Acrylic
A synthetic-base paint. Its working properties are similar to oil paint, although acrylic dries more quickly and forms a somewhat glossier surface. Acrylic emsion- A water dispersion of polymers or co-polymers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, or acrylonitrile. Acrylic emsions dry by evaporation of water and film coalescence.

Acrylic solution color
That rests from the mixture of two or more colored lights, the visual blending of separate spots of transmitted colored light.

Acrylite FF
(clear) sheet is a continuously manufactured crystal clear acrylic sheet, produced by CYRO's proprietary technology. ACRYLITE FF sheet is a rigid, impact-resistant, weatherable, light weight thermoplastic offering excellent optical quality. Half the weight of glass with many times the impact resistance, ACRYLITE FF sheet offers the easy handling and processing of extruded sheet, along with the high optical characteristics and low stress levels expected of cast sheet products. ACRYLITE sheet products can be easily cut, routed, drilled, and cemented. This product has a significantly higher cost than glass but it makes the trouble free shipping of framed art possible.

Acrylite P-99
(non-glare) matte finish acrylic sheet, minimizes reflection for glare-free viewing. produced by CYRO's proprietary technology. ACRYLITE P-99 sheet is a rigid, impact-resistant, weatherable, light weight thermoplastic offering excellent optical quality. Half the weight of glass with many times the impact resistance, ACRYLITE P-99 sheet offers the easy handling and processing of extruded sheet, along with the high optical characteristics and low stress levels expected of cast sheet products. ACRYLITE sheet products can be easily cut, routed, drilled, and cemented. This product has a significantly higher cost than regar non-glare glass but it makes the trouble free shipping of framed art possible.

Artist Enhanced
A term used to describe prints to which an artist has added color or washes after the piece has been printed. (See Hand-embellished)

Artist-Signed Stamp
A stamp signed by the artist and framed in combination with a stamp print.

Artist Proof (AP)
Often numbered, these copies of a limited edition print are signed and typically titled 'Artist Proof' Artist proofs originally were the first copies printed and were used to indicate the artists approval of color reproduction and other mechanical aspects of the printing process. Once prized as best quality copies (see Lithography). Artist proofs now exist solely as part of the printmaking tradition and are of a quality similar to the standard edition print. Artist's proofs are distinguished by the abbreviation AP and are numbered separately; they often represent 10 percent of an edition and are slightly more expensive than prints in the regar edition.

Absorbent Ground
A chalk ground which absorbs oil and is used in oil painting to achieve a matt effect and to speed up drying.

Alla prima Technique
in which the final surface of painting is completed in one sitting, without under painting.

Abstract not realistic
though the intention is often based on an actual subject, place, or feeling. Pure abstraction can be interpreted as any art in which the description of real objects has been entirely discarded and whose aesthetic content is expressed in a formal pattern.

Accent emphasis
given to certain elements in a painting which makes them attract more attention.

Action painting
any painting style calling for vigorous physical activity.

Analogous colors
colors that are closely related, or near each other on the color spectrum.

Art deco
an art style of the 1920's and 30's based on modern materials like steel, chrome, glass

Assemblage
the technique of creating a scpture by joining together individual pieces or segments, academic art art governed by res , especially art sanctioned by an official institution, academy, or school. Originally applied to art that conformed to standards established by the French Academy regarding composition, drawing, and color usage. The term has come to mean conservative and lacking in originality.

Academy
An institution of artists and scholars, originally formed during the Renaissance to free artists from control by guilds and to elevate them from artisan to professional status. In an academy, art is taught as a humanist discipline along with other disciplines of the liberal arts.

Achromatic
Having no color or hue; without identifiable hue. Most blacks, whites, grays, and browns are achromatic.

Acrylic
(acrylic resin) A clear plastic used as a binder in paint and as a casting material in scpture.

Action painting
A style of nonrepresentational painting that relies on the physical movement of the artist in using such gestural techniques as vigorous brushwork, dripping, and pouring. Dynamism is often created through the interlaced directions of the paint. A subcategory of Abstract Expressionism.

Additive color
mixture When light colors are combined (as with overlapping spotlights), the rest becomes successively lighter. Light primaries, when combined, create white light. See also subtractive color mixture.

Additive scpture
Scptural form produced by combining or building up material from a core or armature. Modeling in clay and welding steel are additive processes.

