Thevisual artsareart formssuch aspainting,drawing,printmaking,sculpture,ceramics,photography,video,filmmaking,comics,design,crafts,andarchitecture.Many artistic disciplines, such asperforming arts,conceptual art,andtextile arts,also involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts[1]are theapplied arts,[2]such asindustrial design,graphic design,fashion design,interior design,anddecorative art.[3]
![Vincent van Gogh painting The Church at Auvers from 1890 gray church against blue sky](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Vincent_van_Gogh_-_The_Church_in_Auvers-sur-Oise%2C_View_from_the_Chevet_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/220px-Vincent_van_Gogh_-_The_Church_in_Auvers-sur-Oise%2C_View_from_the_Chevet_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Current usage of the term "visual arts" includesfine artas well asappliedordecorative artsandcrafts,but this was not always the case. Before theArts and Crafts MovementinBritainand elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term 'artist' had for some centuries often been restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the decorative arts, crafts, or applied visual arts media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms.[4]Art schoolsmade a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts, maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner ofthe arts.
![drawing of Nefertari with Isis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Ankh_isis_nefertari.jpg/150px-Ankh_isis_nefertari.jpg)
The increasing tendency to privilege painting, and to a lesser degree sculpture, above other arts has been a feature ofWestern artas well asEast Asianart. In both regions, painting has been seen as relying to the highest degree on the imagination of the artist and being the furthest removed from manual labour – inChinese painting,the most highly valued styles were those of "scholar-painting", at least in theory practiced by gentleman amateurs. The Westernhierarchy of genresreflected similar attitudes.
Education and training
editTraining in the visual arts has generally been through variations of theapprenticeand workshop systems. In Europe, theRenaissancemovement to increase the prestige of the artist led to theacademysystem for training artists, and today most of the people who are pursuing a career in the arts train inart schoolsattertiarylevels. Visual arts have now become an elective subject in most education systems.[5][6]
InEast Asia,arts education for nonprofessional artists typically focused on brushwork;calligraphywas numbered among theSix Artsof gentlemen in the ChineseZhou dynasty,and calligraphy andChinese paintingwere numbered among thefour artsofscholar-officialsin imperial China.[7][8][9]
Leading country in the development of the arts inLatin America,in 1875 created the National Society of the Stimulus of the Arts, founded by paintersEduardo Schiaffino,Eduardo Sívori,and other artists. Their guild was rechartered as the National Academy of Fine Arts in 1905 and, in 1923, on the initiative of painter and academicErnesto de la Cárcova,as a department in theUniversity of Buenos Aires,the Superior Art School of the Nation. Currently, the leading educational organization for the arts in the country is theUNA Universidad Nacional de las Artes.[10]
Drawing
editDrawingis a means of making animage,illustration or graphic using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques available online and offline. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface using dry media such asgraphitepencils,pen and ink,inkedbrushes,waxcolor pencils,crayons,charcoals,pastels,andmarkers.Digital tools, including pens,stylus,that simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are: line drawing,hatching,crosshatching, random hatching,shading,scribbling,stippling,and blending. An artist who excels at drawing is referred to as adraftsmanordraughtsman.[11]
Drawing and painting go back tens of thousands of years.Art of the Upper Paleolithicincludesfigurative artbeginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago.Non-figurativecave paintingsconsisting of hand stencils and simple geometric shapes are even older. Paleolithiccave representationsof animals are found in areas such asLascaux, FranceandAltamira, Spainin Europe,Maros, Sulawesiin Asia, andGabarnmung,Australia.
Inancient Egypt,ink drawings onpapyrus,often depicting people, were used as models for painting or sculpture. Drawings onGreek vases,initially geometric, later developed into the human form withblack-figure potteryduring the 7th century BC.[12]
Withpaperbecoming common in Europe by the 15th century, drawing was adopted by masters such asSandro Botticelli,Raphael,Michelangelo,andLeonardo da Vinci,who sometimes treated drawing as an art in its own right rather than a preparatory stage for painting or sculpture.
Painting
editPaintingtaken literally is the practice of applyingpigmentsuspended in a carrier (ormedium) and a binding agent (aglue) to a surface (support) such aspaper,canvasor a wall. However, when used in an artistic sense it means the use of this activity in combination withdrawing,composition,or other aesthetic considerations in order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Painting is also used to express spiritual motifs and ideas; sites of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery toThe Sistine Chapel,to the human body itself.[13]
History
editOrigins and early history
editLike drawing, painting has its documented origins in caves and on rock faces. The finest examples, believed by some to be 32,000 years old, are in theChauvetandLascauxcaves in southern France. In shades of red, brown, yellow and black, the paintings on the walls and ceilings are of bison, cattle, horses and deer.
