Visual arts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Van Gogh: The Church at Auvers (1890)

The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such
as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture,printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts
(photography, video, and filmmaking) and architecture. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as
many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well
as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts[1] are the applied arts[2] such as industrial
design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.[3]

As indicated above, the current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as
the applied, decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts
Movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term artist was often restricted to a
person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the handicraft, craft, or
applied art media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement who valued
vernacular art forms as much as high forms.[4] Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts and
the crafts maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of art.

The increasing tendency to privilege painting, and to a lesser degree sculpture, above other arts has been a
feature of Western art as well as East Asian art. In both regions painting has been seen as relying to the
highest degree on the imagination of the artist, and the furthest removed from manual labour - in Chinese
painting the most highly valued styles were those of "scholar-painting", at least in theory practiced by
gentleman amateurs. The Western hierarchy of genres reflected similar attitudes.
 Contents
[hide]

• 1 Education and training

• 2 Drawing

o 2.1 Early history

o 2.2 Renaissance

• 3 Painting

o 3.1 Origins and early history

o 3.2 The Renaissance

o 3.3 Dutch masters

o 3.4 Impressionism

o 3.5 Post-impressionism

o 3.6 Symbolism, expressionism

and cubism

• 4 Printmaking

o 4.1 Chinese origins

o 4.2 European history

• 5 Photography

• 6 Filmmaking

• 7 Computer art

• 8 Sculpture

• 9 The Plastic arts

• 10 Copyright definition of visual art

• 11 See also

• 12 References

• 13 Further reading

• 14 External links
Education and training
Training in the visual arts has generally been through variations of the apprentice and workshop system. In
Europe the Renaissance movement to increase the prestige of the artist led to the academy system for training
artists, and today most train in art schools at a tertiary level. Visual arts have now become an elective subject in
most education systems. (See also art education.)
Drawing
Main article: 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 using
dry media such as graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels,
and markers. Digital tools which simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in
drawing are: line drawing, hatching, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling, and blending. An
artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a draftsman or draughtsman".
Early history
Drawing goes back at least 16,000 years to Paleolithic cave representations of animals such as those
at Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain. In ancient Egypt, ink drawings onpapyrus, often depicting people,
were used as models for painting or sculpture. Drawings on Greek vases, initially geometric, later developed to
the human form with black-figure potteryduring the 7th century BC.[5]
Renaissance
With paper becoming common in Europe by the 15th century, drawing was adopted by masters such
as Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci who sometimes treated drawing as an art
in its own right rather than a preparatory stage for painting or sculpture.[6]
Painting

Mosaic of Battle of Issus

Main article: Painting

Nefertari with Isis

Painting taken literally is the practice of applying pigment suspended in a carrier (or medium) and a binding
agent (a glue) to a surface (support) such as paper, canvas or a wall. However, when used in an artistic sense
it means the use of this activity in combination with drawing, composition and other aesthetic considerations in
order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Painting is also used to express
spiritual motifs and ideas; sites of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on
pottery to The Sistine Chapel to the human body itself.
Origins and early history
Main article: History of painting

Like drawing, painting has its origins in caves and on rock faces. The finest examples, believed by some to be
32,000 years old, are in the Chauvet and Lascaux caves in southern France. In shades of red, brown, yellow
and black, the paintings on the walls and ceilings are of bison, cattle, horses and deer.

Raphael: Transfiguration(1520)

Paintings of human figures can be found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. In the great temple of Ramses
II, Nefertari, his queen, is depicted being led byIsis.[7] The Greeks contributed to the development of painting
but much of their work has been lost. One of the best remaining representations is the mosaic of the Battle of
Issus found at Pompeii which was probably based on a Greek painting. Greek and Roman art contributed
to Byzantine art in the 4th century BC which initiated a tradition in icon painting.
The Renaissance
Main article: Italian Renaissance painting

Apart from the illuminated manuscripts produced by monks during the Middle Ages, the next significant
contribution to European art was from Italy's renaissance painters. From Giotto in the 13th century to Leonardo
da Vinci and Raphael at the beginning of the 16th century, this was the richest period inItalian art as
the chiaroscuro technique was used to create the illusion of 3-D space.[8]

Rembrandt: The Night Watch

Painters in northern Europe too were influenced by the Italian school. Jan van Eyck from Belgium, Pieter
Bruegel the Elder from the Netherlands and Hans Holbein the Younger from Germany are among the most
successful painters of the times. They used the glazing technique with oils to achieve depth and luminosity.

