Arts Criticism and Cultural Commentary

C2 · 100 entries · Five themes

Arts Criticism and Cultural Commentary

Created by , British English teacher.

Open a theme, then select a word or phrase for its meaning, example and pronunciation.

1. Aesthetic positions (20 entries)
  1. aesthetic autonomy
  2. formalism
  3. experimentalism
  4. privilege experience
  5. pastiche
  6. a flattened perspective
  7. a sculptural presence
  8. an illusion of depth
  9. a tonal progression
  10. a restrained palette
  11. an impasto technique
  12. ornamental excess
  13. a painterly surface
  14. foreshortening
  15. a luminous underpainting
  16. a dissonant colour pairing
  17. austere minimalism
  18. a tactile quality
  19. a vanishing point
  20. portraiture
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2. Cultural resonance (20 entries)
  1. strike a chord with an audience
  2. invert a symbol
  3. surrealism
  4. milieu
  5. find a receptive audience
  6. posterity
  7. tokenism
  8. carry the room
  9. anthology
  10. bury the lead
  11. revelatory
  12. anthropological
  13. engender
  14. fly in the face of convention
  15. exorcism
  16. notoriety
  17. nascent
  18. edify
  19. preach to the converted
  20. marvel
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3. Stylistic nuance (20 entries)
  1. resist sentimentality
  2. lyrical
  3. barbed
  4. elegiac
  5. poetic licence
  6. cursory
  7. overwrought
  8. laboured
  9. strike a note of defiance
  10. florid
  11. a term of art
  12. articulation
  13. edification
  14. a loaded epithet
  15. wordsmith
  16. strike an elegiac note
  17. ponderous
  18. snobbery
  19. baroque
  20. tenacious
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4. Interpretive disagreements (20 entries)
  1. dispute an attribution
  2. leave that contention to one side
  3. lock horns over something
  4. beg leave to differ
  5. fan the flames of a dispute
  6. find fault with the reasoning
  7. take umbrage at
  8. take someone to task
  9. cast aspersions on
  10. the analogy breaks down
  11. agree to disagree on principle
  12. call someone out on something
  13. have a bone to pick with someone
  14. put a gloss on
  15. locate a point of tension
  16. a counsel of despair
  17. dissociation
  18. come to a head
  19. take the flak
  20. the received wisdom
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5. Critical positioning (20 entries)
  1. measured endorsement
  2. critical intervention
  3. a study in contrasts
  4. an oblique viewpoint
  5. beg the question
  6. a tour de force
  7. soft-pedal a criticism
  8. suspense
  9. a lightning rod for criticism
  10. stand firm in the face of criticism
  11. bear the brunt of criticism
  12. break the fourth wall
  13. answer one's critics
  14. a trompe-l'œil effect
  15. reproach
  16. revile
  17. cinematography
  18. be in someone's good books
  19. rebuke
  20. paramount
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