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NOTE: Italicized words may be either
terms defined elsewhere in ArtPage or titles of works.
ugly - Unsightly; displeasing
to the eye; repulsive or offensive; hideous; objectionable. Bad. The opposite
of beautiful. About ugly:
Other resources concerned with ugliness:
Also see aesthetics, bad art, grotesque, mediocre, and vulgar.
uki-e - In Japanese tradition, a perspective picture.
ukiyo-e - In Japanese tradition, genre paintings and prints, especially those of the Edo period. Some related sites:
ultramarine - Blue pigment originally made from ground lapis
lazuli. French ultramarine is an artificial substitute.
unconscious - Not having awareness or sensory perception. Occurring in the absence of conscious awareness or thought. Without conscious control; involuntary or unintended. In psychoanalytic theory, the portion of the mind which holds such things as memories and repressed desires, that are not subject to conscious perception or control but that often affect conscious thoughts and behavior. The unconscious is an important issue to artists influenced by surrealism. Also see attention, naive, and memory.
undecagon - A closed two-dimensional polygon bounded by eleven line segments. The formula with which to find an equilateral undecagon's area is 9.3656 times the length of one side squared. Also see radial and vertex.
undercut - Carving to create an overhang; a recess or awkward angle in the surface or form of a three-dimensional object which would prevent easy removal of a cast from a mold. Molds should be designed to eliminate this problem. Ways to cast objects with overhangs include using piece molds and waste molds.
underdrawing - Drawing
preliminary to other 
work,
and incorporated into it, thus deprived of independent artistic value. An
example is the underdrawing in fresco and panel painting,
such as sinopia and abbozzo. Another example:
underpainting - The layer or layers of color on a painting
surface applied before the overpainting, or final coat.
There are many types of underpainting. One type is an all-over tinting
of a white ground. Another is a blocked out image in diluted
oil colors that serves as a guide for the painter while developing
the composition and color effects. Also see abbozzo, sinopia,
grisaille.
unique - One of a kind, an original.
unity - The quality of wholeness or oneness that is achieved through the effective use of the elements and principles of art. Often it is realized through a deliberate or intuitive balancing of harmony and variety. However, this balance does not have to be of equal proportions. Harmony might outweigh variety, or variety might outweigh harmony. Harmony aids efforts to blend picture parts together to form a whole. Variety adds visual interest to this unified whole.
unpack - In art criticism, the act of revealing hidden layers of meaning, as if removing the contents of a suitcase. A synonym for analyze or deconstruct. See deconstruction.
upholster, upholsterer,
and upholstery - In making furniture, to upholster is
to attach stuffing, springs, cushions, and covering fabric-- these materials
often referred to as upholstery. A person who applies this craft or trade
is an upholsterer. Examples of upholstered furniture:
27 inches (68.6
cm), Frick Collection, NY.
Resources concerning upholstery:
uppercase - In typography, capital letters, which gained this alternative name from the standard location in which typesetters stored them. Though visually powerful, whole words set in uppercase letters should be used sparingly. They are difficult to read, and may even suggest shouting. Also see lowercase.
URL - Uniform Resource Locator. A standard addressing scheme used to locate or reference files on the Internet. Used in World Wide Web documents to locate other files. A URL gives the type of resource (scheme) being accessed (e.g., gopher, ftp, etc.) and the path to the file. The syntax used is: scheme://host.domain[:port]/path/filename. The URL for ArtPage is <https://inform.quest/_art>
urushi-e - In Japanese tradition, a print with coloring thickened and made glossy with glue.
ushabtis - Ancient Egyptian
funerary figurines or statuettes, sometimes made of wood,
stone, ceramic, and metal. An important 
component of
the burial assemblage from the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemaic period (c
2000 - 200 BC), ushabtis took over the role of the servant models, and acted
as substitutes for the deceased himself. They range in form from miniature
versions of the standard coffins of the Middle Kingdom and early New Kingdom
(each containing a single shabti) to shrine-shaped boxes holding from two
to several hundred specimens. Some ushabtis have been found in extra-sepulchral
contexts: pieces buried as votive offerings or as a medium for deceased's
presence at places of special sanctity (notably the holy city of Abydos).
Ushabtis are also known as shabtis and shawabtis. Examples:
vacuum forming - A method of shaping plastic sheet over a solid relief pattern. The plastic is heated until it is pliable, and when a vacuum is created under the form, the plastic is drawn down onto the pattern like a skin.
value scale - A series of spaces filled with the tints and shades of one color, starting with white or the lightest tint on one end, and gradually changing into the darkest shade or black on the other. An example of a value scale can be seen in the article on value.
vanishing point - In linear perspective, the place on the horizon where parallel lines seem to meet. Internet resources concerned with vanishing point:
Also see point.
vanitas - Latin for vanity, refers to a type of still-life consisting of a collection of objects that symbolize the brevity of human life and the transience of earthly pleasures and achievements. Such paintings were particularly popularly popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in the Netherlands. Examples:
variety - A principle of art that refers to a way of combining
art elements in involved ways to achieve intricate and complex relationships.
