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T. - Abbreviation for tablespoon.
t. - Abbreviation for teaspoon.
tableau vivant - A scene presented by costumed actors who remain silent andmotionless on a stage, as if in a picture.
(pr. tah-BLOH vee-vah)
Also see genre, history painting, narrative art, and performance art.
tablespoon - A unit of measureof both liquid and dry quantities equal to half an ounce(US, fluid), or to three teaspoons.To convert tablespoons to cups, multiply them by 0.0625. AbbreviatedT.
tablet - A slab or plaque,as of stone or ivory, with a surfacethat is meant for or bears an inscription.
Example:
Mesopotamia, Assur, Neo-Assyrian period (714 BCE), Tablet of Sargon's 8th Campaign, baked clay, 37 x 24 cm, Louvre.
Also see panel.
tactile - Of or relating to the sense of touch.
Also see haptic and texture.
tactile defensiveness - Strong aversion to textures,material, or even human touch.In art, common aversions includeclay and paste.
Also see Individualized Education Program (IEP).
talent - An inherited or previously developed ability of significant qualityfor artistic or other achievement. One or more persons havingsuch ability. What most people consider inherited abilities are more likely the result of nurturing experiences.
Talent is a wonderful blessing.Just as such child prodigies as Mozart excelled in music at a very young age, there are children who seem to take to drawing with greater facility than others. It is difficult to know to what extent a child's ability is inborn or the result of early experiences and encouragement. Certainly early experiences can affect a person's motivation. These in turn affect a person's willingness to seek knowledge independently, and to be more receptive to instruction. Regardless of different individuals' abilities, instruction can have an enormous impact on increasing any person's success in art.
It is a painfully common mistake to expect talent accompanied by little effort to result in great success. Curiously, however, there are many examples of motivated people, whose talent and circumstances were unremarkable, who have succeeded as artists. This is most likely for people who receive systematic instruction.
A person who is sufficiently motivated can achieve success with self-instruction, but examples of such people are rare. There are tremendous advantages to becoming involved with people who share (as good instructors do) the kinds of specialized knowledge artists find useful. Self-taught artists sometimes achieve recognition when they get the attentions of art writers and exhibitors, but typically their work is so extremely personal or derivative, and its audience limited to friends and relatives, that it disappears after the artist's death.
Quotations:
- "I don't advise anyone to take it [painting] up as a business proposition, unless they really have talent . . . . But I will say that I have did remarkable for one of my years, and experience."
Anna Mary Robertson, called "Grandma Moses" (1860-1961), American self-taught painter. The New York Times, May 11, 1947. See folk art. - "It would be a mistake to ascribe this creative power to an inborn talent. In art, the genius creator is not just a gifted being, but a person who has succeeded in arranging for their appointed end, a complex of activities, of which the work is the outcome. The artist begins with a vision a creative operation requiring an effort. Creativity takes courage."
Henri Matisse (1869-1954), French modernist artist. See Modernism. - "Talent and all that are really for the most part just baloney. Any schoolboy with a little aptitude can perhaps draw better than I; but what he lacks in most cases is that tenacious desire to make it reality, that obstinate gnashing of teeth and saying, 'Although I know it can't be done, I want to do it anyway.'"
Maurits Cornelius Escher (1898-1972), Dutch graphic artist. See optical illusion and tesselation. - "I don't have a lot of respect for talent. Talent is genetic. It's what you do with it that counts."
Martin Ritt (1914-1990), American actor and motion picture director. - "Talent (or the lack of it) is not given in the nature of things, it is the product of social arrangements, which often have an institutional framework and long cultural history."
Hugh Mehan and H. Wood, American ethnologists specializing in educational research, The Reality of Ethnomethodology, New York, Wiley-Interscience, 1975. - "Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck but most of all, endurance."
James Baldwin (1924-1987), American writer and critic of racism, quoted by Jordan Elgrably in Paris Review.
Also see artcareers, art therapy,genius, heritage,inspiration, masterpiece,and virtuosity.
talisman - Something worn for its supposed magical benefit warding off evil (apotropaic)or attracting good luck, perhaps. The word is derived from theGreek word telesma, meaning "rite." Whether madeby or acquired by the wearer, talismans are said to be designedby experts in the various attributes of forms, colors and materials. They are typically medallions or pendants marked with cabalistic, medieval,or ancient signs, symbols, or texts.Some people understand that a talisman is an object that reminds a person to focus his own positive thinking in orderto amplify his virtues, and that it has no powers on its own.Others believe that it has its own energies, and that the wearer'sdesires magnify them in some way that increase the wearer's abilityto obtain a certain objective.
Examples:
A talisman of unidentified origin and meaning, probably contemporary, apparently gold, translucent red and blue gems, and bone or horn fragments. This image shows it emanating a mysterious luminosity. This jewel is analogous to purportedly powerful objects in Hollywood's pseudo-archaeological adventure stories, like the mummy and Indiana Jones movies.
This talisman is sold on the Web (in 2003), described by a vendor as "To Attain Riches, double-sided and comes with a 36-inch cord, accent bead and booklet. This talisman is treasured by all who wish to become rich and famous! The talisman for riches combined with the 'seal of prosperity' enables the wearer to say and do the right thing at the right time. $25.00." See medallion.
Also see amulet,anthropomorphism, charm,ex voto, fetish,milagro, and shaman.
tamping - Consolidating a fibrous or granular materialsuch as resin-soaked glass fiber, concreteor damp sand by pressing orpacking it into shape in amold.
Tanagra - In ancientGreek art, a figurineof fired clay.Although these small-scalestatues were first made in Athensand were soon being fabricatedthrough out the Mediterranean world, they take their name fromTanagra, an ancient city in Boeotia, the region north of Attica,where great numbers were illicitly removed from tombs in the early1870s. Tanagra sculptorswere called coraplasters (in Greek, cora is a girl, plasteinmeans to sculpt), as they were particularly drawn to representingwomen. Nearly all of the earlier figurines represented deities.The majority of Tanagras portray fashionable women or girls elegantlywrapped in thin himatia, oftenwearing large sun hats, and holding wreaths or fans. While moststand gracefully, some are seated or playing games. A number ofboys are represented and Aphrodite and Eros appear as well. Manyof these figurines have been discovered in private dwellings.Like other figurines found in houses, they probably had a religiouspurpose and were placed in domestic shrines. They were also dedicatedin sanctuaries and placed in tombs. Up to a dozen statuettes werefound in some graves at Tanagra.
Examples:
Also see exvoto.
tan-e - In Japaneseart, a print witha dominant toneof orange-red.
Also see beni-e and nishiki-e.
T'ang or Tang - A Chinesedynasty that lasted 618-907 that was known for its prosperityalong with the vigor of its visual arts and literature. (Don'tmiss the poets Li Po and Tu Fu!)