Aesthetics
The study and philosophy of the quality and nature of sensory responses related to, but not limited by, the concept of beauty.

Afterimage
The visual impression that remains after the initial stimus is removed. Staring at a single intense hue may cause the cones, or color receptors, of the eye to become so fatigued that they perceive only the complement of the original hue when it has been removed.

Airbrush
A small-scale paint sprayer that allows the artist to control a fine mist of paint.

Analogous
colors or analogous hues Closely related hues, especially those in which we can see a common hue; hues that are neighbors on the color wheel, such as blue, blue-green, and green.

Aperture
In photography the camera lens opening and its relative diameter. Measured in f-stops, such as f/8, f/ I 1, etc. As the number increases, the size of the aperture decreases, thereby reducing the amount of light passing through the lens and striking the film.

Applied art
Art in which aesthetic values are used in the design or decoration of utilitarian objects.

Aquatint
An intaglio printmaking process in which value areas rather than lines are etched on the printing plate. Powdered resin is sprinkled on the plate and heated until it adheres. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath. The acid bites around the resin particles, creating a rough surface that holds ink. Also, a print made using this process.

Arabesque
Ornament or surface decoration with intricate curves and flowing lines based on plant forms.

Arcade
A series of arches supported by columns or piers. Also, a covered passageway between two series of arches or between a series of arches and a wall.

Arch
A curved structure designed to span an opening, usually made of stone or other masonry. Roman arches are semicircar; Islamic and Gothic arches come to a point at the top.

Armature
A rigid framework serving as a supporting inner core for clay or other soft scpting material.

Art Nouveau
A style that originated in the late 1880s, based on the sinuous curves of plant forms, used primarily in architectural detailing and the applied arts.

Assemblage
Scpture using preexisting, sometimes "found" objects that may or may not contribute their original identities to the total content of the work.

Asymmetrical
Without symmetry.

Atmospheric perspective
See Perspective

Automatism Automatic or unconscious action
Employed by Surrealist writers and artists to allow unconscious ideas and feelings to be expressed.

Avant
garde French for advance guard" or "vanguard." Those considered the leaders (and often regarded as radicals) in the invention and application of new concepts in a given field.

Axis
An implied straight line in the center of a form along its dominant direction.

Abstract
Not realistic, though the intention is often based on an actual subject, place, or feeling. Pure abstraction can be interpreted as any art in which the depiction of real objects has been entirely discarded and whose aesthetic content is expressed in a formal pattern or structure of shapes, lines and colors. When the representation of real objects is completely absent, such art may be called non-objective.

Abstract Expressionism
1940's New York painting movement based on Abstract Art. This type of painting is often referred to as action painting.

Accent
Emphasis given to certain elements in a painting which makes them attract more attention. Details that define an object or piece of art.

Acrylic
A rapid drying paint which is easy to remove with mineral spirits; a plastic substance commonly used as a binder for paints.

Action Painting
Any painting style calling for vigorous physical activity; specifically, Abstract Expressionism. Examples include the New York School art movement and the work of Jackson Pollock.

Aerial Perspective
Capturing the earths atmosphere by using painting techniques that make distant objects appear to have less color, texture, and distinction.

Aesthetic Pertaining
to the beautif, as opposed to the usef, scientific, or emotional. An aesthetic response is an appreciation of such beauty.

Alkyd
Synthetic resin used in paints and mediums. As a medium works as a binder that encapsates the pigment and speeds the drying time.

Alla Prima Technique
in which the final surface of a painting is completed in one sitting, without under painting. Italian for "at the first".

Analogous Colors
Colors that are closely related, or near each other on the color spectrum. Especially those in which we can see common hues.

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 granar appearance that rests in the print aims at approximating the effects and gray tonalities of a watercolor drawing.

Archival
Refers to materials that meet certain criteria for permanence such as lignin-free, pH neutral, alkaline-buffered, stable in light, etc.

Armature
A rigid framework, often wood or steel, used to support a scpture or other large work while it is being made.

Aerial Perspective
Capturing the earths atmosphere by using painting techniques that make distant objects appear to have less color, texture, and distinction.

Archival
Refers to materials that meet certain criteria for permanence such as lignin-free, pH neutral, alkaline-buffered, stable in light, etc.

