The arts
The arts are a wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing, and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both dynamic and a characteristically constant feature of human life, they have developed into innovative, stylized, and sometimes intricate forms. This is often achieved through sustained and deliberate study, training, and/or theorizing within a particular tradition, across generations, and even between civilizations. The arts are a vehicle through which human beings cultivate distinct social, cultural, and individual identities while transmitting values, impressions, judgements, ideas, visions, spiritual meanings, patterns of life, and experiences across time and space.
Prominent examples of the arts include:
- visual arts (including architecture, ceramics, drawing, filmmaking, painting, photography, and sculpting)
- )
- performing arts (including dance, music, and theatre)
They can employ skill and imagination to produce objects and performances, convey insights and experiences, and construct new environments and spaces.
The arts can refer to common, popular, or everyday practices as well as more sophisticated, systematic, or institutionalized ones. They can be discrete and self-contained or combine and interweave with other art forms, such as the combination of artwork with the written word in comics. They can also develop or contribute to some particular aspect of a more complex art form, as in cinematography. By definition, the arts themselves are open to being continually redefined. The practice of modern art, for example, is a testament to the shifting boundaries, improvisation and experimentation, reflexive nature, and self-criticism or questioning that art and its conditions of production, reception, and possibility can undergo.
As both a means of developing capacities of attention and sensitivity and as ends in themselves, the arts can simultaneously be a form of response to the world and a way that our responses and what we deem worthwhile goals or pursuits are transformed. From prehistoric cave paintings to ancient and contemporary forms of ritual to modern-day films, art has served to register, embody, and preserve our ever-shifting relationships to each other and to the world.
Definition
Merriam-Webster defines "the arts" as "painting, sculpture, music, theater, literature, etc., considered as a group of activities done by people with skill and imagination".[1]
While art refers to the way of doing or the application of human creative skills, typically in visual form,[2] the arts are the various practices formed by human creativity and imagination.
History and classifications
In ancient Greece, art and craft were referred to by the word, techne. Ancient Greek art brought the veneration of the animal form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty, and anatomically correct proportions. Ancient Roman art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing features e.g. Zeus' thunderbolt. In Byzantine and Gothic art of the Middle Ages, the dominant church insisted on the expression of Christian themes.[3][4]
Classifications
In the Middle Ages, the artes liberales (
The arts have been classified as seven: painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music,
Visual arts
Architecture
Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. The word architecture comes from the Greek arkhitekton, "master builder, director of works," from αρχι- (arkhi) "chief" + τεκτων (tekton) "builder, carpenter".[13] A wider definition would include the design of the built environment, from the macrolevel of urban planning, urban design, and landscape architecture, to the microlevel of creating furniture. Architectural design usually must address feasibility and cost for the builder, as well as function and aesthetics for the user.[14]
In modern usage, architecture is the art and
In the field of building architecture, the skills demanded of an architect range from the more complex, such as for a hospital or a stadium, to the apparently simpler, such as planning residential houses. Architectural works may be seen as cultural and political symbols, or works of art. The role of the architect, though changing, has been central to the design and implementation of pleasingly built environments, in which people live.[16]
Ceramics
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials (including clay), which may take forms such as pottery, tile, figurines, sculpture, and tableware. While some ceramic products are considered fine art, others are considered decorative, industrial, or applied art objects. Ceramics may also be considered artefacts in archaeology. Ceramic art can be made by one person or by a group of people. In a pottery or ceramic factory, a group of people design, manufacture, and decorate the pottery. Some pottery is regarded as art pottery.[17] In a one-person pottery studio, ceramists or potters produce studio pottery. Ceramics excludes glass and mosaics made from glass tesserae.[18]
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art wherein the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. The inception of the term in the 1960s referred to a strict and focused practice of idea-based art that often defied traditional visual criteria associated with the visual arts in its presentation as text.[19] Through its association with the Young British Artists and the Turner Prize during the 1990s,[20] its popular usage, particularly in the United Kingdom, developed as a synonym for all contemporary art that does not practice the traditional skills of painting and sculpture.[21]
Drawing
Drawing is a means of making an
Painting
Painting is a mode of creative expression and can be done in several forms. Drawing,
Modern painters have extended the practice considerably to include, for example, collage. Collage is not painting in the strict sense since it includes other materials. Some modern painters incorporate different materials, such as sand, cement, straw, wood, or strands of hair, for their artwork texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet or Anselm Kiefer.[25][26]
Photography
Photography as an art form refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer. Art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism, which provides a visual account for news events, and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services.[27]
Sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the
Literary arts
Literature (also known as literary arts or language arts) is literally "acquaintance with letters", as in the first sense given in the
Performing arts
Performing arts comprise dance, music, theatre,
Dance
Dance generally refers to human
Music
Music is often defined as an art form whose
Theatre
Theatre or theater (from Greek theatron (θέατρον); from theasthai, "behold"
Multidisciplinary artistic works
Areas exist in which artistic works incorporate multiple artistic fields, such as film, opera, and performance art. While opera is often categorized as the performing arts of music, the word itself is Italian for "works", because opera combines artistic disciplines into a singular artistic experience. In a traditional opera, the work uses the following: the sets (visual arts), costumes (fashion), acting (dramatic performing arts), the libretto [or the words/story] (literature), singers and an orchestra (music).[49]
The composer Richard Wagner recognized the fusion of so many disciplines into a single work of opera, exemplified by his cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of the Nibelung"). He did not use the term opera for his works, but instead Gesamtkunstwerk ("synthesis of the arts"), sometimes referred to as "Music Drama" in English, emphasizing the literary and theatrical components, which were as important as the music. Classical ballet is another form that emerged in the 17th century in which orchestral music is combined with dance.[50]
