Welcome to the Tate Glossary   The Tate Glossary online is designed to explain and illuminate some of the art terminology you will find in the collection pages. It contains definitions, most with illustrations, of nearly 300 terms including artist groups and art movements, techniques, media and other art jargon. Terms are listed alphabetically - to browse the glossary choose a letter from A to Z above. Most definitions are illustrated by example images. To search for more images try the subject search.
The Glossary as Companion As well as browsing the Glossary as an A-Z dictionary, with a compatible web browser you can also see popup definitions while you are reading texts about works or artists in the Collection. Links to glossary terms from a biography or text about a work will be highlighted like this: ...he turned to abstract art in 1929...
BSL signed definitions In addition to the written definitions, a selected number of glossary terms are accompanied by videos of British Sign Language translations. Choose one of these icons when you want to view a definition:   BSL signed > BSL		See a list of all the BSL definitions
Please note that we are unable to illustrate all the Glossary definitions. This is due to copyright restrictions and in a few cases there may be no relevant image in Tate’s Collection.
The Tate Glossary was produced with support from the Big Lottery Fund