Paintings of human figures can be found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. In the great temple ofRamses II,Nefertari,his queen, is depicted being led byIsis.[14]TheGreekscontributed to painting but much of their work has been lost. One of the best remaining representations are theHellenisticFayum mummy portraits.Another example is mosaic of theBattle of IssusatPompeii,which was probably based on a Greek painting. Greek and Roman art contributed toByzantine artin the 4th century BC, which initiated a tradition in icon painting.[15]
The Renaissance
editApart from theilluminated manuscriptsproduced by monks during theMiddle Ages,the next significant contribution to European art was fromItaly's renaissance painters.FromGiottoin the 13th century toLeonardo da VinciandRaphaelat the beginning of the 16th century, this was the richest period inItalian artas thechiaroscurotechniques were used to create the illusion of 3-D space.[16]
Painters in northern Europe too were influenced by the Italian school.Jan van Eyckfrom Belgium,Pieter Bruegel the Elderfrom the Netherlands andHans Holbein the Youngerfrom Germany are among the most successful painters of the times. They used theglazing techniquewith oils to achieve depth and luminosity.
Dutch masters
editThe 17th century witnessed the emergence of the great Dutch masters such as the versatileRembrandtwho was especially remembered for his portraits and Bible scenes, andVermeerwho specialized in interior scenes of Dutch life.
Baroque
editThe Baroque started after the Renaissance, from the late 16th century to the late 17th century. Main artists of the Baroque includedCaravaggio,who made heavy use oftenebrism.Peter Paul Rubens,aFlemishpainter who studied in Italy, worked for local churches inAntwerpand also painted a series forMarie de' Medici.Annibale Carraccitook influences from theSistine Chapeland created the genre ofillusionistic ceiling painting.Much of the development that happened in the Baroque was because of theProtestant Reformationand the resultingCounter Reformation.Much of what defines the Baroque is dramatic lighting and overall visuals.[17]
Impressionism
editImpressionism began in France in the 19th century with a loose association of artists includingClaude Monet,Pierre-Auguste RenoirandPaul Cézannewho brought a new freely brushed style to painting, often choosing to paint realistic scenes of modern life outside rather than in the studio. This was achieved through a new expression of aesthetic features demonstrated by brush strokes and the impression of reality. They achieved intense color vibration by using pure, unmixed colors and short brush strokes. The movement influenced art as a dynamic, moving through time and adjusting to newfound techniques and perception of art. Attention to detail became less of a priority in achieving, whilst exploring a biased view of landscapes and nature to the artist's eye.[18][19]
Post-impressionism
editTowards the end of the 19th century, several young painters took impressionism a stage further, using geometric forms and unnatural color to depict emotions while striving for deeper symbolism. Of particular note arePaul Gauguin,who was strongly influenced by Asian, African and Japanese art,Vincent van Gogh,a Dutchman who moved to France where he drew on the strong sunlight of the south, andToulouse-Lautrec,remembered for his vivid paintings of night life in the Paris district ofMontmartre.[20]
Symbolism, expressionism and cubism
editEdvard Munch,a Norwegian artist, developed his symbolistic approach at the end of the 19th century, inspired by the French impressionistManet.The Scream(1893), his most famous work, is widely interpreted as representing the universal anxiety of modern man. Partly as a result of Munch's influence, the Germanexpressionistmovement originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century as artists such asErnst KirschnerandErich Heckelbegan to distort reality for an emotional effect.
In parallel, the style known ascubismdeveloped in France as artists focused on the volume and space of sharp structures within a composition.Pablo PicassoandGeorges Braquewere the leading proponents of the movement. Objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form. By the 1920s, the style had developed intosurrealismwithDaliandMagritte.[21]
Printmaking
editPrintmaking is creating, for artistic purposes, an image on amatrixthat is then transferred to a two-dimensional (flat) surface by means of ink (or another form of pigmentation). Except in the case of amonotype,the same matrix can be used to produce many examples of the print.
