Glossary of Key Terms
Core vocabulary for the chapters so far. Use the quick links at left to jump by letter.
A
- Abstract Expressionism
- Postwar New York movement emphasizing large scale, gesture, and immersive color fields to convey emotion and existential intensity.
- Avant-Garde
- The “advance guard”: artists who challenge established norms and push new directions.
B
- Bauhaus
- German school (1919–1933) uniting art, craft, and industry; foundational to modern design and the International Style.
- Baroque
- 17th-century style marked by drama, movement, and vivid contrasts of light and shadow.
C
- Chiaroscuro
- Modeling form through strong contrasts of light and dark.
- Collage / Papier Collé
- Attaching paper, newsprint, or found material onto a support; central to Synthetic Cubism.
- Cubism
- Early 20th-century movement fracturing form into facets and multiple viewpoints; evolved from Analytic to Synthetic phases.
D
- Dada
- Anti-war, anti-art movement (1916–) using chance, provocation, and readymades.
- Divisionism (Pointillism)
- Applying small dots or strokes of pure color to mix optically in the viewer’s eye.
E
- En Plein Air
- Painting outdoors to capture natural light and atmosphere directly.
- Expressionism
- Using distortion, bold color, and line to project subjective emotion over naturalistic depiction.
F
- Fauvism
- Early 1900s movement prioritizing wild, non-natural color and liberated brushwork.
- Fête Galante
- Rococo genre of elegantly dressed figures in outdoor leisure scenes.
- Factura
- Constructivist emphasis on the material properties and visible making of an artwork.
G
- Gesamtkunstwerk
- “Total work of art”: unified design across architecture, interiors, and objects.
- Genre Painting
- Scenes of everyday life, often with moral subtext (e.g., Dutch Golden Age interiors).
H
- History Painting
- Academic “highest” genre depicting moral or heroic narratives from history, scripture, or myth.
I
- Impressionism
- 19th-century movement capturing fleeting light and modern life with broken color and open brushwork.
- International Style
- Modernist architecture emphasizing volume, regularity, and absence of applied ornament; glass/steel/ concrete palette.
J
- Jugendstil
- German term for Art Nouveau, favoring flowing line and organic motifs.
K
- Kinetic Art
- Art involving real motion—mechanical, motorized, or wind-driven (e.g., Calder mobiles).
L
- Lyrical Abstraction
- Gestural, improvisational painting in postwar Europe (e.g., Mathieu), akin to but distinct from Abstract Expressionism.
M
- Minimalism (preview)
- 1960s movement favoring industrial materials, serial form, and literal space; arises after chapters covered here.
- Mobile
- Suspended kinetic sculpture balanced to move with air currents.
N
- Nabis
- Late-19th-century group exploring decorative color and pattern (Vuillard, Bonnard).
- Nouveau Réalisme
- 1960s French movement using real-world materials and actions (accumulations, compressions, “shooting” paintings).
O
- Orphism
- Color-rich, abstract offshoot of Cubism (Delaunay) focusing on rhythm and simultaneity.
P
- Post-Impressionism
- Diverse responses to Impressionism emphasizing structure, symbolism, and personal vision (Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat).
- Prairie School
- U.S. architectural movement stressing horizontality and landscape integration (Frank Lloyd Wright).
Q
- Quadratura
- Illusionistic ceiling painting extending architecture (Baroque context).
R
- Readymade
- Everyday object designated as art (Duchamp), challenging authorship and craft.
- Rococo
- 18th-century style of pastel palettes, curving ornament, and playful intimacy.
S
- Simultaneity
- Depicting multiple views or moments at once (Cubism).
- Surrealism
- Movement seeking to fuse dream and reality through automatism and uncanny juxtaposition.
- Symbolism
- Late-19th-century tendency toward dreamlike, allegorical imagery and synesthetic color.
T
- Tachisme
- European gestural abstraction using stains, drips, and spontaneous marks (Art Informel).
- Triptych
- Three-panel format, often hinged; traditional in altarpieces, reused in modern contexts.
U
- Ukiyo-e (contextual)
- Japanese woodblock prints influencing Impressionist and Post-Impressionist composition and color.
V
- Vanitas
- Still-life motif reminding of life’s transience (skulls, extinguished candles, timepieces).
- Void (sculptural)
- Intentional hollows or pierced spaces that become active sculptural elements (Hepworth, Moore).
W
- Whiplash Line
- Flowing S-curve typical of Art Nouveau ornament.
X
- Xylography
- Woodblock printing; revived in Expressionist woodcuts.
Y
- Yellow-Red-Blue (Kandinsky reference)
- Example of color-symbolic associations in early abstraction.
Z
- Zip
- Barnett Newman’s term for the vertical band structuring his color fields.
- ZERO Group
- Postwar artists exploring light, monochrome, and serial form as a “zero hour” reset.