B aroque
A theatrical style usually associated with European art and architecture ca. 1550-1750, characterized by much ornamentation and curved rather than straight lines; gaudily ornate.

Bas Relief
Scpture in which figures project only slightly from a background, as on a coin. Also known as low relief scpture.

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.

Beaux-arts
A school of fine arts located in Paris, which stressed the necessity of academic painting.

Binder
A substance in paints that causes particles of pigment to adhere to one another and to a support such as oil or acrylic.

Bronze
An alloy of copper and tin, sometimes containing small proportions of other elements such as zinc or phosphorus. It is stronger, harder, and more durable than brass, and has been used most extensively since antiquity for cast scpture. Bronze alloys vary in color from a silvery hue to a rich, coppery red. U.S. standard

Beam
The horizontal stone or timber placed across an architectural space to take the weight of the roof or wall above; also called a lintel.

Buttress
A support, usually exterior, for a wall, arch, or vat, that opposes the lateral forces of these structures. A flying buttress consists of a strut or segment of an arch carrying the thrust of a vat to a vertical pier positioned away from the main portion of the building. An important element in Gothic cathedrals.

Byzantine art
Styles of painting, design, and architecture developed from the fifth century A.D. in the Byzantine Empire of eastern Europe. Characterized in architecture by round arches, large domes, and extensive use of mosaic; characterized in painting by formal design, frontal and stylized figures, and a rich use of color, especially gold, in generally religious subject matter.

Brushwork
The characteristic way each artist brushes paint onto a support.

Burnishing
The act of rubbing greenware (clay) with any smooth tool to polish it, and tighten the surface.

Balance
An arrangement of parts achieving a state of equilibrium between opposing forces or influences. Major types are symmetrical and asymmetrical. See Symmetry

Barrel vat
See Vat

C alligraphy
In printing and drawing a free and rhythmic use of line to accentuate design. It is seen at its best in Japanese wood-block prints and Chinese scrolls. Also, fine, stylized handwriting using quills, brushes or pens with ink.

Canvas
Closely woven cloth used as a support for paintings.

Cartoon
A simple drawing with humorous or satirical content.

Casting
The process of making a scpture or other object by pouring liquid material such as clay, metal or plastic into a mold and allowing it to harden, thereby taking on the shape of the confining mold.

Ceramics
The art of making objects of clay and firing them in a kiln. Wares of earthenware and porcelain, as well as scpture are made by ceramists. Enamel is also a ceramic technique. Ceramic materials may be decorated with slip, engobe, or glaze, applied by any number of techniques. Scpture usually made by coil, slab, or other manual technique.

Chiaroscuro
In drawing, painting, and the graphic arts, chiaroscuro (ke-ra-skooro) refers to the rendering of forms through a balanced contrast between light and dark areas. The technique that was introduced during the Renaissance, is effective in creating an illusion of depth and space around the principal figures in a composition. Leonardo Da Vinci and Rembrandt were painters who excelled in the use of this technique.

Classical Style
In Greek art, the style of the 5th century B.C. Loosely, the term classical is often applied to all the art of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as to any art based on logical, rational principles and deliberate composition.

Coiling
A method of forming pottery or scpture from rolls of clay that are smoothed together to form the sides of a jar or pot.

Commission
To order an original work from an artist.

Commission Print
Also called 'time-limited edition' print. The number of orders received as of an established deadline date determines the edition size of this print.

Condition
A prints physical condition influences its market value. Condition typically is described as ranging from mint - completely undamaged and original - to "poor." A poor-condition print may be creased, torn, water or tape-blemished, trimmed smaller than its original size or otherwise damaged.

Conservation Framing
Methods of mounting and framing that preserve a print in original mint condition. One important aspect of conservation framing is that all material in actual contact with the print contains no chemicals that might eventually damage the paper or the inked image: these materials are usually described as "acid-free". UV protection is also considered in conservation framing.

Conservation Stamp Prints
Prints that have been reproduced for sale with conservation stamps. Sales of these stamps and prints often benefit conservation programs.

Countersignature
Signature of someone other than the artist that adds either additional authenticity or historical value to a limited-edition print.

Canvas Print
A reproduction in which an image is printed directly onto canvas. These prints can be produced using offset lithography, digital printing or other methods. Sometimes artists will add brush strokes directly onto the canvas after the piece has been printed.

