Reilly Clark Fine Art & Appraisals

A-Z: Hatching | ˈhaCHiNG | verb, noun | From a Germanic word meaning “to chop” or “to axe,” hatching refers to the illusion of shading through close, parallel lines. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: Jim Dine, Technicolor, 1996. Etching on paper. 19 × 25 in (48.3 × 63.5 cm). #art #glossary #hatch #hatching #crosshatch #crosshatching #JimDine #shading

A-Z: Harmony | ˈhärmənē | noun | As with music, harmony in visual art refers to the satisfying unification of disparate elements. Example: Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky blurred the lines between abstract painting and music. Kandinsky purposefully referred to his paintings as compositions to play up their abstract, musical qualities. He aspired to compositional harmony in this dual sense of the word. Kandinsky is believed to have experienced synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon in which sounds are perceived as colors. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: Wassily Kandinsky, Composition 9,1936. Oil on canvas. 44.6 x 76.7 in (113.5 x 195 cm). #art #glossary #harmony #Composition #WassilyKandinsky #Kandinsky #abstract #abstractart #form #music #synesthesia

A-Z: Happening | ˈhap(ə)niNG | noun | A happening refers to a performance of artwork. American performance artist, Allan Kaprow coined the term in the 1950s in reference to Jackson Pollock. Happenings became increasingly popular in the 1960s and 1970s, especially with performance artists and the Fluxus movement. Example: In his 1964 happening, Household, Allan Kaprow instructed participants to lick jam off a car. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: Allan Kaprow, Household, 1964. #art #glossary #Fluxus #performanceart #performance #performanceartist #AllanKaprow #JacksonPollock

A-Z: Hallmark | ˈhälˌmärk | noun, verb | 1. Colloquially, a hallmark is a mark of excellence. It is a distinguishing feature of something great. 2. Technically, a hallmark is an official mark made to certify the purity of precious metals. In 1327, King Edward III of England chartered the Goldsmiths' Company to certify gold and silver at their headquarters in London, Goldsmiths' Hall, which gave the hallmark its name. Example: From left to right, this hallmark certifies the maker, tax status, purity, date, and assay office where the metal was tested. The maker’s mark signifies that the silver was made by George Betjemann and his sons, George William and John Betjemann. Next, the portrait of Queen Victoria signifies that a tax was paid to the sovereign. This duty mark was not used after 1890. The lion passant (walking with its forward leg raised) guarantees that the silver is at least 92.5% pure, the sterling standard. The final two marks signify that the silver was made in 1884 and tested by the London assay office, Goldsmiths’ Hall. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: George Betjemann and Sons Silver Hallmark, 1884. #art #glossary #hallmark #hallmarks #silver #silversmith #quality #Betjemann #pure #purity

A-Z: Gutai | go͞otˈī | noun | The Gutai Bijutsu Kyokai (Gutai Art Association) was a Japanese artist group founded in 1954 by Yoshihara Jiro. Taking their name from a Japanese word meaning “concrete, “material,” or “tangible,” the Gutai Art Association combined performance, conceptional, interactive, and installation art forms. Gutai artists promoted embodiment, using their full bodies in action painting techniques like their Abstract Expressionist counterpart in New York, Jackson Pollock. Gutai artist Kazuo Shiraga, for example, painted with his feet. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: Kazuo Shiraga, Work II, 1958. Oil on paper, painted with the artist's feet. 183 x 243 cm. #art #glossary #gutai #GutaiBijutsuKyokai #GutaiArtAssociation #Japan #japanese #japaneseart #japaneseartist #avantgarde #abstract #abstractart #performanceart #KazuoShiraga #YoshiharaJiro

A-Z: Grotesque | ɡrōˈtesk | adjective, noun | Grotesque means ugly, hideous, shocking, incongruous, and so on. From the Italian word grotto meaning “cave,” grotesque connotes the subterranean and the underground, and it originally referred to the extravagant, fantastical style of Roman decorative art that was rediscovered in archaeological excavations of the fifteenth century. Example: Flemish artist, Quentin Matsys’ The Ugly Duchess is a masterpiece of the grotesque. It is not known who, if anyone, inspired the portrait. Later medical doctors have speculated that the sitter suffered from various diseases. It is more likely that Matsys was having a bit of fun. The sitter wears an absurd headdress that was out of fashion by the time Matsys painted his satirical portrait. She holds a flower that, according to one author, will “likely never blossom.” Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: Quentin Matsys, The Ugly Duchess, 1513. Oil on panel. 1513 64.2 × 45.5 cm. #art #glossary #grotesque #QuentinMatsys #TheUglyDuchess #UglyDuchess

