Showing 130 of 32 art terms

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Magic realism

The term magic realism was invented by German photographer, art historian and art critic Franz Roh in 1925 to describe …

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Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos is a New York based photographic co-operative founded in 1947 by four photographers, including Robert Capa and Henri …

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Mail art

Mail art is a movement based on the principle of sending small scale works through the postal service

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Mannerist

Mannerist is a sixteenth century style of art and design characterised by artificiality, elegance and sensuous distortion of the human …

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Maquette

A maquette is model for a larger piece of sculpture, created in order to visualise how it might look and …

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Market Photo Workshop

Founded by the documentary photographer David Goldblatt in 1989, Market Photo Workshop was originally set up to support black photographers …

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Matter painting

Matter painting refers to the technique of using thick impasto paint into which other materials such as sand, mud, cement …

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Medium

Medium can refer to both to the type of art (e.g. painting, sculpture, printmaking), as well as the materials an …

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Memento mori

A memento mori is an artwork designed to remind the viewer of their mortality and of the shortness and fragility …

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Merz

Merz is a nonsense word invented by the German dada artist Kurt Schwitters to describe his collage and assemblage works …

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Metal

Metal is a solid, hard, opaque material that has been used by sculptors since ancient times

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Metaphysical Art

Metaphysical Art (the translation of the Italian Pittura Metafisica) was an early twentieth century Italian art movement typified by dream-like …

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Mezzotint

Mezzotint is an engraving technique developed in the seventeenth century which allows for the creation of prints with soft gradations …

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Miniature

A miniature is a small painting, usually a portrait

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Minimalism

Minimalism is an extreme form of abstract art developed in the USA in the 1960s and typified by artworks composed …

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Minjung art

Minjung art was a South Korean socio-political art movement that emerged in 1980 after the Gwangju Massacre, in which some …

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Mixed media

Mixed media is a term used to describe artworks composed from a combination of different media or materials

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Mobile

A mobile is a type of sculpture that is formed of delicate components which are suspended in the air and …

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Modern moral subject

The modern moral subject is a type of painting that was invented by English artist William Hogarth (1697–1764), which satirizes …

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Modern realism

The term modern realism is applied to painting or sculpture created since the development of abstraction in modern art but …

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Modernism

Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought …

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Modular

Modular is a term used particularly in relation to minimalism, referring to a work of art with constituent parts that …

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Mono-ha

Mono-ha (School of Things) was a pioneering art movement that emerged in Tokyo in the mid-1960s whose artists, instead of …

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Monochrome

Monochrome means one colour, so in relation to art, a monochrome artwork is one that includes only one colour

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Monoprint

The monoprint is a form of printmaking where the image can only be made once, unlike most printmaking which allows …

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Monotype

A unique image printed from a polished plate, such as glass or metal, which has been painted with a design …

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Montage

A montage is an assembly of images that relate to each other in some way to create a single work …

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Mosaic

A mosaic is a picture made up of small parts which are traditionally tiny tiles made out of terracotta, pieces …

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Motif

A motif is a recurring fragment, theme or pattern that appears in a work of art

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Multi-media

The term multi-media describes artworks made from a range of materials and include an electronic element such as audio or …