Glossary
of Important
Art Appreciation Terms
General
Terms
Aesthetics - the highly personal concern with artistic
quality
Content - the emotional or psychological
overtones of a work of art and its effect on a viewer; the emotional reaction
of a viewer to a work of art
Iconography
- the symbols or images conventionally associated with an object or culture
Subject Matter - an art object's outward appearance void
of emotional applications Elements of Composition (in the order to be addressed)
Line - The path of a moving point that can create shape (types: analytical,
autographic, classical, crosshatch, contour, expressive, implied)
Shape - An area that stands out from the space next to or around it because
of a defined or implied boundary (types: circular, square, rectilinear, elliptical,
cylindrical)
Value - The relative degree of light
and dark (types: chiaroscuro, highkey, tenebrist)
Color
- Having the physical properties of hue intensity and value (types: analogous,
arbitrary, complimentary, local, monochromatic, symbolic)
Texture - The surface character of a work of art that can
be experience through real surface manipulation or the illusion produced by the
artist (types: actual, impasto, implied, simulated)
Space - The interval or measurable distance between points or images (types:
aerial, atmospheric, figure/ground, foreshortened, negative/positive, perspective-all
types, two dimensional, three dimensional)
Time
- A temporal implication exhibited by the work itself or the actions of the viewer.
(types: linear, narrative, sequential)
Motion
- Actual or indicated movement by or in a work of art (types: kinetic, optical,
implied) Principles of Design (in the order to be addressed)
Scale and/or Proportion - The comparison or relationship between
parts of a whole or units as to size.
Variety
- Differences in the art elements when applied to a composition.
Unity and/or Harmony - The relating of the visual elements in a cohesive
fashion which gives the work of art a sense of completeness.
Repetition, Rhythm, and Pattern - intervals of like elements, motifs or
characteristics that recur throughout a composition.
Balance - A sense of equilibrium achieved by implied visual weight types:
absolute symmetry, asymmetry, approximate symmetry, radial)
Directional Forces or Eye Movement - The deliberate motivation of the artist
to force the viewer to see or read elements compositionally in an intentional
order.
Emphasis/Subordination - The importance
(focal) or unimportance (afocal) of real or abstract objects or elements in a
composition
other pages on this site
