There are several ways to define art.
Art is a diverse range of human activities and the products of those
activities.
Art may be characterized in terms of mimesis (its representation of reality), expression, communication of emotion,
or other qualities.
During the Romantic period, art came to be seen as
"a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and
science".
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“In order correctly to define art, it is necessary,
first of all, to cease to consider it as a means to pleasure and to consider it
as one of the conditions of human life. Viewing it in this way we cannot fail
to observe that art is one of the means of intercourse between man and man.”
Leo Tolstoy
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Though the definition of what constitutes art is
disputed and has changed over time, general descriptions mention an idea of
imaginative or technical skill stemming from human agency and
creation.
By a broad definition of art, artistic works have
existed for almost as long as humankind: from early pre-historic art to contemporary
art; however.
The first and broadest sense of art is the one
that has remained closest to the older Latin meaning, which roughly translates
to "skill" or "craft," as associated with words such as
"artisan."
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"Imitation, then, is one instinct of our nature.
Next, there is the instinct for 'harmony' and rhythm, meters being manifestly
sections of rhythm. Persons, therefore, starting with this natural gift
developed by degrees their special aptitudes, till their rude improvisations
gave birth to Poetry." –Aristotle
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English words derived from this meaning include artifact,
artificial, artifice, medical arts, and military art.
The nature of art has been described by philosopher Richard
Wollheim as "one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human
culture".
Art 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.
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"The most beautiful thing we can experience is
the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." -Albert
Einstein
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Leo Tolstoy identified art as a use of indirect means
to communicate from one person to another.
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.
Martin Heidegger has interpreted art as the means by
which a community develops for itself a medium for self-expression and
interpretation.
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"Jupiter's eagle [as an example of art] is not,
like logical (aesthetic) attributes of an object, the concept of the sublimity
and majesty of creation, but rather something else – something that gives the
imagination an incentive to spread its flight over a whole host of kindred
representations that provoke more thought than admits of expression in a
concept determined by words. They furnish an aesthetic idea, which serves the
above rational idea as a substitute for logical presentation, but with the
proper function, however, of animating the mind by opening out for it a
prospect into a field of kindred representations stretching beyond its
ken." -Immanuel Kant
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Larry Shiner has described fine art as "not an
essence or a fate but something we have made. Art as we have generally
understood it is a European invention barely two hundred years old.”
Art plays a large part in making our lives infinitely rich.
Art stimulates different parts of our brains to make us laugh or incite
us to riot, with a whole gamut of emotions in between.
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"Most scholars who deal with rock paintings or
objects recovered from prehistoric contexts that cannot be explained in
utilitarian terms and are thus categorized as decorative, ritual or symbolic,
are aware of the trap posed by the term 'art'." -Silva Tomaskova
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Art gives us a way to be creative and express ourselves.
Art is something that makes us more thoughtful and well-rounded humans.
Art is such a large part of our everyday lives that we may hardly even
stop to think about it.
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"[Art is a set of] artefacts or images with
symbolic meanings as a means of communication." -Steve Mithen
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All functional design, well done, is art.
Art is something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing to
our eyes.
Art is in a constant state of change, so nobody can really pin down what
it is.
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“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”
― Pablo Picasso |
Art is subjective, and means something different to every single person
on earth.
The creative arts are often divided into more specific
categories, each related to its technique, or medium, such as decorative arts, plastic
arts, performing arts, or literature.
Unlike scientific fields, art is one of the few
subjects that are academically organized according to technique.
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“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of
seeing yourself in things that are not you.”
― Chuck Klosterman, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story |
An artistic medium is the substance or material the
artistic work is made from, and may also refer to the technique used.
For example, paint is a medium used in painting, and
paper is a medium used in drawing.
An art form is the
specific shape, or quality an artistic expression takes.
The media used often influence the form.
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“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an
artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.”
― Émile Zola |
For example, the form of a sculpture must exist in space in three
dimensions, and respond to gravity.
A genre is a set
of conventions and styles within a particular medium.
A particular work of art may bend or combine genres but each genre has a
recognizable group of conventions, clichés and tropes.
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“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves
at the same time.”
― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island |
The style of an
artwork, artist, or movement is the distinctive method and form followed by the
respective art.
Often a style is linked with a particular historical period, set of
ideas, and particular artistic movement.
Art, as creativity, is something humans must do by
their very nature (i.e., no other species creates art), and is therefore
beyond utility.
