| Term | Description |
Abbozzo | An Italian word that in English means 'sketch'. In fine art, the term refers to the initial drawing or outline on the canvas or the first under-painting; in sculpture the Abbozzo is the material, such as a lump of clay or chunk of wood, that has the rough form of the final piece. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Abilene Art League | An art organization of Abilene, Texas, dating from 1930 to the end of the 1940s with 24 initial members. By 1933, it was part of the Abilene Women's Club and held continuous exhibitions and lectures. Source:
John and Deborah Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors & Graphic Artists" |
Absentee Bid | An auction bid by a person not attending the auction. Also called an "Order Bid", it can be placed by using an auction catalogue printed absentee form or by other off-site methods such as a phone-in, email method, or other arrangement agreeable to the auction house. Source: www.sothebys.com |
Abstract Art/Abstraction | Terms with wide-ranging meaning, but always descriptive of artwork in which the realistic depiction of objects ranges from secondary to barely existent. Many scholars link Abstraction to that which is derivative or based on some element of reality. Although it could be argued that the dramatic landscapes of many of the Hudson River painters were abstracted to emphasize emotion rather than visual reality, Impressionism was the first major step into Abstraction and was a critical break with Realism, which shocked many viewers and stirred widespread critical commentary in Europe and America. Of the tension created among many Americans when they first encountered abstraction, Ruth Appledoorn Mead, founder of the Martha's Vineyard Art Association, said contemporary and realistic art belong together. "Learning to appreciate distortion is like learning to appreciate olives and clams." (Old Sculplin Gallery) Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism continued the march of Abstraction into the 20th Century. Terms related to abstraction include Non Objective and Non Representational, but those terms are usually associated with subject matter that is invented and totally distanced from recognizable physical images. The first purely abstract painting in the modern tradition is usually held to be a watercolor produced by Wassilj Kandinsky in about 1910. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; Alfred Barr, "Art and Theory, 1900-1990"; Alfred Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Old Sculplin Gallery, Edgartown, Massachusetts (LPD) |
Abstract Expressionism | A term referring to an art movement in the 1940s and 1950s where the essence of the work was the artist's personal involvement based on emotion rather than a desire for realistic depiction or conformity with work by other artists. Many consider Abstract Expressionism the first truly American art movement, although it had roots both in America and Europe. Some European artists who had fled the Hitler regime to America such as Max Ernst, Fernand Leger, Hans Hofmann and Piet Mondrian, were involved along with Americans Willem de Kooning, and Jackson Pollock. There were two aspects. Action Painting and Abstract Image Painting. Art writer Robert Coates first used the term Abstract Expressionism to describe contemporary paintings in the March 30, 1946 issue of "The New Yorker" magazine. Great proponents of the movement were critics Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms". (LPD) |
Abstract Figurative | A style description of an image that implies the shape of a human figure but in a way that is not completely realistic. The term is somewhat ambiguous because figurative has two meanings, one being the figure depicted realistically and the other being the figure with abstract elements. So the wording Abstract Figurative simply clarifies that the figure is not totally recognizable as a figure. However the suggestion of figure as subject is there. Source: Robert Atkins, "ART SPOKE"(LPD) |
Academic Art | Taught according to established rules in official art schools or academies, which began to proliferate from the early 18th century in Europe. London's Royal Academy and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris offered structured curriculums focused on history painting, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and genre in that order of importance. Instruction progressed from drawing from classical statues or plaster casts to modeling from nudes to applying paint to original work. Because the 19th-century academies in Europe and America tended to be conservative and dominated by males, the term Academic Art has come to mean that which is traditional and which is the opposite of innovative or creative. In the 20th century with the advent of abstraction, the term Academic Art has negative connotations suggesting that a work is long on knowledge and technical expertise and lacking in emotional inspiration. Sources: Michael David Zellman, "300 Years of American Art"; Robert Atkins, "Artspoke" (LPD) |
Academician | One who belongs to one of the art academies such as the National Academy of Design in New York. Also the term applies to artists who adhere to academic or traditional styles that are taught in academies.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Academie Julian | Founded in 1868 by M. Rodolph Julian and located on the Rue de Dragon in the Latin Quarter, the facility became one of the best-known private schools in Paris in the second half of the 19th Century. The Academie began with Julian, an art student supporting himself as a wrestler and circus manager, placing a sign outside a rented building. He persuaded artists to serve as visiting professors. The school expanded to five locations throughout France, and eventually superceded in prestige the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the official state school. The success of his venture persuaded Julian to give up his own plans to be an artist and focus on being an entrepreneur. Many Americans with art talent took their training at the Academy Julian because of the lack of art schools in America. The early curriculum was "strictly academic and subscribed to a literary and sentimental form of naturalism". (Phaidon) However, unlike the Ecole, Julian's curriculum was influenced by modernism. An important emphasis was student critique of each other's work rather than the professor being the all-dominant authority in the classroom. Some of the more famous teachers were William Bouguereau, Gustave Boulanger, Jules Lefebvre, Tony Robert Fleury, and Jean Leon Gerome, and some of them including Lefebvre and Boulanger would take turns doing month-long sessions. Some enrollees asserted that after the departure of Bourguereau and Gerome, the school lost much of its prestige. American Robert Henri was enrolled for three years but then withdrew in 1891 saying: "The best of the old fellows are gone. The place which once seemed to reach the very utmost in everything, noise, work and smoke, is no longer in its full bloom. The old leaders have been replaced by most inferior ones." (Weinberg 222). However, an account by Anna Huntington Stanley, who enrolled in Julian in 1887, described the atmosphere as very disciplined and "severe" with "not a bit of slipshod drawing tolerated." She wrote that Boulanger was "magnificent" going through the class "like a roaring lion", seeing "in a glance exactly what you lack in your drawing and he goes for it, holds you up to ridicule for the whole class." (Swanson 121) Other well-known American artists besides Henri who attended the Academie Julian include Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Thomas Hart Benton, Robert Rauschenberg, Cecilia Beaux, Grant Wood, Edmund Tarbell, Mary Cassatt, and Joseph Henry Sharp. In the late 19th century, women were in the minority and had to pay twice as much for studio space as men. Sources: H. Barbara Weinberg, "The Lure of Paris"; "Phaidon Dictionary of American Art"; Ingrid Swanson, 'Anna Huntington Stanley', "American Art Review", pp. 120-121 (LPD) |
Academy | A Greek word meaning ‘garden’ and specifically the garden where philosopher Plato did his teaching. From that time, the term has come to reference a variety of state-sponsored teaching institutions. During the Renaissance, art academies began to form in Europe beginning with Italy in the late 16th century, France in the 17th, England in the 18th and the United States in the 19th century. With these entities, the word Academy took on the meaning of a formal body of artists associated with unified purposes. These shared goals included the promoting of their national art, certain tenants of creating and exhibiting that art, and the conferring of special distinction with election to Academy membership---hence the word, academician. Academies are often rebelled against by innovative artists because of tendencies of academy members to embrace status quo or traditional work. Before the early 20th century, artists rebelling against the academies in America and Europe had few places to exhibit their work because museums and galleries were seldom open to rebellious movements. However, the advent of modernist galleries and museums provided venues for experimental art. In New York City, places welcoming modern art included Gallery 291 operated by Alfred Steiglitz, the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Today there is coexistence with modernist venues and the more conservative academies including the National Academy of Design in New York, the Royal Academy in England and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" by Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon. (LPD) |
Academy des Beaux-Arts | Academy of fine arts associated with the Institut de France in Paris. It is the sponsoring organization of the Ecole des Beaux Arts and of the Paris Salon or annual art exhibition.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Accent | Emphasis given to certain elements in a painting that allows the work to attract more attention. Accent can also refer to the details that define an object or piece of art. Source: Artlex.com, permission of Michael Delahunt |
Accession | An object of art becoming part of a permanent collection of a museum or other collection. Source: Artlex.com with permission of Michael Delahunt. |
Acrylic Paint/Plastic Colors | Water-resistant paint made by mixing pigment in a solution of polymer resin. These paints or colors are also called Plastic Colors to distinguish them from Polymer Paints, which are dispersed in water. Advantages of Acrylic Paints are that they do not yellow nor fade; they dry quickly, have much durability and adhesive qualities, and are easy to remove with turpentine. A disadvantage is that they dry so quickly that subtle mixing of colors cannot occur, and they are hard on brushes. Acrylic Paints are sold commercially as Magna Colors. They are combined with Magna Varnish, a sealing solution that protects each coat so the highly soluble Magna Colors can be overpainted. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms"; Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" (LPD) |
Action Painting | A painting style and method calling for vigorous physical activity, it was specifically associated with the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. Jackson Pollock often used this technique, which was an application of paint with fast, forceful, and impulsive (unplanned) motions. Process dictated the subject matter. Art critic Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978), first used the words Action Painting relative to American art in an article titled 'The American Action Painters' in "ARTnews", December 1952. He emphasized that he was describing the creative act itself---how it was done---and was not describing a school or movement. Sources: Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms". Barbara Macadam; 'Not a Picture but an Event', "ARTnews", November 2007 (LPD) |
Aerial Perspective | A term used in landscape painting that references spatial illusion. One technique of achieving Aerial Perspective is to depict atmospheric effects so that the earth seems to recede from the viewer. Objects in the distance seem far away while atmospheric conditions such as moisture are dominant. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" (See Atmosphere/Atmospheric) |
Aesthetic Movement/Aesthete | Pertaining to that which arouses sensitivity to beauty and emotion, as opposed to the practical, intellectual, or scientific. An Aesthetic response is an appreciation of such beauty, and Aesthetes are persons who subscribes to this philosophy and regard themselves as having special sensitivity to beauty. The Aesthetic Movement began in the late 19th century in England and was led by Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley. The slogan was "Art for Art's Sake", which meant that perceptions of beauty superseded all social and moral considerations.