Canvas Transfer
A reproduction in which inks are chemically lifted off a piece of paper and applied to a piece of canvas. Some processes can replicate the texture and appearance of an original painting.

Certificate of Authenticity
A warranty card or statement of authenticity of a limited edition print that records the title of the work, the artists name, the edition size and the prints number within the edition, the number of artists proofs and the release date. It is a guarantee that the edition is limited and that the image will not be published again in the same form.

Chromolithography
A color-printing process in which separate printing plates are used to apply each component color. Often called "four-color printing because the fl range of color tones are achieved with only four plates - red, blue, yellow and black.

Coated Paper
Paper manufactured with a thin surface coating of clay. This coating produces an extremely sharp, finely detailed image because it prevents ink from penetrating the paper fibers.

Collagraph Printmaking Technique
The Collagraph print is best described as a collage printmaking technique, where the image is composed from a variety of textured materials glued to a substrate and printed either in an intaglio or relief fashion.

Collage
A work of art made by pasting various materials such as bits of paper, cloth, etc. onto a piece of paper, board or canvas.

Color Field Painting
A style of painting prominent from the 1950s through the 1970s, featuring large fields or areas of color, meant to evoke an aesthetic or emotional response through the color alone.

Color Wheel
A circar grid that represents the colors based on color theory. This grid clearly shows the relationships colors have with each other (complimentary, opposite, etc.).

Complimentary Colors
Hues directly opposite one another on the color wheel and therefore assumed to be as different from one another as possible. When placed side by side, complementary colors are intensified; when mixed together, they produce a neutral (or gray) color.

Composition
The organization, design or placement of the individual elements in a work of art. The aim is to achieve balance and proportionality. Usually applied to two-dimensional art.

Conceptual Art
An art form in which the underlying idea or concept and the process by which it is achieved are more important than any tangible product.

Construction
An art work that is actually assembled or built on the premises where it is to be shown. Many constructions are meant to be temporary and are disassembled after the exhibition is over.

Conte
Initially it was a trade name for a brand of French crayons made from a unique compound of pigments with a chalk binder. Conte crayons are free from grease, making them acceptable for lithographic drawing.

Contemporary Art
Generally defined as art that has been produced since the second half of the twentieth century.

Content
The message conveyed by a work of art - its subject matter and whatever the artist hopes to convey by that subject matter.

Contour
A line that creates a boundary separating an area of space or object from the space around it.

Contrapposto
Literally, counterpoise. A method of portraying the human figure, especially in scpture, often achieved by placing the weight on one foot and turning the shoder so the figure appears relaxed and mobile. The rest is often a gracef S-curve.

Converging
Lines that go towards the same point.

Cool Colors
Those that suggest a sense of coolness. Blue , Green , Violet

Craftsmanship
Aptitude, skill, and manual dexterity in the use of tools and materials.

Cross-Hatching
An area of closely spaced lines intersecting one another, used to create a sense of three-dimensionality on a flat surface, especially in drawing and printmaking. See also hatching, stippling.

Cubism
A style of art pioneered in the early 20th century by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. In the most developed form of Cubism, forms are fragmented into planes or geometric facets, like the facets in a diamond; these planes are rearranged to foster a pictorial, but not naturalistic, reality; forms may be viewed simtaneously from several vantage points; figure and background have equal importance; and the colors are deliberately restricted to a range of neutrals.

Curvilinear
Stressing the use of curved lines as opposed to rectilinear which stresses straight lines.

Camera obscura
A dark room (or box) with a small hole in one side, through which an inverted image of the view outside is projected onto the opposite wall, screen, or mirror. The image is then traced. This forerunner of the modern camera was a tool for recording an optically accurate image.

Cantilever
A beam or slab projecting a substantial distance beyond its supporting post or wall; a projection supported at only one end.

Capital
In architecture, the top part, capstone, or head of a column or pillar.

Caricature
A representation in which the subject's distinctive features are exaggerated.

Casting
A process that involves pouring liquid material such as molten metal, clay, wax, or plaster into a mold. When the liquid hardens, the mold is removed, leaving a form in the shape of the mold.

Ceramic
Objects made of clay hardened into a relatively permanent material by firing. Also, the process of making such objects.

