chiaroscuro

See also: chiaroscurò and Chiaroscuro

English

WOTD – 18 June 2012

Alternative forms

• chiaro-oscuro (archaic)
• claro-obscuro (Spanish borrowing)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

chiaroscuro with its exaggerated light contrasts

• IPA^(key): /kɪˌɑːɹəˈskʊəɹəʊ/
• IPA^(key): /ˌkjɑɹəˈsk(j)ʊɹoʊ/
• 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 exaggerated light contrasts 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) The use of blocks of wood of different colors in a woodcut.
4. (photography) A photographic technique in which one side of, for example, a face is well lit and the other is in shadow.

Synonyms

• (photographic technique): Rembrandt lighting

Derived terms

• chiaroscurist

Coordinate terms

• contrast

Translations

artistic technique using exaggerated light contrasts

• Arabic: اَلْجَلْاَء وَاَلْقُتْمَة m (al-jalaʔ 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 m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 明暗對照法／明暗对照法, 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
• 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)
• Ido: klar-obskuro
• Irish: gealdorcha 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 키아로스쿠로 (kiaroseukuro), 명암법 (ko) (myeong'ambeop)
• Kurdish:
• Lithuanian: kiaroskuras m
• Norwegian: chiaroscuro (no) m, kjellerlys n, clair-obscur m
• Occitan: clarescur m
• Persian: سایه‌روشن (sâye-roušan), کیاروسکورو (kiyâroskuro)
• 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 tiragi)
• 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.

---

Italian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

chiaroscuro m (plural chiaroscuri)

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

Coordinate terms

• contrasto

Derived terms

• chiaroscurale
• chiaroscurare

Verb

chiaroscuro

1. first-person singular present indicative of chiaroscurare

---

Portuguese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkjaɾuʃˈkuɾu/

Noun

chiaroscuro m (plural chiaroscuros)

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

Synonyms

• claro-escuro (calque)

Coordinate terms

• contraste