Other works in the late 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries have fused other disciplines in unique and creative ways, such as performance art. Performance art is a performance over time that combines any number of instruments, objects, and art within a predefined or less well-defined structure, some of which can be improvised. Performance art may be scripted, unscripted, random, or carefully organized; even audience participation may occur. John Cage is regarded by many as a performance artist rather than a composer, although he preferred the latter term. He did not compose for traditional ensembles. Cage's composition Living Room Music, composed in 1940, is a "quartet" for unspecified instruments, really non-melodic objects, that can be found in the living room of a typical house, hence the title.[51]
Other arts
There is no clear line between art and culture. Cultural fields like gastronomy are sometimes considered as arts.[52]
Applied arts
The applied arts are the application of
Video games
Video games are multidisciplinary works that include non-controversially artistic elements such as visuals and sound, as well as an emergent experience from the nature of their interactivity. Within the video game community, there is debate surrounding whether video games should be classified as an art form and whether game developers—AAA or indie—should be classified as artists.[55] Hideo Kojima, a video game designer considered a "gaming arteur", argued in 2006 that video games are a type of service rather than an art form.[56][57] In the social sciences, cultural economists show how playing video games is conducive to involvement in more traditional art forms.[58] In 2011, the National Endowment of the Arts included video games in its definition of a "work of art",[59] and the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented an exhibit titled The Art of the Video Game in 2012.[60]
Arts critique
Art criticism is the discussion or evaluation of art.[61][62][63] Art critics usually criticize art in the context of aesthetics or the theory of beauty.[62][63] A goal of art criticism is the pursuit of a rational basis for art appreciation[61][62][63] but it is questionable whether such criticism can transcend prevailing socio-political circumstances.[64]
The variety of artistic movements has resulted in a division of art criticism into different disciplines which may each use different criteria for their judgements.[63][65] The most common division in the field of criticism is between historical criticism and evaluation, a form of art history, and contemporary criticism of work by living artists.[61][62][63]
Despite perceptions that criticism is a lower risk activity than making art, opinions of current art are liable to corrections with the passage of time.
There are many different variables that determine judgment of art such as aesthetics, cognition or perception. Aesthetic, pragmatic, expressive, formalist, relativist, processional, imitation, ritual, cognition, mimetic and postmodern theories, are some of many theories to criticize and appreciate art. Art criticism and appreciation can be subjective based on personal preference toward aesthetics and form, or on the elements and principle of design and by social and cultural acceptance.[citation needed]
Education
Arts in education is a field of educational research and practice informed by investigations into learning through arts experiences. In this context, the arts can include performing arts education (dance, drama, music), literature and poetry, storytelling, visual arts education in film, craft, design, digital art, media and photography.[71] It is distinguished from art education by being not so much about teaching art, but focused on:
- how to improve learning through the arts
- how to transfer learning in, and through the arts, to other disciplines
- discovering and creating understanding of human behavior, thinking, potential, and learning, especially through the close observation of works of art and involvement in arts experiences
Politics
A strong relationship between the arts and politics, particularly between various kinds of art and power, occurs across history and cultures. As they respond to events and politics, the arts take on political as well as social dimensions, becoming themselves a focus of controversy and a force of political and social change.
One observation is that a great
Art and politics continue to have a strong relationship. Artists use their work to express their political views and promote social change. And governments use art to promote their own agendas.[73]
Notes
- motion in inanimate objects (e.g. "the dance of the waters [...] was visible for over a mile around").[38]
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Bibliography
Books
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Articles
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- Borowiecki, Karol J.; Prieto-Rodriguez, Juan (2013). "Video Games Playing: A substitute for cultural consumptions?". Journal of Cultural Economics. 39 (3): 239–258. S2CID 49572910.
- Parker, Felan (12 December 2012). "An Art World for Artgames". Loading... 7 (11). from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
- Perry, Lincoln (Summer 2014). "The Music of Painting". The American Scholar. 83 (3).
Online
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- Desai, Trex; DeSimone, Frank; Henig, Sarit (20 December 2013). "The New Face of French Gastronomy – Knowledge@Wharton". knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Archivedfrom the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
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- "dance, n.". OED Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archivedfrom the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 21 July 2022.(subscription required)
Further reading
- Barron, Christina (29 April 2012). "Museum exhibit asks: Is it art if you push 'start'?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 June 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
- Diedrich, Cajus G. (1 April 2015). "'Neanderthal bone flutes': simply products of Ice Age spotted hyena scavenging activities on cave bear cubs in European cave bear dens". Royal Society Open Science. 2 (4): 140022. PMID 26064624.
- ISBN 978-0-691-02417-2.
- ISBN 978-0-684-85922-4.
- Kennicott, Philip (18 March 2012). "The Art of Video Games". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 4 June 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
- Morley, Iain (2013). The Prehistory of Music: Human Evolution, Archaeology, and the Origins of Musicality. Oxford: ISBN 978-0-19-923408-0. Archivedfrom the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- St. Fleur, Nicholas (12 September 2018). "Oldest Known Drawing by Human Hands Discovered in South African Cave". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- Valéry, Paul (1 November 1935). "Notion générale de l'art" [General concept of art] (PDF). ISBN 978-2-07-239508-6. Archivedfrom the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- Van Camp, Julie (22 November 2006). "Congressional definition of 'the arts'". PHIL 361I: Philosophy of Art. California State University, Long Beach. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
External links
Library resources about The arts |
- Topic Dictionaries at Oxford Learner's Dictionaries.
- Definition of Art by Lexico.