| Term | Description |
F., Fec., Fecit | Latin notations for 'he made', follows the artist's name on a painting or sculpture, or on an original print to distinguish the artist from the engraver, print maker and/or publisher. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
F/64/ Straight Photography | An optical term describing a photography movement in San Francisco from 1932 to 1935. It was founded by Ansel Adams and Willard Van Dyke and coined from the aperture setting on the camera lens that provides maximum clarity. Participants, who also included Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, Henry Swift, Dorothea Lange, Peter Stackpole and John Paul Edwards, were determined to make photography a distinctive technique of straightforward image presentation and to turn away from the "anecdotal pictorial photography of the turn of the century." The inaugural F/64 exhibition was in 1932 at the M.H. De Young Museum in San Francisco, and is credited as being the first museum exhibition in America devoted exclusively to photography. Although the group ceased consciously working together, F/64 has remained very much a part of photography and came to be known as Straight Photography. Sources: "Phaidon Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art"; Ron Goulart, "The Encyclopedia of American Comics" (LPD) |
Facsimile | A copy of a work of art that is not intended to be a fake and is labeled as a copy. Source: Julia M. Ehresmann, "The Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Faience | A term from the French name for the Italian town of Faenza, a famous pottery town from the 16th century. Faience, made in Faenza, is Earthenware that is mixed with colorful, opaque tin-based glaze. The word is sometimes mistakenly applied generally to pottery and porcelain.
Sources: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques";
Julia Ehresmann, "The Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms" (LPD)
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Fair Market Value | An appraisal term of the appraiser's judgment of a realistic price for a work of art for a buyer or seller. Source: www.sothebys.com |
Fake | A copy of an existing work of art or a work done in careful imitation of a well-known artist's style. Distinguished from a COPY or studio version because the intention is to deceive. (See also ATTRIBUTION, FORGERY and PROVENANCE) |
Fall River Evening Drawing School | Robert Spear Dunning and John Grouard founded the Fall River Evening Drawing School in 1870 in Fall River, Maine, a milling town. The focus was on highly realistic, "trompe l'oeil" still life painting. It is said that no other community in the 19th century was so much known for still life painting. Students included Albert Monroe, Abbie Zuill, and Bryant Chaping. Source: Michael David Zellman, "300 Years of American Art" |
Fan Brush | A fan-shaped brush used for delicate blending of paints and for creating soft, delicate effects. Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"
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Fascist Art | Refers to chauvinist, propaganda-based art that was promoted and approved or sanctioned by Benito Mussolini, the right-wing political dictator of Italy during World II, who rose to power beginning in 1922. Because of Mussolini's determination to promote modernist ways or revolutionary approaches in society, the resulting avant-garde works were called Fascist Art. One of the groups aligned with it were Futurists "whose bellicosity, anti-feminism, glorification of technology and understanding of propaganda techniques made them natural allies of Mussolini." Italian artists in the 1920s who did 'Fascist Art' were Carlo Carra and Marino Mariani. Fascist Art as a formal movement terminated in 1943, with the weakening and then defeat of Mussolini and his causes. Source: Robert Atkins, "ART SPOKE" |
Fast Colors | Colors that resist fading. The term as applied to textile dyeing refers to the life of the product in that the pigments will not lighten with exposure to sunlight. Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"
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Fat | A ceramic term referring to clay that has great plasticity and can be added to drier clay to make it more workable. Ball Clay and Bentonite are fat clays. Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Fat over lean | A rule of thumb for painters in oil. As an oil painting is built up in layers, it is essential that each layer has more oil then the one below it so that as the paint dries, the top layers are flexible enough to accommodate shrinkage and settling without cracking. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Fauves/Fauvism | A French word for "wild beast" and a term assigned contemptuously to a group of Post-Impressionist Parisian painters who used color flamboyantly and sensuously, even squeezing it directly onto surfaces from the tube. First exhibiting their work in 1905 at the Salon d'Automne, the group was composed of Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Georges Rouault (1871-1958), Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958), Andre Derain (1880-1954), Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Raoul Duffy (1877-1953). Describing work in this exhibition, critic Louis Vauxcelles coined the term Fauve to describe the collective paintings when he walked into a room where they were grouped together with the exception of a sculpture by Florentine, Donato Donatello (1386-1466). Vauxcelles exclaimed in French that translated to English was: "what is Donatello doing in this wild beasts' den?" Contributing to the repeated description of the painters as “fauve” or wild was the frequent depiction of prostitutes by Rouault. However, Matisse, the oldest, was the primary leader, with most of the Fauves having studied with him. Fauvism as an art movement is not easily definable because the description came from outsiders and not from any association of artists who formally agreed upon style or objectives. Although interest in Fauvism was relatively short lived because of the introduction of Cubism and focus on form rather than color, the influence remains in the work of many artists whose expressionist works are driven by color rather than geometry. American artists who were in Paris during the ascendancy of the Fauves and whose paintings reflected the Fauves’ innovative use of color include Arthur Carles, Arthur Dove, Maurice Prendergast, Alfred Maurer, John Marin, Abraham Walkowitz and Max Weber. In 1908, Alfred Stieglitz introduced work by Matisse to New Yorkers at his Photo-Secession Gallery, and most of the Fauves from France exhibited there for several succeeding years. Many of them also exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show in New York. Sources: “The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art”; “Phaidon Dictionary of American Art”; Hilton Kramer, (quotation) "The Turn of the Century", p. 137. (LPD) |
Fayum Portrait | A portrait of a dead person painted on their linen shroud or on the mummy case of the deceased. It was an innovation of Coptic Art in Egypt in the Seventh Century BC and is named for Fayum, a province in Egypt.
