Chiaroscuro is an artistic approach to light and darkness. It can describe both the broad contrast that shapes a whole composition and the more gradual shading that makes a figure or object appear three-dimensional. This lesson introduces the term, its origins, and the basic ways artists use light and shade.
The Italian word chiaroscuro literally means light-dark. In art, it commonly refers to strong contrasts between illuminated and dark areas, often arranged across a whole composition. The term also has a technical meaning: using differences in light and shade to model a three-dimensional figure or object on a flat surface.
All flashcards
What is chiaroscuro?
An artistic use of light-dark contrast. It can refer to dramatic contrast across a composition or to shading that models three-dimensional form.
What is modelling chiaroscuro?
The use of value gradations and light-and-shadow shapes to make a figure or object appear to have volume on a flat surface.
How were Renaissance chiaroscuro drawings on coloured paper commonly made?
Artists used the paper as a middle tone, added white gouache for highlights, and applied ink, bodycolour, or watercolour for darker areas.
What is hatching?
A shading technique that uses parallel lines to suggest tone and form.
What are the four painting modes identified by Marcia B. Hall?
Chiaroscuro, cangiante, sfumato, and unione.
Quiz questions
What defines a chiaroscuro woodcut as a printmaking process?Answer: It prints tonal areas from two or more blocks, usually with different inks.
How does tenebrism differ from less extreme compositional chiaroscuro?Answer: Shadow and contrast dominate the composition, focusing attention on a dramatically lit subject.
What technical feature helped Stanley Kubrick film candlelit scenes in Barry Lyndon?Answer: A specially adapted camera paired with a Zeiss lens with a maximum aperture of f/0.7.
What can high-contrast, low-key lighting accomplish in cinematography?Answer: It can direct attention, establish mood, and communicate relationships between characters or groups.
What does natural-looking light in a photograph indicate about how it was made?Answer: The light may still have been deliberately arranged for expressive effect.
Based on the Wikipedia article Chiaroscuro, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.