abstractionist

(art) Someone who supports or creates abstract art.

abstraccionista

someone who paints or creates abstract art


academicism

en-noun

academicism (countable and uncountable, plural academicisms)

academicisms (plural)
Academicism (alternative)
academism (alternative)

(art, literature) Traditional or orthodox formalism; conventionalism.


accessible

en-adj

accessible (comparative more accessible, superlative most accessible)

more accessible (comparative)
most accessible (superlative)

First attested in 1400, from French, from Late Latin accessibilis, from accessus, perfect passive participle of accēdō (“approach”), equivalent to access + -ible.

But something new was rippling through a million MySpace profiles. The sound was electro, and bass-laced synthetic dance pop would soon start streaming in from producers in Paris, dizzying the twenteens of Britain with its accessible, anthemic funk.

(art, literature) Easily understood or appreciated.


acclamation

en-noun

acclamation (countable and uncountable, plural acclamations)

* First attested in 1541.
* Borrowed from Latin acclāmātiō, acclāmātiōnis (“calling, exclamation, shout of approval”), from acclamo (“shout approval or disapproval of, shout out at”), from ad (“toward”) + clamo (“cry out”)
* Compare French acclamation.

bor

The medals on which laudatory acclamations are recorded are called by antiquaries acclamation medals.

1826, James Elmes, A General and Bibliographical Dictionary of the Fine Arts:

(art) A representation, in sculpture or on medals, of people expressing joy.


futurism

en-noun

futurism (countable and uncountable, plural futurisms)

/ˈfjuːt͡ʃəɹɪzəm/

Suffice it to say that Futurism has a gratifying dislike both of Liberal politics and Christian morals; I say gratifying because, however unfortunately the cross and the cap of liberty have quarrelled, they are always united in the feeble hatred of such silly megalomaniacs as these. […

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

(art) An early 20th century avant-garde art movement focused on speed, the mechanical, and the modern, which took a deeply antagonistic attitude to traditional artistic conventions.


absolute

en-adj

absolute (comparative more absolute or absoluter, superlative most absolute or absolutest)

more absolute (comparative)
absoluter (comparative)
most absolute (superlative)
absolutest (superlative)
abs. (alternative)
absolut (alternative)

conditional

antonym(s) of “free of restrictions, limitations, qualifications or conditions”

antonym(s) of “independent of references

First attested around 1380. From Middle English absolut, from Middle French absolut, from Latin absolūtus (“unconditional; unfettered; completed”), perfect passive participle of absolvō (“loosen, set free, complete”), from ab (“away”) + solvo (“to loose”). Influenced in part by Old French absolu. Compare absolve.

независим

grammar: not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence

categorical

absolute music

(art, music, dance) Independent of (references to) other arts; expressing things (beauty, ideas, etc) only in one art.


abstract

→ Norwegian Bokmål: abstrakt

From Middle English abstract, borrowed from Latin abstractus, perfect passive participle of abstrahō (“draw away”), formed from abs- (“away”) + trahō (“to pull, draw”). The verbal sense is first attested in 1542.

xifra

something that concentrates in itself the qualities of something else


abstract

en-adj

abstract (comparative more abstract or abstracter, superlative most abstract or abstractest)

more abstract (comparative)
abstracter (comparative)
most abstract (superlative)
abstractest (superlative)

But his design is wonderful. He’s getting more and more abstract every day. He’d given up the third dimension when I was there and was just thinking of giving up the second. Soon, he says, there’ll be just the blank canvas. That’s the logical conclusion. Complete abstraction.

1921, Aldous Huxley, chapter 12, in Crome Yellow, London: Chatto & Windus:

(art) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them.

(art, often capitalized) Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20ᵗʰ century.

abstracte

art: free from representational qualities


abstraction

en-noun

abstraction (countable and uncountable, plural abstractions)

From Middle English abstraccyone; either from Middle French abstraction or from Medieval Latin abstrāctiō (“separation”), from Latin abstrahō (“draw away”). Equivalent to abstract + -ion.

der

(art) An abstract creation, or piece of art; qualities of artwork that are free from representational aspects.


academic

en-adj

academic (comparative more academic, superlative most academic)

more academic (comparative)
most academic (superlative)
academick (alternative obsolete)
acad (alternative abbreviation)
acad. (alternative abbreviation)
Academic (alternative)

/ˌækəˈdɛmɪk/

From both the Medieval Latin acadēmicus and the French académique, from Latin academia, from Ancient Greek ἀκαδημικός (akadēmikós), from Ἀκαδημία (Akadēmía) or Ἀκαδήμεια (Akadḗmeia), the name of the place where Plato taught; compare academy.

(art) Conforming to set rules and traditions; conventional; formalistic.

Subscribing to the architectural standards of Vitruvius.


accessory

accessories (plural)
accessary (alternative)

desc

אַקְסֵסוֹרִי

→ Hebrew: אַקְסֵסוֹרִי (aksésori)

→ Japanese: アクセサリー (akusesarī)

→ Korean: 액세서리 (aekseseori)

From Middle English accessorie, from Medieval Latin accessōrius, from Latin accessor (“helper, subordinate”), from accessus. Compare access, from same root.

(art) Something in a work of art without being indispensably necessary, for example solely ornamental parts.


cast

New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *kas-
Proto-Germanic *kastōną
Old Norse kastabor.
Middle English casten
English cast
From Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta (“to throw, cast, overturn”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), of unknown origin.
Cognate with Scots cast (“to cast, throw”), Danish kaste (“to throw”), Swedish kasta (“to throw, cast, fling, toss, discard”), Icelandic kasta (“to pitch, toss”). In the sense of "flinging", displaced native warp.
The senses relating to broadcasting are based on that same term; compare -cast.

cog

He’s in the cast of Oliver.

The cast was praised for a fine performance.

(art) The collective group of actors performing a play or production together. Contrasted with crew.


action

en-noun

action (countable and uncountable, plural actions)

→ Arabic: أَكْشِن (ʔakšin)

→ Bulgarian: екшън (ekšǎn)

→ German: Action

→ Irish: aicsean

→ Hebrew: אקשן (akshn)

→ Japanese: アクション (akushon)

→ Korean: 액션 (aeksyeon)

→ Russian: экшн (ekšn)

From Middle English accioun, accion, from Old French aucion, acciun, from Latin āctiō(n) (“act of doing or making”), from āctus + action suffix -iō(n), perfect passive participle of agere (“do, act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti; see also act, active. By surface analysis, act + -ion.

der

(art, painting and sculpture) The attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.

liike

painting and sculpture: attitude or position of the several parts of the body


crew

From Middle English crue, from Old French creue (“an increase, recruit, military reinforcement”), the feminine past participle of creistre (“grow”), from Latin crescere (“to arise, grow”).

avustaja

arts: non-actor member of a theatrical stage production

There are a lot of carpenters in the crew!

The crews for different movies would all come down to the bar at night.

(art) The group of workers on a dramatic production who are not part of the cast.

There were three actors and six crew on the set.

(art, plural: crew) A worker on a dramatic production who is not part of the cast.

тру́па

arts: non-actor members of a theatrical stage production


chartreuse

en-noun

chartreuse (countable and uncountable, plural chartreuses)

Borrowed from French chartreuse. Doublet of charterhouse.


vernacular

en-adj

vernacular (comparative more vernacular, superlative most vernacular)

more vernacular (comparative)
most vernacular (superlative)

From Latin vernāculus (“domestic, indigenous, of or pertaining to home-born slaves”), from verna (“a native, a home-born slave (one born in his master's house)”).

uder

(art) Connected to a collective memory; not imported.


juxtaposition

en-noun

juxtaposition (countable and uncountable, plural juxtapositions)

juxtapositions (plural)
juxta-position (alternative)

From French juxtaposition, from Latin iuxtā (“near”) (from Latin iungō (“to join”)) + French position (“position”) (from Latin pōnō (“to place”)).

съпоставяне

the nearness of objects with little or no delimiter

The juxtaposition of the bright yellows on the dark background made the painting appear three dimensional.

Her mother favored a multiyear project: obscenities carved in intricate and clever juxtapositions, descending every finger, curling in lettered whorls across the palm, fanning in offensive rays across the opisthenar, which is the name for the back of the hand, a word that Leilani knew because she had studied the structure of the human hand in detail, the better to understand her difference.

2001, Dean R. Koontz, One Door Away from Heaven, Random House, →ISBN, page 497:

The extra emphasis given to a comparison when the contrasted objects are close together.

(art) Two or more contrasting sounds, colours, styles etc. placed together for stylistic effect.


hard

en-adj

hard (comparative harder or more hard, superlative hardest or most hard)

harder (comparative)
more hard (comparative)
hardest (superlative)
most hard (superlative)

→ Finnish: haarti

→ Spanish: hard

From Middle English hard, from Old English heard, from Proto-West Germanic *hard(ī), from Proto-Germanic *harduz, from Proto-Indo-European *kort-ús, from *kret- (“strong, powerful”). Cognate with German hart, Swedish hård, Ancient Greek κρατύς (kratús), Sanskrit क्रतु (krátu), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬀𐬙𐬎 (xratu).

صَعْب

requiring a lot of effort to do or understand

(art) Having a severe property; presenting a barrier to enjoyment.

Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.

Having disagreeable and abrupt contrasts in colour or shading.


provenance

en-noun

provenance (countable and uncountable, plural provenances)

Borrowed from French provenance (“origin”), from Middle French provenant, present participle of provenir (“come forth, arise”), from Latin provenio (“to come forth”).

The picture is of royal provenance.

(art) The history of ownership of a work of art.

omistajahistoria

in arts: the history of ownership of a work of art


round

rounds (plural)
around (alternative)
ron (alternative)

From Middle English round, rounde, from Old Northern French roünt, rund, Old French ront, runt, reont ( > French rond), from both Late Latin retundus and the original Latin rotundus. The noun developed partly from the adjective and partly from the corresponding French noun rond. Doublet of rotund.

rendi

card games: moment from the deal until the players are finished with the cards

(art) A long-bristled, circular-headed paintbrush used in oil and acrylic painting.


depth

depth (countable and uncountable, plural depths)

From Middle English depthe, from Old English *dīepþ (“depth”), from Proto-Germanic *diupiþō (“depth”), equivalent to deep + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots deepth (“depth”), Saterland Frisian Djüpte (“depth”), West Frisian djipte (“depth”), Dutch diepte (“depth”), Low German Deepde (“depth”), Danish dybde (“depth”), Icelandic dýpt (“depth”), Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌹𐌸𐌰 (diupiþa, “depth”).

The depth of field in this picture is amazing.

