Portrait painter (portraitist)

Paint a portrait of smb/smb’s portrait

portrait: self-portrait, full-length portrait, half/knee/shoulder-length portrait, equestrian portrait, ceremonial, intimate portrait, a family group

Still-life (painting)

    e. g. The still-life was very popular with the Cubists. There were three still-lifes by Picasso.

Still-life painter

Still-life composition/arrangement

Flower piece

Genre painting

Genre painter

Conversation piece

scene: street scene, city scene, country scene, hunting scene, historical scene, battle scene

    e. g. He painted scenes from everyday/village/ court life.

                                      life in Tahiti.

Mural, fresco

DISCUSSING PICTURES

3.1. SUBJECT, THEME

Subject (what is depicted): historical subjects, Biblical subjects, mythological subjects, classical subjects

    e. g. Degas looked round for new subjects and found them in the opera-house.

 Theme is more general, abstract, than subject. A theme is a general idea which dominates a work.

    e. g. The theme of the painting is the futility of war.

3.2. FORM, SHAPE

form (U)

    e. g. His still-lifes show a strong sense of form, but the colouring lacks subtlety. The Impressionists tended to attribute greater importance to colour than to form.

A delicate sense of artistic form; to have a sense of form in painting

form (C)

    e. g. The form of the vase is very unusual. The picture is an arrangement of geometrical forms: circles, squares, rectangles.

In this sense however shape is more common.

3.3. COMPOSITION

Composition means how the various elements of the picture are arranged.

arrangement расположение, композиция

    e. g. an exquisite sense of colour and arrangement

design n  1. композиция в живописи или скульптуре (cf. composition); 2. рисунок, эскиз; v рисовать, изображать, делать эскизы

    e. g. There is harmony of design in this statue never before attained in Greek Art. His admirably designed and impressively painted pictures.

in the foreground/middle ground/background

in the centre foreground/background

in the left (right) foreground/background

in the centre/middle of the picture

off centre

    e. g. The tree is deliberately off centre.

on/to the right/left (of the picture)

at the top/bottom

in the top/bottom left/right-hand corner

to arrange symmetrically / asymmetrically / in a pyramid / in a vertical format

to divide the picture space diagonally

to define the nearer figures more sharply

to emphasize contours purposely

to be scarcely discernible

to convey a sense of space

against a background íà ôîíå

to place the figures against the landscape background

to merge into a single entity

to blend with the landscape

to be represented standing.../ sitting.../ talking..., to be posed / silhouetted against an open sky / a classic pillar / the snow

to accentuate smth.

3.4. COLOUR

colour (U)

    e. g. He has a wonderful sense of colour. He uses colour very effectively.

colour (C)

    e. g. Green was a colour that Turner particularly disliked. The painter uses cool colours - bluish-greens, blues and violets - for the shadows, and warm colours, that is, those where yellows predominate, for the fully-lit areas.

primary colours основные цвета (red, blue and yellow)

The play of colours

a riot of colour(s) изобилие, богатство красок

To combine form and colour into harmonious unity

brilliant/low-keyed colour scheme, the colour scheme where... predominates

the colours may be cool and restful / hot and agitated / soft and delicate / dull, oppressive, harsh, light - dark, bright - pale, brilliant, intense, luminous, strong, pastel, subdued, warm

The three attributes of chromatic colour are: 1) brilliance, or its degree of correspondence to the greys as they move from low, that is from black, which has zero brilliance, to high, that is white, which has the greatest brilliance; 2) hue, or its susceptibility of being classed as red, yellow, blue, or the like; 3) saturation, or its distinctness or vividness of hue.

colouring - the way in which an artist uses colour

    e. g. The delicate colouring of this picture is typical of his later works.

Restrained in colouring, muted in colour

Subtle/gaudy/fierce colouring

Colourist

    e. g. Turner is a superb colourist.

intensity яркость, глубина (красок)

Shade as a countable noun refers to degree or intensity of colour (oòòåíîê)

Tint may be a synonym of shade. However, it is used especially with reference to pale and delicate shades.

    e. g. Renoir excelled at flesh tints.

Tinge isa slight shade of colour, especially one modifying the basic colour.

    e. g. The sky is grey with a tinge of pink.

tinge (v)

    e. g. The sky is tinged with pink.

Tone may also be used in the sense of shade. However, it also has a slightly different sense: the prevailing effect of the combination of light and shade and of the general scheme of colouring.

    e. g. This unaffected work is rich and poetic in tone.

Hue is used occasionally to mean a colour or shade of colour, mainly in poetic language, although sometimes simply for stylistic variety in formal situations.

3.5. LIGHT AND SHADE

chiaroscuro n итал. распределение светотени (cf. light and shade)

    e. g. Rembrandt derived his principles of painting from Italian chiaroscuro in which concrete forms appear bathed in magic glow, and ethereal rays penetrate through space, making forms stand out in the dark.

A diffused light

highlights самая светлая часть картины

value сочетание света и тени в картине

    e. g. Velasquez loved grey and silvery tints and understood relative values perfectly. He had caught the values of various kinds of lights.

out of value слишком светлое или слишком темное

3.6. LINE(WORK)

    e. g. He has a good sense of line. The linework is brilliant.

3.7. BRUSHWORK (живописная манера, манера письма)

Brush

the brush искусство художника

    products (productions) of his brush

    e. g. The subjects for his brush are all around him. Life around me cries for the brush.

brushstroke мазок

stroke штрих, мазок, черта

    finishing strokes; to portray with a few strokes

3.8. STYLE AND TECHNIQUE

plein-air technique пленеpная живопись; in the open (air)

    e. g. He paints all his pictures in the open. (b) There is an open-air feeling in his work.

Effect

    atmospheric effects; wonderful cloud effects; colour effects; effects of distance; light and shade effects; subtly painted moonlight effects; a night effect; perspective effects; sunshine effects

finish n законченность, отделка; v завеpшать, отделывать

    exquisite finish; a work remarkable for a minute and detailed finish; finishing touches; finished technique

handle v

    to handle the brush well

handling умение художника владеть кистью

    deftness of handling

    e. g. This particular portrait, for example, shows much greater freedom of handling.

Skill

    with infinite (remarkable) skill

 

to portray people / emotions with moving sincerity / with restraint

to depict a person / a scene of common life / the mood of...

to render / interpret the personality of...

to reveal the person's nature

to capture the sitter's vitality / transient expression

to indicate the sitter's profession

to develop one's own style of painting

to conform to the taste of the period

to break with the tradition

to be in advance of one's time

to expose the dark sides of life

to become famous overnight

to die forgotten and penniless

 

4. IMPRESSION. JUDGEMENT: the picture may be life-like, moving, lyrical, romantic, original, poetic in tone and atmosphere, an exquisite piece of painting, an unsurpassed masterpiece, distinguished by a marvellous sense of colour and composition.

    The picture may be dull, crude, chaotic, a colourless daub of paint, obscure and unintelligible, gaudy, depressing, disappointing, cheap and vulgar.