American
- Refers to the context of or associated specifically with the modern political entity of the United States of America.
canvas
- Closely woven textile made in various weights, usually of flax, hemp, jute, or cotton, used especially for sails, tarpaulins, awnings, upholstery, and as a support for oil painting. Also used for a latticelike mesh made of similar material, used as a needlepoint foundation.
Contemporary
- Refers to painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and architecture dating from the recent past and present. It differs from modern art in that the term 'contemporary art' does not carry the implication of a non-traditional style, but instead refers only to the time period in which the work was created. 'Modern' and 'contemporary' are inherently fluid terms. The term 'contemporary' is sometimes more narrowly used to refer to art from ca. 1960 or 1970 up to the present.
oil (substance)
- General term for a wide variety of viscous liquids (or easily liquefiable on warming) that are both combustible and immiscible in water. The character of oils may be mineral (e.g., paraffin), vegetable (e.g., linseed), animal (e.g., fish), essential (e.g., turpentine), or edible (e.g., olive).
oil painting (technique)
- The art or practice of producing creative works in oil paint, which is pigment suspended in vegetal drying oils. It dates from at least the Middle Ages in Europe, and was widely adopted for easel painting by the fifteenth century.
paintings (visual works)
- Unique works in which images are formed primarily by the direct application of pigments suspended in oil, water, egg yolk, molten wax, or other liquid, arranged in masses of color, onto a generally two-dimensional surface.