Calendar Painting
A painting possessing a pleasant subject matter, rarely coupled with lasting art value.

California Art Club
Founded in 1906 by ten Los Angeles painters as the Painter's Club, its successor, the California Art Club became the most important art organization in Southern California. The Painters Club was based on the idea of meeting regularly, critiquing each other's work, and holding regular exhibitions, and membership was limited to males only. By 1909, the group had disbanded but quickly reorganized, not only with male painters, but with sculptors and females, and the new name was the California Art Club. William Wendt served as President for the first six years. Most of the artists painted landscapes in the Barbizon manner of rural subjects, rich colors, and interplay of sunlight and shadow. During the Depression, membership lagged, but in 1993,
Pasadena painter Peter Adams spearheaded a revival and served as President. By the year 2000, there were several thousand members, including 45 signature members, 350 artist members, and 1300 patron members. 

California School of Design
Established in 1874, the California School of Design began as the San Francisco Art Association School of Design and was established by the San Francisco Art Association. In 1893, the name became the Mark Hopkins Institute and became affiliated with the University of California. One of its most influential Directors was Arthur Mathews, who in 1890, followed Emil Carlsen who had directed from the 1880s. Mathews injected many French ideas of painting into the curriculum, and his teaching from the Institute of his own tonalist style caused that style to dominate painting in Northern California for
many years. Other name changes have occurred. From 1906 to 1916, it was the San Francisco Institute of Art; from 1916 to 1961, the California School of Fine Arts, and from 1961 to the present, the San Francisco Art Institute.

Calligraphy*
In printing and drawing, a free and rhythmic use of line to accentuate design. It is seen at its best in Japanese wood-block prints and Chinese scrolls. Also, fine stylized handwriting using quills, brushes, or pens with ink.

Camaieu
A painting or decoration done in varying shades of the same color. A monochrome painting
.
Canadian Group of Painters
(See �Group of Seven)

Canvas*
Closely woven cloth used as a support for paintings.

Caricature
A representation of a person or thing in which the characteristic features are exaggerated, generally for the purpose of satire or humor. To some degree, caricature is practiced in most portraiture.

Cartoon
A preliminary drawing in full size which is a model for painting, mural, tapestry, mosaic, stained glass, etc. Also, a caricature or comic drawing, or an animated film composed of a series of comic drawings.

Casein
This is the dried lumpy curd of skimmed milk. When mixed with water and dry pigments, it makes an excellent paint. It was very popular for commercial illustration until acrylics became highly developed.

Casein Paint
Pigments mixed with a casein BINDER, i.e., one made from milk proteins extracted from curd. Casein is an excellent adhesive on its own, but, when used as a binder, causes paint to be too brittle for use on canvas. This characteristic aside, casein paints have an agreeable consistency, are quick drying and their matt surface is durable enough to be left unprotected, though, if a gloss finish is required, varnish can be applied in the usual way.

Casting*
The process of making a sculpture or other object by pouring liquid material such as clay, metal or plastic into a mold and allowing it to harden, thereby taking on the shape of the confining mold.

Catalogue Raisonne
A complete, annotated catalogue listing and/or illustrating all known works of a particular artist. It provides details, in particular, of the present condition, photographs, chronology, and provenance of each work.

Ceramics*
The art of making objects of clay and firing them in a kiln. Ceramists make wares of earthenware and porcelain, as well as sculpture. Enamel is also a ceramic technique. Ceramic materials may be decorated with slip, engobe, or glaze, applied by any number of techniques. Ceramic sculpture is usually made by coil, slab, or other manual
technique.

Cerulean
(See BLUE)

Ceruse
A white, lead-based paint.

Chiaroscuro
In Italian, CHIARO literally means light and OSCURO means dark. Chiaroscuro, therefore, is the use of light and shade in a drawing or painting, particularly works in which the light and dark contrasts are very pronounced.

Chroma
A joint term for the hue and saturation but not the value (dark or light) of color.

