| Term | Description |
Gag Art | An infrequently used name for Pop Art. Source: Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Gaine | The lower part of figurative sculpture that is unfinished or tapered while the top part is finished or realistic. Many Egyptian and Greek temples have these tapered pillars. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gall Nut/Nutgall | The round swelling formed on an oak tree from an insect sting. It is used in the preparation of writing ink. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gallery 291/Photo-Secession Gallery | Located at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York City and usually referred to simply as 291. This Gallery was opened in 1905 by photographer Alfred Stieglitz. The original goal was to exhibit photography, but in 1907, Stieglitz broadened the scope to include avant-garde painting, sculpture and graphic arts with the hope of showing tht photography could its own on an equal level as the other visual arts. Gallery 291 became the center of contemporary, leading-edge American and European art in America, although Stieglitz avoided advertising and obviousl commercialization. Between 1908 and 1914, Gallery 291 held the first American exhibitions of work by Auguste Rodin, Henri Matisse and Paul Cezanne. It was also the first one-man exhibition venues anywhere of work by Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brancusi. From 1909, American modernists were featured including Marsden Hartley, Alfred Maurer, John Marin, Arthur Carles, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Max Weber, Elie Nadelman, Arthur Dove and Georgia O'Keeffe, whom Steiglitz married and promoted her career. In 1912, the first exhibition of children's art was held as well as the first exhibition of African primitive sculpture treated as fine art rather than anthropolical subjects. From 1903 to 1917, "Camera Work" was the official publication of Gallery 291, and featured photography by Edward Steichen and Steiglitz and also articles on the visual arts by distinguished writers such as George Bernard Shaw and Gertrude Stein. In fact, it was the first publication to print writing by Stein. Gallery 291 closed in 1917 when the building was torn down. Successor galleries opened by Steiglitz were Anderson Galleries from 1925 to 1929 and An American Place from 1920 to 1946. Both galleries continued to feature modernist art. (LPD) Source: "Phaidon Dictionary of Twentieth Century Art"
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Gallery Picture | A large painting. Normally one in which the figures are life-size or larger and which must therefore be hung in spacious surroundings. Source: Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Gallery Tone | A term used euphemistically in the 19th Century for the yellow coloration of a painting whose varnish had darkened with grime. This look used to be considered desirable, but the modern preference seems to be for the clean, restored look. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gallipot/Galipot | A small porcelain container used by painters to hold their oil paints. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Galvanized Metal | Usually iron or steel that has been coated with electroplated zinc so it is resistant to weather. This is used in welded sculpture. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gamboge | A clear, transparent yellow, the substance is obtained from the yellow gum-resin from a variety of trees grown in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Gamboge is not suitable for oil painting but is effective in gilding and watercolor because of its transparency. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gammadion | A design formed by the junction of four gammas of the Greek alphabet. Examples are Swastikas and Greek Crosses. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gardena High School Collection | A now-valuable collection of early California Impressionist paintings owned by Gardena High School in Los Angeles. The paintings were acquired beginning with the graduating class in 1919. That year the school principal, John Whitely, suggested that each senior class purchase a painting as a parting gift to the school. Students held fund raisers and then visited artists' studios to make the selections. Once the selection was made, studio talks and special receptions were held. In 1999, educator Dr Robert Detweiler worked with others including Joan Irvine Smith, Jean Stern and representatives of the W.M. Keck Foundation to hold a special exhibition of the paintings, "Painted Light: California Impressionist Paintings from the Gardena High School". Venues were the University Art Gallery at California State University in Carson, California and The Irvine Museum in Irvine, California. Among the artists represented are Maynard Dixon, Guy Rose, Franz Bischoff, Armin Hansen, Jesse Botke, Frank Tenney Johnson, Jean Mannheim and Edgar Payne.
