Glossary of Art Movements and Techniques
A reference guide to key art movements throughout history, including brief definitions and notable artist examples.
Impressionism
A 19th-century movement characterized by loose brushwork, bright color, and depictions of modern life and nature. Artists: Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Edward Henry Potthast, Colin Campbell Cooper, Guy Carleton Wiggins, John Fulton Folinsbee, Walter Granville-Smith, Jane Peterson, Robert Spencer, Frederick John Mulhaupt, Karl Albert Buehr, William Lester Stevens, John Fabian Carlson, Charles Movalli, Chauncey Foster Ryder, Wilson Henry Irvine, George Loftus Noyes, Johann Berthelsen, Emile Gruppe, Edward Willis Redfield, Charles P. Gruppe, Frank W. Benson.
Post-Impressionism
Reacted to Impressionism with greater emphasis on structure, symbolism, and emotion. Artists: Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin.
Expressionism
Emphasized inner emotional experience through color and distortion. Artists: Arthur kraft, Albert Bloch, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Wassily Kandinsky.
Cubism
Early 20th-century style breaking down objects into geometric forms. Artists: Robert Marc, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris.
Fauvism
Used intense, non-naturalistic color and simplified forms. Artists: Henri Matisse, André Derain.
Dada
An anti-art, absurdist movement reacting to WWI, often using collage and readymade objects. Artists: Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Höch, Francis Picabia.
Surrealism
Focused on the unconscious mind, dream imagery, and irrational juxtapositions. Artists: David Ligare, Robert Byerley, Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Max Ernst, Julia Thecla, Henry Koerner, Georges Spiro, Ivan Albright, Harold Noecker, John Wilde, Dorthea Tanning, Max Ernst.
Abstract Expressionism
Postwar American movement with spontaneous, gestural paint application. Artists: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Dan Christenson, Ron Slowinski, Robert Bunnell, Willem de Kooning.
Pop Art
Celebrated commercial imagery and pop culture using bright colors and repetition. Artists: Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg.
Minimalism
Focused on simplicity, repetition, and purity of form, often in sculpture or installation. Artists: Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin.
Conceptual Art
Prioritized the idea over the finished object. Artists: Sol LeWitt, Joseph Kosuth, Jenny Holzer.
Realism
Depicted everyday life with accuracy and detail, often socially motivated. Artists: Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Winslow Homer.
Tonalism
An American movement using muted tones and atmospheric effects. Artists: George Inness, James McNeill Whistler, Dwight Tryon.
Regionalism
Focused on American rural life in the 1930s. Artists: Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry, Aaron Gunn Pyle, Gene Pyle, Kenneth Pauling Riley, Wallace Rosenbauer, Palmer Schoppe, Frederick Emanuel Shane, James Russell Sherman, Ivy Jane Edmondson Starr, Bernard Joseph Steffen, Janet Turner, Edward Baxter Voegele, Joseph Vorst, Charles Banks Wilson, Jules Stafford Worthington, Avery Handley, William B. Hayden, Cornelius Ismert, Frederic James, William Frederick Kautzman, Sam Stephen Lispi, James Duard Marshall, William Wind McKim, Roger Norman Medearis, Joseph Meert, Archie Musick, Jackson Lee Nesbitt, Jesse Charles O’Neill, Ray Eldon Ottinger Jr., Marguerite Munger Peet, Charles Cecil Pollock, Jackson Pollock, Malcolm Arnett, Jack Edward Barber, Earl Fred Bennett, Rita Piacenza Benton, Thomas Hart Benton, Edith Husenig Bozyan, Eric James Bransby, Mary Ann Hemmie Bransby, Ross Eugene Braught, Daniel Ralph Celentano, James Henry Daugherty, John Stockton de Martelly, Francis Patrick Fern, Helen Finger, James H. FitzGerald, Edwin Fulwider, James Britton Gantt, Robert MacDonald Graham Jr., Anthony Benton Gude, George W. Gullick, Mildred Welsh Hammond.
Modernism
Broad term for innovation in art from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, including abstraction and formal experimentation. Artists: Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Georgia O’Keeffe.
Postmodernism
Reacted to Modernism with irony, appropriation, and layered meaning. Artists: Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Jeff Koons.
Contemporary Art
Refers to current, evolving art practices since the 1970s, often interdisciplinary or conceptual. Artists: Kehinde Wiley, Jenny Saville, Ai Weiwei.
Glossary of Printmaking Techniques
A practical glossary of terms often encountered by print collectors, dealers, and appraisers, including references to key American printmakers and the Prairie Print Makers collective.
Woodcut
A relief print made by carving into a wood block, inking the raised surface, and pressing it onto paper. Known for bold lines and contrasts. Artists: Albrecht Dürer, Gustave Baumann, Birger Sandzén, Norma Bassett Hall, Lillian May Mill, Prairie Print Makers.
Linocut
Similar to woodcut, but carved from linoleum instead of wood. Easier to cut, allowing for smoother curves. Artists: Pablo Picasso, Leonard Beaumont (Prairie Print Makers).
Etching
An intaglio technique where lines are bitten into a metal plate using acid. Produces fine detail and tonal variation. Artists: Rembrandt van Rijn, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, John W. Winkler, Charles Capps, Lloyd Foltz, Arthur Hall.
Aquatint
A variant of etching that uses powdered resin to create tonal effects. Often combined with line etching. Artists: Francisco Goya, Mary Cassatt.
Engraving
An intaglio method involving directly incising a metal plate with a burin. Known for precision and fine lines. Artists: Albrecht Dürer, Charles Meryon.
Drypoint
A technique where lines are scratched directly into a plate with a sharp needle, creating a rich, velvety burr. Artists: Mary Cassatt, Käthe Kollwitz.
