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Gallery Language: 101
By Deborah | November 15, 2007
Have you ever felt intimidated when you walk into a high-end gallery or a museum? It’s as if the staff went through special training to appear more sophisticated and intelligent that the rest of human kind. The reality is that many gallery staffers are not as well-read about art as they should be, and their aloofness is often a shield to avert questions that would uncover their lack of knowledge.
A gallery visit should be an enjoyable experience. It should be an approachable environment where you can enjoy the art, ask any question that comes to mind, and learn about artists and their techniques. Only then, should an art enthusiast feel free to part with their money and purchase a work of art.
Unless you are an art history major, many of the terms used by gallery staffers can be confusing. From my perspective, knowledge of some very basic terms will help to guide you through the art jargon maze.
First of all, if we take a 40,000 foot view of art we would consider two primary categories: two dimensional and three dimensional works. The 2-D category is art that typically hangs on the wall. This work includes oil paintings, watercolor, acrylics, pastels, etc. 3-D work tends to be free standing or something that you would place on a tabletop. This category includes sculptures of bronze, glass, stone, wood, metal, etc.
Drilling down a little further, the next term you will hear is medium. As you might guess, the “medium” is what the piece is made of. For example, the medium in a painting could be oil, acrylic, or watercolor. You might also hear the term, mixed media. Mixed media would include two or more mediums in the piece. A piece that uses oil, acrylic and metal in the painting would be considered mixed media.
Style is another term used frequently by gallery staff to describe an artist’s work. A cursory overview of styles includes contemporary or traditional at a high level and within these categories you have abstract, cubism, expressionism, fauvism, impressionism, pointillism, pop art, postimpressionism, primitivism, realism and surrealism.
The best way to acquaint yourself with the styles of art is to look at the work of famous artists. For example, Chagall and Picasso painted in Expressionism and Cubism styles; Salvador Dali’s style became known as Surrealism; Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings were done in the Realist style; Monet and Renoir painted in an Impressionist style; and Jackson Pollock’s paintings are considered Abstract style. Once you see the work associated with a specific style, you will find it much easier to identify art styles of some local or regional artists.
Another term you may hear when describing art is composition. Composition includes such elements as: the image area, depth or the perspective, line (the direction the viewer’s eye travels when looking at a painting), value (the use of light or dark values within an image to create the mood), proportion, and the relationship between form and space.
Instant recall of these terms is not necessary for you to appreciate art. However, an awareness of the thought process an artist goes through when creating a piece of art will enhance your gallery visits—and perhaps, give you a little added confidence when you interact with the super intelligent, sophisticated, and generally cooler than thou gallery staffers.
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