators), Ave Barrera, The Forgery, Charco Press, unnumbered page,
As I was saying, I was worried because my sfumatos didn't look anything like they did in the original.

(art, painting) A painting technique, prominent during the Italian Renaissance, involving the application of subtle layers of translucent paint, blurring the transition between colors, tones and often objects and creating the illusion of depth.


sgraffito

sgraffito (countable and uncountable, plural sgraffiti or sgraffitoes or sgraffitos)

sgraffiti (plural)
sgraffitoes (plural)
sgraffitos (plural)

/sɡɹəˈfiːtəʊ/

Borrowed from Italian sgraffito, from s- (“out”) + graffito (past participle of graffire), ultimately from Ancient Greek γράφειν (gráphein, “to write or scratch”).

uder

Ciudad Real
Devon
Rattery
sgraffito
tree of life

Through color and tone Byzantine potters gave to sgraffito pottery qualities that go beyond the contrasts possible in metalwork. And the history of the colors in their use on Byzantine sgraffito ware again takes us back to Tang China.

1992, Dēmētra Papanikola-Bakirtzē, Eunice Dauterman Maguire, Henry Maguire, Ceramic Art from Byzantine Serres (Illinois Byzantine Studies; III), Urbana and Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 17:

Sgraffito is a valuable design technique for working with slips[…], but did you know that this technique has other applications? With leather-hard clay you can incise (cut into) the clay surface. […] To make smooth lines in a raw-glazed surface, first cover the area with liquid wax. Then, using any sharp-edged tool, scratch through the wax and into the glaze, pressing deeply enough to reveal the clay body underneath[…]. When the piece is fired, the wax will burn off and the glaze will pull back from the sgraffito scratches to reveal the underlying clay.

2008, Maureen [Elizabeth] Mills, Surface Design for Ceramics, New York, N.Y.: Lark Books, →ISBN, page 100:

Sgraffito is not only weather resistant but also requires less artistic skill than alfresco painting. Although scratch work was used in Germany from the 13th century (e.g. Magdeburg Cathedral, cloisters), true sgraffito developed in Italy and spread from there. Decoration of a plastered façade with simulated regular stonework existed in Florence from the late 13th century, two-tone decorations from the 15th century. The early sgraffito decorations follow on from the medieval practice of using overlay and ornamentation on buildings and reflect the way in which stone is worked.

2012, Colum P. Hourihane, editor, The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, volume I (Aachen to Cecco di Pietro), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 498:

(art, uncountable) A technique in ceramics, art and wall design, where the top layer of pigment or slip is scratched through to reveal an underlying layer.

esgrafiat

technique where the top layer is scratched through to reveal an underlying layer

[I]n the corner room a sitting platform, 3 ft. broad, as well as a large fireplace, were brought to light, while in the hall (E. iii.), open towards the south, the rough plaster surface of the partly well-preserved east wall proved to be covered with sgraffiti both Tibetan and Chinese.

1907, [Marc] Aurel Stein, Ancient Khotan: Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan Carried out and Described under the Orders of H. M. Indian Government, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 432:

The few surviving examples of early sgraffiti are thought to be late 14th century and have a mediaeval quality about them. Ugo Procacci points out that the technique of two contrasting colours was seldom used and most of them are pure and simple sgraffiti.

1985, Leonardo Ginori Lisci, The Florentine Palazzi: Their History and Art, volume I, Florence: Giunti Barbera, →OCLC, page 53:

I did murals there as well, designs for windows, bas relief and otherwise, sgraffitoes – a very special technique cut in stucco.

1994, Hilda Kirkwood, Between the Lines, Ottawa: Oberon Press, →ISBN, page 71:

[Josep] Puig [i Cadafalch] wanted to emphasize the ornamentation of the stone window frames of the facade by contrasting it against the white stucco sgraffitos.

2001, Raúl García i Aranzueque, Barcelona and Gaudí: Examples of Modernist Architecture, Spain: Kliczkowski Publications, →ISBN, page 61:

SGRAFFITI. Artwork painted on the exterior of private homes, sgraffiti emerged at the end of the 19th century, when city officials encouraged urban beautification by organizing competitions for decorating house fronts. Several techniques developed; the most common one involves applying a light-colored base to the surface, after which portions of the base are scratched away while still wet, leaving the support medium to show through in displaying a drawing.

2015, Paul F. State, Historical Dictionary of Brussels, 2nd edition, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 389:

(art, countable) An instance or sample of sgraffito.


sgraffito

en-verb

sgraffito (third-person singular simple present sgraffitos or sgraffitoes, present participle sgraffitoing, simple past and past participle sgraffitoed)

sgraffitos (present singular third-person)
sgraffitoes (present singular third-person)
sgraffitoing (participle present)
sgraffitoed (participle past)
sgraffitoed (past)

/sɡɹəˈfiːtəʊ/

Use a ceramic tool or any pointer to sgraffito the lines in the enamel powder.

1972, Ceramics Monthly, volume 20, Columbus, Oh.: Professional Publications, →OCLC, page 31:

A West African woman sgraffitoes a traditional pattern […]

1983, Ceramics Monthly, volume 31, →OCLC, page 5:

The last gasp of the British inscribed-pottery tradition is represented by the "motto wares" that became a specialty of South Devon potteries such as Aller Vale in the late 1800s. Homey and comical sayings, sometimes poetic or in stereotyped West Country dialect, were sgraffitoed on wares for tourists on holiday in the coastal town of Torquay.

1998, John A. Burrison, “Talking Jars: Dave and Larger Traditions of Pot-Poetry”, in Jill Beute Koverman, editor, I Made this Jar ... The Life and Works of the Enslaved African-American Potter, Dave, [Columbia, S.C.]: McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina, →ISBN, page 65:

I paint or pour onto the piece, […] and then use the spaces to play with either trailing, using the slip trailers to flick, or thickly spurt the colours onto the piece, sgraffitoing and painting and using slip trailers in a more restrained fashion to draw with. I think I am guided by intuition or my own response to each piece as I decorate it, rather than by any conscious outside influence.

1999, Michael Eden, Victoria Eden, Slipware: Contemporary Approaches, London: A & C Black; Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 53:

I use a calligraphy pen with a rounded scratch nib and a stylus for my sgraffito work. Deciding when to sgraffito the piece depends on how wet you like the slip. I prefer a leather-hard surface but some potters prefer to sgraffito right after the slip has been applied and others like to sgraffito when the slip is bone dry.

2008, Denise Wilz, “Pennsylvania Redware”, in Anderson Turner, editor, Electric Firing: Creative Techniques (Ceramic Arts Handbook Series), Westerville, Oh.: American Ceramic Society, →ISBN, pages 41–42:

(art) To produce a design using this technique.

esgrafiar

to produce a design using this technique


concrescence

en-noun

concrescence (countable and uncountable, plural concrescences)

(art) The juxtaposing of dissimilar forms or devices that are harmonized at their point of intersection into hybrid transitional shapes or designs.


surcharge

/ˈsɜː(ɹ)t͡ʃɑː(ɹ)d͡ʒ/

From Middle French surcharge, from Old French. By surface analysis, sur- + charge. Doublet of supercharge.

(art) A painting in lighter enamel over a darker one that serves as the ground.


naturalism

naturalism (countable and uncountable, plural naturalisms)

From natural + -ism. Compare French naturalisme.

More perfect than all in design and technique is a relief of a goat suckling her young, characterised, as it is, not only by naturalism, but also, as Mr. Evans claims, "by a certain ideal dignity and balance."

1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 21:

(art) A movement in theatre, film, and literature that seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality, as opposed to such movements as romanticism, surrealism, or abstract art, in which subjects may receive highly symbolic or idealistic treatment.


SSS

subsurface scattering
w:subsurface scattering

(computer graphics, art) Initialism of subsurface scattering.


phylactery

phylacteries (plural)
philactery (alternative)
philactory (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-philactory.wav

Bernhard Strigel
Jesus
Moses
Saint Anne
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

From Late Middle English philacterie, philaterie, filaterie (“amulet; tefilla; balderdash, idle words”), from Late Latin phylacterium (“amulet; reliquary; tefilla”), from Koine Greek φῠλᾰκτήρῐον (phŭlăktḗrĭon, “amulet; tefilla”) (used in the New Testament to translate Hebrew תפילין (“tefillin”)), from Ancient Greek φῠλᾰκτήρῐον (phŭlăktḗrĭon, “fortified outpost, watchman’s post; protection, safeguard”), from φυλακτήρ (phulaktḗr, “guard, watcher”) + -ῐον (-ĭon, suffix forming nouns). Φυλακτήρ (Phulaktḗr) is derived from φυλακ- (phulak-) (the stem of φῠλᾰ́σσω (phŭlắssō, “to guard, watch; to defend, protect”)) + -τήρ (-tḗr, suffix forming masculine agent nouns); and φῠλᾰ́σσω (phŭlắssō) from φῠ́λᾰξ (phŭ́lăx, “guard, sentry”), probably Pre-Greek. The spelling of the Middle English word was probably influenced by Middle French filatiere, philaterie, philatiere, and Old French filatiere, philatiere (“amulet; reliquary; tefilla”) (modern French phylactère), also from phylacterium.
Sense 1.2 (“fringe which an Israelite was required to wear”) was based on the mistaken assumption that the phylacteries (sense 1.1) referred to in Matthew 23:5 of the Bible were the same as the fringes mentioned in Numbers 15:37–39.

ref

From the collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.

պահպանակ

either of two small leather cases containing scrolls with passages from the Torah

filacteri

synonym of amulet (cognates) — see also amulet

filacteri

scroll with words on it depicted as emerging from a person’s mouth or held in their hands — see also banderole, speech scroll

klaf

parchment used in Jewish ritual contexts

mezuzah

parchment scroll of Torah verses in a decorative container

[T]o bear on their faces, as plainly as on a phylactery, the inscription, "Do, pray, look at the coronet on my panels;" […]

1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, “‘We Frolic while ’tis May’”, in A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC, pages 7–8:

The sun coming in through the rose window in the south transept made the phylactery which the angel bore glow like a topaz, and gilded the hermit's bald head, while it turned the ciborium below into shining gold.

1931 July, John Buchan, “In which Peter is Introduced to Fortune”, in The Blanket of the Dark, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, published September 1933, →OCLC, page 38:

Just as phylacteries became more commonplace in prints in the 17th century, there was a growing aversion for the use of phylacteries in paintings. […] Devils and corrupt politicians were more likely seen to speak using phylacteries, whereas virtuous characters were more often depicted as silent.