The word aesthetic is derived from the Greek "aisthetika", meaning perceptibles. Source: Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; "Random House Dictionary" (LPD) |
Airbrush/Airbrushing | An implement slightly larger than a fountain pen, it is a "sophisticated spray gun" that creates a smooth, even toned finish. The device has a barrel that compresses the air and widens at the end. At the point where the air expands, it combines with paint fed from an attached container. Airbrushing is considered an illustrators' technique because the smooth result is dictated by the machine and not the artist's hand. The airbrush was patented by Charles Burdick, an Englishman, in 1893. American artists using the Airbrush technique include John Altoon, Larry Bell, Chuck Close, Audrey Flack, James Havard, Raymond Jonson, Jules Olitski and Dean St. Clair. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; AskART Database (LPD) |
Alabama Gulf Coast Colony | See Dixie Art Colony |
Alabaster | A soft, pure white, translucent gypsum or calcium sulfate hydrate that can easily be cut or carved. (Alabaster referenced by ancient civilizations was a hard stone of onyx marble.) Because of its delicacy, objects made from Alabaster can only be kept indoors. The substance is found primarily in caves, and a major quarry for Alabaster is at Volterra, Italy near the marble quarries of Carrara. Many Florentine sculptors have used Alabaster, and carved Alabaster is one of the most traditional products exported from Italy. American sculptors using Alabaster include Jose de Creeft, Jacob Epstein, Chaim Gross, Allan Houser, Doug Hyde, Gaston Lachaise and Reuben Nakian. Sources: Greta Elena Couper, "An American Sculptor on the Grand Tour"; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; AskART database. |
Alaska Art Project | Begun in 1937 by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) program to publicize through artwork the territories and possessions of the United States: Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Personnel of the Federal Art Project (FAP), a subsidiary of the WPA, under Director Holger Cahill, decided to try the project on a six-month experimental basis by sending artists only to Alaska. Included were Edwin Boyd Johnson, Merlin Pollock and John Walley from Chicago; Massachusetts artists Prescott "Mike" Jones, Karl Saxild and Vernon Smith; Minnesota artist Arthur Kerrick, and New York artists Karl Fortess, Ferdinand Lo Pinto, Antonio Mattei, Austin Mecklem and Roland Mousseau. The Alaska Art Project, June through November, 1937, concentrated on both coastal and interior regions, and government sponsored travel was limited to those areas accessible by road, ship or rail. Throughout the project weather hampered outdoor painting. Sketches had to be done in between rain showers, and then reproduced later on canvas or paper in hotel rooms. Source: A. Rex Rivolo, Ph.D., Director, Roving Sands Gallery (LPD)
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Albertype | A photographic reproduction process whereby a picture is printed from a gelatin plate by using a photographic negative. The first perfected large volume mechanical copying process, it was invented in Europe in the 1870s and was promoted in New York City by Edward Bierstadt, photographer brother of Albert Bierstadt. It was named for Josef Albert (1825-1866), a Bavarian photographer, and was revolutionary in that up to 200 quality prints, indistinguishable from originals, could be made from one plate. Albert Bierstadt claimed that "1,200 per hour could be made on his brother's new steam presses." (Hendricks, 201) Sources: "The Free Dictionary"; Gordon Hendricks, "Albert Bierstadt". (LPD) |
Alkyd Resins | Sold under a variety of names that may or may not contain the word alkyd, these mediums are synthetic resins that are excellent for oil painting because they dry quickly and work as an effective binder that encapsulates the pigment. Varieties made with safflower, soy beans and tobacco-seed oils hold color better than those made with linseed oil. Some alkyds look thick and tan colored in their container, but they become smooth and transparent when added to paint. The term alkyd was introduced in 1970 by Winsor & Newton, art materials manufacturing company, whose professional applauded its virtues of being similar to acrylic paint but drying faster. Sources: Christopher Willard, 'Methods and Materials'; "American Artist Magazine", 6/2000; Kimberly Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" (LPD)
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Alla Prima | A term derived from Italian, meaning “at the first”. It references a technique in which the finished painting is completed in one application of the paint, usually oil, and usually in one session or a short period of time. The result tends to be work that is smooth appearing. Alla Prima is the opposite method of creating a painting by layering coats of paint, with each coat given drying time before the next application. Sources: Jim Smyth and Brigitte Curt, 'Talking The Talk', "Plein Air Magazine", May 2005; Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" (LPD) |
Allegory | In the context of painting and sculpture, symbolic or underlying meaning conveyed by an image or images beyond the obvious visual arrangement. Allegorical works are exclusive in that they require education or “information outside the work” (Atkins). Traditionally Allegorical painting and sculpture creates a tie between the arts, literature, western religious texts", such as the Bible or Talmud, and Greek and Roman mythology. Allegory in American art had much European and English influence, and was used extensively by late 18th and 19th-century American artists, many of them having spent much time in England such as Benjamin West and Washington Allston. Many Hudson River School painters including Thomas Cole, Jasper Cropsey and Frederic Church did allegorical landscape paintings. The panoramic western mountain scenes of Albert Bierstadt are filled with allegorical expressions of god in nature. Ancient fables and mythological figures appear frequently in the allegorical sculptures of American sculptors working in Florence, Italy in the mid to late 19th Century: Thomas Ball, Thomas Crawford, William Couper, Daniel Chester French and Hiram Powers. Allegorical artwork in its traditional context went out of style in America in the 1940s and 50s, but Post-Modernism has returned to it with historical and figurative images. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; Greta Couper, “An American Sculptor on the Grand Tour”; AskART database. (LPD) |
Alligatoring | Resembling the hide of an alligator. The term describes the crackled texturing of a painted surface and can be either intentional for effect or the result of poor preparation and/or conservation. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Alloy | A product resulting from the combination of two or more metals that are melted and fused together. Alloys tend to be stronger and more corrosion resistant than pure metals. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Altarpiece | Religious-theme artwork including paintings, carved or painted panels and statuary or sculpture that is placed on or behind the altar of a place of worship. During the Renaissance, an altarpiece was typically a triptych, meaning three painted hinged panels. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Aluminum | A lightweight metallic element with a protective oxide surface making it resistant to corrosion. Availabe in a wide variety of colors, it can be cast and welded to create a combination of strength and lightness.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Amarillo Art Association | Organized in 1921 in Amarillo, Texas with 39 members, the group was devoted to supporting the artists in that city with exhibitions and lectures and the building of a collection. Source: John and Deborah Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors & Graphic Artists" |
Ambiguous Enigma | Usually found in trompe l'oeil paintings to 'fool the eye', it is a reference to perspective that has been purposely manipulated to puzzle the viewer, especially since elements of design or structure seem to move with the eye of the viewer. Source: Eric Conklin, Trompe l'Oeil painter |
Ambrotype | A reproduced photographic image created from a glass plate, it differs from a daguerreotype, which was made from a highly polished metal plate. Source: Fern and Kaplan, "Viewpoints" (Collection of Library of Congress) |
American Abstract Artists | A group of artists in the 1930s and 1940s who, reacting against the prevalent Social Realism and American Scene painting, were dedicated to the promotion of abstraction. Their exhibitions and publications added considerable fuel to the simmering discussion of "What is art?”. The founder and first president was George Lovett Kingsland Morris, and Balcomb Greene was the first chairperson. The AAA was formed in 1936, following the Whitney Museum's first exhibition in 1935 of American abstract art. Members of the AAA included Rhys Caparn, Ilya Bolotowsky, John Ferren, Ad Reinhardt, Burgoyne Diller, Irene Rice Pereira, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Karl Knaths and David Smith. Through their efforts, recognition for Synthetic Cubism, Geometric Abstraction, Neoplasticism, Abstract Biomorphism, and Hard Edge Abstraction was achieved, and the way was paved for the emergence of the New York school of Abstract Expressionism. Source: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Matthew Baigell, "Dictionary of American Art" (LPD) |