Source: Julia Ehresmann, "The Pocket Dictionary of Art Terms"
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Federal Art Project | A U.S. Government agency formed during the Depression to provide employment for artists. See WPA (Works Progress Administration) |
Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors | Founded in 1940 in New York City, it is an exhibiting organization with an elected membership. Its early purpose was to unite artists, who had philosophical problems with the American Artists Congress and other post World War I and Depression issues. Members include Wil Barnet, Joseph Solman, Dorothy Eisner, Joseph Albers, Stuart Davis and Louise Nevelson. Source: http://www.fedart.org/former.htm |
Feldspar | A chrystalline mineral with aluminum silicates used as a fusion in porcelain and ceramic glazes.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"
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Felt Tip Pens/Magic Marker | Pens also known as fountain brushes. The most common name is Magic Marker, the popular commercial Felt-Tip Pen. As a drawing and coloring device, these pens are easily controlled and have colored ink reservoirs of soluble dies that make them handy for sketching. However, they are not permanent enough for lasting fine art. The tips are available in a number of shapes from blunt to fine point. They are considered non-toxic. American artists who have used these markers include Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Source: WordNet; AskART database; Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Femme Fatale | A French term meaning "deadly woman" or one who destroys innocent manhood. Images of "femme fatales" have played a big role in western art and literature in the post-Civil War decades of the 19th Century. This theme reflected the uneasiness about women's roles, which seemed to be shifting from that of domesticity to workers in the marketplace, meaning the 'fair sex was increasingly obvious in open society. The opposite of the "Femme Fatale" was the 'Victorian woman', who appeared to be a saint and whose role was making the home a sanctuary of purity and quiet for her husband and children. In reaction, some of the portrayals of emerging women from those constraints showed females cavorting in nature such as nudes posed in forests or in startling situations such as the nude woman at the picnic in Manet's painting. In 1892, Norwegian artist Edvard Munch entered a painting in an 1892 Berlin exhibition that was a seductive-appearing Madonna framed by wiggling sperm, which was highly shocking to many Europeans and Americans. Among "femme fatale" artists in addition to Munch were Albert Pinkham Ryder, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimt and Aubrey Beardsley. Source: Robert Atkins, "ART SPOKE" (LPD) |
Fenway Studio Building | Located at 30 Ipswich Street in Boston, the building housed studios of many of the best-known painters of Boston in the early 20th Century.
These painters were members of the Boston School, meaning they were either students or teachers at the Boston Museum School and painted genteel subjects in a realist style.
Some of the artists were Philip Hale, Lilian Westcott, and Charles Woodbury.