Source: Jean Stern, "Painted Light: California Impressionist Paintings" |
Garnet Paper | Used for smoothing gesso in the preparation of grounds for paintings. It is pink colored abrasive paper that is coated with fine fragments of garnet and resembles sandpaper. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Garzone | An artist's young apprentice or studio boy. Source: Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Gavel | A term for the hammer of the auctioneer that is used when the bidding is closed. Source: www.sothebys.com |
General Idea/Miss General Idea | A Toronto-based collaborative art movement founded in 1968 by George Saia, Ronald Gabe and Michael Tims and lasting until the deaths of Saia and Gabe in 1994. Each man took a new name to use as an artist, and these names are respectively Jorge Zontal, Felix Partz and AA Bronson. Working as a trio to be freed "from the tyranny of individual genius", they functioned artistically as a single entity called Miss General Idea. The focus of the collaboration was to make fun of contemporary art as well as the current media stream including the organization of museum exhibitions. Their mediums were installation sculpture, films, performances, photographs and publications including their own magazine called "File" to promote their ideas. In the 1980s, AIDS was a major focus of their efforts, and Miss General Idea created and distributed mass-produced (multiples) posters, billboards, stamps, lottery tickets and other electronic images. They also did cynical commentary works about pharmaceutical companies' research methods for AIDS medications. Spreading their messages, the creating of Multiples was a key component, and in 1974, Miss General Idea established a multiples distribution center called Art Metropole. Included in their multiples were humorous and sardonic references to modern art. They also kept a regular exhibition schedule. After Zontal and Partz died of AIDS, Bronson felt as though he had lost his own identify and produced many works dealing with death, survival and moving on in order to rebuild himself with a new self image. In 2003, the Galerie Frederic Giroux in Paris hosted an exhibition of his work, "AA Bronson Healer". In January 2003, a traveling exhibition titled "General Idea: Editions, 1967-1996" was organized by Barbara Fischer for the Blackwood Gallery of the University of Toronto at Mississauga. Source: Peter Gallo, 'The Enduring Ephemera of General Idea', "Art in America", March 2005, pp. 81-83. |
Genesee Group of Painters | This group of representational painters active in Rochester, New York, in the early 20th Century, sought to capture the Spirit of Place while rendering their regional landscapes, and was dedicated to resist European modernism. Among the members was Milton Holm. Source: R.H. Love Galleries, courtesy, Michael Worley, Ph.D.
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Genre | In painting, that which portrays scenes of everyday people going about everyday activities. Usually Genre paintings are narrative, meaning they are telling a story. Dutch seventeenth-century artists Jan Steen, Jan Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch first used genre as subject matter. In American painting, the word genre was first used in the mid-19th century to describe works that showed daily life, usually as it applied to Manifest Destiny or America expanding westward.
Exemplary artists of that time include William Sidney Mount and Thomas Waterman Wood. In the last quarter of the 19th century, genre painting included many domestic scenes called "hearth and home". Among those genre painters were Seymour Joseph Guy, Edward Lamson Henry, John Joseph Brown and Enoch Wood Perry. Sources: Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"; Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture" |
Geometric Shapes | Shapes created by exact mathematical law. |
German Expressionism | See Blue Rider/"Der Blaue Reiter and "Die Brucke"/The Bridge |
Gershon Iskowitz Prize | In 1985, to recognize the value of the Canada Council's assistance to him over the years, Iskowitz established The Gershon Iskowitz Foundation, and the Gershon Iskowitz Prize which awards $25,000 annually to a mature, practising artist. The prize includes an exhibition of the recipient’s works at the Art Gallery of Ontario accompanied by a publication. It is considered one of the most prestigious visual arts awards in the country. Artists who have earned the prize include Betty Goodwin, Jack Shadbolt, Stan Douglas and Shirley Wiitasalo. Submitted by M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian and Collector, West Vancouver, British Columbia. |
Gesso | A ground made of gypsum (gesso in Italian) or chalk mixed with water or glue to provide a dense, brilliantly white absorbent surface for tempera and some types of oil painting. It is usually applied to a panel in several coats before painting begins. The first, coarse undercoat is called gesso grosso; the final, fine surface coat is known as gesso sottile. However, modern painters usually do only one coat because pre-smoothed panels are available. When applied to flat panels, frames, or furniture, it is usually sanded until very smooth and ivory-like. It is never used with canvas as it would be too brittle. Sources: Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Gestalt | A German word for form, figure or shape. In fine art it is used to describe the "phenomenon that the total effect of an object may seem greater than the sum of its constituent parts." In other words, Gestalt is the process whereby the mind of the viewer selects sensations from the totality of images in an artwork and mentally re-shapes it into an image and sensation that makes sense to the viewer. The theory was first put forth in the 1930s in Germany and England. Source: Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Gesturalism/Gestural Painting | A word to describe artwork whose purpose is to express personal "handwriting" or subjectivity of the artist. The activity of the paint application reflects the emotions of the artist. Frenchman Edouard Manet pioneered Gesturalism as did Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. Jackson Pollock is arguably the most famous American gestural artist with his Drip Paintings that he created with arm-swinging gestures. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak" (Also, see Drip Painting) |
Giclee | A French word pronounced 'zheeclay,' it is is derived from the verb gicler meaning to splash. This new medium is a blend of art and technology that produces copies with a higher resolution and broader color range than such other methods as lithography or serigraphy.