2011, Robert S. Petersen, “Popular Prints and Caricature”, in Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels: A History of Graphic Narratives, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 28:

That the inscribed rolls (also referred to as phylacteries, ribbons, banderoles, or scrolls) depicted in, for example, manuscript illuminations are signs of a residual orality that would work much like a speech balloon is an interpretation challenged not only by codicolgical and diplomatic evidence, however scant, but further by the use of hands in the iconography of the period.

2013, Ana M[aría] Gómez-Bravo, “The Hands Have It”, in Textual Agency: Writing Culture and Social Networks in Fifteenth-century Spain (Toronto Iberic), Toronto, Ont.; Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 80:

On the other hand, the pseudo-dialogues inside the phylacteries introduce an ironic tone in narrative strips like [Francis] Barlow's, but they are not a means of dramatization; it is as if the characters, instead of talking to each other, were talking to the reader in order to state their intentions, make witty comments, or explain the situation.

2015, Roberto Bartual Moreno, “The Origins of Graphic Narrative in Popular Culture”, in Julio Cañero, Esther Claudio, editors, On the Edge of the Panel: Essays on Comics Criticism, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, part I (What is a Comic? Origins and Definitions), page 38:

(art, historical) A scroll with words on it depicted as emerging from a person's mouth or held in their hands, indicating what they are singing or speaking; a banderole, a speech scroll.

Here is the phylactery of his [John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford's] vices—wily, wary, cold, calculating, indirect, faithless. In act, treacherous and cruel.

1863, Charles Cowden Clarke, “Henry IV”, in Shakespeare-characters; Chiefly those Subordinate, London: Smith, Elder, & Co.; Edinburgh: James Nichol, →OCLC, page 423:


amorino

(art) A cupid (a putto, commonly with bow and arrow, representing love).


putto

en-noun

putto (plural putti or (rare) puttos or (rare) puttoes)

putti (plural)
puttos (plural rare)
puttoes (plural rare)

Borrowed from Italian putto (“cupid, putto; boy”), from Latin putus (“boy”), a variant of pūsus (“(little) boy”), from puer (“boy, lad; child”), from Proto-Italic *puweros, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”).
The plural form putti is also borrowed from Italian putti.

der

There is in the porch of the present church a tablet to Luke Flood (died 1818) which has much the appearance of having been made up of portions of earlier monuments. It is surmounted by a bas-relief of a winged boy holding an inverted torch. But not only is he a baby putto, not a youth, and without an urn, but the style and execution scarcely seem worthy of [Thomas] Banks even when not at his best.

1938, “1788: Piety Weeping at the Tomb of Benevolence, a Model of a Monument to be Erected in Whitechapel Church, to the Memory of Dr [Robert] Markham the Late Rector, at the Expence of His Parishioners”, in C[harles] F[rancis] Bell, editor, Annals of Thomas Banks, Sculptor, Royal Academician: […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: At the University Press, →OCLC, page 72:

The Carmelite scapulars held by the putto and young male saint on the right indicate that the altarpiece was intended for a church of the Carmelite order.

1971, Jacob Bean, Felice Stampfle, “Oil Sketches by 18th Century Italian Artists from New York Collections [GIOVANNI BATTISTA PITTONI [...] 22. The Crucifixion.]”, in The Eighteenth Century in Italy (Drawings from New York Collections; III), New York, N.Y.: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Pierpont Morgan Library, →ISBN, page 333:

A second putto with a gallows in its hand cries at the judge's feet.

1973, “Analysis of Beauty: Etched and Engraved from Drawings, March 1753 [84: Plate I: Third State]”, in Sean Shesgreen, editor, Engravings by Hogarth: 101 Prints, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, →ISBN, column 1:

In The Youth of Bacchus (illus. 51) [by Nicolas Poussin], a painting produced before 1630, the figures are arranged in a triangle. The young Bacchus is at the top, the putti lying on the ground and the feet of the sitting figures mark the base-line and the lower corner, while the sides are designated by the nymphs and satyrs.

1990, Oskar Bätschmann, “Deliverance – Destruction”, in Nicolas Poussin: Dialectics of Painting, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, part I, page 62:

The picture shows a putto who has just blown bubbles through a clay tube. He holds a scallop shell of soapy water and leans against a skull. [...] In picture and verse the imagery echoes classical and biblical metaphors for the brevity of a man's life. The fresh flower is in contrast to the dying tree like the putto as childhood innocence is opposed by the death's head.

1990, Kristine Koozin, “The Vanitas Still Life”, in The Vanitas Still Lifes of Harmen Steenwyck: Metaphoric Realism (Renaissance Studies; 1), Lewiston, N.Y., Queenston, Ont.: Edwin Mellen Press, →ISBN, page 25:

The walls [of Naples Cathedral] have ranks of white marble niches capped by huge marble scallops, and flanked by urns and flowers, drapes and putti.

2004, Richard [Alan] Fortey, “Up and Down”, in The Earth: An Intimate History, London: HarperCollins, →ISBN; Earth: An Intimate Portrait, 1st Vintage Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, November 2005, →ISBN, page 15:

Whatever the case, the evangelical animals are appreciably larger than the puttos of the painting. The animals gaze upward, their mouths gaping. They are cawing, bellowing, roaring out the Gospel. [...] Only the attendant puttos seem to be taking the divine afflatus or descent in stride.

2005, David Farrell Krell, “God’s Footstool”, in The Tragic Absolute: German Idealism and the Languishing of God, Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 160:

A Galatea with Triton, 5 puttoes and 5 other figures, painted frame in fake marble and gilded, 12 palmi in height, copy of Raphael made by Caracci.

2018, Claudia La Malfa, “Copies of Raphael’s Mythological Paintings in the Collection of Cardinal Ludovisi”, in Maddalena Bellavitis, editor, Making Copies in European Art 1400–1600: Shifting Tastes, Modes of Transmission, and Changing Contexts (Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History; 286; Brill’s Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History; 30), Leiden, Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 347:

(art) A representation, especially in Renaissance or Baroque art, of a small, naked, often winged (usually male) child; a cherub.

пу́та

representation of a small, naked, often winged child


volute

From French volute, from Italian voluta, from Latin volūta, from the feminine of volūtus, perfect passive participle of volvō. Doublet of vault.


neorealist

en-adj

neorealist (comparative more neorealist, superlative most neorealist)

more neorealist (comparative)
most neorealist (superlative)

(art) Of or pertaining to the neorealism movement in art, which emerged in Britain around 1914


Berlin green

en-noun

Berlin green (countable and uncountable, plural Berlin greens)

(art) A color of oil paint thought to resemble the color of the chemical.


middle ground

middle ground (countable and uncountable, plural middle grounds)

middle grounds (plural)
middle-ground (alternative)


assemblage

assemblage (countable and uncountable, plural assemblages)

Borrowed from French assemblage. By surface analysis, assemble + -age.

(art) A visual art form similar to collage, which combines two-dimensional and three-dimensional, often found, elements into works of art.


glazing

glazing (countable and uncountable, plural glazings)

Inherited from Middle English glasynge; equivalent to glaze + -ing.

(art) Semi-transparent colours painted thinly over others to modify the effect.


hatching

hatching (countable and uncountable, plural hatchings)

(art, drawing, drafting) A method of shading areas of a drawing or diagram with fine parallel lines.


amoretto

An Italian diminutive of Amore, the god of love.

1622, Henry Peacham, The Compleat Gentleman, London: Francis Constable, Chapter 12, “Andreas Orgagna,” p. 131,
One of his best peeces he wrought in Pisa, which was all sorts of worldly and sensuall Epicures, rioting and banquetting vnder the shaddow of an Orenge tree, within the branches and bowes whereof, sly little Amorettos or Cupids, shooting at sundry Ladies lasciuiously dancing and dallying amongst them […]

[…] a golden Eden of Joy, of bliss and marital raptures surrounded by choiring throngs of rosy amoretti […]

1936, Jeffery Farnol, chapter 8, in A Pageant of Victory, London: Sampson Low, Marston:

He was enchanted by the architecture of the city. Merry amoretti wove garlands above windows.

1969, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 6, in Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, published 2005, page 192:

(art) A cupid or putto (representation of a naked baby or small child, often with wings).


adoptable

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-adoptable.wav

Alternative form: (informal) adopt

(art) A character designed by an artist that one can claim ownership of.


animator

animators (plural)
animater (alternative obsolete)

From Latin animātor. By surface analysis, animate + -or. Piecewise doublet of animateur.

In recent years, animators using computer rendering have largely superseded artists working by hand.

(art) One who creates an animation or cartoon; a cartoonist.


relational

en-adj

relational (comparative more relational, superlative most relational)

more relational (comparative)
most relational (superlative)

From relation + -al. The database sense is from the definition of relation as a set of ordered tuples.

relational art

(art) Dealing with the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space.


literalist

(art) One who works in the style of literalism.


mashup

From mash (“to convert into a mash; to mix thoroughly”) + up.

What’s tiresome about Anna, though, is that it's such an obvious mashup of other movies, moving from homage right into ripoff.

2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-11-04:

(informal) Something consisting of two or more elements combined together.

(art, slang) An artistic work that consists primarily of parts borrowed from other works, or features a mixture of genres.


Cubist

To the world at large, relativity seemed to pull the rug out from under perceived reality. And for many advanced thinkers of the 1920s, from Dadaists to Cubists to Freudians, that was a fitting credo, reflecting what science historian David Cassidy calls "the incomprehensiveness of the contemporary scene--the fall of monarchies, the upheaval of the social order, indeed, all the turbulence of the 20th century."

1999 December 27, Frederic Golden, “Albert Einstein (1879-1955): Person of the century”, in CNN:

(art) An artist who works in the style of cubism.


intermezzo

en-noun

intermezzo (plural intermezzos or intermezzi)

intermezzos (plural)
intermezzi (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-intermezzo.wav

She had ample time, too, to change for the next scene, which started with a longish intermezzo staged by a ballet company whose services Scotty had engaged [...].

1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 8:

(music, art) A short piece of music or act in the interval of the main spectacle; a theatrical interlude.


eclecticism

eclecticism (countable and uncountable, plural eclecticisms)

(art) Any form of art that borrows from multiple other styles


polyptych

From Ancient Greek πολύπτυχος (polúptukhos, “with many folds”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “a fold”).

uder

[...], a polyptych is a painting with more than one section – a diptych is a painting in two parts or sections, a triptych in three, and so on. Perhaps the most famous polyptych is the Ghent Altarpiece by the early Flemish painters Hubert and Jan van Eyck.