Credit:
Erica Hirshler, "A Studio of Her Own" |
Ferrer Modern School-New York | Founded in New York City on St. Mark's Place in the Lower East Side in 1911 and commonly called Ferrer Center, it was named for Francesc Ferrer i Guardia, free education advocate, who had just been executed in Spain. The school, with emphasis on freedom of thought, was started by well-known anarchists including Emma Goldman. Among teachers were philospher Will Durant and artists Robert Henri and George Bellows. Man Ray was a student. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_School_(United_States) |
Festoon | A decorative design with graceful curved, looped lines. In fine art, a festoon refers to a decorative carving or painting with garlands, flowers and leaves arranged between two supports with vine-like ribbons that repeat the same motif.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques |
Fete Champetre | (Fr., rural festival). A painting of a country festival, for example, Bruegel's "Dance of the Peasants." |
Fete Galante | A scene of an elegant, festive occasion in an open-air setting, depicting dancing, musicales, comedy, etc. Watteau introduced the "fete galante", and it became a specialty of French rococo art. |
Fettle | To remove extraneous material in ceramic and sculpture such as rough edges with a fettling knife.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Fiberglass/Fiberglas | Strong, durable, non-flammable glass with hair-like filaments. In sculpture, fiberglass reinforces polymer resins. Fiberglas is a trade name for glass cloth. Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques". |
Field and Stream | See Sporting Art |
Figurative | A word with two meanings, one having to do with drawing and painting the human figure and the other as an all-encompassing term for describing that which is representational---making the distinction between abstraction and realism. Paul Feltus, figurative painter, defines the first meaning as a painting whose subject is the human figure and which works "in formal terms, quite apart from their image and their associations, suggested meanings, narrative content, and so on." In addition to being about the figure itself, Feltus says that "it is also a complex fitting together of shapes that can be appreciated as such." The latter definition is much broader in that it pertains to recognizable subjects such as landscape, still lifes, portraits, figures, etc. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; Paul Feltus, 'The Composition of Paintings: An Artist's Perspective', "American Arts Quarterly", Fall 2005, p. 56. (LPD) |
Figure | In pictures and sculpture a depiction of the human body, and in design, the word figure is a reference to a repeated motif.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Figure-Ground* | In two-dimensional art, the relationship between the principal forms and the background. Figure-ground ambiguity suggests equal importance for the two. |
Figureheads | Symbolic human or animal figures that from earliest times have been carved and placed on the prow of sailing vessels. They are a tradition linked to folk-art wood carvers as early in America as the 17th century, and the first known ones are small and usually busts of human beings. These were followed by erect, free standing, larger figures made for clipper ships and leaned forward conforming to the speed and sleek design of the ship. The last of these free standing ones were carved in the 1870s and 1880s. After the American Revolution, Figureheads appeared with a wide range of subjects including symbolic and mythological human and animal figures, marine forms such as dolphins and alligators, national heroes and the American eagle. Many of the early figureheads were allegorical with names such as Harmony, America, Minerva or referenced heroes in history such as Julius Caesar or Hannibal. However, by the early 19th Century, the trend shifted from Baroque, allegorical figures to less dramatic-appearing subjects including realistic portraiture such as Presidents George Washington and John Adams. John Bellamy (1836-1914) of New England was especially noted for his carved eagles. Other well-known figurehead carvers are members of the Skillin family of Boston---John Skillin (1746-1800), Simeon Skillin Jr.(1756-1806) and Simeon Skillin Sr. (1716-1778); Samuel McIntyre (1757-1811) of Salem, Massachusetts; and William Rush (1756-1833) of Philadelphia who operated an active Figurehead-carving shop for fifty years. He oversaw the preliminary designs for all figureheads and stern carvings for the first ships in the United States Navy, six of them with each built in a different city. Rush's shop did four of the six Figureheads, which were elaborate and symbolic of American political ideals. In that pre and post Revolutionary War era, Boston and Philadelphia competed in ship building activities, which meant that numerous Figurehead carvers were in each city. Sources: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Ralph Sessions, 'William Rush and the American Figurehead', "The Magazine Antiques", November 2005, pp. 148-153 (LPD)
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Figurine | A small statue, bronze or pottery, ten inches in size or smaller.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Filigree | Fine wire, usually gold or silver, that is shaped into intricate designs that either stand alone for their design qualities or serve as outlines for jewelry and other ornamental work.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Fin De Siecle | Refers primarily to Art Nouveau and aestheticism of the 1890’s, sometimes termed “decadent art.” Used to refer to a ‘style’ or ‘movement’ associated with the end of the 19th century. An artist best known for this period was Englishman Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898). |
Fine Art | A term traditionally applied to visual expression that is created for aesthetic significance and distinct from craft, which has practical use. Included are architecture, music, painting, and sculpture. However, those distinctions are not so clear in contemporary art, which pushes those boundaries.
The modern notion of 'fine art' can be traced back to the Renaissance when there was a strong movement, led by Leonardo da Vinci, to demonstrate that the painter in particular was practicing an intellectual and not a manual skill.
