| Term | Description |
Objet d’art | French for “art object”. Used to refer to an artwork’s size, often diminutive or miniature. |
Odalisque | Nineteenth century virgin female slave figures often found as attendants in Ottoman seraglios, they became popular subjects for artists who did Orientalist-theme paintings such as Frederick Bridgman, Francois Boucher, Hovsep Pushman and Jean Leon Gerome. While access to private homes or interior courtyards was difficult even for locals, artists such as Gérôme and Bridgman seemed to have succeeded better than many others in befriending locals enough to sketch and paint their domestic lives. In turn, fascination about this secret life of odalisques created a strong market for artists depicting them. Source: Abby M. Taylor, Fine Art; Wikipedia
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Oeuvre | The total body of work produced by an artist. French for “work”. (See also CATALOGUE RAISONNE) |
Oil Paint | Artists' colors made by grinding pigment in linseed oil or another vegetable oil to a smooth paste-like consistency. Other ingredients include a drier, a stabilizer and plasticizer such as wax to give each color the same consistency. Since the 15th century in Europe, oil paint has been the most traditional medium for fine-art painters because it, unlike the prevalent tempera, was more amenable to the depiction of flowing robes for church and political dignitaries. Artists of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance combined oil with tempera such as in the work of Piero della Francesca (c. 1420-1469) and Filippo Lippi c. 1406-1469). The Venetian painters increasingly used oil, and Titian (1477-1576) and Tintoretto (1518-1594) used oil primarily for their paintings, although some European artists continued to use oil and tempera together. Reasons for the desirablity of oil paint are that it dries slowly, allowing for changes with the brush, and and does not change colors when it is dry. Also the oil painter can achieve both opaque and transparent effects and matte and gloss finishes. Today a group of western painters called the Oil Painters of America actively promote oil as a medium. Prominent members include Howard Terpning, Roy Andersen, Joan Potter, George Carlson, Clyde Aspevig, David Leffel, Sherrie McGraw, Mian Sditu and Ramon Kelley. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; AskART biographies. |
Oil Painters of America | Begun in 1991 and founded by Shirl Smithson, the group is dedicated to advancing the cause of traditional, representational painting and to providing a forum for artists working in that style. Several national and regional shows are held throughout each year. Members include David Leffel, Peter Adams, Ken Carlson, and Howard Terpning. Sources: "Southwest Art" magazine, April 2002; AskART biographies. |
Oil Painters of Ireland | A group dedicated to promoting traditional, realist style art, it was founded in Dublin in the early 21st century by Norman Teeling, Paul Kelly, Henry McGrane, John Morris and David Nolan. Source: Online Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art: Norman Teeling |
Old Lyme Colony, Lyme Art Association | A gathering place of landscape painters, who formed an artists’colony and Art Association in Old Lyme, Connecticut in the early 20th century. Old Lyme was one of the art colonies in America originating between 1890 and 1910 whose members focused on landscape painting and created a new awareness among Americans of the beauty of their land. Old Lyme was a small village located where the Connecticut River meets the Long Island Sound. The colony was first called “The American Barbizon” because it was defined by Tonalism led by Henry Ward Ranger, who arrived in 1899. However, Ranger and his Tonalist style were soon overshadowed by the arrival in 1903 of Childe Hassam, who brought Impressionism. Donelson Hoopes wrote that “Under Hassam, the shoreline of Connecticut became a kind of Giverny of America”. (Benton 123) As a result of the influence of Impressionism, the Colony “became the most famous Impressionist-oriented art colony in America” (Gerdts 221) and to its detriment, clung to that style into the post World War I era when Impressionism was very much waning in popularity. However, in the Colony’s beginnings, increasing numbers of painters arrived, and many of them stayed on Main Street at the Georgian-style home of Florence Griswold who, from a distinguished family, took in boarders because she needed the income. Known as The Griswold House, the somewhat dilapidated structure became the communal center and the early meeting place of those who, in 1914, formed the Old Lyme Association. The goal of the Association was to have a well-lit exhibition gallery, something not achieved until 1921. Designed by New York architect Charles Platt, the gallery opened on August 6 and was the first self-financed gallery of an American art Colony. However, in the next two decades interest in the exhibitions waned because of the