Did you know?

Most viewers believed that Michelangelo used muted and somber colors when he painted the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, but when the mural was cleaned, people were startled to discover that the artist had used bright, clear colors. Grime and candle smoke had dimmed the murals.

Unit 3

Pointillism

The technique of painting with dots of color to create an image. The French painter Georges Seurat (1859-1891) used dots of primary colors to execute an enormous painting, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte.

words in context: The Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George took as its subject the work of Georges Seurat, whose huge painting done entirely in pointillism hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Mosaic

Art made by setting small colored pieces of glass, stone, or marble in mortar to create a picture.

words in context: Roman artists created mosaics using marble; later Byzantine artists in the sixth century composed pictures using small cubes of colored glass, which, in reflected light, produced a dazzling effect.

genre painting

A realistic style of painting in which everyday life forms the subject matter, as distinguished from religious or historical painting.

words in context: - Dutch painter Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), who painted peasants, women in their kitchens, and other ordinary life scenes, might be called a genre painter because of his choice of subjects. However, his use of light and original interlocking shapes raises his genre work to another level.

Collage

A composition made with cut and pasted pieces of material, sometimes scraps combined with objects painted into a picture.

words in context: - For his beach house, the artist composed a collage of seashells, driftwood, and white pebbles.

After studying the definitions above, use these new words in the sentences below.

1. The gold pictorial wall in the ancient palace was a composed of glittering glass cubes.

2. The painting of farmers along with cows grazing in the fields beyond was an example of .

3. The on her wall was constructed of bits of boot leather, pieces of an old barn door, and several horseshoe nails.

4. The was executed by the artist using small colorful dots to create the image of a house.

Test Yourself: Write the letter next to the number to match word and meaning.

1. mosaic a. artwork created with scraps and bits of materials

2. pointillism b. an image created entirely with dots

3. collage c. a picture composed of colored glass bits

4. genre painting d. a painting depicting realistic life forms

On a separate sheet of paper, write a sentence using each of these new words.

Did you know?

The painting by American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), popularly known as Whistler's Mother, was actually given the less personal title by the artist of Arrangement in Black and Grey, No, 7. It hangs in the Musée D'Orsay in Paris.

Unit 4

cave paintings

The earliest European painters depicted animals, such as wild boar and buffalo, on the walls of caves more than 20,000 years ago. Two examples of cave paintings are found in Lascaux, France, and Altamira, Spain.

words in context: The cave paintings in Lascaux, in the Dordogne region of southern France, are such a popular attraction that a replica of the cave has been made to preserve the original cave.

byzantine

An art style developed after Byzantium became the capital of the Roman Empire (c. 330). With monumental, stylized, rigid images set on gold backgrounds, this art appears in religious mosaics, panel paintings, and manuscript illuminations.

words in context: Byzantine art was also created in Italy, Syria, Greece, Russia, and other Eastern countries under Byzantine influence.

gothic

A movement begun in France with sculpture (c.1200) followed by Gothic painting (c.1300). These art forms had been preceded by Gothic architecture; the first landmark structure is part of the abbey of Saint-Denis. This is a graceful, linear, elegant style more naturalistic than earlier European forms and far less rigid than Byzantine art.

words in context: Tapestry, sculpture, and stained glass assumed importance in the soaring ribbed vaults of Gothic churches. The Pieta of the Avignon school was noted for its delicacy of expression.

romanesque

A style that emerged in France (c. mid-eleventh century). Ornamental, stylized, and complex in both sculpture and painting. Often used in huge Romanesque churches with massive barrel vaults and few wall openings, which encouraged monumental frescoes—of animal, vegetable, and religious motifs.

words in context: - Roman architecture was the main inspiration for Romanesque design, but Byzantine and Eastern influences were incorporated. The large walls of churches encouraged fresco

After studying the definitions above, use these new words in the sentences below.

1. The first known European paintings depicted animals. Called this art was discovered in France and Spain.

2. churches with massive walls are often decorated with

monumental frescoes.

3. art created in a graceful, linear style, followed architecture and sculpture of the same style in thirteenth-century France.

4. art has a gold background and is sometimes composed

of mosaics.

Test Yourself: Write the letter next to the number to match word and meaning.

1. Gothic a. characterized by stylized figures on a luminous gold background

2. Romanesque b. French movement characterized by grace and elegance

3. Byzantine c. monumental, complex, and ornamental art and sculpture

4. Cave paintings d. earliest known art, composed of animal figures

On a separate sheet of paper, write a sentence using each of these new words.