147 terms
Abstract Expressionism
An American art movement of the 1940s-1950s combining abstract form with expressive, gestural mark-making and monumental
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Abstract Expressionist Painters: Pollock, Rothko, Newman
Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman represent Abstract Expressionism's major approaches: gestural abstracti
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Abstraction
Abstraction is a twentieth-century artistic approach eliminating recognizable subject matter to explore pure form, colou
Component 4: Modernism
Academic Tradition
Academic tradition encompasses the formal training, aesthetic principles, and professional standards established and mai
Visual Analysis
Appendix 3: Taxonomy of Command Words: Command Word: Explain
A command word requiring students to give reasons or set of reasons, providing justification for analysis and interpreta
Appendix
Appendix 3: Taxonomy of Command Words: Command Word: Explain
A command word requiring detailed analysis and investigation of images, allowing for systematic breakdown and considerat
Appendix
Appendix 3: Taxonomy of Command Words: Command Word: Explain
A command word requiring critical judgement assessing the significance, effectiveness, quality, or validity of something
Appendix
Appendix 3: Taxonomy of Command Words: Command Word: Explain
Command words requiring examination of multiple perspectives on issues or problems, employing critical judgement to deve
Appendix
Architectural order
Architectural orders are classical systems establishing proportional relationships between architectural elements, parti
Themes
Architecture
Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and structures. Architecture encompasses str
Themes
Assemblage
Assemblage is a sculptural technique where the artist combines found objects, discarded materials, and disparate element
Sculpture
Assessment Information, Exam technique: Exam Technique: Section A - Visual Analysis
Examination technique for Section A of Paper 1, requiring students to comment on unfamiliar artworks (a painting, sculpt
Assessment
Assessment Information, Exam technique: Exam Technique: Section A - Visual Analysis
Examination technique for Section B of Paper 1, requiring essays exploring one of three thematic questions (Nature, Iden
Assessment
Assessment Information, Exam technique: Exam Technique: Section A - Visual Analysis
Examination technique for Paper 2, requiring essays answering questions on specific periods studied: Renaissance Italy,
Assessment
Assessment Information: Synoptic Assessment
Assessment requiring students to synthesise knowledge from different parts of the course, demonstrating ability to make
Assessment
Assessment Information: Synoptic Assessment
Effective examination responses integrate all three assessment objectives seamlessly: contextual knowledge informs analy
Assessment
Assessment Objectives, Critical Frameworks: Formalism
A critical methodology that privileges formal visual elements (colour, line, shape, composition, texture) as the primary
Assessment
Assessment Objectives, Critical Frameworks: Formalism
A methodology for interpreting symbols, iconographic systems, and subject matter within artworks to understand cultural,
Assessment
Assessment Objectives, Critical Frameworks: Formalism
A critical methodology treating art as embedded in social, economic, and political contexts rather than as autonomous ae
Assessment
Assessment Objectives, Critical Frameworks: Formalism
A critical methodology interrogating gender representation, artistic canons, and how artworks construct or challenge gen
Assessment
Assessment Objectives: AO1: Knowledge and Understanding of Contexts
Assessment Objective 1 (30% of qualification) requires students to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the contex
Assessment
Assessment Objectives: AO1: Knowledge and Understanding of Contexts
Assessment Objective 2 (36% of qualification) requires students to analyse and interpret artists' work, demonstrating un
Assessment
Assessment Objectives: AO1: Knowledge and Understanding of Contexts
Assessment Objective 3 (34% of qualification) requires students to make critical judgements about art through substantia
Assessment
Atmospheric Perspective
Atmospheric (or aerial) perspective is a technique for suggesting spatial depth where distant objects appear progressive
Visual Analysis
Cantilever
A cantilever is a structural component anchored at only one end, projecting horizontally into space. It demonstrates tha
Architecture
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro (Italian: chiaro = light, scuro = dark) is a technique employing strong contrasts between light and shadow t