intransigent dedication of its exhibitors to Impressionism in the face of changing tastes towards modernism including Social Realism and Regionalism. The Old Lyme Association had financial problems and by the late 1930s was considerably weakened. Assocation rules were that membership was open only to artists owning property in Lyme and living there a certain number of weeks each year. Frederick Sexton was anxious enough to join the Lyme Art Association that he bought land from Guy Wiggins and built a home there. Shortly after, in 1936, he was elected to membership, and years later was very angered when the Association relaxed those rules and allowed artists who lived within a twenty-five mile radius of Lyme to be members. Meanwhile the Colony had an art school, the Lyme Summer School of Art, sponsored by the Art Students League of New York and staffed with long-time League teacher, Frank DuMond. The school became so popular and overcrowded that it moved to Woodstock because of working artists feeling distracted by so many students. As a testimony to the friendship that Florence Griswold had shown the many artists who came to Old Lyme, an Association in her name was founded in 1936 with the objective of using income from operating her house as a museum and from exhibitions to support her care. She died a year later, and her home is now the Lyme Historical Society. American artists whose names are linked to the Old Lyme Colony are Willard Metcalf, Clark Voorhees, Frederick Sexton, Charles Ebert, Walter Clark, Walter Griffin, Will Howe Foote; William Chadwick, George Burr, Gregory Smith; Allen Talcott, Cullen Yates, J. Alden Weir, Edward Simmons, Robert Nisbet, Chauncey Ryder, Lawton Parker, Katherin Adams. (Written by Lonnie Dunbier) Sources: William Benton Museum of Art, “Connecticut and American Impressionism”; Helen K. Fusscas, “Frederick Sexton, 1889-1975”; William Gerdts, “American Impressionism” (221-227;
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Old Master | A rather vague and very general descriptive term, it references skillful, fully-trained European artists who worked before 1800. The term has also come to be loosely applied to any revered deceased European artist of pre-modernist styles. Included as an Old Master are Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-1669), Diego Velazquez (1599-1660), Titian (1483-1490), and El Greco. Source: Wikipedia; ASkART database |
Old Water Colour Society | See Royal Watercolour Society |
One Ear Society | An arts society in the Miami, Florida area. The misstions statement reads as follows:
"Our mission is to help support area artists by providing continuous juried exhibition, promotion and sale opportunities in donated venues in and around greater Miami-Dade, and by sponsoring professional development and cultural enrichment activities within the community.
We are an inclusive rather than exclusive organization, and exhibit quality art in all styles, created by seasoned professionals as well as talented amateur artists
On an ongoing basis, the One Ear Society continues to explore ways in which the organization can further serve the needs of the community and the artists who live and work here. For example, we have recently partnered with the Wolfson Campus of Miami-Dade Community College, to offer the fall term visual arts component of their Community Education classes and workshops (non-credit) at Gallerie Vincent, 2911 Grand Avenue, in the Streets of Mayfair.
Credit: www.oneearsociety.com
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Ontario College of Art and Design | See Ontario College of Art |
Ontario College of Art and Design University | See Ontario College of Art |
Ontario College of Art, Ontario College of Art and Design University | Located in Toronto, Ontario, the school is tied to several entities, the first one being the Ontario School of Art, founded in 1879. In 1890, it became the Central Ontario School of Art and Design, the Ontario College of Art in the early 1900s, the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1996, and Ontario College of Art and Design University in 2008. The Ontario School of Art, founded in 1879 was an art school run by the local Board of Education. Under George Agnew Reid, teacher, principal and artist, it became a separate entity named the Ontario College of Art and moved into a building designed by Reid. Currently (2011) it is the largest art school in Canada, and operates under the name of Ontario College of Art and Design University. Submitted by M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian, West Vancouver, British Columbia. |
