Tag Archives: art/architecture/design

Fine Art

Posted on December 5, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Fine Art: Describes solely those categories of artworks traditionally judged to be the most prominent in forms of aesthetic significance. They include architecture, painting, sculpture, and many of the graphic arts, and are contrasted with decorative and applied art, in which function is as important as aesthetic considerations. Within painting, history painting was considered most important, followed by portraiture and landscape.”

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

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Commodification

Posted on December 2, 2019 | Leave a comment

“commodification: A term derived from Marxist analyses of the social forces that guide the production and sale of products, or commodities. Since the Renaissance, artworks have been commodities paid for by religious or royal patrons. By the 20th century, art production had become entangled in a complex web composed of collectors, auction houses, galleries, and museums. In the tradition of Dada, 1960s artists feeling constrained by increasing commercialism sought to create unmarketable works, giving rise to conceptual, political, performance, and earth art. Recent artists concerned with issues of originality, authorship, and camp, are indirectly addressing issues of commodification and canon formation.”

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

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Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference, Social Sciences

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Trompe L’Oeil

Posted on November 6, 2019 | Leave a comment

“trompe l’oeil: (Fr., deceives the eye) Painting that, through precise naturalism, the use of shade, perspective, or all of these, creates the illusion of being that which is depicted. Most often applied to small details, such as drops of dew on flower petals.”

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

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Rotten Rejections: And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

Posted on October 25, 2019 | Leave a comment

[This, of course, refers to Dr. Seuss’s 1937 book, which refers to Mulberry Street in Springfield, Massachusetts, which was the good doctor’s home, rather than the famous street in Little Italy in Manhattan.]

“…too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.”

Excerpted from: Bernard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

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Public Art

Posted on October 25, 2019 | Leave a comment

“public art: Most artwork created from the dawn of history has been public art in the sense that it was located in places of public gathering or worship, such as Greek temple sculpture and medieval church frescoes. Since the 1960s, artists’ appetites for creating works too large to be exhibited in galleries or museums, coupled with government-sponsored initiatives, have resulted in the placement of large, publicly funded sculptures in many parks and plazas, with various degrees of critical and popular success, Public uproar over Richard Serra’s site-specific Tilted Arc in Manhattan eventually forced its removal. Other artists created earthworks, such as Christo’s Running Fence, which required vast amounts of open space. See MEDIA ART.”

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

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Octavo

Posted on October 18, 2019 | Leave a comment

“A book usually measuring between 5 by 8 inches and 6 by 9 1/2 inches, which is composed of sheets folded into eight leaves.”

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

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Cultural Literacy: Pablo Picasso

Posted on October 4, 2019 | Leave a comment

OK, here, to wrap up the week, is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Pablo Picasso.

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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Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Intarsia

Posted on September 27, 2019 | Leave a comment

“Intarsia: Decoration of a wood surface by inlaying a design in such materials as mother-of-pearl, metal, ivory, etc.”

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

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Everyday Edit: Pablo Picasso

Posted on September 26, 2019 | Leave a comment

Here, in observation of Hispanic History Month 2019, is an Everyday Edit worksheet on Pablo Picasso. If you like this kind of exercise, the good people at Education World very generously offer at no charge a year’s supply of them–that hyperlink will take you to them.

If you find errors in this document…well, then you’re doing good work! Finding and correcting copy errors is kind of the point of this material.

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Yellowing

Posted on September 12, 2019 | Leave a comment

“yellowing: Discoloration of an oil painting, the chief cause of which are the excessive use of oil as a vehicle, improper siccative, pigment, or glaze, and dampness or darkness.”

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

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