(art, photography) the property of appearing three-dimensional


proportion

en-verb

proportion (third-person singular simple present proportions, present participle proportioning, simple past and past participle proportioned)

proportions (present singular third-person)
proportioning (participle present)
proportioned (participle past)
proportioned (past)

/pɹəˈpɔɹʃən/

/pɹəˈpɔːʃən/

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

/pɹəˈpoəʃən/

From Middle English proporcion, from Old French proportion, from Latin prōportiō (“comparative relation, proportion, symmetry, analogy”), from pro (“for, before”) + portio (“share, part”); see portion.

der

(transitive, art) To set or render in proportion.


handling

en-noun

handling (countable and uncountable, plural handlings)

From Middle English handlinge, hondlunge, from Old English handlung (“handling”), equivalent to handle + -ing. Cognate with Dutch handeling (“trade, operation, action”), German Handlung (“act, action”), Swedish handling (“act, deed, action”).

cog

A miniature[…]remarkable for its brilliancy of colour and charming freedom of handling.

1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, Critical Reviews:

(art) The mode of using the pencil or brush; style of touch.


passage

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French passage, from passer (“to pass”).

(art) The use of tight brushwork to link objects in separate spatial plains. Commonly seen in Cubist works.


AAA

Allied Artists Association
w:Allied Artists Association

(UK, art, historical) Initialism of Allied Artists Association.


ADA

en-noun

ADA (countable and uncountable, plural ADAs)

ADAs (plural)
assistant DA (alternative)
assistant D.A. (alternative)
assistant D. A. (alternative)
A.D.A. (alternative)
A. D. A. (alternative)

(art) Initialism of autodestructive art.


Christ

Christs (plural)
X (alternative)
Xt (alternative)

From Middle English Crist, from Old English Crist, from Latin Christus, from Ancient Greek Χρῑστός (Khrīstós), proper noun use of χρῑστός (khrīstós, “[the] anointed [one]”), a semantic loan of Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (māšīaḥ, “anointed”) or the Aramaic equivalent (whence ultimately also English messiah, also via Latin, Greek). Compare grime for the Proto-Indo-European root, *gʰr-ey- (“to rub, smear; to anoint”); further related to ghee.

(art) A figure or other artistic depiction of Jesus Christ.


wash

wash (countable and uncountable, plural washes)

From Middle English wasshen, waschen, weschen, from Old English wascan, from Proto-West Germanic *waskan, from Proto-Germanic *waskaną, *watskaną (“to wash, get wet”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“wet; water”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian waaske (“to wash”), West Frisian waskje (“to wash”), Dutch wassen, wasschen (“to wash”), Low German waschen (“to wash”), German waschen (“to wash”), Danish vaske (“to wash”), Norwegian Bokmål vaske (“to wash”), Swedish vaska (“to wash”), Icelandic vaska (“to wash”).

der

(art) A smooth and translucent painting created using a paintbrush holding a large amount of solvent and a small amount of paint.


tangent

Borrowed from Latin tangentem, the accusative of tangēns (“touching”) (in the phrase līnea tangēns (“a touching line”)), the present participle of the verb tangō (“touch”, verb), from Proto-Italic *tangō, from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”).
Cognate with Old English þaccian (“to touch lightly, pat, stroke”). More at thack, thwack.

cog

(art) A visual interaction between two or more lines or edges that creates a perceived relationship between them, often in a way that the artist did not intend.


turnaround

en-noun

turnaround (countable and uncountable, plural turnarounds)

turnarounds (plural)
turn-around (alternative)
turn around (alternative)
turnround (alternative)

/ˈtɜːnəˌɹaʊnd/

/ˈtɜɹnəˌɹaʊnd/

Many media arts companies use turnarounds to ensure that when you draw the character you know what it looks like from the front, the side and the back.

2012, Bryan Tillman, Creative Character Design, page 134:

(art) A series of sketches of a character as seen from different angles.


fair

en-verb

fair (third-person singular simple present fairs, present participle fairing, simple past and past participle faired)

fairs (present singular third-person)
fairing (participle present)
faired (participle past)
faired (past)

From Middle English fayr, feir, fager, from Old English fæġer (“beautiful”), from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (“suitable, fitting, nice”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”).
Cognate with Scots fayr, fare (“fair”), Danish feir, faver, fager (“fair, pretty”), Norwegian fager (“fair, pretty”), Swedish fager (“fair, pretty”), Icelandic fagur (“beautiful, fair”), Umbrian pacer (“gracious, merciful, kind”), Slovak pekný (“good-looking, handsome, nice”). See also peace.

cog

Since the sequence of data contain sampling noises, the captured motion is not smooth and wiggles along the moving path. There are well-known fairing algorithms in Euclidean space based on difference geometry.

1996, Computer Animation '96: June 3-4, 1996, Geneva, Switzerland, page 136:

(transitive, art) To make an animation smooth, removing any jerkiness.


historical

en-adj

historical (comparative more historical, superlative most historical)

more historical (comparative)
most historical (superlative)
historicall (alternative)

From Latin historicus (“historical”) + -al (forming adjectives denoting of or relating to). By surface analysis, history + -ical.

suf

Hagiography, the historical genre which is the subject of this week's seminar, comprises narratives concerned with the saints and their achievements, especially the miracles which God has performed through them and on their behalf.

2017 December 8, Paul Hayward, “Seminar VII: Hagiography”, in Medieval Primary Sources—Genre, Rhetoric and Transmission:

There is no acknowledgment—because there is no understanding—that sometimes historical fiction departs from facts in order to reach for more abstract, thematic, or complexly intuitive truths that even the most diligently fact-checked histories and biographies can fail to illuminate.

2015 January 28, Mark Harris, “How 'Selma' Got Smeared”, in Grantland:

Of, concerning, or in accordance with recorded history, (particularly) as opposed to legends, myths, and fictions.

(literature, art) About history; depicting persons or events from history.

Of, concerning, or in accordance with the past generally.


ASCII art

Japanese: AA (AA)

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

(computing, art) A form of letter art that uses only ASCII characters.

ASCII藝術 /ASCII艺术

(computing, art, by extension) Letter art in general, even that which uses non-ASCII characters.


couch

→ German: Couch

→ Serbo-Croatian: кауч /kauč

From Middle English couche, cowche, from Old French couche, from the verb (see below). Doublet of cwtch.

For the re-lining, the usual method is to strain a new and strong cloth of an even surface upon the stretcher, to rub it down smooth with pumice stone, and then to give it an even couch of paste, a similar couch is then to be applied to the back of the picture after it has been freed from all inequalities; […]

1839, Jean-François-Léonor Mérimée, W[illiam] B[enjamin] Sarsfield Taylor, “On the Preservation of Pictures, and the Methods Used for Restoring Them”, in The Art of Painting in Oil, and in Fresco: Being a History of the Various Processes and Materials Employed, from Its Discovery, by Hubert and John Van Eyck, to the Present Time: Translated from the Original French Treatise of M. J. F. L. Mérimée, Secretary to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, in Paris. With Original Observations on the Rise and Progress of British Art, the French and English Chromatic Scales, and Theories of Colouring, by W. B. Sarsfield Taylor, Senior Curator of the Living Model Academy, &c. &c., London: Whittaker & Co. Ave Maria Lane, →OCLC, page 231:

Once you have chosen which color of underpainting you will use, you should apply the paint to get the values, lighting, and the likeness perfect. The underpainting is applied using a couch of medium and the paint is worked into that medium in very small amounts and in small areas at a time. […] Your paint should glide and then melt into the couch as you work the paint with your brush.

2008, Jodi Brody, Portrait Painting with Classical Old Masters Techniques: A Guide to Using the Venetian Methods, [Raleigh, N.C.]: Lulu, →ISBN, page 58:

(art, painting and gilding) A preliminary layer, as of colour or size.


pelta

From Latin pelta, from Ancient Greek πέλτη (péltē, “shield”).

A pattern of red and blue peltae on a white ground, arranged in groups of four with two peltae placed back to back and one at each end facing inward, forms the outer border on the east side of the mosaic.

1960, Saul S. Weinberg, The Southeast Building, the Twin Basilicas, the Mosaic House:

Evidently it was a deliberate choice to select from the repertory of opus sectile, often extremely figurative, only those decorative motifs that were amenable to sixteenth-century architectural classicism, like the peltae on the Farnese tables, which were still used for the seventeenth-century pavement of the Confessio of St Peter's.

2006, Anna Maria Giusti, Pietre Dure: The Art of Semiprecious Stonework:

Surrounding the square frame of round-tongued double guilloche is a broad white band with large lozenges (two on each side), outlined dark grey, with their acute angles terminating in voluted peltae with undulating spurs on their roundels.

2009, David S. Neal, Roman Mosaics of Britain: South-East Britain, page 424:

(art, historical) A crescent-shaped design used in mosaics.


value

en-noun

value (countable and uncountable, plural values)

From Middle English valew, value, from Old French value, feminine past participle of valoir, from Latin valēre (“be strong, be worth”), from Proto-Italic *walēō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to be strong”).

der

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class V § 812a. Value

When pigments of equal value are mixed together, the resulting color will be a darker value. This is the result of subtraction.

2006, Edith Anderson Feisner, Colour: How to Use Colour in Art and Design:

Shadows and light move very quickly when you are painting on location. Use Cobalt Blue to quickly establish the painting's values.

2010, Rose Edin, Dee Jepsen, Color Harmonies: Paint Watercolors Filled with Light:

(art) The relative darkness or lightness of a color in (a specific area of) a painting etc.


carrier

From Middle English cariere, partly from carien + -ere, after Anglo-Norman carier, cariour, and partly directly from Anglo-Norman. By surface analysis, carry + -er.

но́сьбіт

person or object that carries someone or something else

Linseed oil is often used as the carrier for pigment in oil painting.

inert carrier gas

(art, manufacturing) A liquid or gas used as a medium for another substance.


sauce

en-noun

sauce (countable and uncountable, plural sauces)

sauces (plural)
sawce (alternative obsolete)

→ Japanese: ソース

→ Scottish Gaelic: sabhs

PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English sauce, from Old French sause, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), past participle of saliō (“I salt”), from sal. Doublet of salsa.
For the meaning development compare Ancient Greek ἥδυσμα (hḗdusma) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (whence also English sweet).

source (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)

what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

(art) A soft crayon for use in stump drawing or in shading with the stump.


santo

A santo may get a new coat of paint on its feast day or at Christmas. Or sometimes, when a prayer has been granted, a Puerto Rican repays his santo with a fresh coat of paint.