American Academy of Arts and Letters | An organization founded in 1898 in New York City of 250 life-member artists, writers, composers, sculptors and architects. The purpose is to recognize those Americans of the highest artistic achievement, and to foster sustained interest in Literature, Music and Fine Art through awards and prizes, exhibitions, performances and gifts to museums. The original name was the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Early members were William Dean Howells, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John LaFarge, Mark Twain and Henry James. Each member was assigned a chair in the order of election. Incorporation of the Institute was 1913 by an Act of Congress, and three years later The Academy was incorporated by Congress and signed by President Woodrow Wilson. In 1976, the two organizations merged but had two levels of membership and operated as the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1993, they chose one name--- American Academy of Arts and Letters. The headquarters are in Manhattan at 633 West 155th Street in a building designed by the architecture firm of McKim, Mead & White---all three were members. A second building is located near the headquarters and houses a 730-seat auditorium for performances. The archives have correspondence among members, original manuscripts and works of art. In 1946, the Academy began a purchase program with the goal of placing works by living American artists in museums across the country. Many of these purchases are made during their annual exhibitions held in May. This project was instituted by Maude Hassam, the wife of member Child Hassam, with a bequest of 400 of his works. She stipulated that proceeds from the sale be used to establish a fund to purchase works on paper. Academy Awards are given at the May exhibition and include the Award of Merit of $10,000.00, Jimmy Ernst Award of $5000.00, and the Richard and Hinda Rosethal Foundation for $5000.00. Sources: Website of The American Academy of Arts and Letters. "Antiques and The Arts Weekly", May 5, 2006, p.14 (LPD)
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American Academy of Equine Artists | Organized in 1980 by ten equine artists, the goal is to maintain standards of excellence within the subject matter and "to promote the academic representation of the equine form in drawing, painting and sculpture." Patterned somewhat after the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the organization has the purpose of educating the public and creating a broad awareness and appreciation of contemporary equine art as fine art. Full membership is awarded to artists who meet certain standards in their artwork and who teach others through workshops, classrooms, seminars, etc. In addition, they must show skill not only in equine anatomy but with other subjects that may combine with equine depiction such as the human figure, landscape and backgrounds. An annual exhibition is held with submissions by guest artists as well as members. At the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, a workshop is held each year each year for drawing, sculpting and painting equine subjects. The Horse Park is also the site of an Academy Artist in Residence program. Members include Anthony Alonzo, Don Prechtel, Veryl Goodnight, Cammie Lundeen and Carol Peek. Source: The American Academy of Equine Art,
http://www.aaea.net/ (LPD)
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American Academy of the Fine Arts | Founded in 1802 in New York City and incorporated in 1808, the original name was the New York Academy of the Fine Arts. Exhibitions began in 1816, and the next year the name was changed to the American Academy of the Fine Arts. John Trumbull served as president from 1817 to 1835. In 1839, fire destroyed the Academy building, and by 1841, the association was terminated. Mary Bartlett Cowdrey's book "American Academy of Fine Arts" has a listing of members including Thomas Cole, Eastman Johnson, Martin Johnson Heade, George Caleb Bingham, Sanford Gifford, Thomas Doughty and Henry Inman. Source: Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"; AskART database (LPD) |
American Academy, Rome | Founded in Rome, Italy shortly after the 1893 World's Fair Exposition in Chicago to promote with talented Americans in the fields of art, music and literature. Organizers were painters, sculptors and architects who had worked together on the Exposition, and included Augustus St. Gaudens, Charles McKim, William Mead and Christopher La Farge. They determined that young Americans should have a similar experience to what they had working together during the Exposition. The focus was on camaraderie as well as academic training; the Academy motto was "Not merely fellowships, but fellowship". The address of the Academy, which continues to operate today, is 5 Via Angelo Masina, which is an eleven-acre site atop Janiculum Hill. It attracts students in the arts and humanities including persons skilled in art, literature, music, architecture, historic preservation and landscape architecture. Attendees receive the Rome Prize, (Prix de Rome) through a national juried competition, which varies in duration from six months to two years---a difference from the original three-year enrollment. The Library is extensive and includes access to the Vatican Library. An American office of the Academy is at 7 East 60th Street in New York City. American attendees include Paul Manship, Mitchell Siporin, Raymond Saunders, Hermon MacNeil, Russell Cowles, Eugene Savage, Albert Krehbiel, Ana Mendieta, Alan Gussow and Charles Keck. Sources: Greta Elena Couper, "An American Sculptor on the Grand Tour"; website of the American Academy in Rome, http://www.caorc.org/centers/AAR.html; AskART database (LPD) |
American Art-Union | An organization devoted to the public distribution by lottery of original paintings. It is credited with promoting many living American artists, shaping American taste and creating a demand for original art, especially landscapes and genre subjects. Founded in 1844, the Art-Union existed until 1852, when the courts declared the organization illegal. By 1849, there were nearly 19,000 subscribers, each paying five dollars for which they got an original steel engraving and an opportunity to one of the 460 paintings offered that year. Source: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art" (LPD) |
American Artists Congress | Formed in 1936 with headquarters at 52 West Eighth Street in New York City, the purpose was "to take a firm stand against war and fascism", and to defend art and artists of all aesthetic persuasions. The first meeting, February 14-16, was open to the public and offered discussions on "all fundamental issues, economic, aesthetic and social, which confront the American Artist today." Stuart Davis served as Secretary. The result of the meetings was an endorsement of artists forming a union and the promoting of Social Realism as a style. However, many artists lost interest in succeeding years because the Congress became closely aligned with the Communist Party. Among the members were Theodore Roszak, William Fanning, Miriam Hofmeier and Walter Quirt. Sources: Quotes from "The Western Artist", January 1936; Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"; AskART Quick Facts (LPD) |
American Federation of Arts | Initially a Washington DC based organization established in 1909 by an act of Congress, the Federation was founded to broaden public awareness and appreciation of the visual arts. Particular emphasis was placed on touring original works of art throughout the United States. Eventually the Federation was headquartered in New York City and provided traveling exhibitions to its member museums and galleries. Source:
John and Deborah Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors & Graphic Artists" |
American Gothic | Associated with American painter, Grant Wood (1892-1942), the reference derives from Wood's painting titled "American Gothic". This work, in realist style, shows a stern farm couple holding a pitchfork and staring unrelentingly at the viewer. The meaning, devoid of humor, seems to be that life is all hard work, and there is no time for aesthetics or softening emotions. It is gothic in that it conveys a dark, disturbing message. (AskART) |
American Impressionist Society | Founded by Florida artists William Schultz, Charlotte Dickinson, and Marjorie Bradley, of Vero Beach, and Pauline Ney, of Ellenton, the organization remains based in Vero Beach. The goal of the AIS is to promote the appreciation of the style of Impressionism with exhibitions, workshops and other media. Membership is open to all Impressionist artists and any other persons who would like to support Impressionism. Member artists enjoy outdoor painting as well as figure and still life painting in the studio. "Emphasis is always on capturing light and color, using broken brush strokes and thick impasto spots of color to create a dazzling impression of the subject". William (Bill) Schultz, co-founder and chairman of AIS, celebrated his 85th birthday in 2004 and at that time was still teaching Impressionist painting. Source: Website of the American Impressionist Society (LPD)
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American Numismatic Society | Founded in 1858 by a group of collectors sharing their interest in American coins and medals, AMS became a preservation and documentation organization that has done much to further medallic art in America.
