Art dictionary provided by Bestnetart Artgallery

Art techniques

Intaglio printing techniques
C = intaglio printing (blank); C1 = steel engraving; C2 = copper engraving; C3 = etching; C4 = drypoint; C5 = aquatint; C6 = soft-ground etching; C7 = mezzotint.

Relief printing techniques
X = relief printing; X1 = woodcut; X2 = wood engraving; X3 = linocut; X4 = lead engraving; X5 = zinc engraving; X6 = plastic engraving; T = typographic.

Flatbed and industrial techniques
L = lithography; S1 = silkscreen; S2 = mimeography (dye stencil); S3 = Katazome; S4 = Kappa; P = photographic reproduction,- PI = line block; P2 = half-tone; P3 = photogravure; P4 = rotogravure; P5 = collotype; P6 = photolithography; P7 = ofset; P8 = photograph; CAD = computer aided design; MT = mixed technique; UT = unregistered technique.

Number preceding the technique = number of plates used; / number after the technique - number of colors used. / col. = hand coloured

This list of abbreviations, adopted by FISAE in 1958 and only slightly updated in 1992, needs to be revised. among unregistered techniques, various original graphic techniques had to be included - to give but one common example - linoleum engraving (as opposed to linocut).


art dictionary

Acrylic paint
An emulsion paint using a synthetic resin, now frequently used by artists as a quicker drying substitute for real oil paint.

Artists proof (A.P.) (Also E.A. = Epreuve d'artiste)
A print outside the numbered series, usually 1/10 of the edition.

Aquatint
An intaglio method in which areas of colour are made by dusting powdered resin on a metal plate and then letting acid eat the plate surface away from around it. Creates a granulated effect.

Bon-á-tire (Fr. "Good to pull", pron. bone-ah-ti-RAY)
The first impression of a print run acceptable to the artist and used as the standards with which each subsequent impression is compared.

Computer art
Art, mostly drawings and graphics, produced with the aid of computers.

Dry Point
An intaglio technique like engraving in which the image is drawn on a metal plate with a needle, raising a ridge which prints a soft line.

Edition
The authorized number of impressions made from a single image, including all numbered prints and proofs. A limited edition has a specified number noted on the impression.

Embossed print
Uninked relief print in which dampened paper is pressed into recessed areas of a plate to produce a three-dimensional impression.

Engraving
An intaglio process in which lines are cut into a metal plate and then filled with ink to transfer the image onto a paper.

Etching
An intaglio process in which an image is scratched through an acid-resistant coating on a metal plate. The plate is then dipped into acid which eats into the exposed surface.

Giclee print
Images generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art and photo based-paper. Giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.

Graphic
Any work printed directly on paper from plate or block.

Horse de commerce (H.C.) (Fr. "Outside of sale"; pron. OR de comAIRCE)
A designation for prints not in the numbered series pulled for the use of the publisher, normally limited to five or six.

Intaglio (Ital. "Incision"; pron. in-TAHL-yo)
Any technique in which an image is incised below the surface of the plate, including dry point, etching, aquatint, engraving, and mezzotint.

Linocut
A process in which an image is cut in relief on a linoleum block.

Lithograph
A planographic process in which images are drawn with crayon or a greasy ink on stone or metal and then transferred to paper.

Mezzotint
An intaglio process in which the plate surface is roughened and then an image is created by smoothing the areas to be printed.

Mixed Media
Art of the 20th c. which combines different types of physical materials or different production methods.

Monotype
A unique print made from an inked, painted glass or metal plate.

Pastel
A painting or drawing made by using Pastel colour (pens). "Pastel" is dry pigment bound with gum and used in stick form for drawing. A fixative is used to make it adhere to the ground.

Planography
Any process of printing from a flat surface, e.g. a lithographic stone.

Plate mark
An indentation left in the paper by the edge of the plate when an etching, engraving or monotype is printed.

