having qualities unique to the art of painting
in painting, sculpture or architecture, the use of masses of color to show as opposed to linear painting which uses contours and edges to define its forms. The forms are thus more amorphous and the eye can interpret more movement.
Painting characterized by openness of form, in which shapes are defined by loose brushwork in light and dark color areas rather than by outline or contour.
A painting technique in which forms are created with patches of color, exploiting color and tonal relationships. The opposite approach is known as linear, in which things are represented in terms of contour, with precise edges.
Of, relating to, or being a style of painting marked by openness of form, with shapes distinguished by variations of color rather than by outline or contour.
Describes a style of painting created by technique of applying areas or patches of color and not linear or outline drawing. Painterly image form edges have the propensity to merge into the background rather than separated by delineated outlines. Titian and Rembrandt are known to have used painterly approaches.
Painterly is a literal translation of German Mälerisch, hence malerisch, one of the opposed categories popularized by the art historian Heinrich Wölfflin (1864 - 1945) in order to help focus, enrich and standardize the terms being used by art historians of his time to characterize works of art. The opposite character is linear, plastic or formal linear design.For further clarification of the meaning of malerisch read Francis Bacon: Logic of Sensation by Gilles Deleuze.