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Fine Arts Federation | Representing the arts organizations of the United States, the group formed in 1909 in New York City. Members had the goal of setting high standards in the arts and awakening public conscience on these matters. One of the Federation's major projects was establishing guidelines for war memorials that proliferated following World Wars I and II. FAF criteria included using professionally trained sculptors, designers and architects.
Several-hundred chapters grew across the country. The Federation sponsored a circulating exhibition, a lecture series, and had a monthly publication, "American Magazine of Art". It also published once a year "The Art Annual", a directory of artists across the country. This publication was the predecessor of "Who's Who in American Art".
Credit:
Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture" |
Finger Painting/Finger Paints | Applying paint to a surface with fingers. Although practiced in various times by Chinese artists, sometimes combined with other mediums, this activity became popular in the 1930s in America when emphasis began to be placed on art activities for children. Finger paints, specially made for this process, are non toxic and removable with water.
Source: Ralph Meyer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Finial | In ceramic pieces, architecture or furniture, a term referring to the finishing ornamentation at the top of the piece.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Finish | The surface texture---glossy, rough, matte---of a work of art. The word "patina" also means finish when referencing sculpture.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Firestone Collection of Canadian Art | The Firestone Collection of Canadian Art is an art collection that spans the modern period (1900-1980). Originally established by Ottawa residents O.J. and Isobel Firestone in the early 1950s, the collection contains approximately 1,600 works by a number of influential Canadian artists, including A.Y. Jackson, Emily Carr, Jack Shadbolt, Paul-Émile Borduas, Rita Letendre, and Ghitta Caiserman. There are a wide variety of paintings, a large number of sketches, and many prominent sculptural works, and an unusually high number of women artists represented for a collection from this era. The large majority of works were obtained directly from the artists, many of whom maintained relationships with the Firestone family. The Firestones first acquired works by members of the Group of Seven, which make up more than half the Collection. They subsequently procured work from more Ontario artists, and followed with those by Francophone and Anglophone artists from Quebec, works by artists from the Atlantic provinces, the Prairie provinces, and finally Western Canada. In 1972, the Firestones donated their collection to the Ontario Heritage Foundation to ensure that it remained available to the public. In 1992, the Foundation transferred ownership of the collection to the City of Ottawa, which became responsible for its conservation and public access. Since 1992, The Ottawa Art Gallery has cared for and displayed the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art in a series of rotating exhibitions featuring specific artists, art historical themes and art movements. Source: The Ottawa Art Gallery, http://www.ottawaartgallery.ca/collections/firestone-en.php |
Firing | Heating pottery or sculpture in a kiln or open fire to harden the clay permanently and fuse the enamel to the piece. The temperature needed to mature the clay varies with the type of body used. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Five Kiowas | A term referring to Native American artists of Oklahoma, who gained international reputation when they exhibited with an expanded group of 31 Indian artists at the 1928 Expo in Prague, Poland. Original members of the group were Spencer Asah, Jack Hokeah, Steven Mopope, Monroe Tsatoke and Lois Smoky. Sponsors were Susie Peters, a teacher in Anardko, Oklahoma at the Kiowa agency, and Oscar Brousse Jacobson, Director of the Art Department at the University of Oklahoma. In 1926, he arranged for the "Five Kiowas" to have studio space, materials, and instruction at the University. Other Indian artists followed into the program, and the expanded group included Native Americans from across the United States. During the Depression of the 1930s, Jacobson supported them and got them many commissions as muralists. Source:
Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art" (LPD) |
Fixative | A transparent liquid consisting of a binder and solvent that protects artwork from smudging or damage. Fixitives for charcoal and pencil drawings usually have a small amount of resin dissolved in alcohol. Pastel fixatives are not a total covering but only prevent the pastel from dusting away. So many pastel artists cover their paintings with glass. Fixatives are applied with a sprayer, mouth blower or atomizer. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Floating Signature | The signature of the artist applied over the finish. For a painting, this term would pertain to the signature placed on top of the varnish. Floating Signatures are not integrated into the works and are likely to be removed if the painting is cleaned or restored. Often a Floating Signature is fraudulent, and seeing one on a work of art is a signal to an authenticator that the work may be a forgery.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Florence Academy of Art | Founded in 1991 in Florence, Italy by Daniel Graves, the school is dedicated to a traditional curriculum of progressing from cast drawings to drawing from the model, and moving from monochromes to color. His philosophy is that laudable painting and sculpture "demands a return to discipline in art, to canons of beauty, and to the direct study of nature and the Old Masters as the foundation for great painting. Source: Kelly Compton, 'Andrea Smith', "Fine Art Connoisseur", June 2008, p. 66; AskART.com biography of Daniel Graves. (LPD) |
Florida Highwaymen | A group of African-American landscape painters in Florida in the 1950s and 1960s who painted fanciful land/skyscapes---usually billowing cumulous clouds over bodies of water.
