Word to describe a painting by the materials that were used in its creation

Question

Alessandro Magnasco, Bernardo Bellotto and Claude Monet are artists or painters.

Oil on canvas, oil on wood, oil on paper on canvas, oil on card mounted on paperboard, oil on canvas on board are ???.

Source where I found these: https://images.nga.gov

They are all paintings, irrespective of the material on which they are made. — user 66974, Commented Jun 1, 2020 at 11:14

prash · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-01 11:44:27Z

17

I believe the word you're looking for is "medium". This explanatory page shows contexts where the medium refers to the binder and the surface. Or more generally, the Wikipedia page for the list of art media covers more categories of art.

answered Jun 1, 2020 at 11:44

prash

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To fit in the sentence, they are all "media" (slightly sorry to be "that guy").
– Will Crawford
Commented Jun 3, 2020 at 2:52
1

@WillCrawford it seems, however, that the plural-of-art (pun unintended but fully acknowledged) in the art world is mediums, presumably to avoid confusion with communication media.
– phoog
Commented Jun 3, 2020 at 3:27
1

From that page: "To add to the confusion, the term medium is also used to describe the materials an artist uses, or simply the type of paint, such as oil, acrylics, or watercolors, as well the type of support, or surface used for painting. The plural is media. For example, the description "oil on canvas"...
– Will Crawford
Commented Jun 4, 2020 at 0:46

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