Technique
DEFINITION
The method or skill of an artist in manipulating a medium or mediums to create a work of art. Mastery of technique is critical to artistic expression. Source: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"<br><br>Any method of working with art materials to produce an art object. Often implied is the sense that techniques are carefully studied, exacting, or traditional, but this is not necessarily the case.Examples include basketry, blotting, carving, constructing, d?coupage, embossing, encaustic, exquisite corpse, firing, folding, hatching, kerning, laminating, marbling, modeling, necking.Quote: "The more technique you have, the less you have to worry about it. The more technique there is, the less there is." Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quoted in: H?l?ne Parmelin, Picasso Plain, chapter 4 (published in France, 1959; reprinted in 1963). ?I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order to learn how to do it.? Pablo Picasso "Anyone who can handle a needle convincingly can make us see a thread which is not there." E. H. Gombrich (1909-), British art critic and art historian. See craftsmanship, illusion and technique. "Art is techniques (e.g. watercolor). Techniques are so mystical: if I wanted to understand an electric motor I would go to a fortune-teller." Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), Swiss painter and kinetic sculptor, in National-Zeitung, Basle, October 13, 1967. "Progressive ideas are just a machine for ruining art. I believe in the old idea of technique. I believe you need it if you're going to have magic and genius and masterpieces. No one would question the value of technique in any other field. No one would say that a tennis player would be better if only he could stop hitting the ball." John Currin (contemporary), American painter. Quoted by Deborah Solomon in "Mr. Bodacious: John Currin paints outrageous pictures of women and an even more outrageous portrait of art history, the art world and himself," New York Times Magazine, November 16, 2003, p. 46. See genius and masterpiece. Also see additive, daho, feather, infrared reflectography (IR), manipulate, medium, openwork, process, and subtractive.