The arts are a very 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
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
. Both highly 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, judgments, ideas, visions, spiritual meanings, patterns of life and experiences across time and space.
Prominent examples of the arts include:
*
visual arts (including
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
,
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
,
drawing,
filmmaking
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, cast ...
,
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
,
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...
, and
sculpting
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
),
*
literary arts (including
fiction,
drama,
poetry, and
prose),
*
performing arts (including
dance,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
, and
theatre) and
They can employ
skill and
imagination to produce
objects,
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 and 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 re-defined. The practice of
modern art, for example, is a testament to the shifting boundaries, improvisation and experimentation, reflexive nature, and
self-criticism
Self-criticism involves how an individual evaluates oneself. Self-criticism in psychology is typically studied and discussed as a negative personality trait in which a person has a disrupted self-identity. The opposite of self-criticism would be ...
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
In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 y ...
, 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
There are several possible meanings for the definitions of the terms ''Art'' and ''Arts''. The first meaning of the word ''art'' is " way of doing ". The most basic present meaning defines the arts as specific activities that produce sensitivity in humans.
The arts are also referred to as bringing together all creative and imaginative activities, without including science.
In its most basic abstract definition,
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
is a documented expression of a sentient being through or on an accessible medium so that anyone can view, hear or experience it. The act itself of producing an expression can also be referred to as a certain art, or as art in general. Whether this solidified expression, or the act of producing it, is "good" or has value depends on those who access and rate it. Such public rating is dependent on various subjective factors.
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".
Similarly, the
United States Congress, in the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, defined "the arts" as follows:
Art is a global activity in which a large number of disciplines are included, such as: fine arts, liberal arts, visual arts, decorative arts, applied arts, design, crafts, performing arts, and so on.
We are talking about "the arts" when several of them are mentioned: "As in all arts the enjoyment increases with the knowledge of the art".
The arts can be divided into several areas, the
fine arts which bring together, in the broad sense, all the arts whose aim is to produce true aesthetic pleasure,
decorative arts and
applied arts which relate to an aesthetic side in everyday life.
History and classifications
In
Ancient Greece, all art and
craft was referred to by the same word, ''
techne''. Thus, there was no distinction among the arts.
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
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
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
' thunderbolt). In
Byzantine and
Gothic art
Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Northern, Southern and ...
of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, the dominance of the church insisted on the expression of biblical truths.
Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to
Western medieval art, namely a concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade and reflection). A characteristic of this style is that the local colour is often defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for example, the art of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
and
Japan. Religious
Islamic art
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...
forbids iconography, and instead expresses religious ideas through
calligraphy and geometrical designs.
Classifications
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, the ''
Artes Liberales'' (liberal arts) were taught in European
universities as part of the
Trivium, an introductory curriculum involving
grammar,
rhetoric, and
logic, and of the
Quadrivium, a curriculum involving the "mathematical arts" of
arithmetic,
geometry,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
, and
astronomy. The ''
Artes Mechanicae'' (consisting of ''vestiaria'' –
tailoring and
weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
; ''agricultura'' –
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
; ''architectura'' –
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
and
masonry; ''militia'' and ''venatoria'' –
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
fare,
hunting,
military education
Military education and training is a process which intends to establish and improve the capabilities of military personnel in their respective roles. Military training may be voluntary or compulsory duty. It begins with recruit training, proceed ...
, and the
martial arts; ''mercatura'' –
trade; ''coquinaria'' –
cooking; and ''metallaria'' –
blacksmithing and
metallurgy) were practised and developed in guild environments. The modern distinction between "artistic" and "non-artistic" skills did not develop until the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
. In modern
academia, the arts are usually grouped with or as a subset of the
humanities. Some subjects in the humanities are
history,
linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
,
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
theology,
philosophy, and
logic.
The arts have also been classified as seven:
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
,
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
,
sculpture,
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
,
performing and
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
...
.
Some view literature, painting, sculpture, and music as the main four arts, of which the others are derivative;
drama is literature with
acting,
dance is music expressed through
motion, and
song is music with literature and
voice.
Film is sometimes called the "eighth" and
comics the "ninth art".
Visual arts
Architecture
Architecture is the
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
and
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
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". A wider definition would include the design of the built environment, from the macrolevel of
town planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
,
urban design, and
landscape architecture to the microlevel of creating
furniture. Architectural design usually must address both feasibility and
cost for the
builder, as well as function and
aesthetics for the
user.