1972, Shirley Glubok, The Art of the Spanish in the United States and Puerto Rico:

(art) A wooden or ivory statue of a saint, angel or other religious figure, found in Spain and former Spanish colonies.


cinquecento

a cinquecento painting


adopt

From Middle French adopter, from Latin adoptō; ad + optō (“to choose, desire”), equivalent to ad- + opt.


breadth

breadth (countable and uncountable, plural breadths)

From Middle English bredthe, alteration (due to nouns ending in -th: length, strength, wrength, etc.) of brede ("breadth"; see bread). Equivalent to broad + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots bredth (“breadth”), Saterland Frisian Bratte (“breadth”), West Frisian breedte (“breadth”), Dutch breedte (“breadth”), German Low German Breddte, Breddt (“breadth”), German Breite (“breadth”), Danish bredde (“breadth”), Norwegian Bokmål bredde (“breadth”), Swedish bredd (“breadth”).

(art) A style in painting in which details are strictly subordinated to the harmony of the whole composition.


antic

en-adj

antic (comparative more antic, superlative most antic)

more antic (comparative)
most antic (superlative)
antick (alternative obsolete)

Probably from Italian antico (“ancient”), used to describe ancient wall paintings from classical times, from Latin antiquus (“venerable”). See also grottesco (“grotesque”). Doublet of antique.

The amusement park environment of seaside resorts such as Venice and the antic eclecticism of Greene & Greene's pre-Craftsman work all preceded the establishment of the movie colony in Hollywood.

2004, John Chase, Glitter Stucco and Dumpster Diving: Reflections on Building Production in the Vernacular city, page 58:

(architecture, art) Grotesque, incongruous.


antic

antics (plural)
antick (alternative obsolete)

(architecture, art, obsolete) A grotesque representation of a figure; a gargoyle.

groteski

architecture: grotesque representation of a figure


combine

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle French combiner, from Late Latin combīnāre (“unite, yoke together”), from Latin con- (“together”) + bīnī (“two by two”).

der

en:artwork combining painting and sculpture

(art) An artwork falling between painting and sculpture, having objects embedded into a painted surface.


term

From Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“stump, end, boundary”).
Doublet of terminus and termon. Old English had termen, from the same source.

términu

one of the addends in a sum or in another mathematical operation

The pillers that haue bolſtered vp thoſe tearmes,
Are falne in cluſters at my conquering feet.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

You have been already informed, I have no doubt, of the subject which we have chosen: the adorning a Term of Hymen with festoons of flowers.

1773, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 42:

(art) A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal.


medallion

(art) A usually round or oval frame (often made of stucco) containing a decoration.


origami

en-noun

origami (countable and uncountable, plural origamis)

/ˌɒɹɪˈɡɑːmɪ/

[ˌɔɹɪ̈ˈɡɑmi]

Borrowed from Japanese 折(お)り紙(がみ) (origami), from 折(お)り (ori, “to fold”) + 紙(かみ) (kami, “paper”).

(uncountable, art) The Japanese art of paper folding.

The production notes are folded like the funny origamis that I made in grammar school (only I used to write boy's names inside each section).

(countable, art) A piece of art made by folding paper.


chiaroscuro

chiaroscuro (countable and uncountable, plural chiaroscuros or chiaroscuri)

chiaroscuros (plural)
chiaroscuri (plural)
chiaro-oscuro (alternative archaic)
claro-obscuro (alternative archaic)
chiaro-scuro (alternative obsolete)

/kɪˌɑːɹəˈskʊəɹəʊ/

Mid-17th century, borrowed from Italian chiaroscuro, from chiaro (“clear, bright”) + oscuro (“dark, obscure”).

(art) A woodcut technique in which several woodcut blocks are used to print different shades of a color, or a woodcut print made by this technique.


pick

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck.
Cognate with Dutch pikken (“to pick”), German picken (“to pick, peck”), Old Norse pikka, pjakka (whence Icelandic pikka (“to pick, prick”), Swedish picka (“to pick, peck”)).

inh

(art, painting) That which is picked in, as with a pointed pencil, to correct an unevenness in a picture.


performance

en-noun

performance (countable and uncountable, plural performances)

performances (plural)
performaunce (alternative)

→ Albanian: performancë

→ Catalan: performance

→ Danish: performance

desctree

→ French: performance
→ Turkish: performans

→ German: Performance

→ Italian: performance

→ Japanese: パフォーマンス (pafōmansu)

→ Portuguese: performance

→ Spanish: performance

→ Swedish: performance

From Middle English parfourmaunce; equivalent to perform + -ance.

The band played a mix of old and new songs during their 90-minute performance.

We saw the whole ballet performance from the front row.

performance

masculine form used in the United States


underground

en-adj

underground (comparative more underground, superlative most underground)

more underground (comparative)
most underground (superlative)
under ground (alternative uncommon)

/ˌʌndəˈɡɹaʊnd/

/ˌʌndɚˈɡɹaʊnd/

From Middle English undergrounde (adverb), equivalent to under + ground or under- + ground. Compare Dutch ondergrond, ondergronds, German Untergrund, Danish undergrunds.

underground music

‘[…]he wrote to me last week telling me about an incredible bitch of a row blazing there on account of someone having been and gone and produced an unofficial magazine called Raddled, full of obscene libellous Oz-like filth. And what I though, what Sammy and I thought, was—why not?’ ‘Why not what?’ said Tom. ‘Why not do the same thing here?’ ‘You mean an underground magazine?’ ‘Yup.’

"In many ways, it showed there was no longer an underground, as such. This proved that there was no longer one society with everyone agreeing how to live . . . The underground had officially come above ground, and consequently no longer existed."

2010 March 20, James Campbell, “Barry Miles: 'I think of the 60s as a supermarket of ideas. We were looking for new ways to live'”, in The Guardian:

(of music, art etc.) Outside the mainstream, especially unofficial and hidden from the authorities.


practice

en-noun

practice (usually uncountable, plural practices)

practices (plural)
practise (alternative obsolete)

The noun is from Middle English practice, practique, practyse, from the verb; also compare Medieval Latin prāctica.
The verb is from Middle English practice, practise, practize, practyse, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, alteration of practiquer, from Medieval Latin prācticāre, from Late Latin prācticus, from Ancient Greek πρακτικός (praktikós).
The spelling practice is attested once in Middle English for both the noun and the verb. The noun began to be assimilated in spelling to nouns in -ice; practise (noun) is now obsolete.

what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive

Which is the most demanding? I think that my practice as an artist is 'stronger' because it is the practice that best fuels and balances myself and that generates new knowledge for my other work as both arts educator and creative arts therapist.

2016, Raphael Vella, Artist-Teachers in Context: International Dialogues, Springer, →ISBN, page 53:

(uncountable, especially medicine, art) The ongoing pursuit of a craft or profession, particularly in medicine or the fine arts.


aleatory

From Latin āleātōrius, from āleātor (“dice-player”), from ālea (“a die”).

(art, music) Produced with an element of chance (aleatoricism).


chimera

chimeras (plural)
chimaera (alternative archaic)
chimæra (alternative archaic)
chimere (alternative obsolete)
chymera (alternative obsolete)
chemera (alternative obsolete)
chymæra (alternative obsolete)

monolith

antonym(s) of “anything composed of very disparate parts”

Variant of Middle English chimere, chymere, & chymera under renewed Latin influence from the 16th century, from French chimère, from Latin Chimaera, from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira, “fire-breathing mythological monster, fire-spewing Lycian or Cilician mountain”), from χίμαιρα (khímaira, “she-goat”, from χίμαρος (khímaros, “male goat”) + -α (-a)), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰey-. In reference to the fish, directly from Latin Chimaera, used by Linnaeus. In reference to organisms with distinct areas of different genetic makeups, a calque of German Chimäre, used by Hans Winkler in 1907.

af

A voice had called him forth to think in solitude—a voice he durst not resist, the awful one of the future. It fell on John's heart like the mutter of approaching desolation. He heard it coming on, as the spell-bound in a hideous dream await, wordless and shivering, the progress of some chimera monster, whose grasp is to crush and destroy.

1853, “the O’Hara Family” [pseudonym; John Banim], chapter XV, in The Nowlans, London: Simms and M‘Intyre, Paternoster Row; and Donegall Street, Belfast, →OCLC, page 142:

The Magophonia was essentially the eruption of a long-simmering animosity between the pārsās (who revered Ahura Mazdā) and the Median magi (who believed in the supremacy of Mithra and Apam Napāt). A vivid expression of this animosity is displayed on the door jambs of Persepolis, where Darius is killing with a dagger a chimera monster with a scorpion tail.

2014, Abolala Soudavar, “Appendix II – From the Avesta to Sufi Treatises: A Standard Literary Technique”, in Mithraic Societies: From Brotherhood Ideal to Religion’s Adversary, Houston, Tx.: Abolala Soudavar, →ISBN, page 359:

(mythology, art) Any fantastic creature combining parts from different animals.

khimaira

any similarly fantastic creature formed of parts from different animals


delineation

en-noun

delineation (countable and uncountable, plural delineations)

(art) An image of the outline of an object.


figuration

figuration (countable and uncountable, plural figurations)

/ˌfɪɡ.jəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

/ˌfɪɡ.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

Late Middle English figuracion, from Middle French figuration, from Latin figūrō (“to form”). Equivalent to figurate + -ion.

To recapitulate: consider the human form—skin, bone, and flesh. Consider the painting—surface, structure, and pigment. With a little license, the first gives us the ingredients for what might be called human or “figurative” figuration; the second gives us the ingredients for abstract or “nonfigurative” figuration.

1986, Frank Stella, Working Space, page 74:

(art) Representation through visual forms.


core

core (countable and uncountable, plural cores)

desc

Translingual: core eudicots, core Malvales

From Middle English core, kore, coor (“apple-core, pith”), of obscure and uncertain origin. Possibly of native English origin, from Old English *cor, related to Old English *coruc, *corc (diminutive) (> Middle English cork, crok (“core of an apple or other fruit, heart of an onion”)) and Old English corn (“seed", also "grain”); or alternatively perhaps from Old French cuer (“heart”), from Latin cor (“heart”); or from Old French cors (“body”), from Latin corpus (“body”). Compare also Middle English colk, coke, coll (“the heart or centre of an apple or onion, core”), Dutch kern (“core”), German Kern (“core”). See also heart, corpse.

unc

obscure and uncertain

Photographs of cottagecore focuses on countrysides or forests.

The most important part of a thing or aggregate of things wherever located and whether of any determinate location at all; the essence.

