Although ‘acrylic’ has become a generic term for any synthetic paint medium, acrylics are a specific type of manmade polymer that has become standard in the commercial paint industry as well as widely used by artists from the mid-20th century; most synthetic paint media in contemporary artistic use are based on acrylic emulsions. Acrylics are thermoplastic, have great optical clarity and excellent light stability, good adhesion and elasticity and resist ultraviolet and chemical degradation. Their unique surface properties, transparency and brilliance of colour, together with the possibilities they offer for indeterminacy, immediacy, randomness and the ability to rework immediately and to achieve extremely thin or thick surfaces, are qualities that have been exploited fully by such painting movements as Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s, and, subsequently, colour field painting, hard-edge painting and Pop art.

• painting... (cont.)
  • forms... (cont.)
    • scroll... (cont.)
      • China: Nanjing school... (cont.)
        • Gong Xian
        • China: Northern Song period (AD 960-1127)
          • Zhao Gan
        • China: Qing period (1644-1911)
          • Anhui school
          • Chen Hongshou
          • China, §I, 4(i): Internal trade
          • Colophon, §1: China
          • Daoji, §1: Paintings
          • Daoji, §2: Theoretical writings
          • Garden, §VI, 1(v): China: Qing period
          • Hongren
          • Huang Shen
          • Jin Nong
          • Lan Ying
          • Li Shan
          • Luo Ping
          • Mokuan Shoto
          • Nanjing school, §2: Historical development
          • Orthodox school, §2: History
          • Poetry and painting
          • Shen Zhou
          • Wang Jian
          • Wang Meng
          • Zhang Hong
        • China: Song period (AD 960-1279)
          • China, §V, 3(ii)(b): Chan Buddhist painting
          • Juran
          • Liang Kai
          • Li Di
          • Li Gonglin
          • Liu Songnian
          • Women and art history, §IV, 3: East Asia: Influence of women on subject and style
          • Yan Wengui
          • Zhao: (1) Zhao Mengfu
        • China: Southern school
          • Dong Yuan
          • Guan Tong
          • Mi: (1) Mi Fu
        • China: Tang period (AD 618-907)
          • Gu Kaizhi
          • Han Gan
          • Li (i): (1) Li Sixun
          • Yan Liben
          • Zhou Fang
        • China: 11th cent.
          • Garden, §VI, 1(iii): China: Tang and Song periods
        • China: Yuan period (1279-1368)
          • China, §V, 3(vi)(d): Painting: Bamboo, plum and ink-flowers
          • Huang Gongwang
          • Ni Zan
          • Ren Renfa
          • Wu Zhen
        • China: 20th cent.
          • Qi Baishi
        • conservation
          • Ink, §III: Conservation
        • Edo period (1600-1868)
          • Japan, §VII, 1(iii)(e): Calligraphy: Modern
          • Okada: (2) Okada Hanko
        • India, Republic of
          • India, §VI: Village art
        • Indian subcontinent
          • Indian subcontinent, §VI, 3(i)(d): Wall painting, 1st century BC–16th century AD: Northern plains
          • Indian subcontinent, §VI, 4(vii): South Indian painting styles, 14th–18th centuries
          • Scroll
          • Scroll, §2(ii): Other areas
        • Indian subcontinent: Jainism
          • Indian subcontinent, §VI, 4(iii)(h): Gujarat painting styles, 16th century–1947
        • Indian subcontinent: Nayaka
          • Indian sub., §VI, 4(vii)(b): South Indian ptg styles, 14th–18th centuries: Nayaka
        • Indonesia
          • Indonesia, §VI, 3: Wayang beber theatre
        • Japan
          • Japan, §VI, 4(ii)(c): Late Yamatoe painting: Picture scrolls, fans and portraits
          • Japan, §XIV, 4(i): Tea ceremony calligraphy: Early use of bokuseki and other forms
        • Japan: Edo period (1600-1868)
          • Aoki Mokubei, §1: Painting
          • Hon’ami: (1) Hon’ami Koetsu, §1: Calligraphy and painting
          • Hon’ami: (2) Hon’ami Koho
          • Ito Jakuchu, §2: Mature works, 1756–1800
