Art Terminology 101: 20 Art Terms to Describe an Artwork
Like any specialty field, a list of jargon specific to the arts exists. Knowing a handful of art terms is helpful to describe an artwork and is extremely nifty when searching for the ideal artwork to display in your space. On Bluethumb, you can refine your search by preferred medium, subject, and style. But hang on, you might want to brush up on your art terminology to help you navigate your options.
Acrylic
Acrylic paint, which artists first used in the 1960s, combines pigment and synthetic resin. Because acrylic is water-based, it tends to dry quickly and can be diluted with water to give a range of painterly effects that can resemble watercolor. Acrylic tends to dry to a matt finish and lacks the rich tonality of oil paint. British artist David Hockney used acrylic’s distinctively flattened surface effect when painting the pools and private residences of Los Angeles in the 1960s.
Australiana
As an Australian-founded company, you’ll see this style all over Bluethumb! Australiana involves the people and places, flora and fauna, items, objects, and events of Australian origins. Australiana is anything concerning Australian culture, society, geography, and ecology, especially if it is native to Australia.
Watts River Maroondah Dam by Kevin Boucher is an excellent example of Australiana!
Avant-garde
Here’s a fun fact: Avant-garde was originally a military term for the troops at the front of an army who push forward before the others. The English equivalent is vanguard! In a more cultural sense, the avant-garde moves ideas and forms forward, often causing shock or consternation for those who have not caught up yet. You might hear avant-garde being used to describe music, fashion, and art.
Brushwork
An artist’s brushwork refers to the way they use their brush to put paint on a canvas and the effect that this has on the picture. Brushwork creates varied results in the texture of a piece. You might see thick paint build-ups, smooth lines, and delicate or organic movements with brushwork. Short, chopping strokes, for example, can signify heightened activity, such as a crashing wave. Regarding art terms, this is a great one to have up your sleeve when describing an artwork!
Kenneth Halvorsen’s loose brushwork in Crocus Meadow conveys the feeling of a breeze rustling through a field of wildflowers.
Expressionism
In expressionist art, intense and non-naturalistic colors are frequent. Free-flowing brushwork is common, and there tends to be a generous, highly textured paint application. Expressionism lends itself to emotional, sometimes mystical sentiments.
Oil Paint
Oil paint consists of raw pigment suspended in an oil medium, usually linseed or walnut oil. Because of its prolonged drying, oil paint enables artists to make gradual changes to their painting over time, something often revealed in pentimenti (faded areas through which under layers show). Oil is a diverse medium, allowing for thick, gooey impasto and wet-in-wet blending, as well as thin, translucent glazes and subtle tonal ranges. Oil holds color efficiently, creating rich depths and subtle realism in depicting flesh, fabrics, and textures. For these reasons, oil became the medium of choice for portraits of individuals from the Renaissance onwards.
Oil paint is Fangmin Wu’s medium of choice – and we can see why!
Hue
Hue is often brought up when describing an artwork’s color and saturation. It refers to a color’s position on the color wheel. Our primary hues are red, blue, green, yellow, and orange. Within these primary hues are overlaps, where diverse ranges of color can be used within the same artwork.
Limited Edition Print
Having a limited edition print means that your print of original artwork is part of a limited number that exist in that size. Limited edition prints are considered more of a rarity than open reproduction prints and, therefore, often have a higher perceived value as they will not be printed again.
Abstract Australian Native Orange Gum Blossoms in Vase, limited-edition print by Emma Whitelaw.
Monochrome
A monochrome work of art is made in a single color. This can be as extreme as an all-white, as created by various artists in the twentieth century. The effect of monochrome painting can be to call attention to the fiction of art itself, making a painting seem like stone, or it can be a means of considering the work’s formal qualities without making any associations with the world beyond.
Mid-century
Mid-century often comes paired with a form of modernism – yet mid-century modern is a little tricky to define! Broadly, it describes the architecture, graphic design, and furniture from the middle of the 20th century. This timeframe is roughly from the 1930s to the 1960s, a modifier for the larger-known modernist movement.
Art collector Freddy Grant has an apparent affinity for mid-century interior trends!