Chiaroscuro
Italian for light-dark. The gradations of light and dark values in two-dimensional imagery; especially the illusion of rounded, three-dimensional form created through gradations of light and shade rather than line. Highly developed by Renaissance painters.

Chroma
See intensity.cinematography The art and technique of making motion pictures, especially the work done by motion picture camera operators.

Classical
The art of ancient Greece and Rome. More specifically, Classical refers to the style of Greek art that flourished during the fifth century B.C. Any art based on a clear, rational, and regar structure, emphasizing horizontal and vertical directions, and organizing its parts with special emphasis on balance and proportion. The term classic is also used to indicate recognized excellence.

Closed form
A self-contained or explicitly limited form; having a resolved balance of tensions, a sense of calm completeness implying a totality within itself.

Cluster houses
Residential units laced close together in order to maximize the usable exterior space of the surrounding area, within the concept of single-family dwellings.

Coffer
In architecture, a decorative sunken panel on the underside of a ceiling.

Colonnade
A row of columns usually spanned or connected by beams (lintels).

Color field painting
A movement that grew out of Abstract Expressionism, in which large stained or painted areas or "fields of color evoke aesthetic and emotional responses.

Color wheel
A circar arrangement of contiguous spectral hues used in some color systems. Also called a color circle.

Complementary colors
Two hues directly opposite one another on a color wheel which, when mixed together in proper proportions, produce a neutral gray. The true complement of a color can be seen in its afterimage.

Composition
The bringing together of parts or elements to form a whole; the structure, organization, or total form of a work of art. See also design.

Conceptual art
An art form in which the originating idea and the process by which it is presented take precedence over a tangible product. Conceptual works are sometimes produced in visible form, but they often exist only as descriptions of mental concepts or ideas. This trend developed in the late 1960s, in part as a way to avoid the commercialization of art.

Content
Meaning or message contained and communicated by a work of art, including its emotional, intellectual, symbolic, thematic, and narrative connotations.

Curtain wall

cartoon
1. A humorous or satirical drawing. 2. A drawing completed as a fl-scale working drawing, usually for a fresco painting, mural, or tapestry.

Carving
A subtractive process in which a scpture is formed by removing material from a block or mass of wood, stone, or other material, using sharpened tools.

Casein
A white, tasteless, odorless milk protein used in making paint as well as plastics, adhesives, and foods.

Casting
A process that involves pouring liquid material such as molten metal, clay, wax, or plaster into a mold. When the liquid hardens, the mold is removed, leaving a form in the shape of the mold.

Ceramic
Objects made of clay hardened into a relatively permanent material by firing. Also, the process of making such objects.

Chiaroscuro
Italian for "light-dark." The gradations of light and dark values in two-dimensional imagery; especially the illusion of rounded, three-dimensional form created through gradations of light and shade rather than line. Highly developed by Renaissance painters.

Chroma
See Intensity .cinematography The art and technique of making motion pictures, especially the work done by motion picture camera operators.

Classical
The art of ancient Greece and Rome. More specifically, Classical refers to the style of Greek art that flourished during the fifth century B.C. Any art based on a clear, rational, and regar structure, emphasizing horizontal and vertical directions, and organizing its parts with special emphasis on balance and proportion. The term classic is also used to indicate recognized excellence.

Closed form
A self-contained or explicitly limited form; having a resolved balance of tensions, a sense of calm completeness implying a totality within itself.

Cluster houses
Residential units laced close together in order to maximize the usable exterior space of the surrounding area, within the concept of single-family dwellings.

Coffer
In architecture, a decorative sunken panel on the underside of a ceiling.

Colonnade
A row of columns usually spanned or connected by beams (lintels).

Color field painting
A movement that grew out of Abstract Expressionism, in which large stained or painted areas or "fields of color evoke aesthetic and emotional responses.

Color wheel
A circar arrangement of contiguous spectral hues used in some color systems. Also called a color circle.

Complementary colors
Two hues directly opposite one another on a color wheel which, when mixed together in proper proportions, produce a neutral gray. The true complement of a color can be seen in its afterimage.

Composition
The bringing together of parts or elements to form a whole; the structure, organization, or total form of a work of art. See also design.

Conceptual art
An art form in which the originating idea and the process by which it is presented take precedence over a tangible product. Conceptual works are sometimes produced in visible form, but they often exist only as descriptions of mental concepts or ideas. This trend developed in the late 1960s, in part as a way to avoid the commercialization of art.