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Gilded Age | A term referencing the period in America between the end of the Civil War and the end of the 19th Century. It was a time when America changed from an agricultural to industrial based society, which meant the growth of a middle class and big fortunes for some industrial tycoons. Artists reflected this period through genre, portraits, and industrial scene paintings and monumental statues. Examples are works by Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Winslow Homer, Augustus St. Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, John Ferguson Weir and Albert Pinkham Ryder. Source: Shirley Glubok, "The Art of America in the Gilded Age". (LPD) |
Gilder's Cushion | A pad about 6 to 12 inches in surface covered with cotton batting over a piece of suede. It is used to flatten gold leaf so that it can be cut and applied by the Gilder. The Cushion attaches to the thumb and secures the gold leaf from drafts so that it is absolutely flat. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Gilder's Knife | A knife used to cut metal leaf into the desired size and shape for application. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gilder's Tip | A gilding implement used to gather up fragile gold leaves so they can be carried to the gilding area. The Tip is brush-like with a row of camel hair of varying density protruding from two cards, about four inches wide. In order to pick up the metal leaf, the Gilder runs the brush through his own hair to make the tip slightly oily so that the leaf will attach. A Gilder's Tip is usually necessary only with fragile gold leaf because other metals are heavy enough not to need the Tip. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gilder's Wax | A combination of beeswax with verdigris or some other acidic substance. It is used to accent the color of gold and provide a warm tone to the surface when gold leaf has been applied to another metal. The applied Wax is burned off, and the gilded surface is cleaned with acid. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gilding | The process of covering surfaces with gold or metal leaf to create the appearance of the item being made of solid or inlaid gold or metal. The word Gilding is derived from the word Gold, but the term in recent times has come to reference metals as well as gold. The gilded leaf is used in painting and sculpture and often for decorative affects. Gilding can be applied either to a tacky base that has been sized with glue, gesso or thick oil varnish and then burnished, or it can be glued to any unsized surface but then cannot be burnished. The method of Gilding dates back to the ancient Egyptians and Chinese, to Old Testament Biblical figures and Ancient Greeks. In the Middle Ages, Gilding was used for manuscript illumination, lettering and for backgrounds of paintings. It reached its most popular time in Europe and America during the Victorian Era of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries when ornate decoration was very popular. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds & Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Giornata | An Italian work for a day's work. The term is used in fresco painting where the paint is applied to wet plaster. Giornata means the amount of painting work the muralist can do in one day before the plaster dried. On very high walls, the plastering and fresco painting is done horizontally, with the scaffolding being lowered gradually as the sections are completed. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Gisant | A sculptured effigy of a deceased person, usually part of a tomb monument. Gisants were often part of Gothic sepulchral monuments in Europe, sometimes with death emphasized by crawling vermin depicted on the Gisant.
Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Giverny, France | Associated with Impressionism because its most famous resident was Claude Monet, Giverny is the longest-lasting of the turn-of-the-century art colonies of western culture. The origins of the Giverny colony date to 1887, when a small band of artists, including Americans Willard Metcalf, Louis Ritter, Theodore Wendel and John Leslie Breck "discovered" the village. Claude Monet, by then, known to the American artists through both Parisian and American exhibitions, had settled there in 1883. He was receptive at first to having "disciples" learn from him, but soon tired of the invasion. The first group of artists painted primarily landscapes, and the second group focused on depicting family life, especially the female figure in the intimacy of the artist's own garden or private interior setting. World War I (1914) marked the end of an era for the art colony, but the place with its Monet gardens remains a tourist attraction. |
Glare Aesthetic | An emphasis on brilliant effects of light that reinforce strong outlines. Many of the paintings of Walter Ufer (1876-1936) represent this light-filled style. |
Glascow School | A group of artists from Scotland, primarily landscape painters, who were active in the late 19th Century and who rejected the prevalent tenets of Academic painting. Instead they painted with French influences in the more modernist, Barbizon style 'en plein air' with sombre tones. Their subjects were Scottish, such as rather conventional scenes, of the countryside or wildlife in marshes, etc. The Glascow School was England's late 19th century contribution to western art, but the movement peaked after their exhibition in 1890 at the Grosvenor Gallery in London. Source: Robert Atkins, "ART SPOKE" (LPD) |
Glass Blowing | See Blown Glass |
Glassine Paper | Smooth, glossy paper used in packaging and by art conservators as facing in the lining of an oil painting. The adhesive is wax, which can easily be peeled away with light heat application. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques" |
Glaze/Glazing | A very thin, transparent colored paint applied over a dried painted surface to alter the appearance and color of the surface. In ceramics, Glaze is a thin, vitreous coating fused to the piece with the high heat of the kiln process. Glazing paintings was done in Europe by the Old Masters, and restoration can remove Glaze. The process cannot be used for Alla Prima painting because the quick build up of paint does not provide adequately dried surfaces for successful glazing. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; Kimberley Reynolds, Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Gold Leaf | Thin, delicate sheets of gold, usually obtained from a book of 25 three-inch sheets that can be removed individually by a delicate process. Gold Leaf, which is literally gold beaten into flat leaves, can be put on board or paper. Because gold is inert, it does not tarnish, so it retains its ability to lend elegance to works of art. A person correctly applying Gold Leaf first puts down sizing, letting it dry until sticky, and then attaches it to the sized surface by using a small brush and a leaf lifter. The lifter is a small piece of clear plastic that is activated for the process by rubbing it on one's arm, which charges it with static electricity. Then the the leaf-lifter is used to pick up the delicate sheets of gold, usually in three-inch squares between tissue paper, and places them on the sized surface. The next step is burnishing, which is rubbing the leaf so that it adheres. Standard Gold Leaf is 23.5 carats, with about 2000 leaves weighing one ounce. However, variations are available such as lemon gold (18.5 carats) and pale gold (16 carats). Gold Leaf can enhance a work by suggesting grandeur or wealth or divinity as expressed in the artwork of Judeo-Christian religion. It has been used throughout western history on sculpture, church domes, picture frames, decorations, manuscript illuminations, and religious paintings suggesting haloes, etc. Sources: Anne Heywood, 'All That Glitters is Gold', "The Pastel Journal", December 2005, pp. 23; Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques". |
Golden Section | A proportion, also known as the Golden Mean, which has been employed for centuries by artists in the composition of paintings. The proportion is the result of the division of a line so that the shorter section is to the longer as the longer is to the whole. This works out to a ratio of .618 to 1, or approximately 5 to 8. There is no known reason why this ratio should be superior to any other, yet it is one which is regularly found in nature, from the number of leaves on a plant's stem to the graduated widths of the curves which make up a shell's spiral. The name Golden Section was first used in the nineteenth century, but the proportion itself dates back to the work of the Greek mathematician, Euclid. In the early fifteenth century the Italian mathematician, Luca Pacioli, wrote a book on the subject called Divina Proportione, which was illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci. This influential work led to the widespread use of the Golden Section by many Renaissance and later artists. |
Gothic | A style of architecture and art dominate in Europe from the 12th to the 15th century. Gothic architecture features pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and often large areas of stained glass. |