Mosaic
An ancient form of decorative art, mosaic covers large surfaces, traditionally the interiors of religious buildings. A mosaic is composed of up to thousands of small pieces of glass, ceramic, or marble, which are permanently affixed to a surface, such as a ceiling, wall of floor – and, if you’re looking on Bluethumb, a portable panel! If the mosaic is laid down slightly unevenly, it will reflect light in diverse ways, seeming to glitter; this is often seen when glass tiles containing gold leaf are used on ceilings.
Old Master
Old master is a term often used to describe works of art made in Western Europe between 1400 and 1800 in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance and is frequently used in the art market to refer to the sale of artworks from that period. The term suggests a certain quality standard and a traditional relationship with virtuosity, naturalism, and illusion.
Jos Kivits’ Still Life with Rock Melon, Basket with Fruit, Ceremonial Jug is reminiscent of the old masters.
Palette
The term palette has two related but slightly different meanings: the handheld board painters use to mix their paints on and a painter’s choice of colors in work. For example, a painting might have a muted, vibrant, limited, or decorative palette. A particular range of colors can evoke a certain atmosphere in work. For instance, a muted palette might suggest a melancholy or sinister tone.
Photorealism
Photorealism is one of our new art terms added to the selection of styles on Bluethumb. Photorealist paintings attempt to capture the visual world with the accuracy of a camera’s eye. They often mimic the depth of field and lens flare found in their photographic source material. In 1960s America, photorealism was fast emerging as a slow process, often aided by projecting a photograph onto a canvas as a guide. The tension between the quickly made picture and its slow reproduction makes such paintings compelling. In early photorealism, the uncanny precision gave the often dull subject a strange, almost surreal intensity.
This image oozes everything that Collectable artist Todd Simpson looks for in an urban scene – blur against sharp focus, perspective, reflections, and a palette of oranges and reds that pop against the blues and darks of the night. Featured: Showtime
Figurative
Born somewhat as a response to abstract art, figurative art refers to artists who retain aspects of the natural world as their subject matter. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean figurative art is realistic – one of the greatest artists who was exemplary of modern figurative painting was Pablo Picasso, the father of Cubism.
Street Art
Using public space as a canvas to express political opinions or personal resentment or to announce one’s existence has an ancient story. However, Street art emerged from the mid-1970s American urban graffiti culture, focusing primarily on text or images sprayed using aerosols. By contrast, street art can include different approaches, including stencils, projected light, video, and even sculpture. Street art is often politically engaged and critical of prevailing power, but it is just as often not.
Nowadays, the sentiment of Street art is carried onto the canvas as an expression of style, ultimately conveying a slice of this original sentiment into people’s homes.
Australian Artist Cold Ghost is best known for his mixed media collage paintings that remind us of city street posters.
Reproductive Print
An artist may reproduce an original work of art as a reproductive print. Historically, this has allowed a much broader public to become familiar with paintings and other works, which had until then only been available to collectors of a particular socio-economic class. This is one of the more recent art terms added to Bluethumb.
Watercolour
Watercolour paint is made by suspending raw pigment in a binder, usually Arabic gum (derived from the sap of the acacia tree) mixed with water. Watercolour is generally used on sheets of white paper, where its thin consistency allows the brightness of the paper to show through, giving a general effect of radiance. Areas of the paper are often left unpainted to evoke highlights, or white gouache can be used for the same function. Because of its delicacy, watercolor is a challenging medium, although it is ideal for plein-air landscape painting, as it dries quickly and can be applied at speed.
The Blue Door, Tuscany by American Artist Kristen Olson Stone.
Documentary
A prominent style of photography, documentary photography provides an accurate representation of its subject and story. Social documentaries come into play within this genre, whereby artists see the camera as a tool for social change, using it to shed light on social matters. This is often subjective, however, whereas traditional documentary photography takes a straightforward, objective approach.
Diptych/Triptych/Polyptych
These terms describe altarpieces composed of several individual panels: two (diptych), three (triptych), or many (polyptych). Depending on the size of the painting, these panels might be hinged, allowing the altarpiece to be folded up for moving. Usually, though, you’ll find them free-standing on Bluethumb.
Kandima Diptych by American Artist Novi Lim.
Art Deco
Art Deco is a style initially found in architecture, design, and fine art of the 1920s and 30s. This art term fuses various influences, including Cubism, ancient Aztec and Egyptian art, and industrial design, especially trains, cars, and boats. Art Deco was a reasonably short-lived style associated with the economic boom of the 1920s. However, it continues to inspire interior design trends and art today.
