Art Terms
Abstract art Art in which the subject is color, line, and shape rather than recognizable forms or a picture you can identify.
Assemblage A sculptural artwork made by assembling three-dimensional found objects and materials.
Collage A pictorial technique in which photographs, news cuttings, or other twodimensional materials (such as wallpaper, tissue paper, magazine cutouts, etc.) are pasted onto a flat surface, often in combination with painted or printed parts.
Expressionism Art in which forms are inspired not from directly observed reality, but from subjective reactions to reality.
Gsp Gelatin silver print. A photographic print made on paper which is coated with gelatin impregnated with lightsensitive silver. One of several ways of making a blackandwhite photographic image, noted for producing a wide range of gray tones.
Installation A type of threedimensional artwork, usually comprised of many parts, that takes over and alters the space where it is installed with the result that the viewer enters the space and is actively involved with the work of art.
Intaglio print A printing process by which the design is etched or engraved onto the metal printing plated, and then covered with ink. The surface is wiped clean, leaving ink only in the incised lines. A sheet of paper is placed over the plate, and both are run through a printing press. The force from the press transfers the ink in the plate onto the paper.
Mixed media Art which combines different types of physical materials, e.g. watercolor with pencil and oil pastels, or sculpture made with a variety of materials.
Montage A picture that looks like bits and pieces of overlapping pictures.
Oil stick Oil paint in a harder, stick form. Oil stick can be used like regular oil paint, by cutting off a piece of it with a palette knife and combining it with linseed oil to make a more liquid paint, or it can be used like a crayon for drawing.
Triptych A picture made up of three panels. Renaissance altarpieces often followed this format, with the two outer panels hinged so that they could fold like doors in front of the main, center panel.