An art glossary that defines meaning to all art styles. This art dictionary covers a diverse range of subjects matters of art vocabulary. For example, a digital artist uses math such as geometry and measurements to create a graphic. Most artists are well aware of the color wheel theory. An architect would use highly developed skills of both drawing and math. Many genre art definitions explained here are a mix of a bit of everything art related in this detailed art lexicon which provide a valuable source of information in an art words list. It is also important to know that much art terminology is comprised of a lesser degree with some basic knowledge of science and mathematical definitions. A general art glossary as well as any type of glossary is educational and perhaps builds a much greater appreciation for the arts.
Abstract
A term generally used to describe art that is not representational or based on external reality or nature.
Aesthetic
Relating to or characterized by a concern with beauty or good taste (adjective); a particular taste or approach to the visual qualities of an object (noun).
Background
The area of an artwork that appears farthest away from the viewer; also, the area against which a figure or scene is placed.
Calligraphy
Decorative handwriting or lettering.
Canvas
Cotton or linen woven cloth used as a surface for painting.
Caricature
A rendering, usually a drawing, of a person or thing with exaggerated or distorted features, meant to satirize the subject.
Cartography
The study and practice of making maps.
Ceramics
Objects, such as pots and vases, made of clay hardened by heat.
Classical
Relating to ancient Greece and Rome, especially in the context of art, architecture, and literature.
Collage
The technique and resulting work of art in which fragments of paper and other materials are arranged and glued to a supporting surface.
Color
The perceived hue of an object, produced by the manner in which it reflects or emits light into the eye. Also, a substance, such as a dye, pigment, or paint, that imparts a hue.
Commission
To request, or the request for, the production of a work of art
Complementary colors
Colors located opposite one another on the color wheel. When mixed together, complementary colors produce a shade of gray or brown. When one stares at a color for a sustained period of time then looks at a white surface, an afterimage of the complementary color will appear.
Composition
The arrangement of the individual elements within a work of art so as to form a unified whole; also used to refer to a work of art, music, or literature, or its structure or organization.
Conceptual
Emphasizing ideas rather than objects.
Contour
The outline of something.
Contrast (photography)
In photography, the range of light to dark areas in the composition. An image with high contrast will have a greater variability in tonality while a photograph with low contrast will have a more similar range of tones.
Cropping
In photography, editing, typically by removing the outer edges of the image. This process may happen in the darkroom or on a computer.
Cubic
Having the shape of a cube.
Curator
A person whose job it is to research and manage a collection and organize exhibitions.
Decorative Arts
A term used to describe the design and aesthetics of functional objects with an emphasis on unique and hand-crafted forms often available in limited quantity.
Designer
A person who conceives and gives form to objects used in everyday life.
Documentary photography
A genre of photography that aims to objectively chronicle a subject or event.
Draftsman
A person who draws plans or designs, often of structures to be built; a person who draws skillfully, especially an artist.
Drawing
A work of art made with a pencil, pen, crayon, charcoal, or other implements, often consisting of lines and marks (noun); the act of producing a picture with pencil, pen, crayon, charcoal, or other implements (verb, gerund).
Elevation
A scale drawing of the side, front, or back of a structure.
Embroidery
The craft of decorating fabric or other materials with thread or yarn using a needle.
Enamel
A type of paint made from very fine pigments and resin that form a glossy surface. Also, the application of this paint to a material in order to create a smooth and glossy surface.
Enlargement
A photographic print that is bigger than the original negative. Because enlargements can be made, cameras can remain small and portable yet photographers can still produce big photographic prints. Before the development of enlargement techniques, the size of a photograph was determined by the size of its negative.
Etching
A type of print made by scratching marks onto the surface of a metal plate (usually copper, zinc, or steel) that has been treated with an acid-resistant waxy ground. When the plate is placed into a vat of acid, the acid bites through the exposed portions of the plate. The plate is inked, and an image is created by running the plate and paper through a printing press.
Exposure
The action of exposing a photographic film to light or other radiation.
Expression
A facial aspect indicating an emotion; also, the means by which an artist communicates ideas and emotions.
