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Founders Nicholas and Michael Patete |
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AAA Fine Art has been on-line since 2000, servicing the Fine
Art community. The Owners Nicholas and Michael have over 40 years of combined
experience in the field of art collecting. Click below to see photos of AAA and
friends:
Because this fine art was acquired as a part of their personal collections, it was only purchased from the most reputable auction houses and dealers from across the country. Our works encompass a vast range from originals to serigraphs and lithographs, signed posters and autographed books. We are not your typical gallery. We are
collectors of Fine Art who want to share our love for the beautiful works
created by these 20th Century Masters, with fellow collectors and
art enthusiasts. We sell these works at a fraction of the cost of typical
brick and mortar galleries. Whether you are a
seasoned collector or novice, we have something for everyone and every taste.
We want to be a resource to enlighten, educate, and take the fear out of
purchasing Fine Art. ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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Glossary General
Terms Aesthetic: The science of the
“beautiful” in a work of art. The aesthetic appeal of a work of
art is defined by the visual, social, ethical, moral, and contemporary
standards of society. Medium: the material that is
used to create an artwork, i.e. oil, acrylic, lithography, serigraphy,
marble, bronze, etc. Monochromatic: A color scheme that
involves different values of a single color. Perspective: A formal method of
creating a three dimensional effect on a two dimensional surface. Trompe l’oeil: A French term
translated as “fool the eye,” which denotes a painting so real
that the viewer feels he can touch the objects. Styles Abstract
Art: Not
realistic, though the intention is often based on an actual subject, place,
or feeling. Pure abstraction can be interpreted as any art in which the
depiction of real objects has been entirely discarded and whose aesthetic
content is expressed in a formal pattern or structure of shapes, lines and colors.
When the representation of real objects is completely absent, such art may be
called non-objective. Abstract
Expressionism: a 1940’s Art
Deco:
During the 1920s and 30s, artists used decorative motifs derived from French,
African, Aztec, Chinese, and Egyptian cultures. Art
Nouveau:
A style which evolved during the 1890s which used asymmetrical decorative
elements derived from objects found in nature. Ashcan
School: A
group of American painters and illustrators of the early 20th
century, often known as The Eight. They were Robert Henri, John Sloan, George
Luks, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, Maurice Prendergast, Arthur Davies,
and Ernest Lawson. Their work depicted such subjects as the streets and
inhabitants of big cities with a vigorous sense of realism. Bauhaus: A design school
founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 in Beaux-arts: A school of fine arts
located in Cubism: A revolutionary art
movement between 1907 and 1914 in which natural forms were changed by
geometrical reduction. Leading figures were Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Expressionism: A concept of painting
in which traditional adherence to realism and proportion is overridden by the
intensity of an artist’s emotional response to the subject. Impressionism: A painting technique
in which the artist concentrates on the changing effects of light and color.
Often this style can be characterized by its use of discontinuous brush
strokes and heavy impasto. Genre: A form of realistic
painting of people that depicts ordinary events. These paintings are not religious,
historical, abstract or mythological. Non-Objective
Art: Not
representing any object, figure, or element in nature, in any way;
nonrepresentational. Pop
Art: A
style derived from commercial art forms and characterized by larger than life
replicas of items from mass culture. This style evolved in the late 1950s and
was characterized in the 1960s by such artists as Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol,
Claus Oldenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Larry Rivers,
Robert Rauschenberg, George Segal, and Robert Indiana. Painting Acrylic
Paint: a
pigment in a plastic binder medium that is water based and adheres to most
surfaces. Acrylic paint is used to mimic the look of oil paint. The
advantages of acrylic over oil are that it is less toxic and it dries more
quickly. Avant Garde: A term describing art
that departs from the existing norm in an original or experimental way. Chiaroscuro: The dramatic use of
light and shadow to create a mood or a focal point in a painting. Collage: A grouping of different
textured materials or objects that are glued together. Encaustic: Pigment is mixed with
melted wax and resin and then applied to a surface while hot. Frottage: Textural rubbing on
paper done with crayon, oil or pencil. Gesso: An under-painting
medium consisting of glue, plaster of paris, or
chalk and water. Gesso is used to size the canvas and prepare the surface for
painting. Gouache: A watercolor medium
which is mixed with finely ground white pigment to provide an opaque paint. Impasto: The thick textured
build up of a picture’s surface which is created through the repeated
applications of paint. Mural: A continuous painting
which is designed to fill a wall or other architectural area. Oil
Paint: A
powdered pigment which is held together with oil, usually linseed oil. Tempera: Pigment which is
mixed with water or egg yolk and usually applied to board or panel. Watercolor: A pigment mixed with
a binder and applied with water to give a transparent effect. Printmaking Artist
Proof:
Additional proofs from a print run that are not included in the regular
edition. These prints are pulled for the artist approval and for personal
use. These prints are also used to extend the edition beyond the original
numbered run. Artist Proof works are marked AP either with or without a
number that denotes how many were run. Block
Print: A
relief-printing technique in which incisions made in a wood or linoleum block
print white, and what is left in relief prints black. Bon
a Tirer: This is a French term which translates as
“Good Pull”. It denotes that the print that has just been pulled
can be used as a guide to match up the remainder of the prints that are
pulled in the edition. Collagraph: A contemporary intaglio process in which prints
are pulled from a block on which the design has been built up like a collage.