Ontario Institute of Painters | The Ontario Institute of Painters [Canada] was devoted to the exhibition of non-abstract artists. It was formed in 1958 by traditional/representational artists, and their supporters who were disgruntled with the Ontario Society of Artists (see glossary) and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (see glossary) accommodation of abstract art. The OIP founders included Kenneth Forbes, Archibald Barnes, Manly MacDonald, Robert Allan Barr (see all previous in AskART), Gordon Conn (collector) and Samuel Weir (collector). Perhaps their most famous exhibition was “Points of View”, Museum London, Ontario in 1959. Then the works of 10 OIP members were hung with those of the abstractionist group Painters Eleven (see glossary) and figurative abstractionists like York Wilson (see AskART). The point of the show was to illustrate the conservative, experimental and intermediate trends in painting. Submitted by M.D. Silverbrooke, West Vancouver, British Columbia. Sources: “The Consummate Canadian: A Biography of Samuel Edward Weir, Q.C.” (1990), by Mary Willan Mason; “Art and Architecture in Canada” (1991), by Loren R. Lerner and Mary F. Williamson; and the Art Gallery of Ontario –http://www.ago.net/assets/files/pdf/special_collections/SC016.pdf |
Ontario School of Art | The Ontario School of Art was founded in 1879. It became the Central Ontario School of Art and Design in 1890, the Ontario College of Art in the early 1900s, the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1996, and Ontario College of Art and Design University in 2008. See Ontario College of Art and Design. Source: Ontario College of Art and Design University. Courtesy, M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian, West Vancouver, British Columbia |
Ontario Society of Artists | Founded in 1872, the Ontario Society of Artists is Canada's oldest continuously operating artistic society. Its founders were John Fraser, J. W. Bridgman, R. F. Gagen, James Hoch, Marmaduke Matthews, C. S. Millard and Thomas Mower Martin. The Society’s mandate was ‘the fostering of original art in the province, the holding of annual exhibitions, and the formation of an art library and museum and a school of Art.’ To date (2010): it has held annual exhibitions continuously since 1873; in 1876 it founded the art school now known as the Ontario College of Art & Design; in 1900 it founded the museum now known as the Art Gallery of Ontario; and it is the parent organization of the Canadian Society of Graphic Arts, the Ontario Association of Architects, the Sculptors' Society of Canada, the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Sources: Ontario Government Archives - http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/osa/index.aspx; Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art - http://www.ccca.ca/history/osa/english/references/osa100yr-2.html?languagePref=en&o; and the Ontario Society of Artists - http://ontariosocietyofartists.org/about_the_osa. Prepared and contributed by M.D.Silverbrooke. |
Onteora Club | An artist’s colony in Tannersville, New York, it was founded in 1887 by design pioneer Candace Thurber Wheeler and her brother Frank Thurber. Early visitors included Mark Twain, conservationist John Burroughs and painter George Bellows. Some of the first residents included writers Mary Mapes Dodge and Elizabeth Custer, actress Maude Adams, as well as painters John White Alexander and Carroll Beckwith. Submitted by M.D. Silverbrooke, Source: Onteora Club website – http://onteoraclub.com/heritage.php. |
Op Art | A short term for Optical Art, it is an abstract style popular in the 1960s that was based on optical principles and optical illusion creating the sensation of movement. Op Art deals in complex color interactions to the point where colors and lines seem to vibrate before the eyes. The term was coined in 1964 by George Rickey when he was talking with Peter Selz and William Seitz, curators at the Museum of Modern Art, and was first used in a publication when it appeared in a 1964 "Time" magazine article to describe paintings "that manipulate visual cues in order to reorder viewers' perceptual responses." ("Southwest Art') Antecedents of Op Art go back to Josef Albers and his classes on color theory at the Bauhaus School in Germany during the 1920s. In 1965, the Museum of Modern Art gave the movement its most public attention to date with its exhibition, "The Responsive Eye". However, the uniqueness of the movement and popular interest subsided when fabric designers adopted it and made the optical designs commonplace. American Op artists include Julian Stanczak, Yaacov Agam, Richard Anuskiewicz, Larry Poons, Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; 'Op Art', "Southwest Art", April 2006, p. 62. |
Optical Color Mixture | The tendency of the eyes to blend patches of individual colors placed near one another so as to perceive a different, combined color. Also, any art style that exploits this tendency, especially the pointillism of Georges Seurat. |