Many of the early members were antiquarians and learned specialists. In 1893, stimulated by the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, the organization began the serious production of medals including ones commemorating the dedication of Grant's Tomb in New York. Under the leadership of President Andrew Zabriskie, the Society decided to establish a school, but that venture, which lasted from 1900-1905, was not successful. Since 1927, the group has produced only a few medals and has become primarily a research organization. Members included Lew Lawrie, Charles Hale, Roger Burnham and Philip Paval. Source: Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture" (LPD) |
American Panorama Company | Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company was the first large-scale company in the United States to create panoramas. It was formed by Chicago businessman William Wehner in 1885. He had observed at the 1884 Cotton Exposition in New Orleans the installation of the panorama created in Germany titled "The Battle of Sedan on September 1, 1870". Wehner's idea was to bring experienced panorama painters to the United States from Germany to create panoramas of the Civil War. August Lohr was the first German artist to sign on, and shortly after Franz Biberstein emigrated from Germany to join the company. The first studio of The American Panorama Company was at 628 Wells Street in Milwaukee, and the first two productions were "The Storming of Missionary Ridge" and "The Battle of Atlanta". The company went out of business in 1887, but several successor firms kept the industry alive. Source: Peter Merrill, "German-American Artists in Early Milwaukee: A Biographical Dictionary" (LPD |
American Renaissance | The period in American culture, 1870s to the beginning of World War I, when painting, sculpture, and architecture were united in a "grand flowering" of work by persons who believed that society could be elevated by art. Underlying expressions were lofty ideals and divine truth, and the goal was encouraging people to live virtuous lives, which in turn would elevate the "spiritual life of the nation". This movement was a revival from the Italian Renaissance when commitments to painting, sculpture and architecture expressed lofty themes and taught high moral values. The ancient Greeks and Romans, with their emphasis on perfect proportions, were the model exponents. The tradition was continued in the Beaux-Arts style and teaching methods that developed in the second half of the 19th Century in the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the Paris school of fine art. Richard Morris Hunt, Henry Hobson Richardson, and Charles McKim were the first American architects to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and buildings designed by these men including the Boston Public Library were expressions of the American Renaissance. Sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens and stained glass designer John La Farge were collaborators with these architects. In America, this Renaissance was appealing because it created a sense of continuum from earlier civilizations to the relatively new culture of the United States. It also introduced architecture as a discipline, and this, in turn, led to mural painting and sculpture to enhance buildings designed in this Renaissance style. Source: Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture", (LPD)
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American Scene Painting | A term broadly applied to an early 20th-century art movement that focused on subjects uniquely American, especially urban and rural America. Usually realist in style, it was an attempt to distance American art from the domination of European influences including abstraction. The movement ended with the decade of the 1930s and is not easy to define because representative artists did not have a rigidly held single style, but were "committed to the political, cultural and social problems of the moment" . . (Baigell, 'Scene' 16). American Scene painting had two distinct groups of artists: Regionalists and Social Realists, and some scholars limit the definition to Regionalists only. However, art historian Matthew Baigell wrote: "Because the two groups shared common assumptions about the function of art, I see no reason to maintain rigid distinctions between them---particularly since neither group ever projected one comprehensive style or even a clearly defined set of sttitudes. . . . quite simply I would like to have it both ways." (16) Social Realism was led by Robert Henri and included John Sloan, Reginald Marsh and George Luks, and their subjects often were scenes from New York City. Regionalism tends to be associated with the Midwest. High-profile Regionalists were Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, Grant Wood of Iowa and John Steuart Curry of Kansas. Also known for their regionalism were Dale Nichols of Nebraska, Cameron Booth of Minnesota, Jerry Bywaters and Tom Lea of Texas, and Peter Hurd and Ward Lockwood of New Mexico. East coast American Scene painters include Ben Shahn, Stuart Davis, Charles Sheeler, Edward Hopper, Paul Sample, and Charles Burchfield. The term, 'American Scene' is likely derived from author Henry James's collection of essays and impressions titled "The American Scene". Published in 1907, the work focused on James's own rediscovery of his native land after 21 years as an expatriate. The Whitney Museum, founded in 1931 in New York City to collect only American art, was a result of the American Scene movement. Sources: Matthew Baigell, "Dictionary of American Art" and "The American Scene"; "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Terms" (LPD) |
American School | A descriptive term for a painting describing a 19th century unsigned and unattributable painting in the manner of American style. Often the work has American canvas and stretchers. Artlex.com, courtesy of Michael Delahunt |
American Society of Classical Realism | An association of American artists dedicated to the marketing and promotion of traditional representational art .
The Society was founded in 1989, and the headquarters are in Minneapolis where Richard Lack is a key leader and teacher in the Classical Realist style at his Atelier Lack. The teacher who influenced him in this style was R.H. Ives Gammell of Boston.
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American Society of Contemporary Artists | An exhibiting organization of painters, sculptors and graphic artists, ASCA has approximately 100 artist members whose work ranges from representational to the non-figurative, from the intensely political to the purely aesthetic. The group is 100 percent non profit.
Members of ASCA are professional painters, sculptors, printmakers, and other graphic artists. They have taken part in group and solo shows both in the United States and abroad, achieving considerable distinction. The Society was founded in 1917 as the Brooklyn Society of Artists. As its membership expanded to all parts of the United States, the Society restructured itself. In 1963 it adopted its current name and opened its membership to all qualified artists. The American Society of Contemporary Artists holds annual exhibitions of its members' works as well as additional shows during any given year. At its annual shows, the Society offers cash awards in recognition of artistic merit. Source: www.anny.org (LPD) |
American Society of Marine Artists | A national organization with regional representatives founded in 1978 to recognize and promote marine art and maritime history and to encourage exponents to work together. Membership is open to anyone interested in the subject matter, and meetings are held annually. ASMA sponsors art exhibitions every couple of years, and exhibition venues include the Fry Art Museum in Seattle, Washington; Cummer Museum of Jacksonville, Florida; Cape Museum in Dennis, Massachusetts; and Vero Beach Museum in Vero Beach, Florida. Society headquarters are in Ambler, Pennsylvania. Among American artists who belong to the American Society of Marine Artists are Christopher Blossom, Marshall Joyce, Donald Demers, Jack Coggins, and Sally Swatland. Source: americansocietyofmarineartists.com (LPD) |
American Society of Miniature Painters | A turn-of-the-century group of artists devoted to a highly exacting technique of “painting in little”, that was a backlash in art against the country’s fascination with technology and its devotion to 'large scale'. ASMP, founded in 1899 with a premier exhibition at Knoedler Galleries in New York, was an attempt to counteract the ugliness and misery of the burgeoning industrial society, and members renewed interest in handwork or crafts inspired by Englishmen John Ruskin and William Morris, founders of the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th Century. William J. Whittemore was one of the founders of the ASMP, whose members included Eulabee Dix, Laura Cooms Hills, and Emily Drayton Taylor. Sources: www.artofwildlife.com/miniaturepaintings.html; AskART database (LPD) |
American Society of Portrait Artists | The largest portrait artist organization in the world, ASOPA was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. It is dedicated "to furthering the fine art of portraiture and supporting the individual artist". It is patron supported in 50 states and 34 nations, is non-profit, and is led by an advisory board who oversee a year-long program of events. "The Portrait Signature" is the international journal of the Society. Each year the Society awards the John Singer Sargent Medal to artists judged to be outstanding portrait painters. Recipients include Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth. American painters who hold or have held membership in the American Society of Portrait Painters include Charles Dana Gibson, James Earle Fraser, Leopold Seyffert, Everett Kinstler, Richard Schmid, Daniel Green, M. Stephen Doherty, James Shannon, Albino Hinojosa, Jack Faragasso, Burt Silverman and Richard Whitney. Sources: American Society of Portrait Painters; AskART database. (LPD) |
American Ten (The) | (See Ten American Painters) |
American Watercolor Society | Known as A.W.S, the American Watercolor Society began in 1866 when a group of eleven painters met at the studio of Gilbert Burling in the New York University Building to form “The American Painters in Water Color.” Fellow artist Samuel Colman was elected the first president. Catherine Altvater was the first woman to hold an elected office in the Society.
The newly formed society held its first exhibition in the fall of 1867, and these annual exhibitions have continued to the present time. In 1878, the name was changed to its current one, and was incorporated in 1903. Active members number approximately 500, with approximately 2,000 associates. Among them are/have been William Hart, Frederic Whitaker, Eliot Clark, Joe Frassetta, Cheryl Criss, Izzie Barth, and Dean Mitchell. There is an annual juried exhibition open to anyone.
Source: "AWS" Catalogue of Thirty First International Exhibition: American Watercolor Society" (LPD) |
Amphora | A word descriptive of a two-handled tapering jar made of fired clay and dating back to Greek civilization. The Amphora, usually decorated with elaborate painting, was used for storage of items such as olive oil, grain or wine. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
An American Place | See Gallery 291 |
Analogous Colors | Colors that are closely related, or near each other on the color spectrum, especially those colors that share common hues. |
Analytical Cubism | See Cubism |
Anamorphic Art | From the term anamorphoses, which is derived from the Greek words "ana" (again), and "morphe" (shape) and means a distorted image. The observer is first deceived by a barely recognizable image, and is then directed to a viewpoint dictated by the formal construction of the painting.