2021 September 7, Reginald Wiebe, Polyptych: Adaptation, Television, and Comics, Vernon Press, →ISBN:

(art) A work consisting of multiple painted or carved panels joined together, often with hinges.

liestaolenn

a work consisting of multiple painted or carved panels joined together


capitalist realism

Possibly coined in 1963 when it was used as the title of an art exhibition/performance in Düsseldorf, alluding to socialist realism. The term was later reused in a political philosophy context by cultural theorist Mark Fisher.

Back in West Berlin, Rene Block thought the term 'Capitalist Realism' resonated strongly with other kinds of 'new realism' taking place there, in the shadow of the GDR. In 1971 he used the term again for a show of prints, but disappointedly […]

2008, Claudia Mesch, Modern Art at the Berlin Wall: Demarcating Culture in the Cold War Germanys, Tauris Academic Studies:

Richter's concept of 'capitalist realism' alluded to the doctrines of socialist realism east of the border. These approaches were taken further in the actions of Happening and Fluxus artists in the wake of the student movement.

2013, John Sandford, editor, Encyclopedia of Contemporary German Culture, Routledge, →ISBN:

Following two earlier major Sigmar Polke shows, at Tate Liverpool in 1996 and Tate Modern in 2005, this extensive retrospective aims to show the German painter, film-maker and sculptor in full. A founder, with Gerhard Richter, of capitalist realism (a rejoinder to British and American pop art) in the 1960s), Polke went on to make an enormous variety of hallucinatory, poisonous, gorgeous and unsettling works that still reverberate with a strange, dark humour.

2014 September 8, Oliver Wainwright, Jonathan Jones, Adrian Searle, “Art, design and architecture: what to see in autumn 2014”, in The Guardian:

(art) A short-lived German pop art movement of the 1960s.


aedicula

(art) A painted framed niche giving the appearance of depth.


applique

en-noun

applique (countable and uncountable, plural appliques)

appliques (plural)
appliqué (alternative)

Has anybody seen a dog dyed dark green / […] / And designer jeans with appliques on it?

1980, “Quiche Lorraine”, in Wild Planet, performed by The B-52's:

(art) A decorative design made by cutting pieces of material and applying them to the surface of another for decoration.


applique

en-verb

applique (third-person singular simple present appliques, present participle appliqueing, simple past and past participle appliqued)

appliques (present singular third-person)
appliqueing (participle present)
appliqued (participle past)
appliqued (past)
appliqué (alternative)

(transitive, art) To decorate something in this way.


volet

Painted on panel, and possibly the central volet of a triptych, it showed an enthroned Madonna rescuing from Satan a young man whom she clutches by the wrist.

2009, Mario Buhagiar, Essays on the Knights and Art and Architecture in Malta, 1500–1798, →ISBN, page 85:


Raphael

en-proper noun

Raphael (countable and uncountable, plural Raphaels)

/ˈɹæf.eɪˌɛl/

/ˌɹæf.aɪˈɛl/

/ˌɹɑ.faɪˈɛl/

/ˌɹæf.aɪˈɛl/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-Raphael.wav

Latin Raphael. From Koine Greek Ῥᾱφᾱήλ (Rhāphāḗl), from Hebrew רָפָאֵל (Rāfāʾēl, literally “God cures/has healed”).

der

(art) Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, an Italian Renaissance painter (1483–1520).


halftone

halftones (plural)
half-tone (alternative)

(art) An intermediate or middle tone in a painting, engraving, photograph, etc.; a middle tint, neither very dark nor very light.


boned

(art) Of computer-generated animations: based on models with simulated bones or joints.


futurist

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-futurist.wav

The distinction, however, seems to be that the warriors of the past went in for tournaments, which were at least dangerous for themselves, while the Futurists go in for motor-cars, which are mainly alarming for other people.

1910, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, “The Futurists”, in Alarms and Discursions:

‘A passion for destruction is also a creative passion.’ This statement by the Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin in 1842 could have been the rallying cry of the Italian Futurists around 1910.

2005, Alan Bartram, Futurist Typography and the Liberated Text, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 20:

(art) An adherent to the principles of the artistic movement of futurism.


multivalent

en-adj

multivalent (comparative more multivalent, superlative most multivalent)

more multivalent (comparative)
most multivalent (superlative)


illumine

en-verb

illumine (third-person singular simple present illumines, present participle illumining, simple past and past participle illumined)

illumines (present singular third-person)
illumining (participle present)
illumined (participle past)
illumined (past)

From Middle English illuminen (“to light, light up; to shine; (figuratively) to enlighten spiritually; to make illustrious”) [and other forms], from Old French illuminer (“to light up, illuminate; (figuratively) to enlighten”) (modern French illuminer), from Latin illūmināre, the present active infinitive of illūminō (“to light up, illuminate; to brighten; to adorn; to make conspicuous”), from il- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘in, within’; intensifying prefix)) + lūminō (“to illuminate; to brighten; (figuratively) to reveal”) (from lūmen (“light; light source; (poetic) brightness; daylight”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“to shine; to see; bright”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).

der

To Cato, Virgil pay'd one honeſt line; / O let my Country's Friends illumin mine!

1738, [Alexander] Pope, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight. Dialogue II, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 9:

(art) To decorate (a page of a manuscript book) with ornamental designs.


literalism

en-noun

literalism (usually uncountable, plural literalisms)

The two main forms of literalism are ergism and orthodoxy.

2015, Søren Kierkegaard, Bruce H. Kirmmse, K. Brian Söderquist, Kierkegaard's Journals and Notebooks, Volume 2: Journals EE-KK, →ISBN:

(art) The style of art portraying a subject as literally and accurately as possible.


rilievo

From Italian rilievo. Doublet of relief.

One of the rilievos on the outer wall of the church seems to belong to an early period of the Longobard dominion in Italy, when that nation was still Arian: […]

1840, The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge:


Netherlandish

From Netherland(s) + -ish. Compare Netherlandic, which is used mainly in linguistics.

It has been said that Old English is Dutch, and to no other nation is the study of the Netherlandish more interesting than to the English.

Low Dutch means both Low Frankish (or Netherlandish) and Low Saxon (or “Low German”).

1991, Sarah Grey Thomason, Terrence Kaufman, Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of California Press, page 321:

(chiefly art, linguistics, history) The Dutch language.


Netherlandish

Even more strikingly assumptive of a Low Countries context is Article 12's prescription that any guild brother who maimed another 'shall compownde with' and 'recompense and satisfy' the person whom he hurt. Composition or settlement of interpersonal wrongs by money compensation, rather than state prosecution, was common in much of Europe, including in Netherlandish cities.

2023, Shannon McSheffrey, Ad Putter, “The Formation of the Hatmakers' Fraternity”, in The Dutch Hatmakers of Late Medieval and Tudor London: with an edition of their bilinguial Guild Ordinances, Boydell & Brewer, →JSTOR, page 48:

(chiefly art, linguistics, history) Of or pertaining to the Netherlands.


minimalism

minimalism (countable and uncountable, plural minimalisms)

(art) A style of art that emphasises extreme simplicity of form.


contre-jour

(art) A similar effect achieved in painting.


historicism

historicism (countable and uncountable, plural historicisms)

Calque of German Historismus, historic + -ism.

(art) The use of historical styles in contemporary art.


monotype

monotype (countable and uncountable, plural monotypes)

General American, Canada, biological sense

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-monotype.wav

From mono- + type or mono- + -type. The printing technique is so called because it allows only one impression to be taken.

(art, printing) A print made by creating the design using oil paint or printer's ink on metal or glass, then transferring the image directly to paper.

monotype

a print of some design created on metal or glass

(art, printing, uncountable) The technique of making such prints.


linear perspective

linear perspective (countable and uncountable, plural linear perspectives)

(art) A form of geometric perspective in which parallel lines are represented as converging in order to give the illusion of depth and distance.


giornata

(art) The amount of painting that can be done in a day, important in producing frescos.


repoussoir

(art) The use of an object such as a curtain extremely close up to the picture plane in a painting. This originates from Baroque paintings and is used to create depth


scherenschnitte

/ˈʃɛəɹənˌʃnɪtə/

From German Scherenschnitte, plural of Scherenschnitt (literally “scissor cut”).

(art) An art of papercutting, cutting continuous paper designs, which began in Switzerland and Germany in the 1500s and was brought to Colonial America in the 1700s by immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania.


quodlibet

From Latin quod libet (“that which is pleasing”).

(art) A form of trompe l'oeil which realistically renders domestic items (paper-knives, playing-cards, ribbons, etc).


boscage

boscage (countable and uncountable, plural boscages)

From the Middle English boskage, from the Old French boscage, from Vulgar Latin *boscāticum, from Late Latin boscus, from Frankish *busk (compare Middle Dutch busch), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“forest, woods”).

der

(art) Among painters, a picture depicting a wooded scene.


pop art

From op art and abbreviation of popular, attributed to English art critic Lawrence Alloway (1926–1990).

Before pop art, there was such a thing as bad taste. Now there’s kitsch, schlock, camp and porn.

1978, Don DeLillo, Running Dog, New York: Knopf, page 148:

(art) A genre of art that uses elements of popular culture, often using techniques from commercial art and advertising.


op art

(art) A genre of abstract art that uses geometric shapes and vivid colours to create optical illusions, such as an illusion of movement.


zoomorphism

zoomorphisms (plural)
zoömorphism (alternative)

(art, literature) The use of animal figures in art and design or of animal symbols in literature.

zoomorfizm

the use of animal figures in art and design or of animal symbols in literature


crosshatching

en-noun

crosshatching (countable and uncountable, plural crosshatchings)

(art) A method of showing shading by means of multiple small lines that intersect.

kauruku whakahāngai

a method of showing shading by means of multiple small intersecting lines


vertu

Borrowed from Italian virtù, †vertù (“moral worth, virtue (13th century); determination, perseverance, military valour (14th century); study of the liberal or fine arts; appreciation of, taste for, or expertise in the fine arts; objets d'art collectively (16th century)”); or from French vertu (“virtue”), ultimately from Latin virtūt-, virtus (“virtue”). Doublet of virtue; compare also virtuoso.

bor

To give them their Due, they ſoar a Step higher than their Predeceſſors, and may be called Men of Wiſdom and Vertù (take heed you do not read Virtue).

1750, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, volume III, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, →OCLC, pages 238–239:

He engaged a certain Abbé of distinguished taste in virtù to attend them as their Ciceroné, and explain the antiquities brought from Herculaneum and Pompeia […].

1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 233:

(art, now historical) The fine arts as a subject of study or expertise; understanding of arts and antiquities.