Content
Meaning or message contained and communicated by a work of art, including its emotional, intellectual, symbolic, thematic, and narrative connotations.

Curtain wall
A non-load-bearing wall.

D ealers
Galleries, collectible shops or individuals who carry and sell artwork. Authorized dealers are those who, by signed agreement, carry and sell the artwork represented by certain print publishers.

Diptych (dip'tik)
A painting done in two separate panels. Each part is a complete work in itself, but when presented together they form a larger fly integrated work.

Digital Print
A reproduction in which a digital file of an original painting is printed by a special inkjet printer that sprays ink directly onto the surface of a substrate. These digital prints, sometimes called gicles or iris prints, can match the colors of the original with millions of possible hues. (See Gicle)

Distributor
A person or company responsible for marketing and selling prints and supplying prints to galleries. Sometimes the publisher and distributor are the same entity.

Dry Mount
Framing method in which a print is fastened to a stiff backing with non-liquid adhesive. Dry mounting is not recommended for prints of any value.

Dry Point
A free-hand drawing scratched or engraved on a metal plate with a sharp tool. The plate is inked and then wiped to remove all ink except what remains within the cut grooves. Paper is laid over the plate and the ink transferred to it using rollers under high pressure. Dry points are often incorrectly called "Etchings".

Dada
A movement in art and literature, founded in Switzerland in the early twentieth century, which ridiced contemporary cture and conventional art. The Dadaists shared an antimilitaristic and antiaesthetic attitude, generated in part by the horrors of World War I and in part by a rejection of accepted canons of morality and taste. The anarchic spirit of Dada can be seen in the works of Duchamp, Man Ray, Hoch, Miro, and Picasso. Many Dadaists later explored Surrealism.

Design
Both the process and the rest of structuring the elements of visual form; composition.

De Stijl Dutch for "the style,"
a purist art movement begun in the Netherlands during World War I by Mondrian and others. It involved painters, scptors, designers, and architects whose works and ideas were expressed in De Stijl magazine. De Stijl was aimed at creating a universal language of form that wod be independent of individual emotion. Visual form was pared down to primary colors, plus black and white, and rectangar shapes. The movement was influential primarily in architecture.

Divisionism
See Pointillism

Dome
A generally hemispherical roof or vat. Theoretically, an arch rotated 360 degrees on its vertical axis.

Drypoint
An intaglio printmaking process in which lines are scratched directly into a metal plate with a steel needle. Also, the resting print.

E arth art
earthworks Scptural forms of earth, rocks, or sometimes plants, often on a vast scale and in remote locations. Some are deliberately impermanent.

Eclecticism
The practice of selecting or borrowing from earlier styles and combining the borrowed elements.

Edition
In printmaking, the total number of prints made and approved by an artist, usually numbered consecutively. Also, a limited number of mtiple originals of a single design in any medium.

Elevation
In architecture, a scale drawing of any vertical side of a given structure.

Encaustic
A painting medium in which pigment is suspended in a binder of hot wax.

Engraving
An intaglio printmaking process in which grooves are cut into a metal or wood surface with a sharp cutting tool called a burin or graver. Also, the resting print.

Entasis
In classical architecture, the slight swelling or bge in the center of a column, which corrects the illusion of concave tapering produced by parallel straight lines.

Etching
An intaglio printmaking process in which a metal plate is first coated with acid-resistant wax, then scratched to expose the metal to the bite of nitric acid where lines are desired. Also, the resting print.

Expressionism
The broad term that describes emotional art, most often boldly executed and making free use of distortion and symbolic or invented color. More specifically, Expressionism refers to individual and group styles originating in Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. See also Abstract Expressionism. eye level The height of the viewer's eyes above the ground plane.

Editiond
The number of printed copies made of an original work. The standard phrase edition size therefore refers to the number of copies, not a prints physical dimensions. Edition size generally does not include artist proofs or any special edition copies that might be made, these special editions such as printers proofs, conservation editions, etc., are all numbered separately.

Etching
The process of rendering an image upon a metal plate by using nitric or other acid to dissolve portions of the metal surface. The image is transferred to paper in much the same manner as a dry point. Properly called a print or proof the resting copy is more commonly called an etching

F acade
In architecture, a term used to refer to the front exterior of a building. Also, other exterior sides when they are emphasized.