Expressionism
An international artistic movement in art, architecture, literature, and performance that flourished between 1905 and 1920, especially in Germany and Austria, that favored the expression of subjective emotions and experience over depictions of objective reality. Conventions of Expressionist style include distortion, exaggeration, fantasy, and vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of color.
Figurative
Representing a form or figure in art that retains clear ties to the real world.
Figure
A representation of a human or animal form in a work of art.
Film still
A photograph taken during the production of a film that shows a particular moment or scene. These photographs are often used as advertisements or posters for the film.
Font
A specific size and style of a typeface design (for example, Arial 12pt bold, or Times New Roman 10pt italics). The term is often confused with typeface, which is a particular design of type.
Foreground
The area of an image—usually a photograph, drawing, or painting—that appears closest to the viewer.
Framing
The method by which information is included or excluded from a photograph. A photographer frames an image when he or she points a camera at a subject.
Frottage
Technique of reproducing a texture or relief design by laying paper over it and rubbing it with some drawing medium, for example pencil or crayon. Max Ernst and other Surrealist artists incorporated such rubbings into their paintings by means of collage.
Genre
A category of artistic practice having a particular form, content, or technique.
Geometric
Resembling or using the simple rectilinear or curvilinear lines used in geometry.
Gesture
A category of artistic practice having a particular form, content, or technique.
Gouache
An opaque watercolor paint; a painting produced with such paint.
Graphic
A visual representation or design on a surface.
Hieroglyphics
A pictographic communication system, closely associated with the ancient Egyptians, in which many of the symbols are stylized, recognizable pictures of the things and ideas represented.
Hue
A particular gradation of color; a shade or tint.
Iconography
Subject matter in visual art, often adhering to particular conventions of artistic representation, and imbued with symbolic meanings.
Image
A representation of a person or thing in a work of art.
Impasto
An Italian word for “paste” or “mixture”, used to describe a painting technique where paint (usually oil) is thickly laid on a surface, so that the texture of brush- or palette-knife strokes are clearly visible
Industrial design
A field of design concerned with the aesthetics, form, functionality, and production of manufactured consumer objects.
Institutional critique
An art term describing the systematic inquiry into the practices and ethos surrounding art institutions such as art academies, galleries, and museums, often challenging assumed and historical norms of artistic theory and practice. It often seeks to make visible the historically and socially constructed boundaries between inside and outside and public and private.
Interaction Design
The practice of designing digital environments, products, systems, and services for human interaction.
Interior Design
A discipline of design that focuses on the functional and aesthetic aspects of indoor spaces.
Irony
An expression or statement in language or imagery that signifies its own opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
Kinetic sculpture
Sculpture that depends on motion.
Landscape
The natural landforms of a region; also, an image that has natural scenery as its primary focus.
Line
A long mark or stroke.
Medium
The materials used to create a work of art, and the categorization of art based on the materials used (for example, painting [or more specifically, watercolor], drawing, sculpture).
Middle ground
The part of the picture that is between the foreground and background.
Monochrome
Having a single color. A work of art rendered in only one color.
Motif
A distinctive and often recurring feature in a composition.
Mural
A large painting applied to a wall or ceiling, especially in a public space.
Narrative
A spoken, written, or visual account of an event or a series of connected events.
Negative (photographic)
A previously exposed and developed photographic film or plate showing an image that, in black-and-white photography, has a reversal of tones (for example, white eyes appear black). In color photography, the image is in complementary colors to the subject (for example, a blue sky appears yellow). The transfer of a negative image to another surface results in a positive image.
Oil Paint
A paint in which pigment is suspended in oil, which dries on exposure to air.
Organic
Having characteristics of a biological entity, or organism, or developing in the manner of a living thing.
Painter
One who applies paint to canvas, wood, paper, or another support to produce a picture.
Painting
A work of art made from paint applied to canvas, wood, paper, or another support (noun).
Palette
1. The range of colors used by an artist in making a work of art; 2. A thin wooden or plastic board on which an artist holds and mixes paint.
Papier-collé
French for “glued paper,” a collage technique using cut-and-pasted papers.