In modern usage, architecture is the
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
and
discipline of creating, or inferring an implied or apparent plan of, a complex object or
system. The term can be used to connote the ''implied architecture'' of abstract things such as
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
or
mathematics, the ''apparent architecture'' of natural things, such as
geological
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other E ...
formations or the
structure of biological cells, or explicitly ''planned architectures'' of human-made things such as
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
,
computers,
enterprises, and
databases, in addition to buildings. In every usage, an architecture may be seen as a ''subjective
mapping'' from a human perspective (that of the ''user'' in the case of abstract or physical artefacts) to the
elements or components of some kind of
structure or system, which preserves the relationships among the elements or components. Planned architecture manipulates space, volume, texture, light, shadow, or abstract elements in order to achieve pleasing
aesthetics. This distinguishes it from
applied science or
engineering, which usually concentrate more on the functional and feasibility aspects of the design of constructions or structures.
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. Many architectural works may be seen also as cultural and political
symbols, or works of art. The role of the architect, though changing, has been central to the successful (and sometimes less than successful) design and implementation of pleasingly built environments in which people live.
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, some are considered to be
decorative
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
,
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. Products from a pottery are sometimes referred to as "art pottery." In a one-person pottery studio, ceramists or potters produce
studio pottery
Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves.Emmanuel Cooper, ...
. In modern ceramic engineering usage, "ceramics" is the art and science of making objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials by the action of heat. It excludes
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
and
mosaic made from glass ''
tessera
A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus.
Historical tesserae
The oldest known tesserae ...
e.''
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. Through its association with the
Young British Artists
The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsm ...
and the
Turner Prize during the 1990s, its popular usage, particularly in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, developed as a synonym for all
contemporary art that does not practise the traditional skills of
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
and
sculpture.
Drawing
Drawing is a means of making an
image, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are
graphite pencils,
pen
A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...
and ink,
inked
brushes, wax
colour pencils,
crayons,
charcoals,
pastels, and
markers. Digital tools which can simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are line drawing,
hatching
Hatching (french: hachure) is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading
Shading refers to the depiction of depth perception in 3D models (within the field of 3D computer graphics) or illustrations (in visual art) by varying ...
, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling,
stippling
Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists.
Art
In printmaking, stipple engraving is ...
, and blending. An
artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a ''drafter'', ''draftswoman'', or ''draughtsman''. Drawing can be used to create art used in cultural industries such as
illustrations,
comics and
animation. Comics are often called the "ninth art" (le neuvième art) in Francophone scholarship, adding to the traditional "Seven Arts".
Painting
Painting is a mode of creative expression, and can be done in numerous forms.
Drawing,
gesture (as in
gestural painting),
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
,
narration
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
(as in
narrative art
Narrative art is art that tells a story, either as a moment in an ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time. Some of the earliest evidence of human art suggests that people told stories with pictures. Although there are som ...
), or
abstraction (as in
abstract art), among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a
still life or
landscape painting
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...
),
photographic, abstract, narrative,
symbolistic (as in
Symbolist art),
emotive (as in
Expressionism), or
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
in nature (as in
Artivism).
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
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
or strands of hair for their
artwork texture. Examples of this are the works of
Jean Dubuffet or
Anselm Kiefer.
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.
Sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the
visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the
plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used
carving (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in
stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
,
metal,
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
,
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
and other materials; but since
modernism, shifts in sculptural process led to an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by
welding or modelling, or
moulded, or
cast.
Literary arts
Literature is literally "acquaintance with letters" as in the first sense given in the ''
Oxford English Dictionary''. The noun "literature" comes from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word ''littera'' meaning "an individual written character (
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
)." The term has generally come to identify a collection of
writings, which in
Western culture are mainly
prose (both
fiction and
non-fiction),
drama and
poetry. In much, if not all of the world, the artistic linguistic expression can be
oral as well, and include such
genres as
epic,
legend,
myth,
ballad, other forms of oral
poetry, and as
folktale.
Comics, the combination of drawings or other visual arts with narrating literature, are often called the "ninth art" (le neuvième art) in Francophone scholarship.
Performing arts
Performing arts comprise
dance,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
,
theatre,
opera,
mime
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...
, and other art forms in which a human performance is the principal product. Performing arts are distinguished by this performance element in contrast with disciplines such as visual and literary arts where the product is an object that does not require a performance to be observed and experienced. Each discipline in the performing arts is temporal in nature, meaning the product is performed over a period of time. Products are broadly categorized as being either repeatable (for example, by script or score) or improvised for each performance. Artists who participate in these arts in front of an audience are called ''performers'', including
actors,
magicians
Magician or The Magician may refer to:
Performers
* A practitioner of magic (supernatural)
* A practitioner of magic (illusion)
* Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context
Entertainment
Books
* ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
,
comedians,
dancers,
musicians, and
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
s. Performing arts are also supported by the services of other artists or essential workers, such as
songwriting
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
and
stagecraft. Performers often adapt their
appearance
Appearance may refer to:
* Visual appearance, the way in which objects reflect and transmit light
* Human physical appearance, what someone looks like
* ''Appearances'' (film), a 1921 film directed by Donald Crisp
* Appearance (philosophy), or p ...
with tools such as
costume and
stage makeup
Theatrical makeup is makeup that is used to assist in creating the appearance of the characters that actors portray during a theater production.