Various objects are adhered to the block to build up the areas that will
print white. The block is inked and then wiped so that the paper receives the
ink from the depressions. Commemorative: 1.Prints made
posthumously from the artist’s original plates. 2.Limited
edition items made to commemorate a specific date or event. Edition: A limited number of
impressions of a print. When the edition is complete, the plate or block is
often cancelled by defacing it. Edition
Number: A
fraction found on the bottom left hand corner of a print. The top number is
the sequence in the edition; the bottom number is the total number of prints
in the edition. The number appears as a fraction usually in the lower left of
the print. For instance the edition number 25/50 means that it is print
number 25 out of a total edition of 50. Engraving: A type of intaglio
printing in which the plate is cut with a tool called a “graver”
or “burin,” which cuts a V-shaped trough. Engraved lines are cut
so they are sharp and clean, and can be distinguished from etched lines,
which are slightly irregular since they are bitten unevenly by the acid. Etching: A form of intaglio
printing in which the lines of the design are drawn on the metal plate and
then bitten (etched or eaten away) by acid. Hors
Commerce:
This French term literally translates as “before business.”
Originally an Hors Commerce print was used as the
color key and printing guide which the printer would use to insure
consistency of the print run. Hors Commerce pieces are designated by the
letters H.C. written on the print itself. These pieces are usually
printer’s proofs that are not for sale and are often used for
promotional purposes. H.C. designations can also be used to extend the run of
the edition. Intaglio: All-metal plate
engraving and etching processes in which the printing areas are recessed,
i.e., the lines that form the design are cut into the surface. The plate is
inked and then wiped so that the paper receives the ink from the incised
lines and not from the surface of the plate. Lithograph: A process in which
proofs are pulled on a special litho-press from a flat surface that is
chemically sensitized to take ink only on the design areas and to repel it on
the blank areas. Mezzotint: A reverse-engraving
procedure in which the entire surface of a copper or steel plate is heavily
abraded with a tool called a “rocker” or “cradle.”
The resulting surface, called the “burr,” prints as a dark,
velvety black. White areas are made by burnishing and scraping the burr to
create smooth, depressed areas which will not take the ink. Half-tones are
created by partially burnishing and scraping the burr. Monoprint: A one-of-a-kind print made by painting on a
sheet of glass or metal, and transferring the still-wet painting to a sheet
of paper. Enough of the original paint remains on the plate after the
transfer so that the same or different colors can be reapplied to make
subsequent prints, but no two prints will be exactly alike. Original
Print: A
print made from the original plate, block, stone,
screen, etc. which the artist has created and printed from himself. Paper: Archival prints are done
on rag paper. It is Ph-balanced, and it bends rather than breaking or
cracking. Arches paper is the most commonly used brand-name of rag paper. If
a print is done on Arches paper, you will probably be able to see the Arches
watermark by holding the print up to the light. Plate
Signed:
Prints in which the artist’s signature is put onto the plate itself,
and then transferred to the print through the same process as the rest of the
design. Photogravure: Prints in which the
original image is photographed through a finely cross-ruled screen onto
copper-plates, the margins and non-printing areas of the plate are covered
with acid resist and the plate is then etched. A type of intaglio
printmaking. In this method the proofs are pulled on dry paper through an
etching press. Also called Heliogravure. Pochoir: A stencil and stencil-brush process used to
make multicolor prints, for tinting black and white prints, and for coloring
reproductions and book illustrations, especially fine and limited editions. Pochoir, which is the French word for stencil, is
sometimes called hand coloring or hand illustration. Remarque: A sketch made by the
artist on the margin of an etched plate, often unrelated to the main
composition. Serigraph: Silkscreen prints
whose color areas are paint films rather than printing-ink stains. The direct
technique is versatile enough to produce an unlimited range of colors and
depths, which justifies to some extent the opinion that serigraphy is as much
a painter’s as a printmaker’s medium. Tirage: Complete print documentation given to the
buyer upon purchase of a print. The “who, what, where, when, and how
many” of the print. Sculpture Bas-relief: A
low relief sculpture that projects only slightly from its 2
dimensional background. Bronze: an alloy of copper
and tin used for sculpture. Carving: A subtractive method
of sculpture which consists of removing wood or stone from a single block. Casting: Reproducing in
plaster, bronze, or plastic, an original piece of sculpture made of clay,
wax, or similar material. Ceramic: Any object made of
clay and fired. Contrapposto: A twist or “S” curve of the human
figure caused by placing the weight on one foot and turning the shoulder. Lost
Wax: A method
of creating a wax mold of a sculpture and then heating the mold to melt out
the wax and replace it with a molten metal or plastic. Mobile/Stabile: Terms coined to
describe work created by Alexander Calder. The mobile is a hanging, movable
sculpture and the stabile rests on the ground but also may have moving parts. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |