Praxis Art flashcards
Praxis Art · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Line
- An element of art: a mark longer than it is wide. Lines may be actual or implied and can be straight, curved, thick, thin, or varied in direction to guide the eye.
- Value
- The lightness or darkness of a color or gray. Tints add white, shades add black, and tones add gray; value creates the illusion of three-dimensional form.
- Hue
- The name of a color family on the color wheel, such as red, blue, or yellow-green, considered independently of its lightness or saturation.
- Analogous colors
- Colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel, such as blue, blue-green, and green. They share a common hue and produce harmonious, low-contrast schemes.
- Complementary colors
- Colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel, such as red and green. Placed side by side they intensify each other; mixed as pigments they neutralize toward gray.
- Radial balance
- A type of balance in which elements repeat or radiate outward from a central point, as in a rose window or a mandala, creating symmetry around a center.
- Asymmetrical balance
- Also called informal balance; unequal elements on either side of an axis are arranged so their visual weights feel equal, often through size, color intensity, or placement.
- One-point perspective
- A spatial system in which parallel lines receding from the viewer converge at a single vanishing point on the horizon line, creating depth on a flat surface.
- Vanishing point
- The spot on the horizon line where receding parallel lines appear to meet in linear perspective; one-point views have one, two-point views have two.
- Negative space
- The empty or unoccupied area around and between the positive shapes in a composition; it can be shaped deliberately to define form and balance.
- Focal point
- The area of a composition that first attracts the viewer's attention, created through emphasis by contrast in size, color, value, placement, or detail.
- Impasto
- A painting technique in which paint is applied thickly, often with a brush or palette knife, so the strokes stand up from the surface and catch light.
- Buon fresco
- Wall painting in which pigment suspended in water is applied to wet lime plaster; as the plaster cures, the image becomes chemically bonded and permanent.
- Glazing
- Applying thin, transparent layers of oil or acrylic paint over dried underlayers; light passes through the glaze and reflects back, producing luminous, deep color.
- Intaglio
- A printmaking family in which the image is cut or etched below the plate surface; ink sits in the recessed lines and is forced onto damp paper by a press.
- Lithography
- Planographic printmaking based on the repulsion of grease and water: the artist draws on a stone or plate with a greasy crayon, and only drawn areas accept ink.
- Lost-wax casting
- A bronze casting process in which a wax model is coated in clay, the wax is melted out, and molten metal is poured into the resulting mold to form a hollow sculpture.
- Bisque firing
- The first firing of unglazed clay, which drives off water and carbon and hardens the piece into porous, durable ceramic that is ready for glazing.
- Aperture
- The adjustable opening in a camera lens; measured in f-stops, a smaller f-number means a wider opening, more light, and shallower depth of field.
- Gouache
- An opaque watercolor in which chalk or another white pigment is added, giving flat, matte, covering color that is useful for illustration and design work.
- Raster image
- A digital image built from a grid of pixels; resolution is measured in pixels per inch, and enlarging too far reveals visible pixelation or jagged edges.
- Tenebrism
- Baroque use of extreme light-and-dark contrast, with figures emerging from deep shadow; Caravaggio made it famous, and it heightens drama and emotional intensity.
- Sfumato
- Leonardo da Vinci's technique of blending tones so gradually that outlines dissolve into a smoky haze, softening edges and creating atmospheric depth in oil painting.
- Contrapposto
- A classical Greek pose in which the weight rests on one leg, tilting the hips and shoulders in opposite directions; it gives the figure natural balance and implied motion.
- Readymade
- An ordinary manufactured object, such as a urinal or bottle rack, presented as art; Marcel Duchamp used readymades to challenge what makes something art.
- Feldman method
- A four-step art criticism model: description of what is seen, analysis of how elements and principles are used, interpretation of meaning, and judgment of success.
- Impressionism
- A French movement named after Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise; artists worked outdoors with broken color and visible brushstrokes to capture fleeting light and atmosphere.
- Analytic Cubism
- The early Cubist phase, about 1908 to 1912, in which Picasso and Braque fractured subjects into overlapping planes of muted brown and gray, showing multiple viewpoints at once.
- Abstract Expressionism
- A postwar American movement of large-scale, nonrepresentational painting; action painters like Pollock dripped and poured paint, while color field painters like Rothko used floating rectangles.
- Fauvism
- An early twentieth-century French movement led by Matisse; painters used bold, unnatural color and loose brushwork for expressive effect rather than realistic description.
- Pointillism
- A Neo-Impressionist technique developed by Seurat in which small dots of pure color are placed side by side so the viewer's eye blends them optically.
- Flying buttress
- An arched exterior support that carries the outward thrust of a Gothic nave wall to a pier, allowing tall walls filled with large stained-glass windows.