          • Japan, §XXII, 3: Connoisseurship and historiography: Professional connoisseurship
          • Miyagawa Choshun
          • Watanabe Kazan
          • Yanagisawa Kien
          • Yosa Buson, §2: 1768 and after
        • Japan: Kano school
          • Kano school, §4: After 1868
        • Japan: Meiji period (1868-1912)
          • Japan, §VI, 4(vi)(c): Late foreign-influenced painting: Nagasaki school
        • Japan: Momoyama period (1568-1600)
          • Kano: (5) Kano Eitoku, §2: 1576–82
        • Japan: Muromachi period (1333-1568)
          • Tosa: (1) Tosa Mitsunobu
          • Toyo Sesshu, §1: Life and work
        • Japan: Nanga
          • Uragami Gyokudo, §3: After 1811
        • Japan: Taisho period (1912-26)
          • Japan, §VI, 5(iii)(b): Modern painting: Nihonga in the Taisho period
          • Tomioka Tessai, §3: Late period, c 1917–24
        • Korea
          • Hong Se-sop
          • O Mong-nyong
          • Yi Am (ii)
          • Yi In-mun
      • secco see SECCO PAINTINGS
      • silicate
        • Silicate painting
      • tomb
        • Achaemenid
          • Achaemenid, §4: Regional styles
        • Bulgaria
          • Bulgaria, §III, 1: Painting and graphic arts, before AD 681
        • conservation
          • Etruscan, §V, 2: Painting: Techniques and conservation
        • Egypt, ancient
          • Egypt, ancient, §II, 2: Craftsman and artist: Training, workshop practice and organization
          • Egypt, ancient, §X: Painting and drawing
          • Egypt, ancient, §X, 1: Painting and drawing: Introduction
          • Egypt, ancient, §X, 2(i): Wall painting: Early Dynastic period
          • Rome, ancient, §V, 2(ii)(f): Painting in the provinces: Egypt and the Near East
          • Wall painting, §I, 2(ii): Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Near East
        • Etruscan
          • Etruscan, §I, 4(ii): Trade: Greek contacts
          • Etruscan, §I, 5(iv): Subject-matter: Scenes of daily life and the afterlife
          • Etruscan, §V, 1: Painting: Introduction
          • Etruscan, §V, 4: Painting: Subject-matter
          • Etruscan, §V, 5(i): Painting, c 675–c 500 BC
          • Etruscan, §V, 5(ii): Painting, c 500–c 150 BC
          • Tarquinia
          • Veii
          • Vulci
        • Japan
          • Japan, §VI, 2: Protohistoric painting
          • Japan, §VI, 2(iii): Protohistoric painting: Subject-matter and design
        • Korea
          • Korea, §IV, 1: Painting: Materials and techniques
          • Korea, §IV, 2(iv)(a): Genre painting: Three Kingdoms to Koryo, 57 BC–1392
        • Mesoamerica, Pre-Columbian
          • Mesoamerica, Pre-Columbian, §V, 2(iii): Wall painting: Southern Highlands
        • see also WALL PAINTINGS
      • vase
        • Central Asia, Western
          • Central Asia, §I, 4(iv)(c): Western: Painting in Khwarazm and s. Turkmenistan, 4th century AD–early 8th
        • Crete
          • Crete, §2: Sub-Minoan to Hellenistic, c 1050–67 BC
        • Cycladic
          • Cycladic, §I, 4(iii): Chronological overview: Late Cycladic
          • Thera, §1: Bronze Age
        • Cyprus, ancient
          • Cyprus, §II, 4(ii): Ancient pottery and vase painting: Early and Middle Bronze Age
          • Cyprus, §II, 4: Ancient pottery and vase painting
          • Cyprus, §II, 4(v): Ancient pottery and vase painting: Archaic and Classical
        • Cyprus, ancient: Bronze Age
          • Cyprus, §II, 4(iii): Ancient pottery and vase painting: Late Bronze Age
        • Cyprus, ancient: Cypro-Geometric (c. 1050-c. 750 BC)
          • Cyprus, §II, 4(iv): Ancient pottery and vase painting: Geometric
        • Cyprus, ancient: Prehistoric
          • Cyprus, §II, 4(i): Ancient pottery and vase painting: Neolithic and Chalcolithic
        • Etruscan
          • Civita Castellana
          • Etruscan, §I, 5(ii): Subject-matter: Animal decoration
          • Etruscan, §IV, 2: Pottery: Etrusco-Geometric
          • Etruscan, §IV, 6: Pottery: Etrusco-Corinthian
          • Etruscan, §IV, 7: Pottery: Black-figure
          • Etruscan, §IV, 8: Pottery: Red-figure
        • Greece, ancient
          • Beazley, J. D.
