AH230 Subjects & Vocabulary of Art History

This sheet summarizes the main points found in the Introduction to Gardners text. Please
refer to pages xxvi-xxxix for more detailed explanations. Keep it as a reference sheet for
class and for your notes and study materials. Its a foundation for understanding the field
in general. Each era and culture may emphasize some elements more than others. Art
historical knowledge is in flux. It is shaped by what information survives and the new
research and technologies that develop.
The Questions Art Historians Ask
History records and interprets past human actions. Artwork though created in the past
continues to be seen, touched and experienced. In the past, it often served specific
purposes and was created for patrons.
QUESTIONS ART HISTORIANS ASK
How old is it? Dating and chronology creates historical context
Evidence could be visual, written, or physical
What is its style? Period style refers to artistic manner within specific time and culture
Regional style and personal artistic style are sub categories
What is its subject? The story or narrative presented, actions time and place, persons
Categories: religious, historical, mythological, portraiture, landscape
Iconography how a subject is presented through time as well as the
conventions and changes in meaning
Who made it? Artist identified by personal style or hand
Connoisseurship trained eye and long experience
Attribution- subjective, open to doubt

Who paid for it? Often patrons who would dictate content and shape of the work
Diverse tastes, needs, demands for different kinds of art

WORDS ART HISTORIANS USE
The essential vocabulary of basic terms to describe artworks is called formal analysis.
See pages xxxii-xxxix for more complete information on each element.
Form and composition-share and structure of the image including how the artist organizes
and composes forms by placing shapes (two dimensional) or arranging forms in space
(three dimensional)
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WORDS ART HISTORIANS USE
Material and technique- materials and tools chosen by the artist to suit their purpose such
as clay, oil paint, marble etc. The process and materials used by the artist are their
technique.
Line- the path of a point in space that often defines a shape (a contour line). It may vary
in form to create shadows and textures. It can also be an invisible (implied) line of sight
or visual axis.
Color- the light reflected from pigments and objects. Painters use subtractive light. The
hue names the property of the color. The amount of light or darkness it reflects is known
as its value or tonality. Its intensity or saturation refers to its purity or brightness and
dullness. See your text for primary and secondary colors
Space, mass, and volume- Space is the container of objects whether actual such as a
statue in a room or implied such as an artists drawing of a room on a piece of paper.
Mass is the bulk, density and weight of matter in space such as a church or a hollow
metal statue. Volume refers to the space that the mass organizes, divides or encloses.
Perspective and foreshortening- Perspective created an illusion of depth or space on a flat
surface. It may include reducing figure size, converging diagonal lines, or blurring distant
forms. There are many kinds of perspective conventions that are culturally based.
Foreshortening is a method of representing figures in space so that it appears to contract
as it extends back in space.
Proportion and scale- the relationships between the parts of a person, building, or object.
It may be mathematically based or intuitive. An artist may use a module or basic unity of
measure. Such systems can vary among eras, cultures, and artists.
Carving and Casting- Carving is a subtractive technique that reduces the mass of
materials such as wood, stone, or marble. In additive sculpture the artist builds up the
form around a framework or armature. Fluid materials such as bronze are cast into a
hollow mold.
Relief sculpture- A sculpture in which subjects protrude from the background but are still
attached to it unlike sculptures in the round, which are freestanding.
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Architectural drawings- A plan is a map of a floor that shows its masses and the spaces
they enclose. A section is like a vertical plan showing the building cut through along a
plane.

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