Order of Canada | The highest merit award within the Canadian honor system, it is a recognition with a fellowship grant of outstanding life-long contributions in every field of endeavor, which resulted in significant positive changes in Canada. It is administered by the Governor General-in-Council on behalf of the Queen of Canada, who is also the Queen of England. The award was created in 1967 to coincide with the centennial celebration of the formation of the of three British colonies into four Canadian provinces. Canadian artists recipients include William Kurelek, Edward Hughes, Alexander Colville, Doris McCarthy, Charles Comfort, Jack Shadbolt and Jessie Oonark. Sources: Wikipedia; AskART biographies |
Order of the Palmes Academiques | A French recognition for distinction, it was founded in 1808 by Napolean to honour university members, and later (1866) expanded to honor eminent French and foreign contributors to the education and culture of France. It is awarded in three grades – Chevalier, Officer and Commander. Sources: Consulate General of France in Toronto; and the Association of Members of the Order des Palmes Academiques. Courtesy of M.D. Silverbrooke |
Oregon College (School) of Arts and Crafts | In Portland, Oregon, the College grants BA degrees in drawing, painting, book arts, metals, photography, fibers and wood. In 1907, photographer Julia Hoffman was the founder with the desire to perpetuate the Arts and Crafts movement through classes and exhibitions. In 1978, the campus was much expanded and boosted financially. The original name was Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, and later the name changed to Oregon School of Arts and Crafts. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_College_of_Art_%26_Craft |
Organic | An image that shows a relationship to nature as opposed to man-made images. Any shape that resembles a naturally occurring form or that suggests a natural, growing, or expanding process. |
Organic Art | An art form that emphasizes an object alive in its own right and not contrived. |
Organic Cubism | See Orphism |
Orientalist/Orientalism | A 19th-Century movement, predominantly in France and England and reflected by American artists and writers, it reflected fascination with the cultures of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The geographical concept of most Orientalists was that the Orient was one vast region with a cohesive, uniform culture composed of rather simplistic, passive peoples. Much of the interest grew from western perceptions that these Eastern peoples were exotic, sensual, and attuned to mysterious religion and philosophy. The first Orientalists were 19th-Century English scholars who translated writing of the 'Orient' into English and French so that occupying westerners such as the English would have knowledge of the people they dominated. The period from 1870 to 1880 was a formative period for Orientalism among American artists, and general interest in Orientalism grew among western people with increasing travel opportunities. Fascination with Orientalism was expressed at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 where Oriental villages were fabricated with snake charmers, Algerian dancers, odalisques and turbaned Moors. Artistic expression embraced many subjects including realistic and imaginary genre scenes, harems, landscapes, eroticism, and religion. The movement in art played out with the advance of Modernism such as Cubism in the early part of the 20th Century. Among Orientalist American artists are Henry Ossawa Tanner, Maurice Braun, Hovsep Pushman, Theodore Wores, Frederic Arthur Bridgman and Helen Hyde. Sources: AskART biographies; Susan Fort, Sotheby's New York; http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Orientalism.html; 'Henry Ossaw Tanner and the Lure of Paris', "American Art Review", December 2005. |
Orphism | An abstract art movement from 1912 to 1914 in Paris, it paralleled the geometry of Cubism but with a brighter palette of overlapping planes of contrasting colors. "The color combinations were based on the 'law of simultaneous contrast of colors' develeoped by French chemist, Michel-Eugene Chevreul in the 19th century." The name, Orphism, also called Orphic Cubism, was taken from the Greek poet and musician Orpheus, and was first used in 1912 by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire to describe the paintings of Robert Delaunay. Other artists in the movement were Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Fernand Leger, Franz Kupka, and Sonia Delaunay, wife of Robert Delaunay. Source: World Wide Arts Resources |
Ottawa Group | Canadian artists who organized in 1923 and held an exhibition the following year at Hart House at the University of Toronto. They appear to have disbanded the following year. Members included Paul Alfred, Harold Beament, Frank Hennessey, Florence H. Mc Gillivray, Graham Norwell, Yoshida Sekido and David Milne. Sources: Charles C. Hill, "The Group of Seven"; Submitted by M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian and Collector, West Vancouver, British Columbia. |
Outer Art | A movement dating from 1990 as a protest against random modern art, where anything could mean art. The focus is on making artwork that is ugly as possible, wrong as possible, and generally as impossible as possible.
