Terminology

Leonardo, Vol. 4, pp. 389-390. Pergamon Press 1971. 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 definitions are not presumed to be unassailable. number of Leonardo (cf. Ref. 11, below). The terms The Editors would, therefore, welcome the comcannot be found in the art dictionaries consulted or ments of readers on the definitions presented. The are used in a new sense. Some are terms that have following references have 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. The Basic Dictionary of Science. Ed. E. C. Graham, Macmillan, New York, 1965. Britannica WorldLanguage Dictionary. Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Chicago, 1962. A Dictionary of Art and Artists. Peter and Linda Murray, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, 1959. A Dictionary of Art Terms. Reginald G. Hagger, Hawthorn Books, New York, 1962. A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques. Ralph Mayer, Thomas Y. Crowell, New York, 1969. Dictionary of the Arts. Martin L. Wolf, Philosophical Library, New York, 1951. Dictionnaire polyglotte des termes d’art et d’archdologie. Louis RCau, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1953. Glossary of Modern Art. John O’Dwyer and Raymond Le Mage, The Philosophical Library, New York. The Harper Encyclopedia of Science. Ed. James R. Newman, Harper and Row, New York, 1963. Leonardo, International Journal of the Contemporary Artist, 4, No. 3, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1971. Mathematics Dictionary. Third Edition, James and James, D. Van Nostrand, Princeton, 1968. Pergamon Dictionary of 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. Alnico (in metallurgy)-The term applying to ferromagnetic alloyscontaining iron, cobalt, nickel, aluminum and copper. They are used for making superior quality permanent magnets. ([l 11 p. 279; [lo]) (cf. Magnet, below) 2. Aluminum stearate (in paint technology)- ([I 11 p. 212) (cf. Metallic soaps, below) 3. Buffer (in chemistry)-Any substance in a water solution that tends to hold the solution’s acidity (or basicity) constant when an acid or a base is added. ([ll] p. 217; [2]) 27 389 4. Cadmium(inchemistry)-A tin-whitemalleable ductile metallic element. It is used as a protective and decorative coating for iron and steel, and in special alloys for automobile bearings. Certain of its compounds are used as pigments in paints and inks. ([ll] p. 279; [lo, 151) 5. Cobalt (in chemistry)-A tough lustrous silverwhite magnetic metallic element. It is used in special ferromagnetic alloys. Certain of its compounds are used as pigments in paints, inks and glass. ([I 11 p. 279; [lo, 151) (cf. Alnico, above) 6. Combinatorial-Relating to any ordered sequence. ([ll] p. 264; [15]) 390 Terminology 7. Concrete poetry-The work of a poet in which the words are presented in a non-traditional visual form resulting from the use of unusual typographical setting or spacing of words and of combinations with graphic material, etc. ([I I] p. 260; Books, Leonard0 1,203 (1 968)) 8. Dispersant (in paint teclvzology)-A substance included in paint formulations to prevent or reduce the flocculation of pigments. ([I I] p. 216) 9. Funk Art or ‘Sick’ Art-A style of visual fine art originating with a group of artists in the San Francisco, California region in the 1960’s. The style, roughly a mixture of Dada and Pop Art, is characterized by a highly informal technique and usually by the deliberate incorporation of neurotic symbolism . ([1 I] p. 286) 10. Gel (in chemistry)-The seemingly solid, generally gelly-like substance formed from a liquid colloidal solution when it is not kept heated or in motion. ([I 11 p. 218; [2]) 11. Inhibitor (in chemistry)-An agent that slows or interferes with a chemical action ([I 11 p. 212; [I 51) 12. Initiator (in chemistry)-A chemical agent employed to trigger chemical reaction in polymer manufacture. The initiator decomposes quickly to form intermediate...