Contemporary Fine Art Glossary

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GESSO A white ground material for preparing rigid supports for painting. made of a mixture of chalk, white pigment, and glue. Same name applied to acrylic bound chalk and pigment used on flexible supports as well as rigid.

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FORGING Shaping metal with hammers while it is hot; the method for making wrought iron.

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BAUHAUS A design school founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 in Germany. The Bauhaus attempted to achieve reconciliation between the aesthetics of design and the more commercial demands of industrial mass production. Artists include Klee, Kandinsky, and Feininger.

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BAS RELIEF Sculpture in which figures project only slightly from a background, as on a coin. Also known as low relief sculpture.

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AVANT-GARDE A group active in the invention and application of new ideas and techniques in an original or experimental way. A group of practitioners and/or advocates of a new art form may also be called avant-garde. Some avant-garde works are intended to shock those who are accustomed to traditional, established styles.

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ARTIST'S PROOF An Artist's Proof is one outside the regular edition. By custom, the artist retains the A/Ps for his personal use or sale.

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ETCHING The technique of reproducing a design by coating a metal plate with wax and drawing with a sharp instrument called a stylus through the wax down to the metal. The plate is put in an acid bath, which eats away the incised lines; it is then heated to dissolve the wax and finally inked and printed on paper. The resulting print is called the etching.

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ART NOUVEAU An art style of the late 1800's featuring curving, often swirling shapes based on organic forms.

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FIGURE - GROUND In two-dimensional art, the relationship between the principal forms and the background. Figure-ground ambiguity suggests equal importance for the two.

Aquatint

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AQUATINT A print produced by the same technique as an etching, except that the areas between the etched lines are covered with a powdered resin that protects the surface from the biting process of the acid bath. The granular appearance that results in the print aims at approximating the effects and gray tonalities of a watercolor drawing.

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Accession: a process of increasing an art collection by addition; something added to what you already have ("the art collection grew through accession").

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Figure Separate shape(s) distinguishable from a background or ground.

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Accent: to stress, single out as important. As applied to art it is the emphasis given to certain elements in a painting that allows them to attract more attention. Details that define an object or piece of art.

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FIXATIVE A solution, usually of shellac and alcohol, sprayed onto drawings, to prevent their smudging or crumbling off the support.

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FORM 1. The physical appearance of a work of art - its materials, style, and composition. 2. Any identifiable shape or mass, as a “geometric form.”

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GEOMETRIC SHAPES Shapes created by exact mathematical law.

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GOTHIC A style of architecture and art dominant in Europe from the 12th to the 15th century. Gothic architecture features pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and often large areas of stained glass.

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GLAZE A very thin, transparent colored paint applied over a previously painted surface to alter the appearance and color of the surface. In ceramics, washes applied to the clay body which, when fired to temperature, vitrify to form a thin, usually colored, glass layer.

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GENRE Art that depicts the casual moments of everyday life and its surroundings.

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FRESCO A painting technique in which the pigments are dispersed in plain water and applied to a damp plaster wall. The wall becomes the binder, as well as the support.

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FORESHORTENING A method of portraying forms on a two-dimensional surface so that they appear to project or recede from the picture plane.

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FIRING Heating pottery or sculpture in a kiln or open fire to bring the clay to maturity. The temperature needed to mature the clay varies with the type of body used. Also, heating glazed ware to the necessary point to cause the glaze to mature.

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FINE ART An art form created primarily as an aesthetic expression to be enjoyed for its own sake. The viewer must be prepared to search for the intent of the artist as the all-important first step toward communication and active participation.

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GOUACHE Opaque watercolors used for illustrations.

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FOLK ART Primitive art, by an untrained artist who paints in the common tradition of his community and reflects the life style of the people. Also called ‘Outsider art’ & ‘Art brut’.