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NOTE: Italicized words may be either terms defined elsewhere in ArtPage or titles of works.

wabi-sabi - The quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete, of things modest and humble, and of things unconventional. Peripherally associated with Zen Buddhism, wabi-sabi values characteristics which are rustic, earthy, and unpretentious, involving natural materials which are used neither representationally nor symbolically. An example of an object embodying wabi-sabi:

> Japan, Kamakura period, 13th-14th century, Storage Jar, Tokoname ware, stoneware with ash glaze, 15 1/2 x 18 3/4 inches (diameter) (39.4 x 47.6 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Other resources about wabi-sabi:

 

wall arcade - In architecture, an arcade having no actual openings, applied as decoration to a wall surface. Also called a blind arcade.

wallpaper - Paper often colored and printed with designs and adhered to a wall as a decorative covering. The Chinese were making it by 1300, but in the West, wallpapers were probably first produced in the fifteenth century. The earliest ones, in England, Belgium, Poland, and Switzerland, were made up of small sheets, applied one by one to walls or ceilings, and imitated wood grain, woodcarving or intarsia. Others, like flock paper, were substitutes for textiles. Later, and today, most wallpapers are produced in long rolls. The French contributed most to the development of wallpaper, the rising bourgeouisie of the eighteenth century preferring it to textiles. Artists who have produced wallpaper designs include Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528, see Northern Renaissance), William Morris (English, 1834-1896, see Arts and Crafts Movement), and Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953, see Fauvism). The term may also be used as a verb-- to cover with or as if with wallpaper.
Other resources about wallpaper:

Also see pattern, tesselation.

ware - A collective term for pottery and ceramic objects.

warm colors - Colors often associated with fire and sun, which suggest warmth. These are colors which contain red and yellow and appear on one side of the colorwheel opposite the cool colors. Also see earth colors.

warp - In weaving, the vertical threads attached to the top and bottom of a loom, through which the weft is woven. Also see textile.

wash - A thin, translucent layer of pigment, usually watercolor or India ink. Often it is the background of a picture, prepared using watery paint applied quickly using large, sweeping brush strokes. Examples of the use of wash:


washer - A flat metal or rubber disk placed beneath a bolt head or nut which helps to secure the bolt and distribute its pressure, lessen friction, or prevent leakage.

waste mold - This term is used in two contradictory ways. In its most common use: a piece mold made from a model (usually of clay or wax) when the model must be broken apart (wasted) in removing it from the mold. The other use: a mold from which only one cast can be taken, because the mold must be broken apart and discarded in order to release the cast. This is how lost-wax casting is accomplished, for instance. The use of this term is highly problematic then, unless the user immediately explains the meaning intended. Also see release agent.

watercolor

water gilding - The application of gold leaf to a surface of gesso (or whiting) which may have been coated with bole, and this covered with a water and glue. The gold is then burnished. This is a better technique than oil (mordant) gilding, when the surface is a gessoed one, although it is more difficult. Also see fire gilding, gilt, glair, and mercury gilding.

watermark - In the making of paper, a translucent design impressed on it when still moist by a metal pattern, and visible when the paper is held before light. In digital imaging, bits altered within an image to create a pattern which indicates proof of ownership; so that unauthorized use of a watermarked image can then be traced.

waterproof - Typically refers to colors or other materials which will not decay or distort with exposure to water. The most common waterproof materials are various rubbers, plastics, and sealing agents. Also see fugitive colors, permanent colors, lightfast, and water-soluble.

waterscape - A painting of or including a body of water. It might otherwise be called a marine picture, a seascape, or a riverscape, etc.

water-soluble - Soluble in water; capable of being dissolved in water, especially if a wetting agent is added, like detergents and soaps. Also see aqueous, watercolor, and waterproof.

wavelength - The distance between one peak or crest of a wave of light, heat, or other energy and the next corresponding peak or crest. In that light has qualities of waves, the various colors of the visible spectrum differ in the length of their waves.

wax - Any of various natural, oily or greasy heat-sensitive substances, the most common being beeswax. These consist of hydrocarbons or esters of fatty acids that are insoluble in water but soluble in most organic solvents. May also refer to a solid, plastic or liquid substance, such as ozocerite or paraffin, a petroleum byproduct, used in coating papers, in crayons, and other products. Both natural and synthetic waxes are used in painting as a binder, and as an important ingredient in candles and polishes. They are also important materials used for casting and modeling, generally over an armature. An example of a work of this last type:

Also see batik, imagines, lost-wax, resin, and stearin.

waxwork - Modeling in wax. Or a figure made of wax, especially a life-size wax effigy of a famous person. Also, the plural form, used with either a singular or plural verb, refers to an exhibition of wax figures in a museum.

weaving - The interlacing of yarn or thread to make cloth. Other resources about weaving:

Also see costume, fabric, fiber, tapestry, textile,warp, and weft.