Mezzotint
A tonal intaglio process where a plate is roughened and smoothed to create gradations of light and dark. Artists: John Martin, Yozo Hamaguchi.
Lithography
A planographic method using greasy drawing materials on limestone or aluminum plates. Artists: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, William Dickerson, John Steuart Curry.
Screenprint (Silkscreen)
A stencil-based process where ink is pushed through a mesh screen. Common in both fine art and commercial design. Artists: Andy Warhol, Sister Mary Corita Kent.
Monotype
A unique, one-of-a-kind print made by drawing or painting on a smooth surface and transferring it to paper. Artists: Edgar Degas, Maurice Prendergast.
Collagraph
A print made from a textured collage surface, often combining found materials with traditional print techniques. Artists: Glen Alps, Clare Romano.
Photogravure
A photomechanical intaglio process used for reproducing photographic images in high quality. Artists: Edward Curtis, Alfred Stieglitz.
Chine-collé
A technique where delicate paper is bonded to a heavier backing during the printing process, often used to add color or texture. Artists: Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee.
Relief Print
Any print where the image is printed from a raised surface. Includes woodcut, linocut, and letterpress. Common among Prairie Print Makers.
Edition
The total number of impressions printed from a single plate or block. Limited editions are more collectible. Prairie Print Makers commonly issued editions of 100 or fewer prints.
Impression
A single print pulled from a plate or block. Earlier impressions may be of higher quality and more desirable. Artists: Martin Lewis, John Sloan.
Artist’s Proof (A.P.)
Prints reserved for the artist, often marked A.P. or E.A. These may be identical to the edition or show slight variations. Highly sought after by collectors.
State
A version of a print made at a particular stage in the development of the plate. Collectors often value early states, especially for artists like James Whistler or Charles Meryon.
Signed in the Plate
The artist’s name appears within the image area, as part of the design. Common in older prints.
Signed in Pencil
The artist’s signature, usually below the image, added by hand in pencil. Indicates direct involvement and authenticity. Artists: Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton.
Blindstamp
An embossed seal or logo impressed into the paper, identifying the printer, publisher, or workshop. Often found on prints by 20th-century American artists.
Watermark
A faint design embedded in the paper during manufacture. Used to confirm paper quality or origin, especially in older prints.
Laid Paper
A type of handmade paper with fine parallel lines from the wire mesh mold. Often used in 18th- and 19th-century prints.
Wove Paper
Smooth paper without visible lines, widely used by modern printmakers. Common in Prairie Print Makers and WPA-era works.
Mat Burn
A discoloration caused by acidic matting, often affecting older prints. Can reduce value if severe.
Deckled Edge
The natural, uneven edge of handmade paper, often left untrimmed to emphasize quality or authenticity.
Restrike
A later printing from an original plate, made after the artist’s death or outside the original edition. Generally less valuable to collectors.
Posthumous Edition
Prints made from an artist’s plate after their death, often by an estate or publisher. Typically noted as such.
WPA Print
A print made under the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (1935–1943), which supported many regionalist printmakers. Artists: Dox Thrash, Adolf Dehn, Gene Kloss, and associated Prairie Print Makers.
Regionalist
Refers to American artists depicting rural life and landscapes, particularly in the Midwest. Many regionalists, such as Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, also created original lithographs.
Printer’s Proof (P.P.)
Prints pulled by the printer to check quality, sometimes given to the printer as a form of compensation. May or may not be signed.
Catalogue Raisonné Number
A reference number from an artist’s complete print listing, often cited in scholarly or collector circles.
Original Print
A work of art conceived by the artist as a print—not a reproduction. Includes woodcut, etching, lithograph, etc. Artists: Martin Lewis, Bertha Jaques, Birger Sandzén.
Reproduction
A mechanically produced copy of an artwork, often offset or digital. Not considered an original print and holds little value to serious collectors.
Glossary of Descriptive Terminology for Fine Art
A guide to commonly used words and phrases that describe visual qualities, condition, and style in fine art.
Atmospheric
Describes works with a soft, hazy, or moody quality, often suggesting mist, air, or weather conditions.
Bold
A term for strong, confident brushwork or color, often with expressive impact.
Brushwork
The texture and technique of paint application, visible in the strokes left by the artist’s brush.
Composition
The arrangement of elements within a work of art. A well-balanced composition enhances aesthetic appeal.
Detailed
Describes artwork with fine, precise attention to texture, pattern, or subject matter.
Expressive
Artwork that conveys strong emotion or mood, often through distortion, color, or dynamic gesture.
Figurative
Art that clearly represents human or animal forms, as opposed to abstract or non-representational art.
Gestural
Characterized by energetic brushstrokes or mark-making that reflects the artist’s physical movement.
Luminous
Refers to art that appears to glow with light, often achieved through layered glazes or color contrast.
Monochromatic
A work created using variations of a single color or tone.
Muted
Colors or tones that are soft, subdued, or neutral—often used to create mood or subtlety.
Narrative
Describes artwork that tells a story or implies a sequence of events or symbolic content.
Painterly
Art that emphasizes the texture and movement of paint, rather than smooth or polished finishes.
Realistic
Art that closely resembles real life in detail and proportion.
Romantic
Describes work with dramatic, emotional, or idealized qualities, often drawing on historical or poetic themes.
Saturated
Rich, intense color that is undiluted or vivid.
Stylized
Art that simplifies or exaggerates form for effect rather than mimicking realistic appearances.
Symmetrical
Balanced composition in which visual elements are mirrored or evenly arranged.
Textured
Surface quality that can be seen or felt—may be rough, smooth, raised, or impasto.
Tonal
Artwork emphasizing gradations of light and shadow rather than color; often subtle and atmospheric.
Whimsical
Light-hearted, playful, or fanciful in tone or subject matter.