          • Dress, §II, 2: Greek
          • Genre, §1: Ancient Greece and Rome
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 1(iv): Potters, painters and society
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 1(vi)(d): Pottery inscriptions: Artists’ signatures
          • Greece, ancient, §X, 1: Arms and armour
          • Heraldry, §II, 2(i): Western secular: Pre-heraldic devices
          • Jacobsthal, Paul Ferdinand
          • Mythological painting and sculpture, §1: Classical antiquity, before c AD 300
          • Narrative art, §I, 3: Ancient Greece and Rome
          • Toys and games, §I, 1: Toys: Ivory, wood, glass and clay
          • Vase painters
          • Vase painters, §I: Attribution
        • Greece, ancient: 5th cent. BC
          • Anthemion
          • Vase painters, §II: Exekias
        • Greece, ancient: Attica
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(a): Attic Red-figure pottery: The first generation
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i): Attic Red-figure pottery: Attic
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(a): Attic Red-figure pottery: The first generation
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(b): Attic Red-figure pottery: Late Archaic
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(b): Attic Red-figure pottery: Late Archaic
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(c): Attic Red-figure pottery: Early and High Classical
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(c): Attic Red-figure pottery: Early and High Classical
          • Greece, ancient, §V, 6(i)(d): Attic Red-figure pottery: Late 5th century B
          • Greece, ancient, §X, 4(i)(b): Furniture types: Couches
          • Sphinx, §3: Ancient Greece
        • Maya
          • Mesoamerica, Pre-Columbian, §I, 5: Craftspeople, artists and their patrons
        • Mesopotamia
          • Mesopotamia, §V, 2: Pottery, c 2900 BC–AD 637
      • wall see WALL PAINTINGS
      • watercolours see WATERCOLOURS
    • hanging
      • Display of art, §V: Miniatures, medals, coins and gems
      • Museum, §I, 5: Linear display versus period room
      • see also display
    • historical and regional traditions
      • Aboriginal Australia
        • Australia, §III, 2(ii): Painting and graphic arts, after c 1900
        • Basketwork, §1: Materials
      • Africa
        • Africa, §V, 11(i): Materials and techniques: Gourd decorative techniques
        • Africa, §VII, 2: North-east Africa
        • Africa, §VII, 5(v): Western Equatoria: Painting
        • Africa, §VIII, 6: Diaspora: Other arts
        • Africa, §IX, 2: Contemporary developments: Types of artist
      • African American art
        • African American art, §3: c 1960 and after
      • Albania
        • Albania, §III: Painting and graphic arts
      • Algeria
        • Algeria, §3: Painting, graphic arts and sculpture
      • Anglo-Saxon
        • Anglo-Saxon art, §IV, 1: Wall painting
        • Anglo-Saxon art, §IV: Painting
        • Anglo-Saxon art, §IV, 2: Manuscript painting
      • Angola
        • Angola, §4: Painting
      • Argentina
        • Argentina, §III, 1: Painting, graphic arts and sculpture: Colonial period, 1536–1816
        • Argentina, §III: Painting, graphic arts and sculpture
        • Argentina, §III, 2: Painting, graphic arts and sculpture, after 1816
      • Armenia (Europe)
        • Armenia, §III, 1: Painting, before 1828
        • Armenia, §III: Painting
        • Armenia, §III, 2: Painting, 1828 and after
      • Australia
        • Australia, §III, 1: Painting and graphic arts, before c 1900
        • Australia, §III: Painting and graphic arts
        • Australia, §III, 2: Painting and graphic arts, after c 1900
        • 20th cent.
          • Boyd: (2) Arthur Boyd
      • Austria
        • Austria, §III, 1: Romanesque and Gothic painting and graphic arts, before c 1530
        • Austria, §III, 4: Painting and graphic arts, after c 1800
        • Austria, §VII, 2: Porcelain
        • Baroque
          • Austria, §III, 3: Baroque painting and graphic arts, c 1600–c 1800
        • Gothic
          • Austria, §III, 1(ii): Gothic painting
          • Austria, §III, 1(ii)(b): Gothic panel paintings
        • Jugendstil
          • Vienna, §III, 4: Art life and organization, 1897 and after
        • Renaissance
          • Austria, §III, 2: Renaissance painting and graphic arts, c 1530–c 1600
        • Romanesque
          • Austria, §III, 1(i): Romanesque painting
        • 19th cent.
          • Krafft, Peter
        • 20th cent.
          • Rainer, Arnulf
      • Azerbaijan
        • Azerbaijan, §IV: Painting
      • Aztec
        • Aztec, §4: Painting
      • Bactria
        • Central Asia, §I, 3(ii)(a): Western: Sculpture in Bactria, 1st century B–4th century A
        • Silk Route, §3(ii): Painting, sculpture and architecture
      • Bahamas, the
        • Bahamas, the, §IV: Painting, graphic arts and sculpture
      • Bahrain
        • Bahrain
      • Bali (Indonesia)
        • Indonesia, §VII: Painting and drawing
        • Indonesia, §VII, 2: Colonial and modern painting and drawing
        • Indonesia, §VII, 2(ii): Colonial and modern painting and drawing: Bali
        • Indonesia, §VIII, 2: Boats
        • Indonesia, §VIII, 5: Cremation towers and temple offerings
      • Belarus'
        • Belarus’, §II: Painting and graphic arts
      • Belgium
        • Belgium, §III, 1: Painting and graphic arts, before 1400
        • Belgium, §III: Painting and graphic arts