Cinquecento
Refers to the sixteenth century, especially in Italian culture.
Citrine
(See YELLOW)

Clair-Obscure
The French for CHIAROSCURO.

Classical
Belonging to Greek and Roman antiquity.

Classical Abstraction
The exercise of rigorous intellectual discipline and technical control in abstract painting and sculpture, as in the art of Mondrian, Casimir Malevich, Ben Nicholson, and Barbara Hepworth. Contrasted with abstract expressionism.

Classicism
In the broadest artistic sense, art based on the study of classical models, art that emphasizes qualities considered to be characteristically Greek and Roman in style and spirit, i.e. reason, objectivity, discipline, restraint, order, harmony. Often contrasted with Romanticism.

Claude Glass
A device used to reduce and simplify views of landscapes. By reflecting the scene through a dark, convex lens, the Claude Glass reduces colors in tones alone, and in the process, definition is lost. The term is named for French artist, Claude Lorrain, who is said to have employed such an instrument. (See also DIMINISHING GLASS) Many of the prints and drawings produced with the aid of the Claude Glass are monochrome. The Claude, by reducing dazzle and allowing the eye to dwell on the motif, merely helped the artist to make the analysis of the scene in tonal terms, undistracted by color. 

Coiling*
A method of forming pottery or sculpture from rolls of clay that are smoothed together to form the sides of a jar or pot.

Cold Color
Any of the colors in the range from blue to green which, when applied to a surface and contrasted with other colors, appears to retreat, giving an impression of depth. (See WARM COLORS and AERIAL PERSPECTIVE)

Collage
A method that began in 1912 in Paris when George Braque purchased a roll of paper in a store in Avignon. In his studio he combined pieces of that paper with charcoal to make the first collage, a method that was the copied by his friend Pablo Picasso. The descendants of collage are assemblage and construction sculpture.

Color
1) Pigments, paints, dyes and/or inks mixed together to create hues. 2) Paint prepared for an artist's use including oil, watercolor, tempera, gouache, acrylic, and casein.

Color Field Painting
The natural successor to the style Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s and 1960s, Color Field painting was especially influenced by Jackson Pollock and his technique of staining canvases with paint. Other key influential painters were Abstract Expressionists Mark Rothko and Hans Hofmann. The movement's chief public exponent was New York art critic, Clement Greenberg, and other promoters were Andre Emmerich, New York Dealer, Michael Fried, writer, and editors of Artforum magazine. Color Field painters divorced themselves from the emotive qualities of Abstract Expressionism to create
flat, impersonal works, often on a large scale to suppress the artist's feelings with a transcendent beauty. This style "offered a deliberate challenge to the angst-ridden, tough guy paintings" of the Abstract Expressionists according to Karen Wilkin, author of the 1990 book "Kenneth Noland."
 
Color Perspective
(See AERIAL PERSPECTIVE)

Color Wheel*
A circular grid that represents the colors based on color theory. This grid clearly shows the relationships colors have with each other (complimentary, opposite, etc.)

Complementary Color
For the painter there are three PRIMARY COLORS: red, yellow and blue. A complementary of one of these primary colors is the combination of the other two, for example, the complementary of red is green (i.e. yellow + blue). When juxtaposed,
complementary colors intensify each other. (See also COLOR and IMPRESSIONISM) 

Composite color
A color formed by mixing two or more hues or tints. See color.

Composition
The organization of form in a work of art, i.e., the disposition of shapes, masses, areas of light and dark, etc.

Conceptual Art*
An art form in which the underlying idea or concept and the process by which it is achieved are more important than any tangible product.

Construction*
An artwork that is actually assembled or built on the premises where it is to be shown. Many constructions are meant to be temporary and are disassembled after the exhibition is over.

Constructivism
A modern aesthetic movement that rejects narrative content in art and turns to shapes in nature and machines for models of formal and functional autonomy. The underlying theory is that a work of art should be an autonomous object with a life of its own and that it should reflect economy and precision. The style is non objective, and the materials are often iron, tin, wood, glass, plaster, and plastic--an attempt to bridge the gap between everyday life and art. Constructivism began in Russia, and was first called Tatlinism when it appeared about 1913 in the work of Vladimir Tatlin. Another early name was Production Art with focus on creating artist engineers. Dynamism and kinetic art were outgrowths, and Antoine Pevsner, Alexander Rodchenko, and Naum Gabo brought the movement to the United States.