(art) A thematic aesthetic; objects related to a specific topic


sprite

en-verb

sprite (third-person singular simple present sprites, present participle spriting, simple past and past participle sprited)

sprites (present singular third-person)
spriting (participle present)
sprited (participle past)
sprited (past)
spright (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English sprite, spryt, spreyte, from Old French esprit (“spirit”), from Latin spiritus. Doublet of spirit, spiritus, spirytus, spright, and esprit.
(computer graphics): First used by Danny Hillis at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s.
(meteorology): An acronym for Stratospheric Perturbations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification.

doublet

sprited the new NPCs

(art, informal) To draw a (specifically) pixel art sprite.


trope

Japanese: トロープ (torōpu)

Korean: 트로프 (teuropeu)

From Latin tropus, from Ancient Greek τρόπος (trópos, “a manner, style, turn, way; a trope or figure of speech; a mode in music; a mode or mood in logic”), related to τροπή (tropḗ, “solstice; trope; turn”) and τρέπειν (trépein, “to turn”); compare turn of phrase. The verb is derived from the noun.

der

You have to give director Colm McCarthy, a Scottish TV veteran making his feature film debut, and writer Mike Carey, adapting his own novel, credit for attempting the seemingly impossible task of doing something new with the zombie subgenre. And by blending it with the common YA [young adult] trope of a young female protagonist who leads the world into a new revolutionary era, they almost get there—largely thanks to newcomer [Sennia] Nanua, who presents her character's grappling with complex themes of identity and original sin with a childlike guilelessness.

2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The A.V. Club:

They have completely supported the Russians diplomatically, they’ve abstained in key votes at the United Nations, they’ve absolutely cynically repeated all the Russian tropes, particularly in places like Africa and Latin America – [by]^([sic]) blaming Nato and all of this stuff.

2023 July 20, Helen Davidson, quoting Richard Moore, “China complicit in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, says MI6 chief”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Contrary to the familiar trope that regulation kills innovation, Harding argues that in fact the political, moral and legal clarity provided by the Warnock commission spurred investment and economic growth.

2024 May 11, John Thornhill, “More than human?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 8:

(art, literature) Something recurring across a genre or type of art or literature; a motif.

троп

art, literature: something recurring across a genre or type of art or literature


Baroque

en-adj

Baroque (comparative more Baroque, superlative most Baroque)

more Baroque (comparative)
most Baroque (superlative)

Via French (which originally meant a pearl of irregular shape) from Portuguese barroco (“irregular pearl”); related to Spanish barrueco and Italian barocco and Sicilian baroccu, of uncertain ultimate origin, but possibly from Latin verruca (“wart”), or possibly from the technical construction of scholastic logic, Baroco.

(art, music) From or characteristic of the Baroque period.

barokní

relating or belonging to the Baroque period


Baroque

(art, music) A period in western architecture, art and music from ca. 1600 to ca. 1760 CE, known for its abundance of drama, rich color, and extensive ornamentation.


auricular

/ɔːˈɹɪk.jʊl.ə/

Late Middle English, borrowed from Late Latin auriculāris, from auricula (“the external ear; the ear”) + -āris (“-ar”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to auricle + -ar. Doublet of auricularis.
The finger is so called because it can be readily introduced into the ear passage.

af

(art, relational) Pertaining to a style of ornamental decoration, originating in Northern Europe in the first half of the 17th century, that uses softly flowing abstract shapes in relief some of which bear a resemblance to the human ear; commonly used in silverware, picture frames, and architecture.


diptych

From Late Latin diptycha, plural, from Ancient Greek, neuter plural of δίπτυχος (díptukhos, “folded, doubled”), from δι- (di-) + πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “fold, layer”).

(art) A picture or series of pictures painted on two tablets, usually connected by hinges.


triptych

triptychs (plural)
triptich (alternative)

From Ancient Greek τρίπτυχος (tríptukhos, “consisting of three layers, threefold”), from τρι- (tri-) + πτυχή (ptukhḗ, “a fold”).

uder

Hieronymus Bosch
The Garden of Earthly Delights
triptych

Meronym: volet

I never thought breastfeeding would be hard. When I thought about it at all, my mind conjured beatific scenes suffused with a sort of religious glow. […] These days I envisage more of a triptych: the infant Jesus spluttering at the breast, face purple with hangry fury; the infant Jesus possetting milk down Mary’s front; the infant Jesus and the nappy explosion.

2022 May 9, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, “Turns out breastfeeding really does hurt – why does no one tell you?”, in The New York Times:

(art) A picture or series of pictures painted on three tablets connected by hinges.

եռապատկեր

art: a picture or series of pictures painted on three tablets connected by hinges


render

en-verb

render (third-person singular simple present renders, present participle rendering, simple past and past participle rendered)

renders (present singular third-person)
rendering (participle present)
rendered (participle past)
rendered (past)
rendre (alternative archaic)

→ Dutch: renderen

→ Portuguese: renderizar

From Middle English renderen, rendren, from Old French rendre (“render, give back”), from Late Latin rendere, from Latin reddere (“make, give back”).

(transitive, art, by extension) To apply realistic coloring and shading.


figurative

en-adj

figurative (comparative more figurative, superlative most figurative)

more figurative (comparative)
most figurative (superlative)

/ˈfɪɡəɹətɪv/

1875-1886, John Addington Symonds, Renaissance in Italy
They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form.

(art) Representing forms recognisable in life and clearly derived from real object sources, in contrast to abstract art.


RSA

(art, UK) Initialism of Royal Society of Arts.


edgy

edgy (comparative edgier, superlative edgiest)

edgier (comparative)
edgiest (superlative)

From edge + -y. Compare German eckig (“angular, edgy”).

A sculptor's ideas must, I should guess, be somewhat rigid and inflexible, like the materials in which he works. Besides, Nollekens's style was comparatively hard and edgy.

1821–1822, William Hazlitt, “(please specify the essay name)”, in Table-Talk; or, Original Essays, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Warren; Henry Colburn and Co.:

(art) Having some of the forms, such as drapery or the like, too sharply defined.

éles vonalú/rajzú/rajzolatú

art: having some of the forms, such as drapery or the like, too sharply defined


sympathy

en-noun

sympathy (countable and uncountable, plural sympathies)

Borrowed from Middle French sympathie, from Late Latin sympathīa (“feeling in common”), from Ancient Greek σῠμπᾰ́θειᾰ (sŭmpắtheiă, “fellow feeling”), from σῠμπᾰθής (sŭmpăthḗs, “affected by like feelings; exerting mutual influence, interacting”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-y”, nominal suffix). Equivalent to sym- (“acting or considered together”) + -pathy (“feeling”). Displaced native Old English efnþrōwung (equivalent to even-throeing; literally, “co-suffering”).

af

An affinity, association or mutual relationship between people or things such that they are correspondingly affected by any condition.

(art) Artistic harmony, as of shape or colour in a painting.


construction

en-noun

construction (countable and uncountable, plural constructions)

From Middle English construccioun, construction, from Old French construction, from Latin cōnstructiō, from cōnstruere.
Morphologically construct + -ion.

"Construction in string and clockwork" took first prize.

(art) A (usually non-representational) structure, such as a collage etc.


dorsal

From Late Middle English dorsal/dorsale, borrowing from Medieval Latin dorsālis (“of or relating to the back”), from dorsum (“the back”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to dorsum + -al.

af

(art) A hanging, usually of rich stuff, at the back of a throne, altar, etc.


halo

From Latin halōs, from Ancient Greek ἅλως (hálōs, “threshing floor; disk; disk of the sun or moon; ring of light around the sun or moon”), of unknown origin. The threshing floor's circular threshold or oxen walking on it in a circle gave rise to the other meanings. Used in English since 1563; the sense of light around someone’s head since 1646.

aureole

luminous disc around head of saints in paintings

massive astronomical compact halo object

massive astrophysical compact halo object

(art, religion, iconography) a circular annulus ring, frequently luminous, often golden, floating above the head


abbozzo

We speak of a typical instance. Now what is typical? It is derived from the Greek τύπος, the name which Greek artists used of their first sketches, the abozzi of the Italians.

1886, Good Words and Sunday Magazine, volume 27, page 536:

But as regards the first six, might they not be mistaken for an abbozzo or first sketch of the Bill which was presented to Parliament in April 1886, one hundred and one years later?

1887 August 27, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, page 270:

Either way, it is far enough advanced beyond the early abbozzo stage that it would be better to designate it as "unfinished" than as an abbozzo.

1997, Richard E. Spear, The "Divine" Guido: Religion, Sex, Money, and Art in the World of Guido Reni:


frottage

en-noun

frottage (countable and uncountable, plural frottages)

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

From French frottage (“rubbing”), from frotter (“to rub”) + -age (suffix forming nouns).

(uncountable, art) A method of making an image by placing a piece of paper against an object and then rubbing over it, usually with a pencil or charcoal.

(countable, art) An illustration made by means of frottage.


blotto

From blot + -o. The verb sense “to be annihilated or destroyed” may be related to blot out.

The authors' most penetrating work seems to me, their contribution along the lines of the interview with the child, the use of sketches, blottoes, etc. "Draw a picture of this house. Who lives there? Show where the different members sleep" […]

1932, Public Health Reviews, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Division of Hygiene and Public Health, University of Michigan, →OCLC:

The pictures on these cards which I am going to show you are such ink-blot pictures. They do not really represent anything. They are accidental blottos. All you have to do is to look at them one by one and tell me what they might be, what they could represent for you.

1942, Bruno Klopfer, Douglas McGlashan Kelley, “Appendix to Part Three”, in The Rorschach Technique: A Manual for a Projective Method of Personality Diagnosis, Yonkers-on-Hudson, N.Y.: World Book Company, →OCLC, page 292:

The ink splattered blottoes on the wall. The door closed precipitately. Screaming, "Told those monkeys to stay out unless I said come in!" The door opened and the jet brunette with the perfect profile minced in wearing a look of critical suffering.

1946, Theodora Du Bois, Death Sails in a High Wind, London: T[homas] V[olney] Boardman & Co., →OCLC, page 134:

One can object to a few of the crafts included—paper punch pictures, blottos and metal foil sculpture—because they are more likely to lead to "tricks" than to art.

1955, Craft Horizons, volume 15, New York, N.Y.: American Craft Council, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 49:

She feels that whatever they absorb of the basic fundamentals of art will be valuable in later life. Even a knowledge of balanced colors may be a help later in decorating a home. She starts them simply with ordinary "blottos." "Then they learn perspective, and the various techniques. I try to take them through as many as possible; water color, crayons, charcoal, tempera, and india ink, casein—everything but oil."

1963, Themis of Zeta Tau Alpha, volume 62, number 1, Menasha, Wis.: Zeta Tau Alpha, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19, column 3:

Under the topic of Color, creative writing students will create blottos, using the primary colors; will listen for "color" in a familiar song and then write their own words; and, with the help of resource people from Mesabi Community College, will attempt to show color through facial expression […]

1974, Minnesota Elementary School Principal, St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Elementary School Principals' Association, →OCLC, page 132, column 1:

(art) An artwork created using blots of ink or paint.


concretism

concretism (countable and uncountable, plural concretisms)

(art) An abstractionist painting movement that evolved in the 1930s.


autograph

/ˈɔːtəɡɹɑːf/

From Latin autographum, in turn from Ancient Greek αὐτόγραφον (autógraphon, “a writing in one’s own hand”). Equivalent to auto- + -graph.

uder

Schiff […] believes most of the drawings are autograph.

