Apah 50 Terms

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Pylon

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(Greek term meaning gateway) A pair of truncated, pyrmidal towers flanking the entrance to an Egyptian temple.

i.e.) Temple of Horus at Edfu

Mythologically, it's often associated with the Horizon in regards to new day(two hills where the sun emerges from), new creation (Primeval hill where creater god begins work), and death ( Isis and Nephthys)

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Hypostyle

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(From Greek hupostlos, resting upon pillars)

A hall with a roof supported by rows of columns.

i.e.) Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak

(Side note: Also used in many Mosques)

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Hierarchial Scale

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The representation of more important figures as larger than less important ones.

i.e.) The sculpter who carved the Victory Steele of Naram-Sin used hierarchial scale to indicate Naram-Sin's lofty status.

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Repoussé

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A technique in which a relief is formed on the front by hammering metal plate from the back.

i.e) the funerary masks discovered at Mycenae.

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Corbelled Vault

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A vault formed by the piling of stone blocks in horizontal courses, cantilevered inward until the two walls meet in an arch.

i.e.) The Lion's gate at Mycenae

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Register

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One of a series of rows in a pictorial narrative.

i.e.) The Standard of Ur and The Palette of King Narmer

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Kouros

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An archaic Greek statue of a standing nude male.

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Kore

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An archaic Greek statue of a standing, draped female.

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Caryatid

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A column carved to represent a woman.

i.e.) The Erechtheum

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Pediment

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In Classical architecture, the triangular section of a temple roof often decorated with sculpture.

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Entablature

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In classical architecture, the part a building above the columns and below the roof. The enblature of a classical temple includes the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

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Contrapposto

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The relaxed natural pose, or "weight shift", first introduced in Greek sculpture in 480 B.C.E. First used in Kritios Boy, contrapposto separates Classical from Archaic Greek statuary.

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Frieze

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In Classical architecture, a frieze is a continuous horizontal band of sculptural decoration.

i.e.)Parthenon's frieze depicts the Panathenaic Procession

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Mosaic

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Images composed of small pieces of colored glass or stone.

i.e.) The Alexander Mosiac depicts Alexander the Great pursuing Darius III at the Battle of Issus. Romans often used mosaics to decorate their floors.

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Voussoir

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A wedge-shaped block used in the construction of a true arch. The central voussoir, which sets the arch, is called the keystone.

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Pendentive

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The concave triangular section of a vault that forms the transition between a square or polygonal space and the circular base of a dome. Pendentives, or dome suports, enabled Byzantine architects to construct the dome for Hagia Sophia.

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Iconoclasm

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A movement in the Byzantine Empire that favored banning and destroying images. The destroyer of images were known as iconoclasts.

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Encaustic

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A painting technique in which pigment is mized with wax and applied to the surface while hot. 6th and 7th century Byzantine artists used encaustic to create panel paintings. Interestingly, Jasper Johns used encaustic in his famous painting entitled Flag.

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Enamel

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A technique in which powdered glass is applied to a metal surface in a decorative design.

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Mihrab

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A semicircular niche set into the qibla (direction that should be faced when muslims pray... points to mecca an symbolic of unity of Muslims) wall of a mosque.

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Westwork

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The façade and towers at the western end of a medieval church, principally in Germany.

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Ambulatory

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The passageway around the apse and choir of a church. The ambulatory was originally a feature of romanesque churches that developed in onnection with their use as pilgrimage centers

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Tympanum

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The lunette-shaped space above the portals of Romanesque and Gothic churches.

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Clerestory

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A row of windows in the upper part of a wall.

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Barrel vault

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A vault is a roof or a ceiling. A barrel vault is, in effect, a deep arch or an uninterrupted series of arches. Barrel vaults are one of the characteristic features of Romanesque churches.

i.e.) The Colloseum and the Baths of Caracalla

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Groin Vault

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Vault formed at the point where two barrel vaults intersect at right angles. Groin vaults are one of the characteristic features of Gothic cathedrals.

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Crypt

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A vaulted space usually located under the apse of a church. Because a crypt is wholly or partly underground, it is not found in the nave elevation of a church.

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Vellum

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Calfskin prepared as a surface for writing and painting.

i.e.) The Lindisfarne Gospels (tempera on vellum)

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Diptych

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A two-paneled painting or altarpiece.

i.e.) The Melun Diptych by Jean Fouquet

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Triptych

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A three-paneled painting or alterpiece.

i.e.) The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymous Bosch

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Predella

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The painted or sculpted lower portion of an alterpiece that relates to the subjects of the upper portion.

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Chiaroscuro

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In drawing or painting, te treatment and use of light and dark, especially by gradations of light that produce the effect of mottling.

i.e.) The Tribute Money by Masaccio

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Cartoon

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In painting, a full-sized preliminary drawing from which a painting is made.

i.e.) Virgin by Da Vinci

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Ecorche

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A figure painted or sculpted to show the muscles of the body as if without skin.

i.e.) Battle of the Ten Nudes by Pollaiuolo

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Orthogonal

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A line imagined to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane. The orthogonals in a painting appear to recede toward a vanishing point.

i.e.) Perugino's Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom

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Intaglio

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A graphic technique in which the design is incised, or scratched, on a metal plate, either manually (engraving) or chemically (etching). The incised lines of the design take the ink, making this the reverse of the woodcut technique.

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Impasto

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Technique in which the artist applies thick layers of oil paint.

i.e.) Rembrandt and Van Gogh

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Japonisme

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The french fascination with all things Japanese. Japonisme emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century. The impressionists and Post-impressionists were particularly impressed with the use of bold contour lines, flat areas of color, and cropped edges in Japanese woodblock prints.

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Avant-garde

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Late nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists whose work emphasized innovation and challanged established conventions.

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Bauhaus

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A school of architecture in Germany in the 1920s under the leadership of Walter Gropius

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Ready-made

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An ordinary object that, when an artist gives it a new context and title, is transformed into an art object. Ready-mades were important features of the Dada and Surrealism movements of the early twentieth century.

i.e.) Marcel Durchamp's Fountain

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Cantilever

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A beam or structure that is anchored at one end and projecys horizontally beyond its vertical support.

i.e.) Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

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Biomorphic

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An adjective used to describe forms that suggest shapes found in nature. Therefore not abstract shapes.

i.e.) Joan Miro''s Painting and Composition

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Assemblage

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An artwork constructed from exsisting objects.

i.e.) Louise Nevelson's Sky Tower and Tropical Garden

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Photomontage

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A composition made by pasting together pictures or parts of pictures, especially photographs. Also called photocollage.

i.e.) Hannah Hoch and Romare Bearden

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Stupa

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A large, mound-shaped Buddhist shrine.

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Pagoda

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A multistoried Chinese tower, usually associated with a Buddhist temple, having a multiplicity of projecting eaves.

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Pueblo

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A communal multistoried dwelling made of stone or adobe brick by the Native Americans of the Southwest.

i.e.) The Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

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Mudrah

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In Buddhist and Hindu iconography, a stylized and symbolic hand gesture

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Ukiyo-e

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Japanese for "pictures of the floating world". A style of Japanese genre painting that influenced nineteenth-century Western art.