Examples of works from the T'angdynasty:
tang - A projection castwith a metal figure or tool with which the cast can be attachedeither to a base or to a handle.The tang may have been cast as a runner.Not to be confused with T'ang.
tangent, tangential - A tangent is a line,curve, or surface,touching but not intersecting another line, curve, or surface.Or, something is tangent or tangential when it makes contact withsomething else at a single pointalong its edge, touching butnot intersecting its edge.
Also see align, angle, circle, ellipse, oval, and straight.
tanka - A Tibetan Buddhistpainting on fabric, usually portrayingthe Buddha or lamas. Also spelled thangka.
Examples:
Related link:
Burke Museum of Natural History, University of Washington, has a collection of tankas, many from the 20th century.
tapestry
tapping - Cutting a thread inside a drilled hole so itwill accept a screw or plug in which a corresponding thread hasbeen cut. Tapping is done with a tap drill. The processis used to fill pin holes in a bronzecast with fine bronzerod.
tarashikomi - In Japaneseart, a technique involving theuse of wet pigments.
tartan - A decoratively woven fabric of a plaid pattern (sometimes called a sett) which is associated with a community in Scotland a clan or family, a district, military, commercial, or other organization. There is a long history to a few of these associations, but only since the early 19th century did they become popularly synonymous with particular clans or families. Scotland has long been a major producer of wool. Local manufacturers produced cloth for local people, resulting in each district's acquiring a style eventually regarded as its own. When a clan dominated a region, whether in the highlands or the lowlands, a tartan became associated with the leading clan. From the Romantic period of the early 1800s, there has been tremendous interest in the study of tartans as they relate to Scottish traditions. Designs have proliferated in the last two hundred years, with families and organizations creating tartans that never had them before. Variants on older tartans have often been created because they are intended for use in specific circumstances, while hunting (earthier colors) or on formal occasions (brighter colors) for instance. New designs are often hybrids of old designs, lending the flavor of the district of their origin.
Examples:
Related links:
- Tartans of Scotland offers a complete Register of all Publicly Known Tartans online, which includes details and images of over 2800 tartans. Use its search engine to research the tartans of the clans of Scotland.
See costume and Scottish art.
taste - A personal preference or liking. And, the capacityto tell what is aestheticallyexcellent or appropriate. Sometimes, the sense of what is proper,or least likely to give offense.
Quotes:
- "There is no disputing about taste." ("De gustibus non est disputandum.")
Anonymous, Latin proverb. - "The French have taste in all they do, / Which we are quite without; / For Nature, which to them gave goût / To us gave only gout."
Anonymous English poet. [Goût is the French equivalent for taste.] - "Absolute catholicity of taste is not without its dangers. It is only an auctioneer who should admire all schools of art."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. Pall Mall Gazette (London, February 8, 1886). - "A man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. - "Taste is the death of a painter."
Walter Sickert (1860-1942), English painter. A Free House! - "When people have taste, they may have faults, follies, they may err, they may be as human and honest as they please, but they will never cause a scandal!"
Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950) American interior decorator. Quoted by Ruth Franklin in "A Life in Good Taste," The New Yorker, September 27, 2004, p. 142. - "Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quote (Anderson, S.C., March 24, 1957). - The Russian emigrant conceptual artist team Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid are responsible for the projects they titled "The Most Wanted paintings" and "The Least Wanted paintings", reflect the artists' interpretation of a professional market research survey about aesthetic preferences and taste in painting. Intending to discover what a true "people's art" would look like, the artists, with the support of the Nation Institute, hired Marttila & Kiley, Inc. to conduct the first poll. In 1994, they began the process which resulted in America's Most Wanted and America's Least Wanted paintings, which were first exhibited under the title "People's Choice." See conceptual art.
Also see aesthetics,bad art, banausic,brummagem, camp,chinoiserie, collection,deaccession, decoration,decorative,decorativearts, discrimination,Gemütlichkeit, gewgaw,hooptedoodle, kitsch,ornament, and popularculture.
tattoo
tautology - Redundancy; needless repetition of the same meaning in what are merely differentwords.
(pr. taw-TAH-l-jee)
tawny - Dark or dullyellowish brown.
Also see earth colors and neutral.
taxidermy - The craft or processof preparing, stuffing, and mountingthe skins and other exterior parts of dead animals for exhibitionin a lifelike state. A person who practices this craft is a taxidermist.
Anything entirely natural is generally regarded as otherthan what we call art.There is no subject, however,more frequently chosen by artiststhan nature, excepting the human figure itself a work of nature. There have been some examples of humanremains placed on display. Excepting acts of extreme cruelty andwar [often the same thing], parts of deceased humans are mostlikely to be exhibited forreasons of science or becausethey're prized as carnival oddities rather than for reasons ofart. Taxidermy, therefor,
Also see gyotaku, ivory, leather and fur, photorealism, tortoiseshell,and trompe l'oeil.
taxis - Greek for "arrangement,order." A rare term forthe orderly division of a subjectinto its various components or attributes."Eutaxic," also a rare term, means well arranged orwell ordered. "Eutaxia" then, is good arrangement.
Quote:
- "Icons stare out with sometimes disconcerting intimacy, questioning our certitude about their incarnation. Their formality what we can see as proto-modern is an expression of taxis: the Byzantine belief that 'It was possible for human beings,' as the [art] historian Peter Brown has put it, 'to create little pools of order in this world which would bring to earth a touch of the true, inviolable 'glory' of heaven.'" Michael Kimmelman, "Decay and Glory: Back to Byzantium," New York Times, March 26, 2004, section B, p. 39. See Peter Brown's essay in the art exhibition catalogue, The Glory of Byzantium, for the 1997 Metropolitan Museum of Art show of the same name.
Also see arthistory, Byzantineart, composition,expression, fengshui, icon, iconography,metonymy, modern,and taxonomy.
taxonomy - Division into orderedgroups or categories. Of particular use to educators is Bloom'sTaxonomy, a hierarchical list of thinking skills. The sixlevels of Bloom's taxonomy should be used in stating objectivesof lessons and in devising questions which stimulate thinkingat each level.
Also see taxis and thematic.
tchotchke - Showy but valueless. Rapidly trifling. One ofthe many words in English for "miscellaneous objects"or "nondescript junk," which also includes knickknack,trinket, doodad, whatnot, and gewgawTchotchke originated from the Yiddish tshatshke, andultimately from a now-obsolete Polish word czaczko.
