Texture is the tactile character of a surface — its roughness, smoothness, grain, weave, ridge, or polish — as either physically present in the work or depicted within the image.
Description distinguishes actual texture (the literal surface of the work: impasto ridges, canvas weave, paper tooth, photographic grain) from depicted texture (the painted or drawn illusion of a textured surface — fur, brick, water, cloth — on what is in fact a smooth ground). The two often play off one another: a smoothly painted depiction of rough wool sits differently from a roughly painted one. Texture is read partly by sight and partly by inference, since the eye predicts how the surface would feel under the hand. In contemporary mixed-media and collage practice, actual texture often dominates — the materials announce themselves as materials.
See also
- impasto — the most pronounced form of actual paint texture
- mark-making — the marks that build textural character
- brushwork — the brush-specific version of textural decision