figuration
noun
fig·u·ra·tion ˌfi-g(y)ə-ˈrā-shən 
1
: form, outline
2
: the act or process of creating or providing a figure
3
: an act or instance of representation in figures and shapes
cubism was explained as a synthesis of colored figurations of objects
Janet Flanner
Janet Flanner4
: ornamentation of a musical passage by using decorative and usually repetitive figures
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The large-scale The Three Graces, a new painting by Cristina BanBan, passionately weds European figuration with gestural brushstrokes, varying in texture to create depth. Natasha Gural, Forbes, 19 May 2022 These days, figuration is all but dominant, with new-generation artists like Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald at the fore. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 12 May 2022 While painting, Wong would allow glimmers of a landscape or figuration to emerge—mirages in pigment. Raffi Khatchadourian, The New Yorker, 9 May 2022 Celeste Rapone’s vibrant distortions crackle with Cubist energies (Picasso, for all his fame during figuration’s dry period of the mid-to-late 20th century, never even entertained the idea of painting abstractly). Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 12 May 2022 Painters Mark Richards and Marsha Nouritza Odabashian expertly use color, gesture, and atmospherics along with figuration. Cate Mcquaid, BostonGlobe.com, 24 May 2022 Large scale, pastel colored oil paintings, in the German artist’s trademark style that blends abstraction and figuration, are a startling contrast to the heritage building. Joanne Shurvell, Forbes, 26 Apr. 2022 First came her stubborn fidelity to figuration in times favoring abstraction, and then her eschewal of Pop and postmodernist irony—as opposed to humor, a wellspring of her creativity. Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022 With its form-fitting collar and angelic white coloring, the shirt gave the self — that sometimes static figuration of identity — poetic velocity. Jason Parham, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2021 See More
Natasha Gural, Forbes, 19 May 2022 These days, figuration is all but dominant, with new-generation artists like Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald at the fore. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 12 May 2022 While painting, Wong would allow glimmers of a landscape or figuration to emerge—mirages in pigment. Raffi Khatchadourian, The New Yorker, 9 May 2022 Celeste Rapone’s vibrant distortions crackle with Cubist energies (Picasso, for all his fame during figuration’s dry period of the mid-to-late 20th century, never even entertained the idea of painting abstractly). Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 12 May 2022 Painters Mark Richards and Marsha Nouritza Odabashian expertly use color, gesture, and atmospherics along with figuration. Cate Mcquaid, BostonGlobe.com, 24 May 2022 Large scale, pastel colored oil paintings, in the German artist’s trademark style that blends abstraction and figuration, are a startling contrast to the heritage building. Joanne Shurvell, Forbes, 26 Apr. 2022 First came her stubborn fidelity to figuration in times favoring abstraction, and then her eschewal of Pop and postmodernist irony—as opposed to humor, a wellspring of her creativity. Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022 With its form-fitting collar and angelic white coloring, the shirt gave the self — that sometimes static figuration of identity — poetic velocity. Jason Parham, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Middle English figuracioun, borrowed from Latin figūrātiōn-, figūrātiō "process of forming, shape, representation," from figūrāre "to shape, make a likeness of, represent" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action — more at figure entry 2
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1