Art Encyclopedia - A

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Definitions of Art Terminology
Click on a letter below to view the definition of an art term beginning with that letter

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Art Terms Beginning With A

Aboriginal Art - Aboriginal Art is art produced by indigenous Australians called Aborigines and the art is based on their traditional culture ...more info
Abstract Art - Currently abstract art is generally used to describe art that does not depict objects recognisable as being in the physical world ...more info

Abstract Expressionism - A post World War II art movement, abstract expressionism was the first specifically American art movement to achieve world wide influence ...more info
Abstract Impressionism - Abstract Impressionism was coined by Elaine de Kooning to describe paintings that resemble certain late Impressionist pictures in their brushwork ...more info
Acrylic Paint - Acrylic paint is a much faster drying paint compared to more traditional paints such as oil paint ... more info
Airbrush - An airbrush is an air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink, dye and paint by a process called atomization ...more info
Albumen Print - The albumen print was the first commercially viable method of producing a print on paper from a negative ...more info
Alla Prima - Alla prima is term that specifically applies to oil painting and it describes the method of working of wet paint into wet paint ...more info
Aquatint - Aquatint is an Intaglio printmaking technique where marks are made on a copper or zinc plate capable of holding ink ...more info
Armature - The armature is the internal support of modelled sculpture usually made out of wood or metal ...more info
Art Restoration - Art restoration is the process where an attempt is made to bring a work of art to a previous state that the art restorer imagines to be its original state ...more info
Articulate / Articulated - Composed of jointed segments, distinctly jointed or marked, divided into distinct and significant parts ...more info
Assemblage - Assemblage is an art term used to describe an art work that is assembled rather than painted, drawn, modelled or carved ...more info
Asymmetry - Asymmetry is the relation of two qualities which have no common measure ...more info
Atelier - Atelier is the French term for studio and is often used to describe an artist studio, especially in earlier eras ...more info
Automatism - Automatism is an activity, faculty and quality that is automatic, involuntary spontaneous, unthinking and without conscious control ...more info
Axial Movement - In axial movement the influence of the vertical axis is loosened but retained ...more info
Axis - Any symmetrical or near-symmetrical volume has one or more axes which can be roughly described as imaginary centre lines to which all parts of the volume may be related ...more info