Art can be hard to understand. Even when someone explains it, many words related to art are unfamiliar to us. However, once we learn more about these art words, the art world begins to make more sense, and our appreciation for any piece of art will grow. You might even learn to love art.
Artwork
We can say, “The human body is a work of art” or “The Grand Canyon is God’s artwork.” Most of the time, though, “artwork” is a word that points to the creation of human hands (or brushes, chisels, pencils, paint, etc.). Alternatively, artwork is an expression of the human mind, like musical, literary, or choreographic compositions. In other words, it is a human idea received by the senses.
Photography
Photography is a word related to art that everyone has heard. Nevertheless, it stands as a peer to painting, sculpture, and drawing as a visual art. Why? Is that selfie you snapped with your phone art? Or that photo of the granddaughter on the piano? Photography has many practical uses, but it can also highlight beauty, truth, and goodness, as Ansel Adams, Irving Penn, and others demonstrate.
Subject Matter
Like basic conversation or a business memorandum has subject matter, art likewise has a central idea. The subject matter of the Mona Lisa is a woman or the opera Aida, a romance between an enslaved person and a war hero. The Sparks Gallery in San Diego names three elements that make subject matter. These are the focal point, form, and intention.
Canvas
Among the words related to art, canvas refers to a sturdy cloth. Composed of cotton, hemp, or flax, it is a popular surface on which painters do their work. Canvas has the toughness and capacity to hold onto heavy oil-based paints while they dry – a very long process. Some of the most famous artists, e.g., Vincent Van Gogh and Clause Monet, made their works on canvas.
Brush
Sure, we all have known what a paintbrush is since kindergarten. What is a surprise to most is that painting brushes are many and diverse. There are those used for minute detail and for broad strokes. Some brushes are particularly suited for oils, while others do best with watercolors. Meanwhile, there are brushes made from animal hair and even nylon brushes, which are more effective with acrylic or plaster.
Perspective
Artists use perspective when they create a visual on a two-dimensional surface that appears to be a three-dimensional object. Doing this involves the depiction of a horizon, a vanishing point, and lines that point to it. The effect is to create depth where, of course, there is none.
Sculptures
Some people are not content with the illusion of 3-D – they want the real thing. Often, words related to art, like sculpture, denote hard substances like plaster, ivory, or marble. Beyond these materials, sculptors can shape their works with soap, sand, stone, resins, and plastics. Harder substances demand chisels and other tools to form their art. Softer ones, like clay, may need only hands or scalpels for detail.
Composition
As a writer composes with words and a composer does so with musical tones, so does an artist who assembles elements to make a full composition. These elements include color, lines, and contours, for instance. Yet what completes the composition is how each element is used in the work according to established design principles like repetition, symmetry, and balance.
Expressionism
Among the many movements in art history, expressionism is one of the more emotional. In fact, that is the purpose of this early 20th-century development: to evoke intense emotion. Painters achieved this by distorting recognizable shapes and using vulgar, obnoxious colors for emphasis. This is a modernist movement because of the time of its emergence. Max Beckmann and Otto Dix are famous expressionists.
Abstract Art
The beginning artist stereotype has a student attempting to paint or sculpt a basket of fruit. Tangible objects have always been the favorite subject matter for creative types. Yet abstract art steers away from “external reality” toward representing ideas and visions that are not (immediately) recognizable. In other words, abstract art uses the elements of composition to create something without familiar points of reference.
Foreground
Once you understand perspective, the matter of foreground is basic. The foreground is the part of the image that appears closest to the viewer. The foreground sits lower on a two-dimensional representation when contrasted with the background. Artists will make foreground images larger and background images smaller to suggest depth. There may be a middle ground as well.
Acrylic Movement
From the mid-20th century, artists have had the option of acrylic paint, i.e., a water-based paint that can look like watercolors or oil-based paint, depending on the amount of water added. This is because an artificial resin added to the paint causes the molecules to better adhere to one another. Well-known champions of the Acrylic movement are David Hockney and ADY Warhol.
2-D
Two-dimensional art, or 2-D, has length and width but neither depth nor height. So, paintings, portraits, photographs, drawings, or prints fit the description of 2-D. As noted above, a 2-D work with the appropriate perspective can appear three-dimensional. Nevertheless, this designation refers to the actual dimensions rather than those perceived. Whether the artist uses paint, charcoal, ink, chalk, canvas, or paper does not affect the essential nature of 2-D works.
