LIBRARY

Art Words

An art glossary built around terms that appear in artwork descriptions on this site, growing little by little.

Index

  1. A
  2. B
  3. C
  4. D
  5. E
  6. F
  7. G
  8. H
  9. I
  10. J
  11. K
  12. L
  13. M
  14. N
  15. O
  16. P
  17. Q
  18. R
  19. S
  20. T
  21. U
  22. V
  23. W
  24. X
  25. Y
  26. Z
  27. 163 terms
Oil Bar · Oil Stick
Oil paint moulded into stick form; drawn directly on the surface, it blurs the line between drawing and painting.
Oil Pastel
An oil-based pastel known for its tacky body and rich colour.
Objet
Presenting an everyday object as sculpture; standard vocabulary in contemporary art since Dada and Surrealism.
Orientalism
19th-century European representations that exoticised 'the East'; today subject to critical re-examination as a colonial gaze.
Original
The first-made work itself, not a copy or adaptation; a key axis in valuation and ownership debates.
Automatism
A practice aimed at unleashing the unconscious; theorised by Surrealism.