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Arts-
How best to define the term “art” is a subject of much
contention; many books and journal articles have been published arguing
over even the basics of what we mean by the term “art” (Davies, 1991 and
Carroll, 2000). Theodor Adorno claimed in 1969 “It is self-evident that
nothing concerning art is self-evident any more.” (Danto, 2003). Indeed,
it is not even clear anymore who has the right to define art. Artists,
philosophers, anthropologists, and psychologists all use the notion of art
in their respective fields, and give it operational definitions that are
not very similar to each others. How best to define
the term “art” is a subject of much contention; many books and journal
articles have been published arguing over even the basics of what we mean
by the term “art” (Davies, 1991 and Carroll, 2000). Theodor Adorno claimed
in 1969 “It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident
any more.” (Danto, 2003). Indeed, it is not even clear anymore who has the
right to define art. Artists, philosophers, anthropologists, and
psychologists all use the notion of art in their respective fields, and
give it operational definitions that are not very similar to each others.
Nonetheless we can make some progress towards defining art in its most
everyday senses. The first broadest sense of “art” is the one that has
stayed closest to the older Latin meaning, which roughly translates to
"skill" or "craft", and also from an Indo-European root meaning
"arrangement" or "to arrange". In this sense, art is whatever is described
as having undergone a deliberate process of arrangement by an agent. A few
examples where this meaning proves very broad include artifact,
artificial, artifice, artillery, medical arts, and military arts. However,
there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation
to its etymology.
The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, September
1888.The second, more narrow, more recent sense of the word “art” is
roughly as an abbreviation for creative art or “fine art.” Here we mean
that 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. Often, if the skill is being used in
a lowbrow 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 will be considered design instead of art. On the other hand, crafts
and design are sometimes considered applied art. Some thinkers 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
(Novitz, 1992). However, even fine art often has goals beyond just 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.
Art can describe several kinds of things: a study of creative skill, a
process of using the creative skill, a product of the creative skill, or
the audience’s experiencing of the creative skill. The creative arts
(“art”’ as discipline) are a collection of disciplines (“arts”) which
output artworks (“art” as objects) that is compelled by a personal drive
(“art” as activity) and echoes or reflects a message, mood, or symbolism
for the viewer to interpret (“art” as experience).
Theories of art
Aesthetics, or the philosophy of art, often engages in disputes about the
best way to define art. General pictures of the nature of art are called
“theories of art.”
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. 1917Many have argued that it is a mistake to
even try to define art or beauty, that they have no essence, and so can
have no definition. Often, it is said that art is a cluster of related
concepts rather than a single concept. Examples of this approach include
Morris Weitz and Berys Gaut.
Another approach is to say that “art” is basically a sociological
category, that whatever art schools and museums, and artists get away with
is considered art regardless of formal definitions. This "institutional
definition of art" has been championed by George Dickie. Most people did
not consider the depiction of a Brillo Box or a store-bought urinal to be
art until Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp (respectively) placed them in the
context of art (i.e., the art gallery), which then provided the
association of these objects with the values that define art. The
placement of an object in an artistic context is a common characteristic
of conceptual art, prevalent since the 1960s; notably, the Stuckist art
movement criticizes this tendency of recent art.
Proceduralists often suggest that it is the process by which a work of art
is created or viewed that makes it, art, not any inherent feature of an
object, or how well received it is by the institutions of the art world
after its introduction to society at large. For John Dewey, for instance,
if the writer intended a piece to be a poem, it is one whether other poets
acknowledge it or not. Whereas if exactly the same set of word was written
by a journalist, intending them as shorthand notes to help him write a
longer article latter, these would not be a poem. Leo Tolstoy, on the
other hand, claims that what makes something art or not is how it is
experienced by its audience, not by the intention of its creator.
Functionalists, like Monroe Beardsley argue that whether or not a piece
counts as art depends on what function it plays in a particular context,
the same Greek vase may play a non-artistic function in one context
(carrying wine), and an artistic function in another context (helping us
to appreciate the beauty of the human figure).
Art and class
Versailles: Louis Le Vau opened up the interior court to create the
expansive entrance cour d'honneur, later copied all over EuropeArt is
often seen as belonging to one social class and excluding others. In this
context, art is seen as a high-status activity associated with wealth, the
ability to purchase art, and the leisure required to pursue or enjoy it.
The palaces of Versailles or the Hermitage in St. Petersburg with their
vast collections of art, amassed by the fabulously wealthy royalty of
Europe exemplify this view. Collecting such art is the preserve of the
rich, in one viewpoint.
Before the 13th century in Europe, artisans were considered to belong to a
lower caste, since they were essentially manual labourers. After Europe
was re-exposed to classical culture during the Renaissance, particularly
in the nation-states of what is now Italy (Florence, Siena), artists
gained an association with high status. However, arrangements of "fine"
and expensive goods have always been used by institutions of power as
marks of their own status. This is seen in the 20th and 21st century by
the commissioning or purchasing of art by big businesses and corporations
as decoration for their offices.
Utility of art
Often one of the defining characteristics of fine art as opposed to
applied art, is the absence of any clear usefulness or utilitarian value.
But this requirement is sometimes criticized as being a class prejudice
against labor and utility. Opponents of the view that art cannot be
useful, argue that all human activity has some utilitarian function, and
the objects claimed to be "non-utilitarian" actually have the function of
attempting to mystify and codify flawed social hierarchies. It is also
sometimes argued that even seemingly non-useful art is not useless, but
rather that its use is the effect it has on the psyche of the creator or
viewer.
Art is also used by art therapists, psychotherapists and clinical
psychologists as art therapy. The end product is not the principal goal in
this case; rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought.
The resultant piece of artwork may also offer insight into the troubles
experienced by the subject and may suggest suitable approaches to be used
in more conventional forms of psychiatric therapy.
[[Image:Graffiti_Panorama_rome.jpg|thumb|600px|center|Grafiti, a kind of
art considered by some to be vandalism, as it is mostly known from being
painted illicitly on on buildings, buses, trains, bridges and suchlike.
The "use" of art from the artist’s standpoint could be as a means of
expression. It allows one to symbolize complex ideas and emotions in an
arbitrary language subject only to the interpretation of the self and
peers.
In a social context, it can serve to soothe the soul and promote popular
morale. In a more negative aspect of this facet, art is often utilised as
a form of propaganda, and thus can be used to subtly influence popular
conceptions or mood (in some cases, artworks are appropriated to be used
in this manner, without the creator's initial intention).
From a more anthropological perspective, art is often a way of passing
ideas and concepts on to later generations in a (somewhat) universal
language. The interpretation of this language is very dependent upon the
observer’s perspective and context, and it might be argued that the very
subjectivity of art demonstrates its importance in providing an arena in
which rival ideas might be exchanged and discussed, or to provide a social
context in which disparate groups of people might congregate and mingle. |