Gouache | Watercolor made opaque by the addition of white pigments and sometimes with a glue BINDER. It is also known as BODY COLOR. Unlike transparent watercolor, gouache does not allow whiteness of the paper to show through the paint. It should also be noted that it lightens considerably in drying. |
Graffiti Art/Street Art | Graffiti refers to an art form most popular during the 1970s and 1980s, but is still alive today. The word 'graffiti' is Italian for ‘scratches’. Graffiti Art results from artists who create images, usually with paint, in a manner that mirrors sloppy, undisciplined, defiant-seeming image making by street kids on the surfaces of city structures. The formal practice of graffiti goes back to the Egyptians, but was not thought of as an art form until the 1970s when artists began imitating the 'scratchings' of street teens in the New York subway stations. Some artists such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat were acknowledged as Graffiti artists by the art world, but interest faded when Graffiti Art arrived on canvases into the galleries of New York. In the 21st century, artists such as Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee and Swoon continue the tradition. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak". "ARTnews", 11/2008 (LPD) |
Graham Art Medal | An award of the Brooklyn Institute, it was named for Augustus Graham (1776-1851), a manufacturer and philanthropist. He was founder of the Apprentices' Library, a facility of lectures and entertainment for working men. Under his leadership, it grew into the Brooklyn Institute, later named the Brroklyn Museum of Art. He is credited as being the founder. The Graham Art Medal is given each year for outstanding contribution to the Museum. An early recipient was Ernest Albert (1857-1946). Source: http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/augustusgraham.html; ASkART biography. (LPD) |
Grand Central Academy of Art | Established in New York City in the fall of 2006 by Jacob Collins for the teaching of Classical Realist painting, it is a four-year program and an extension of Collins' Water Street Atelier, which is offered in the same building. However, the Academy space is larger; the curriculum is more structured and includes copying works of art and classes in anatomy, dissection, composition and art history. Enrollment is about 15 students. Teachers include Collins, Scott Waddell, Patrick Connors and Edward Minoff. Sources: www.jacobcollinspaintings.com/teaching.html; http://grandcentralacademy.classicist.org/instructors.html (LPD) |
Grand Central Art Galleries | Formed in 1923 by artists led by Edmund Greacen and managed by art dealer Erwin Barrie, it had sprawling showrooms on the top floor over Grand Central Station, and at first was one of the "strongest citadels of conservatism". However, in 1934, art dealer Edith Halpert staged a show there called "33 Moderns", described in "Time" magazine as "the biggest event in the campaign to modernize U.S. art since the Armory Show of 1913." The Galleries began as an entity of non-profit cooperatives for artists, where they could exhibit their their work and also store it for ongoing exhibitions. Businessmen provided the capital; artists paid their dues with artwork, and later traveling exhibitions were organized by members. Artist members included Lamar Dodd, Burt Procter, Henry Hensche, Frederick Frieseke, James Earle Fraser, John Singer Sargent and Guy Wiggins. Sources: Lindsay Pollock, "A Girl With a Gallery", p. 174; AskART database (LPD) |
Grand Marais Art Colony | Oldest art colony in Minnesota, it is located on the north shore of Lake Superior. Its founding dates to 1947, when Birney Quick (1912-1981) took students to Artist' Point for plein-air painting classes. These sessions were usually followed by an evening fish fry. Today participants are housed and offered studio space and classes in the village of Grand Marais. Until 1958, the Colony was administered by the Minneapolis School of Art, but that entity's supervision has been replaced by an Art Colony Board of Director. An annual juried plein-air painting exhibition and sale is held with many family events. Sources: www.grandmaraisartcolony.org/; www.grandmaraisartcolony.org/events.html (LPD) |
Graphic arts | Those arts in which lines, marks, or characters are impressed on a flat surface, usually paper. These include drawing, engraving, etching, lithography, etc., but also reproductive processes such as printing, when they are more than utilitarian. |
Graphite/Pencil | A soft black form of carbon used in pencils that in turn, is used for writing, drawing or marking. Like charcoal and having no relationship to lead, graphite is a higher form of coal and is closely related to diamonds. "It is metallic in appearance, almost glassy, which accounts for its sheen when applied in concentration." Today graphite is easily obtainable, but it used to be a rare commodity. The Borrower's Mine in the Lake District in England became the chief early source of graphite, with demands growing to worldwide. Dating from the 1600s, Borrower's Mine graphite was first used only by local herdsmen to mark their sheep. However the discovery that graphite could be put in a stylus and then make a consistent dark line opened up a world-wide market. In the art market, graphite drawings tend not to bring high-dollar prices, but some artists such as Chuck Close are exceptions. Source: Bob Bahr, ‘Graphite: The Drawer’s Humble Tool’. “Drawing” magazine, Summer 2007; AskART database (LPD) |