A-Z: Graffiti | ɡrəˈfēdē | noun | 1. Generally, graffiti refers to writing or drawings made on walls. It tends to be public and done without permission. From the Italian word meaning “to scratch,” graffiti (singular: graffito) has been associated with vandalism from the beginning. Historical examples include the earliest known depiction of Jesus, the ancient Roman “Alexamenos graffito:” two men, one hanging on a cross with the head of a donkey. The text reads mockingly, “Alexamenos worships his god.” Centuries later, when Christianity had spread from the Roman Empire to Scandanavia, a Viking traveler scratched his name into Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia: “Halfdan carved these runes.” 2. More specifically, graffiti refers to an art form that started in the 1960s and 1970s. This modern innovation using spray paint and stencils spread from New York City and Philadelphia to inspire artists throughout the world from the anonymous British artist, Banksy to eL Seed, a French and Tunisian artist combing graffiti techniques with Arabic calligraphy. This modern phenomenon was attacked and racialized as vandalism by powerful figures like New York City mayor, Ed Koch. For rapper Afrika Bambaataa, however, graffiti was one of the four core elements of hip-hop culture. The other elements included deejaying (aural), emceeing (oral), and b-boying (breakdancing, physical). Later, a fifth element of knowledge would be added to ensure that hip-hop was protected by understanding and appreciation for its roots as it went mainstream. Similarly, many graffiti artists stress the importance of knowledge as the art form moves from streets and train cars to museums and galleries. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: eL Seed, Lost Walls, Chott el-Jerid, Tunisia. #art #glossary #graffiti #graf #graff #graffito #AfrikaBambaataa #EdKoch #hiphop #elseed #calligraphy #calligraffiti

A-Z: Gouache | ɡwäSH | noun | Like watercolor, gouache is a type of paint made from pigments suspended in water thickened with glue or gum. Unlike watercolor, which is transparent, gouache uses additional white pigment to make it opaque. Example: Honoré Daumier caricatured French political life during the turbulent including the July Revolution of 1830 (think Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People), the June Revolution of 1832 (think Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables), the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and beyond. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: Honoré Daumier, Une cause célèbre, c.1862. Gouache. #art #glossary #Gouache #HonoréDaumier #Daumier #LibertyLeadingthePeople #LesMisérables #LesMis #causecélèbre #causecelebre

A-Z: Gothic | ˈɡäTHik | adjective | 1. Starting in the 4th century, Germanic peoples known as the Goths migrated into the divided Roman Empire. They contributed to the fall of Rome and established Gothic kingdoms in Italy (the Ostrogoths) and Spain (the Visigoths). The Goths brought their own artistic traditions, especially in jewelry and metalworking. They influenced art and architecture throughout the former Roman Empire, subverting and innovating the classical cultures of Greece and Rome. 2. Starting in the 12th century, medieval artists and architects developed styles that were later described as “Gothic.” There was never a single organized “Gothic” art movement. Rather, the term was used pejoratively to refer to many medieval traditions during the Renaissance. Renaissance artists like Raphael and Vasari described Gothic as a “barbarous German style” in conflict with the classicism of Greece, Rome, and their own time. So-called Gothic artists worked across media, from panel painting and illuminated manuscripts to stained glass and monumental architecture. Gothic cathedrals glorified God with ornate rib vaults and flying buttresses. Over time, these cathedrals became increasingly elaborate. In the “Rayonnant style” (“radiant style”), architects gave more and more wall space over to stained glass windows and elaborate tracery. Example: The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris is a masterpiece of the Rayonnant style and a highpoint of Gothic art. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of relics. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gV9fGym8 Image: Stained glass from Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France, 1238-1248 #art #glossary #gothic #goth #goths #gothicart #gothicarchitecture #cathedral #medievalart #medievalarchitecture #saintechapelle