(pr. CHAHCH-k or CHAHCH-kee)
Examples:
Also see badart, bibelot, bric-a-brac,brummagem, camp,collectible, confection,decoration, decorative, decorativearts, hooptedoodle, kitsch, ornament,and taste.
teacher
tear sheet - A page torn from a magazine or some other publication printed on paper. As such, it might also be a found image, found material, or found object. Art students typically collect tear sheets for images of exemplars, or for images from or with which to work in art production for components of collage, for example. Perhaps a graphic designer would speak of a tear sheet as a page bearing a graphic design which is seen in isolation from the publication for which it was intended. (If you have witnessed this, please describe your experience to this art lexicographer. - MRD)
See ephemera, reproduction, and visual culture.
teaspoon - A unit of measureof both liquid and dry quantities that is equal to a third ofa tablespoon. To convert teaspoonsto ounces (US, fluid), multiplyby 0.16667. Abbreviated t. or tsp.
technique - Any method of working with art materialsto produce an art object. Oftenimplied is the sense that techniques are carefully studied, exacting,or traditional, but this is not necessarily the case.
Examples include basketry, blotting, carving, constructing, découpage, embossing, encaustic, exquisite corpse, firing, folding, hatching, kerning, laminating, marbling, modeling, necking.
Quote:
- "The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it. The more technique there is, the less there is."
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quoted in: Hélène Parmelin, Picasso Plain, chapter 4 (published in France, 1959; reprinted in 1963). - I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order to learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso
- "Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there."
E. H. Gombrich (1909-), British art critic and art historian. See craftsmanship, illusion and technique. - "Art is techniques (e.g. watercolor). Techniques are so mystical: if I wanted to understand an electric motor I would go to a fortune-teller."
Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), Swiss painter and kinetic sculptor, in National-Zeitung, Basle, October 13, 1967. - "Progressive ideas are just a machine for ruining art. I believe in the old idea of technique. I believe you need it if you're going to have magic and genius and masterpieces. No one would question the value of technique in any other field. No one would say that a tennis player would be better if only he could stop hitting the ball."
John Currin (contemporary), American painter. Quoted by Deborah Solomon in "Mr. Bodacious: John Currin paints outrageous pictures of women and an even more outrageous portrait of art history, the art world and himself," New York Times Magazine, November 16, 2003, p. 46. See genius and masterpiece.
Also see additive,daho, feather,infrared reflectography (IR),manipulate, medium,openwork, process, and subtractive.
technology - The use of science, especially to achieveindustrial, commercial, or engineering, as well as artistic results;or the particular scientific method and materialused to achieve those results. "Technology" often refersto the essential qualitiesof a person's or society's tools,machines, or other apparatus used to achieve a mechanical end.In discussing art, technology might refer to complex machinesused in the creation, exhibition,conservation, or study ofart, such as potter'swheels, presses, cameras,projectors, computers, lasers,and video equipment.
Works in which technology is particularlyimportant:
About technology:
- "When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."
John Ruskin (1819-1900), British writer, art critic. Modern Painters (5 volumes, 1843-1860, epilogue, 1888). See art critic, love, and masterpiece. - "If today's arts love the machine, technology and organization, if they aspire to precision and reject anything vague and dreamy, this implies an instinctive repudiation of Chaos and a longing to find the form appropriate to our times."
Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943), German artist. His diary, April 1926. See chaos, order, and zeitgeist.
Also see design,digital imaging, Futurism, hygrothermograph,interdisciplinary, newmedia, pointing machine,Rube Goldberg, scanner,science and art, video,video digitizer, videodisc,and World Wide Web (WWW).
teleidoscope - A type of a kaleidoscope,a teleidoscope is a cylindricaloptical instrument that isrotated so that when a person looks into it, the viewer sees asuccession of radial designsproduced by a carefully arranged set of mirrorsreflecting constantly changing patternsmade by mirrored images of a triangular section of whatever canbee seen through the other end of the instrument. The word teleidoscopeis a hybrid of the words "telescope" and "kaleidoscope" a kaleidoscope that turns whatever you point it toward intoa radial pattern. Other kaleidoscopes multiply a viewof small translucent objects (often bits of colored glass such as millefiori) in a chamberat one end of the cylinder. The first kaleidoscope was inventedby David Brewster (Scottish, 1781-1868) in 1816.
Examples:
Related links:
- La Casita de Kaleidoscopes is Pat Asay's gallery in Albuquerque, NM, representing many producers of teleidoscopes. La Casita has posted photos of many of their scopes, along with videos of several.
- Kaleidoscopes To You has many teleidoscopes for sale too.
Also see fish-eyelens, lens, mandala,projection, slide,and wide-angle lens.
teleology - The philosophical study of designor purpose in naturalphenomena. The use of ultimatepurpose or design as a means of explaining natural phenomena.Purposeful development, as in nature or history, toward a finalend.
Also see empiricism, epistemology, interdisciplinary, metaphysics, ontology, and phenomenology.
telephoto, telephoto lens, telephoto shot - A telephotolens is a camera lens system integrating a telescope. Its focallength is significantly greater than the focal length of anormal lens. For a 35 mm camera with a 24 by 36 mm format, a normallens is 50 mm; a lens of focal length 70 mm or more is consideredtelephoto. Its view has or covers a fieldof vision (an angle ofview) narrower (or "longer") than the normal lens, toany angle less than 35°. A zoomlens is in telephoto position when zoomed in, and wide-anglewhen zoomed out.
Telephoto is a photographicsystem using telephoto lenses to narrow a fieldof vision, producing a large photographic imageof distant subjects, makingthe them appear to be nearer than they really are; or photography in which a telephoto lensis used.
The opposite of a telephoto lensis a wide-angle lens, and theopposite of a telephoto shot is a wide-angleshot.
Example:
Also see blowup,bump up, cinema,cinematography, close-up,detail, and enlarge.
telescope, telescopic lens - A telescope is an optical device for viewing directlyor photographically distantsubjects by making them looklarger and nearer. A telescope is usually cylindrical,gathering visiblelight by means of the refraction througha combination of lenses. Thesemight include the reflectionof light rays by a concavemirror. A telescopic lens system attachedto a camera is usuallycalled a telephoto lens.
Also see viewfinder.
temper - To bring to a desired consistency, texture,hardness, or other physicalcondition by or as if by blending, admixing, or kneading. Also,to harden or strengthen metalor glass by the application of heat,or by heating and cooling. Temper may also be used as a synonymfor temper.
Also see temperature.
tempera
temperament - See artistictemperament and bias.
temperature - The intensity of heat as measuredin degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Centigrade,also known as Celsius. (Chart for temperature conversionsbetween Fahrenheit and Centigrade)
The regulation of the temperatureof environments where artworksare made, exhibited, and stored is important in theirconservation. Temperatureis significant because it affects relativehumidity. When moist air is heated, the relative humiditydecreases; when it is cooled, the relative humidity increases.Temperature is also important because deterioration progressesmuch more quickly at higher temperatures than at lower ones. Exposureto heat can drastically accelerate the aging of organicmaterials and of many modernsynthetics.