Historically, the major techniques (also called media) involved arewoodcut,line engraving,etching,lithography,andscreen printing(serigraphy, silk screening) but there are many others, including modern digital techniques. Normally, the print is printed onpaper,but other mediums range from cloth andvellumto more modern materials.
European history
editPrints in the Western tradition produced before about 1830 are known asold master prints.In Europe, from around 1400 ADwoodcut,was used for master prints on paper by using printing techniques developed in theByzantineand Islamic worlds.Michael Wolgemutimproved German woodcut from about 1475, andErhard Reuwich,a Dutchman, was the first to use cross-hatching. At the end of the centuryAlbrecht Dürerbrought the Western woodcut to a stage that has never been surpassed, increasing the status of the single-leaf woodcut.[22]
Chinese origin and practice
editIn China, the art of printmaking developed some 1,100 years ago as illustrations alongside text cut in woodblocks for printing on paper. Initially images were mainly religious but in theSong dynasty,artists began to cut landscapes. During theMing(1368–1644) andQing(1616–1911) dynasties, the technique was perfected for both religious and artistic engravings.[23][24]
Development in Japan 1603–1867
editWoodblock printing in Japan (Japanese: Mộc bản họa, moku hanga) is a technique best known for its use in theukiyo-eartistic genre; however, it was also used very widely for printingillustrated booksin the same period. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of movable type, but was only widely adopted in Japan during theEdo period(1603–1867).[25][26]Although similar to woodcut in western printmaking in some regards, moku hanga differs greatly in that water-based inks are used (as opposed to western woodcut, which uses oil-based inks), allowing for a wide range of vivid color, glazes and color transparency.
After the decline ofukiyo-eand introduction of modern printing technologies, woodblock printing continued as a method for printing texts as well as for producing art, both within traditional modes such asukiyo-eand in a variety of more radical or Western forms that might be construed asmodern art.In the early 20th century,shin-hangathat fused the tradition ofukiyo-ewith the techniques of Western paintings became popular, and the works ofHasui KawaseandHiroshi Yoshidagained international popularity.[27][28]Institutes such as the "Adachi Institute of Woodblock Prints" and "Takezasado" continue to produce ukiyo-e prints with the same materials and methods as used in the past.[29][30]
Photography
editPhotographyis the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. The light patterns reflected or emitted from objects are recorded onto a sensitive medium or storage chip through a timedexposure.The process is done through mechanicalshuttersor electronically timed exposure ofphotonsintochemicalprocessing ordigitizingdevices known ascameras.
The word comes from the Greek φωςphos( "light" ), and γραφιςgraphis( "stylus", "paintbrush" ) or γραφηgraphê,together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing." Traditionally, the product of photography has been called aphotograph.The termphotois an abbreviation; many people also call thempictures.In digital photography, the termimagehas begun to replacephotograph.(The termimageis traditional in geometricoptics.)
Architecture
editArchitecture is the process and the product ofplanning,designing,andconstructingbuildingsor any other structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived ascultural symbolsand as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements.
The earliest surviving written work on the subject of architecture isDe architectura,by the Roman architectVitruviusin the early 1st century AD. According to Vitruvius, a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, commonly known by the original translation –firmness, commodity and delight.An equivalent in modern English would be:
- Durability– a building should stand up robustly and remain in good condition.
- Utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used.
- Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing.
Building first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.) and means (availablebuilding materialsand attendant skills). As human cultures developed and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, building became acraft,and "architecture" is the name given to the most highly formalized and respected versions of that craft.
Filmmaking
editFilmmaking is the process of making amotion-picture,from an initial conception and research, through scriptwriting, shooting and recording, animation or other special effects, editing, sound and music work and finally distribution to an audience; it refers broadly to the creation of all types of films, embracing documentary, strains of theatre and literature in film, and poetic or experimental practices, and is often used to refer to video-based processes as well.
Computer art
editVisual artists are no longer limited to traditional visualarts media.Computers have been used as an ever more common tool in the visual arts since the 1960s. Uses include thecapturingor creating of images and forms, the editing of those images (including exploring multiplecompositions) and the finalrenderingorprinting(including3D printing). Computer artis any in which computers played a role in production or display. Such art can be an image, sound,animation,video,CD-ROM,DVD,video game,website,algorithm,performanceor gallery installation.