Visual Analysis
Classical Orders
The Classical Orders are standardized architectural systems codifying the proportions, profiles, and decorative elements
Architecture
Colour Theory
Systematic understanding of colour properties including hue, saturation, value, and colour relationships (harmony, contr
Periods 4–5: Cross-Period Studies
Conceptual Artists: Kosuth, Weiner, Ono
Joseph Kosuth, Lawrence Weiner, and Yoko Ono pioneered Conceptual Art's prioritisation of concept over object, employing
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Conservation and Restoration
The professional practice of preserving and maintaining artworks including cleaning, stabilisation, and repair. Conserva
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Contemporary Digital and Net Artists
Contemporary digital artists employ computers, software, the internet, and emerging technologies as primary media, creat
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Cross-Cultural Art
Cross-cultural art encompasses artistic traditions and works from diverse non-European cultures—African, Asian, Pre-Colu
Visual Analysis
Cubist Artists: Picasso and Braque
Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque developed Cubism through collaborative experimentation with fragmented form, multiple p
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Curation and Display
Curation and display encompass the selection, interpretation, and presentation of artworks in exhibitions, fundamentally
Visual Analysis
Curatorial Practice
The professional practice of selecting artworks, arranging them within spaces, and creating contextual frameworks (wall
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Disegno
Disegno, meaning 'design' or 'drawing' in Italian, is a Renaissance concept elevating drawing as the intellectual founda
Component 1: Renaissance
Display and Original Context
The examination of how artworks' meanings shift according to display context, whether in original locations, museum gall
Periods 4–5: Cross-Period Studies
Gender and Representation
Critical analysis examining how gender is visually constructed, which genders receive representation, how representation
Periods 4–5: Cross-Period Studies
Global and Non-European Art Traditions
Artistic traditions from non-Western regions including Asian, African, South American, and Pacific art, with distinct ae
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Impressionist Painters: Monet, Renoir, Degas
Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas represent the core of Impressionism, each employing plein air paint
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Installation and Environmental Artists: Turrell, Eliasson
James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson represent contemporary installation practice prioritising perceptual experience, site-
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Memorial
A memorial is a work of art or architecture created to commemorate and remember specific persons, events, or concepts, o
Themes
Minimalist Artists: Judd, Andre, Flavin
Donald Judd, Carl Andre, and Dan Flavin developed Minimalism through industrial materials, mathematical systems, and spa
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Modelling
Modelling is an additive sculptural technique where malleable material (clay, wax, plaster) is built up, shaped, and man
Sculpture
Modernism
A cultural movement and ideology from the late 19th century onwards prioritising artistic innovation, experimentation wi
Periods 4–5: Cross-Period Studies
Narrative Art
Narrative art depicts or suggests stories, historical events, literary narratives, or sequential narratives, employing c
Visual Analysis
Non-Objective Art
Non-objective art produces artworks without recognizable objects or subject matter, employing pure formal elements—colou
Component 4: Modernism
Performance and Body Artists: Abramovic, Acconci, Burden
Marina Abramovic, Vito Acconci, and Chris Burden pioneered performance art employing the body and temporal duration as p
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Period 1: Antiquity to Medieval: Classical antiquity in art
Classical antiquity refers to the artistic traditions of ancient Greece and Rome, spanning roughly from the 5th century
Period 1: Antiquity to Medieval
Period 1: Antiquity to Medieval: Classical antiquity in art
Medieval art encompasses the artistic traditions of medieval Europe, from the fall of Rome through the Renaissance. Medi
Period 1: Antiquity to Medieval
Period 2: Renaissance to Mannerism: Renaissance ideals
Renaissance ideals emphasize humanistic values celebrating human dignity and potential; revival of classical antiquity;
