CHEAT SHEET 

ART JARGON (alphabetical order) (SOURCES)

 

Abstract: A subject or idea being expressed in a manner that is not obvious or physically there in nature, a piece of art that is meant to have the audience think for themselves about what it is actually representing. 

 

Achromatic: Art that only contains black, white, or shades of grey. 

 

Acrylic: A quick-drying, water-based paint that is most popular because of its easy setup and use,  

and the ability to erase with water whenever a mistake is made. 

 

Arcadian: An ideal living that is simple in nature.

 

Contemporary: This is all the art that is made in the 21st century, specifically art that is supposed to talk about and reflect on issues of modern society. This type of art can come in many different forms, like music, dance, painting, sculpting, etc. This type of art is meant to express an idea or opinion and make the audience think about the piece and what it really means. 

 

Cubism: During the early 20th century, many popular artists such as Pablo Picasso and George Baroque, were the first in the art world to use abstraction to depict human forms and subject matter. Many artists were inspired by this, including Marcel Duchamp (Nude Decending a Staircase) and in order to create a unique abstract look, they used cubic forms and shapes to depict the scenes in their paintings, usually the cubic shapes are broken down to depict more than one subject matter in a singular painting (aka Anylitical Cubism). This new and chaotic style of painting inspired many artists, and Cubism slowly developed into a more simple composition with brighter colors (aka Synthetic Cubism), that you would mostly see in today's Cubist paintings. 

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Expressionism: This movement focuses all on the artist's feelings about the world around them, rather than trying to create a realistic depiction of it. Much like Fauvism, emotion plays a major role in how a painter expresses their subject, mostly through the use of extreme angles and poses, extravagant colors, and wide, dramatic brushstrokes. Artists were worried about the authenticity of the artwork represented and took it into their own hands to create something that is a look into their thoughts and fears. In order to create something new and not only based on inspiration of European art standards, a lot of expressionists took inspiration from many different cultures and styles from across the world, mostly taking ideas from tribal art and their forms.

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Fauvism: Similar to Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, one of the first of the Modern Movements of the 20th century, used color to express emotion. The use of color is one of the main aspects of a Fauvism painting, color is simply meant to exist in a painting, and not to be assigned to a subject within a painting (like the use of green is not used to represent a tree). Although there is still a use of structure by contrasting colors to separate subject matter, most of the color is a representation of the artist's emotion and experience. Fauvism also goes back into the simpler subject matter, such as basic landscapes and portraits, but what makes it unique is the form of expression and color the artist uses within the painting. 

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Figurative: Contrasting with abstract art, figurative art is work that accurately and clearly represents what it is trying to depict, it is obvious for viewers to see and understand. This is used in many different movements and styles throughout the ages, especially in Realism.  

 

High Art: Art that is considered to be more accepted as elite and seen as more worthy. Usually, art that is labeled as "high", are pieces that are considered "fine" art, or in better words more aesthetically pleasing, sculptures, and pretty much everything that is in a museum. 

 

Impressionism - For centuries, painting has been done in a studio, slowly and usually featuring famous icons and stories of mythology. However, in the 19th century, Impressionism was created by many influential painters in Paris and London, who changed the way many people paint the world around them. Impressionism introduced the practice of painting landscapes and people outside directly in front of the subject, rather than being held up in the studio all day. Because an artist can only paint in a certain amount of time, quick brush strokes and the lack of blending created a painting that merely “impersonated” the subject, throwing detail and perfect lines out the door. However, being outside and having their inspiration right in front of them created a better sense of color and light. These paintings feature beautiful combinations of colors, primarily natural colors, and new techniques that are still used today. Impressionism has also been thought the first of the Modern Movement.

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Low Art: Art that is considered low is something with no deeper meaning, meant for decoration, or just craft art. This art is placed lower because of its lack of complexity or something that the general public can enjoy and "understand". 

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Neo-expressionism: During the 1970s-80s, one of the dominant characteristics of art was that artists featured a limited amount of material and focused on simplicity. In order to refute this idea of simple art, many artists took inspiration from previous movements such as Expressionism, Pop art, and the idea of abstractions, and created a new movement that focused on figurative art pieces and dramatic colors and brush strokes. People wanted to bring back the complexity and density art can have, and based their ideas on what older art used to do, such as mythology, national, cultural, and erotic forms of work. Neo-expressionist art was unique at the time and was said to be the link between modernism and post-modernism. 

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Nocturne paintings: Paintings whose subjects and scenes are during the night, specifically material that evokes a strong emotion or nostalgia in a person.

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Oil paint: a medium where pigments are mixed with drying oils. Used to create crisp and smooth color blending in a painting, detailed lines, and objects and received well with this. It is, however, slow drying and difficult to erase when a mistake is made, but it blends beautifully together creating a smooth finish.

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Pop art: One of the most recognizable movements and styles, while also being the turning point of the Modern Movement, artists who created Pop art did so in order to emphasize the media and pop culture, to create subject matter that almost everyone can relate to and recognize. Coming into popularity in the 1960s, and being most influential in Britain, pop artists took simple subject matter  and twisted it into an energetic, bold, colorful form of art in order to invoke a reaction in viewers. Pop art was meant to criticize the ideas of artists of the time, and highlight the use of relatable culture, mixing with the idea to change how art is viewed and what is considered art.

 

Post-impressionism: From 1886 and 1905, prevalent artists around the world got tired of the use of traditional and realistic colors to depict the landscapes they painted. Going against the main idea of Impressionism, Post-impressionism was born through the rebellion of using abstract, bright colors, and simple shapes, creating many unique and compelling paintings of their time. Instead of painting what you see in front of you, post-impressions create a landscape or subject based on the painter's emotions, or the emotions they are trying to depict. This movement featured many influential artists, for example, Vincent Van Gogh (see Modern Movement Exhibit), and Georges Seurat (Sunday Afternoon). With each post-impressionist, there was a sense of uniqueness, where each painter had their own sense of unique style and technique. 

 

Regionalism: During the Great Depression, many regionalist painters decided that it would be good for American society to create art that was based on American life, and to tell stories and feature recognizable traits and places of American living.  The artists that painted in a regionalized style was usually figurative, focusing on people and common knowledge of American society, such as landscapes and folklore. This movement of the style of art is meant to invoke nostalgia and familiarity in an audience, in order to connect to the painting. 

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Realism: A style of art that is meant to represent the real world as much as possible, by using small details, small and blended brush strokes, and scenes and colors that would be seen in the world. 

 

Street art: In relation to graffiti, street artists will take advantage of open spaces or walls, usually out in public on the side of a building, to create amazing art from spray paint and their mind. Street artists don't have a set format or way of painting, they enjoy the freedom of doing whatever their heart desires without the need for public approval or rules. There are even some who are able to do their work in a studio and put their works in exhibits.

 

Surrealism: Surrealism is not really considered a movement, but an umbrella term for being able to express the inner mind, and to be able to recreate it in the real world. The process of doing this is known as Automatism, which is the ability to accurately show what is in your subconscious mind, by expressing it through many mediums of art. This involves drawing what idea or thought pops into your head and recreating the idea to communicate it to the real world. This practice, in turn, creates a range of strange, dreamlike imagery deemed surrealist. Sculpting, paintings, sketching, etching, and many more mediums were used for creating surrealist art, and becuase of the many ways of expressing this practice are the reason it is still active today. 

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