Art
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the general concept of Art. For the categories of different artistic disciplines, see The arts. For the arts that are visual in nature, see Visual arts. For people named Art, see Arthur (disambiguation). For other uses, see Art (disambiguation).
Clockwise from upper left: A self-portrait from Vincent van Gogh, an African Chokwe-statue, detail from the Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli and a Japanese Shisa lion.
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics, and even disciplines such as history and psychology analyze its relationship with humans and generations.
Traditionally, the term art was used to refer to any skill or mastery. This conception changed during the Romantic period, when art came to be seen as “a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science”.[1] Generally, art is made with the intention of stimulating thoughts and emotions.
Contents
1 Evaluation
1.1 Definition
2 History
3 Characteristics
4 Forms, genres, media, and styles
4.1 Skill and craft
4.2 Value judgment
5 Purpose of art
5.1 Non-motivated functions of art
5.2 Motivated functions of art
6 Controversial art
7 Art theories
8 Classification disputes
9 Art, class, and value
10 See also
11 Notes
12 Bibliography
13 Further reading
14 External links
Evaluation
Mozarabic Beatus miniature; Spain, late 10th century.
Philosopher Richard Wollheim distinguishes
three approaches to assessing the aesthetic value of art: the realist, whereby aesthetic quality is an absolute value independent of any human view; the objectivist, whereby it is also an absolute value, but is dependent on general human experience; and the relativist position, whereby it is not an absolute value, but depends on, and varies with, the human experience of different humans.[2] An object may be characterized by the intentions, or lack thereof, of its creator, regardless of its apparent purpose. A cup, which ostensibly can be used as a container, may be considered art if intended solely as an ornament, while a painting may be deemed craft if mass-produced.
The nature of art has been described by Wollheim as “one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture”.[3] It has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake, and as mimesis or representation. Leo Tolstoy identified art as a use of indirect means to communicate from one person to another.[4] Benedetto Croce and R. G. Collingwood advanced the idealist view that art expresses emotions, and that the work of art therefore essentially exists in the mind of the creator.[5][6] The theory of art as form has its roots in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and was developed in the early twentieth century by Roger Fry and Clive Bell. Art as mimesis or representation has deep roots in the philosophy of Aristotle.[4] More recently, thinkers influenced by Martin Heidegger have interpreted art as the means by which a community develops for itself a medium for self-expression and interpretation.[7]
Definition
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