Visual Art Vocabulary

Commissions – Work or works executed because the artist was hired to create the work or works.

Egg Tempera – Paint consisting of egg (commonly the yolk), mixed with water and pigment. This medium has been used as early as the 5th century. Because of its fast-drying nature, it cannot be easily blended, unlike oil paint, for example. Sometimes oil paint is used over the tempera to enhance darker shades.

Illustration – Visual art that is used to enhance the effect of an idea or of text (i.e., illustrated children's books).

Naturalism – A way of creating art in which the artist depicts his/her subject as it appears naturally; in other words, the representation is not manipulated to be abstract.

Oil Paint – A type of medium, in which pigments are mixed with an oil (often linseed oil). This slow-drying medium can be easily blended (unlike egg tempera) and is usually opaque. It was only until the fifteenth century when this medium was used commonly.

Pop Artist – One who creates work categorized as Pop Art, a movement and style of art, originating in England in the 1950s and the United States in the 1960s, which focuses on popular culture and media images, such as magazine advertisements, billboards, and celebrities. Artists commonly associated with this movement are Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns.

Realism – A way of creating art, typically associated in the 1850s and 1900s, in which the artist accurately depicts nature.

Representational – Describes the way that a subject is depicted in a recognizable form, as opposed to depicting a subject in an abstract way.

Retrospective – An exhibit that contains the work of one artist spanning a long period of time, allowing for viewers to understand how the artist's style and techniques have developed over time.

Watercolor – A type of medium, in which the pigment is mixed with water (as opposed to oil, for example); also, a picture painted with watercolors.