Fauvism
A style of painting introduced in Paris in the early twentieth century, characterized by areas of bright, contrasting color and simplified shapes. The name les fauves is French for "the wild beasts."

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

Fine art
Art created for purely aesthetic expression, communication, or contemplation. Painting and scpture are the best known of the fine arts.

Flamboyant
Any design dominated by flamelike, curvilinear rhythms. In architecture, having complex, flamelike forms characteristic of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Gothic style.

Flying buttress
See Buttress

Folk art
Art of people who have had no formal, academic training, but whose works are part of an established tradition of style and craftsmanship.

Foreshortening
The representation of forms on a two-dimensional surface by presenting the length in such a way that the long axis appears to project toward or recede away from the viewer.

Form
In the broadest sense, the total physical characteristics of an object, event, or situation.

Formalist
Having an emphasis on highly structured visual relationships rather than on subject matter or nonvisual content.

Format
The shape or proportions of a picture plane.

Fresco
A painting technique in which pigments suspended in water are applied to a damp lime-plaster surface. The pigments dry to become part of the plaster wall or surface.

Frontal
An adjective describing an object that faces the viewer directly, rather than being set at an angle or foreshortened.

Futurism
A group movement that originated in Italy in 1909. One of several movements to grow out of Cubism. Futurists added implied motion to the shifting planes and mtiple observation points of the Cubists; they celebrated natural as well as mechanical motion and speed. Their glorification of danger, war, and the machine age was in keeping with the martial spirit developing in Italy at the time.

Gesso
A mixture of glue and either chalk or plaster of Paris applied as a ground or coating to surfaces in order to give them the correct properties to receive paint. Gesso can also be built up or molded into relief designs, or carved.

Glaze
In ceramics, a vitreous or glassy coating applied to seal and decorate surfaces. Glaze may be colored, transparent, or opaque. In oil painting, a thin transparent or translucent layer brushed over another layer of paint, allowing the first layer to show through but altering its color slightly.

Gothic
Primarily an architectural style that prevailed in western Europe from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries, characterized by pointed arches, ribbed vats, and flying buttresses, that made it possible to create stone buildings that reached great heights.

Gouache
An opaque, water-soluble paint. Watercolor to which opaque white has been added.

Green belt
A strip of planned or protected open space, consisting of recreational parks, farm land, or unctivated land, often used to define and limit the boundaries of a community and prevent urban sprawl.

Ground
The background in two-dimensional works-the area around and between figures. Also, the surface onto which paint is applied.

Gicle
A term often used to describe prints or prints on canvas made using digital files and inkjet printers. (See Digital Print)

Glazing
Glass or acrylic set or made to be set in a frame that protects the artwork from light, dust and other environmental hazards. There are different levels of glazing, from lightweight acrylic and regar glass to more expensive specialty products like anti-glare and anti-reflective glazing.

Gouache (gwash)
A medium in which opaque pigments are mixed with water and a preparation of gum. Gouache is also used to describe a painting made with such pigments.

Ground
The surface upon which a painting is done - canvas, Masonite, and so on.

H and-embellished
A term used to describe prints to which an artist has added color or washes after the piece has been printed. (See Artist Enhanced)

Happening
An event conceived by artists and performed by artists and others, usually unrehearsed and without a specific script or stage.

Hard-edge
A term first used in the 1950s to distinguish styles of painting in which shapes are precisely defined by sharp edges, in contrast to the usually blurred or soft edges in Abstract Expressionist paintings.

Hatching
A technique used in drawing and linear forms of printmaking, in which lines are placed in parallel series to darken the value of an area. Cross-hatching is drawing one set of hatchings over another in a different direction so that the lines cross.

Hellenistic
Style of the last of three phases of ancient Greek art (300-100 B.C.), characterized by emotion, drama, and the interaction of scptural forms with the surrounding space.

Hierarchic proportion
Use of unnatural proportion to show the relative importance of figures.

High key
Exclusive use of pale or light values within a given area or surface.

Horizon line
In linear perspective, the implied or actual line or edge placed on a two- dimensional surface to represent the place in nature where the sky meets the horizontal land or water plane. The horizon line matches the eye level on a two-dimensional surface. Lines or edges parallel to the ground plane and moving away from the viewer appear to converge at vanishing points on the horizon line.