The spectator must play a part and re-form the picture him/herself. Similar characteristics can be found in illusionistic wall and ceiling painting, and in the use of accelerated and retarded perspective in architecture, theatrical stage design, and urban design. |
Anatomy | The structure of the human body, especially the bones and muscles. Traditional art training for artists intending to be figure painters has had the study of Anatomy including nude figures as part of the curriculum. In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, much controversy arose over whether women should be allowed in clases with male nude models and whether male and female students should share a classroom with a posed nude model. Today most art schools have all classes coeducational.
Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; AskART.com |
Anglo-Saxon Art | Characterized by interlaced motif, it was an art style relevant to England in the fifth to eleventh centuries. |
Animalier | A French term for an artist whose specialty is depicting animals. Leading French Animaliers were 19th-century sculptors Charles Valton, Antoine Louis Bayre, and Emmanuel Fremiet. American representatives are Henry Hudson Kitson and Anna Hyatt Huntington.
http://www.bronze-gallery.com/sculptors/artist.cfm?sculptorID=52; AskART.com |
Animation | A process of "photographing a series of still images, each slightly different from the other, which will give the effect of movement when projected at the rate of about 24 frames per second. The Walt Disney Studios, creators of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, etc., used a system of painting each figure in a cartoon and the elements of the background or scene on separate sheets of transparent celluloid that were superimposed in the animation camera." When a character moved in these particular scenes, only the character had to be repainted, which saved much re-drawing. Source: Fern and Kaplan, "Viewpoints: The Library of Congress Selection of Pictorial Treasures", 187 |
Anschutz Collection | Founded by Philip Anschutz whose goal was to create a collection of real value that is a survey of American painting in the West. The collection spans nearly 180 years of American history, and has over 650 paintings and drawings with more than 200 artists represented from early 1800s to the present. Primary goals are to show how each generation of artists chose to represent the West and how their work impacted succeeding generations. Anschutz made all acquisition and de-accesion decisions himself but had three key advisors. In 1989, the Collection toured the Soviet Union with great acclaim. Anschutz made his money from oil exploration, real estate, and railroads, and in 1992 purchased the Southern Pacific Railroad. He began the collection in the early 1960s when he was near graduation from the University of Kansas. He was much influenced by his mother, Marian Pfister Anschutz, who encouraged him to have wide interests. Source: THE ANSCHUTZ COLLECTION by Joan Carpenter Troccali. (LPD) |
Anti-art | Term introduced by French-American, Marcel Duchamp (ca. 1914) for a form of art, Dada or in it’s tradition, where conventional forms and theories are rejected. This may refer to their materials, techniques, or method of display. |
Antique | Meaning the same as Classical, antique technically references art to the fifth century A.D. However, the term has come to mean "old". During the Renaissance, Antique/Classical art was studied carefully by aspiring artists. Source: Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Applied Art | Art that decorates utilitarian objects. The term was introduced during the Industrial Revolution in Britain. The Arts and Crafts Movement, led by William Morris Hunt, defined applied art as injecting artistic taste into the design and decoration of common objects. Also see Industrial Design. Source: Kimberly Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Appraisal | An evaluation of the fair market value; in other words what the work would bring if sold at auction or by other means on the secondary market. Quite often the purposes of an appraisal are for insurance of the item, tax deduction, and inheritance value. In order to be valid, the appraisal must be done by a certified appraiser who usually evaluates the work by using comparables---other items that have similar characteristics. Source: www.sothebys.com |
Aquarelle | “Watercolor” in French, referring to the drawing or painting with transparent watercolor. |
Aquatint | An etching or engraving process focused on tonal variations rather than linear affects and gives the appearance of a watercolor. It is often used in conjunction with line etching. Aquatint is created by acid biting into a metal plate and involves putting granular resin over the plate, creating the design, and then immersing the plate in acid. Tonality is achieved by repeating the varnishing and immersing. Aquatint artists include Doel Reed, Jay McVicker, William Kneass and James Kidder. Sources: Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art". (LPD) |
Arabesque | Linear decoration that is interlacing and carved or painted on panels. Subjects are botanic, animal and human figures.
Credit:
Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Archive/Archivist | Collection of historical records including those of individuals, corporations or government entities that meet certain criteria for permanence and are often preserved in lignin-free, pH neutral, alkaline-buffered, light controlled circumstances. A person working in an Archive is an "Archivist". The Library of Congress is a national archive for the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive (LPD) |
Arfe | A term coined by Francisco Rivera Rosa to describe his "paintings" with coffee on paper (derived from art + café = Arfé)
Daniel C. Boyer, Artist |
Armature | A rigid framework, often wood or steel, used to support a sculpture or other large work while it is being made. |
Armory Show-1913 | An exhibition of American and European art in the 69th Regiment Armory Building in New York City, which is often credited as revolutionizing the American art scene by introducing modernist styles that opened the door to abstraction. Most notably, it was the first major exhibition of modernist works from Europe in America and challenged the public attitudes towards visual art. Modifying the perception that as a single event the Show changed American art, E.P. Richardson wrote: "The Armory Show has been magnified by the human need for a myth. It is thus supposed that a single exhibition of two months created and explains, the entire subsequent course of American art. It was instead a vast, confusing ‘melange’ of some 1300 exhibits by 300 artists, including the living and the dead, European and American, a few artists now considered great and a great many more now forgotten." (2) Exhibition dates in New York were February 17 to March 15, 1913, and then it traveled that same year to venues in Chicago and Boston. Organizers led by Walt Kuhn, Walter Pach and Arthur B. Davies were members of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. The official title of the exhibit was the International Exhibition of Modern Art because the goal was to show Americans what was happening in European art, especially in France. (German Expressionism was ignored). Another goal was to create an exhibition that countered the conservative annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design. Entrants from France included Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Wassily Kandinsky, and showcased styles were Impressionism, Symbolism, Fauvism and Cubism. The leading-edge works of art scandalized many viewers including the over 400,000 visitors in New York. Students at the Art Institute of Chicago burned effigies of the entries of Europeans Henri Matisse and Constantin Brancusi. Sources; Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Milton Brown, "The Armory Show"; Robert Atkins, "Artspoke"; E.P. Richardson, “The Ferdinand Howard Collection”, 1969 exhibition catalogue of The Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (LPD) |
Art | "There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists." E.H. Gombrich, "The Story of Art", Introduction. |
Art Basel Miami Beach | From the first exhibition in 2001, Art Basel has become an internationally publicized event, a place "to be seen" for art buyers and sellers, and a major forum for promotion of contemporary art. At the sixth annual event, December 6-9,2007, 43,000 people attended to view work offered by 200 galleries by more than 2000 artists from 30 countries. The location is Miami Beach, Florida, and organizers are from Art Basel, which is a division of The MCH Swiss Exhibition Limited, a fair and convention company. Sources: Anna Truxes, 'Miami Beach Gets a Reality Check', "Fine Art Connoisseur", April 2008; http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com/go/id/dwb/ (LPD) |
Art Brut | Coined in 1945 by French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), the word is French for “raw art”. It refers to the art of Outsiders---naïve artists, the mentally ill, and the art of children---persons isolated from main society. Art Brut was often celebrated in the work of Dubuffet who appreciated its being done for its own sake and not for concern of profit. A major collection of Art Brut work is at the Collection de l'Art Brut, founded by Dubuffet in Lausanne, Switzerland and opened in 1976. The collection is based on European art but is much expanded from that. American artists associated with this style include Ted Gordon, Henry Darger, and Inez Nathaniel Walker. Sources: Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Chuck and Jan Rosenak, "Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collector's Guide" (LPD) |