Members were James Gibson, Harold Newton, and Alfred Hair, and they were influenced by Albert Backus, the Dean of Florida Painters.
These artists painted on upson board, a product used by roofers, and then framed with crown molding and marketed the works from the trunk of their cars.
Credit: Neal Auction Company |
Fluorescence | The quality of having luminism or emiting light.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Fluorescent Paint | Paint made from synthetic pigments that create a glowing light and strong, luminous colors. A well-known trade name is Day Glo Colors. They are long-lasting enough for decoration but are too likely to fade for use in fine art intended for permanence.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Fluxus | An international art movement of loosely affiliated American, Asian and European artists that was the precursor of Performance and Conceptual Art. Fluxus began in Germany and spread to New York as well as California, Japan and other European countries. The word Fluxus first appeared in 1961 on a New York Gallery A/G lecture series invitation written by George Maciunas. Fluxus, in several languages, means flow or change, and is a state of mind rather than a style. Participating artists have mutual social goals of changing middle-class values about art, music and literature that are more important to them than shared aesthetics. Pioneering Fluxus artists staged mixed-media simultaneous, often cacophonous, aggressively loud events or 'happenings' that were "demonstrations of the libidinal energy and anarchy generally associated with the '60s". Included were street spectacles, guerrilla theatre, Haiku-length poems and electronic music performances. Prominent Fluxus artists were Maciunas, Geoffrey Hendricks, Nam June Paik, Allan Kaprow, George Brecht, Joseph Beuys, Dick Higgins, Alison Knowles, Ben Vautier and Yoko Ono. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; Ken Johnson, "NY Times" obituary of George Brecht, 12/15/2008, A29. (LPD) |
Folk Art | The visual expression of academically untrained artists, including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, costume, needlework, implements, and tools. Jean Lipman, editor of "Art in America and folk-art scholar, wrote that folk art "is based upon an essentially non-optical vision. It is a style depending upon what the artist knew rather than upon what he saw, and so the facts of physical reality were largely sifted through the mind and personality of the painter." The degree of excellence "depends upon the clarity, energy, and coherence of the artist's mental picture rather than upon the beauty or interest actually inherent in the subject matter..." (Foreward)
According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, there are several categories of Folk Art: 1) decorative that includes the fraktur (document decorating) artists and needle workers; 2) anonymous creations, that is by little-known painters and sculptors who worked for practical purposes such as commercial sign makers and carvers of headstones and decoys; and 3) and painting and sculpture from self-taught folk artists. All share the commonality of being produced outside the mainstream of American art, meaning at the time of creation, the artists have no background of academic art-school training, no involvement with organized advertising of their work, publicity receptions, etc.
Among the best-known American folk artists are John Kane, Edward Hicks, Jacob Maentel, Rufus Porter, Ammi Phillips, Horace Pippin, Grandma Moses, Joseph Pickett, Morris Hirshfield, Clementine Hunter, Bill Traylor and Howard Finster. Sources: "American Folk Painters of Three Centuries" by Jean Lipman and Tom Armstrong; The "Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; AskART database.
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Follower of.... | A description of an unknown artist who has created a work that appears like that of a famous artist.
Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"
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Folly Cove Designers | A group of artists in the Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts area, committed to the Arts and Crafts Movement and the philosophies of Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, who taught a design course, beginning 1938, in Folly Cove in north Gloucester. Her theory was that the world was a beautiful place and that combining expression of fine art for utilitarian objects within the home was a worthy goal. She taught blockprinting designs based on the crafting of designs from nature to mirror what she perceived as rules of nature---dark and light, sizing, repetition and reflection. On completing the course, students were invited to submit a design carved in linoleum, and if it was accepted, it was marketed as a Folly Cove Design. The Home Industries Shop in Gloucester, run by artists Irina and Joshua Tolford, was the first marketing outlet. The first exhibition of Folly Cove Designs was in 1940 in the Demetrious studio, and in 1941, the decision was made to create a formal entity called Folly Cove Designers. In addition to the local outlet run by the Tolfords, Folly Cove Designs were distributed by the American Crafts and Cooperative Council. By 1945, Lord and Taylor Company bought exclusive rights to five of the designs for their department stores, which brought attention to the Designers far beyond their local area. In 1948, the Designers opened “The Barn” in Folly Cove for summer sales, but the following year, the organization dissolved. Records of the Folly Cove Designers are in the collection of the Cape Ann Historical Association in Gloucester. In addition to the Tolfords and Virginia Lee Demetrios, artists associated with the Folly Cove Designers were Ida Bruno, George Demetrios and Mabel Greer. Source: Courtesy Sandi Brockway, http://www.sarah-elizabeth-shop.com/background/follycovedesigners.shtml (LPD) |
Font/Typeface | See Typeface/Font |
Forces Nouvelles | A reactionary movement against an apparent intellectualism in the arts. The group, founded in Paris, France in the 1930s, was influenced by modernist leaning artists including George de La Tour Le Nain and Paul Chardin. Leading members and founders of Forces Nouvelles were Pierre Tal-coat, Robert Humblot, George Rohner and Raymond Moisset. They worked from emotive expressionist techniques, later experimenting with the abstract. Source: Papillon Gallery, Hollywood CA |
Fore-edge painting | A painting on the edge of a book opposite the spine, occasionally on the top edge, visible when the book is fanned slightly. Landscape is the most common subject. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"
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Foreground | One of the zones of linear perspective in fine art and the part of the composition that appears to be closest to the viewer.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Forensic Art | Composing imagery based on second-hand information, either from description of witnesses or from remains of dead bodies. Usually the purpose is for identification of victims related to criminal activity. Karen Taylor of Austin, Texas, is a Forensic Artist whose work is used to solve many crimes, to find missing persons, and for educational programs. Source: Edith Zimmerman, 'Understanding Faces In and Out', "Drawing", Summer 2006 |
Foreshortening | The application of perspective to forms in order to create the illusion of three-dimensionality and depth. To foreshorten is to depict two-dimensional images with the same perspective as the viewer actually would see them. Thus objects protruding in the foreground are made to recede.
Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Forgery | A work of art with the signature of an artist who was not the artist. In other words, the signature is fake and is signed with the intent to defraud by assigning the name of a famous artist to work done by a lesser-known painter or sculptor. Rarely is the work a copy, but is usually offered as a newly-discovered work. Source: Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Forging | Shaping metal with hammers while it is hot; the method for making wrought iron. |
Form | A word often confused with SHAPE. Properly, the form of an object is the combination of all the characteristics that establish its identity. Form not only includes shape, but also aspects such as size, texture, color, tone, and movement. An artist may select certain aspects of the form for depiction, though often he or she attempts to express all aspects of form, which cannot be specifically delineated such as the movement, or the emotions of the subject. |
Formal/Formalism | Derived from the word 'form'. Formal refers to adherence to prescribed rules and traditional methods relative to that which gives a work of art form---shape, size, color, scale, etc. In England and the United States, Formalism is generally associated with modern art and especially with critics Clement Greenberg, Clive Bell and Roger Fry. They sought to develop a systematic approach of analyzing formal qualities of artwork rather than using social context or the artist's declared intent. With Formalism, they hoped to have a method of critiqueing artwork with line, shape, color, etc. regardless of its place of origin. Clement Greenberg especially appled Formalism to his reviews of Abstract Expressionist painters in New York City. However, Pop Artists undercut the method because social message was the only basis of their painting. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak" |
Found Object | From the French words "objet trouve", the term in art vocabulary applies to artwork created with objects that are found and then incorporated in artwork. The theory, from Surrealism, is that any object can become a work of art. Found Objects pre-exist unto themselves rather than being made as art mediums such as oil, bronze, etc. The use of Found Objects in art expression began in France in the early 20th century with Dadaists and Surrealists including Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp. Their focus was to shift attention away from the physical act of creation. After World War II, artists used Found Objects for social messages such as commentary on a throw-away society. An example would be the use of mannequins by Edward Kienholz to symbolize a line-up of emotionless people. The use of Found Objects are usually regarded by the artist as aesthetically significant because they express personal meaning, which is the goal of the artwork. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" (LPD)
