West Coast Assemblage
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Assemblage as a medium grew in popularity with beat generation artists in California in the 1950s and early 1960s. Contemporaneous with the pop movement in New York and Los Angeles, they sought to distance themselves from the perceived conformity and materialism of mainstream American culture.
Though New York is credited as the undisputed center of postwar American art-making, the west coast cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco simultaneously hosted a vital and influen
Bronze in the Ancient Mediterranean
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Copper, and its more adaptable alloy bronze, which is a mixture of copper, tin and lead, were the basic metals of the ancient Mediterranean world until the spread of iron working after 1000 A.D. Even when iron was common for making tools and weapons, bronze remained the most important metal for luxury objects and for fine sculptures to the end of the ancient period.
Chinese Porcelain
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
An excerpt of the essay from the exhibition catalogue for the March 12 - April 9, 1961 Dallas Museum of Fine Arts exhibition "Chinese Pottery and Porcelain."
Silver, Sterling Silver, and Silver plate
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Pure silver is very soft, malleable, white, ductile, and is considered a precious metal. Silver is widely distributed throughout the world, occurring rarely as metallic silver and more often as silver-gold alloy and silver ore. As a
Tampan
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Lampung shipcloths are habitually divided into two main categories, tampan and palepai, based on shape and use. Tampan tend to be relatively small in size, and are square, with sides that rarely exceed three feet in length.
Mezzotint (printmaking)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Mezzotints were developed in the 17th century as a means to produce a full tonal scale from black to white. Rather than making individual marks on a plate, the artist first covers the matrix with consistent texture using a rocker, a wide flat tool with a curved end covered with tiny spikes. If inked and printed at this intermediary stage, the textured plate would produce a solid dark image.
Linocut (printmaking)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Linocuts, a form of relief printing, originate from a sheet of linoleum, a material invented in the mid-19th century by mixing various materials with solidified linseed oil.
Etching (printmaking)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Etching occurs through a chemical reaction, and thus requires a metal plate to be prepared with an acid-resistant material called a ground. A design is drawn on the ground with an etching needle to expose the metal. When immersed in an acidic bath, exposed areas of the plate are dissolved in a process called biting.
Drypoint (printmaking)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Drypoint closely relates to engraving except the carving creates a burr—metallic ridges flanking the artist's marks. The burrs hold ink and create a subtle feathering on initial prints, but they subsequently wear down after several passes through a printing press.
Aquatint (printmaking)
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Aquatint is an etching process used to achieve subtle shifts between light and dark. Aquatinting is the application of fine particles of resin onto all or part of a plate. The plate is heated to melt the resin and is then exposed to acid. The acid eats into the metal around the particles, creating a granular pattern.