Art Deco | An art style of the 1920s and 1930s based on modern materials such as steel, chrome, glass and a style of "machine-inspired geometry". Art Deco influenced American architecture, interior and industrial design, crafts, graphics, painting and sculpture. It was a successor to the popular Art Nouveau, with its flowing, non geometric lines. With Art Deco, flowers became stylized and formal and much influenced by Egyptian designs. Examples of Art Deco architecture are New York's Chrysler Building and Radio City Music Hall, whose interior design was overseen by Donald Deskey. Art Deco sculptors include Boris Lovet-Lorski, Alfonso Iannelli and Wilhelm Diederich. Among Art Deco painters are John McCrady and Louis Icart. Edward McKnight Kauffer was known for his boldly colored posters that could be read quickly, and Helen Dryden did fashion illustrations for "Vogue" magazine that reflected a changing era embodying both Art Deco and Art Nouveau. Romain de Tirtoff is credited with helping define the new Art Deco look because of his cover designs for "Harper's Bazar", beginning 1915. The name, Art Deco, derives from the 1925 Paris L'Exposition International des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris and credited with launching the design rage for Art Deco. In New York, May 2005, "Decophiliiacs" or "Decomaniacs" gathered for "New York Art Deco Week" in honor of the eighth world conference on Art Deco. Organized by members of the 25 year-old Art Deco Society of New York, special galas were held at the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and at a Jazz Age Harlem nightclub. Sources: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Dan Klein, "All Color Book of Art Deco"; AskART database; "Art & Antiques", April 2005; Walt Reed, "The Illustrator in America". (LPD) |
Art Engage | Art influenced by political or social significance. French term meaning “art involved in life”. |
Art for Art's Sake | An expression coined in the early 19th Century, it came to mean experimental or modernist art that was created without traditional social or religious themes. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak" |
Art Glass | A late 19th-Century glassware typically hand made, elaborately decorated, expensive, and usually monochromatic colorations of peach, coral, opaque white, pink-to-yellow, rose amber, and blue-gray to pink. Color shading was achieved with heat variations and chemicals. Art Glass reflected sophisticated technological advancement and was popular because it served Victorian-era taste for fancy, decorative items. Amberina, made by the New England Glass Company from 1883 to 1888, was the earliest shaded glassware. In 1917, Libbey Glass Company, a successor company, reissued it. The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, features a wide collection of Art Glass. Reaction against Art Glass was Art Nouveau Glass made famous in the 1890s by New York jeweler, Louis Comfort Tiffany. Favrile Glass by Tiffany was irridescent, classical in style, and patterned on ancient glasses that were made from being buried for centuries in damp soil. Source: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art" (LPD) |
Art in America-Magazine | Founded in 1913 by Frederic Fairchild Sherman, an art collector, poet and book publisher whose goal was to create a vehicle for reaching the public about American art in a way that was 'cultivated' and grounded in art history. The early issues, coinciding with the landmark Armory Show in New York City, were quarterlies, and then went from bi-monthly in its tenth year to monthly in 1979. In 1923, the title became "Art in America and Elsewhere", but that title was dropped in the late 1930s as being too cumbersome. However, the range of subjects remains 'elsewhere', meaning not confined to American art. For 34 years, Elizabeth Baker was editor, retiring in 2007. Source: Marcia E. Vetrocq, 'Editor's Letter', "Art in America", September 2008, p.30. (LPD) |
Art in Embassies Program | Founded in 1964 to showcase original American artwork in residences of United States ambassadors, the program has become a sophisticated operation. The idea was laid out in 1961 by Robert h. Thayer, special assistant to the Secretary of State. Thayer saw the program as providing "windows through which the people of foreign countries can see American works of art of all kinds and periods." The report lay idle for two years until Deputy Undersecretary of State William A. Crockett brought it to the attention of President John F. Kennedy, whose positive reaction sent the program forward. It is a blend of art, diplomacy, culture and politics and promotes national and regional pride, making it obvious that the American aesthetic identity is vast. Art in Embassies has become an exhibition venue for several-thousand works of art in many of the 160 United States embassy residences. Ambassadors can choose the artists to be represented in their embassies and quite often select work of an artist from their home state. Frequently a curator or other art professional serves as an adviser, and the agreement is that artwork will be loaned for a three-year period. Contributors are artists, museums, individual collectors or galleries. The Department of State of the U.S. government handles shipping and insurance. Artists represented in the program include Cecilia Beaux, Lockwood De Forest, Don Eddy, Tom Haas, Francis McComas, Matt Smith and Marguerite Zorach. Sources: Gwyn Creagan, “The Collection of Ambassador & Mrs. James F. Creagan”; Genta and Michael Holmes, "Art in the Residence of the American Ambassador"; http://www.usembassy.dk/Ambassador/ArtEmbassies.htm; AskART database (LPD)
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Art Institute of Chicago | The descendant of the Chicago Academy of Design, a school started in 1866 that in 1879 became the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Founders of the Academy of Design were artists who wanted to provide a first-class education as well as exhibition facilities. The first quarters were destroyed in a citywide fire in 1871. In 1882, the name was changed to the Art Institute of Chicago, and the building at 111 South Michigan Avenue was erected in 1893. It contained both a museum and a school and was finished for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago has become one of the largest accredited art schools in the United States. The museum is one of the major art museums in the world and has collections focused on European, Asian, African and American art, photography and textiles. It is especially noted for its French Impressionist and Post Impressionist paintings.
Sources: Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"; "The Official Museum Directory"; John and Deborah Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors & Graphic Artists" (LPD) |
Art Nouveau | A decorative art style, especially associated with sinuous vines and tendril motifs---curving, often-swirling shapes based on flowing organic forms. It was prevalent between 1895 to 1905, and was an outgrowth of the Arts and Crafts Movement, which emphasized applying art to practical, daily life objects. The name Art Nouveau originated in France, derived from a modern-design shop of S. Bing, L'Art Nouveau (the New Art) that opened in Paris in 1895. However, the style originated more than a decade earlier, and by the end of the 19th century had various names in a variety of countries: 'Jugendstil' in Germany; 'Stile Liberty' in Italy; 'Modernista' in Spain and 'Sezessionstil' in Austria. Representative French artists including Pierre Bonnard, Edvard Munch, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec leaned on earlier styles including Rococo, Gothic, and Oriental. The style quickly spread to the United States and other countries. In America, the style of Art Nouveau was reflected in the paintings and illustrations of Edwin Austin Abbey, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Maxfield Parrish and Alfonse Mucha. Louis Sullivan was a leader in architectural design. Art Nouveau Glass, with classic, simple lines, was a reaction against the heavily decorated Victorian Art Glass and was made popular by Tiffany and Company, New York jewelers, and Steuben Glass Works in Corning, New York. Sources: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Robert Atkins, "ArtSpoke" (LPD) |
Art of This Century Gallery, NYC | Opened October 20, 1942 in a top floor double loft at 30 West 57th Street in New York City, Art of This Century Gallery was founded by Peggy Guggenheim. From the 'famous' Guggenheim famous, she was a prominent art collector firmly entrenched in surrealism and abstraction, who had lived much of her life as an expatriate in France. Forced back to the U.S. by World War II, she established this gallery, which remains a landmark of innovations in American art history, specially credited for exhibitions exclusively devoted to work by American artists. She took great pride in the fact that Jackson Pollock’s career was launched in the Art of the Century Gallery. Dedicated to interactive experiences, it broke down exhibition barriers between high art and popular art, between famous artists and emerging artists, and between ‘sophisticated’ art connoisseurs and regular people who just had fun browsing around, enjoying art. It was a marked departure from traditional New York galleries with painting lined walls and reverent, quiet environment directed to ‘softening’ wealthy clientele. Part of Guggenheim’s rebellion was locating west of 5th Avenue next door to a corsetiere, rather than east of the Avenue with the established galleries such as Knoedler’s or Durand-Ruel. Frederick Kiesler, a sculptor and architect, did the Art of This Century interior design, which, in itself, was a total work of art. His innovations included the showing of paintings unframed, circulating or sitting of viewers on overstuffed chairs among randomly placed artwork, lighting with fluctuating intensity and changing focus, paintings in racks for quick perusal, and kinetic shows with rapidly alternating works of art. Floors were covered with rich turquoise paint, Guggenheim’s favorite color. From the time of its opening it was a popular success, described by musician John Cage as a “funhouse” and by a writer as “the American artistic event of the century,” . . .(238) Artists associated with the gallery include Marcel Duchamp, Jimmy Ernst, Andre Breton, Hans Richter, Joseph Cornell, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian, Frieda Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning, Mark Rothko, David Hare and Alexander Calder. Finishing with solo exhibitions for Jackson Pollock, Morris Hirshfield, Richard Pousette-Dart, David Hare, and Theodore van Doesburg, the Gallery closed May 31, 1947. Tired of the New York art scene, and having lost money each of the five years of operating Art of This Century, Peggy Guggenheim moved herself and her extensive contemporary art collection permanently to a villa she purchased on the Grand Canal in Venice. There she lived the remaining 32 years of her life, becoming much sought after as one of the leading champions of modern art in Europe and America. Source: Mary Dearborn, Peggy Guggenheim, “Mistress of Modernism”. (LPD)