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Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies/F | A non-profit organization founded in 1986 to fill a perceived gap on government funding for upkeep and permanent art of American embassies worldwide. Founders were three former wives of ambassadors: Carol Price, Wendy Luers and Leonore Annenberg, and Lee McGrath, then Director of the State Department's Art in Embassies program. In contrast to the Art in Embassies approach, which is to borrow artwork temporarily to suit the taste of the ambassadors, FAPE buys site-specific work for the outside. One of the earliest acquisitions was a bronze by Joel Shapiro in 1999 for the Ottawa American embassy. Other artists involved are Ellsworth Kelly, Sol Le Witt, Louise Bourgeois, Maya Lin, Laura Owens and Russell Crotty. Source: Michelle Falkenstein, 'International News', "ARTnews", Summer, 2008 (LPD) |
Fourteenth Street School | Refers to the works of American Kenneth Hayes Miller and students Reginald Marsh and Isabel at the Art Student League, New York City. All were realists in the Italian Renaissance tradition. |
Foxing | A discoloration of paper in books, prints, etc., due to dampness. Characterized by brown spots. |
Frakturs/Fraktur Artist | Terms for decorated Pennsylvania-Dutch documents especially wedding, birth and baptismal certificates in 18th-century America and for the artists who did them. Frakturs served not only as historical records for families but as works of art in colonial America. The writing in ink was linked to German Gothic calligraphy, and the ornamentation usually in watercolor, had botanics, birds, florals and other design motifs. Among 18th-century American frakturs artists are Karl Munch, Johannes Spangenberg, Martin Brechall, John Van Minian, Henry Young, Jacob Leith, Moses Connor Jr., Rev. George Geistweite, Christian Mertel and Daniel Otto. David Ellinger and Garrett Frnech are 20th-century fraktur artists. Donald A. Shelley was the first scholar to attempt a classification of fraktur art by artists and by school, and documented his conclusions in his 1961 book, "The Fraktur Writings or the Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans", Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; AskART database, "Maine Antique Digest", June 2007. (LPD)
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Frame/Framing | A protective and/or enhancing border surrounding a picture. Usually the frame is constructed from wood moulding and may involve staining, gilding, carving and decorating. Frame making skills involve joinery and tasteful selection of materials, colors and textures that will be appropriate for the work of art. The earliest known picture frames date back to portraits in Pompeii, Italy. In the 17th through 19th centuries, artists in Europe worked with their framemakers, and portrait painters including Gilbert Stuart in America offered their patrons a choice of frames. It is likely that the burnished gold picture frame was used in the pre-electric light era as a method to reflect light into the painting. Then when more lighting was available and homes were built with large windows, much more simple frames were used. Today, most framing is done after the picture is completed without pre-consultation with a framer. Some artists make their own frames. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Johanna E. Moore, 'Restoring the Relationship of Artist/Patron/Framemaker', "Antiques and the Arts Weekly", July 21, 2006
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Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper | A newspaper founded in the 1860s by Englishman, Henry Carter, 1821-1880, who, as a young man, took the name of Frank Leslie in order to foil his parents who discouraged his interest in drawing. Using the pseudonym, Carter sold illustrations to the “London News” and worked there before immigrating to America where he worked briefly for P.T. Barnum. Continuing to use the name of Frank Leslie, he began his own publication, and quickly learned that sensationalism sold and serious subjects did not. His motto became: “Never shoot over the reader’s head.” The person who played the most major role in the publication other than Frank Leslie, was his wife, Miriam Follin, a talented writer who led the kind of life that fascinated readers. Her escapades fed scandal mongers, and her writing style and subjects were perfect for the readers of “Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News”. From her western travels, she provided the first coverage of the transcontinental railroad, wrote about Brigham Young and polygamy in Utah, and did articles on Chinatown, Yosemite, and gold mining. When her husband died in 1880, Leslie’s publishing company was deep in debt, but knowing her husband’s name to be the valuable branding, she legally changed her name to Frank Leslie. The assassination of President Garfield gave the newspaper a big boost in readership, which saved the paper financially and in turn, allowed it to thrive through the 1890s. During its last ten years, management was left primarily to staff members because Mrs. Leslie traveled extensively and then had ill health. She sold the business in 1902. Among the illustrators for “Leslie’s” were William Waud, William Henry Shelton, Francis Schell, Thomas Nast, Edwin Forbes, Charles Graham, Paul Frenzeny, Benjamin Clinedinst, Henry Ogden, and Will Bradley. Sources: Graphic Comm Central, http://teched.edtl.vt.edu/gcc/HTML/PrintingsPast/IllusNewspaper.html; Walt Reed, “The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000” (LPD) |
Frederic Remington Award | Established in 1990 to honor exceptional artistic merit, it is an annual award, carries a $3000. cash prize, and is sponsored by Russ and Dortha Salder of Oklahoma for the Prix de West Invitational Exhibition at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City. Winners include william Acheff, Ronald Riddick, Mehl Lawson and Curt Walters. Source: "Milestones", Traditional Fine Arts Online, http://www.tfaoi.com/newsmu/mile2.htm |
French Art Mission | See Mormon Art Missionaries |
French Impressionism | A painting technique in which the artist concentrates on the changing effects of light and color. Often this style can be characterized by its use of discontinuous brush strokes and heavy impasto.