A Catalogue of a Truly Valuable Assemblage of Articles of Virtu of William Chinnery, Esq. Brought from Gillwell, Essex[…].

1812, William Chinnery, A Catalogue of a Truly Valuable Assemblage of Articles of Virtu of William Chinnery …, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, title page:

Now, when with royal Tranquo I visited this wondrous whale, and saw the skull an altar, and the artificial smoke ascending from where the real jet had issued, I marvelled that the king should regard a chapel as an object of vertù.

1851, Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick or The White Whale”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Boston: The St. Botolph Society, published 1922, →OCLC, page 423:

The more drawers and closets there were, the more hiding-holes could Charlotte make for the accommodation of old rags, hair-combs, old shoes, ribbons, cast-off artificial flowers, and other articles of vertù, wherein her soul delighted.

1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, London: John Cassell, →OCLC, page 178:

(art, now historical) Objets d'art collectively.


computerism

(art) A painting style that developed from the cubist movement.


hieratic

From Latin hieraticus, from Ancient Greek ἱερατικός (hieratikós), from ἱερατεία (hierateía, “priesthood”), from ἱερατεύω (hierateúō, “be a priest”), from ἱερεύς (hiereús, “priest”), from ἱερός (hierós, “sacred”).
Use pertaining to the Egyptian writing system originates with the Greek phrase γράμματα ἱερατικά (grámmata hieratiká, literally “priestly writing”), which was first used by Saint Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century AD, as at that time hieratic was used only for religious texts, as had been the case for the previous thousand years.

Some of the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved.

They came in among earth-moving machines, a total absence of trees, the usual hieratic geometry, and eventually, shimmying for the sand roads, down in a helix to a sculptured body of water named Lake Inverarity.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 37:

(art) Extremely stylized, restrained or formal; adhering to fixed types or methods; severe in emotional import.

hiératique

extremely stylized, restrained or formal


Mannerist

en-adj

Mannerist (comparative more Mannerist, superlative most Mannerist)

more Mannerist (comparative)
most Mannerist (superlative)


Mannerist

(art) An artist who works in the style of Mannerism.

maneirista

an artist who works in the style of Mannerism


Mannerism

(art) A style of art developed at the end of the High Renaissance, characterized by the deliberate distortion and exaggeration of perspective and especially the elongation of figures.


affetti

(art) Human passion and feelings expressed through gesture.


full-length

Coordinate term: half-length

(art, of a painting, a sculpture or a photograph) Representing the full height of the body.

kokovartalo-

(arts) representing the full height of the body


full-length

Below was a full-length of James II., at whose feet was a sort of throne, on which the duchess was placed.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “An Interview”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 212:


full-size

As well as demonstrating operating facilities, full-size car body models are used for experimenting with new types of interior finish, systems of lighting, positioning of route diagrams and advertisements, and the best form of windscreens at doorways, and the height and location of handgrips and handrails.

1951 October, “Models Assist Rolling Stock Design”, in Railway Magazine, page 647:

(art) (of a representational artwork or model) Being the same size as the original.


morbidezza

(art) A naturalistic delicacy in flesh tones.


process art

(art) A style of art, especially sculpture, which emphasises the process by which it was made, rather than its form.


kakemono

/ˌkækeɪˈməʊnəʊ/

Borrowed from Japanese 掛け物 (kakemono, literally “hanging thing”).

bor

(art) A vertical Japanese scroll painting.


knop

From Middle English knop, from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch knoppe, from Proto-Germanic *knuppô, *knuppaz, *knappô, which is perhaps related to *knappō (“knob, boy”). Possible doublet of knave and knob.

On these shawl borders the knop and flower are often also combined, the knop becoming the cone or Cypress-like trunk of a tree, the branches of which fam out like the fronds of the Hom. [Plate III., fig. 6]. In some Indian and Persian carpets the knop or cone throws out graceful Hom fronds, one on either side, from the ends of which hangs a large flower, presenting the alternation of a branching cone and flower.

1878, Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood, Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878: Handbook to the British Indian Section, Offices of the Royal Commission, page 106:

(botany, art) A closed bud or bud-like, swelling protuberance of a plant, or the representation thereof in the decorative arts


spolvero

(art, historical) Synonym of pouncing (“type of reproduction by means of powder”)


Samikshavad

(art) An indigenous modern art movement in India.


modern art

(art) Any of very many genres of art from the late 19th to the mid 20th centuries, especially those forms that move away from a traditional narrative towards experimentation and conceptual art.


performance art

en-noun

performance art (usually uncountable, plural performance arts)

(art) A form of art in which the artist creates a live performance, often using a variety of media.


photorealism

(art) An extremely realistic style distinguished by paintings, drawings, etc. that are nearly indistinguishable from photographs, frequently produced by tracing and emulating an original photograph.


postimpressionism

(art) A genre of painting that rejected the naturalism of impressionism, using colour and form in more expressive manners.


action painting

action painting (countable and uncountable, plural action paintings)

(art, uncountable) A genre of modern art in which the paint is dribbled, splashed or poured onto the canvas to obtain a spontaneous and totally abstract image.

toimintamaalaus

(art, countable) A painting produced in this style.


danse macabre

(art) A conventional subject in art, literature and drama, or a particular work in that style, in which death (in the form of a putrid corpse, skeleton, the Grim Reaper, etc) is shown leading people to the grave.

dañs bekabe

a conventional subject of artistic painting or drawing


videomicrography

High speed videomicrography has been used to simultaneously assess both the motility and morphology of sperm from fertile and infertile men.

1984. United States Congress. House. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, page 482

Another early video work, Crystal (1982), features videomicrography of actual crystal growth mapped to the changing melodic and harmonic motion of the layered and continuously playing electroacoustic soundtrack.

2006. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner. Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States: Crossing the Line, page 239

(art, sciences) The art and science of making videos of microscopic objects, by the use of a microscope.


maulstick

maulsticks (plural)
mahlstick (alternative)
mahlstock (alternative)
malstick (alternative)

Here the lamps blazed as a dozen or so of the brethren were seated at their desks with maulsticks to rest their wrists on as they used their quills to copy texts on to vellum from the skins of goats or sheep.

2012, Peter Tremayne, Behold a Pale Horse: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland, page 292:

(art) A short stick with a pad on one end, used by a painter to steady their hand, and to prevent it from accidentally touching the painting.


certosina

(art) A decorative technique, similar to marquetry, much used in the Italian Renaissance period.


lumia

Coined by the musician and inventor Thomas Wilfred (1889-1968), presumably from Latin lumen (“light”).

(art) The use of light patterns as an expressive art form, unaccompanied by sound.


velatura

velatura (countable and uncountable, plural velaturas or velature)

(art) A translucent whitish glaze in painting.


colorway

colorways (plural)
colourway (alternative)

Each colorway has a variety of tones (light, medium, and dark) and print styles (floral, dots, stripes, abstract, and geometric).

2011, Emily Cier, Quilt Remix: Spin Traditional Favorites into 10 Fresh Projects, C&T Publishing, →ISBN, page 33:

(art) Any of the schemes of two or more colors in which a design is available.


photorealistic

en-adj

photorealistic (comparative more photorealistic, superlative most photorealistic)

more photorealistic (comparative)
most photorealistic (superlative)


mudra

The king of creation would not have curved his palm into the likeness of a Hindu mudra in an attempt to protect the tiny launching pad on his thumbnail from the dank wind.

1996 [1994], Andrew Bromfield, Crystal World, translation of original by Victor Pelevin:

For the next few minutes, the audience had sat mesmerized as the sisters performed, fingertips joining and parting in mudras, eyebrows quivering.

2023, Santanu Bhattacharya, One Small Voice, Fig Tree, page 109:

(dance, art) Any of several formal symbolic hand postures used in classical dance of India and in Hindu and Buddhist iconography.


rectilinear

rectilinear (comparative more rectilinear, superlative most rectilinear)

more rectilinear (comparative)
most rectilinear (superlative)

/ˌɹɛktɪˈlɪniɚ/

/ˌɹɛktɪˈlɪnɪə/

From post-Classical Latin; either from rectilīneāris or from rectilīneus (whence rectiline) + -ar, in both cases ultimately deriving from rectus (“straight”) + līnea (“line”).

(geometry, art) Formed from straight lines.


nonrepresentational

(art) That does not represent a physical object realistically.

non-figuratif

that does not represent a physical object realistically


autotelic

autotelic (comparative more autotelic, superlative most autotelic)

more autotelic (comparative)
most autotelic (superlative)

non-autotelic

antonym(s) of “containing its own meaning or purpose”

/ˈɔːtəˌtɛlɪk/

/ˌɔːtəˈtɛlɪk/

From Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + τέλος (télos, “result; end”); compare auto- and telic. From early 20th century.

affix

“Running Water Music II” represents a contemporary version of the autotelic poem, freer than its modernist predecessors to assert connections, celebrate openly, declare connections between self and world, but bound by semantic and imagistic frames that derive from a single source.

1989, Michael Davidson, The San Francisco Renaissance: Poetics and Community at Mid-century, Cambridge University Press, published 1991, →ISBN, page 112:

(art, of a work of art or literature) Not motivated by anything beyond itself; thematically self-contained.


pasticcio

en-noun

pasticcio (plural pasticcios or pasticci)

Borrowed from Italian pasticcio. Doublet of pastiche.

(art) An artwork that directly imitates the work of another artist or artists.

(art) A falsified work of art, such as a vase or statue made up of parts of original works, with missing parts supplied.


animalist

And in my opinion, the reason we have so few good animalists among modern artists is because the domestication of species and man's development have obscured their deeper visual significance for most of us.

1927, Hamilton Easter Field, editor, The Arts, volume 11:

(art) A painter or sculptor whose primary subject is animals.


autotelism

(art) In literature or art, the belief that a work, having been created, is a justification in and of itself. Poems with a unified rhetorical device to frame the poem in a singular idea.


décollage

décollage (countable and uncountable, plural décollages)

décollages (plural)
decollage (alternative)

Unadapted borrowing from French décollage, influenced by de- + collage.

ubor

(art, uncountable) The opposite of collage: the process of cutting, tearing, etc. an original image to produce a new work.


emballage

French emballage (“wrapping, packaging”)

bor

(art) An artwork having a motif of wrapping or concealment.


photo artist

(photography, art) A person that uses photographic equipment to create art


stabat mater

Borrowed from Latin stabat mater (“the mother was standing”) (the first words of the hymn).

