Editor's Corner

As I mentioned the other day, my mom and I spent last week in New York City. I’m always on the lookout for new words or topics for the Editor’s Corner, and in the museums we visited, I came across several terms I hadn’t seen or heard before.

On our last day, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I saw the word “grisaille,” I imagined Snoop Dog saying, “fo’ shizzle, my grizzle,” and it made me laugh. (Translation: I concur, my gray painting.) I guessed that the word grisaille was based on the French word for gray (gris), which it is. Here’s a little more about the word from Merriam-Webster, along with a photo of the painting and the description next to the painting.

grisaille

noun

1a : painting in monochrome usually in shades of gray often as decoration to simulate sculptured relief or as underpainting for a glaze finish

b : a covering of a dark base in porcelain and enamelwork with varying thicknesses of white so as to produce a cameo effect with the dark color showing through

c : a coating of glasswork with white to produce an opalescent effect or as backing for a decorative pattern of colored glass

2: a fancy dress fabric originally of silk with a fine crosswise rib and a grayish color resulting from interweaving black-and-white threads

Kara Church

Technical Editor, Advisory

Symitar Documentation Services