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Art Students League of New York | A prestigious ongoing art school in New York City that has had many of America's most famous artists as enrollees. The Art Students League began in the fall of 1875 as a drawing and sketching class by members of the art school of the National Academy of Design, which had closed temporarily. Although the Academy school reopened in 1877, ASL participants led by Walter Shirlaw continued to operate because of the student demand for independence from the strictures of the Academy. The next year, 1878, the League gained much stature when William Merritt Chase, a leader in the rebellion against the Academy, opened his painting class at the League. Closely allied to the establishing of the Art Students League were members of the Society of American Artists. In 1892, League members moved into their newly-constructed building on West 57th Street, and by the end of the 1890s, nearly one-thousand students were enrolled. Founders of the ASL had the objective of encouraging professional artists to use unorthodox methods. The League continues into the 21st century with the same approaches with which it began including no entrance exams, diplomas or examinations. Students, who serve on the governing board and set fees and appoint instructors, may enter any time during the year and attend classes whenever they wish. Famous teachers in addition to William Merritt Chase include Robert Henri, Frank DuMond, Kenneth Miller, Thomas Eakins, John Sloan and George Bridgman. Sources: John and Deborah Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors and Graphic Artists"; "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art" (LPD) |
Art Therapy | Treatment using art-related activities to help persons with mental and/or physical disabilities to overcome their limitations. Linking creative art to solving psychological problems is an approach developed by 20th-century mental-health professionals. It is based on the theory that through drawing, painting and other creative projects, people can communicate fears or other problems of the subconscious a process, and that, in turn, this process is therapeutic for the person needing treatment. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" (LPD) |
Arte Povera | An Italian term applied by art critic Germano Celant in 1967 to a group of Italian artists active in Rome, Genoa, Milan and Turin in the 1960s and 1970s. They were perceived as radical because they used everyday materials they could acquire easily and cheaply such as rope, iron, sticks, cement, twigs, and newspapers. However, the term was not intended by Celant to be a value judgment of their artwork, but instead was a reference to the fact that any low-income person could get involved because the method required little or no financial investment. Metaphorical images were characteristic of “Arte Povera”, especially ones suggesting the “redemptive power of history and art with a solid grounding in the material world”. Although many 20th and 21st century artists in western countries use found objects in their artwork, the term “Arte Povera” applies almost exclusively to Italian artists including Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Giulio Paolini and Gilbert Zorio. Source: Robert Atkins, ART SPEAK, p. 51 (LPD) |
Artificialism | An art movement founded in
Czechoslovakia in 1927 to oppose naturalism in art; the movement was short-lived as its members went on to become involved in poetism and eventually surrealism.
Credit: Daniel C. Boyer, Artist |
Artist’s Proof | A copy or reproduction that is outside the numbered copies of the limited edition but may be numbered with the prefix AP. By custom, the artist retains the APs for his/her personal use or sale and does not put an edition number on them. Sometimes artist's proofs are regarded as having more value, especially if they are the first prints pulled off non-lithographic plates before the plates were worn down. Source:
Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" (LPD) |
Arts and Crafts | Practical or useful objects created to have eye appeal or artistic merit as well as utility. In this category are metalwork, fiber art, and woodwork. As a subject, arts and crafts are often taught as therapy or recreational activity. See Arts and Crafts Movement. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms" Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Terms"
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Arts and Crafts Movement | A revival lasting from 1861 to 1914 to bring handcrafts to the forefront in a period when industry and mechanization was gaining cultural dominance. The Arts and Crafts Movement began in England in the last part of the 19th century, and in many countries including America, resulted in the dignifying of the private home as a place of creative expression and enjoyment of both the process and results of that expression. The founding leader was William Morris (1834-1896), an English aristocrat who designed wallpapers, fabrics, furniture and books and did weaving and dye staining. He asserted that "a work of utility might be a work of art, if we cared to make it so." Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud inadvertently gave voice to the movement with his comment, "a chair is rarely just a chair." For Morris, the motivation to rebel came from his anger at the harmful effects of the Industrial Revolution on people's lives. He observed that not only was their health being ruined by air pollution, but their creative talents were thwarted by machines replacing domestic tasks such as furniture making, textile design, etc. Launching a 'do-it-yourself-movement, Morris set out to equate applied art with fine art and to formalize education in the Applied Arts by paying close attention to quality and intended use of materials. It was an influence whose success not only empowered the middle class generally but dignified the labor of women in that it elevated to an art form domestic tasks such as sewing, quilting, china painting, needle pointing and pottery making. Indicative of these changes was that needlepoint was exhibited as a fine art along with painting and sculpture at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Morris promoted his ideas through his company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company, composed of painters, designers and architects. In 1888, the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society held their first show in England, and in 1897, Boston hosted the First American Society of Arts and Crafts exhibition. The movement then spread throughout Europe and was a strong influence on Walter Gropius in his founding of the Bauhaus School in Germany. In America, the Arts and Crafts Movement resulted in academic respect for folk art and public respect for it as a part of fine art. In 2004, the Los Angeles County Museum launched a traveling exhibition titled “The Arts and Crafts Movement in Europe and America”. Organized by Decorative Arts Curator Wendy Kaplan and focused on the heyday of the movement, 1890 to 1910, it was the first museum exhibition to explore the international impact of the movement. Exhibited were more than 300 objects, with furniture being dominant, but included were jewelry, ceramics, textiles, stained glass, book bindings, tapestries and hand-printed wall paper. In America, leading architectural promoters were architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, and strong supporters included furniture maker Gustav Stickley. American artists who became part of the movement include Arthur Mathews, Lucia Matthews, Birge Harrison, John Fabian Carlson, Hermann Murphy, Blanche Lazzell, Anna and Albert Valentien, Zulma Steele-Parker and Reginald Machell. Sources: Art Review, “The New York Times”, July 26, 2005, B5; Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Terms"; "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Judith Newton & Carol Weiss, "Skirting the Issue". (LPD) |
Arts for the Parks | A name given to exhibitions of the National Park Foundation, a non-profit group formed in the 1980s with the stated goal has to identify and promote artists "whose paintings best captured the 'essence' of the landscapes, wildlife, and history of the more than 300 units of our National Park System. The first exhibition was in 1987, and from that time, Arts for the Parks exhibitions became annual events. An initial and ongoing focus of its organizers is to promote landscape as subject matter in American art, which has had a period of domination by abstraction. However, in 2006, it was announced that the Arts for the Parks exhibition may be terminated because the owners announced that, although they would entertain an offer of buying, they wanted to retire. Also controversy had arisen because participating artists were required to sign documents that released them from copyright control of their entries. The 2006 Arts for the Parks winner, possibly the last one, was Maron Hylton for "One of the Fallen". Sources: Peter Hassrick, "Drawn to Yellowstone"; Judy Archibald, 'Art Beat', "Wildlife Art", January/ February 2007, p. 93. (LPD) |
ARTTABLE | A national organization founded in 1980 in New York City by Lila Harnett, art writer, to bring together professional women active in the visual arts. The goal is to advance greater understanding and appreciation of the visual arts by providing meetings for the exchange of information. The headquarters are in New York and regional chapters are in Washington DC, Northern California, Southern California and Boston. Each year an annual conference is held in New York City, and Distinguished Service to the Visual Arts Awards are given to women professionals. Recipients include Elizabeth Baker, Editor of "Art in America"; Agnes Gund, President Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art; and Paula Cooper, Director of the Paula Cooper Gallery. Source: http://www.arttable.org/spotlight.html (LPD) |
ASCO | A word that means "nausea" in Spanish and used by a Chicano four-member art group in East Los Angeles in the 1970s. Their purpose was to expand the definition of Chicano art beyond murals and posters with a wide range of art forms including conceptual art, street performances, and photo montage. Members included Patssi Valdez, the only woman; Harry Gamboa, photographer; and painters Willie Herron and Gronk Nicandro. Source: Website of The Target Corporation, http://pressroom.target.com/pr/news/community/arts/chicano/chicano-bios.aspx |
