Nabis Art Styles/Movements

General


(1888-1899)  The art movement called Nabis was formed from a group of Paris artists.  The group included Post-Impressionist illustrators and artists that played a big part in influencing the development of graphic art.  The leader of the group was Paul Seriusier; he and the others were devoted to the work of  Paul Gaughin and its color technique.  They stressed putting a focus on design along with another art movement of the time called Art Nouveau.  Key artists of Nabis included: Maurice Denis, Ker Xavier Roussel, Félix Vallotton, Pierre Bonnard, and Édouard Vuillard.
 

nappy velvet Interior Decorating

Product
A velvet fabric that contains a thick, stout pile.

Nathaniel Adams Furniture

General

 Adams was a furniture maker from Boston, MA who studied under Thomas Edsall.  He created American Jacobean furniture harnassing elements of the English Jacobean style that took place in the 1600s.

native plant Gardening

General
A plant that originates from a certain area. Plants often grow best in their original habitats because they are well-adapted to the area's environment.

Natural Fibers Textiles

General

Wool, cotton, silk and linen fibers. 

naturalize Gardening

Technical
To plant seeds in an unorganized manner with the aim of making it appear as though the plants grew there naturally. Some plants, after the first planting, will continue to grow and spread their roots year after year.

needle Quilting

Equipment
An instrument, often of polished steel, that has a sharp point at one end and an eye or hole for thread at the other. A needle is used to create stitches on a piece of fabric. See also between or sharp.

needle marking Quilting

Technical
A method developed over many years that was created to mark a quilt design on top of a quilt. A darning needle is used to make a faint line along the edge of a pattern.

needle-turned applique Quilting

General
A type of hand applique. A needle's shank and point assist to fold the raw edges of appliques while they are being stitched to the back of a quilt.

needling Quilting

Technical
The method of putting a needle through layers of a quilt when stitching. Needling can range from difficult or hard depending on the amount of difficulty in pushing a needle into the layers of a fabric or batting.

Negative Film

Equipment

The original film used to take the footage in the camera.  From the negative, a positive print is created for editing.  The negative is organized to pair up with the edited work-print and an answer print.  It is used for a finished film’s projection. 

Negative Cutter Film

General

The title given to the person responsible for the cutting and assembling of the original negative’s pairing up with the edited workprint.  This is then sent to a lab to create the answer print. 

Negative Matcher Film

General

Another title for a person who is a negative cutter.

Negative Space Drawing

General

Negative space in a painting or drawing refers to the area encircling or located behind a positive shape. 

Nehemiam Adams Furniture

General

Nehemiam Adams (1769 - 1840) Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Adams was a furniture maker of the federal period. 

Neo Expressionism Art Styles/Movements

General

An art movement that filled the art galleries in the 1970s and 1980s in both the USA and Europe.  The term Neo Expressionism refers to a group of varied artists who decided to start painting objects and the figure in a more recognizable way than was the current norm at the time.  The movement was a reaction against the stark, abstract intellectualized art made in the 1970s.  Thick impasto and the stress on big heavy forms that related to historical narrative regarding allegory, myth and symbolism marked the artwork. The movement was propelled along by advertising methods, marketing techniques and galleries seeking to promote the artwork.  Underlying all the artwork was an indifferent, sometimes cold emotional tone that reflected the values of the day, as well as to the actual representation of how objects appeared.  The artists used a unique approach to their presentation of objects; the objects communicated a sense of loneliness, indifference and tension.  The traditional way of composing a picture was thus put away, and they artists chose not to use rich or vivid color harmonies.  Key artists of the period included: Julian Schnabel and David Salle from the USA, Sandro Chia and Francesco Clemente from Italy, and Anselm Kiefer and Georg Baselitz from Germany. Because of its commercialized side and the encouragement of the public to purchase the art, as well as the actual questionable quality of the work, Neo-Expressionism proved to be rather controversial as people strove to understand how to embrace or react against the message and implications it brought. 

Neoclassical Art Styles/Movements

General

(1750-1880) A French art movement that began as a reaction against the Baroque style filled with emotions and feelings, and the Rococo style that was rather stuffy and overbred.  Its aim was to raise again the ideals of Roman and Greek art that included unemotional and often severe forms.  The classic forms from the Roman and Greek era were used to share the artists’ ideas about things such as patriotism, sacrifice, and bravery.  Examples of Neo-Classical artists include: Jacques-Louis David, Sir Henry Raeburn, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Thomas Gainsborough, Antonio Canova and Arnold Bocklin.  The art movement Romanticism acted as a counter-balanced to this movement and both styles had a big influence on artists of the time and thereafter.



 

Neoprene Textiles

Product

A hardy, oil-resistant man-made rubber.