1979, Nancy L Pressly, The Fuseli Circle in Rome, Yale Center for British Art, p. 37

Not surprisingly, he attributed to Kauffman two important works that are no longer accepted as autograph.

1992, Malise Forbes Adam, Mary Mauchline, edited by Wendy Wassyng Roworth, Angelica Kauffman, Reaktion Books, published 1992, page 116:

(art) Made by the artist himself or herself; authentic.


ethos

ethe (plural)
ethea (plural)
ethoses (plural)

From Ancient Greek ἦθος (êthos, “character; custom, habit”). Cognate to Sanskrit स्वधा (svadhā́, “habit, custom”).

cog

(art) The traits in a work of art which express the ideal or typic character, as influenced by the ethos (character or fundamental values) of a people, rather than emotional situations or individual character traits in a narrow sense; opposed to pathos.


surrealism

en-noun

surrealism (countable and uncountable, plural surrealisms)

From French surréalisme. By surface analysis, sur- + realism or surreal + -ism.

(art) An artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious.

սյուրռեալիզմ

artistic movement and aesthetic philosophy

(informal, art) Art with a surreal aesthetic or narrative, regardless of whether or not it is linked to the surrealist movement.


pastel

pastel (countable and uncountable, plural pastels)

Borrowed from French pastel, from Italian pastello (“pastel”), from Medieval Latin pastellum (“dough, paste”), from Latin pasta (“dough, paste”), ultimately from Ancient Greek πάστη (pástē, “dough, paste”). Doublet of pastegh, pastiglia, pastila, pastilla, and pastille.

doublet

(art) A drawing made with any of those colors.


focal point

(art) A feature that attracts particular attention.


overlap

en-verb

overlap (third-person singular simple present overlaps, present participle overlapping, simple past and past participle overlapped)

overlaps (present singular third-person)
overlapping (participle present)
overlapped (participle past)
overlapped (past)

From over- + lap.
Cognate with Dutch overlap.

(art) An illusion of depth is created when one object partially covers another.


MLA

MLAs (plural)
M.L.A. (alternative)
M. L. A. (alternative)

(in the US, art) Initialism of master of liberal arts.


cartoon

Punch (magazine)
Russian Bear
The Great Game
cartoon

→ Portuguese: cartune, cartum

→ Swahili: katuni

In British English first, from French carton (“sketch, cardboard, card”), from Italian cartone (“cardboard, carton, box”), augmentative of carta (“paper”), from Latin carta (“papyrus, paper”), from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs) (see there for further etymology). Doublet of carton and card.

tekenprent

animated cartoon — see also animated cartoon

(art) A full-sized drawing that serves as the template for a fresco, a tapestry, etc.


cartoon

en-verb

cartoon (third-person singular simple present cartoons, present participle cartooning, simple past and past participle cartooned)

cartoons (present singular third-person)
cartooning (participle present)
cartooned (participle past)
cartooned (past)

(art, comics, animation) To draw a cartoon, a humorous drawing.


fantasia

fantasias (plural)
phantasia (alternative)

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

Borrowed from Italian fantasia (“imagination, fancy, fantasy; musical composition with improvisational characteristics”), from Latin phantasia (“fancy, fantasy; imagination”), borrowed from Ancient Greek φᾰντᾰσῐ́ᾱ (phăntăsĭ́ā, “appearance, look; display, presentation; pageantry, pomp; impression, perception; image”), from φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (phắntăsĭs) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (Phắntăsĭs) is derived from φᾰντᾰ́ζω (phăntắzō, “to make visible, show; to become visible, appear; to imagine”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to appear; to reveal; to shine”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). The English word is a doublet of fancy, fantasy, phantasia, and phantasy.

doublet

It is, however, a ceremony of immense antiquity, and the chief civil festival of the year among the Arabs, who love nothing more dearly than a "phantasia" of this sort.

1872 October 19, “The Cutting of the Nile: From The Pall Mall Gazette”, in Littel’s Living Age, volume XXVII (Fourth Series; volume CXV overall), number 1480, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Gay, →OCLC, page 189, column 2:

When, at the head-centre, the lady demonstrator, armed with a Brobdingnagian whalebone needle, threaded with a bright red cord, executed herringboned fantasias on a canvas frame resembling a violin stand, it all looked easy enough.

1899, I[srael] Zangwill, “The Keeper of Conscience”, in “They that Walk in Darkness”: Ghetto Tragedies, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Jewish Publication Society of America, →OCLC, section VII, page 289:

Consequently 'War in the Air' means social destruction instead of victory as the end of war. It not only alters the methods of war but the consequences of war. After all that has happened since this fantasia of possibility was written, I do not think that there is much wrong with this thesis.

[1921], H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Preface”, in The War in the Air (Collins’ Thin Paper Pocket Edition; 20), London, Glasgow: Collins Clear-Type Press, →OCLC; quoted in Charles E. Gannon, “Promoters of the Probable, Prophets of the Possible: Technological Innovation and Edwardian Near-future War Fiction”, in Rumors of War and Infernal Machines: Technomilitary Agenda-setting in American and British Speculative Fiction, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003, →ISBN, page 82:

[The Warrior's Barrow (Kjæmpehøjen)] admirably conformed to his employers' National-Romantic aims. This is equally true of the four new plays with which [Henrik] Ibsen honoured his contract: St. John's Night) (Sancthansnatten, 1853), a phantasia having a good deal in common with [William] Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream [...]

1966, Brian W[esterdale] Downs, “Ibsen before 1884”, in Modern Norwegian Literature 1860–1918, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 44:

These are the years in which she [Ellen Terry] begins to sign her letters in a phantasia of different names.

1987, Nina Auerbach, “Our Lady of the Lyceum”, in Joan DeJean, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Peter Stallybrass, Gary Tomlinson, editors, Ellen Terry, Player in Her Time (New Cultural Studies), Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 209:

Her art is always with her, clothing her from throat to toes in an indelible fantasia of color and form and myth.

2003, Ann K. Schwader, “Body of Work”, in Kevin L. O’Brien, editor, Strange Stars & Alien Shadows: The Dark Fiction of Ann K. Schwader, Aurora, Colo.: Lindisfarne Press, →ISBN, page 39:

David and my parents looked up from passing bowls of potato and chicken salad. Great, a mayonnaise fantasia.

2012, Zoe Fishman, chapter 2, in Saving Ruth, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow, →ISBN:

[T]he zippy musical numbers in which Mary Poppins (a stiff-lipped Emily Blunt) whisks cherubs Annabel, John, and Georgie (Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson, respectively) away into colorful hyperreal fantasias impress.

2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-05-24:

But by the early 2000s, we were seeing fewer games like DOOM that dealt in the fantasia of ultraviolence and more games that tried to replicate the everyday violence of military encounters.

2021 October 29, Trevor Strunk, “How To Get Away With Making An Ultraviolent Video Game”, in Defector:

(chiefly art, by extension) Any work which is unstructured or comprises other works of different genres or styles.


croquis

(art) A quick and sketchy drawing, often of a live model. Croquis drawings are usually made in a few minutes, after which the model changes pose and another croquis is drawn.


warmth

en-noun

warmth (countable and uncountable, plural warmths)

From Middle English warmth, warmeth, wermþe, from Old English *wiermþu (“warmth”), from Proto-West Germanic *warmiþu (“warmness; warmth”), corresponding to warm + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Waarmte (“warmth”), West Frisian waarmte (“warmth”), Dutch warmte (“warmth”), German Low German Warmte, Warmt (“warmth”).

inh

(art) The effect of using mostly red and yellow hues.


engraving

en-noun

engraving (countable and uncountable, plural engravings)

(art) The practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it.

نَقْشْ

the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface


pointing

pointing (countable and uncountable, plural pointings)

(art) The act or process of measuring, at the various distances from the surface of a block of marble, the surface of a future piece of statuary; also, a process used in cutting the statue from the artist's model.


curvilinear

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From curve + -i- + linear, compare curve, linear.

In early art rectilinear decoration marks an advance on curvilinear, which, in the long ages before pottery was thought of, would naturally be associated with the fibrous baskets that served as vessels.

1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 52:


virtualize

en-verb

virtualize (third-person singular simple present virtualizes, present participle virtualizing, simple past and past participle virtualized)

virtualizes (present singular third-person)
virtualizing (participle present)
virtualized (participle past)
virtualized (past)
virtualise (alternative)

(transitive, art) To make or conform to a virtual reality.


repose

en-noun

repose (countable and uncountable, plural reposes)

Berthe Morisot
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Édouard Manet

The verb is derived from Middle English reposen (“to rest”), from Anglo-Norman reposer, reposir, and Middle French reposer, from Old French reposer, repauser (“to become calm; to be peaceful; to rest; to be immobile; to lie or be placed; to cease, stop; to neglect”) (modern French reposer), from Latin repausāre, the present active infinitive of repausō (“(Late Latin) to be at rest; to lie down, rest; to sleep; to calm, pacify; (Latin) to halt temporarily, pause”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + pausō (“to cease, halt; to pause”) (from pausa (“a halt, stop; a pause; an end”), from Ancient Greek παῦσῐς (paûsĭs, “ceasing, stopping”), from παύω (paúō, “to cease; to make to cease, stop; to bring to an end; to hinder”) (further etymology uncertain; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little; smallness”)) + -σῐς (-sĭs, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result)).
The noun is derived from Late Middle English repose, from Anglo-Norman repous, repos, and Middle French repos, repose, from Old French repos (“calm; rest; period or state of sleep; state of immobility; state of inaction”) (modern French repos), from reposer, repauser (verb) (see above).
Noun sense 12.3 (“technique of including in a painting an area or areas which are dark, indistinct, or soft in tone”) is borrowed from French repos.
Cognates
Catalan reposar (verb), repòs (noun)
Italian riposare (verb), riposo (noun)
Old Occitan repausar, repauzar (verb), repaus (noun)
Portuguese repousar (verb), repouso (noun)
Spanish reposar (verb), reposo (noun)

ref

From the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.

col

Cognates

հանգիստ

temporary cessation from activity to rest and recover, especially in the form of sleep; an instance of this — see also break, rest

lepo

of the face, a muscle, etc.: state of being relaxed and not in tension

VVe are to take occaſion as much as poſſibly vve can, […] to find the repoſe of vvhich vve ſpeak, by the Light and by the Shadovv, vvhich naturally accompany ſolid Bodies.