Graver | See Burin |
Greason School of Painting | See Saugatuck (Ox Bow) School of Painting |
Greek cross | Cross with arms of equal length. Often used as the basis for churches having a centralized plan, especially in Byzantine architecture. |
Greenware | Unfired pottery or sculpture |
GreenWood (Green-Wood) Cemetery Collection | A collection whose focus is representative art by each of the 220 artists buried in the Green-wood Cemetery of Brooklyn, which dates back to the 1830s. Among the prominent deceased New York 'inhabitants' are William Merritt Chase, Louis Tiffany, John La Farge and Philip Evergood. Beginning in 2004, Richard Moylan, Cemetery President, has led the budget-supported project whose acquisitions are housed at the Cemetery. Although some dollar amounts, such as those of Jean-Michel Basquiat, are beyond the collection price range, others, including an early portrait by Eastman Johnson, have been affordable. Special collection pieces are the George Catlin portrait of New York Governor De Witt Clinton, and the life-size bronze bear that sits astride the grave monument of William Holbrook Beard. The Green-wood Cemetery Collection project is adding up to Brooklyn's most monumental art collection. Literally." Source: Glenn Collins, 'Green-Wood Cemetery Builds a Collection', "New York Times", 12,7/2008, p. 37 (LPD) |
Grez-sur-Loring | An art colony in a village near Fontainebleu on the Seine River influenced by romantic realist painters Jules Bastien-Lepage and Alfred Sisley. Unlike many of his American peers who went to Giverny with Impressionist Claude Monet, Robert Vonnoh was at Grez-sur Loring much of the time between 1887 and 1891. Other resident American painters were Birge Harrison, Kenyon Cox and Alexander Wyant as were notables such as Swedish artist Carl Larsson; English composer Frederick Delius; American writer, Robert Louis Stevenson. Sources: Colby & Atkinson, "Footprints of the Past"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grez-sur-Loing (LPD)
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Grisaille | Pronounced Gri-Zay, the term is derived from the French term "gris" (grey) and refers to monochrome painting executed entirely in shades of gray. Historically the method of Grisaille has been used by artists in several ways: 1) Preliminary sketch where tonal values are worked out before using color. 2) As Underpainting for an actual work of art, something that was used extensively by the Old Masters. 3) A teaching method whereby educators illustrate line and shape or composition with Grisaille before letting the students proceed to using color. 4) Depicting objects intended to represent the color gray for actual gray objects such as marble statues or temple columns depicted often in Renaissance paintings. Source: Butch Krieger, 'Shades of Gray', "The Artists Magazine"; http://www.artistsmagazine.com/tam_terms.asp |
Ground | A coating suitable for holding pigments; it is applied to the canvas or other support. |
Group of Seven/G7 | In 1913, Lawren Harris convinced A.Y. Jackson to move to Toronto from Montreal. In that same year, Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald visited the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York to view an exhibition of Scandinavian paintings. That show was a flashpoint for the creation of the Group. It supported and inspired the artists’ vision for a distinctly “Canadian” style. In 1920, seven artists – Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston, Franklin Carmichael and A.Y. Jackson – decided, for the first time, to exhibit as the Group of Seven. The Group’s first exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of Toronto in May 1920. This marks the founding of the Group – an exceptional moment in Canada’s art history for which Lawren Harris is largely credited. Tom Thomson would not live to see the birth of the Group of Seven. Yet, despite his untimely death in 1917, Thomson’s name became synonymous with the Group. His sketches and finished canvases created a painting style truly representative of the Canadian landscape and experience. Despite its name, the Group of Seven membership eventually grew to include ten artists. Frank Johnston only exhibited in one of the 1920 exhibitions before resigning from the Group. Following this, A.J. Casson joined the Group in 1926. In an effort to widen the geographical base beyond Toronto, Edwin Holgate (of Montreal) was asked to join in 1930. L.L. FitzGerald (of Winnipeg) joined the Group in 1932. From its birth in 1920 to the early 1930s, the Group was immensely influential. The final Group of Seven exhibition was held in 1931.Their vision shaped how Canadians saw their own country and left a legacy that continues to provoke debate and discussion. Source: The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Source: M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian and Collector, West Vancouver, British Columbia. |
Group of Twelve-Seattle | he Group of Twelve was an association of twelve artists who were all interested in modern art in Seattle. They formed around 1935 and had a
catalogue of their work published in 1937 by Dogwood Press ("Some Work of the Group of Twelve") The name probably derived from the nearby Canadian Group of Seven, modernist Canadian painters who also showed in Seattle. The Group of Twelve was short-lived, probably less than five years. They were informal and exhibited locally as a group but some exhibited nationally and internationally as individuals.