Controlling the temperature ofvarious materials is importantin the techniques used to manipulatethem.
Temperatures of particular importance:
- platinum melts at 1772° C.
- iron melts at 1535° C.
- nickel melts at 1453° C.
- manganese melts at 1244° C.
- copper melts at 1083° C.
- gold melts at 1063° C.
- silver melts at 960.8° C.
- zinc melts at 419.4° C.
- lead melts at 327.5° C.
- tin melts at 231.89° C.
- water boils at 212° F., 100° C.
- normal body temperature for humans is 98.6° F., 37° C.
- freezing point of water is 32° F., 0° C.
The temperatures of colors areoften described as warm (purples, reds, oranges, andyellows), neutral(violets and greens), andcool (blue-greensand blues). The colortemperature of light sources is usuallymeasured in units kelvin (K).
About a thermometer:
A nurse with a thermometer behind her ear says, "Wait till I find the asshole who's got my pencil."
Also see alloy, climate control, flammable, hot glue, hot glue gun, hygrothermograph, lost-wax casting, measurement, metal, pyrometric cones (firing ceramics), science and art, and temperature conversions between Fahrenheit and Centigrade.
temperature key - The relative level of a color'stemperature, whether referencing anindividual color, or a color schemeseen either in an artwork's entirety or in a passagewithin one. The warmer the color, the higher the temperature key;the cooler the colors, the lower the temperature key.
Also see chroma key, contrast key, cool colors, tonal key, warm colors, and value key.
template - A patternused as a guide in making a form with accuracy, as when using a stencil.
Examples:
Also see compass rose, die, French curve and tracing.
temporal art - See performanceart.
TenAmerican Painters orThe American Ten or The Ten
tendentious - Marked by a strongly implied pointof view. Also spelled tendencious.
Also see allegory, narrative art, and propaganda.
tenebroso ortenebrism
Also see boss, convex, finial, join, and pendant.
tenon saw - A saw with a short, rectangularblade which is supported along the side opposite the cutting edge by a narrow metalgrip. It is used for cutting with accuracy through small sectionsof wood.
tensile strength - The capability of a materialto withstand the stress imposedupon it when it is stretched or extended. Rubber, nylon, and steel are materials noted for their varied capacities for tensile strength.
Also see ductile.
tension - A tenuous balancemaintained in an object betweenopposing formal or allegoricalforces or elements often causing anxiety (from dissonance to angst to pain) or excitement (from the simply interesting to the utterly sublime). It embodies what is sometimes called edginess or frisson; and bears comparison to unity, harmony, and variety.
Tension might be considered one of the principles of design.
Quote:
- "Life itself consists of phases in which the organism falls out of step with the march of surrounding things and then recovers unison with it. . . . [But] if life continues, and if in continuing it expands, there is an overcoming of factors of opposition and conflict; there is a transformation of them into differentiated aspects of a higher powered and more significant life. The marvel of organic, of vital, adaptation through expansion . . . actually takes place. Here in germ are balance and harmony attained through rhythm. Equilibrium comes about not mechanically and inertly, but out of, and because of, tension. . . . Form is arrived at whenever a stable, even though moving, equilibrium is reached."
John Dewey (1859-1952), American philosopher and educator. Art as Experience, 1934. Republished by Capricorn Books, NY, 1958, p. 14. - "It is weight that gives meaning to weightlessness . . . I realised that lightness added to lightness does not add tension but diminishes it."
Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), American sculptor, in Sculptor's World.
Alsosee grotesque, incongruity, juxtaposition, rhythm, transformation, and weight.
terminal - In computer terminology, a device, often equippedwith a keyboard and a monitor,through which information or data can enter or leave a computersystem.
terra - In painting, earthfrom which pigment can bemade, as in terra vert.
terracotta or terracottaor terra-cotta
terra cruda - In contrast to terracotta, unfired clay.The difference is also this: a piece of terra cruda is more brittle,more easily crumbled, and can dissolve into mud if exposed towater, while a piece of terra cotta is harder to break, and willnever again dissolve into mud. Works in terra cruda are more acceptable than in terra cotta when they are expected to be impermanent (temporary), or if they were produced by very young children for whom permanency is likely to be unimportant, or if firing the clay is too likely to cause it to break up.
Adobe bricks can be either baked or not baked.
Examples:
Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879), François-Pierre-Guillaume Guizot, 1831, terra cruda bust painted with oil, 22 x 17 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. See caricature and French art.
terra sigillata - Also called Samian pottery,terra sigillata is a Mediterranean ceramicware decorated with relief figures,first produced about 300 BCE,having evolved from the Etruscan'sblack pottery called bucchero ware. "Terra sigillata"is Latin, literally meaning "stamped earth." It wasfired in an oxidizingatmosphere. The finest examples of terra sigillata, known as Arretineware, were made at what is now the Italian town of Arezzo.
Examples:
Roman England?, Colchester Vase, 2nd-3rd century CE, terra sigillata vase, Colchester, Museum.
tertiary colors - See intermediatecolors.
tesselate - To form into a mosaic pattern, as by using small polygonsof stone or glass.
Also see smalto, tesselation, tessera, and tile.
tesselation
tessera - A small piece of glazedclay used in mosaics.The plural is tesserae.
Also see smalto.
tetrahedron - A polyhedronwith four two-dimensionalfaces, six edges,and six vertices. It is thesimplest of all polyhedrons, and is a type of pyramid. The sides of a right tetrahedron 
Also see mathematics, polygon, and vertex.
text
textile
texture - An element of art, texture is the surfacequality or "feel"of an object, its smoothness,roughness, softness, etc. Textures may be actual or simulated.Actual textures can be felt with the fingers, while simulatedtextures are suggested by an artist in the paintingof different areas of a picture often in representingdrapery, metals,rocks, hair, etc. Words describing textures include: flat,smooth (third row, right), shiny, glossy,glittery, velvety, feathery,soft, wet, gooey, furry, sandy,leathery (second row, right), crackled (upper left), prickly,abrasive, rough (first row,right), furry, bumpy, corrugated(second row, left), puffy (second row, third), rusty(third row, second), and slimey (third row, third).
Examples of textures:
Examples of artworks in which textures are particularly important:
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), The Rhinoceros,
"Dürer produced this drawing and woodcut from reports of the arrival in Lisbon of an Indian rhinoceros in May of 1515. No rhinoceros had been seen in Europe for over 1000 years, so Dürer had to work solely from these reports. He covered the creature's legs with scales and the body with hard, patterned plates. Perhaps these features interpret lost sketches, or even the text, which states, '[The rhinoceros] has the color of a speckled tortoise and it is covered with thick scales'. So convincing was Dürer's fanciful creation that for the next 300 years European illustrators borrowed from his woodcut, even after they had seen living rhinoceroses without plates and scales." See nature and Northern Renaissance.