Conte*
Initially it was a trade name for a brand of French crayons made from a unique compound of pigments with a chalk binder. Conte crayons are free from grease, making them acceptable for lithographic drawing.

Contemporary Art*
Generally defined as art that has been produced since the second half of the twentieth century.

Content*
The message conveyed by a work of art � its subject matter and whatever the artist hopes to convey by that subject matter. Content should not be confused with context (the work�s environment) or form (the physical characteristics of a work).

Context
The many circumstances in which a work of art is interpreted or created. An involved assessment of the artist�s values, upbringing, attitudes, education, the environment in which the work was created, the work�s purpose, and the artwork is interpreted.

Contour
The outline or boundary of a form. The illusion of a line enclosing form.

Contrapposto
The pose of the human form in which the head and shoulders face in a different direction from the hips and legs; a spiral twist. Developed in late ancient Greek era; sometimes referred to �weight shift�.

Converging*
Lines that go towards the same point

Conversation-Piece
A painting that shows a group of people, usually relations or close friends, in conversation in a relaxed home environment. In keeping with the informal atmosphere of the work, these paintings, which were especially popular in Britain in the eighteenth
century, are generally fairly small.

Cool Colors*
Colors that suggest a sense of coolness: Blue, green, violet. (See COLD COLOR; WARM COLORS)

Copy
A duplicate of a work of art. Before the invention of color photography, artists would frequently produce copies of paintings for different clients, though assistants in the artist�s studio would carry out these copies. The copying of great works of art was
traditionally part of an art student's curriculum, particularly in the ACADEMIES, and it helped the students acquire an understanding of the techniques and brushwork of
former masters.

Coulisse
Compositional elements - clumps of trees, groups of figure, buildings, etc. - arranged in tiers at the sides of a picture to direct the eye into the center picture space. Common in baroque painting.
Crackle
(See �Craquelure�)

Craftsmanship*
Aptitude, skill, and manual dexterity in the use of tools and materials.

Cragsmoor Art Colony
Located in Ullster County, New York, the colony was founded in the 1870s by Edward Lamson Henry, William H Beard, John George Brown, and Eliza Greatorex. The colony provided a haven for artists who wished to escape the summer heat of New York City, and word quickly spread about the natural beauty of the area. It was a time period when viewing audiences were more interested in genre works than the sweeping vistas of the Hudson River School, and Cragsmoor Colony painters tended to focus on people activities, finding the local people unique subjects. The colony did not attract the struggling artist, but was populated primary by successful artists such as George Inness and Charles Curran, who built beautiful homes in the area.

Craquelure
The network of cracks which sometimes appears on paint and varnish of an oil painting as the paint ages and settles. Also known as CRACKLE.

Crayon
Commonly used as a general term for the many proprietary brands of wax-based drawing sticks used by children, but technically any drawing material in stick form can be classified as a crayon; this includes PASTELS, CHARCOAL AND CHALKS.

Cross-hatching
Using patterns of parallel, criss-crossing lines to create tones on drawings and engravings. See also HATCHING.

Cubism
An artistic reaction to Impressionism led by Picasso and Braque. Initiated in 1907, Cubism took up Cezanne's search for basic geometric elements in nature and aimed first at taking apart the forms of nature (Analytical Cubism), and next at an
imaginative reorganization of those elements in various contexts (Synthetic Cubism). Since Cubism was chiefly concerned with the liberation of form, color plays a subordinate role in Cubist art. Major Cubist achievements took place between 1907 and 1914. Besides Picasso and Braque, Fernand Leger and Juan Gris were notable Cubist innovators.

Curvilinear*
Stressing the use of curved lines as opposed to rectilinear which stresses straight lines.