As a beginner in the art world, everything seems new and exciting, yet when boiling down to the specifics, I find myself getting lost in terminology. After much reading, I have gained a basic understanding for some of the terms that describe key attributes of works of art. Representational, abstract, nonrepresentational, style, form, and iconography are all terms necessary to understand before beginning to understand the world of art.
Representational art is an embodiment of what the artist deems are the important details of the original image. This finished product could be a close likeness, or look hardly at all like the artists original inspiration, yet it remains a portrayal of an actual object. Before the advent of photography, representational art was the only way to depict people or landscapes, but in the last century representational art may be more appreciated as an art form rather than a means to record a portion of time.
An extreme form of representational art is abstract, which retains a portion of the original likeness of an object or image and simply focuses on a few elements. A final abstract work can range from gross oversimplifications, to wildly imaginative exaggerations, yet are all recognizable in some form. The later works of Pablo Picasso are the most easily recognizable examples of abstract representation, yet are not the only example.
Nonrepresentational art is a form not based upon an artist’s interpretation of an original physical specimen.