Web - See World Wide Web (WWW).

webbed - In sculpture, the retention of a supporting membrane of material between fingers or other thin extremities, especially in stone sculpture. Also see marble.

web press - In printing, a rotary press that prints on a long roll of paper.

wedge - A piece of material, such as wood or metal, tapered at one edge and thick at the opposite end, used for tightening, securing, levering, or splitting, as when driven into wood along its grain, or when driven into the interlocking corners of wooden stretchers to produce tension on canvas support. These last are also called keys.

wedging - A technique in which clay is thoroughly kneaded and cut before use in modeling or pottery, to make it plastic and remove air pockets.

weft - The threads or strands of yarn that are woven over and under the warp threads to make a weaving. A less commonly used equivalent term is woof. Also see textile.

weight - See gram, kilogram, measurement, pound, ounce, stone, and ton.

weight shift - See contrapposto.

welding - The process of joining metals by fusing them together under direct, intense heat. A commonly used source of heat for welding is an oxyacetylene torch. A metal rod may be applied to the joint which melts into any gaps and strengthens the bond.

Weltanschauung - See world-view. (pr. velt"on-shou'eng)

Western Jin Dynasty - A Chinese dynasty from AD 265 - 316. An example of work from the Western Jin Dynasty period:

(Not to be confused with the Jin Dynasty period which lasted 1115 - 1234.)

wet-and-dry paper - Paper with a coating of silicon carbide, used as an abrasive; a type of sandpaper. Its common name derives from the fact that it can be used wet or dry, as suitable with the materials abraded and the surface finish required.

wet collodion - See collodion wet plate.

wetting agent - A substance that reduces the surface tension of a liquid, causing the liquid to spread across or penetrate more easily the surface of a solid, making anything that is water-soluble more quickly solved. Detergents and soaps generally accomplish this with water.

wheel window - See rose window.

whirligig - A toy that spins-- a carousel (merry-go-round) for example, or a thing that continuously whirls in a breeze, often placed on a lawn or a roof. It is mechanical, with some type of propellor. It may be part of a weathervane. Other resources about whirligigs:

Typically a form of folk art. Also see decorative art.

white spirits - See mineral spirits.

whiting - Ground and dried chalk used in plate cleaning and in the preparation of gesso.

wire - A usualy pliable metalic strand made in many lengths and diameters (gauges), sometimes clad or coated with insulation, as are electrical wires. (See a table of wire gauges and their equivalents expressed in inches.) A group of wire strands twisted or braided together as a functional unit is called cable. Other resources about wire:

Also see filigree, gauge, and jewelry, as well as the names of various metals, techniques, etc., along with kinetic and mobile.

woodblock print - See woodcut.

woodcut

wood engraving

woof - The threads or strands of yarn that are woven over and under the warp threads to make a weaving. The more common contemporary term is weft. (pr. woof)

world-view or worldview - The larger point of view one has, and from which one interprets the world. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. Also, this is the English equivalent of the German term Weltanschauung-- the mind-set or outlook of a particular group, whether aesthetic, ethnic, political, social, etc. Weltanschauungs (or Weltanschauungen) are usually limited in scope to readily identifiable historical, geographical, ethnic and other groupings.
About world-view:

World Wide Web (WWW) - An interconnected network of electronic hypermedia documents available on the Internet. WWW documents are marked up in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Cross references between documents are recorded in the form of URLs. Tim Berners-Lee invented World Wide Web in 1989. A graduate of Oxford University, England, Tim Berners-Lee is now (Nov.1998) with the Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He directs the W3 Consortium, an open forum of companies and organizations with the mission to realize the full potential of the Web. Other resources about the World Wide Web:

Also see JAVA.

worm's-eye view - As if seen from the surface of the earth, or the floor. A variation on landscape, the horizon for a worm's-eye view is usually placed very low in the picture, or outside of it completely. Example:

Also see bird's-eye view, di sotto in sù, fish-eye lens, perspective, and point-of-view, and wide-angle.

writing - See art criticism, font, lettering , narrative, and text.

wrought iron - An iron which is forged-- formed by heating in a furnace and hammering, bending, etc.-- and welded-- joining two pieces of metal by applying heat, sometimes with pressure, and sometimes with an additional melted metal. It contains less than .3% carbon and 1-2% slag.Cast iron, on the other hand, is a more brittle, nonmalleable alloy of iron and carbon, which is shaped by from pouring it molten into a mold.
An example:


Other resources about wrought iron:

Also see temperature and welding.

WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get. A term used in digital imaging.

xenophilia - Love of the foreign or unfamiliar. A xenophile is a person attracted to that which is foreign, especially to foreign peoples, manners, or cultures. In the 1990s, in reaction to the prevailing opinion that the great accomplishments have been made almost exclusively by males of European descent (DWMs), there has been a xenophilic embrace of works by women, non-whites and the dispossessed. Also see multiculturalism, political correctness, and xenophobia. (pr. ze'ne-fee"lee-e)

xenophobia - Irrational fear or hatred of anything foreign or unfamiliar, especially other social or ethnic groups. A xenophobe is a person who is unduly fearful or contemptuous of anything foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples. Also see xenophilia. (pr. ze'ne-fo"bee-e)

xerography - A dry photographic or photocopying process in which a negative image formed by a resinous powder on an electrically charged plate is electrically transferred to and thermally fixed as positive on a paper or other copying surface. Xerox is a trademark. Also see photocopy.

x-ray or X-ray or x ray or X ray - A photon with a wavelength approximately 0.01 to 10 nanometers. More likely a stream of such photons, also known as roentgen rays (after Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, the discoverer of x-rays and developer of x-ray photography). X-ray may also refer to a photograph taken with x-rays, also called a radiograph. Radiographs are sometimes made of art objects to better see what is beneath their surfaces, in hopes of revealing information about their making, and alterations over time. Typical examples are radiographs of mummies, and of paintings that have been painted over, are in need of conservation, or are suspected forgeries. Also see overpainting.

yard - A unit of distance measurement equal to three feet, or 36 inches. To convert yards into centimeters, multiply them by 91.44; into meters, x 0.9144. Abbreviated yd.

Yayoi - In Japanese tradition, the first metal-using culture in Japan.

yd. - Abbreviation for yard. Also see measure.

yellowing - In painting, a tendency on the part of binding media to turn a tint towards yellow. This is most likely to occur when linseed oil is included.

Yuan - A Chinese dynasty which lasted 1279-1368. Example of works from this period:

Other resources about Yuan:


zeitgeist or Zeitgeist - The spirit of the times. A German word for the taste, outlook, or general trend of thought which is characteristic of the cultural productions of a period or generation. For example, the zeitgeist of the Neoclassical period is considered to be rationalism, whereas that of the Romantic period is sentiment. The zeitgeist of the early modern period may have been faith in salvation through technological advancement, whereas that of the postmodern period would be disdain for such expressions of certainty. Because the identification of a zeitgeist tends to obliterate difference and imply a degree of essentialism, it is safe to say that postmodern thought in general distrusts it. (pr. tsyt'gyst)

Zen - A Chinese and Japanese school of Buddhism that claims that enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self contemplation, and intuition rather than through scriptures.

ziggurat - A terraced pyramid of successively receding stories, used as a temple by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.

Zhou dynasty - A Chinese dynasty which lasted c. eleventh century - 256 BC. The Zhou dynasty can be further divided into the Western Zhou (c.1050 - 771 BC) and the Eastern Zhou (771 - 256 BC). Even further, the Eastern Zhou can be divided into the Spring and Autumn period (722 - 481 BC) and the Warring States period (403 - 221 BC). An example of work from the Zhou dynasty:

zinc - A bluish-white, lustrous metallic element that is brittle at room temperature but malleable with heating. Used in galvanizing iron, it is often alloyed in making brass, bronze, various solders, and nickel silver, in manufacturing many products including various household objects. Atomic symbol Zn; atomic number 30; atomic weight 65.37; melting point 419.4° C.; specific gravity 7.133 (25°C); valence 2.

zincography - A lithographic process using zinc plates instead of stone ones. An example of a zincograph:

zinc white - White formed from zinc oxide, giving pure cool cover. In oil it needs much medium, and has some tendency to crack. In watercolor it's known as Chinese white.

zinnober green - Another name for chrome green.

zip - What Abstract Expressionist artist Barnett Newman (American, 1905-1970) called each of the vertical lines in his work. Many of his later works featured a zip. Example:


zone system - A photographic technique for producing photos with an optimum range of values, developed by Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984). Other resources on the zone system:

zooming - In photography, moving a camera lens rapidly toward or away from a subject, or by simulating such movement with a zoom lens, making the field of vision gradually narrower or wider. In the manipulation of a digital image, enlarging a portion of an image in order to see it more clearly or to make it easier to alter. Opposite of zooming out, which is useful for viewing the entire image when the full image is larger than the display space.

zoomorphic - In the shape of or having the attributes of an animal. Also see anthropomorphic.


zoopraxiscope - > A moving picture projector invented by Eadweard Muybridge (English-American, 1830-1904). Muybridge pioneered the taking of series of photographs employing a series of cameras. He printed these as sheets of sequenced exposures. In order to recreate a moving image from his still sequences, Muybridge developed the zoopraxiscope. It was first used at the home of Leland Stanford, former Governor of California, in 1879, and subsequently in Muybridge's lectures. See Eadweard Muybridge of Kingston Upon Thames - The Father of the Motion Picture, a site hosted by the Kingston Museum. Also see camera, cinema, and movement.

 

 

 


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