1695, [Roger de Piles], “Observations on the Art of Painting of Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy”, in C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC, page 162:

(uncountable, architecture, art) The arrangement of elements of an artwork, a building, etc., that is restful and soothing to a viewer; harmony.


minimal

en-adj

minimal (comparative more minimal, superlative most minimal)

more minimal (comparative)
most minimal (superlative)
min. (alternative abbreviation)

mínimu

the smallest possible amount, quantity, or degree

(art) Characterised by the use of simple form or structures.

minimalista

art: characterised by the use of simple form or structures


foxy

foxy (comparative foxier, superlative foxiest)

foxier (comparative)
foxiest (superlative)

His eye for colour was so exquisite that I do not think there is a single instance in all his works of a heated tint which is called foxy. This cannot be said of Rubens or Rembrandt […]

1844, Benjamin Robert Haydon, Lectures on Painting and Design:

Although the skies of Brydael's pictures are often broken with rather heavy masses of orange and yellow clouds, yet, taking him altogether, he was not a 'foxy' painter; on the contrary, there is a silvery coolness about some of his pictures which pleases us.

1870, Frederick Peter Seguier, A Critical and Commercial Dictionary of the Works of Painters:

(art) Using too much of the reddish-brown colors.


jour fixe

Borrowed from French jour fixe (literally “fixed day”).

bor

(art) A series of presentations and/or performances, discussions or similar events that happen on a fixed day every month (or similar; for example "every second Sunday of a month"). Used mainly by cultural and artistic organizations.

jour fixe

series of events that happen on a fixed day every month


transparency

en-noun

transparency (countable and uncountable, plural transparencies)

Borrowed from Medieval Latin trānspārentia.

bor+

According to Bray (Life of Stothard, p. 50), the silversmiths Rundell and Bridge displayed a large transparency by Thomas Stothard, painted in thin oils on canvas and lit from behind, in front of their house on Ludgate Hill in honour of the King's Jubilee in 1810.

1810, Royal Collection Trust, Design for a transparency of George III:

It soon came: as they were on their way to a transparency of their majesties, not a little larger than life—with Bellona, in a very handsome helmet, on one side, and Peace, with a cornucopia and a full blown wreath of roses, on the other—the path was interrupted by a little knot of gentlemen.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Fête”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 59:

(countable, art) A transparent artwork, viewable by shining light through it.


texture

en-noun

texture (countable and uncountable, plural textures)

/ˈtɛkʃt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

Borrowed from Middle French texture, borrowed from Latin textūra (“a weaving, web, texture, structure”), from textus, past participle of texere (“to weave”). See text. Doublet of tessitura.

der

The piece of music had a mainly homophonic texture.

(art) The quality given to a work of art by the composition and interaction of its parts.

textura

art: quality produced by interaction of elements


sprezzatura

en-noun

sprezzatura (usually uncountable, plural sprezzaturas)

Borrowed from Italian sprezzatura (“nonchalance”), which was coined in 1528 by Baldassare Castiglione; the term gained currency in English in the mid-20th century, often to describe art.

[…] I have found quite a universal rule which in this matter seems to me valid above all others, and in all human affairs whether in word or deed: and that is to avoid affectation in every way possible as though it were some very rough and dangerous reef; and (to pronounce a new word perhaps) to practice in all things a certain sprezzatura [nonchalance]^([sic]), so as to conceal all art and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.

1959, Charles S. Singleton, transl., The Book of the Courtier, translation of Il libro del Cortegiano by Baldassare Castiglione, The First Book, page 43:

Cassandra Wilson's music is the essence of sprezzatura, or calculated nonchalance, that special attitude described nearly 500 years ago by Baldassare Castiglione in “The Courtier,” his primer on how to ingratiate yourself with the aristocracy.

2002 February 19, Ben Ratliff, “Seeming So Nonchalant Can Be Harder Than It Looks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Mr. Mork played with soulful intensity (and impeccable intonation), and the interplay between him and Mr. Repin, with nicely coordinated gestures and phrasings, was enjoyable to watch. But Mr. Repin’s technical struggles were all too evident — the very opposite of sprezzatura.

2013 August 18, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, “Unloading the Weightiness of Brahms With a Few Flicks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In men's fashion the ultimate style move is sprezzatura, embracing intentional errors such as undone buttons and misaligned neckties. Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat, wore watches over his shirtsleeves.

2022, W. David Marx, chapter 4, in Status and Culture, Viking, →ISBN:

(chiefly art, music) The art of performing a difficult task so gracefully that it looks effortless; calculated nonchalance.


Hermes

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From the Ancient Greek Ἑρμῆς (Hermês), itself of disputed meaning and origin, possibly of non-Indo-European substrate origin or from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, put together”).

der

(art) A head or bust on a square base, often double-faced.


immersion

en-noun

immersion (countable and uncountable, plural immersions)

From late Middle English, borrowed from Late Latin immersiō, immersiōnem (“dipping”).

потапяне

the act of immersing or the condition of being immersed

(art) A creative relationship with one's social and ecological environment as practiced by the Brooklyn Immersionists.


constructivism

en-noun

constructivism (countable and uncountable, plural constructivisms)

(art) A Russian movement in modern art characterized by the creation of nonrepresentational geometric objects using industrial materials.


japonaiserie

japonaiserie (countable and uncountable, plural japonaiseries)

(art) Art objects made in the Japanese style.


Met

(New York, art) The current or historical Metropolitan Opera House or its opera company.


Virgin

From virgin, q.v. The sense of Mary, mother of Jesus, comes from the Christian belief in Jesus's virgin birth and Mary's freedom from sin. The river sense derives from the name of Thomas Virgin, a member of the first American party to see the river, led by Jedediah Smith in 1826. The town sense derives from the name of the river, along which it is located.

Of the forty-five floats presenting Virgins alone, two are preeminent and the subject of such veneration that even the most casual observer must reflect on the fact that Holy Week, which commemorates Christ's passion and death, has become in Spain a celebration in which he plays a secondary role, with his mother becoming the central figure.

1968, James A. Michener, “Sevilla”, in Iberia, New York, NY: Dial Press, published 2015, →ISBN, page 317:

(Christianity, art) A representation (picture, statue etc.) of Virgin Mary.


vesica

Learned borrowing from Latin vēsīca (“bladder”).

lbor

(art) The vesica piscis or oval aureole in mediaeval painting.


lay off

en-verb

lay off (third-person singular simple present lays off, present participle laying off, simple past and past participle laid off)

lays off (present singular third-person)
laying off (participle present)
laid off (participle past)
laid off (past)

At any pro paint shop ask for laying off brushes. These are natural bristle, wide, thin brushes designed for tipping off, not for holding a paint load. (Sourced from a web forum exchange)

He shows me how to lay off the paint — and moves his paintbrush across the section he had already painted, again and again.

(ambitransitive, art) In painting, to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat of paint so as to remove visible roller- or brush-marks, commonly using a dry brush; a similar technique, but using a loaded laying-off brush, may produce a smooth coat of paint when using a roller or the usual brush techniques would leave marks.

töpöttää

painting: to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat


Art Deco

art deco (alternative)
Art Déco (alternative)

/ˌɑːɹt ˈdɛkəʊ/

/ˌɑɹt ˈdɛkoʊ/

Borrowed from French Art déco, first used in the catalogue of an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, France, in 1966. Art déco is a clipping of arts décoratifs (“decorative arts”) (from the name of an exhibition called L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925), from arts (plural of art (“art”)) + décoratifs (plural of décoratif (“decorative”)).

ref

From the collection of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (Museum of Modern Art of Paris), France.

clipping

A pair of Armada flagons were bought for £1,900 and a four-piece Art Deco tea set on a matching tray was sold at £1,500.

1978 July 26, Paula Judge, “Saleroom: Jane Austen Ms [manuscript] sold for £38,000”, in Financial Times, number 27,620, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 8:

These properties reflect the wide variety of resources that represent the American heritage. They include skyscrapers in Chicago and mining structures in Alaska; prehistoric petroglyphs in Nevada and World War II fortifications in Guam; a district of art deco buildings in Miami and a district of prominent artists' and writers' homes in Santa Fe.

1989, “Introduction”, in National Register of Historic Places 1966–1988, Washington, D.C.: National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers; National Park Service; Nashville, Tenn.: American Association for State and Local History, →ISBN, page ix, column 1:

Always in the same district, at 61 Olive Street, is the Oviatt Building, one of [the] most important examples of Art Deco architecture found within Los Angeles city limits, and once a prestigious clothing shop boasting such clients as Rudolph Valentino and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. […] The store was replaced by today's Rex II Restaurant, decorated as an^([sic – meaning a]) 1920s ocean liner in keeping with the overall Art Deco decor.

1995, Rosanna Cirigliano, “Los Angeles”, in California, Florence: Casa Editrice Bonechi; San Francisco, Calif.: Smith Novelty Company, →ISBN, page 119:

This project has stripped away modern PVCu and aluminium shop fronts to reveal original or 1930s Art Deco work, with judicious repairs and replacements as necessary, plus stonework repairs and the restoration of traditional London Transport signage.

2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards Honour the Best Restoration Projects: The Great Western Railway Craft Skills Award: Victoria Arcade”, in Rail, number 946, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 59:

(architecture, art, also attributive) A style of decorative art (often used in household objects) and architecture originating in the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by bold geometric forms, strong contrasting colours, and simple composition.

Chrysler Building
Paul Follot
William Van Alen

Art Deco

style of decorative art and architecture


secco

Borrowed from Italian secco (“dry”). Doublet of sec.

Secco painting, or painting in secco, is painting on dry plaster, as distinguished from fresco painting, on wet or fresh plaster.


secco

The Roman frescoes are generally robust, but the Chinese and Egyptian seccos are inherently weak […]

1987, James Black, Recent Advances in the Conservation and Analysis of Artifacts, page 289:

(art) A work painted on dry plaster, as distinguished from a fresco.


picture plane

(art) The imaginary plane correspondent with the physical surface of a drawing, painting or print.


graphomania

en-noun

graphomania (usually uncountable, plural graphomanias)

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

/ˌɡɹæfəˈmeɪni.ə/

A devoted explorer of decalcomania, fumage, frottage, collage and other methods of pictorial automatism, Colquhoun invented several magic-inspired techniques of her own, including graphomania, stillomania, and parsemage.

1998, Penelope Rosemont, editor, Surrealist Women: An International Anthology, University of Texas Press, page 113:

Entoptic graphomania
w:Entoptic graphomania

(art) Used as part of the name of various surrealist techniques, e.g., a 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; see "Entoptic graphomania".


automatism

automatism (countable and uncountable, plural automatisms)

/ɔːˈtɒmətɪzəm/

Overcoming the gravity of representation and the figurative, automatism and acquired reflexes, she mixes brute force and translucid emotions to paint an ontological, disquieting, enigmatic human figure free from artifice, universal in its expression.

