Mercredi, March 11, 2009

Word of the Day

Chiaroscuro

Woahh. That word is pretty intense. Please explain!

• A term in art for a contrast between light and dark. The term is usually applied to bold contrasts affecting a whole composition, but is also more technically used by artists and art historians for the use of effects representing contrasts of light, not necessarily strong, to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such as the human body

Origin please!!

• The term originated as a name for a type of Renaissance drawing on coloured paper, where the artist worked from this base tone towards light, with white gouache, and dark, with ink, bodycolour or watercolour

Well that's good. Now put that in a sentence.

• "In photography, chiaroscuro is often effected with the use of "Rembrandt lighting"

If anything, this word would be great to just say in the middle of a conversation. For example, "John, is that a chiaroscuro painting?" during a talk about tools, or something. Hey, I'm sure it will at least get you some awkward looks.

Example. Credit due to Rodrigo Neves