Works of art can tell stories or simply express an aesthetic truth or feeling. Panorama of a section of
A Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, a 12th-century painting by Song Dynasty artist
Wang Ximeng.
The
Encyclopædia Britannica Online defines
art as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others". By this definition of the word, artistic works have existed for almost as long as
humankind: from early
pre-historic art to
contemporary art; however, some theories restrict the concept to modern Western societies.
[6]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." A few examples where this meaning proves very broad include
artifact,
artificial,
artifice,
medical arts, and
military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its
etymology.
20th-century
Rwandan bottle. Artistic works may serve practical functions, in addition to their decorative value.
In medieval philosophy,
John Chrysostom held that "the name of art should be applied to those only which contribute towards and produce necessaries and mainstays of life."
Thomas Aquinas, when treating the adornment of women, gives an
ethical justification as to why: "In the case of an art directed to the production of goods which men cannot use without sin, it follows that the workmen sin in making such things, as directly affording others an occasion of sin; for instance, if a man were to make idols or anything pertaining to idolatrous worship. But in the case of an art the products of which may be employed by man either for a good or for an evil use, such as swords, arrows, and the like, the practice of such an art is not sinful. These alone should be called arts."
[7] Aquinas held that art is nothing else than "the right reason about certain works to be made," and that it is commendable, not for the will with which a craftman does a work, "but for the quality of the work. Art, therefore, properly speaking, is an operative habit."
Aristotle and Aquinas distinguish it from the related habit of
prudence.
[8]
The second and more recent sense of the word
art is as an abbreviation for
creative art or
fine art and emerged in the early 17th century.
[9] Fine art means that a skill is being used to express the artist's creativity, or to engage the audience's aesthetic sensibilities, or to draw the audience towards consideration of the
finer things.
The word art can refer to several things: a study of creative skill, a process of using the creative skill, a product of the creative skill, or the audience's experience with the creative skill. The creative arts (art as discipline) are a collection of disciplines that produceartworks (art as objects) that are compelled by a personal drive (art as activity) and convey a message, mood, or symbolism for the viewer to interpret (art as experience). Art is something that stimulates an individual's thoughts, emotions, beliefs, or ideas through the senses. Artworks can be explicitly made for this purpose or interpreted on the basis of images or objects. Although the application of scientific knowledge to derive a new scientific theory involves skill and results in the "creation" of something new, this represents science only and is not categorized as art.
Often, if the skill is being used in a common or practical way, people will consider it a craft instead of art. Likewise, if the skill is being used in a commercial or industrial way, it may be considered
commercial art instead of fine art. On the other hand, crafts and
designare sometimes considered
applied art. Some art followers have argued that the difference between fine art and applied art has more to do with value judgments made about the art than any clear definitional difference.
[10] However, even fine art often has goals beyond pure creativity and self-expression. The purpose of works of art may be to communicate ideas, such as in politically, spiritually, or philosophically motivated art; to create a sense of
beauty (see
aesthetics); to explore the nature of perception; for pleasure; or to generate strong
emotions. The purpose may also be seemingly nonexistent.
The nature of art has been described by philosopher
Richard Wollheim as "one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture".
[11] 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. Art as mimesis has deep roots in the philosophy of
Aristotle.
[12] Goethe defined art as an
other resp. a
second nature, according to his ideal of a
style founded on the basic fundaments of insight and on the innermost character of things.
[13] Leo Tolstoy identified art as a use of indirect means to communicate from one person to another.
[12] 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.
[14][15] 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. 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.
[16] George Dickie has offered an
institutional theory of art that defines a work of art as any artifact upon which a qualified person or institution has conferred "the status of candidate for appreciation".
[17]
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