(art) An artwork depicting the Virgin Mary under the cross during the crucifixion of Christ alongside John the apostle.


pentimento

[Alt: A blue-tinted painting of a man's bent neck, with a faint image of a woman's face in its background]
Learned borrowing from Italian pentimento (“repentance, penance, penitence; remorse; change of opinion; correction; traces of a previous image or work in an artwork”), from pentìrsi (“to repent; to regret”) + -mento (suffix forming nouns representing the actions of verbs to which it is attached). Pentìrsi is derived from Latin paenitēre, the present active infinitive of paeniteō (“to cause to repent; to repent; to be sorry, regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate; to hurt”).
The plural form is also borrowed from Italian pentimenti.

der

She thought of the painting in the shop, the pentimento. Her life, the one she had so carefully planned for herself had crumbled like the paint on the surface.

2012, Lorraine T. Gilman, chapter 20, in Princeton Pentimento, Bloomington, Ind.: WestBow Press, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 205:

[T]he presence of a pentimento is an extremely valuable entity which supports the conclusion that a painting is an original composition – so, by inference, therefore, refuting any later suggestion that the painting could be the work of a copyist, who would have been engaged upon copying an existing painting as seen! The identification of a pentimento in an artwork can occur in one of two ways: by analytical interrogation of the subsurface using penetrative radiation such as IRR or XRD, or by direct visual observation, where the overlaying paint has worn away […]

2019, Timothy J. Benoy, William A. Edwards, Howell G. M. Edwards, “Evidence of Pentimenti for the Authentication of Paintings: A Challenge for Analytical Science at the Interface with Art History”, in Peter Vandenabeele, Howell Edwards, editors, Raman Spectroscopy in Archaeology and Art History, volume 2, London: Royal Society of Chemistry, →ISBN, page 33:

(art, literature) The presence of traces of a previous work in an artistic or literary work; especially (painting) an image which has been painted over but is still detectable.


reattribution

en-noun

reattribution (countable and uncountable, plural reattributions)

To professionals in the world of art, reattribution is not necessarily pejorative, even though it is often perceived that way by the general public. Reattribution can upgrade a work as well as downgrade it.

1994, John E. Conklin, Art Crime, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 54:

(art, crime) The process of determining whether artwork is real or fake, and, if fake, determining when and by whom it was created.


galant

Borrowed from French galant (“gallant”).

(historical, music, art) Of or relating to an 18th-century movement in visual arts and literature, opposing the strictures of the baroque style and emphasizing light, casual elegance.


contrapposto

contrapposto (countable and uncountable, plural contrapposto or contrapposti)

contrapposto (plural)
contrapposti (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-contrapposto.wav

Borrowed from Italian contrapposto, past participle of contrapporre.

The contrapposto flexes one buttock and relaxes the other.

(art) The position of a figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders.


art movement

(art) Any of many styles of art having an underlying philosophy or goal; many of them have names with an -ism suffix.


foreshortening

foreshortening (countable and uncountable, plural foreshortenings)

(art) A technique for creating the appearance that the object of a drawing is extending into space by shortening the lines with which that object is drawn.


polylineal

en-adj

polylineal (comparative more polylineal, superlative most polylineal)

more polylineal (comparative)
most polylineal (superlative)

The painting uses polylineal writing to create a brown texture over the lower third of the canvas.

(art) Describing any of several stylistic or expressive devices, especially in contemporary western calligraphy, employing repetition of words or phrases.


bozzetto

/bəʊtˈsɛtəʊ/

In his studio, his small bozzetti were diligently kept out of public view, and he granted access to the back room where he stored them only to select individuals.

2020, Johannes Myssok, “Angelica Kauffman and Antonio Canova”, in Bettina Baumgärtel, editor, Angelica Kauffman, Hirmer, page 24:

(art) A small scale model used to make a larger sculpture.


Romanist

(art history) A painter of the 16th century Romanist school.


primary market

The primary market is art directly from the artist, offered for sale for the first time.

2010, Don Thompson, The $12 Million Stuffed Shark, Aurum Press Limited, →ISBN:

(art) Works of art directly bought from the artist.


secondary market

en-noun

secondary market (plural secondary markets)

The primary market is art directly from the artist, offered for sale for the first time. The secondary market is resale: buying, selling and trading among collectors, dealers and museums.

He dealt in the “secondary” market—reselling pieces that have been sold before—to individual collectors and investors who grouped together for high-value works.

2024 April 17, Charlotte Edwardes, “‘The money is not real – it’s a feckless level of wealth’: the inside story of the biggest art fraud in American history”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(art) The market for works of art that have been sold before.


japanning

(art, woodworking) A European technique of creating lacquerware in imitation of the traditional Japanese style.


timbric

en-adj

timbric (comparative more timbric, superlative most timbric)

more timbric (comparative)
most timbric (superlative)


écorché

Borrowed from French écorché (“flayed”).

Apollo with a potato peeler, she flays the Marsyas of humanity, exposing raw nerve. Man is a red-ribboned écorché in her laboratory.

(art) A figure drawn, painted or sculpted so as to show the muscles of the body without skin.


artsploitation

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(art, slang) A genre of art that relies on self-reference;


virtualist

(art, computing) An artist who specializes in art on the Internet or in virtual reality.


non-referential perception

en-noun

non-referential perception (plural non-referential perceptions)

(art) perception of an object without known points of reference.


ondoyant

ondoyant glass

(art) wavy; having the surface marked by waves or slightly depressed furrows


tronie

(art) A kind of painting that depicts an exaggerated or characteristic facial expression.


gravure

gravure (countable and uncountable, plural gravures)

for too long have the walls of our houses been adorned with examples of effete Old World portrait gravure.

1916 March 25, Irvin S. Cobb, “"Unaccustomed as I am—"”, in Saturday Evening Post:

THE POCKET ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BRITISH STEAM LOCOMOTIVES. By O. S. Nock. Blandford Press. 18s.
Mr. Nock, he remarks in his preface, was "incredulous" when the idea of this book of 192 colour gravure illustrations of a representative collection of British steam locomotives from Locomotion to BR's Evening Star was broached to him.

1964 December, “New Books”, in Modern Railways, page 429:

(art, printing) A type of intaglio printing process, in which an image is engraved onto a rotating copper cylinder.


transpressionism

Blend of trans- + impressionism, coined by Guity Novin in the 1990s.

(neologism, art) A movement in art characterized by its emphasis on the role of observer in interpreting the artist's representation of collective memories of man which are manifested in myths and legends.


orans

orantes (plural)
orant (alternative)
oranta (alternative)
orante (alternative)

(art, Christianity) A figure in an attitude of prayer, usually standing, with the elbows close to the sides of the body and with the hands outstretched sideways, palms up.


rhyparography

/ɹɪ.pəˈɹɒ.ɡɹə.fi/

/ɹɪ.pəˈɹɑ.ɡɹə.fi/

From Ancient Greek ῥύπος (rhúpos, “filth”) + -graphy.

(art) The painting, or literary description, of mean or sordid things; especially still-life or genre painting.


atmospheric perspective

(art) A technique in which an illusion of depth is created by painting more distant objects with less clarity, and with a lighter tone.


aleatoric

en-adj

aleatoric (comparative more aleatoric, superlative most aleatoric)

more aleatoric (comparative)
most aleatoric (superlative)

/eɪliːəˈtɔəɹɪk/

From Latin āleātōrius (see aleatory) + -ic.

aleatoric music

Some artists, like John Cage, have adopted aleatoric methods of composition in order to remove any trace of authorial expression from their work.

2005, Noël Carroll, “Formalism”, in The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, eds. Berys Gaut and Dominic McIver Lopes (Master e-book IBSN 0203991923), page 89

(art, music, not comparable) Of or pertaining to works that have been produced with an element of chance (aleatoricism).


rupestral

From New Latin rupestris, from Latin rūpes (“rock”).

Having departed from Sardis and before reaching the mnema of Tos, the traveller saw a monument which was either a free-standing pillar or a rupestral tablet, depending on how we interpret the word.^([στήλη])

1982, William Kendrick Pritchett, Studies in Ancient Greek Topography, page 277:

In the course of the last decade, a fair number of ancient rupestral (rock-cut) horoi have been published from various sites in southern Attica.

1995, Josiah Ober, “Greek Horoi: Artifactual Texts and the Contingency of Meaning”, in David B. Small, editor, Methods in the Mediterranean: Historical and Archaeological Views on Texts & Archaeology, page 115:

Representational art appears in two major categories: rupestral art (as in the paintings of the Palaeolithic caves) and mobiliary art (also called mobile or portable art).

2008, Harald Haarmann, Joan Marler, Introducing the Mythological Crescent: Ancient Beliefs and Imagery connecting Eurasia with Anatolia, page 14:

(art, archaeology) Made on or placed on rock surfaces.


rondocubism

(art) A form of cubism, in post-World War One Czechoslovakia, that employed more rounded forms


affixative

(art, antiquities) A preservative, usually an adhesive transparent fluid, used to protect the surface of a drawing from abrasion or similar damage.


chinoiserie

en-noun

chinoiserie (countable and uncountable, plural chinoiseries)

chinoiseries (plural)
Chinoiserie (alternative)

/ʃiːnwɑːzəˈɹiː/

Borrowed from French chinoiserie (“Chinese-esque”).

The Baroness perceived that her entertainer had analyzed material comfort to a sufficiently fine point. And then he possessed the most delightful chinoiseries—trophies of his sojourn in the Celestial Empire: pagodas of ebony and cabinets of ivory; sculptured monsters, grinning and leering on chimney-pieces, in front of beautifully figured hand-screens; […]

1878, Henry James, chapter VI, in The Europeans, Macmillan and Co.:

(art) A style in art, or an artistic object, that reflects the influence of Chinese art.

中國風 /中国风

art: style or object that reflects Chinese influence


camaieu

camaieus (plural)
camaieux (plural)
camayeu (alternative)

Borrowed from French camaïeu. Doublet of cameo.

(art) A style of painting in a small range of monochrome colours.

(art) A style of printing pictures producing the effect of a pencil drawing.


ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny

Reportedly coined by zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919).

With reference to seedling stages the statement that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny must be made with great reserve.

1905, J. A. Harris, "The Importance of Investigations of Seedling Stages," Science, New Series, vol. 22, no. 554, p. 186

Haeckel maintained that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, and this idea was incorporated by Lombroso into his parallelism between the criminal and the child.

1961, M. E. Wolfgang, “Pioneers in Criminology: Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)”, in The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, volume 52, number 4, page 367:

For even if we accept that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," those responsible for the drafting of ancient legal documents were not children, and are hardly to be endowed with some form of infantile mentality.