Other resources concerned withtexture:
Also see haptic,laid and wovepapers, marbling, moiré,nail, nuance,rugosity, tactile,and textile.
What's this texture on your monitor?! 
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T. - Abbreviation for tablespoon.
t. - Abbreviation for teaspoon.
tableau vivant - A scene presented by costumed actors who remain silent andmotionless on a stage, as if in a picture.
(pr. tah-BLOH vee-vah)
Also see genre, history painting, narrative art, and performance art.
tablespoon - A unit of measureof both liquid and dry quantities equal to half an ounce(US, fluid), or to three teaspoons.To convert tablespoons to cups, multiply them by 0.0625. AbbreviatedT.
tablet - A slab or plaque,as of stone or ivory, with a surfacethat is meant for or bears an inscription.
Example:
Mesopotamia, Assur, Neo-Assyrian period (714 BCE), Tablet of Sargon's 8th Campaign, baked clay, 37 x 24 cm, Louvre.
Also see panel.
tactile - Of or relating to the sense of touch.
Also see haptic and texture.
tactile defensiveness - Strong aversion to textures,material, or even human touch.In art, common aversions includeclay and paste.
Also see Individualized Education Program (IEP).
talent - An inherited or previously developed ability of significant qualityfor artistic or other achievement. One or more persons havingsuch ability. What most people consider inherited abilities are more likely the result of nurturing experiences.
Talent is a wonderful blessing.Just as such child prodigies as Mozart excelled in music at a very young age, there are children who seem to take to drawing with greater facility than others. It is difficult to know to what extent a child's ability is inborn or the result of early experiences and encouragement. Certainly early experiences can affect a person's motivation. These in turn affect a person's willingness to seek knowledge independently, and to be more receptive to instruction. Regardless of different individuals' abilities, instruction can have an enormous impact on increasing any person's success in art.
It is a painfully common mistake to expect talent accompanied by little effort to result in great success. Curiously, however, there are many examples of motivated people, whose talent and circumstances were unremarkable, who have succeeded as artists. This is most likely for people who receive systematic instruction.
A person who is sufficiently motivated can achieve success with self-instruction, but examples of such people are rare. There are tremendous advantages to becoming involved with people who share (as good instructors do) the kinds of specialized knowledge artists find useful. Self-taught artists sometimes achieve recognition when they get the attentions of art writers and exhibitors, but typically their work is so extremely personal or derivative, and its audience limited to friends and relatives, that it disappears after the artist's death.
Quotations:
- "I don't advise anyone to take it [painting] up as a business proposition, unless they really have talent . . . . But I will say that I have did remarkable for one of my years, and experience."
Anna Mary Robertson, called "Grandma Moses" (1860-1961), American self-taught painter. The New York Times, May 11, 1947. See folk art. - "It would be a mistake to ascribe this creative power to an inborn talent. In art, the genius creator is not just a gifted being, but a person who has succeeded in arranging for their appointed end, a complex of activities, of which the work is the outcome. The artist begins with a vision a creative operation requiring an effort. Creativity takes courage."
Henri Matisse (1869-1954), French modernist artist. See Modernism. - "Talent and all that are really for the most part just baloney. Any schoolboy with a little aptitude can perhaps draw better than I; but what he lacks in most cases is that tenacious desire to make it reality, that obstinate gnashing of teeth and saying, 'Although I know it can't be done, I want to do it anyway.'"
Maurits Cornelius Escher (1898-1972), Dutch graphic artist. See optical illusion and tesselation. - "I don't have a lot of respect for talent. Talent is genetic. It's what you do with it that counts."
Martin Ritt (1914-1990), American actor and motion picture director. - "Talent (or the lack of it) is not given in the nature of things, it is the product of social arrangements, which often have an institutional framework and long cultural history."
Hugh Mehan and H. Wood, American ethnologists specializing in educational research, The Reality of Ethnomethodology, New York, Wiley-Interscience, 1975. - "Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck but most of all, endurance."
James Baldwin (1924-1987), American writer and critic of racism, quoted by Jordan Elgrably in Paris Review.
Also see artcareers, art therapy,genius, heritage,inspiration, masterpiece,and virtuosity.
talisman - Something worn for its supposed magical benefit warding off evil (apotropaic)or attracting good luck, perhaps. The word is derived from theGreek word telesma, meaning "rite." Whether madeby or acquired by the wearer, talismans are said to be designedby experts in the various attributes of forms, colors and materials. They are typically medallions or pendants marked with cabalistic, medieval,or ancient signs, symbols, or texts.Some people understand that a talisman is an object that reminds a person to focus his own positive thinking in orderto amplify his virtues, and that it has no powers on its own.Others believe that it has its own energies, and that the wearer'sdesires magnify them in some way that increase the wearer's abilityto obtain a certain objective.
Examples:
Also see amulet,anthropomorphism, charm,ex voto, fetish,milagro, and shaman.
tamping - Consolidating a fibrous or granular materialsuch as resin-soaked glass fiber, concreteor damp sand by pressing orpacking it into shape in amold.
Tanagra - In ancientGreek art, a figurineof fired clay.Although these small-scalestatues were first made in Athensand were soon being fabricatedthrough out the Mediterranean world, they take their name fromTanagra, an ancient city in Boeotia, the region north of Attica,where great numbers were illicitly removed from tombs in the early1870s. Tanagra sculptorswere called coraplasters (in Greek, cora is a girl, plasteinmeans to sculpt), as they were particularly drawn to representingwomen. Nearly all of the earlier figurines represented deities.The majority of Tanagras portray fashionable women or girls elegantlywrapped in thin himatia, oftenwearing large sun hats, and holding wreaths or fans. While moststand gracefully, some are seated or playing games. A number ofboys are represented and Aphrodite and Eros appear as well. Manyof these figurines have been discovered in private dwellings.Like other figurines found in houses, they probably had a religiouspurpose and were placed in domestic shrines. They were also dedicatedin sanctuaries and placed in tombs. Up to a dozen statuettes werefound in some graves at Tanagra.
Examples:
Also see exvoto.
tan-e - In Japaneseart, a print witha dominant toneof orange-red.
Also see beni-e and nishiki-e.
T'ang or Tang - A Chinesedynasty that lasted 618-907 that was known for its prosperityalong with the vigor of its visual arts and literature. (Don'tmiss the poets Li Po and Tu Fu!)
Examples of works from the T'angdynasty:
tang - A projection castwith a metal figure or tool with which the cast can be attachedeither to a base or to a handle.The tang may have been cast as a runner.Not to be confused with T'ang.
tangent, tangential - A tangent is a line,curve, or surface,touching but not intersecting another line, curve, or surface.Or, something is tangent or tangential when it makes contact withsomething else at a single pointalong its edge, touching butnot intersecting its edge.