It was the first great modern art movement, beginning in France with an exhibition held in Paris in 1874. The leader of the movement was Claude Monet (1840-1926). The term continues to be used in the 20th century to characterize discontinuous brushwork that allows the play of light with color.
Two schools of Impressionism have evolved---American and French with French Impressionists less concerned with form than the Americans. |
Fresco | Traditionally the most common technique used for indoor mural painting. Fresco is wall paint in which limeproof pigments are mixed with water and applied to lime plaster that is still wet. The plaster serves both as ground and binder. In addition, it provides the lights and highlights for the finished work, being the only source of white. True, or "buon fresco", involves preparing the wall with several layers of plaster, beginning with a rough arriccio on to which the design is first traced and ending with smooth intonaco, which is only applied in small sections to insure the application is on wet plaster. This sort of fresco painting is very skilled because the artist must work very quickly and is virtually unable to make corrections. A less difficult, and less permanent, form of wall painting in which a water-based paint is applied to dry plaster is known as fresco secco. Fresco painting was used in many of the early civilizations including the Minoan in Crete and throughout Europe. The highest stage of developement was during the Renaissance in Catholic churches. After the 17th Century, the use of fresco declined but had a big revival in Mexico in the early 20th Century with Diego Rivera, Jose Clement Orozco and in America with the Federal Art Project (WPA). Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques". (LPD) |
Frottage | A process of making a rubbing from a raised or textured surface. Paper is laid over the material and rubbed with black lead, charcoal or crayon. Max Ernst used the technique in his Surrealist collages as did other Surrealists because the textural effects stirred unconscious images in the imagination. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Fugitive Pigment | Pigment that that to fade, either with over-exposure to light or atmospheric pollution. either fades with prolonged exposure to light, is susceptible to atmospheric pollution, or tends to darken when mixed with other substances. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Fumage | A method developed by surrealist painter Wolfgang Paalen in which impressions are made on a piece of paper or canvas by flames or smoke from a lamp or candle
Credit: Daniel C. Boyer, Artist
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Funism | An art movement founded by Norm Magnusson whose basic tenets are: 1) Art should be as much fun to look at as it is to think about, and 2) Art should be intellectually engaging without being intellectually elitist.
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Funk Art | Artwork referring to subject matter and style that are intended to offend by being vulgar and shockingly narrative. Funk Art is offbeat, sensuous and direct with a heavy influence from earlier anti-war movements such as DADA and NEO-DADA. The term refers to a movement born in the San Francisco area during the 1960s and it was made official with the 1967 exhibition "Funk". The word funk derives from funky, a musical term. Peter Selz, then director of the University Art Museum in Berkeley, gave the name to the movement. Artists involved were Robert Arneson, Clayton Bailey, Bruce Conner, Roy De Forest, Mel Henderson, Robert Hudson, Richard Shaw, and William Wiley. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak" |
Fusion | The joining or melting together of medals by heat or welding. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Futurism | An art movement founded in Italy in 1909 by artist Filippo Marinetti, who demanded revolution, action and annihilation of the thinking of the past and focus on elements of the future---speed and energetic movement made possible by technology. Futurism had strength until the end of World War I, and eventually was taken over by the Nazis to justify implementing a New Era. Futurist artists such as American Frank Stella concentrated on the dynamic quality of modern technological life. To illustrate the potential of fast-moving machinery and its affect on people, Stella painted scenes of the roller coaster ride at Coney Island. His scenes reflected one of the primary characteristics of Futurism, which was to create such compelling movement in his artwork that the viewer was pulled immediately into the action and never allowed the luxury of just being an onlooker. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" (LPD)
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