2002, B. S. Jackson, “Models in Legal History: The Case of Biblical Law”, in Journal of Law and Religion, volume 18, number 1, page 11:

(biology, social sciences, art, philosophy) The physical, cultural, moral, or intellectual development of each individual passes through stages similar to the developmental stages of that individual's species, society, or civilization. Not taken literally since the late 19th century.


craquelure

craquelure (countable and uncountable, plural craquelures)

/kɹæk.əˈlʊə/

/kɹæk.əˈlʊɹ/

(art) The distinctive pattern of hairline cracks in the surface of an old painting.


isometric perspective

isometric perspective (plural isometric perspectives)

(art, cartography) A type of visual perspective in which all dimensions parallel to the three principal spatial axes are shown in their true proportions.


sinopia

sinopia (countable and uncountable, plural sinopias or sinopie)

Today many of the sinopias have been uncovered by a method called stacco.

1985, Joseph Reese Strayer, Dictionary of the Middle Ages:

In the course of lifting the frescoes from the walls the restorers discovered Simone's full-scale working drawings (in red chalk made from iron oxide and known as sinopie) which lay directly beneath the painted plaster [...].

2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 89:

(art) The rough sketch (executed in sinopia) which underlies a fresco.


intimism

intimism (usually uncountable, plural intimisms)

(art) A genre of art (or literature) involving the depiction of quiet, domestic scenes, usually of domestic interiors

intimisme

A genre involving depiction of quiet domestic scenes


intimist

en-adj

intimist (comparative more intimist, superlative most intimist)

more intimist (comparative)
most intimist (superlative)

By its subject, the work is inscribed at the intersection of the romantic and realist traditions: on the one hand, Musset's La Confession d'un enfant du siecle and Vigny's Chatterton, but also the so-called intimist novel that, as Jean Bruneau notes, 'recounts events of daily life and asks the essential questions about them' and which, 'down-to-earth and often moralizing', prefigures the realist novel and the thesis novel; and on the other hand, the second bohemia, whose intimate journal in the romantic manner (as with Courbet's intimist painting of the world familiar to the painter) is converted into the realist novel when, with Les Scènes de la vie de bohème by Murger and especially Les Aventures de Mariette and Chien-Caillou by Champfleury, it registers in a faithful manner the often sordid reality of rawboned daubers' lives, their garrets, watering-holes and love affairs ('It is in reality the saddest live,' writes Champfleury in a letter of 1847, 'consisting of not dining, not having boots, and making about all that a quantity of paradoxes.')

1996, Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field, →ISBN, page 100:

For this reason, in the numerous intimist portraits he painted in the sixties, particularly those of his wife Estrella, in which he worked from life, he attached so much importance to optical reality and mimetic perfection, to that “humanist certainty” that lies at the heart of all classicist stances.

1997, Simón Marchán Fiz, Alberto Datas, page 20:

It is ubiquitous throughout the occasional pieces and intimist work. The body, real, factual, everyday, with a familiarity characteristic of TV or of home movies, but suddenly, also, the body dramatized to the extreme, prey to creative anguish, experiencing its specific fiction, its daily sacrifice, the crucifixion of image and sound.

2008, Olivier Asselin, Johanne Lamoureux, Christine Ross, Precarious Visualities, →ISBN, page 90:

(art) Pertaining to or characteristic of the intimism genre; focussed on everyday domestic matters.


neorealism

en-noun

neorealism (usually uncountable, plural neorealisms)

(art) A movement in art, literature and (especially in Italy) cinema, shortly after the Second World War, that concentrated on real life.


noirish

en-adj

noirish (comparative more noirish, superlative most noirish)

more noirish (comparative)
most noirish (superlative)

His feature directing career began with the third installment of the "Alien" franchise, and before "Benjamin Button" all his movies were noirish thrillers of a sort.

2009 January 2, Dennis Lim, “Journey of a Director, From Night Creature to Tender Time Traveler”, in New York Times:

It must be acknowledged that the now global recognition his work has received […] has no doubt to do with his works’ noirish mixture of extraordinary artistic delicacy and ultra-creepy subject matter […]

2011 July 28, Terry Castle, “Do I like it?”, in London Review of Books, volume 33, number 15, →ISSN:

(film, art) Having the character of film noir.


hatchwork

Look at the hatchwork around the edges!

(art) Crosshatching; ornamentation using a crosshatch pattern


mosaiclike

mosaiclike (comparative more mosaiclike, superlative most mosaiclike)

more mosaiclike (comparative)
most mosaiclike (superlative)

Davies has devised a mosaiclike film language.

2009 January 11, Dennis Lim, “Remembrance of Liverpool Past”, in New York Times:

(art) Resembling a mosaic, particularly in composition


maximalist

maximalist (comparative more maximalist, superlative most maximalist)

more maximalist (comparative)
most maximalist (superlative)
Maximalist (alternative)

From maximal + -ist, by analogy with minimalist.

This, his [Frank Stella's] second Museum of Modern Art retrospective, shows him in his second incarnation, turning his back on Minimalist rationality and opting for a “maximalist,” seemingly free-wheeling Baroque complexity that helped set the stage for New-Expressionism.

1987 December 6, Roberta Smith, “Schnabel and Stella: Art, Myth and Ego”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Three elephantine examples of that trend have been in the news of late, and they call into question their underlying maximalist presumption that more is more.

1990 May 27, John Rockwell, “Complete Everything, or Is More Enough?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Mr. Shadbolt's maximalist, when-in-doubt-be-vivid style capaciously suits “Monday's Warriors,” his novel of the wars between the Maoris and the British in New Zealand in the mid-19th century; […]

1992 May 3, Ivan Doig, “Maps Made by Blind Men”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The biennial also includes a sprawling cityscape by Chris Burden incorporating thousands of model buildings, cranes and automobiles, a maximalist vision where Mr. Ashkin's is minimalist.

1997 April 6, Trip Gabriel, “Trafficking in Toxic Waste and Human Loneliness”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Bach's choral music was once often heard in maximalist renditions, undertaken by large ensembles who by sheer vocal and instrumental weight emphasize the majestic side of his compositions.

1998 May 17, Sarah Bryan Miller, “Classical Brief”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

[Christian] Lacroix's maximalist aesthetic has been at odds with fashion trends in recent years. But fashion is just now beginning to swing back his way, with an emphasis on volume and flounce above sleekness.

2005 January 26, Jess Cartner-Morley, “Ovation for Lacroix as maximalist look makes a comeback”, in The Guardian:

At the moment, for example, while a minimalist aesthetic, or the tail end of one, still manifests itself in a lot of painting and music, we are living in age of maximalist novels—books less concerned with le mot juste than with being full-service entertainment centers.

2005 April 17, Charles McGrath, “The Souped-Up, Knock-Out, Total Fiction Experience”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

You might call [Louis] Wain’s ‘mad’ style a version of the outsider mode in its paranoid or maximalist aspect.

Such a bustling, maximalist extravaganza is in keeping with the excitable energy of the crowd, who are clearly thrilled to revisit the block-party beats of Cruel Summer and tribal doo-wop of Really Sayin’ Somethin’.

2017 November 14, Graeme Virtue, “Bananarama review – hi-NRG poignancy as pop trio return for first proper tour”, in The Guardian:

Returning to the sound of her maximalist electro-pop heyday, Gaga explores buried trauma, mental illness and the complexities of fame on this return to form

2020 May 29, Michael Cragg, “Lady Gaga: Chromatica review – Gaga rediscovers the riot on her most personal album”, in The Guardian:

[Chappell] Roan draws from the mega-pop of the 2010s, from Lady Gaga to Taylor Swift – then laces it with sexually frank asides and lavish doses of camp, and performs it with a maximalist, absurd aesthetic indebted to drag, John Waters and Freddie Mercury.

2024 August 9, Laura Snapes, “It’s a femininomenon! How Chappell Roan slow-burned her way to stardom”, in The Guardian:

(art, music, literature) Preferring redundancy; tending to do or provide more rather than less.


maximalist

maximalists (plural)
Maximalist (alternative)

Concerning his own purpose in making music, Mr. Babbitt says he would call himself a maximalist: “I try to make music as much as it has ever been or as much as it could be. I may try to put too much into a piece. […]”

1982 October 17, Joan Peyser, “Milton Babbitt's Serialism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The music, of course, for all of its determined frivolity, is wonderfully eloquent, and composers as diverse as Webern, the great Minimalist, and Mahler, a great “Maximalist,” have come to worship at the shrine.

1986 August 24, Tim Page, “Opera: ‘Die Fledermaus’ Gets a Change of Cast”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Critics have aptly borrowed those terms to characterize the difference between Mr. Beckett, for example, and his erstwhile master James Joyce, himself a maximalist except in his early works.

1986 December 28, John Barth, “A Few Words About Minimalism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the 1960's, he [Peter Gourfain] was a Minimalist, using wood beams to build allusive and ephemeral constructions. This show is primarily concerned with the artist since he became a maximalist.

1987 April 3, Michael Brenson, “Works by Gourfain at Brooklyn Museum”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A maximalist, Mr. [Craig] Baldwin is at once a collector and curator of 20th-century visual culture.

2009 January 14, Manohla Dargis, “Star Log: Trippy Sci-Fi Mash-Up Alert!”, in New York Times:

David Foster Wallace was a maximalist. His masterpiece, Infinite Jest, is a 1,000-page, polyphonic epic about addiction and obsession in millennial America.

2015 May 25, Chris Power, “A brief survey of the short story: David Foster Wallace”, in the Guardian:

Mohawke is known as a musical maximalist, which is a polite way of saying that he lumps prodigiously distorted beats on top of each other, as if playing techno Jenga.

2015 December 11, Ian Gittins, “Hudson Mohawke review – ferocious, apocalyptic electro”, in The Guardian:

(art, literature, music) A person with maximalist beliefs or tendencies; someone who prefers redundancy or excess, especially in the arts.


campness

From its beginning, the group had an “irretrievable air of campness.”

2009 January 23, Dwight Garner, “The Mahvelous and the Damned”, in New York Times:


campiness

Still, here, as in the calculated Gong Show campiness of El Grande de Coca-Cola[…], excellence would simply get in the way.

1988 January 8, Lawrence Bommer, “Live Dancers Tonite”, in Chicago Reader:

Sometimes you embrace the danger of unintentional campiness. I'm not afraid to make State Fair as bright and colorful as possible and put bunch of prints and plaids on actors, and make it all saccharine-sweet.