Variety is often obtained through the use of diversity and change
by artists who wish to increase the visual interest of their work. An artwork
which makes use of many different hues, values, lines,
textures, and shapes would reflect the artist's desire for
variety. Also see harmony, interesting, and unity.
varnish - A protective transparent finish applied in a liquid
state to a surface. One example is glair-- a varnish for tempera
paints. Also see acrylic, oil, medium, pigment,
polymer, polyurethane, and shellac.
vault - An arched roof or covering of masonry construction--
made of brick, stone, or concrete. A barrel (or tunnel)
vault is semi-cylindrical in cross-section, made up
of a continuous row of arches joined to one another. A groin or
cross vault consists of two barrel vaults intersecting each other at
right angles. In a cross-barrel vault, the main barrel (tunnel) vault
is intersected at right angles with other barrel (tunnel) vaults at regular
intervals. A dome is a hemispherical vault. A quadrant vault
is a half-barrel (tunnel) vault. In a ribbed vault, there 
is a framework of
ribs or arches under the intersections of the vaulting sections. An example:
A sexpartite vault is a ribbed vault with six panels. A fan vault is a development of lierne vaulting characteristic English Perpendicular Gothic, in which radiating ribs form a fan-like pattern. Also see centering.
vector graphic - A digital image encoded as formulas that represent lines and curves.
vehicle - Something that moves
things around. In the visual arts, usually the liquid, usually water or
oil, that is mixed with pigments to make paints, dyes,
and inks.
Here's a painting that turns a motor vehicle into a metaphor for
art itself:
Also see binder.
vellum - Fine parchment, originally calf-skin, used traditionally for manuscript.
veneer - The thin slice of
a material-- often of a rare and expensive material-- applied, generally
with an adhesive, but also (and sometimes only) with pins, to a surface
of a humbler material. Ebony, rosewood, tulipwood and other exotic woods
are more often used as veneers in furniture-making than they are used in
a solid form. Most wood veneer is sliced rather than sawn, and taken from
a log in a continuously spiraling (voluting) cut, and then
flattened. Because of concern that such veneer may be more likely to curl
away from its placement, some feel that flatly sawn veneer is preferable.
Sawn veneer however, because the saw destroys as much wood as the veneer
it produces, is much more expensive. Brass, copper, ivory,
mother-of-pearl, pewter, and tortoiseshell can also
be used and are often combined with such woods. Semi-precious stones
such as lapis lazuli and malachite (also used for inlay) are
sometimes employed as a veneer, as are the more showy types of calcite alabaster.
Veneering is more easily achieved on a flat surface, but thin slices
of wood can be bent, for example into the hollow of a molding. Stone
cannot be bent, so its veneering on curved or complex forms is particularly
difficult. Also see cladding, intarsia, laminate, marquetry,
mosaic, and parquet.
Venice turpentine - Canada balsam, an oily resin or balsam obtained from conifers. Also see turpentine.
verisimilitude - Appearing to be true or real. See likeness, realism, representation, and simulacrum.
vermicular - Shaped or moving like a vermicule, which is a worm; worm-like.
vermiculite - A product commonly used by gardeners, who mix it into soil in order to aerate the soil. Vermiculite is sometimes mixed into plaster as an aggregate to make plaster easier to carve, and to give it a pleasing texture. An alternative softening aggregate, also found in garden supply stores, is a white product called perlite.
vernacular - The standard native language of an area. May also refer to architecture, furniture, or some other art or craft of a region, culture, or period. Vernacular architecture and furniture is made in local rather than cosmopolitan traditions of design and construction, reflecting the needs of ordinary people's lives. Also see folk art.
vernissage - The French term for opening-- an event marking the start of an exhibition. This word has been used with increasing frequency in the United States in the 1990s. An example: The International Art and Antique Fair in West Palm Beach, FL, in February, 1999.
vertex - The highest point; the apex or summit. The point at which the sides of an angle intersect. The point on a triangle or pyramid opposite to and farthest away from its base. A point on a polyhedron common to three or more sides. The plural form can be either vertexes or vertices. Also see polygon.
vertical - Going straight up and down; the opposite of horizontal. A vertical sculpture is taller than it is wide. Portraits are conventionally vertical in their orientation, while landscapes are most often horizontal. Any orientation neither vertical nor horizontal is diagonal. Also see direction.