Also see align, angle, circle, ellipse, oval, and straight.
tanka - A Tibetan Buddhistpainting on fabric, usually portrayingthe Buddha or lamas. Also spelled thangka.
Examples:
Related link:
Burke Museum of Natural History, University of Washington, has a collection of tankas, many from the 20th century.
tapestry
tapping - Cutting a thread inside a drilled hole so itwill accept a screw or plug in which a corresponding thread hasbeen cut. Tapping is done with a tap drill. The processis used to fill pin holes in a bronzecast with fine bronzerod.
tarashikomi - In Japaneseart, a technique involving theuse of wet pigments.
tartan - A decoratively woven fabric of a plaid pattern (sometimes called a sett) which is associated with a community in Scotland a clan or family, a district, military, commercial, or other organization. There is a long history to a few of these associations, but only since the early 19th century did they become popularly synonymous with particular clans or families. Scotland has long been a major producer of wool. Local manufacturers produced cloth for local people, resulting in each district's acquiring a style eventually regarded as its own. When a clan dominated a region, whether in the highlands or the lowlands, a tartan became associated with the leading clan. From the Romantic period of the early 1800s, there has been tremendous interest in the study of tartans as they relate to Scottish traditions. Designs have proliferated in the last two hundred years, with families and organizations creating tartans that never had them before. Variants on older tartans have often been created because they are intended for use in specific circumstances, while hunting (earthier colors) or on formal occasions (brighter colors) for instance. New designs are often hybrids of old designs, lending the flavor of the district of their origin.
Examples:
Related links:
- Tartans of Scotland offers a complete Register of all Publicly Known Tartans online, which includes details and images of over 2800 tartans. Use its search engine to research the tartans of the clans of Scotland.
See costume and Scottish art.
taste - A personal preference or liking. And, the capacityto tell what is aestheticallyexcellent or appropriate. Sometimes, the sense of what is proper,or least likely to give offense.
Quotes:
- "There is no disputing about taste." ("De gustibus non est disputandum.")
Anonymous, Latin proverb. - "The French have taste in all they do, / Which we are quite without; / For Nature, which to them gave goût / To us gave only gout."
Anonymous English poet. [Goût is the French equivalent for taste.] - "Absolute catholicity of taste is not without its dangers. It is only an auctioneer who should admire all schools of art."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. Pall Mall Gazette (London, February 8, 1886). - "A man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. - "Taste is the death of a painter."
Walter Sickert (1860-1942), English painter. A Free House! - "When people have taste, they may have faults, follies, they may err, they may be as human and honest as they please, but they will never cause a scandal!"
Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950) American interior decorator. Quoted by Ruth Franklin in "A Life in Good Taste," The New Yorker, September 27, 2004, p. 142. - "Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quote (Anderson, S.C., March 24, 1957). - The Russian emigrant conceptual artist team Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid are responsible for the projects they titled "The Most Wanted paintings" and "The Least Wanted paintings", reflect the artists' interpretation of a professional market research survey about aesthetic preferences and taste in painting. Intending to discover what a true "people's art" would look like, the artists, with the support of the Nation Institute, hired Marttila & Kiley, Inc. to conduct the first poll. In 1994, they began the process which resulted in America's Most Wanted and America's Least Wanted paintings, which were first exhibited under the title "People's Choice." See conceptual art.
Also see aesthetics,bad art, banausic,brummagem, camp,chinoiserie, collection,deaccession, decoration,decorative,decorativearts, discrimination,Gemütlichkeit, gewgaw,hooptedoodle, kitsch,ornament, and popularculture.
tattoo
tautology - Redundancy; needless repetition of the same meaning in what are merely differentwords.
(pr. taw-TAH-l-jee)
tawny - Dark or dullyellowish brown.
Also see earth colors and neutral.
taxidermy - The craft or processof preparing, stuffing, and mountingthe skins and other exterior parts of dead animals for exhibitionin a lifelike state. A person who practices this craft is a taxidermist.
Anything entirely natural is generally regarded as otherthan what we call art.There is no subject, however,more frequently chosen by artiststhan nature, excepting the human figure itself a work of nature. There have been some examples of humanremains placed on display. Excepting acts of extreme cruelty andwar [often the same thing], parts of deceased humans are mostlikely to be exhibited forreasons of science or becausethey're prized as carnival oddities rather than for reasons ofart. Taxidermy, therefor,
Also see gyotaku, ivory, leather and fur, photorealism, tortoiseshell,and trompe l'oeil.
taxis - Greek for "arrangement,order." A rare term forthe orderly division of a subjectinto its various components or attributes."Eutaxic," also a rare term, means well arranged orwell ordered. "Eutaxia" then, is good arrangement.
Quote:
- "Icons stare out with sometimes disconcerting intimacy, questioning our certitude about their incarnation. Their formality what we can see as proto-modern is an expression of taxis: the Byzantine belief that 'It was possible for human beings,' as the [art] historian Peter Brown has put it, 'to create little pools of order in this world which would bring to earth a touch of the true, inviolable 'glory' of heaven.'" Michael Kimmelman, "Decay and Glory: Back to Byzantium," New York Times, March 26, 2004, section B, p. 39. See Peter Brown's essay in the art exhibition catalogue, The Glory of Byzantium, for the 1997 Metropolitan Museum of Art show of the same name.
Also see arthistory, Byzantineart, composition,expression, fengshui, icon, iconography,metonymy, modern,and taxonomy.
taxonomy - Division into orderedgroups or categories. Of particular use to educators is Bloom'sTaxonomy, a hierarchical list of thinking skills. The sixlevels of Bloom's taxonomy should be used in stating objectivesof lessons and in devising questions which stimulate thinkingat each level.
Also see taxis and thematic.
tchotchke - Showy but valueless. Rapidly trifling. One ofthe many words in English for "miscellaneous objects"or "nondescript junk," which also includes knickknack,trinket, doodad, whatnot, and gewgawTchotchke originated from the Yiddish tshatshke, andultimately from a now-obsolete Polish word czaczko.
(pr. CHAHCH-k or CHAHCH-kee)
Examples:
Also see badart, bibelot, bric-a-brac,brummagem, camp,collectible, confection,decoration, decorative, decorativearts, hooptedoodle, kitsch, ornament,and taste.
teacher
tear sheet - A page torn from a magazine or some other publication printed on paper. As such, it might also be a found image, found material, or found object. Art students typically collect tear sheets for images of exemplars, or for images from or with which to work in art production for components of collage, for example. Perhaps a graphic designer would speak of a tear sheet as a page bearing a graphic design which is seen in isolation from the publication for which it was intended. (If you have witnessed this, please describe your experience to this art lexicographer. - MRD)
See ephemera, reproduction, and visual culture.
teaspoon - A unit of measureof both liquid and dry quantities that is equal to a third ofa tablespoon. To convert teaspoonsto ounces (US, fluid), multiplyby 0.16667. Abbreviated t. or tsp.
technique - Any method of working with art materialsto produce an art object. Oftenimplied is the sense that techniques are carefully studied, exacting,or traditional, but this is not necessarily the case.
Examples include basketry, blotting, carving, constructing, découpage, embossing, encaustic, exquisite corpse, firing, folding, hatching, kerning, laminating, marbling, modeling, necking.
Quote:
- "The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it. The more technique there is, the less there is."
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quoted in: Hélène Parmelin, Picasso Plain, chapter 4 (published in France, 1959; reprinted in 1963). - I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order to learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso
- "Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there."
E. H. Gombrich (1909-), British art critic and art historian. See craftsmanship, illusion and technique. - "Art is techniques (e.g. watercolor). Techniques are so mystical: if I wanted to understand an electric motor I would go to a fortune-teller."
Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), Swiss painter and kinetic sculptor, in National-Zeitung, Basle, October 13, 1967. - "Progressive ideas are just a machine for ruining art. I believe in the old idea of technique. I believe you need it if you're going to have magic and genius and masterpieces. No one would question the value of technique in any other field. No one would say that a tennis player would be better if only he could stop hitting the ball."
John Currin (contemporary), American painter. Quoted by Deborah Solomon in "Mr. Bodacious: John Currin paints outrageous pictures of women and an even more outrageous portrait of art history, the art world and himself," New York Times Magazine, November 16, 2003, p. 46. See genius and masterpiece.
Also see additive,daho, feather,infrared reflectography (IR),manipulate, medium,openwork, process, and subtractive.
technology - The use of science, especially to achieveindustrial, commercial, or engineering, as well as artistic results;or the particular scientific method and materialused to achieve those results. "Technology" often refersto the essential qualitiesof a person's or society's tools,machines, or other apparatus used to achieve a mechanical end.In discussing art, technology might refer to complex machinesused in the creation, exhibition,conservation, or study ofart, such as potter'swheels, presses, cameras,projectors, computers, lasers,and video equipment.
Works in which technology is particularlyimportant:
About technology:
- "When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."
John Ruskin (1819-1900), British writer, art critic. Modern Painters (5 volumes, 1843-1860, epilogue, 1888). See art critic, love, and masterpiece. - "If today's arts love the machine, technology and organization, if they aspire to precision and reject anything vague and dreamy, this implies an instinctive repudiation of Chaos and a longing to find the form appropriate to our times."
Oskar Schlemmer (1888-1943), German artist. His diary, April 1926. See chaos, order, and zeitgeist.
Also see design,digital imaging, Futurism, hygrothermograph,interdisciplinary, newmedia, pointing machine,Rube Goldberg, scanner,science and art, video,video digitizer, videodisc,and World Wide Web (WWW).
teleidoscope - A type of a kaleidoscope,a teleidoscope is a cylindricaloptical instrument that isrotated so that when a person looks into it, the viewer sees asuccession of radial designsproduced by a carefully arranged set of mirrorsreflecting constantly changing patternsmade by mirrored images of a triangular section of whatever canbee seen through the other end of the instrument. The word teleidoscopeis a hybrid of the words "telescope" and "kaleidoscope" a kaleidoscope that turns whatever you point it toward intoa radial pattern. Other kaleidoscopes multiply a viewof small translucent objects (often bits of colored glass such as millefiori) in a chamberat one end of the cylinder. The first kaleidoscope was inventedby David Brewster (Scottish, 1781-1868) in 1816.
Examples:
Related links:
- La Casita de Kaleidoscopes is Pat Asay's gallery in Albuquerque, NM, representing many producers of teleidoscopes. La Casita has posted photos of many of their scopes, along with videos of several.
- Kaleidoscopes To You has many teleidoscopes for sale too.
Also see fish-eyelens, lens, mandala,projection, slide,and wide-angle lens.
teleology - The philosophical study of designor purpose in naturalphenomena. The use of ultimatepurpose or design as a means of explaining natural phenomena.Purposeful development, as in nature or history, toward a finalend.
Also see empiricism, epistemology, interdisciplinary, metaphysics, ontology, and phenomenology.
telephoto, telephoto lens, telephoto shot - A telephotolens is a camera lens system integrating a telescope. Its focallength is significantly greater than the focal length of anormal lens. For a 35 mm camera with a 24 by 36 mm format, a normallens is 50 mm; a lens of focal length 70 mm or more is consideredtelephoto. Its view has or covers a fieldof vision (an angle ofview) narrower (or "longer") than the normal lens, toany angle less than 35°. A zoomlens is in telephoto position when zoomed in, and wide-anglewhen zoomed out.
Telephoto is a photographicsystem using telephoto lenses to narrow a fieldof vision, producing a large photographic imageof distant subjects, makingthe them appear to be nearer than they really are; or photography in which a telephoto lensis used.
The opposite of a telephoto lensis a wide-angle lens, and theopposite of a telephoto shot is a wide-angleshot.
Example:
Also see blowup,bump up, cinema,cinematography, close-up,detail, and enlarge.
telescope, telescopic lens - A telescope is an optical device for viewing directlyor photographically distantsubjects by making them looklarger and nearer. A telescope is usually cylindrical,gathering visiblelight by means of the refraction througha combination of lenses. Thesemight include the reflectionof light rays by a concavemirror. A telescopic lens system attachedto a camera is usuallycalled a telephoto lens.
Also see viewfinder.
temper - To bring to a desired consistency, texture,hardness, or other physicalcondition by or as if by blending, admixing, or kneading. Also,to harden or strengthen metalor glass by the application of heat,or by heating and cooling. Temper may also be used as a synonymfor temper.
Also see temperature.
tempera
temperament - See artistictemperament and bias.
temperature - The intensity of heat as measuredin degrees Fahrenheit or degrees Centigrade,also known as Celsius. (Chart for temperature conversionsbetween Fahrenheit and Centigrade)
The regulation of the temperatureof environments where artworksare made, exhibited, and stored is important in theirconservation. Temperatureis significant because it affects relativehumidity. When moist air is heated, the relative humiditydecreases; when it is cooled, the relative humidity increases.Temperature is also important because deterioration progressesmuch more quickly at higher temperatures than at lower ones. Exposureto heat can drastically accelerate the aging of organicmaterials and of many modernsynthetics.
Controlling the temperature ofvarious materials is importantin the techniques used to manipulatethem.
Temperatures of particular importance:
- platinum melts at 1772° C.
- iron melts at 1535° C.
- nickel melts at 1453° C.
- manganese melts at 1244° C.
