Art Terms- L to J J. Pippitt-Page 1
1. Line- is the extension of a dot.
2. Shape- is an area contained within an implied line. Two types of shapes are geometric and amorphic.
3. Color-is made up of light. There are primary colors, secondary colors and intermediate colors. Twelve colors are on the color wheel.
4. Monet- is a French Impressionist artist (1840-1926) known for his paintings of “Water Lilies.”
5. Geometric Simplification-A method of drawing and painting used by Paul Cezanne.
6. Cezanne- A French artist who was known for Cubism, believed that everything in nature can be simplified geometrically. He was called the “Father of Modern Art.”
7. Impressionists- 19th Century French Painters who studied the reflection of light in nature, characterized by short brush strokes and patches of bright color. Named after the painting, “Impression: Sun-rise, ” by Claude Monet.
8. Renoir- A French Impressionist painter who was known for his depiction of the joy of everyday life. “Luncheon of the Boating Party” was a famous painting representing friends.
9. Value- The lightness and darkness of an art work. Use of high-dark, high-lights and mid-tone.
10. Van Gogh-He is known for genre’ art, especially the painting entitled, “The Potato Eaters.” Later he was known for thick, swirling brush strokes as in “Starry Night.” ( born-1853- died-Netherlands 1890-France.)
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11. Oil Paint –Paint that is produced by grinding pigments with oil, well known
for its opaque quality.
12. Pastels-A term used to create art with dry pigments, as a chalky substance.
13. Primary Colors- The “root” of color, from which all other colors are made.
Red, blue and yellow are the primary colors. (3 colors)
14. Secondary Colors- Mixing two primary colors creates a secondary color. They
are green, orange and violet. (3 colors)
15. Intermediate Colors- Use one primary color and one secondary color to create
the intermediate colors. There are six intermediate colors: red-violet,
red-orange, blue- green, blue-violet, yellow-green, and yellow-orange.
16. Plein Air- An expression used to describe the practice of painting in the open,
in order to study and describe effects of light and atmosphere.
17. Klee- He was known as an Abstract-Expresssionist whose paintings used line
and whimsical doodles of birds, animals and people. He was considered both
a German and Swiss painter.
18. Tint- The addition of white to a color, as in pink.
19. Tone-The addition of the complement or black to darken a color.(Centura Red)
20. Complementary Colors- The colors opposite of each other on the color wheel,
known to be harmonious. It is used to create shadows or toned down color.
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21. Watercolors- A paint that is transparent in color using water as the mixing medium.
22. Georgia O’Keefe -is known for her large paintings of flowers and nature.
23. Andrew Wyeth – A watercolorist who painted realistic portraits, landscapes and still life. “Christina’s World” is one of his most famous paintings.
24. Pop Art-Artists who use everyday objects in a realistic, symbolic way. Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol are two artists that worked in this style.
25. Seven Types of Line- Thick Line, Thin Line, Curved Line, Zig-Zag Line, Hatching Line, Cross-Hatching Line, Broken/Dotted Line,
26. Art Mediums- The different materials used to create an art piece such as tempera paint, pastels, pen and ink, etc.
27. Abstract Expressionist-A method of painting where the explosive and emotional nature of the painting is reflected on the surface.
28. Unity- The “Design Principle” that is used to make a cohesive art work, repeating colors, shapes, etc. to blend.
29. Roy Lichtenstein- Known as one of the “Pop Artists” who made cartoon-like portraits.
30. Mary Cassatt- 1844-1926 An American who spent most of her life in France and is grouped with the Impressionists. She was known for her paintings of daily life and mothers and children.
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31. Space- The area around the object, often referred to as negative space.
32. Pointillism- A method of painting where dots of color are placed closely
together when viewed from a distance to create a picture.
33. Stippling- A technique used with tech pen to create value by using dots.
34. Seurat- Paris, France,1859-1891 He was known for using Pointillism. He
systematically applied tiny dots of pure color all over the canvas.
Known for his painting, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.”
35. Grant Wood- An American Painter who used everyday people and objects in a
humorous way. One of his famous paintings is the “American Gothic.”
Kandinsky-A Russian artist who was known for creating purely abstract art
using color and line. (Born-Moscow-1866/Died- France-1944)
37. Manikin- A small jointed figure of the same proportions as the human figure.
38. Arbitrary Color- Artists use color in an unrealistic way.
39. Diego Rivera- A Mexican painter who depicted historic events and people.
40. Rouault- Used impasto, a painting technique known for heavy, thick paint. His
work emphasizes emotion with a quality of strength.
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41. Grandma Moses-Anna Mary Robertson Moses, 1860-1961. She was almost
eighty before she seriously began painting. She was called a primitive painter,
known as a folk-artist.
42. Primitivists- Artists who use simple shapes that are simple and childlike.
43. Gesture Drawing- Used by artists to show action with loosely scribbled lines.
44. Contour Line- Drawing the outside edge of an object or figure.
45. Intrinsic Line- Inside lines of subject being drawn, showing detail.
46. Warm colors- Red, orange, and yellow are warm, similar to nature, like the sun.
47. Cool colors- Blue, Green and violet are cool colors
48. Texture- The qualities of rough and smooth areas shown in the art work.
49. Picasso-1881-1973 -This 20th century artist had a unique style and desire to challenge the way objects were visually represented. He was known for introducing Cubism.