Period 2: Renaissance to Mannerism
Period 2: Renaissance to Mannerism: Renaissance ideals
Mannerism is an artistic style emerging in mid-16th century Italy, characterized by departure from Renaissance ideals th
Period 2: Renaissance to Mannerism
Period 3: Baroque to Romantic: Baroque art
Baroque art emerged in late 16th-century Italy and spread throughout Europe, characterized by dramatic intensity, emotio
Period 3: Baroque to Romantic
Period 3: Baroque to Romantic: Baroque art
Romanticism emerged in late 18th century as reaction against Enlightenment rationalism, emphasizing emotion, imagination
Period 3: Baroque to Romantic
Period 4-5: Ways in which art has been used and interpreted: Patronage
The financial and institutional support for artistic production through private individuals, religious institutions, gov
Periods 4–5: Cross-Period Studies
Period 4-5: Ways in which art has been used and interpreted: Patronage
The economic structures through which artworks are produced, circulated, and valued. The art market encompasses gallerie
Periods 4–5: Cross-Period Studies
Period 4: Modern (c.1860-c.1960): Impressionism
A late 19th-century movement pioneered by artists such as Monet and Renoir, characterised by loose brushwork, emphasis o
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Period 4: Modern (c.1860-c.1960): Impressionism
A late 19th-century movement encompassing diverse artists who moved beyond Impressionism's emphasis on light and colour
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Period 4: Modern (c.1860-c.1960): Impressionism
A revolutionary art movement of the early 1900s developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque that deconstructed objects
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Period 4: Modern (c.1860-c.1960): Impressionism
An early 20th-century movement emphasising emotional expression and psychological content through distorted form, exagge
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Period 4: Modern (c.1860-c.1960): Impressionism
A mid-20th-century movement founded by André Breton in 1924 that sought to unlock unconscious creativity through automat
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960-present): Pop Art
A movement emerging in Britain and America in the 1950s-1960s that embraced popular culture, mass media, advertising, an
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960-present): Pop Art
A movement of the 1960s-1970s reducing art to fundamental geometric forms, industrial materials, and essential visual el
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960-present): Pop Art
A movement emerging in the 1960s-1970s that privileges the concept or idea underlying a work over its material form or v
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960-present): Pop Art
A form of contemporary art that creates immersive, site-specific environments transforming gallery or outdoor spaces. In
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960-present): Pop Art
An art form prioritising the artist's body, actions, and presence as the primary medium. Performance art emerged from ha
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960-present): Pop Art
Contemporary art practice employing digital technologies including computers, software, digital imaging, the internet, a
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Period C3, Movement: Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is an aesthetic movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries reviving classical forms, i
Component 3: Rebellion and Revival
Period C3, Movement: Neoclassicism
Realism is a nineteenth-century artistic movement depicting contemporary life, ordinary people, and everyday subjects wi
Component 3: Rebellion and Revival
Period C3, Movement: Neoclassicism
Symbolism is a late nineteenth-century artistic and literary movement employing symbolic imagery, literary subjects, and
Component 3: Rebellion and Revival
Period C3, Movement: Neoclassicism
Art Nouveau is a late nineteenth and early twentieth-century decorative movement characterized by sinuous organic forms,
Component 3: Rebellion and Revival
Period C4, Movement: Futurism
Futurism is an early twentieth-century Italian movement celebrating modern technology, speed, violence, and dynamism thr
Component 4: Modernism
Period C4, Movement: Futurism
Dada is an anti-art movement emerging during World War I employing absurdity, chance operations, and irrationality to ch
Component 4: Modernism
Photography
Photography is the medium and practice of capturing light through a camera lens onto photographic emulsion or digital se
Visual Analysis
Photography as Art