- copper melts at 1083° C.
- gold melts at 1063° C.
- silver melts at 960.8° C.
- zinc melts at 419.4° C.
- lead melts at 327.5° C.
- tin melts at 231.89° C.
- water boils at 212° F., 100° C.
- normal body temperature for humans is 98.6° F., 37° C.
- freezing point of water is 32° F., 0° C.
The temperatures of colors areoften described as warm (purples, reds, oranges, andyellows), neutral(violets and greens), andcool (blue-greensand blues). The colortemperature of light sources is usuallymeasured in units kelvin (K).
About a thermometer:
A nurse with a thermometer behind her ear says, "Wait till I find the asshole who's got my pencil."
Also see alloy, climate control, flammable, hot glue, hot glue gun, hygrothermograph, lost-wax casting, measurement, metal, pyrometric cones (firing ceramics), science and art, and temperature conversions between Fahrenheit and Centigrade.
temperature key - The relative level of a color'stemperature, whether referencing anindividual color, or a color schemeseen either in an artwork's entirety or in a passagewithin one. The warmer the color, the higher the temperature key;the cooler the colors, the lower the temperature key.
Also see chroma key, contrast key, cool colors, tonal key, warm colors, and value key.
template - A patternused as a guide in making a form with accuracy, as when using a stencil.
Examples:
Also see compass rose, die, French curve and tracing.
temporal art - See performanceart.
TenAmerican Painters orThe American Ten or The Ten
tendentious - Marked by a strongly implied pointof view. Also spelled tendencious.
Also see allegory, narrative art, and propaganda.
tenebroso ortenebrism
Also see boss, convex, finial, join, and pendant.
tenon saw - A saw with a short, rectangularblade which is supported along the side opposite the cutting edge by a narrow metalgrip. It is used for cutting with accuracy through small sectionsof wood.
tensile strength - The capability of a materialto withstand the stress imposedupon it when it is stretched or extended. Rubber, nylon, and steel are materials noted for their varied capacities for tensile strength.
Also see ductile.
tension - A tenuous balancemaintained in an object betweenopposing formal or allegoricalforces or elements often causing anxiety (from dissonance to angst to pain) or excitement (from the simply interesting to the utterly sublime). It embodies what is sometimes called edginess or frisson; and bears comparison to unity, harmony, and variety.
Tension might be considered one of the principles of design.
Quote:
- "Life itself consists of phases in which the organism falls out of step with the march of surrounding things and then recovers unison with it. . . . [But] if life continues, and if in continuing it expands, there is an overcoming of factors of opposition and conflict; there is a transformation of them into differentiated aspects of a higher powered and more significant life. The marvel of organic, of vital, adaptation through expansion . . . actually takes place. Here in germ are balance and harmony attained through rhythm. Equilibrium comes about not mechanically and inertly, but out of, and because of, tension. . . . Form is arrived at whenever a stable, even though moving, equilibrium is reached."
John Dewey (1859-1952), American philosopher and educator. Art as Experience, 1934. Republished by Capricorn Books, NY, 1958, p. 14. - "It is weight that gives meaning to weightlessness . . . I realised that lightness added to lightness does not add tension but diminishes it."
Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), American sculptor, in Sculptor's World.
Alsosee grotesque, incongruity, juxtaposition, rhythm, transformation, and weight.
terminal - In computer terminology, a device, often equippedwith a keyboard and a monitor,through which information or data can enter or leave a computersystem.
terra - In painting, earthfrom which pigment can bemade, as in terra vert.
terracotta or terracottaor terra-cotta
terra cruda - In contrast to terracotta, unfired clay.The difference is also this: a piece of terra cruda is more brittle,more easily crumbled, and can dissolve into mud if exposed towater, while a piece of terra cotta is harder to break, and willnever again dissolve into mud. Works in terra cruda are more acceptable than in terra cotta when they are expected to be impermanent (temporary), or if they were produced by very young children for whom permanency is likely to be unimportant, or if firing the clay is too likely to cause it to break up.
Adobe bricks can be either baked or not baked.
Examples:
Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879), François-Pierre-Guillaume Guizot, 1831, terra cruda bust painted with oil, 22 x 17 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. See caricature and French art.
terra sigillata - Also called Samian pottery,terra sigillata is a Mediterranean ceramicware decorated with relief figures,first produced about 300 BCE,having evolved from the Etruscan'sblack pottery called bucchero ware. "Terra sigillata"is Latin, literally meaning "stamped earth." It wasfired in an oxidizingatmosphere. The finest examples of terra sigillata, known as Arretineware, were made at what is now the Italian town of Arezzo.
Examples:
Roman England?, Colchester Vase, 2nd-3rd century CE, terra sigillata vase, Colchester, Museum.
tertiary colors - See intermediatecolors.
tesselate - To form into a mosaic pattern, as by using small polygonsof stone or glass.
Also see smalto, tesselation, tessera, and tile.
tesselation
tessera - A small piece of glazedclay used in mosaics.The plural is tesserae.
Also see smalto.
tetrahedron - A polyhedronwith four two-dimensionalfaces, six edges,and six vertices. It is thesimplest of all polyhedrons, and is a type of pyramid. The sides of a right tetrahedron
Also see mathematics, polygon, and vertex.
text
textile
texture - An element of art, texture is the surfacequality or "feel"of an object, its smoothness,roughness, softness, etc. Textures may be actual or simulated.Actual textures can be felt with the fingers, while simulatedtextures are suggested by an artist in the paintingof different areas of a picture often in representingdrapery, metals,rocks, hair, etc. Words describing textures include: flat,smooth (third row, right), shiny, glossy,glittery, velvety, feathery,soft, wet, gooey, furry, sandy,leathery (second row, right), crackled (upper left), prickly,abrasive, rough (first row,right), furry, bumpy, corrugated(second row, left), puffy (second row, third), rusty(third row, second), and slimey (third row, third).
Examples of textures:
Examples of artworks in which textures are particularly important:
Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), The Rhinoceros,
"Dürer produced this drawing and woodcut from reports of the arrival in Lisbon of an Indian rhinoceros in May of 1515. No rhinoceros had been seen in Europe for over 1000 years, so Dürer had to work solely from these reports. He covered the creature's legs with scales and the body with hard, patterned plates. Perhaps these features interpret lost sketches, or even the text, which states, '[The rhinoceros] has the color of a speckled tortoise and it is covered with thick scales'. So convincing was Dürer's fanciful creation that for the next 300 years European illustrators borrowed from his woodcut, even after they had seen living rhinoceroses without plates and scales." See nature and Northern Renaissance.
Other resources concerned withtexture:
Also see haptic,laid and wovepapers, marbling, moiré,nail, nuance,rugosity, tactile,and textile.
What's this texture on your monitor?! Copyright© 1996-
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