Art words for Alias — painting, sculpture, museums

Painting, sculpture, galleries and techniques. For a group that never misses an exhibition.

A set about what hangs in galleries and stands in studios: paints and brushes, genres and techniques, frames, halls and visitors. No artists' names and no painting titles — only what art is made of.

Who this set is for

It is for a group that has walked through a museum at least once for longer than it takes to reach the café. Everyone can explain a brush and a portrait, but engraving or perspective already need somebody from art school.

Who this set is for

A group that goes to exhibitions and argues about whether this is art at all. The easy level — paint, frame, statue — anyone clears. The medium one — sketch, plein-air, still-life — plays well at a mixed table. The hard one — sfumato, impasto, installation — asks for at least one art-school graduate or art historian. Perfect right after an exhibition, while the impression is fresh.

Still-life

Works: “a painting with apples, a jug and a dead duck on a table.” Three objects and the group sees the canvas. Does not work: “a genre of painting” — half the set starts that way, and it will be landscape, portrait, icon.

Easel

Works: “a wooden stand on three legs that a painter puts the canvas on.” Through shape and use. Does not work: “a painter's equipment” — the group will go through brushes, palette and apron.

Perspective

Works: “why the rails in a picture meet at one point.” One example everyone has seen. Does not work: “a way of showing space on a flat surface” — a textbook definition, and the group is silent.

Where groups go wrong

The first trap is names: “the one who cut off his ear”, “the one with the smile”. One player knows, three do not, and the word self-portrait never comes. Explain through what is on the canvas, not who signed it. The second is the chain of genres: “like a landscape but with people” leads sideways, because the group gets stuck on landscape. The third is techniques through other techniques: “like watercolour but thicker” works only with those who have held a brush. Better to say what it looks like on the wall and what it smells like in the studio.

Explain genres through what is on the canvas: "apples and a jug on a table" is a still-life.
Techniques go through tool and surface: "scratched with a needle on metal, then printed" is an engraving.
Museum words go through what a visitor does: "the thing you must not step over" is the barrier.

Easy

Familiar words that land on the first clue. For warming up, for kids and for mixed groups.

art, artist, painting, drawing, paint, brush, pencil, marker, chalk, charcoal, paper, canvas, frame, wall, museum, gallery, exhibition, hall, ticket, tour, guide, statue, sculptor, sculpture, monument, clay, stone, marble, bronze, wood, gold, glass, portrait, landscape, face, smile, eye, hand, flower, vase, apple, sea, sky, cloud, forest, river, city, house, window, door, colour, red, blue, yellow, green, black, white, light, shadow, line, dot, circle, square, triangle, pattern, ornament, star, heart, palette, easel, apron, water, jar, eraser, ruler, scissors, glue, sheet, album, sketchbook, sticker, poster, postcard, photo, camera, mirror, icon, temple, church, doll, toy, mask, beauty, beautiful, bright, dark, old, new, draw, sculpt

Medium

Takes a few sentences and some imagination. The default setting for an ordinary evening.

sketch, study, outline, plein-air, still-life, self-portrait, watercolour, gouache, oil, pastel, tempera, acrylic, ink, varnish, primer, stroke, hatching, contour, silhouette, shade, tone, halftone, highlight, contrast, perspective, horizon, composition, proportion, symmetry, rhythm, texture, relief, bust, torso, pedestal, plinth, chisel, mallet, gouge, plaster, cast, mould, modelling, ceramics, porcelain, faience, enamel, mosaic, stained-glass, fresco, engraving, lithography, print, collage, graphics, illustration, caricature, cartoon, comic, calligraphy, font, miniature, fragment, detail, copy, original, forgery, restoration, restorer, exhibit, display, collection, collector, curator, opening, auction, patron, gallerist, critic, catalogue, label, showcase, barrier, guard, alarm, storeroom, studio, model, sitter, posing, muse, inspiration, style, movement, school, academy, avant-garde, realism, abstraction, graffiti

Hard

Rare or abstract words. More failed rounds, and more laughing at them.

sfumato, impasto, chiaroscuro, grisaille, glazing, pointillism, fauvism, expressionism, dadaism, futurism, constructivism, suprematism, mannerism, baroque, rococo, classicism, romanticism, symbolism, modernism, postmodernism, minimalism, conceptualism, installation, performance, encaustic, sgraffito, etching, linocut, woodcut, aquatint, screenprint, monotype, diptych, triptych, polyptych, altarpiece, iconostasis, tondo, veduta, seascape, bestiary, nude, vanitas, allegory, attribute, iconography, iconology, connoisseurship, attribution, provenance, appraisal, conservation, craquelure, pentimento, underpainting, imprimatura, gesso, gilding, patina, casting, chasing, filigree, inlay, intarsia, marquetry, carving, contrapposto, caryatid, atlas, frieze, metope, capital, pilaster, cartouche, medallion, arabesque, grotesque, empire, biedermeier, secession, art-deco, art-nouveau, bauhaus, kitsch, primitivism, naive, tachisme, impressionism, cubism, surrealism, pop-art, op-art, land-art, street-art, video-art, antiques, antiquarian, replica, dummy, facsimile