Papier-mâché
French for “chewed-up paper,” a technique for creating three-dimensional objects, such as sculpture, from pulped or pasted paper and binders such as glue or plaster.
Pastel
A soft and delicate shade of a color; a drawing medium of dried paste manufactured in crayon form made of ground pigments and a water-based binder; a picture or sketch drawn with this type of crayon.
Pattern
A series of events, objects, or compositional elements that repeat in a predictable manner.
Perspective
In art, a technique used to depict volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface, as in a painted scene that appears to extend into the distance.
Photocollage (also see Photomontage)
A collage work that includes cut- or torn-and-pasted photographs or photographic reproductions.
Photogram
A photographic print made by placing objects and other elements on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light.
Photograph
An image, especially a positive print, recorded by exposing a photosensitive surface to light, especially in a camera.
Photographer
One who uses a camera or other means to produce photographs.
Photogravure
A printmaking process in which a photographic negative is transferred onto a copper plate.
Photojournalism
A type of journalism that uses photographs to tell a news story.
Pictograph
An image or symbol representing a word or a phrase.
Pigment
A substance, usually finely powdered, that produces the color of any medium. When mixed with oil, water, or another fluid, it becomes paint.
Pointillism
A technique of painting developed by French painters Georges-Pierre Seurat and Paul Signac, in which small, distinct points of unmixed color are applied in patterns to form an image.
Portrait
A representation of a particular individual.
Primary color
One of three base colors (blue, red, or yellow) that can be combined to make a range of colors.
Print
A term describing a wide variety of techniques used to produce multiple copies of an original design. Also, the resulting text or image made by applying inked characters, plates, blocks, or stamps to a support such as paper or fabric.
Replica
A copy or reproduction.
Representation
The visual portrayal of someone or something.
Satire
A genre of visual art that uses humor, irony, ridicule, or caricature to expose or criticize someone or something.
Screenprinting (also Silkscreening)
A printing technique in which areas of a silkscreen, comprised of woven mesh stretched on a frame, are selectively blocked off with a non-permeable material (typically a photo-emulsion, paper, or plastic film) to form a stencil, which is a negative of the image to be printed. Ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface with a squeegee, creating a positive image.
Sculptor
One who produces a three-dimensional work of art using any of a variety of means, including carving wood, chiseling stone, casting or welding metal, molding clay or wax, or assembling materials.
Sculpture
A three-dimensional work of art made by a variety of means, including carving wood, chiseling stone, casting or welding metal, molding clay or wax, or assembling materials.
Secondary color
A color made by mixing at least two primary colors.
Self-portrait
A representation of oneself made by oneself.
Sketch
A rough or unfinished version of any creative work, often made to assist in the completion of a more finished work (noun); to make a rough drawing or painting (verb).
Stencil
An impervious material perforated with letters, shapes, or patterns through which a substance passes through to a surface.
Still life
A representation of inanimate objects, as a painting of a bowl of fruit.
Street photography
A type of photography that captures subjects in candid moments in public places.
Style
A distinctive or characteristic manner of expression.
Subject matter
The visual or narrative focus of a work of art.
Symbol
A form, sign, or emblem that represents something else, often something immaterial, such as an idea or emotion.
Tint
In painting, a color plus white.
Tone
The lightness or darkness of a color. In painting, a color plus gray.
Typeface
A particular design of type. Characters in typefaces include letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and symbols. Some of the most common typefaces include Arial, Times New Roman, and Verdana. The term is often confused with font, which is a specific style and size of a typeface.
Typography
The art and technique of designing and/or arranging type letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, and of printing from them.
Vantage point
A position or place that affords an advantageous perspective; in photography, the position from which a photographer has taken a photograph.
Vernacular photography
Images by amateur photographers of everyday life and subjects, commonly in the form of snapshots. The term is often used to distinguish everyday photography from fine art photography.
Watercolor
A paint composed of pigment mixed into water; a work of art made with this paint.
Woodcut
A term loosely applied to any printmaking technique involving a relief image cut into the surface of a wooden block. The wood is covered with ink and applied to a sheet of paper; only the uncut areas of the block will print, while the cut away areas do not receive ink and appear white on the printed image.
