I’m looking for a dictionary, lexicon or glossary that gives plain-English definitions of “artspeak” terms (“negative space,” etc. – the specialized jargon used by art critics).
Nobody knows? Something online would be ideal.
ArtLex is a very useful site.
ArtLex (I’d never seen that site before, thanks, pinkfreud) seems pretty good. However, I’ll throw in the caveat that you can’t necessarily expect to understand every adjective used by somebody dealing with a specific field. There’s plenty of people who would find the terminology of a review of a new Porsche incomprehensible. What’s ‘brake horsepower’?
Want my old Art 101 textbook?
Saying “It’s about the tension between being and becoming” for everything you see that doesn’t actually look like anything will get you past most stuff. Sadly, however, screaming “Dear Sweet Weeping Jesus, a syphilitically blind amputee baboon with impacted haemorrhoids and a hangover could paint better than that!” is frowned upon in most art circles.
Robert Atkins compiled two books of this sort of thing, Artspeak and [. They cover art ideas, movements, and “buzzwords” from 1848-1944 (Artspoke) and from 1945-1997 (Artspeak).
Though neither includes youre example of “[url=http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary/g/n_negativespace.htm]negative space](]Artspoke[/url),” I do recomment them; great resources! 