Hue
That property of a color identifying a specific, named wavelength of light such as green, red, violet, and so on.

Humanism
A ctural and intellectual movement during the Renaissance, following the rediscovery of the art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. A philosophy or attitude concerned with the interests, achievements, and capabilities of human beings rather than with the abstract concepts and problems of theology or science

I con
An image or symbolic representation often with sacred significance.

Iconography
The symbolic meanings of subjects and signs used to convey ideas important to particar ctures or religions, and the conventions governing the use of such forms.

Impasto
In painting, thick paint applied to a surface in a heavy manner, having the appearance and consistency of buttery paste.

Impressionism
A style of painting that originated in France about 1870. Paintings of casual subjects, executed outdoors, using divided brush strokes to capture the mood of a particar moment as defined by the transitory effects of light and color. The first Impressionist exhibit was held in 1874.

Intaglio
Any printmaking technique in which lines and areas to be inked and transferred to paper are recessed below the surface of the printing plate. Etching, engraving, drypoint, and aquatint are all intaglio processes. See also print.

Intensity
The relative purity or saturation of a hue (color), on a scale from bright (pure) to dl (mixed with another hue or a neutral. Also called chroma.

Intermediate color
A hue between a primary and a secondary on the color wheel, such as yellow-green, a mixture of yellow and green.

International Style
An architectural style that emerged in several European countries between 1910 and 1920. Related to purism and De Stijl in painting, it joined structure and exterior design into a noneclectic form based on rectangar geometry and growing out of the basic function and structure of the building.

Image Size
Actual dimensions of a printed image. This refers only to the image itself and not to the size of the paper it is printed on.

International Editions
A series of prints/canvas that are distributed outside the country where the artist resides.

Issue Price
The original price of a limited edition print when first offered for retail sale.

K iln
An oven in which pottery or ceramic ware is fired.

Kinetic art
Art that incorporates actual movement as part of the design.

Kore Greek for "maiden."
An Archaic Greek statue of a standing clothed young woman.

Kouros Greek for "youth."
An Archaic Greek statue of a standing nude young male.

L ens
The part of a camera that concentrates light and focuses the image.

Linear perspective
See Perspective

Lintel
See Beam

Lithography
A planographic printmaking technique based on the antipathy of oil and Water. The image is drawn with a grease crayon or painted with tusche on a stone or grained aluminum plate. The surface is then chemically treated and dampened so that it will accept ink only where the crayon or tusche has been used.

Local color
The actual color as distinguished from the apparent color of objects and surfaces; true color, without shadows or reflections.

Logo Short for "logotype."
Sign, name, or trademark of an institution, firm, or publication, consisting of letter forms borne on one printing plate or piece of type.

Loom
A device for producing cloth by interweaving fibers at right angles.

Low key
Consistent use of dark values within a given area or surface lumina The use of actual light as an art medium.

Linocut
An image cut into the surface of linoleum, usually, mounted on a block of wood. The surface is then inked, wiped, and the image transferred to paper by pressure.

M argin
The white unprinted area surrounding a printed image.

Matting
Decorative board used in framing that provides contrast between the image and the moding. Most matting is acid-free and is an important part of the conservation framing technique.

Medallion
Cast-metal medallions sometimes are issued in conjunction with the publication of prints, especially stamp prints. Design of the medallion artwork usually duplicates some portion of the print. Such medallions can be gold-plated, silver, bronze or even pewter.

Medium
(plural: media) The material or technique used in creating a work of art. Oil paint, acrylic paint, watercolor, bronze, wood, and stone are all examples of artistic media.

Mint Stamp
An unsigned stamp framed with a copy of the print from which the stamp was made. (See Artist Signed Stamp)

Mixed Media
An artwork combing two or more artistic media - for example, scratchboard and paint, pencil and watercolor - bronze and wood.

Moding
A piece of wood, plastic, metal, or other material used to frame a piece of art.

Mannerism
A style that developed in the sixteenth century as a reaction to the classical rationality and balanced harmony of the High Renaissance; characterized by the dramatic use of space and light, exaggerated color, elongation of figures, and distortions of perspective, scale, and proportion.

Mass
Three-dimensional form having physical bk. Also, the illusion of such a form on a two-dimensional surface.