chiaroscuro

chiaroscuro

See also: chiaroscurò and Chiaroscuro

English

WOTD – 18 June 2012

Alternative forms

• chiaro-oscuro, claro-obscuro (archaic)
• chiaro-scuro (obsolete)

Etymology

Mid-17th century, borrowed from Italian chiaroscuro, from chiaro (“clear, bright”) + oscuro (“dark, obscure”).

Pronunciation

chiaroscuro with its exaggerated light contrasts

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɪˌɑːɹəˈskʊəɹəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkjɑɹəˈsk(j)ʊɹoʊ/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌkjɒɹəˈskuɹoʊ/
• Rhymes: -ʊəɹəʊ, -ʊɹəʊ

Noun

chiaroscuro (countable and uncountable, plural chiaroscuros or chiaroscuri)

1. (painting) An artistic technique developed during the Renaissance, referring to the use of strong contrasts between light and dark in order to create the illusion of volume.
2. (painting) A monochrome picture made by using several different shades of the same color.
3. (art) A woodcut technique in which several woodcut blocks are used to print different shades of a color, or a woodcut print made by this technique.
4. (photography) A photographic technique in which one side of the subject, for example a face, is well lit and the other is in shadow.

   Synonym: Rembrandt lighting

Coordinate terms

• contrast

Derived terms

• chiaroscurist

Translations

artistic technique using exaggerated light contrasts

Arabic: اَلْجَلْاَء وَاَلْقُتْمَة‎ m (al-jalaʾ waalqutma) Armenian: լուսաստվեր (hy) (lusastver) Asturian: clarescuru m Basque: argi-ilun Belarusian: святлаце́нь f (svjatlacjénʹ) Breton: sklêrijenn deñval f, sklaer-ha-teñval m, chiaroscuro m Bulgarian: све́тлося́нка f (svétlosjánka) Catalan: clarobscur (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 明暗對照法／明暗对照法 (míng'àn duìzhào fǎ) Czech: šerosvit m Dutch: clair-obscur (nl) n Esperanto: klarobskuro Finnish: chiaroscuro (fi), valohämy (fi) French: clair-obscur (fr) m Friulian: clâr e scûr m Galician: clarescuro m Georgian: შუქჩრდილი (šukčrdili) German: Chiaroscuro n, Helldunkelmalerei f, Clair-obscur n Greek: φωτοσκίαση (el) f (fotoskíasi), σκιοφωτισμός (el) m (skiofotismós), κιαροσκούρο n (kiaroskoúro) Hebrew: קִיָארוֹסְקָוּרוֹ‎ m (kiyaroskúro) Hungarian: please add this translation if you can Ido: klar-obskuro Irish: gealdorcha m, chiaroscuro m Italian: chiaroscuro (it) m Japanese: キアロスクーロ (kiarosukūro), 明暗法 (めいあんほう, meianhō), 陰影法 (いんえいほう, in'eihō) Kazakh: сәуле мен көлеңке (säule men köleñke) Korean: 키아로스쿠로 (kiaroseukuro), 명암법 (ko) (myeong'ambeop) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: rohn û tarîtî Lithuanian: kiaroskuras m Lombard: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: chiaroscuro (no) m, kjellerlys n, clair-obscur m Occitan: clarescur m Persian: سایه‌روشن‎ (sâye-roušan), کیاروسکورو‎ (kiyâroskuro) Piedmontese: ciàir-ëscur m Polish: światłocień (pl) m, chiaroscuro (pl) m Portuguese: chiaroscuro m, claro-escuro (pt) m, fuscalvo (pt) m Romanian: clarobscur (ro) n, clar-obscur n Russian: кьяроску́ро n (kʹjaroskúro), светоте́нь (ru) f (svetoténʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: киароскуро m Roman: kjaroskuro m Slovene: chiaroscúro m Spanish: claroscuro (es) m Swedish: klärobskyr (sv) c, clairobscur (sv) c, ljusdunkel (sv) n Tagalog: klaroskuro Tajik: рӯшноию тирагӣ (rüšnoyiyu tiragī) Tamil: சியாரோஸ்கியூரோ (ciyārōskiyūrō) Thai: ค่าต่างแสง (kâa-dtàang-sɛ̌ɛng) Turkish: ışık gölge, aşık koyu Turkmen: ýagtylyk-kölege Ukrainian: світлоті́нь f (svitlotínʹ)

Adjective

chiaroscuro (comparative more chiaroscuro, superlative most chiaroscuro)

1. (figuratively) Possessing the qualities of a work of chiaroscuro.
   • 1913, The Saturday Evening Post - Volume 185, Issue 7, page 21:

     It has been a very chiaroscuro day—lots of sunlight and shadow.

   • 1962, Charles Neider, The frozen sea: a study of Franz Kafka, page 90:

     It is cruder than the others, more graphic, less chiaroscuro.

   • 1970, Archeologia classica - Volumes 22-23, page 56:

     A somewhat " chiaroscuro " effect, which imparts a strong feeling of rotundity to the bronze helmet, is achieved by the artist's bold use of broad hatching along its upper contours.

   • 1983 -, Max Davidson, The Wolf, page 68:

     'Rome's a very chiaroscuro city, I've always thought,' said Tom Richardson eventually, sensing that the lull in the conversation was going to be a protracted one.

   • 1984, Francesca Stanfill, Shadows and light:

     I heard them discussing painting, and the two pictures Veronique had purchased from Allegra's sale: a haunting nude, very chiaroscuro, and another — more colorful and enigmatic — of a woman before a screen, holding an Oriental mask.

   • 1993, American Cinematographer - Volume 74, page 55:

     To minimize the problem, we used dark skies, very chiaroscuro lighting, and decided that the whole film would take place at night."

   • 1994, The Absolute Sound - Volume 19, Issues 95-98, page 111:

     HP, however, preferred the more chiaroscuro quality of the original CD.

   • 1995, Frank Waters, The Lizard Woman, page 3:

     A very chiaroscuro sort of man he was, arm on balcony, staring down into the dusty street below.

   • 2007, Gerd Gemünden, Mary R. Desjardins, Dietrich Icon, page 265:

     At times the image is so chiaroscuro as to be nearly illegible, such that one can only imagine the discussions between Lang and the Technicolor advisors.

   • 2017, P.L. Hawks, I Love Paris:

     The shooting bright light from the outside contrasted sharply from the coal black shadows of the interior giving the compound a very chiaroscuro quality.

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkja.roˈsku.ro/[1]
• Rhymes: -uro
• Hyphenation: chia‧ro‧scù‧ro

Etymology 1

From chiaro (“clear, bright”) +‎ oscuro (“dark, obscure”).

Noun

chiaroscuro m (plural chiaroscuri)

1. (painting, art) chiaroscuro (artistic technique using exaggerated light contrasts)
2. (figurative) contrasts, ups and downs

Coordinate terms

• contrasto

Derived terms

• chiaroscurale
• chiaroscurare

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

chiaroscuro

1. first-person singular present indicative of chiaroscurare

References

1. chiaroscuro in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Further reading

• chiaroscuro in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• chiaroscuro in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)
• chiaroscuro in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• chiaroscùro in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• chiaroscuro in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
• chiaroscuro in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian chiaroscuro, from chiaro (“clear, bright”) + scuro (“dark, obscure”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kja.ɾuʃˈku.ɾu/

Noun

chiaroscuro m (plural chiaroscuros)

1. (painting) chiaroscuro (artistic technique using exaggerated light contrasts)

   Synonym: (calque) claro-escuro

   Coordinate term: contraste