Photography's evolution from technical reproduction process to recognised fine art form. Photography raises unique quest
Periods 4–5: Cross-Period Studies
Plein Air
Painting outdoors directly from natural observation rather than in the studio. Plein air practice, enabled by portable o
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Pop Artists: Warhol, Lichtenstein, Hockney
Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and David Hockney represent Pop Art's diverse approaches to mass culture, commercial imag
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Portraiture
Portraiture is a category of art representing specific individuals through painting, sculpture, drawing, or photography,
Visual Analysis
Post-Colonial Criticism
A critical methodology addressing colonialism's impact on artistic traditions, museum representations, and how artists c
Assessment
Post-Impressionist Painters: Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin
Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin represent Post-Impressionism's diverse approaches to moving beyond Impr
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Post-Modernism
A late 20th-century movement challenging modernism's foundational assumptions including progress, originality, and auton
Period 5: Contemporary (c.1960–present)
Printmaking, Techniques: Etching
Etching is an intaglio printmaking technique where lines are created in a metal plate (usually copper or steel) through
Printmaking
Printmaking, Techniques: Etching
Lithography is a planographic printing technique where an image is drawn on a limestone or metal plate, then chemically
Printmaking
Printmaking, Techniques: Etching
Woodcut is a relief printing technique where an image is created by carving away portions of a wooden block, leaving rai
Printmaking
Propaganda
Propaganda encompasses artworks and imagery created deliberately to promote political, social, or ideological messages,
Themes
Proportion
Proportion refers to the mathematical and visual relationships between the sizes of parts within a whole. Proportional s
Visual Analysis
Provenance
Provenance is the documented history of an artwork's ownership and custody, crucial for establishing authenticity, legal
Conservation
Salon
A Salon was an officially organized and sanctioned exhibition where artists displayed work for public viewing and critic
Component 3: Rebellion and Revival
Sublime
The sublime describes aesthetic experiences of overwhelming awe and transcendence inspired by vast, powerful natural phe
Themes
Surrealist Artists: Dalí, Miró, Ernst
Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and Max Ernst represent Surrealism's diverse approaches to accessing unconscious creativity, e
Period 4: Modern (c.1860–c.1960)
Symbolism in art
Symbolism refers to the use of visual elements—images, objects, colours, forms—to represent abstract concepts, emotional
Visual Analysis
Tenebrism
Tenebrism is an extreme form of chiaroscuro where the majority of the composition exists in deep shadow, with selective
Visual Analysis
Themes - Architecture - Structural Systems: Vault
A vault is an arched stone or brick structure that spans space and carries weight like an arch but extends in three dime
Themes
Themes - Architecture - Structural Systems: Vault
A dome is a hemispherical or curved structure functioning as a roof over a circular or polygonal base. Domes enclose lar
Themes
Themes - Identity and the Human Figure: Portrait
A portrait is an artwork depicting a person or persons, typically emphasizing the face and upper body. Portraits serve m
Themes
Themes - Identity and the Human Figure: Portrait
A self-portrait is an artwork created by an artist depicting themselves. Self-portraits serve multiple functions: demons
Themes
Themes - Identity and the Human Figure: Portrait
Figure painting emphasizes the human figure as central subject matter. This encompasses historical and religious narrati
Themes
Themes - Identity and the Human Figure: Portrait
The human figure is a fundamental subject in art, depicted with varying degrees of realism, idealization, and distortion
Themes
Themes - Nature: Landscape
Landscape art depicts natural scenery as its primary subject, rather than as background to human figures. Landscape beca
Themes
Themes - Nature: Landscape
Seascape is a genre of landscape art specializing in marine subjects—the sea, ships, coastal views, maritime activity. S
Themes
Themes - Nature: Landscape
Animals appear throughout art history as subjects, symbols, and decorative elements. Animals can be depicted realistical
Themes
Themes - Nature: Landscape
Plants and botanical imagery appear throughout art as primary subjects, decorative ornament, and environmental context.
