Important Vocabulary in Aesthetics:

 

 

Aesthetics - The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and value of art objects and experiences. Originally, any activity connected with art, beauty and taste, becoming more broadly the study of art's function, nature, ontology, purpose, and so on.

 

Beauty - A delighting quality generally associated with harmony of form or color, excellence of craftsmanship, truthfulness, originality, or other noble aspects of experience beyond superficial appearance or mere prettiness.

 

Ontology - The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of being, the area of metaphysics relating to the being or essence of things, or to being in the abstract.

 

Postmodernism - Art, architecture, or literature that reacts against earlier modernist principles, as by reintroducing traditional or classical elements of style or by carrying modernist styles or practices to extremes.

 

Meaning - What is conveyed or signified by something; its sense or significance. An interpretation.

 

Allegory - When the literal content of a work stands for abstract ideas, suggesting a

parallel, deeper, symbolic sense.

 

Art Deco - An art movement involving a mix of modern decorative

art styles, largely of the 1920s and 1930s, whose main characteristics were derived

from various avant-garde painting styles of the early twentieth century.

 

baroque - The art style or art movement of the Counter-Reformation in the

seventeenth century. Although some features appear in Dutch art, the Baroque style

was limited mainly to Catholic countries. It is a style in which painters, sculptors, and

architects sought emotion, movement, and variety in their works.

 

Byzantine art - The art of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Christian empire whose capital was Constantinople (now known as Istanbul), which lasted from c.330 following the Roman Empire in the east, until it was conquered by the Turks c.1450.

 

mosaic - A picture or design made of tiny pieces (called tesserae) of colored

stone, glass, tile or paper adhered to a surface. It is typically decorative work for

walls, vaults, ceilings or floors, the tesserae set in plaster or concrete.  This technique was used by the Romans in regularly shaped pieces of marble in its natural colors to decorate their villas. It was later adopted by Byzantine artists using pieces of glass with irregular surfaces to tell the Christian story on the walls of their churches.

 

Fresco – a technique of painting on the plaster surface of a wall while the wall is still damp, so that the pigments become fused with the plaster as it dries.  (fresco secco = dry plaster painting)

 

Frieze – usually in classical art, any decorative band of relief work.

 

Relief – a mode of sculpture in which an image is developed outward (high or low- bas) or inward (sunken).

 

Pieta – an image of the Virgin Mary holding and mourning over the dead Christ.

 

Portal – doorway of a church and the architectural surrounding it.

 

Portraiture – the art of making portraits

 

Faηade – the front or face of a building

 

Genre – a category of art representing everyday scenes

 

Fleur-de-lys (lies) – a white iris, royal emblem of France, present in many artistic designs and heraldry.

 

Flying buttress – a buttress is the form of an open half arch.

 

Ambulatory – a vaulted passageway usually surround the apse or choir area of a church

 

Apse – a projecting part of a church usually semicircular and topped by a dome.

 

Arcade – a gallery formed by a series of arches

 

Avant-garde – term used to denote nontraditionalists in art

 

Apocrypha – certain books of the bible, the authority and authenticity of which are in dispute.

 

Basilica – usually the main church of a diocese, modeled after the roman places of public activity, i.e. tribunals.

 

Buttress – an architecture support that counteracts the lateral thrust of a wall.

 

Baptistery – an area or building used for Christian baptismal services.

 

Bust – a sculptural or pictorial representation of the upper part of the human figure.

 

Canon – a set of rules, precepts, principles or texts used to establish standards.

 

Caricature – a representation in art of literature that distorts or twists people or features.

 

Catacomb – an underground complex series of vaults used by early Jews and Christians to bury their dead.

 

Cathedral – main church of the diocese used by the bishop (cathedra – chair)

 

Chateau – French word of castle or large country estate

 

Cloister – section of a monastery, covered passageway or ambulatory, usually on side walled and the other open to a courtyard.

 

Colonnade – series of columns

 

Cornice – top section of a column in classical art

 

Stigmata – from the word for marks (stigma), representing the wounds of Christ.

 

Gargoyle – Waterspout, oftentimes in form of an animal or grotesque human figure.

 

Icon – a highly stylized image, presenting Christ, the Virgin Mary or other holy person.

 

Jambs – upright surfaces along side doors or windows – usually with human figures of churches.

 

Motif – a recurrent element in a work of art. 

 

Nave – the long central area in a church used to house the congregation

 

Mezzanine – a half-floor or story between two other floors.

 

Transept – cross part of a church, placed at right angles of the nave.

 

Triptych – an altarpiece with one central panel and two wings.

 

Terra cotta – earthenware material in art without any glaze.

 

Other Important Terms:

Libretto – words or plot of an opera

Librettist – author of the prose in an opera

Opera – literally, “work” (use longer definition in notes)

Aria – solo vocal performance

Ensemble – duet vocal performance

Tenor – highest regular adult male voice

Bass – lowest male voice

Soprano – highest singling voice of women or boys