The members were: Kenneth Callahan, Margaret Gove Camfferman, Peter M. Camfferman, Elizabeth A. Cooper, Earl T. Fields, Takuichi Fujii, Morris Graves, Walter F. Isaacs, Kenjiro Nomura, Ambrose Patterson, Viola Patterson, Kamekichi Tokita. Source: David Martin, Owner, Martin-Zambito Fine Art, Seattle, WA (LPD) |
Guerrilla Girls | A group of women artists who, in 1985, assumed the names of dead women artists. They perform in a touring show and wear gorilla masks to disguise their own identities so that the focus is on their message of discrimination against women artists. Since their founding, over 100 women have worked on the Guerrilla Girls' project including the making of posters and producing of "Guerrilla Girls on Tour" that with text, visuals and humor make their point. Emphasizing that women artists are grouped with women generally to be perceived as sex objects rather than creative individuals, Guerrilla Girls have published a book, 2003, "Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers". Sources: www.guerillagirls.com/; www.guerrillagirls.com/stereotype/index.shtml (LPD) |
Guggenheim Fellowship | Intended as 'mid-career' recognitions, these awards are given to persons judged to have shown exceptional ability in the arts and/or scholarship. About 220 fellowships are given each year for a time period between six and 12 months. The average dollar amount of each one is $43,000, enough to insure a block of time free of preoccupation with making money. There is no stipulation as to how the award period is spent. The program began in 1925 with the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. There are two separate competitions, Canada or the United States and Latin America or the Caribbean. Artist recipients include Robert Colescott, Emil Bisttram, Karel Appel, Peter Blume, Giorgio Cavallon and Walter De Maria. Sources: http://www.gf.org/about-the-foundation; AskART database (LPD) |
Guild of Boston Artists | An association founded in 1914 of painters and sculptors whose criteria for membership was having been trained in the Boston area and whose work, regardless of medium, met certain standards of excellence. These standards focused on careful, realistic modeling, and dedication to traditional craftsmanship and technique over modernist experimentation.
Most of the 42 founding members had studied together at the Boston School of the Museum of the Fine Arts with well-known teachers Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson, Philip Hale, and William Paxton. Early members included Lilla Cabot Perry, Marguerite Stuber Pearson, and Lilian Westcott Hale.
The Association is located on Newbury Street in Boston where yearly exhibitions are held. |
Gum Arabic | The BINDER used in watercolors, made from the gum of the acacia tree, and traditionally associated with Arabia. |
Gund Collection | A collection of western art housed in Indianapolis at the Eiteljorg Museum from 2002 and created by George Gund (1888-1966, a Cleveland businessman. Gund was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and was raised in Seattle, where as a child he learned to ride horses. Although his family subsequently settled in Cleveland, he never forgot his love of the West, which translated to his collection of paintings, lithographs and sculpture representing the "West of the Horse". Included are works by Alfred Jacob Miller, Charles Bird King, Frederic Remington, Charles Schreyvogel, Charles Russell, Frank Tenney Johnson, and Henry Farny. Gund also collected western landscapes such as paintings by Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt. Honoring Gund's wishes, his family sponsored a traveling exhibition of the collection, which toured for two decades before settling into a permanent home at the Eiteljorg. Source: Susan Campbell, 'The Gund Collection at the Eiteljor Museum', "American Art Review", February 2006, pp. 100-101. |
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