chiaroscuro
\ kee-ahr-uh-SKYOOR-oh \, noun;
1.the distribution of light and shade in a picture.
2.Painting . the use of deep variations in and subtle gradations of light and shade, especially to enhance the delineation of character and for general dramatic effect: Rembrandt is a master of chiaroscuro .
3.a woodcut print in which the colors are produced by the use of different blocks with different colors.
4.a sketch in light and shade.
Quotes:
…film noir genealogies usually reduce Weimar cinema to German expressionism and German expressionism in turn to a catalogue of techniques including: 'foregrounded oblique objected, unbalanced compositions, irregular spatial arrangements, chiaroscuro lighting with a heavy play of shadows…'
-- Mark Bould, Film Noir: From Berlin to Sin City , 2005
To any translator, the text of Beowulf is, by necessity, a chiaroscuro ; in the general darkness there will be swards of light, runs of lines more easily accessible to his intelligence than others.
-- Marc Hudson, "Commentary: The Act of Translation," Beowulf , 2007
Origin:
Chiaroscuro comes from the Italian words for "bright," chiaro , and "dark," oscuro . It entered English in the late 1600s.
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