An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating
art, practicing
the arts, or demonstrating the
work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the
visual arts only.
However, the term is also often used in the
entertainment business to refer to
actors,
musicians,
singers,
dancers and other
performers, in which they are known as ''Artiste'' instead. ''Artiste'' (French) is a variant used in English in this context, but this use has become rare. The use of the term "artist" to describe
writers is valid, but less common, and mostly restricted to contexts such as critics' reviews; "
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
" is generally used instead.
Dictionary definitions
The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' defines the older, broader meanings of the word "artist":
* A learned person or
Master of Arts
* One who pursues a practical science, traditionally
medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
,
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
,
alchemy,
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
* A follower of a pursuit in which
skill comes by study or practice
* A follower of a manual art, such as a
mechanic
* One who makes their
craft a fine art
* One who cultivates one of the
fine arts
In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...
– traditionally the arts presided over by the
muses
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
History of the term

The Greek word , often translated as "art", implies mastery of any sort of craft. The adjectival Latin form of the word, , became the source of the English words
technique
Technique or techniques may refer to:
Music
* The Techniques, a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group of the 1960s
* Technique (band), a British female synth pop band in the 1990s
* ''Technique'' (album), by New Order, 1989
* ''Techniques'' (album), by ...
, technology, and
technical
Technical may refer to:
* Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle
* Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match
* Technical advisor, a person who ...
.
In Greek culture, each of the nine
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
s oversaw a different field of human creation:
*
Calliope
In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; ) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses".
Mythology
Calliope had two famous sons, OrpheusH ...
(the 'beautiful of speech'): chief of the muses and muse of
epic or heroic poetry
*
Clio
In Greek mythology, Clio ( , ; ), also spelled Kleio, Сleio, or Cleo, is the muse of history, or in a few mythological accounts, the muse of lyre-playing.
Etymology
Clio's name is derived from the Greek root κλέω/κλείω (meaning ...
(the 'glorious one'): muse of
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
*
Erato (the 'amorous one'): muse of
love or erotic poetry,
lyrics, and marriage songs
*
Euterpe (the 'well-pleasing'): muse of
music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
and
lyric poetry
*
Melpomene (the 'chanting one'): muse of
tragedy
*
Polyhymnia or Polymnia (the '
ingerof many
hymns'): muse of
sacred song,
oratory, lyric,
singing
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
, and
rhetoric
*
Terpsichore (the '
ne whodelights in dance'): muse of
choral song and dance
*
Thalia (the 'blossoming one'): muse of
comedy and
bucolic poetry
*
Urania (the 'celestial one'): muse of
astronomy
No muse was identified with the visual arts of
painting and
sculpture. In ancient Greece, sculptors and painters were held in low regard, the work often performed by slaves and mostly regarded as mere manual labour.
The word ''art'' derives from the Latin "" (stem ''art-''), which, although literally defined means "skill method" or "technique", also conveys a connotation of beauty.
During the Middle Ages the word ''artist'' already existed in some countries such as Italy, but the meaning was something resembling ''craftsman'', while the word ''artisan'' was still unknown. An artist was someone able to do a work better than others, so the skilled excellency was underlined, rather than the activity field. In this period, some "artisanal" products (such as
textiles) were much more precious and expensive than paintings or sculptures.
The first division into major and minor arts dates back at least to the works of
Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472): ''
De re aedificatoria,
De statua,
De pictura'', which focused on the importance of the intellectual skills of the artist rather than the manual skills (even if in other forms of art there was a
project behind).
[
P.Galloni, ''Il sacro artefice. Mitologie degli artigiani medievali'', Laterza, ]Bari
Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...
, 1998
With the
academies in Europe (second half of 16th century) the gap between fine and applied arts was definitely set.
Many contemporary definitions of "artist" and "art" are highly contingent on culture, resisting aesthetic prescription; in the same way, the features constituting beauty and the beautiful cannot be standardized easily without moving into
kitsch.
Training and employment
The
US Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies many visual artists as either ''craft artists'' or ''fine artists''.
A craft artist makes handmade functional works of art, such as
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
or
clothing. A fine artist makes paintings,
illustrations (such as
book illustrations or
medical illustrations), sculptures, or similar artistic works primarily for their aesthetic value.
The main source of skill for both craft artists and fine artists is long-term repetition and practice.
Many fine artists have studied their art form at university, and some have a master's degree in fine arts. Artists may also study on their own or receive on-the-job training from an experienced artist.
The number of available jobs as an artist is increasing more slowly than in other fields.
About half of US artists are self-employed. Others work in a variety of industries. For example, a pottery manufacturer will employ craft artists, and book publishers will hire illustrators.
In the US, fine artists have a median income of approximately US$50,000 per year, and craft artists have a median income of approximately US$33,000 per year.
This compares to US$61,000 for all art-related fields, including related jobs such as
graphic designers,
multimedia artists,
animators, and
fashion designers.
Many artists work part-time as artists and hold a second job.
See also
*
Art history
*
Arts by region
*
Artist in Residence
*
Humanities
*
List of painters by name
*
List of painters
*
List of photographers
*
List of composers
*
List of sculptors
*
Mathematics and art
*
Starving artist
*
Tattoo artist
*
Tortured artist
References
Works cited
* P.Galloni, Il sacro artefice. Mitologie degli artigiani medievali, Laterza, Bari, 1998
* C. T. Onions (1991). ''The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary''. Clarendon Press Oxford.
External links
*
{{Authority control
Concepts in aesthetics
Art occupations
Artisans
Arts-related lists
Humanities occupations