Many traditional disciplines now integratedigitaltechnologies, so the lines between traditional works of art andnew mediaworks created using computers, have been blurred. For instance, an artist may combine traditional painting withalgorithmic artand other digital techniques. As a result, defining computer art by its end product can be difficult. Nevertheless, this type of art is beginning to appear in art museum exhibits, though it has yet to prove its legitimacy as a form unto itself and this technology is widely seen in contemporary art more as a tool, rather than a form as with painting. On the other hand, there are computer-based artworks which belong to a newconceptualandpostdigitalstrand, assuming the same technologies, and their social impact, as an object of inquiry.
Computer usage has blurred the distinctions betweenillustrators,photographers,photo editors,3-D modelers,and handicraft artists. Sophisticated rendering and editing software has led to multi-skilled image developers.Photographersmay becomedigital artists.Illustrators may becomeanimators.Handicraft may becomputer-aidedor usecomputer-generated imageryas a template. Computerclip artusage has also made the clear distinction between visual arts andpage layoutless obvious due to the easy access and editing of clip art in the process ofpaginatinga document, especially to the unskilled observer.
Plastic arts
editPlastic artsis a term for art forms that involve physical manipulation of a plastic medium by moulding or modeling such assculptureorceramics.The term has also been applied toall the visual (non-literary, non-musical) arts.[31][32]
Materials that can be carved or shaped, such as stone or wood, concrete or steel, have also been included in the narrower definition, since, with appropriate tools, such materials are also capable of modulation.[citation needed]This use of the term "plastic" in the arts should not be confused withPiet Mondrian's use, nor with the movement he termed, in French and English, "Neoplasticism."
Sculpture
editSculpture isthree-dimensionalartworkcreated by shaping or combining hard orplasticmaterial, sound, or text and or light, commonlystone(eitherrockormarble),clay,metal,glass,orwood.Some sculptures are created directly by finding orcarving;others are assembled, built together andfired,welded,molded,orcast.Sculptures are oftenpainted.[33]A person who creates sculptures is called a sculptor.
The earliest undisputed examples of sculpture belong to theAurignacian culture,which was located in Europe and southwest Asia and active at the beginning of theUpper Paleolithic.As well as producing some of the earliest knowncave art,the people of this culture developed finely-crafted stone tools, manufacturing pendants, bracelets, ivory beads, and bone-flutes, as well as three-dimensional figurines.[34][35][36]
Because sculpture involves the use of materials that can be moulded or modulated, it is considered one of theplastic arts.The majority ofpublic artis sculpture. Many sculptures together in agardensetting may be referred to as asculpture garden.Sculptors do not always make sculptures by hand. With increasing technology in the 20th century and the popularity ofconceptual artover technical mastery, more sculptors turned toart fabricatorsto produce their artworks. With fabrication, the artist creates a design and pays a fabricator to produce it. This allows sculptors to create larger and more complex sculptures out of materials like cement, metal and plastic, that they would not be able to create by hand. Sculptures can also be made with3-d printingtechnology.
US copyright definition of visual art
editIn the United States, the law protecting the copyright over a piece of visual art gives a more restrictive definition of "visual art".[37]
A "work of visual art" is —
(1) a painting, drawing, print or sculpture, existing in a single copy, in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author, or, in the case of a sculpture, in multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author; or
(2) a still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only, existing in a single copy that is signed by the author, or in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author.
A work of visual art does not include —
(A)(i) any poster, map, globe, chart,technical drawing,diagram, model, applied art, motion picture or other audiovisual work, book, magazine, newspaper, periodical, data base, electronic information service, electronic publication, or similar publication;
(ii) any merchandising item or advertising, promotional, descriptive, covering, or packaging material or container;
(iii) any portion or part of any item described in clause (i) or (ii);
(B) anywork made for hire;or
(C) any work not subject to copyright protection under this title.
See also
edit- Art materials
- Asemic writing
- Collage
- Conservation and restoration of cultural property
- Crowdsourcing creative work
- Décollage
- Environmental art
- Found object
- Graffiti
- History of art
- Illustration
- Installation art
- Interactive art
- Landscape art
- Mathematics and art
- Mixed media
- Portraiture
- Process art
- Recording medium
- Sketch (drawing)
- Sound art
- Vexillography
- Video art
- Visual arts and Theosophy
- Visual impairment in art
- Visual poetry
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External links
edit- ArtLex– online dictionary of visual art terms (archived 24 April 2005)
- Calendar for Artists– calendar listing of visual art festivals.
- Art History Timelineby theMetropolitan Museum of Art.