List of Words Related to Art
- Artwork
- Photography
- Subject Matter
Canvas - Brush
- Perspective
- Sculptures
- Composition
- Expressionism
- Abstract Art
- Foreground
- Acrylic Movement
- Artistic Movement
- 2-D
- Fine Art
- Brushwork
- Abstract Painting
- Mood
Aboriginal Art - Paintbrush
- Painting
- Sculpture
- Drawing
- Sketch
- Canvas
- Easel
- Palette
- Brush
- Watercolor
- Acrylic
- Oil
- Charcoal
- Pastel
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Still life
- Abstract
- Impressionism
- Cubism
- Surrealism
- Expressionism
- Realism
- Modernism
- Contemporary
- Pottery
- Clay
- Ceramic
- Potter’s wheel
- Glaze
- Kiln
- Sculptor
- Carving
- Woodwork
- Metalwork
- Printmaking
- Etching
- Lithograph
- Engraving
- Photography
- Film
- Collage
- Mosaic
- Calligraphy
- Graffiti
- Street art
- Installation
- Performance art
- Dance
- Theater
- Acting
- Playwright
- Stage
- Set design
- Costume design
- Music
- Orchestra
- Symphony
- Composition
- Melody
- Harmony
- Rhythm
- Jazz
- Blues
- Classical
- Hip-hop
- Pop art
- Op art
- Folk art
- Outsider art
- Digital art
- Virtual reality art
- Collage
- Mixed media
- Potlatch
- Iconography
- Fresco
- Graffito
- Icon
- Iconoclasm
- Illuminated manuscript
- Patronage
- Reproduction
- Symbolism
- Palette knife
- Gouache
- Watercolor paper
- Sculpture garden
- Art therapy
- Art deco
- Art nouveau
- Bauhaus
- Conceptual art
- Dadaism
- Performance art
- Installation art
- Action painting
- Fauvism
- Collage
- Encaustic
- Monochromatic
- Gesso
- Pencil
- Ink
- Enamel
- Graffiti
- Spray paint
- Charcoal sketch
- Chiaroscuro
- Mural
- Fresco
- Abstract expressionism
- Pointillism
- Op art
- Artifacts
- Exhibition
- Gallery
- Aesthetics
- Color theory
- Figure drawing
- Still life painting
- Surrealist
- Cubist
- Impasto
- Mixed media
- Collage
- Found object art
- Pop culture
- Concept art
- Street artist
- Screen printing
- Lithography
- Cyanotype
- Photomontage
- Digital illustration
- Pixel art
- Conceptualism
- Performance artist
- Mime
- Theatre production
- Ballet
- Choreography
- Opera
- Musical
- Conductor
- Composition
- Melody
- Improvisation
- Syncopation
- Acapella
- Ballad
- Folk music
- Album
- Vinyl
- Art studio
- Pottery wheel
- Raku firing
- Caricature
- Carving tools
- Wireframe
- Kinetic art
- Land art
- Environmental art
- Body painting
- Henna art
- Encaustic painting
- Illumination
- Miniature painting
- Glassblowing
- Stained glass
- Sgraffito
- Patron
- Art market
- Reproduction
- Iconography
- Gouache painting
- Wash painting
- Sculpture park
- Art Conservation
- Art historian
- Art movement
- Symbolist
- Caravaggisti
- Neoclassicism
- Rococo
- Action painter
- Monochrome
- Giclée print
- Visual art
- Fine art
- Art appraisal
- Art curation
- Photorealism
- Kinetic sculpture
- Batik
- Performance art festival
- Contemporary art museum
- Art auction
- Installation artist
- Landscape painting
- Art Restoration
- Abstract
- Acrylic
- Airbrush
- Animation
- Antique
- Appliqué
- Assemblage
- Artist
- Atelier
- Avant-Garde
- Bas-Relief
- Bauhaus
- Beauty
- Brushstroke
- Calligraphy
- Cartoon
- Carving
- Collage
- Color
- Composition
- Conceptual Art
- Constructivism
- Contemporary
- Craft
- Creativity
- Cubism
- Decoration
- Decorative
- Design
- Detail
- Drawing
- Dynamism
- Expressionism
- Fauvism
- Figure
- Form
- Fresco
- Gallery
- Geometric
- Gesture
- Gilding
- Gothic
- Graffiti
- Graphic
- Installation
- Interpretation
- Irony
- Line
- Lithograph
- Medium
- Minimalism
- Movement
- Mural
- Narrative
- Naturalism
- Neoclassicism
- Object
- Oil Paint
- Op Art
- Painting
- Perspective
- Performance Art
- Photorealistic
- Picasso
- Pigment
- Pop Art
- Portrait
- Printmaking
- Realism
- Renaissance
- Relief
- Renaissance
- Representation
- Sculpture
- Sketch
- Silkscreen
- Still Life
- Style
- Symbolism
- Surrealism
- Technique
- Texture
- Theme
- Tint
- Tone
- Trompe-L’Oeil
- Value
- Van Gogh
- Watercolor
- Woodcut
- Achromatopsia
- Anagogical
- Anamorphosis
- Antiquarian
- Axonotomeric
- Baroque
- Callipygian
- Calligraphy
- Chromatic
- Cloisonné
- Collages
- Déco
- Degenerate Art
- Diptych
- Ekphrasis
- En Plein Air
- Fauvism
- Gouache
- Grisaille
- Icon
- Impasto
- Istoria
- Kabartje
- Ceramics
- Kitsch
- Monochrome
- Montage
- Mughal
- Naive Art
- Nirvana
- Ochre
- Odalisque
- Paleoart
- Plein Air
- Polychrome
- Primitivism
- Psychedelia
- Retro
- Sfumato
- Surrealism
- Tessellation
- Trompe-L’Oeil
- Ukiyo-E
- Vanitas
- Vibrant
- Woodcut
Great words related to arts.
Thank you.