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February 09, 2005

grisaille (gri-ZAI, ZAYL) noun

A painting in tones of a single color, especially gray, to represent objects in relief.
[From French grisaille (grayness), from gris (gray).]

An example: Odalisque in Grisaille by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.
http://metmuseum.org/works_of_art/viewonezoom.asp?dep=11&item=38.65

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus 3: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=grisaille


"And the tenants-only restaurant and bar on the uppermost floors --with their muted grisaille tones, baroque silver staircase surrounding a cylindrical glass elevator, and 360-degree views of all London --are almost too perfect to believe."
David Littlejohn; It's a Pickle, It's a Pineapple -- It's a Brilliant New Skyscraper; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Sep 13, 2004.

"Mr. Okshteyn's large, grisaille photorealistic pictures are technically impressive, especially the ones made from graphite."
Art Guide; The New York Times; Mar 14, 2003.


This week's theme: words related to art.

PronunciationRealAudio

Permalink:
http://wordsmith.org/words/grisaille.html

Posted by Keya at February 9, 2005 06:49 PM
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