• Performance art

    Artworks that are created through actions performed by the artist or other participants, which may be live or recorded, spontaneous or scripted

  • Pre-Raphaelite

    The Pre-Raphaelites were a secret society of young artists (and one writer), founded in London in 1848. They were opposed to the Royal Academy’s promotion of the ideal as exemplified in the work of Raphael

  • Impressionism

    Impressionism developed in France in the nineteenth century and is based on the practice of painting out of doors and spontaneously ‘on the spot’ rather than in a studio from sketches. Main impressionist subjects were landscapes and scenes of everyday life

  • Land art

    Land art or earth art is art that is made directly in the landscape, sculpting the land itself into earthworks or making structures in the landscape using natural materials such as rocks or twigs

Browse 461 Art Terms

Art Term

a Abbaye de Créteil

Established in 1906, the Abbaye de Créteil was a group of French writers, artists and composers who were inspired by …

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b Baroque

Baroque was the dominant style in art and architecture of the seventeenth century, characterized by self-confidence, dynamism and a realistic …

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c C-print

A C-print, also known as a C-type print or Chromogenic print, is a photographic print made from a colour negative …

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d Dada

Dada was an art movement formed during the First World War in Zurich in negative reaction to the horrors and …

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e Edition

An edition is a copy or replica of a work of art made from a master. It commonly refers to …

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f Fairy painting

Fairy painting is particularly associated with the Victorian period, art that depicts fairies and other subjects from the supernatural

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g Generative art

Generative art is art made using a predetermined system that often includes an element of chance – is usually applied …

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h Hackney Flashers

Hackney Flashers was a women’s arts collective active between 1974 and 1980. Most of the group were photographers and defined …

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i Iconography

The iconography of an artwork is the imagery within it

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j Japonisme

Japonisme is a French term coined in the late nineteenth century to describe the craze for Japanese art and design …

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k Khartoum School

The Khartoum School was a modernist art movement formed in Sudan in 1960 that sought to develop a new visual …

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l Laboratoire Agit’Art

Founded in Dakar in 1974, Laboratoire Agit’Art was a revolutionary and subversive art collective that sought to combine traditional African …

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m Magic realism

The term magic realism was invented by German photographer, art historian and art critic Franz Roh in 1925 to describe …

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n Nabis

Les Nabis were a group of post-impressionist French painters active from 1888–1900 whose work is characterised by flat patches of …

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o Objective abstraction

The term objective abstraction refers to a non-geometric style of abstract art developed by a group of British artists in …

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p Painterly

Painterly refers to the application of paint in a 'loose' or less than controlled manner, resulting in the appearance of …

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r Rayograph

Photographic prints made by laying objects onto photographic paper and exposing it to light

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s Salon

Originally the name of the official art exhibitions organised by the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (Académie Royale …

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t Tableau

Tableau is used to describe a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and …

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u Underground art

First used in relation to the cultural phenomenon of the 1960s and early 1970s where groups of artists, writers and …

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v Vanishing point

The point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge

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w War artists

War artists are artists who are commissioned through an official scheme to record the events of war

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y Young British Artists (YBAs)

The label Young British Artists (YBAs) is applied to a loose group of British artists who began to exhibit together …

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z Zero

Group of artists who practised a form of kinetic art using light and motion

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0-9 43 Group

43 Group was a modern art movement formed in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1943 by a group of …