Ashcan School | A term loosely applied to the first American art movement of the 20th century, begun soon after 1900 by Robert Henri. Other painters included Everett Shinn, George Bellows, John Sloan and George Luks. Their commonality was realistic portrayal of the city life around them, usually that which was 'less-than-glamourous'. The unrelieved accuracy of their paintings of New York slums led to the nickname the 'Ashcan School', a description first used by Holger Cahill and Alfred Barr in a book in 1934. The Ashcan painters had earned their living illustrating newspaper articles, and this training in realistic depiction undoubtedly influenced their style. None of the artists stayed consistently with the subject matter, nor did they view themselves as messengers of social change as did the Social Realists of the 1930s. They painted very few "ash cans" and there was no formal "school". As advocates in varying degrees of realism, they have also been referred to as New York Realists. Sometimes the term Ash Can School is mistakenly synonymous with The Eight, but The Eight refers only to a group that exhibited together at the Macbeth Gallery in 1908 (see Glossary). Source: "Brittanica Encyclopedia of American Art" (LPD) |
Assemblage | Three-dimensional or sculptural work that is the counterpart of collage, which is two-dimensional. Assemblage is composed of non-art materials, often found objects, that are seemingly unrelated but when 'assembled', create a unity. It originated with Pablo Picasso and George Braque and Cubism. In 1913, they made the first Assemblage, which was a guitar made of sheet metal. Peter Selz and William Seitz, curators at the Museum of Modern Art, created the name "assemblage" in 1961 for an exhibition of objects they titled "The Art of Assemblage". American Assemblage artists include Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Louise Nevelson, Joseph Cornell, Edward Kienholz, Lee Bontecou, Escobar Marisol, Richard Stankiewicz, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Pierre Arman and Red Grooms. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; AskART database. (LPD) |
Associated American Artists | Founded in 1934 in New York City during the Depression era by persons whose goal was to make fine art available to the “masses”---people who could not afford originals. Working with the AAA, executives of 50 department stores agreed to display and sell for five dollars each prints of artist members, which included Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, Luigi Lucioni, Grant Wood, Raphael Soyer, Reginald Marsh, Isabel Bishop and Adolf Dehn. By the mid 1900s, the Association had expanded to fabric design and a line of pottery called Stonelain. Involved as potters were Gwen Lux, Joseph Hirsh, William Solni and Frances Server. Sources: www.loc.gov/exhibits/ goldstein/goldamer.htm; www.tacomaartmuseum.org/page.asp?view=927
www.textilesociety.org/abstracts_2002/Herbaugh.htm
http://www.sindelarandobrien.com/stonelain_birds/stonelain_birds.htm (LPD)
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Association of American Painters and Sculptors | The organization that sponsored the landmark Armory Show exhibition of 1913, it was formed in 1911 by a group of New York artists who were dissatisfied with working within the exhibition and stylistic constraints of the National Academy of Design. Organizers did not espouse any specific style or subject matter of art, but had the common goal of casting aside restrictions they regarded as inhibiting. The immediate aim of the group was to find suitable exhibition space for young American artists and to "lead the public taste in art, rather than follow it". After preliminary meetings between painters Jerome Myers, Elmer MacRae, Walt Kuhn and others, they held a meeting at the Madison Gallery on December 16, 1911 to create a new artists’ organization. At a subsequent meeting on January 2, 1912, they elected officers and began to discuss exhibition plans. The president, Julian Alden Weir, who had been elected in absentia, resigned, so the leadership passed to Arthur B. Davies. The revolutionary Armory Show of 1913 was then organized and invitations were sent to European modernists, who, in turn introduced their styles including Cubism in America. For many years, the extensive financial records of this landmark Armory Show appeared to be lost, but were found in 1958 at the Bush-Holley House during its restoration at Cos Cob Connecticut. The home had been the Holley Inn, and Elmer MacRae, the treasurer of the AAPS, married Constant Holley. The couple lived at the Bush-Holley House from 1900 until his death in 1958, and the treasurer's records and other papers were found among his possessions. Source: Milton Brown, "The Story of the Armory Show" (LPD)
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Association of Women Painters and Sculptors | See National Association of Women Artists |
Asymetry | Unbalanced, meaning a form whose sides are not identical. It is an effect often used to make objects or figures more realistic. Source:
Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Atelier | French term for “artist’s workshop.” The reference is to a place where an artist teaches students and/or has apprentices working under his/her supervision. The term "atelier libre" is French for a studio where a nude model poses at fixed times so that students can draw without paying a teacher or tuition. Source: Ralph Mayer, Art Terms and Techniques" |
Atelier 17 | A printmaking workshop founded in 1927 in Paris by Stanley Hayter, an English painter, and then moved to New York in 1940. Atelier 17 was first associated with the New School of Social Research, but in 1945, moved to its own quarters on Eighth Street. Hayter served as Director until his return to Paris in 1950, and members including Karl Schrag and Peter Grippe served in that leadership capacity. Unique to Atelier 17 were Hayter's pioneering techniques with copper and zinc plate engraving, free-line engraving, drilled plates and deep etching. Hayter, like many associated with his workshop, was a surrealist and attracted artists of that and other abstract styles. American participants included Jackson Pollock, Louise Nevelson, Max Ernst, Andre Masson, Yves Tanguy, Robert Motherwell, Gabor Peterdi, Sue Fuller, Minna Citron, Nahum Tschacbasov, Harriet FeBland, Franz Kline and Mauricio Lasansky. Peterdi and Lasansky have been especially active in carrying on the movement. In 1944, the Museum of Modern Art had an exhibition of Atelier 17 prints. Sources: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; AskART Database (LPD) |
Atmosphere/Atmospheric | A feeling or mood created pictorially by the manipulation of light and spatial affects. An artist's use of Atmospherics is an attempt to make a painting appear three-dimensional by taking into account the way atmosphere or mood affects what is seen, remembering that the further away an object is, the less detail it contains and the more blurred it becomes. Also, the meaning refers to Aerial Perspective because the evanescent effects generate a sense of air around the landscape subject. Hudson River School painter Asher Durand described Atmosphere as carrying the viewer "into a picture instead of allowing us to be detained in front of it." (Flexner 60). In his paintings, Durand created atmosphere by manipulating degrees of light, so that there was a sense of "angry flashes" in nature, often contrasted with the more serene aspects of the prevailing mood. English painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) and French painter, Claude Lorrain (1602-1682) were early influences on atmospherics in American painting, a major factor being their influence on Asher Durand and other members of the Hudson River School of painting such as Thomas Cole and Jasper Cropsey. Sources: Kimberly Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; James Flexner, "History of American Painting", Vol. III. (LPD) |
Atmospheric Perspective | A device for suggesting three-dimensional depth on a two-dimensional surface. Forms meant to be perceived as distant from the viewer are blurred, indistinct, misty and often more blue in color. |
Attributed | An indicator of signature status, meaning that the authorship of a work of art is not confirmed, but that on documentary or stylistic grounds, it can be assigned to a particular artist. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Audubon Artists | A group of painters, sculptors, drawing and graphic artists named in 1942 for the ornithologist John James Audubon. The purpose of the organization, which became national but was founded as a regional group in New York City in 1941, is art discussion, exhibition and education. The goals have remained the same, but since incorporation in 1946, membership has become national although annual exhibitions are held in New York City. The first annual exhibitions were held at the National Academy of Design in New York City, and then from 1980 moved to other venues including the National Arts Club and the Institute of Arts and Letters. From 1997, the Salmagundi Club has been the site with Audubon exhibitions held in two parts, the first being two weeks of Aquamedia, Graphics and Sculpture and the second two weeks being oil paintings. Noted American artists who have served as Presidents of Audubon Artists are David Beynon Pena, Marion Roller, Stephen McNeely, Judith Weller, Guy Pene du Bois, Hughie Lee-Smith, Frederic Whitaker and Umberto Romano. Source: Jan Gary, Historian, www.audubonartists.org/history.html; AskART database. (LPD) |
Automatism | A technique of creating a work of art without conscious effort, thought or will. With emphasis on intuition and spontaneity rather than planned composition, Automatism underlies 20th-century abstract art, especially Abstract Expressionism. Automatism was a deliberate method sometimes employed by the Surrealists including Andre Breton and Max Ernst and Action Painters such as Jackson Pollock. Some equate Automatism with doodling, but doodling, when used as a formal term, is regarded as a process of conscious selection. The theory of Automatism is traced to 17th-century philosophers Rene Descartes and Thomas Hobbes and to Thomas Huxley in the 19th century. He stated that "our mental conditions are simply the symbols in consciousness of the changes which take place automatically in the organism." (Britannica) In the late 19th century, Automatism with its emphasis on intuition, accident and irrationality gained strength through the movements of Dada, Futurism and Collages. Sources: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques". (LPD) |
Avant-Garde | In art vocabulary, a departure from the existing norm and being ahead of one's time. The word is tied to a French word meaning "advance guard". It is a description of a group involved in the invention and application of new ideas and techniques in an original or experimental way. 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. Thus the term can refer to that which is extreme or outlandish. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms"; Robert Atkins, "Art Speak" (LPD) |
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