0.3 — Basic Art Terminology
This chapter introduces the core vocabulary you’ll use throughout art history—terms for materials, techniques, composition, and subject matter. Keep it handy as you move into later chapters.
Materials and Techniques
- Medium: The material of a work (oil on canvas, marble, bronze, fresco, ink on paper).
- Support: What the medium sits on (canvas, panel, wall, vellum).
- Sculpture types: Carving (subtractive), modeling (additive), casting (lost-wax), assemblage.
- Printmaking: Relief (woodcut), intaglio (engraving, etching), planographic (lithography), stencil (screenprint).
Formal Qualities
- Composition: The arrangement of elements within the frame.
- Line and Shape: Contour, gesture, geometric vs. organic forms.
- Color: Hue, saturation, value; palette (limited, complementary, monochrome).
- Space and Depth: Overlap, scale shift, linear perspective, atmospheric perspective.
- Texture: Actual (felt) vs. implied (suggested visually).
- Light: Chiaroscuro (light-dark modeling), tenebrism (dramatic spotlighting).
Definition: Iconography
The study of symbols and subject matter in art—identifying figures, attributes, gestures, and narratives to interpret meaning.
Describing Subject and Style
- Genre: Subject category (portrait, landscape, still life, history painting, devotional image).
- Naturalism vs. Idealization: From lifelike representation to perfected forms.
- Abstraction: Departing from visible reality through simplification or distortion.
- Patronage: Who commissioned or funded the work (church, court, merchant, state).
- Function: Ritual, devotional, commemorative, political, decorative, didactic.
Talking About Architecture
- Plan and Elevation: Footprint vs. vertical face of a building.
- Structure: Post-and-lintel, arch, vault, dome; load-bearing vs. skeletal frames.
- Orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian (classical column styles).
- Facade and Interior: Ornament, rhythm, light, circulation.
Note: Writing About Art
Pair formal terms with evidence: instead of “it feels dramatic,” say “strong chiaroscuro and diagonal composition create a dramatic focus on the central figure.”
Using Terms in Practice
When you encounter a new work, try a 3-step description: (1) identify medium and support, (2) note composition, light, color, and space, (3) link to subject, function, or meaning.
Looking Ahead
Next, Chapter 0.4 reviews the elements and principles of art to strengthen your formal analysis toolkit.