(uncountable, art) A surrealist painting technique whereby one attempts to move the brush, pen etc. without conscious control over it.


impressionism

impressionism (countable and uncountable, plural impressionisms)

(art) An art movement characterized by visible brushstrokes, ordinary subject matter, and an emphasis on light and its changing qualities.


trophy

→ Japanese: トロフィー (torofī)

→ Korean: 트로피 (teuropi)

→ Malayalam: ട്രോഫി (ṭrōphi)

From Middle French trophée, from Latin trophaeum (“a sign of victory, a monument”), tropaeum, from Ancient Greek τρόπαιον (trópaion, “monument of an enemy's defeat”), from neuter of τροπαῖος (tropaîos, “of defeat”), from τροπή (tropḗ, “a rout, a turning of an enemy”).

трафе́й

object taken by a hunter or conqueror of their success

The souvenirs which many killers retain of their victims are often described as trophies, and Norman Bates's taxidermic interests derived from the real-life Ed Gein.

1994, Philip Jenkins, Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide, →ISBN, page 117:

A trophy from this murder would have been of great importance.

2001, R. Michael Gordon, Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects, →ISBN, page 82:

The offender is also likely to mentally relive his killings, often with the help of souvenirs or trophies, such as a bracelet or a body part taken from the victim.

2004, Ronald F. Becker, Criminal Investigation, →ISBN, page 168:

(art, architecture) A display of weaponry and other militaria, often captured from a defeated enemy, as an ornament designed for the purpose of triumphalist display by a victor or as a show of military prowess by a monarch.


objet trouvé

French objet (“object”) + trouvé (“found”)


found object

Over a period of years David brought me a series of found objects to use in my work. I treasure those objects too much to use them. Rick Lowe of Project Row Houses [in Houston] has evolved from a young, hard-working artist whose found art is cultural preservation.

2016, Robert Craig Bunch, The Art of Found Objects: Interviews with Texas Artists, page 76:

(art) A natural object, or one manufactured for some other purpose, considered as a work of art.


synaesthesia

en-noun

synaesthesia (countable and uncountable, plural synaesthesiae or synaesthesias)

synaesthesiae (plural)
synaesthesias (plural)
synæsthesia (alternative)
synesthesia (alternative)

/ˌsɪn.ɪsˈθiː.ʒə/

From Ancient Greek σύν (sún, “with”) + αἴσθησις (aísthēsis, “sensation”), modelled after anaesthesia. It is analysable as syn- + -aesthesia.

Linking moods with colours is one example of synaesthesia. […] As a tool for improving writing, the idea of synaesthesia is versatile and innovative. Why use only visual references to describe visual impressions? Why just describe sounds using sound-related words? Play with cross-matching the senses.

2006, Stephen Bowkett, “Descriptive Writing”, in Boys and Writing (Pocket PAL), London: Network Continuum Education, Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 38:

[I]t may be stated that the concept of synaesthesia is instrumental for understanding music videos, since videos are based on the soundtrack's visual associations. Yet to discuss associations here may cause some problems. […] [Nicholas Cook] seems to be relying on a rather normative conception of synaesthesia, which for its part supports the idea of absolute, nonrepresentational music. The implication of his discussion is that the "true" forms of music–image synaesthesia come only in the forms of perception of color or light when hearing a certain musical sound.

2007, Antti-Ville Kärjä, “Visions of a Sound Nation: Finnish Music Videos and Secured Otherness”, in Roger Beebe, Jason Middleton, editors, Medium Cool: Music Videos from Soundies to Cellphones, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 181:

(art, literature) A literary or artistic device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another.


naturalist

естественик

person who studies nature or natural history

(art) A creative artist who attempts to faithfully represent nature; an adherent of artistic naturalism.


sequential art

(art, comics) A form of art where the content is presented in a series of artistic items positioned in a specific order to convey its message or effect, such as a comic strip.


alfresco

From Italian al fresco. Compare Spanish al fresco.

al fresco (alternative adverb especially)
al-fresco (alternative adjective)

(art) Onto fresh plaster that is still moist.


ikona

(Christianity, art) An Orthodox icon, or religious painting.


matte

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

The image is a perfect square of 8 cm (with white matte border the total dimensions are 14 cm tall by 11 cm wide).

(art, photography) A decorative border around a picture used to inset and center the contents of a frame.


saturation

saturation (usually uncountable, plural saturations)

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

Etymology tree
Late Latin saturatiobor.
English saturation
Borrowed from Late Latin saturatio, saturationem.

etymon

(art) The intensity or vividness of a colour.


appropriation

en-noun

appropriation (countable and uncountable, plural appropriations)

/əˌpɹoʊpɹiˈeɪʃən/

From Middle English appropriacion, appropriacioun, from Medieval Latin appropriātiō. By surface analysis, appropriate + -ion.

(art) The use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work.

apropriação

(art) the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work


defamiliarisation

defamiliarisation (countable and uncountable, plural defamiliarisations)

defamiliarisations (plural)
defamiliarization (alternative)

From de- + familiar + -isation; possibly a calque of Russian остранение (ostranenije) as used by Russian critic Viktor Shklovsky.

calque

Coordinate term: Verfremdungseffekt

It therefore works via a process of ‘defamiliarisation’ (ostranenie) (Shklovsky instances defamiliarisation as an effect to be found in riddles with their play on words, and in euphemistic references to erotic subjects).

1991, Antony Easthope, Literary Into Cultural Studies:

Fourth, and finally, while postmodernist works like Lodge’s Changing Places and Small World give the impression of being satires, because of their self-conscious and rather thick use of parody as a means to defamiliarisation, along with their presentation of a humorous world, the satirical attack is actually deflected or blunted by the parody.

1991, Brian A. Connery, “Inside Jokes: Familiarity and Contempt in Academic Satire”, in David Bevan, editor, University Fiction:

The fact that defamiliarisation need not be understood solely in linguistic terms is evident in all kinds of aesthetic experience: for example, a painting or a piece of music can also be understood as ‘defamiliarising’ habitual perceptions.

1997, Andrew Bowie, From Romanticism to Critical Theory:

(art) The representation of objects anew, in a way that we do not recognize, or that changes our reading of them.


bricoleur

From French bricoleur; apparently a borrowing from the work of French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.

The engineer has science to guide him; the bricoleur has intuition. Significantly, while the bricoleur can only classify perceived differences, the engineer's scientific system enables him to classify things not yet seen.

2002, Sherene H. Razack, editor, Introduction: Race, Space, and the Law: Unmapping a White Settler Society, page 12:

The bricoleur’s awareness of constructivism and historicity helps her point out these omissions and their effects on the knowledge-production processes.
In this context critical hermeneutics facilitates bricoleurs’ attempts to identify socially oppressive forms of meaning-making and research processes.

2004, Joe L. Kincheloe, Kathleen S. Berry, Rigour and Complexity in Educational Research: Conceptualizing the bricolage, page 11:

Glassie was attracted to Claude Lévi-Strauss's metaphor of the artisan as bricoleur — someone who brings together materials that happen to be at hand and uses them to carry out the task of building what needs to be built.

2005, Sandra K. Dolby, Self-Help Books: Why Americans Keep Reading Them, page 85:

The bricoleur is a specialist in combinatorial logic, a craftsman who creates objects by rearranging other objects.

2007, Boris Wiseman, Levi-Strauss, Anthropology, and Aesthetics, Cambridge University Press, page 208:

Through playful exploration (rather than deductive/analytic reasoning) of what is possible, the bricoleur adjusts past solutions, reframes, or manipulates technical memories of past events and projects to make them bear upon or even redefine the problem at hand.[…]Rather than having been designed in advance with specific purposes in mind, the bricoleur’s instrumental resources are experiential leftovers that summarize his technical life journey.

2012, Jannis Kallinikos, “4: Form, Function, and Matter: Crossing the Border of Materiality”, in Paul M. Leonardi, Bonnie A. Nardi, Jannis Kallinikos, editors, Materiality and Organizing: Social Interaction in a Technological World, page 75:

We see in this picture what a potent political bricoleur he is, borrowing images and rhetoric from any source and combining them in new, lucid collages with changed meanings.

2024 July 15, Jonathan Jones, “‘Is this what a second Trump presidency will be like?’ – our art critic on the chilling shooting image”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(anthropology, art) A person who constructs bricolages; one who creates using whatever materials are available.


masa

(art) A strong form of paper, smooth on one side and lightly textured on the other, used for drawing and painting


busto

The Entrance to the Royal Apartment is through a Vestibule, supported by Pillars, with some antick Bustoes in the Niches […]

1719, Elias Ashmole, The Antiquities of Berkshire:

The Busto's he fix'd on were the Caracalla and the Cicero in the Gallery which I recommended as one of the best heads in the Gallery.

1753, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 13:


idealize

en-verb

idealize (third-person singular simple present idealizes, present participle idealizing, simple past and past participle idealized)

idealizes (present singular third-person)
idealizing (participle present)
idealized (participle past)
idealized (past)
idealise (alternative)

From ideal + -ize. Compare French idéaliser.

(transitive, art) To portray using idealization.


kore

From Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl, maiden”).

uder

Mus. No 685: Archaic kore of island marble (500-490 B. C.) 4 ft high. Attic work. This kore is not wearing the Ionian smile, but a look of solemn gravity. She does not gather up her robes with the left hand like the other kores,[…].

1966, Spyros Meletzēs, Helenē A. Papadakē, Akropolis and Museum, page 42:

Ducat believes that all the kore plastic vessels wearing transverse himatia ending in stepped folds over the abdomen originate in Rhodes (1966: 72).

1995, Irene Bald Romano, University of Pennsylvania Museum, The Terracotta Figurines and Related Vessels, page 14:

Inscribed dedications often took the form of korai (singular: kore): statues, usually life-size or larger of female figures, generally goddesses.

2002, Matthew Dillon, Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion, page 9:

(art, sculpture) An Ancient Greek statue of a woman, portrayed standing, usually clothed, painted in bright colours and having an elaborate hairstyle.


orientalism

en-noun

orientalism (countable and uncountable, plural orientalisms)

orientalisms (plural)
Orientalism (alternative)

From French orientalisme, from oriental (“eastern, Oriental”). Equivalent to Oriental + -ism.

(art, architecture, literature) The tendency to represent eastern subjects, to assume stylistical characteristics original of the East.