Background
In Greek and Roman theatre, makeup was unnecessary. Actors wore various masks, allowi ...
.
Dance
Dance generally refers to human
movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a
social,
spiritual or
performance setting.
Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who does this is called a choreographer. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on
social,
cultural,
aesthetic,
artistic
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...
and
moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as
Folk dance) to codified,
virtuoso techniques such as
ballet. In
sports,
gymnastics,
figure skating and
synchronized swimming are dance disciplines while
Martial arts "
kata" are often compared to dances.
Music
Music is often defined as an art form whose
medium is the combination of
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' b ...
s. Though scholars agree that music generally consists of
a few core elements, their exact definitions are debated. Commonly identified aspects include
pitch (which governs melody and harmony),
duration (including
rhythm and
tempo), intensity (including dynamics) and
timbre
In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...
. Though considered a
cultural universal,
definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world as they are based on diverse views of
nature, the supernatural, and humanity. Music is often differentiated into
composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
and
performance, while
musical improvisation may be regarded as an intermediary tradition. Music can be divided into genres and subgenres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial.
Theatre
Theatre or theater (from Greek ''theatron'' (''θέατρον)''; from ''theasthai'', "behold"
) is the branch of the
performing arts concerned with
acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle – indeed, any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as
opera,
ballet,
mime
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...
,
kabuki,
classical Indian dance,
Chinese opera and
mummers' plays.
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 in the performing arts of music, the word itself is Italian for "works", because opera combines several artistic disciplines in a singular artistic experience. In a typical traditional
opera, the entire work uses the following: the sets (visual arts), costumes (fashion), acting (dramatic performing arts), the libretto, or the words/story (literature), and singers and an orchestra (music).
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''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...
'' ("The Ring of the Nibelung"). He did not use the term opera for his works, but instead
Gesamtkunstwerk
A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, literally 'total artwork', translated as 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of al ...
("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 which emerged in the 17th century in which orchestral music is combined with dance.
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 which 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, which can be found in a living room of a typical house, hence the title.
Other arts
There is no clear line between art and
culture. Cultural fields like
gastronomy
Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...
are sometimes considered as arts.
Applied arts
The applied arts are the application of design and decoration to everyday, functional, objects to make them aesthetically pleasing. The applied arts includes fields such as industrial design, illustration, and commercial art.
The term "applied art" is used in distinction to the fine arts, where the latter is defined as arts that aims to produce objects which are beautiful or provide intellectual stimulation but have no primary everyday function. In practice, the two often overlap.
Video games
Video games,
electronic games
An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...
involving interaction using an
input device such as a
controller or
keyboard, have
a history that dates back to when the
first video games were created as early as 1950. By the 1960s,
arcade video games had emerged—in the following decades,
games for both
stationary and
portable dedicated
video game systems
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a ...
,
personal computer games, and
mobile games were introduced, each with varying market share in the
video game industry. Video games are played in either Single-player video game, single-player or Multiplayer video game, multiplayer and have many unique Video game genre, genres, the most popular of which are Action game, action games and Shooter game, shooter games.
["Essential facts about the computer and video game industry" Entertainment Software Association report, 2016, ]
Within the Video game culture, video game community, there is debate surrounding whether video games should be Video games as an art form, classified as an art form, and whether Video game developer, game developers—AAA (video game industry), AAA or Indie game, indie—should be classified as artists.
[Pratt, Charles J. ]
The Art History... Of Games? Games As Art May Be A Lost Cause
'. Gamasutra. 8 February 2010. Hideo Kojima, a video game designer considered a "gaming arteur", argued that video games are a type of service rather than an art form in 2006. In social sciences, cultural economists show how playing video games is conducive to involvement in more traditional art forms. In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment of the Arts included video games in its definition of a "work of art", and the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented an exhibit titled ''The Art of the Video Game'' in 2012.
Arts critique
* Architecture criticism
* Art criticism
* Dance criticism
* Film criticism
* Music criticism
* Television criticism
* Theatre criticism
* Literary criticism
See also
* Arts in education
* The arts and politics
Notes
References
Sources
Books
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External links
Topic Dictionariesat Oxford Learner's Dictionaries.
Definition of Artby Lexico.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arts
The arts,
Arts-related lists,
Aesthetics
Culture
Humanities