Nested Stories Graphic Design

General

Stories set in multiple columns at varying column depths in magazine publication layouts or newsletter layouts.

net floor area Carpentry

General
The floor area minus the floor openings such as of columns, stairs, and room dividers.

neutral Color

General
Without color; being gray, white or black. Achromatic.

neutral flame Welding

General
Equal amounts of acetylene and oxygen in a oxyacetylene flame.

neutral soil Gardening

General
Soil that contains a pH level of 7.0. This type of soil is a balance of acidic levels and alkaline levels.

newel Carpentry

General
A foundational post at the beginning of the stairs and the stiffening post at the bottom of the stairs.

Nib Calligraphy

Equipment

In calligraphy, a nib is a pen point. 

Nib Width Calligraphy

General

In calligraphy, a nib width is the width of a tool’s edge.  There are various sizes of nib widths.  For example, a letter may be written at 8 nib widths high or at 4 nib widths high.  A letter written with at 8 nib widths high will be twice as light as one written at 4 nib widths high. 

Niccolo dell Abbate Artists/Craftpersons

General

 Abbate (1510 - 1571) was an Italian painter trained in Modena and in Bologna.  He was influenced by Correggio and Parmigianino.  Abbate worked to decorate palaces with his elegant style.  He is particularly known for his landscapes from mythological stories, becoming a precursor of sorts to Poussin and Claude.  

Niche Market Business Art

General

Finding a niche market is essential for any artist to successfully sell his artwork.  Understanding where and who potential buyers are is part of finding the niche market.  An artist must also know how much he can charge for his art in relation to what other artists creating similar pieces are charging.  Analyzing who has purchased artwork in the past and at what cost, as well as finding art agents, and licensees are other parts of finding one’s niche market.

Nii / Nee Anime / Manga

General

Nii or nee are honorific terms used in anime that translates as big brother or big sister.

Nikolai Abraham Abildgaard Furniture

General

Nikolai Abraham Abildgaard (1743 - 1809) In addition to being a Danish painter and neoclassical style interior designer, Abildgaard designed furniture.  At first he designd the furniture for himself. Later, he designed furniture for the Danish family.  He enjoyed copying ancient Greek furniture as can be seen in ancient pottery painting.

nine-patch block Quilting

General
The nine units that make up a block that is placed amongst three rows with three units for each row.

Nitrate Cel Animation

General

Animation cels that were used until the 1940’s and 1950’s.  Yellowing and rippling on the cels are signs of their aging. 

nitriding Welding

Technical
A process by which some steels go through a surface-hardening process. The process involves anhydrous ammonia gas coming into contact with nitrogen at 935 - 1000 degrees F (502 - 538 degrees C).

nitrogen Gardening

General
One of the three essential nutrients a plant must have in order to grow. Stems and leaves are assisted in growth by nitrogen.

nominal size Carpentry

General

The standard commercial dimensions that a piece of timber or lumber is known and purchased at.

Non-Reflex Film

Equipment

A type of camera that provides an image in the viewfinder through a separate lens.  Examples of non-reflex cameras are Bell & Howell and older Bolex cameras.  These cameras do not contain a “through the lens” view-finding system. 

nonbearing partition Carpentry

General
A division that begins from the floor and goes to the ceiling that upholds only its own weight.

nonobjective art Art Materials and General Art Terms

General
Art that contains no subject matter; in other words, the artist is not trying to portray something from the world.   Instead, the artist's goal is to make a piece of art strictly through the formal elements of texture, value, color, shape and line.  This type of art is often difficult for people to understand or appreciate, because people naturally seek something concrete in an image - something recognizable. 

 

nonreplaced elements Computer

General

An element can be classified as either a nonreplaced element or a replaced element.  A nonreplaced element is an element whose content is viewed by the user agent within a box created by the element itself. Most elements in HTML and XHTML are nonreplaced elements, such as paragraphs, lists, table cells and headings.  

 

Normal Lens Film

Equipment

A normal lens is the spot between the widening of the image by the wide-angle lens, and the widening of the image by the telephoto lens.  A normal lens is considered to be the 50mm lens in a 35mm, and in 16mm it is considered to be the 25mm lens. 

normalizing Welding

Technical
A process utilized to relieve stress on material or fabricated parts that will be eventually machined or bended. Heat is applied to metal above the transformation temperature and then cooled in a room without drafts.

Nose Grease Film

Product

A type of grease used to lubricate the pressure plate.  It is coated over the side of the nose by a cameraperson.

Nose Room Film

General

The space between the edge of the frame and a person’s face when it is in profile.  In general, the space surrounding the subject should be 1/3 behind and 2/3 in front of the subject’s head.  It is considered a good thing if there exists excess space in front of the subject’s face (as opposed to behind the person’s head).

nosing Carpentry

General
The section of the stair tread that extends over the riser or other kinds of extensions. Nosing refers to the edge of a board that is rounded.

Nubuck Leather

General

A very fine sueded finish.

Numbered Business Art

Product

A numbered print is a print created to display the size or limit of a print edition; usually a number is written before the size of the edition.  For instance, 15/200 would explain that a print is number 15 out of an edition of 200.  Sometimes with older printing processes, having a print with a lower number signifies the printing of the print is of superior quality than the prints printed after it.  However, with modern printing, this is not the case.