2010 September, Lou Bird, quoted in "What It's Like to be a Costume Designer", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 32


nontechnique

Spaceballs and Amazon Women on the Moon were unwieldy messes, but they both had their moments of brilliance: the characters watching the videocassette of Spaceballs in the midst of Spaceballs, as well as some of Mel Brooks's ethnic humor and the flaunting of his nontechnique (qualities that seem to go together, as they do in Richard Marin's Born in East L.A.)[…].

1988 January 8, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “10 From '87”, in Chicago Reader:


semiabstract

In the second, only the tracks are visible, glowing luminously at night, and this semiabstract image is held on the screen for an extended length of time.

1988 January 22, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “Huckleberry Fem”, in Chicago Reader:

(art) Not entirely abstract; between abstract and concrete


imagist

Most critics group Lanyon with the Chicago imagists, artists who use ordinary objects and meticulous detail to explore fantasy.

1988 January 22, Holly Greenhagen, “Art Facts: Ellen Lanyon's magic art”, in Chicago Reader:

D. H. Lawrence would have been a poet of distinction without an imagist movement, but he became a modern poet, and a major one, by becoming an imagist, and in time he attained greater distinction than any of the other English poets who helped found the imagist movement.

1996, William Pratt, Singing the Chaos: Madness and Wisdom in Modern Poetry, page 162:

(art) A follower of any of the various artistic schools known as imagism


imagistic

imagistic (comparative more imagistic, superlative most imagistic)

more imagistic (comparative)
most imagistic (superlative)
Imagistic (alternative)

So much 'performance art' tends to be a kind of closed, aloof, imagistic, private vision.

1988 January 29, Justin Hayford, “Stage Business: a young director mixes it up at the Goodman”, in Chicago Reader:


letter art

(art) The use of letters and other text characters to form a picture.


stewpot

It’s a nasty stewpot of intellectually untenable premises and irresponsible speculation that frequently reads like a “Saturday Night Live” parody of the crackpot right.

2007 February 6, Michiko Kakutani, “Dispatch From Gomorrah, Savaging the Cultural Left”, in New York Times:

(art, literature) A jumble, especially one that lacks intellectual coherence.


coloristic

Christian Tetzlaff […] played the work with exquisite control and coloristic fluidity.

2007 March 17, Allan Kozinn, “Muscular Approach Accented With a Ghostly Whisper”, in New York Times:

(art, music) Of, pertaining to, or focused on coloring or an enhanced use of colour


hyperrealist

I find that I'm not a hyperrealist. I have to laugh, because Dali also told me I wasn't one, but rather ‘hypermetaphysical’…

1999, T. Raspail, Jean Olivier Hucleux, 1971–1999, Lyon: Skira, →ISBN, page 277:

(art) An artist of the school of hyperrealism.


multicharacter

I invite readers to sample Emma Thompson’s odious multicharacter turn in “Angels in America” […].

2007 April 15, “Handel and the Jews; Foreign Treasures; Accents and Acting”, in New York Times:

(art) Involving or performing multiple characters


microgenre

This looked incredibly cool, and borrowed visually from video games and from the YouTube microgenre of shopping-cart crashes.

2007 August 29, Virginia Heffernan, “For MySpace Viewers, a Terra Incognita With No Cellphones or Internet”, in New York Times:


collagelike

collagelike (comparative more collagelike, superlative most collagelike)

more collagelike (comparative)
most collagelike (superlative)

The sharp young company brings energy and wit to both the collagelike text, composed of odd tales of dispossession, and Michael Friedman’s eclectic cavalcade of pastiche songs.

2007 August 31, The New York Times, “Theater Listings”, in New York Times:

(art) Resembling or characteristic of a collage; presenting a jumble of different types of content


frontality

en-noun

frontality (countable and uncountable, plural frontalities)

Whereas the accentuated linearism, the angular stylization of the folds, the rhythmical course of the outlining and the solemn frontality conjoined with an air of regality in the pose seem to recall the formal repertory of the Corbolinus Master and his group […]

1993, Miklós Boskovits, The Origins of Florentine Painting, 1100-1270, volume 1, page 33:

Bold scale is the norm, as is a generally exuberant frontality.

2007 June 8, Roberta Smith, “When Home Was Where the Art Was”, in New York Times:

(art) The quality or state of being frontal.


winkfest

The girl sleuth in a retro-pomo pop-culture winkfest that has everything but a good mystery, which was all it needed.

2007 June 29, The New York Times, “Movie Guide and Film Series”, in New York Times:

(art, rare) A work typified by winking, either literally or in the form of ironic self-reference.


symbolist

From French symboliste, coined by poet Paul Verlaine in 1885.

The general picture that has emerged is one of Cubism bubbling up out of a thick Parisian stew of symbolist poetry, Cézanne, cafe society, African masks, absinthe and a fascination with all things mechanical and modern, mostly airplanes and automatons.

2007 April 15, Randy Kennedy, “When Picasso and Braque Went to the Movies”, in New York Times:

(art, literature) Of or pertaining to the Symbolist movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century European arts and literature


tastemaking

But her latest act has catapulted her into art’s tastemaking elite.

2007 June 10, Julia Chaplin, “Follow That Motoscafo”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2013-11-29:

(art) Influential in the determination of current taste.


nonpainting

The nonpainting trends of those years have been relentlessly celebrated and valorized by museums, art historians and biennials.

2007 February 16, Roberta Smith, “Painting in the Heady Days, After It Was Proclaimed Dead”, in New York Times:

(chiefly art) Not painting; other than painting


neosurrealism

(art) An art movement based on the complex imagery of dreams and subconscious visions.


entopic graphomania

In the case of entopic graphomania, the artist was to discover the impurities on a piece of paper, place dots on the impurities, and draw connections between the dots. This was considered an automatic drawing […]

2013, Whitney Sherman, Playing with Sketches: 50 Creative Exercises for Designers and Artists:

(art) A surrealist method in which dots are made at the sites of impurities in a blank sheet of paper, and lines are then made between the dots.


reductivism

reductivism (countable and uncountable, plural reductivisms)

(art) A minimalist movement in abstract painting and sculpture from the 1950s onwards.


polystylistic

The more involving of the jazz sets included […] a group of shorter, polystylistic pieces by Jonathan Batiste; and a few standards dazzlingly played by Lee Musiker.

2008 January 23, Allan Kozinn, “Mystical to Muscular: Many Styles in Play at a Keyboard Marathon”, in New York Times:


sensualism

sensualism (countable and uncountable, plural sensualisms)

(art, architecture) A sensual style or aesthetic.


neoconceptualism

(art) A school of art of the 1980s and 1990s, characterised by appropriation and the rejection of traditional artistic methods and values, that derives from the conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s.


reverse intaglio

reverse intaglio (plural reverse intaglios)

(art, printing) A design impressed into the back of transparent or translucent items.


Mantegnesque

(art) Having a style similar to Andrea Mantegna, Italian Renaissance painter.


magot

(art) A seated oriental figurine, usually of porcelain or ivory, of a grotesque form


biomorphism

From bio- + -morphism or biomorph + -ism. First used in 1936 by Alfred H Barr, Jr. (1902-1981), art historian.

(art) A surrealist art movement of the twentieth century that focuses on the power of natural life and uses organic shapes, with shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology.


verism

verism (countable and uncountable, plural verisms)

In place of the high polish and artifice of, say, Friday the 13th, there is a rougher verism [in Jackass].

2007, Andrew Shanken, “The Sublime "Jackass"”, in Places, volume 19:

(art, literature) Presenting common, everyday subjects, specifically eschewing the heroic or legendary.

(art) Synonym of verismo (“19th-century art movement”)


ordonnance

Borrowed from French ordonnance. Doublet of ordinance and ordnance.

August 15, 1833, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk
their dramatic ordonnance of the parts

(art) The disposition of the parts of any composition with regard to one another and the whole.


Moresque

en-adj

Moresque (comparative more Moresque, superlative most Moresque)

more Moresque (comparative)
most Moresque (superlative)


representationalism

en-noun

representationalism (countable and uncountable, plural representationalisms)

(art) Realistic representation of the world in art.


socialist realism

Derided, lampooned and long since consigned to the dustbin of aesthetic history, the art of Soviet Socialist Realism has not enjoyed a happy afterlife following the collapse of communism.

2009 October 24, Vanessa Thorpe, “New exhibition in Berlin brings forgotten Soviet art back to reality”, in The Observer:

dictatorship of the proletariat
dictatorship of the proletariat

(art) A Stalinist idealization of the dictatorship of the proletariat applied to art that used realistic techniques to show the struggle for socialism in a positive and optimistic manner.


cognitivism

(art) The view that a work of art is valuable if it contributes to knowledge.


editioned

Two Palms has a suite of intaglio prints by Chris Ofili (similar to those on view through tomorrow at David Zwirner) and editioned hand-painted collages by Richard Prince, who merges covers of nurse-themed pulp-fiction titles with images clipped from pornographic sources.

2007 November 2, Karen Rosenberg, “Rembrandt and Modernists at a Weekend Red-Tag Sale”, in New York Times:


editioning

(printing, art) The process of making a small number of prints available, in order to make the print more lucrative.


megilp

megilp (countable and uncountable, plural megilps)

megilps (plural)
magilp (alternative)
magilph (alternative)
megilph (alternative)

He was in a hurry […] and instead of replicating the twenty or so layers of paint in the original he used megilp to give the impression of thickly applied paint.

2002, Victoria Finlay, Colour, Sceptre, published 2003, page 202:

(art) A mixture of linseed oil with turpentine or mastic varnish, used as a thickener for oil paints but later discredited as a source of cracking and yellowing.


prestezza

(art) A painting technique which uses a series of fast brushstrokes to create the impression of faces and objects, rather than working out their details


tondino

Iznikware tondinos survive with other styles of decoration: […]

2002, Rosamond E. Mack, Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300-1600, page 207:

(art) A small ceramic plate in the Italian style.


anaglyptics

(art) The art of carving or embossing in low relief


basse-taille

(art) A bas-relief enamelling technique used on metal


hypermodernism

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hypermodernism.wav

(art) An art movement distinguished from modernism and postmodernism chiefly by its extreme and antithetical (inverted) approach.


esquisse

(art) The first sketch of a picture or model of a statue.


Verdadism

From Spanish verdad + -ism, coined by Soraida Martinez circa 1992 to describe her own works.

(art) A style of art that juxtaposes figurative abstract paintings with written social commentary drawing from personal experiences.


antiart

The weakness exists within culture itself, in the form of certain desires, dreams, and deliriums called up by "entertainment," mass culture, by certain types of antiart.

