Michael Delahunt, M.F.A.
ArtLex Art Dictionary
http://www.artlex.com
Seven categories of recent improvements to ArtLex:
3
5
6
7
These are more fully described below.
1 Lots of new articles on
art words have been added
Visitors find about 200 more articles this year than last year. The total of terms is now 3,500.
Newly included terms include:
acetone
aidoion
ala and alar groove
ala of the nose
aniconic
animal artist
anime
asbestos
audio guide
auditory
bad-debt art
bamboo
basket, basketry, basketwork
benchmarks
bookplate or ex libris
brochure
cane and caning
charette
chinoiserie
corrugate, corrugated cardboard
Cor-ten steel
double loading
embroider, embroidery
Enlightenment
exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis
finger paint or fingerpainting
fish-eye lens
flat file
Fluxus
graph
gyotaku
harmika
iconoduly, iconodulic, iconodule, iconodulist
iconogenetics, iconogenitor
iconolagny
iconolatry, iconolater
iconology
iconomachy, iconomach
iconomancy
iconomania
iconomatic
iconometer
iconomical
iconophilia, iconophile
iconophobia, iconophobiac, iconophobic
iconoplast
iconoscope
infrared reflectography (IR) and reflectogram
International Council of Museums (ICOM)
kaleidoscope
ketubah
leather and fur
letterhead
Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
mathematics and art
millefiori
mirror
misericord
music and visual art
niche
openwork
pamphlet
pan, panning shot
philtrum
pique assiette (also called picassiette)
pixel shim
polymer clay
polyurethane
Praxis
preparator
raffia
rattan
realia
rush
scarification
science and art
scissors
scribble
secession
Segantini stitch
septum
shaman, shamanism
shamsa
solander box
Stendhal syndrome or Stendhal's syndrome
storyboard
surform
swatch
teleidoscope
telephoto, telephoto lens, and telephoto shot
terra cruda
terra sigillata
third eye
toluene
tracking shot
tradigital
trencadis
trustees
UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970
UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects of 1995
vandal, Vandals, vandalism, and vandalize
vernissage
viewfinder
Vorticism
wide-angle, wide-angle lens, wide-angle shot
wireframe
wood
wove paper
xylene
yasti
zoom, zoom lens
2 Lots of new images, especially
those of examples were added
A dictionary relies greatly on
citations of uses of the words it defines, and a dictionary of
visual art terms is best when it cites images that demonstrate
the various meanings a term convey.
Articles improved with new images include:
(The following are only from the first half of ArtLex -- A through M -- and each is a link direct to the article.)
Abstract Expressionism
abstraction
acetic acid
acetone
acid
acid bath
acropolis
acroterion or acroterium
acute angle
additive
adhesives
adobe
advertising
adze
aerial perspective
aerial view
aestheticism
African art
after
afterimage
aggregate
agitprop
aisle
alabaster
allegory
altarpiece
American Colonial art
American Indian art
American Scene painting
amphitheater
amulet
anamorphosis, anamorphic art
anatomy
ancipital
angel
animalia
animation
antefix
anti-art
Apollo
apse
aqueduct
arcade
arch
architecture
architrave
archival image
arms & armor
arrangement
art critic
Art Deco
Art Nouveau
Ashcan school
asymmetry, asymmetrical balance
audience
aureole
axonometric projection
baldacchino
Batignolles Group
Bauhaus
beret
bevel
bin
binocular vision
biomorphic form
Baroque
Bauhaus
Blaue Vier
blind spot
Bodhisattva
bone structure
book
book of hours
botanical
brass
brayer
broadside
bronze
brushstroke
Buddhist art
burin
bush hammer
buttress
Byzantine art
caliper
came
camera lucida
camouflage
campanile
Canadian art
canvas scraper
capital letters
caption
Caravaggisti
caricature
Carolingian art
cartoon
caryatid
celadon
cellulose
cenacle or cenacolo
censor, censorious, censorship
ceramics
chalice
chapel
charcoal
Chinese art
Ching
chrome or chromium
chromolithography
cinema
circle
claw chisel
claw hammer
clerestory
clip art
closure
coat of arms
Cobra
collage
collect, collection, collector
collotype
Colonial American art
colophon
color
Color Field painting
color look-up table
column
concentric
conceptual art
concrete poetry
condensed type
cone
connoisseur
construct and construction
Constructivism
conté crayon
contour drawing
conversation piece
Coptic art
Corinthian or Corinthian order
costume
crackle
crazing
crenel, crenelation
crepuscular
crop and crop mark
crossing
cross-section
cross vault
crown
crucifix
cube
Cubism
cuneiform
curtain wall
curvilinear
cutout
cyanotype
cylinder
Dada
Danish art
death mask
decollage
depth
Der Blaue Reiter
design
De Stijl
diagonal
different and difference
dilettante
distortion
dolly
dome
dot
double-exposure
double loading
drawing
draw knife or drawtool
drove
dry brush
dry mount
Dutch art
earth art
earth colors
easel
ecce homo
edition
Edo period
efflorescence
Egyptian art
elevation
emboss
emphasis
encaustic
English art
engraving
enlargement
