Terminology

Leonardo,Vol. 4, pp. 287-288. Pergamon Press1971. Printed in Great Britain TERMINOLOGY ~~ ~~ ~ The terms defined below were selected from natural and social sciences and from technology. articles and notes written by artists in the previous The definitionsare not presumedto be unassailable. number of Leonardo (cf. Ref. 11, below). The terms TheEditorswould,therefore,welcomethecomments cannot be found in the art dictionariesconsulted or of readers on the definitionspresented. The followare used in a new sense. Some are terms that have ing referenceshave been consulted: been carried over into the field of art from the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. The Adeline Art Dictionary. Jules Adeline, Frederick Ungar, New York, 1967. TheBasic Dictionary o f Science. Ed. E. C. Graham, Macmillan, New York, 1965. Britannica WorldLanguage Dictionary. EncyclopaediaBrittanica,Chicago, 1962. A Dictionary o f Art and Artists. Peter and Linda Murray, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1959. A Dictionary o f Art Terms. Reginald G. Hagger, Hawthorn Books, New York, 1962. A Dictionary o f Art Terms and Techniques. Ralph Mayer, Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1969. Dictionary o f the Arts. Martin L. Wolf, Philosophical Library, New York, 1951. Dictionnaire polyglotte des termes d‘art et d’archkologie. Louis RCau, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1953. Glossary o f Modern Art. John O’Dwyer and Raymond Le Mage, The PhilosophicalLibrary , New York. The Harper Encyclopedia o f Science. Ed. James R. Newman, Harper and Row, New York, 1963. Leonardo, International Journal of the ContemporaryArtist, 4, No. 2, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1971. Mathematics Dictionary. Third Edition, James and James, D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, 1968. Pergamon Dictionary o f Art. John FitzMaurice Mills, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1965. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Third Edition, Revised with Addenda, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1965. Webster ’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. G. & C. Merriam, Springfield, Mass, 1967. 1 . Abstrel-The term based on the words ‘abstract’ and ‘electron’ for designating sculptures made by the local fusion of metal by the use of an electron beam welding machine. ([ll] p. 159) (cf. Electron beam welding machine, below) 2. Accommodation (in biology and psychology)The adjustment of the behaviour of an organism to environmental factors through the modification of its reactionsto them. ([ll] p. 155) (cf. Assimilation, 3. Assimilation (in biology and psychology)-the response of an organism to stimulating conditions such that each new stimulating condition tends to elicit the response that has been connected with similar stimulatingconditions in the past. ([l 11 p. 155) (cf. Accommodation, above) 4. Basalt (in geologyjA fine-grained igneous, volcanic rock of high density and dark color, below) consisting of basic plagioclase, augite and, usually, magnetite. ([ll] p. 121; [3, 151) 5. Chronophotographs--A series of still photographs of an object in motion taken at regular time intervals. ([ll] p. 119) 6. Ciematic-Pertaining to motion-picture presentation . ([ll] p. 118; [3]) 7 . Compound-idea construction-The term coined by D. Zaig for an art object, in particular a sculptural construction, based on several visual ideas. 8. Conformal mapping (in mathematics)-The making of a map that preserves angles, that is, of a map suchthat if two curvesintersectat an angle A, then the images of the two curves in the map also intersectatthe sameangleA. ([ll] p. 123; [12]) m 1 1 P. 165) 287 288 Terminology 9. Crystallography (in chemistry and physics)The science dealing with systems of forms among crystals, their structure and their modes of aggregation . ([ll] p. 119; [15]) 10. Direct-image plate-A grease-sensitive, plastic coated paper plate that is designed to receive type-written or hand-drawn images for printing by the lithographicprocess. ([I11 p. 147) 1 1 . Electrode (in physics)-Either of the two conductingparts by which an electriccurrent enters or leaves a liquid, gas or vacuum, such as in an automobile battery, an electric arc device or a vacuum tube ([ll] p. 159; [2,3]) 12. Electron (in physics)-One of the elementary particles of which the universe is constructed.It has a charge of negative electricity. Atoms are made up of electrons in orbit round a center called the nucleus. ([ll] p. 159; [lo, 151) 13. Electron beam welding machine-A device for...