Themes
Themes - Nature: Landscape
Natural elements—fire, water, earth, wind, air—appear in art as subjects, symbols, and sources of visual drama. These pr
Themes
Themes - War and Conflict: War and conflict in art
War and conflict art depicts military conflict, violence, suffering, and the human cost of warfare. Such art serves vari
Themes
Themes - War and Conflict: War and conflict in art
Propaganda art explicitly serves political purposes, promoting ideologies, policies, or causes. Such art employs persuas
Themes
Themes - War and Conflict: War and conflict in art
Memorial art and monuments commemorate significant historical events, individuals, or collective trauma. Memorials serve
Themes
Video Art
Video art is a contemporary practice employing video technology, moving images, and time as primary medium for conceptua
Component 5: Contemporary
Visual Analysis - Compositional Principles: Balance
Balance in art refers to the visual equilibrium of elements within a composition. Symmetrical balance uses mirrored elem
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Compositional Principles: Balance
A focal point is an area of visual emphasis in a composition that draws and holds the viewer's attention. Focal points a
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Compositional Principles: Balance
Symmetry exists when elements are arranged so that they mirror each other across a central axis (bilateral symmetry) or
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Genre: Still life
Still life is an art form depicting inanimate objects—fruit, flowers, vessels, musical instruments, books, skulls—arrang
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Genre: Still life
Genre painting depicts scenes of everyday life, social situations, domestic activities, and ordinary people engaged in d
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Painting Techniques: Fresco
Fresco is a wall-painting technique in which pigments are applied directly to freshly laid, wet lime plaster. As the pla
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Painting Techniques: Fresco
Tempera is a painting medium in which pigments are mixed with an emulsion binder, traditionally egg yolk or other organi
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Painting Techniques: Fresco
Oil paint consists of pigments mixed with a drying oil, typically linseed oil. The medium allows for slow drying, enabli
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Painting Techniques: Fresco
Sfumato (Italian: fumo = smoke) is a painting technique using subtle, almost imperceptible gradations of tone to create
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Painting Techniques: Fresco
Impasto is a painting technique in which pigment is applied so thickly that the brushstrokes or palette knife marks rema
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Painting Techniques: Fresco
A glaze is a thin, transparent or semi-transparent layer of paint applied over previous layers. Glazing allows light to
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Painting Techniques: Fresco
Scumbling is a painting technique in which semi-opaque or dry paint is dragged or stippled over previous layers, allowin
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Philosophical Approaches: Idealism in art
Idealism in art represents a philosophical approach seeking to depict ideal forms embodying universal beauty and perfect
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Philosophical Approaches: Idealism in art
Realism emerged in 19th century as artistic movement rejecting idealization and historical narrative in favour of depict
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Sculptural Techniques: Casting
Casting is a sculptural technique in which liquid material (metal, plaster, resin, concrete) is poured into a mould and
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Sculptural Techniques: Casting
Carving is a subtractive sculptural technique in which material (stone, wood, bone, ivory) is removed from a solid block
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Sculptural Techniques: Casting
Relief sculpture depicts figures or forms that project from a background plane. Low relief (bas-relief) has minimal proj
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Spatial Techniques: Perspective
Perspective is a mathematical system for representing the illusion of spatial recession, depth, and three-dimensional fo
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis - Spatial Techniques: Perspective
Foreshortening is a perspective technique that distorts the proportions of objects or figures to suggest that they exten
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis, Technique: Glazing
Glazing is a painting technique where thin, transparent or translucent layers of colour are applied over dried paint, al
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis, Technique: Glazing
Trompe-l'oeil (French 'trick the eye') is a painting technique achieving photographic realism so convincing that viewers
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Composition refers to the deliberate arrangement of visual elements within a work of art to create a balanced, harmoniou
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Colour is a formal element that artists use strategically to evoke emotion, establish mood, create contrast, and guide t
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Tone refers to the gradations of light and shadow (values) within a work of art. It is distinct from colour and operates
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Light is the source of illumination in a work of art. Artists control the direction, intensity, and quality of light to
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Form refers to the three-dimensional quality of objects and shapes in art. In painting, form is created through the mani
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Line is a fundamental formal element used to define shapes, create texture, establish direction, and guide visual moveme
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Space in art refers to the two-dimensional and three-dimensional areas within and around represented or actual objects.
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Scale refers to the relative size of objects within a composition and in relation to the viewer. Scale can be naturalist
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Texture refers to the surface quality of materials and how they are rendered in art. In two-dimensional media, texture c
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Pattern consists of repeated or regularly recurring visual elements—shapes, lines, colours, or motifs—that create rhythm
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Ornament comprises decorative embellishments applied to surfaces of artworks and buildings. Ornamental elements can be s
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Materials refer to the substances employed in creating artworks. Different materials possess distinct properties—stone i
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Technique encompasses the specific methods, skills, and procedures artists employ to work with materials. Technique incl
Visual Analysis
Visual Analysis: Composition
Process refers to the sequence of steps, methods, and procedures an artist employs in creating a work. Process can be sy
Visual Analysis