1) Content: The meaning, message, and/or feeling imparted by a work of art. This is not the
same thing as the subject matter the work depicts. Content is inextricably linked with form,
which refers to the pictorial aspects of art: in a word, its design --including choices about
shapes, colors, framing, contrast, soft or hard edges, & many other decisions.
2) Value: How much light things transmit to the eye. Synonym: tonality. Value is
monochromatic, i.e., a matter of black and white and gray, as opposed to Polychromatic
(more than one color). White and pale grays are high on the value scale, black and dark
grays are low on the tonal scale. The difference between values is called contrast. Closely
grouped tones like dark gray and black (or pale grays and white) are low contrast situations.
A radical difference between values (e.g., black and white) is defined as high contrast.
3) Aerial perspective: synonymous with atmospheric perspective. Because air (atmosphere)
exists between our eye and what we see, both contrast and intensity of color diminish as
distance increases. (See item #6 in James J. Gibbson’s Thirteen Different Kinds of
Perspective.) Aerial perspective is a natural phenomenon –exaggerated by inclement
weather such as snow or fog— offering a clue about spatial location. It’s used to suggest
space in the 2-dimensional art of many different cultures & eras.
4) Fluctuating ground: Images, which allow us to see the figure as the background, and viceversa. Figure = positive space = solid forms. Ground = negative space = the background.
Negative space can be likened to silence in music. Where aerial perspective provides clues
that indicate spatial location with relative certitude, fluctuating ground is deliberately
ambiguous. (Ambiguity doesn't mean lack of clarity; rather it refers to matters that are open
to clear but different {and often opposite} interpretations. High contrast images and closely
cropped pictures tend to encourage fluctuating ground. Dazzle camouflage (also known as
“zebrage”) is one practical application of fluctuating ground.
5) Gestalt: Derived from the German word for “pattern,” Gestalt psychology refers to the study
of perception. The 2 most prominent practitioners of this discipline are Rudolph Arnheim
and James J. Gibbson. Some later Gestaltists (notably Fritz Perls) applied ideas from
perceptual psychology to psychoanalysis and “patterns” of human behavior. This field is
also dubbed Configurationism.
6) Chiaroscuro: Literally meaning “clear/obscure,” this term refers to the use of strong light
and dark values to produce the illusion of solid form. (See item #13 in Thirteen Different
Kinds of Perspective.) This device is often associated with Baroque art, typified by the 17th
century master Caravaggio. Synonym: Tenebroso (literally, “in the dark manner”).
7) Medium: The material of which the artwork is made. Like many obvious things, this crucial
aspect of art is often overlooked. The relationship between a work and the material of its
making is linked to the relationship between Form and Content. Concern with the material
aspect of painting and sculpture is central to modern art. See Henry Moore’s remarks about
“Truth to Materials” in The Sculptors Aims.
8) Collage: From the French word coller, meaning “to stick” or “to glue down”: a 2dimensional work that’s made from cut and pasted scraps of various materials, e.g,
newspapers, photographs or fabrics.
9) Trompe l’oeil: literally, “trick the eye,” or “fool the eye,” trompe l’oeil art counterfeits the
precise appearance of one’s model so carefully that viewers mistake the painting for what
the painting represents. Exactitude about local colors and shadows is necessary to fool the
eye. Trompe l’oeil still lifes involve life-size models and shallow space; trompe l’oeil
architecture was often used to enhance a building’s spatial grandeur.
10) Mimesis: Imitating natural appearances. This broad term is relative, with trompe l’oeil
art being the most mimetic and total abstraction the least mimetic. Compare Archaic Greek
sculpture (circa 650 BC) to Classical sculpture (ca 340 BC) to Hellenistic sculpture (ca 240
BC). Classical sculpture is more mimetic that Archaic sculpture, but less mimetic than
statues from the Hellenistic period. Mimesis is one standard for quality --as demonstrated by
the legendary competition between Zeuxis and Parrhasios -- but there are others. The Greek
philosopher Plato, in his Allegory of the Cave, argued everything we see in the real world is
just a shadow of an ideal form, so mimetic art is a feeble imitation of an imitation. Platonic
ideals are hard to grasp in term of things we perceive, but they may be envisioned in
mathematics. We can conceive of “twoness” without thinking of two apples, two oranges…
11) Photorealism: art derived from photographs of objects rather than from the models
themselves. These careful, labor-intensive copies of photographic information reveal the
camera is monocular (one-eyed) and quite different from our binocular (two-eyed) vision.
(See item #4 in Thirteen Different Kinds of Perspective.) The camera is mindless; it records
unfiltered information and every detail. But human vision is selective and very thoughtful,
always evaluating what’s seen. One possible exception: individuals with severe autism, the
mental problem of Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rainman. Prominent contemporary
photorealists include Chuck Close, Don Eddy, and Richard Estes. But long before the
invention of photography in the early 19th century, artists like the Dutch painter Jan Vermeer
(1632-1675) used pre-photographic devices such as the camera obscura and the camera
lucida to help construct their paintings.
12) Iconography: The symbolic meaning of images and details in art. Sometimes these
symbolic meanings are arcane, but often they are virtually universal; e.g., skulls are
conventional memento mori symbols for death and mortality, often appearing in so-called
vanitas still lifes. Floral imagery is a widespread pictorial code for Eros and fertility.
Iconology = the study of iconography.
13) Dionysian: In his book The Birth of Tragedy, the 19th century German philosopher
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) coined two opposing adjectives that apply to art.
Dionysian (which derives its origin from the Greek god Dionysus, known as Bacchus in
Roman mythology) encompasses passion, imagination, energy, and chaos. The opposite
possibility, Apollonian (named for the Greek god Apollo,) refers to reason, logic and order.
In Nietzschean terms, a Romantic French painter like Eugene Delacriox (1798-1863) is
Dionysian, and the French Neo-classicist Jacques Louis David (1748-1825) is Apollonian.