Very Special Arts - The former name of VSA arts.
video digitizer - An image-capture device that employs a digital camera attached to a circuit board in a computer which converts the video signal into a digital file. Also called a frame-grabber.
videodisc - An optical disk storage medium for images, still or moving. It is sometimes called laser viseodisc, and can store 108,000 still images per disc. Here's a link to descriptions of several videodiscs on which are recorded thousands of images of artworks in the collections of the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and the National Gallery in Washington, DC.
viewer - A person who views; an onlooker or spectator. Sometimes used as a synonym for audience. Also, any of many possible optical devices used in viewing something, especially photographic transparencies by illuminating and magnifying them. Also see patron.
viewfinder - A small window cut in a piece of paper or card, that shows what will be in a picture's composition.
viewing stones - See suiseki.
vignette - A decorative design placed at breaks in an article, at the beginning or end of a book or chapter of a book, or along the border of a page. Sometimes, an unbordered picture, often a portrait the edges of which fade off or blur into the color of its surrounding area. Also see baby spot, spot, and thumbnail.
virtual - Existing not in actual fact or form, but in essence or effect in the mind, especially as a product of the imagination or of illusion. Also see virtual museum and virtual reality.
virtual museum - [working on a definition]
Other resources concerning virtual museum:
Also see museum and virtual.
virtual reality - An interactive
computerized simulation or synthesis of an experience in several
senses. Other resources about virtual reality:
Also see realism and virtual.
virtuosity - The seemingly effortless skill or style employed by a virtuoso, or master.
viscosity - The relative resistence of a liquid to stirring or movement, and its stickiness. Also see consistency.
Vishnu - In Hindu belief, one of the principle deities, worshiped as the protector and preserver of worlds. Vishnu is often conceived as a member of the triad including Brahma and Shiva. Also see Ramayana.
visualize - To see or form a mental picture of something.
visual qualities - The careful organization of the elements and principles of design in a work of art. This aesthetic quality is favored by formalism.
vitrify - To change materials into glass or a glass-like substance through heat fusion. This is the action of a kiln heating ceramic clay and glazes, for instance. A curious example: lightning striking a metal rod partly buried in sand will cause all the sand within a certain distance from the rod to vitrify. Also see ceramics, firing and glass.
void - Containing no matter, empty, negative space.
volatile - Rapidly evaporating (as are many solvents). Or, tending to vary often or widely; inconstant. Or, capable of quickly becoming violent. (pr. vah"leh-tl')
volume - Refers to the space within a form. Thus, in architecture, volume refers to the space within a building.
volunteers - Museums depend on lots of people to donate their time to perform many jobs in the museum-- docents for instance.
volute - A spiral or
twisted formation or object; a flat or nearly flat scrolled or whorled
spiral, as opposed to a helical one. In architecture, a spiral
ornament found especially in capitals of the Ionic, Corinthian and
composite
orders. (pr. ve-loot') Examples of the use of this form:
Museum, Malibu,
CA. This capital was photographed no longer placed upon its column.
pediment and volute, 1571-1577, Rome, Italy.
NY.
Also see Fibonacci Sequence, fractal, Golden Mean, movement, proportion, and ratio.
votive - Describes an object
which expresses or symbolizes a wish, prayer, or vow. Votive
pictures and sculptures, for instance, are intended to inspire
devotion to a saint or deity, or are used in an act of religious worship,
reverence, or supplication. It may also refer, for example, to certain candles,
prayer cards, or offerings. An example:
Also see ex voto, icon, milagro, and santos.
voussoirs - The wedge-shaped stones which form the curved portions of an arch or a vaulted ceiling. (pr. voo-swahr') Also see keystone.
VSA arts - An international organization that creates learning opportunities through the arts for people with disabilities. Founded in 1974, it's associated with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, USA. This organization offers arts-based programs in creative writing, dance, drama, music and the visual arts. Many of these programs are implemented by an affiliate network that's active throughout the world. VSA arts' programs serve 2.2 million Americans and 1.3 million people in other parts of the world.
vulgar - Boorish; lacking in
taste or refinement; lacking good breeding. Crudely indecent, as
are off-color jokes (now potential grounds for claims of sexual harrassment.)
Also, self-display or expenditure that is offensively excessive; ostentatious.
An older meaning is: common; having qualities of or coming from the great
masses of people. Another older sense of vulgar which is still referred
to is in reference to the vernacular-- the language spoken by the common
people-- rather than the language of the most sophisticated speakers. Also
see bad art, kitsch, obscenity, p.c., pornography,
and ugly.
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Delahunt