Enlightenment
en plein air
ephemera
equestrian statue or equestrian art
equine art or equine statue
etching
Etruscan art
ewer
expression
Expressionism
eyedropper
fan
fantastic
Fauvism
Federal Art Project (FAP)
feminism and feminist art
fête galante
fiberglass
fibula
fig leaf
figurative
filigree
flamboyant
flammable
float
flute, fluted, or fluting
focal point
foliate
folk art
font
forge
found image, found material, found object
foxing
fractal
fragment
frame
fresco
frontal
frontispiece
frottage
furniture
fusuma-e
Futurism
galvanize, galvanizing, galvanized
game theory
gantry
gargoyle
gaze
G-clamp
gearing
gem and gemstone
gender issues
genre
German art
Gestalt
gesture
gesture drawing
glare
glass
glitter
gold
Golden Mean or Golden Section
gopuram
Gothic
gouache
gouge
gradation
granite
graphics tablet
Greek art
grid
grind
grotesque
guilloche
hacksaw
halftone art
hallmark
haniwa
hashira-e
hazardous
heartwood
heddle
heighten
helix
Hellenistic
hemisphere
heraldry
hieratic
hieroglyphics
highlight
Hindu art
historiated
history painting
horology
horror vacui
Hudson River School
Hungarian art
hypostyle hall
icon
iconoclast
ikebana
illumination
illustration
imbrication
implied
impost block
impression
Impressionism
incident light
incise, incising
incongruity
incrustation
incunabulum
inflatable
inlay
installation
Intimisme or Intimism
invert
Ionic or Ionic order
Islamic art
ivory
jade
jalee work or jali
Japanese art
jewelry
Jewish art
juxtapose, juxtaposition
kachina
kern and kerning
kinetic
kitsch
kore
Korean art
kouros
krater
Kunstkabinett and Kunstkammer
labyrinth
lacquer, oriental
lacuna
laid paper
laminate
landscape
latex
lens
life drawing
life size
light
light table
limestone
linear perspective
lithography
loop tool
Luminism
lump hammer
lunette
Madonna
majuscule
makimono
mandala
Mannerism
mantel or mantelpiece
maquette
marble
marquetry
mask
master
medal
medallion
memorabilia
memorial
Mesoamerican art
metamorphosis
Metaphysical Painting
metope
Mexican-American art
Mexican art
mezzotint
Middle Ages
mihrab
milagro
Ming dynasty
miniature
Minimalism
mobile
model
module
monogram
monotype
montage
mortar
mortise or mortice
mosaic
mount
movement
Mughal dynasty
mullion
multiple
Muromachi
museum
mythology
3 Lots of new links to outside
resources were added
One of the things that can make an online dictionary an especially powerful tool, is its capability of linking to other great sites.
Some of the articles to which new external links have been added -- from the first half of ArtLex -- A through M (a representative sample):
Abstract Expressionism
arts advocacy
aesthetics
African art
anamorphosis, anamorphic art
anatomy
archaeology
Armory Show of 1913
art brut
art careers
art conservation
art history
Art Nouveau
Arts and Crafts Movement
Ashcan school
Bauhaus
book
caricature
cartoon
cinema
collage
color
copyright
Dada
design
drawing
Futurism
glass
graffiti
graphic design
hallmark
illustrator
image
linoleum cut or linocut
lintel
lithography
loggia
logo
4 The Pages are Easier to
Read
The font used on every page has been changed to "Arial" -- a handsome and highly legible type.
The physical space between articles on every page has been increased so that they look less crowded together.
5 BC became BCE
All references to "AD" and "BC" were converted to the more universally accepted "BCE" and "CE." A small thing, but in an age of increased religious and ethnic vilence, and ever-increasing Internet use by peoples whose heritage is non-Christian or non-Western, this is a not unwelcomed gesture of respect.
6 Dead Links Get Fixed Much
More Quickly
Many links to pages outside of ArtLex have died over time. Wasting time by clicking dead links is frustrating to every Web user. In order to solve this problem, I obtained and have been using software that automates the testing of links. As a consequence of efficiently finding and removing dead links, their numbers have dropped from 7% of all links to less than .01%. Links are now checked regularly to keep the number of dead links down.
7 Artlex Statistics
Some of these speak to
the size and scope of ArtLex, and others to its popularity and
to the respect paid to it by people who have placed links to it
on their sites.
Number of web pages: 568
Number of internal and external links links: 50,000
Number of pages served in 2002: 5,000,000
Number of pages served in 2003: 8,000,000
Ranking by Google in a search for art dictionary: #1 of 46,600
In Google's Directory, here's how ArtLex was ranked in ten of the numerous categories in which it is noted:
Kids and Teens > School Time > Reference Tools > Dictionaries #7 of 18 Art History #2 of 3,147 Abstract Expressionism #1 of 6 American Impressionism #2 out of 12 Art Deco #2 out of 10 Ashcan School #1 of 4 Collage #1 of 12 Etruscan Art #3 of 5 Hudson River School #2 of 20 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood #5 of 27