Pointillist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who specializes in a technique involving the application of tiny, distinct dots of pigment to form an image through optical mixing
2. A creator who uses countless small dots of color to build an artwork that visually merges into shapes from afar
3. An artist who employs small dots of paint in a method that creates images through visual blending when viewed from a distance

Etymology: Pointillist descends from "pointillisme", the name critics gave to the technique of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, which was itself built on the French word "point", meaning dot. The label was originally a sneer. Critics applied it to these painters as a way of dismissing work that seemed to be made of mechanically placed specks rather than brushstrokes, and the painters later adopted the term for their own method. The suffix "-iste" marks a person who follows or practises something, so a pointillist is simply someone who works in the pointillist manner. English took the word from French, and the French form still carries the same sense of a practitioner. The idea behind the technique was that viewers' eyes would blend separate dots of colour into a single shade, so the mixing happened in the eye rather than on the palette.

Synonyms: painter