Tag Archives: art/architecture/design

Renaissance Art

Posted on July 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Renaissance Art: Strictly, art of the period from ca. 1400 to ca. 1520, but sometimes traced back to the time of Giotto, ca. 1300. During the 14th century, Italian art, especially painting, increasingly took account of scientific perspective and moved toward realism. During the 15th century, early Renaissance development was spurred by the rediscovery of ancient classical art. Reached its climax in the first decades of the 16th century with High Renaissance Art.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Coda: A Lesson Plan on Raphael’s “The School of Athens”

Posted on July 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

While working on posting the eleven lessons below, I came upon this lesson plan on The School of Athens, the painting by Raphael. I have no idea how it ended up there, or even when I wrote it, but I think it may have been for a professional development obligation of some sort. Here also is the bare-bones worksheet template I started to go with it.

So, if you’re interested in developing this further, there it is. Keep in mind that there are all manner of excellent websites–like this one–to point you in the right direction for completing this lesson.

If you do in fact develop this further, and you are so inclined, I’m interested in hearing about where you took it.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Mosaic

Posted on July 25, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Mosaic: The technique of decorating walls, floors, etc., with designs formed by embedding small cubes (tesserae) of glass, ceramic, or marble in a fine cement. Though known by ancient artists, it was fully developed only in Byzantine and Roman art.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Deconstruction

Posted on July 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Deconstruction: In architecture deconstruction is a more disruptive element within a postmodern zeitgeist. Architectural postmodernism often enacts a nostalgic reinvestment of meaning through the inclusion of historicizing references such as classical columns and ornamentation. Deconstructive architecture, on the other hand, seeks a deregulation of architectural meaning and function. Bernard Tschumi’s structures at the Parc de la Villette in Paris do away with the great synthesis of modern architecture: form follows function. Their playful uselessness is a travesty of the functionalist paradigm. See SEMIOTICS.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Red-Figure Vase Painting

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Red-Figure Vase Painting: Technique and style of Greek vase painting developed bout 525 BC (after Black-Figure Vase Painting) and dominating the art of the 5th century B.C. Black glaze is painted around the forms and figures of the reddish-brown clay, with inner details painted in. The finest Greek wares are in the red-figure style.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Iconography

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Iconography: The area of study dealing with the description of visual images and symbols. Art historian Erwin Panofsky first made the distinction between the identification of images (iconography) and the interpretation of their meaning (iconology). See ALLEGORY and REPRESENTATION.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Tintype

Posted on July 13, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Tintype: A photographic process in which a direct positive image is produced by a small, lightweight iron plate by a variation of the Collodion Wet Plate process. Popular until the late 19th century, especially with itinerant portrait photographers, who made and sold them cheaply. Also called ferrotype.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Sheffield Plate

Posted on July 8, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Sheffield Plate: Objects made during the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries in England using a thin sheet of silver fused to a sheet of copper.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Halftone

Posted on July 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Halftone: In photoengraving, a process in which gradations of light (value) are obtained by manipulating the density of minute dots on the printing surface. The conversion of image to dots is achieved by photographing the subject through a special screen. Halftones have been in use since 1878.”

Excerpted from: Diamond, David G. The Bulfinch Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms. Boston: Little Brown, 1992.

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Doonesbury

Posted on July 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

If you have any budding comic strip drafters, graphic novelists, or just kids who like to draw in your cohort (I’ve had quite a few over the years), then this reading on the comic strip Doonesbury and its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet might be of interest to them. In my experience, this reading has been high-interest material for a certain kind of student, especially once they’ve seen the strip itself–available in most daily newspapers and, of course, online. If you had told me that more than forty years after I was introduced to this strip in high school it would still be going strong in 2020, I don’t know if I would have believed it.

So, if nothing else, the topical nature of Doonesbury and its longevity, inextricably intertwined as they are, is an area for some critical inquiry.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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