Outer-art was initiated by artist Florentin Smarandache, a Rumanian now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. |
Outfootage | Outfootage, a filmaking term referring to footage that is mostly camera original and which has not been printed, but contains important information that is not included in the final film. Outfootage could also be found as a work print that ended up in the editor's bin. Source: Internet, Karl Spreitz Film Collection, Maltwood Museum. |
Outsider Art | A term whose meaning is a bit vague, it has become a catch-all description of artwork not based on tradition and not marketed traditionally through galleries or private dealers. Outsider Art was first used publicly as a description in 1972 by British art writer Roger Cardinal in his book with that title. In this context, it is the equivalent of the French term "art brut", which means art of the insane. However, this description is subjective in that it often reflects the opinion of the viewer or critic and not necessarily a professional diagnosis. In the United States, Outsider Art is an umbrella term referencing artwork by creative persons outside the mainstream of society including prisoners and artists in psychiatric treatment. It also includes folk art that is memory painting, meaning dreams or fantasy depictions by non-academically trained artists. Names associated with Outsider Art include Martin Ramirez, Ike Morgan, Henry Darger, Steven Ashby, Joseph Yoakum and Ted Gordon. Sources: Chuck and Jan Rosenak, "Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists; Christie's New York; Robert Atkins, "Art Speak". |
Overbeck Pottery | Pottery produced in the midst of the Arts and Crafts movement in Cambridge City, Indiana in a family enterprise ceramics factory founded in 1911. The business was run exclusively by the Overbeck sisters, educated women who had been raised to be independent, industrious and avoiding of marriage because it could thwart their potential: Elizabeth (1875-1936; Hannah (1870-1931; Margaret (1863-1911) and Mary Frances (1878-1955). In the book about the operation, "The Chronicle of a Studio Pottery”, Elizabeth Overbeck said that initially “No one concerned in the enterprise had any practical experience in clay working or was even personally familiar with the simplest of pottery making as carried on in a factory.” (59). The pottery was distinctive for its rich colors, active designs and unique shapes. Margaret Overbeck is credited with being the main initiator of the operation, and the other sisters were already adept at china painting, having won many design competitions in a monthly pottery and decorator magazine. Before embarking on the business venture, Margaret and Mary studied with Arthur Dow, a leading figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. The same year the business opened, Margaret died, and the remaining three stayed the course with Elizabeth being the potter and firing technician, Mary painting, finishing and glazing; and Hannah doing the decorative designs, sometimes from sketches left by Margaret. The sisters lived simply, wore simple clothing and remained in the family home, using the parlor for a studio and another room as the showroom. The kiln was in a shed in the backyard. The early pieces were utilitarian such as cups and saucers, but the later work was more purely decorative. Most pieces are identified by the incised initials “OBK”, and sometimes to the left under the monogram is the first initial of the potter. For many years, the three sisters struggled in their determination to live only from the profits of their work, but “for the Overbecks , living well meant making art,”. . .Their operating philosophy was to pre-plan a work completely before execution, make each piece unique, and create a design motif from nature. In 1936, Elizabeth was elected a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, making her the most publicly visible of the group. Eight months later she died, which brought an end to the unique enterprise as Hannah had died five years earlier. Mary carried on until her death in 1955, which ended the production of Overbeck pottery, whose formula went to the grave with Mary but whose pottery has become highly collectible. The production had numbered many thousands of pieces, and it was written that “their real genius lay in their complex Art Deco designs and subtle matte glazes . . . the sisters’ design contribution alone should secure their firm’s position as one of the best art potteries in the country”. (69) Source: Judith Vale Newton and Carol Ann Weiss, "Skirting the Issue" |
Overlap Effect | Spatial relationships are achieved by placing one object in front of another. The object closest to the viewer blocks out the view of any part of any other object located behind it (or, where the two objects overlap, the one in back is obscured) |
Overpainting | Layers of paint applied to a painting after the first layer has dried. Overpainting allows for detailing, whereas the preliminary paint generally sets the form and design. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms" |
Ox Bow Artists' Colony | Located in Saugatuck in western Michigan by Frederick Fursman and Walter Marshall Clute, this was the site of the summer school program of the Art Institute of Chicago. The area is scenic with the Kalamazoo River running through the middle of the town on its path to Lake Michigan: Early arriving artists were Albert Krehbiel and Frederic Fursman. Other artists painting there included Robert FAgan, Edith HammondR.H. Love Galleries |
Ox-Bow School of Painting | See Saugatuck (Ox-Bow) School of Painting |
Ozalid Print | A trademark name, it refers to a process for reproducing line drawings, manuscripts, and the like on a sensitized paper. It develops in ammonia vapor. Ozalid prints are positive and are made directly from a drawing. This method is an alternative to blueprinting. Sources: "Random House Unabridged Dictionary", Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease; and "Britannica Compton's Encyclopedia" (online). Submitted by M.D. Silverbrooke, West Vancouver, British Columbia |
Ozark Society of Painters | See Society of Ozark Painters |
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