Proof
A trial pull, or proof impression, of an etching or engraving made so that the artist can see whether the composition need to be revised or left as it is.

Relief
A Technique in which the portions of a plate intended to print are raised above the surface, as woodcut, linocut, etc.

Roman numbered edition
A smaller edition numbered with Roman numerals, usually a deluxe edition on higher quality paper.

Serigraphy (screenprinting, silkscreen)
A stencil method in which the image is transferred to paper by forcing ink through a fine mesh in which the background has been blocked.

Signed and numbered
Authenticated with the artist's signature, the total number of impressions in the edition, and the order in which the impression is signed; "5/20" indicates that the print is the fifth signed of an edition of 20 impressions.

Soft ground etching
An etching produces by mixing the ground with tallow, the design being drawn with a pencil on a piece of paper laid against the plate. The print has the soft finish of a drawing made on pencil or chalk.

State (1st, 2nd, etc.)
Version of a print which has been altered in color or image as the edition is printed.

Tempera
An emulsion used as medium for pigment often associated with Italian painters of the 14th and 15th c. Made of whole eggs or egg-yolk, but milk, various kinds of glue or gum etc.

Woodcut
Same as Xylography. A process in which an image is cut in relief on a wood block.


Art movements

Abstract art
Art which is either completely non-representational, or which converts forms observed in reality into patterns which are read / interpreted by the spectator.

Abstract expressionism
Abstract style originating in the U.S. in the 1940's emphasizing spontaneity and energy.

Art deco
Style in decoration and architecture originating in the 1920's characterized by streamlined, rhythmic patterns.

Baroque art
Term coined by the 19th century art historians for the prevailing style in Western European art c. 1580 - early18'th c.

Biedermeier
Art term used to describe the Central European decorative arts of the period 1820-40.

Constructivism
An abstract art movement which manifested itself in Russia shortly before the Revolution.

Cubism
Style inaugurated by Picasso and Braque in the early 20th century featuring fragmentation and rearrangement of natural forms.

Dadaism
Movement originating during and after World War I emphasizing the incongruous and accidental and mocking established traditions in art.

Expressionism
Style developed in Germany in the 1920s stressing the artist's emotional response to the subject, frequently using strong colors and distorted form.

Fauvinism (Fr. Fauve = "Wild beast"; pron. FOHV-ism)
An early 20th century French style employing thick outlines and bold, often clashing, colors unrelated to the colors of its subject in nature.

Gothic art
Medieval art from the mid of the Romanesque period (mid 12th c.) to the beginning of the Renaissance (early 15th c.).

Impressionism
French 19th c. art movement whereby artists tried to catch a particular fleeting impression of colour and light rather than making a synthesis in a studio.

Minimalism
Style emerging in the mid-20th century in which the elements are the simplest possible forms.

Naive art
The work of 20th century painters with a European cultural background who have not received a professional training.

Narrative painting
Painting whose chief intention is to tell a story.

Old Master
A painting of high quality produced before 1800 (formerly used for paintings earlier than 1700).

Op art
Name coined in 1947 for a style popular in the 1970s employing optical illusions by juxtapointing color and line in geometric patterns that seem to vibrate.

Pointillism
Late 19-century French style using small dots of pure color to compose images.

Pop art
American style of the 1960's employing imagery from popular and commercial culture to satirize or give emblematic value to familiar objects.

Rococo
A lighter and more playful version of the Baroque, associated with the reign of Louis XV of France.

Super Realism
Same as Photo and Hyper Realism. Exact copying of a photo or object. Often associated with the US on the 1970's.

Surrealism
Style using imaginary from dreams and the subconscious, often distorting forms of ordinary objects or placing them in new contexts.

Transitional art
Work produced by modern African artists re-using discarded European materials.

Trompe l'oeil (Fr. "Fool the eye"; pron. tromloy)
Style in painting so naturalistic that the eye is deceived into seeing flat surface as three-dimensional.


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