50. Perspective – A method used by artists to give the impression of distance. The
subject diminishes in size the farther away it goes.
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51. View Point- Used to show the perspective from which the object is viewed.
52. Vanishing Point- The place where lines converge when making perspective
drawings.
53. Durer- He was a German painter known for his drawings and prints.
54. Block Prints- A piece of printed material made using a design carved into a
solid block.
55. Complementary Colors- Those colors opposite on the color wheel.
56. Mondrian-(1872-1944) A painter known for the integration of basic form of a
rectangle and the basic colors as in red blue and yellow (primary colors.)
57. Triptych- Three panels of art, usually painted to create a cohesive piece.
58. Gesso- The media used to prime a surface for painting.
59. Impasto- Thick paint on a canvas, often done with a palette knife, showing
brush strokes.
60. Remington- An artist known for his representation of the Calvary, cowboy,
Indians, and the “Wild West. “The Bronco Buster” was a famous bronze
sculpture created in 1909 that was presented to Roosevelt.
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61. Leonardo da Vinci- An artist and inventor who painted “ The Last Supper” and
lived from 1452-1519.
62. Focal Point- where the viewer’s eye goes is called the “center of interest.”
63. Michelangelo- Italian artist that painted a fresco on the Sistine Chapel ceiling,
representing the creation of man. Known for his study of the anatomy the sculpture the “ Pieta,” reflects the lamentation of Christ’s death.
(1475-1564)
64. Creativity- The process of thinking of original ideas and using them when
making art.
65 Stylized – A simplified version drawn from the actual object with thick and
thin lines.
66. Realistic- This is when the object is sketched/painted to look like the actual
subject..
67. Symmetrical Design – is a “mirror –like” image with each side of the
composition thus identical.
68. Feather Sketching- Lightly sketching the object the artist interprets the shape
of an object.
69. Matting- The area around a picture used to enhance the picture, often re-
peating the colors within the painting.
70. Pattern- Look for repeated objects or motifs that create a pattern. Stripes, dots,
geometric shapes, organic forms are possibilities.
71. Law of the Design- is the use of three, five and seven. This may refer to
several elements of a composition. The use of shapes repeated, the colors used
etc. using the “law of design” to create a visual movement throughout the
painting.
72. Amorphic Shapes- Organic shapes similar to a broken egg, mud puddle or
kidney bean.
73. Monochromatic- The use of one color plus its values, with tints and tones.
74. Triadic- Three colors that form a triangle on the color wheel.
Examples: orange, green and violet. red, blue and yellow.
75. Split-complement- The colors on either side of the complement on the color
wheel.
76. Calder- The artist known for art in motion, creating a “mobile” as sculpture.
77. Roudin- A sculptor who worked in marble and stone. He is known for
“The Thinker.”
78. Surrealism – Art that was created to express dreams and fantasies, influenced
by a writer, Andres Breton in 1924. Edvard Munch’s painting, “The Scream”
and Salvador Dali’s, “The Persistence of Memory,” showing draped watches,
are both examples of this art.
79. Rembrandt- A famous Dutch artist, known for his portraits and the use of
chiaroscuro who lived in the Netherlands. 1606-1669.
80. Asymmetrical Design- in design balances with many small shapes on one side
and one large shape on the other.
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81. Modeling- in painting is the use of light and dark areas within the form to give
it more of a three-dimensional quality.
82. Balance- The use of symmetrical or asymmetrical design in art.
83. Hatching Line- The use of parallel line to create value
84. Chiaroscuro- The use of lights and darks
85. Cubism- Where artists explored the nature of shape, by reorganizing
geometric shapes using new combinations of fundament form. In 1908,Braque
had his work described by an art critic as “little cubes.”
86. Geometric Shapes- The use of circles, rectangles and squares to draw. Cezanne
believed everything in art can be simplified geometrically.
87. Calligraphy- Means “beautiful writing” which dates back to the Middle Ages in
the 14th century before the invention of the printing press.
88. Stippling- The use of dots in tech pen to create value.
89. Scumbling- The use of irregular lines scribbled to create value in tech pen or
colored pencil.
90. Cross-hatching- Using lines across the one another to create texture and value.
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91. Analogous colors- those next to each other on the color wheel. Example:Yellow
Yellow-Green, and Yellow-orange.
92. Coil Figure- This method is used when drawing the proportions of a figure,
building up the muscle areas. The average adult figure is 7 ½ heads high.
93. Oval Figure Drawing- These “balloon type” shapes are linked together to form a
human figure.
94. Foreshortening- is the use of perspective in relation to the angle or view of the
subject matter. The recruit poster for WWII, “We want you!” showing Uncle
Sam’s pointing finger is a good example.
95. Composition- in art is the balanced arrangement of form and space.
96. Art Elements- refer to using color, line, texture, form/shape, value and space.
used to create art and to analyze paintings etc.
97. Principles of Design- Rhythm, Emphasis, Movement, Pattern/Proportion,
Variety, Unity and Balance are how the “Art Elements” are used in art. The
“umbrella” over the design.
98. The Golden Mean- is the traditional way of locating the center of interest
or area of emphasis governing the harmony of proportions in art and nature.
(Greeks)
99. Portrait-grid- helps the placement of the eyes, nose and mouth when drawing.
100. ” Right- Brain”- The area of the brain that is more creative and artistic.The left
is more mathematical and structured.
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