اِسْتِشْراق

the tendency to represent eastern subjects


mannerism

mannerism (countable and uncountable, plural mannerisms)

mannerisms (plural)
Mannerism (alternative)

From Italian manierismo, from maniera, coined by Luigi Lanzi at the end of the 18ᵗʰ century.

/ˈmænəˌɹɪzəm/

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

(art, literature) In literature, an ostentatious and unnatural style of the second half of the sixteenth century. In the contemporary criticism, described as a negation of the classicist equilibrium, pre-Baroque, and deforming expressiveness.

(art, literature) In fine art, a style that is inspired by previous models, aiming to reproduce subjects in an expressive language.


art for art's sake

Calque of French l'art pour l'art, a phrase credited to Théophile Gautier. See the Wikipedia article for more.

(art, slogan) Art with no function; whose only purpose is beauty.

Art for art's sake#History
Théophile Gautier


pastille

Best specimen of fancy painting, pastille, Emily C. Dills, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1867, Indiana. State Board of Agriculture, Annual Report of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture:

Pastille, Crayon or Chalk on Photograph.

1873, Annual Report of the State Board of Agriculture of the State of Missouri:

Painting with water color, oil, or pastille, from still life.

1913, University of Kansas, Bulletin - Volume 14, Issue 12, page 35:

(obsolete, art) Nonstandard spelling of pastel (“crayon made from a type of dried paste; drawing made using such crayons”).


Romanticism

(art, music) An artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, peaking from 1800 to 1850, characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical.


modulation

modulation (countable and uncountable, plural modulations)

/ˌmɑd͡ʒəˈleɪʃən/

From Late Middle English modulacion, modulacioun (“act of making music or singing; harmony; melody, song”), from Middle French modulation (modern French modulation), and directly from its etymon Latin modulātiō (“regular or rhythmical measure, modulation; inflection of tone; (architecture) calculation of measurements from a standard unit; (Late Latin) act of making music or singing; melody, song”), from modulātus (“modulated”) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs). Modulātus is a perfect participle of modulor (“to beat time; to make music or sing; to measure; etc.”), from modulus (“rhythmical measure, interval; rhythm; small interval or measure, etc.”) + -or (suffix forming certain inflections of verbs); and modulus is from modus (“measure; method; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure; etc.”)) + -ulus (diminutive suffix). By surface analysis, modulat(e) + -ion (suffix denoting an action or process, or its result).

listen/core

Modulation vocal music example duple.mid

изменение

modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; an instance of this

[…] I ſhall endeavour to point out and regularly deſcribe a certain order and arrangement in their [shades or shadows'] appearance, in vvhich order vve may conceive different kinds of ſoftnings and modulations of the rays of light vvhich are ſaid to fall upon the eye from every object it ſees, and to cauſe thoſe more or leſs-pleaſing vibrations of the optic nerves, vvhich ſerve to inform the mind concerning every different ſhape or figure that preſents itſelf.

1753, William Hogarth, “Of Light and Shade, and the Manner in which Objects are Explained to the Eye by Them”, in The Analysis of Beauty. […], London: […] J[ohn] Reeves for the author, […], →OCLC, page 95:

(uncountable) Modification or regulation of something to achieve an appropriate measure or proportion; (countable) an instance of this.

(art, uncountable) Variation (especially softening or toning down) of brightness, form, etc.; (countable) an instance of this.

modulaatio

variation (especially softening or toning down) of brightness, form, etc.; an instance of this


tombstone

tombstones (plural)
tomb-stone (alternative archaic)

The last bit of information on each tombstone is an accession number—an alphanumeric block that is assigned when an object is added (accessioned) to the museums’ collections.

2015, Harvard Art Museum, Writing on the Wall:

(art) A museum plaque or caption displaying information about a work of art or exhibited object.


quadrature

en-noun

quadrature (countable and uncountable, plural quadratures)

/ˈkwɑd.ɹəˌt͡ʃʊɚ/

(art) A painting painted on a wooden panel.


deckle

From German Deckel, diminutive of Decke (“covering”).

(paper-making, art) A frame or edge which limits the pulp and, consequently, the size of the resulting paper.


arabesque

/ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/

/ˌæɹ.əˈbɛsk/

Borrowed from French arabesque, from Italian arabesco, from arabo (“Arab”). By surface analysis, Arab + -esque.

It was a sort of scene which Adam had beheld almost weekly for years; he knew by heart every arabesque flourish in the framed specimen of Bartle Massey’s handwriting which hung over the schoolmaster’s head, by way of keeping a lofty ideal before the minds of his pupils; […].

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXI, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

The house of Ruthven was a small but ultra-modern limestone affair, between Madison and Fifth ;[…]. As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as “ near-aissance.”

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(art, architecture, also attributively) An elaborate design of intertwined floral figures or complex geometrical patterns, mainly used in Islamic art and architecture.


maquette

en-verb

maquette (third-person singular simple present maquettes, present participle maquetting, simple past and past participle maquetted)

maquettes (present singular third-person)
maquetting (participle present)
maquetted (participle past)
maquetted (past)

(art, ambitransitive, rare) To prepare a maquette (of).


salon

Borrowed from French salon (“reception room”), from Middle French, from Italian salone (“large hall”), augmented form of sala (“hall”), from Lombardic sala (“room, house, entrance hall”), from Proto-Germanic *salą (“dwelling, house, hall”), from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“human settlement, village, dwelling”). Cognate with Old High German sal (“room, house, entrance hall”), Old English sæl (“room, hall, castle”), Old Church Slavonic село (selo, “courtyard, village”), Lithuanian sala (“island”). Doublet of saloon.

cog

Matisse showed in every autumn salon and every independent. He was beginning to have a considerable following. Picasso, on the contrary, never in all his life has shown in any salon. His pictures at that time could really only be seen at 27 rue de Fleurus.

1933, Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas:

(art) An art gallery or exhibition; especially the Paris salon or autumn salon.


xylopyrography

(art) The art of burning pictures onto wood.


matting

en-noun

matting (countable and uncountable, plural mattings)

(art, photography) A dull surface, often used for surrounding pictures.


low-key

en-adj

low-key (comparative more low-key, superlative most low-key)

more low-key (comparative)
most low-key (superlative)
lowkey (alternative)
low key (alternative)
lowk (alternative)
LWK (alternative)
lwk (alternative)

Coordinate term: mid-key

The classic example of low key photography is a black cat in a coal cellar. […] The most popular use of low-key photography is in making portraits of celebrities or theatrical personalities. These people demand either dignity or drama, and this type of lightning is appropriate for both.

1942 November, Victor Keppler, “Key to Good Pictures”, in Popular Photography, →ISSN, page 98:

(art, photography) Dark; characterized by dark tones and muted colors.

gedämpft

characterised by dark tones and muted colours


encaustic

From Ancient Greek ἐγκαυστικός (enkaustikós).

(art) Prepared by means of heat; burned in.


realist

(art, literature) An adherent of the realism movement; an artist who seeks to portray real everyday life accurately.


complementary colour

en-noun

complementary colour (plural complementary colours)

complementary colours (plural)
complementary color (alternative US)

(art) A colour which is regarded as the opposite of another, so that the two colours together form a pleasing contrast.

komplementtiväri

arts: one of two colours, which form a pleasing contrast


ukiyo-e

ukiyo-e (plural)
ukiyoe (alternative)
ukiyoé (alternative)
ukiyoye (alternative)

/uːˌkiːjəʊˈeɪ/

Borrowed from Japanese 浮世絵 (ukiyoe), from 浮 (uki, “floating, fleeting”) + 世 (yo, “world; era”) + 絵 (e, “image, picture”).

Like many Ukiyo-e artists, Jacoulet hires woodcarvers and printers to convert his ideas into prints.

1946 January 20, “Approved by the Air Force”, in Time:

The masters of Ukiyo-e, the woodblock print, like Utamaro, immortalized its great courtesans and its famous houses of prostitution.

Starling looked past Carter, to an ukiyo-e woodcut of a Kabuki player.

2001, Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil:

(art) A Japanese painting or woodblock print depicting everyday life.


muller

The noun is derived from Late Middle English molour, moler; further origin uncertain, possibly:
* from mull (“(Northern England) something reduced to fine particles”, noun) or mull (“(chiefly Northern England) to grind to powder, crumble, powder, pulverize”, verb) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns) (see etymology 2); or
* from an unattested Anglo-Norman or Middle French noun, from Old French moldre, moudre (“to grind”) (modern French moudre), from Latin molere, the present active infinitive of molō (“to grind, to mill”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”); or
* a variant of mullet (“(obsolete) stone for grinding”) + -er; mullet is derived from French molette (“pestle”).
The verb is derived from the noun.

affix

The muller provides, in addition, a useful means of comparing the important property of the rate of strength development of pigments.

1994, John Wilder Tukey, David R. Brillinger, The collected works of John W. Tukey, →ISBN, page 607:

(chiefly art, pharmacy) A stone with a flat grinding surface, which is held in the hand and rubbed on a slab to grind paint pigments, medicinal powders, etc.


contorno

[…] the parts within the contorno are drawn by the incisions of the graver […]

1798, James Barry, Observations on different works of art in France and Italy:


preraphaelism

(art) The doctrine or practice of a school of modern painters who profess to be followers of the painters before Raphael. Its adherents advocate careful study from nature, delicacy and minuteness of workmanship, and an exalted and delicate conception of the subject.


lowbrow

en-noun

lowbrow (countable and uncountable, plural lowbrows)

lowbrows (plural)
low-brow (alternative)

A bahuvrihi compound of low + brow. An Americanism whose first use appears c. 1902. Refers to the (by that time discredited) pseudoscience of phrenology, which suggested that a person of low intelligence and sophistication would possess a lower brow-line than someone of greater intelligence and sophistication.

(uncountable, art) An underground populist visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles area in the late 1960s, inspired by comics, punk music, graffiti, etc.


fade away

Phillips became known for the "fade away, in which the main figures' clothing is the same color as the background, allowing the elements to partially blend.

2009, Alison A. Nieder, Jim Heimann, 100 Ans de Pubs de Mode, page 1879:

Hirschfeld captured many scenes in line and employed Coles Phillips's "fade away" technique in his painting on the left.

2015, David Leopold, The Hirschfeld Century:

In Phillip's "Fade Away" style, he is literally editing out elements (by making them the same flat color as the background), but those elements are still there.

2019, Coles Phillips, Fadeaway: The Remarkable Imagery of Coles Phillips:

(art) A painting technique in which young women's clothes fade into the background.


pointillism

pointillism (usually uncountable, plural pointillisms)

From French pointillisme, from pointiller (“to dot, to mark with points”), from point (“dot, point”).

(art) The use of many small areas of color to construct an image.


divisionism

divisionism (usually uncountable, plural divisionisms)

(art) The use of small areas of color to construct an image.