1989 June 16, Gary Kamiya, “Reading: Children of the Void”, in Chicago Reader:

(art) Art created in opposition to the concept of art


linocut

/ˈlʌɪnəʊkʌt/

Still, this book's offbeat settings and strong, simple illustrations, in acrylic paint with pencil and rough-hewn linocut outlines, should help preschoolers — and parents — realize that when you bring some creativity to pet ownership, even a fish can be fun.

2009 June 14, Ann Hodgman, “A kid’s best friends: goldfish”, in The New York Times:

(art, printing) A type of woodcut in which a block of linoleum is used for the relief surface; the design cut into the block.


life class

(art) A teaching session in which art students practice drawing or painting the human figure using a live (often naked) model


sculptured painting

sculptured painting (plural sculptured paintings)

A sculptured painting in the grand temple of Karnak furnishes the explanation; wherein they appear filled by great trees or masts, their elevation inferring they were spliced as our present masts.

1824, Edward Upham, Rameses: an Egyptian tale, with historical notes of the era of the pharaohs, page 315:

(art) A painting in which materials are used to add relief in a third dimension.


calcography

From Latin calx (“chalk”) + English -graphy (“written”).


bambocciante

(art) Any of a group of Dutch painters, from the seventeenth century, who painted scenes from ordinary life; used attributively to describe the style of their paintings


performing arts

performing arts pl (normally plural, singular performing art)

(art) The arts involving performance, such as dance, theatre, music, etc.


Suprematism

The Suprematism of Kasimir Malevich is an even more extreme version of similar character.

2004, Mary Acton, Learning to Look at Modern Art, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 166:

(art) A genre of abstract art based on simple geometric forms championed by the Russian avant-garde in the early twentieth century.


cave painting

cave painting (countable and uncountable, plural cave paintings)

cave paintings (plural)
cave-painting (alternative)

For several decades, now, he [the modern artist] has taken the liberty of learning how to draw and compose by studying and borrowing ideas from the high periods in all art, as far back as prehistoric cave painting.

1959, Erle Loran, Cézanne’s Composition: Analysis of His Form with Diagrams and Photographs of His Motifs, 2nd edition, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:

[C]ave painting appears to have flourished during the last 8–10,000 years of this period and to be concentrated in limestone caves of southwestern Europe (especially southwestern France and north coastal Spain), [...]

1989, Margaret W. Conkey, “The Structural Analysis of Paleolithic Art”, in C[lifford] C[harles] Lamberg-Karlovsky, editor, Archaeological Thought in America, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 1995, →ISBN, page 135:

In another topic on prehistoric man, pupils used 'active learning' methods to construct a 'cave set'; re-enacted cave-painting by homemade candlelight; [...]

1995, Alex Webster, “Differentiation”, in Geoffrey Moss, editor, The Basics of Special Needs: A Routledge/Special Children Survival Guide for the Classroom Teacher, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 1996, →ISBN, page 42:

Art-making may have emerged as early as 1.5 million years ago with the arrival of Homo erectus, our humanlike ancestors. [...] Cave painting and early sketching were ways to enhance thinking, serving as a medium for idea manipulation, enhancement, and storage.

2001, Eric Jensen, “Visual Arts”, in Arts with the Brain in Mind, Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, →ISBN, page 50:

(uncountable) The activity of applying pigments to the interior surfaces of caves to create images, especially when carried out in prehistoric times.

grotschildering

I understand from Paṇḍita Baghavánlál, who lately visited the caves, that the painting and writings in these caves are fast going to decay. Those at Ajaṇṭhá are more durable, whereas the Bagh cave paintings will, it is feared, be entirely obliterated after some years.

1818 July 28, F. Dangerfield, “IX. Some Account of the Caves near Baug, Called the Panch Pandoo”, in Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and John Murray, […], published 1876, →OCLC, editorial note, page 216:

No natives of this country could, I think, have drawn the cave-paintings [in Buddhist caves found in Khandesh].

1851 January, J. Rose, “Art. VIII.—Extracts from the Proceedings of the Society for the Year 1849–50.”, in The Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume IV, Bombay, Maharashtra: American Mission Press; T. Graham, […], →OCLC, page 351:

Mr. George W. Stow, of Queenstown, South Africa, refers in a letter to the interesting subject of the old cave-paintings by the Bushmen, [...]

1871 February 4, “Scientific Notes. Cave-paintings by Bushmen.”, in Appletons’ Journal of Literature, Science, and Art, volume V, number 97, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, page 143, column 2:

Prehistoric pottery, art, cave painting, engraving can be incorporated into the exhibition as an added colourful attraction.

1972 January–March, Dilip Kumar Ray, “Some Thoughts on the Problems of Arrangement of Anthropological Specimen in Museums”, in Amalendu Bose, editor, The Calcutta Review, volume III, number 3 (New Series), Calcutta, West Bengal: University of Calcutta, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 232:

Although somewhat difficult to date, the earliest direct evidence of human interest in honey occurs in the famous stone-age cave painting from southern Spain, of a man robbing a wild bees' nest.

1998, Don Brothwell, Patricia Brothwell, “Sugars”, in Food in Antiquity: A Survey of the Diet of Ancient Peoples, expanded edition, Baltimore, Md., London: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 72:

Rooted in precinematic cultural activities such as walking and traveling, on the one hand, and in all forms of visual representation – including cave painting – on the other, the compound term ["mobilized virtual gaze"] is meant to describe forms of scopic pleasure that travel "in an imaginary flânerie through an imaginary elsewhere and an imaginary 'elsewhen'.'"

1999, Lutz Koepnick, “Benjamin’s Actuality”, in Walter Benjamin and the Aesthetics of Power (Modern German Culture and Literature), Lincoln, Neb., London: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Rethinking the Spectacle), page 213:

The well-known Neolithic cave painting from Morella la Villa in Spain unmistakably shows a battle between two small groups of archers.

2002, Christon I. Archer, John R. Ferris, Holger H. Herwig, Timothy H. E. Travers, “Introduction: The Origins of Warfare”, in World History of Warfare, Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 1:

By 30,000 years ago, modern humans in Europe were producing stunning cave paintings of ice age animals, and carved human figurines.

2009, Jonathan Adams, “The March of Cain: Humans as a Destroyer of Species”, in John Mason, editor, Species Richness: Patterns in the Diversity of Life (Springer–Praxis Books in Environmental Sciences), Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; Chichester, West Sussex: Praxis Publishing, →ISBN, section 5.3 (The Secrets of Our Success over Other Human Species), page 211:

Human beings have been students of animal behavior from their earliest days. [...] Further evidence for this appreciation of animal behavior can be seen in the many cave paintings depicting animals, while not depicting any of the other facets of the painters' lives.

2011, “Introduction”, in Victor S. Lamoureux, editor, Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press; Oakville, Ont.: Apple Academic Press, →ISBN, page 7:

(uncountable) The paintings resulting from this activity regarded collectively, especially if prehistoric; cave art; (countable) an individual painting of this type.

grotkuns

paintings resulting from this activity regarded collectively, especially if prehistoric; an individual painting of this type


oleograph

(art) A type of chromolithograph, using oil paint on canvas, that attempts to imitate oil painting


postdigital

The essayist Wolf Lotter understands «postdigital» not as the end of digitalization, but as the end of the myth of digitalization. In the postdigital age after techlash, people are developing a radically pragmatic attitude toward all things digital.

2020, Thomas Ramge, Postdigital: Using AI to Fight Coronavirus, Foster Wealth and Fuel Democracy, Murmann Publishers GmbH, →ISBN:

(art) Of or relating to a movement that renounces digital technology in favour of a return to a human approach.


Warholian

en-adj

Warholian (comparative more Warholian, superlative most Warholian)

more Warholian (comparative)
most Warholian (superlative)

(art) Of or pertaining to Andy Warhol (Andrew Warhola, 1928–1987), American painter, printmaker and filmmaker, or his style or works.


strapwork

en-noun

strapwork (usually uncountable, plural strapworks)

It has a geometrical strapwork interlace of linked octograms with central eight-pointed stars.

1981, Gulnar Kheirallah Bosch, Islamic Bindings & Bookmaking:

(art, historical) A stylized representation of strips or bands of curling leather parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings and often interwoven.


singerie

(art) A satirical genre of visual arts depicting monkeys imitating human behaviour, often fashionably dressed.


blottesque

en-adj

blottesque (comparative more blottesque, superlative most blottesque)

more blottesque (comparative)
most blottesque (superlative)

(art) Characterized by blots or heavy touches; coarsely depicted; lacking delineation.


blottesque

(art) An artwork characterized by blots or heavy touches.


albarium

(art) A form of lime, made by heating marble, used for stucco.


abstractionistic

abstractionistic (comparative more abstractionistic, superlative most abstractionistic)

more abstractionistic (comparative)
most abstractionistic (superlative)


grattage

en-noun

grattage (countable and uncountable, plural grattages)

Automatism in art can arise quite deliberately from manual techniques (such as frottage, grattage and decalcomania in the visual arts, algorithmic or statistical procedures in musical composition, or random verbal collages in poetry) or accidentally from altered states of consciousness (for example, intoxication, hallucination, trance and ecstasy).

2010, Eran Guter, Aesthetics A-Z, page 25:

These same forest images appeared when he adapted his frottage technique to the roughly rubbed and scratched painting techniques of grattage.

2013, M. E. Warlick, Max Ernst and Alchemy: A Magician in Search of Myth, page 193:

They test the possibilities of collage, frottage, grattage, different methods of painting and printing, but also wordplay—and the mutual imitation and intersection ofthese devices.

2013, Ralph Ubl, Prehistoric Future: Max Ernst and the Return of Painting between the Wars:

(art) A technique popularized by Max Ernst involving scraping at dried paint in order to form patterns.


appropriationist

(art) An artist who adopts or reworks images made famous by other artists

apropriacionista

an artist who adopts or reworks images made famous by other artists


workly

en-adj

workly (comparative more workly, superlative most workly)

more workly (comparative)
most workly (superlative)
warkly (alternative)

From Middle English *workly, *werklich, from Old English *weorclīċ (“suitable for work”) (attested in unweorclīċ), equivalent to work + -ly. Compare Scots warkly (“diligent, industrious”), West Frisian werklik (“real, actual”), Dutch werkelijk (“real, actual, factual, effective”), German wirklich (“real, actual, true, substantial”), Hunsrik werklich, Swedish verklig (“real, actual, true”).

gloss

attested in <i class="Latn mention" lang="ang">unweorclīċ</i>

cog

workly nature

(philosophy, art, linguistics) Of, pertaining to, or performing some action or work; performative.