Claude Monet: Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1866)

Dutch masters
Main article: Dutch Golden Age painting

The 17th century saw the emergence of the great Dutch masters such as the versatile Rembrandt who is
especially remembered for his potraits and Bible scenes, and Vermeer who specialized in interior scenes of
Dutch life.
Impressionism
Main article: Impressionism

Impressionism began in France in the 19th century with a loose association of artists including Claude
Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézannewho brought a new freely brushed style to painting, often
choosing to paint realistic scenes of modern life outside rather than in the studio. They achieved intense colour
vibration by using pure, unmixed colours and short brush strokes.[9]

Paul Gauguin: The Vision After the Sermon (1888)

Edvard Munch: The Scream (1893)

Post-impressionism
Main article: Post-Impressionism

Towards the end of the 19th century, several young painters took impressionism a stage further, using
geometric forms and unnatural colour to depict emotions while striving for deeper symbolism. Of particular note
are Paul Gauguin, who was strongly influenced by Asian, African and Japanese art, Vincent van Gogh, a
Dutchman who moved to France where he drew on the strong sunlight of the south, and Toulouse-Lautrec,
remembered for his vivid paintings of night life in the Paris district of Montmartre.[10]
Symbolism, expressionism and cubism
Main article: Modern art

Edvard Munch, a Norwegian artist, developed his symbolistic approach at the end of the 19th century, inspired
by the French impressionist Manet. The Scream (1893), his most famous work, is widely interpreted as
representing the universal anxiety of modern man. Partly as a result of Munch's influence, the
German expressionist movement originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century as artists such
as Ernst Kirschner and Erich Heckelbegan to distort reality for an emotional effect. In parallel, the style known
as cubism developed in France as artists focused on the volume and space of sharp structures within a
composition. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were the leading proponents of the movement. Objects are
broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form. By the 1920s, the style had developed into
surrealism with Dali and Magritte.[11]
Printmaking

The Chinese Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest printed book (868 CE)

Ancient Chinese engraving of female instrumentalists

Main article: Printmaking

Printmaking is creating for artistic purposes an image on a matrix which is then transferred to a two-
dimensional (flat) surface by means of ink (or another form of pigmentation). Except in the case of a monotype,
the same matrix can be used to produce many examples of the print. Historically, the major techniques (also
called media) involved are woodcut, line engraving, etching, lithography, and screenprinting (serigraphy,
silkscreening) but there are many others, including modern digital techniques. Normally the surface upon which
the print is printed is paper, but there are exceptions, from cloth and vellum to modern materials. Prints in the
Western tradition produced before about 1830 are known as old master prints. There are other major
printmaking traditions, especially that of Japan (ukiyo-e).
Chinese origins

Albrecht Dürer:Melancholia I (1541)

Main article: Woodblock printing

In China, the art of printmaking developed some 1,100 years ago as illustrations alongside text cut in
woodblocks for printing on paper. Initially images were mainly religious but in the Song Dynasty, artists began
to cut landscapes. During the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1616–1911) dynasties, the technique was perfected
for both religious and artistic engravings.[12][13]
European history
Main article: Old master print

In Europe, from around 1400 AD woodcut, was used for master prints on paper by using techniques for printing
on cloth which had been developed in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. Michael Wolgemut improved German
woodcut from about 1475, and Erhard Reuwich, a Dutchman, was the first to use cross-hatching. At the end of
the century Albrecht Dürer brought the Western woodcut to a level that has never been surpassed, increasing
the status of the single-leaf woodcut.[14]
Photography
Main article: Photography

Photography is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. Light patterns reflected or
emitted from objects are recorded onto a sensitive medium or storage chip through a timed exposure. The
process is done through mechanical, chemical or digital devices known as cameras.

The word comes from the Greek words φως phos ("light"), and γραφις graphis ("stylus", "paintbrush") or
γραφη graphê, together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing."
Traditionally, the product of photography has been called a photograph. The term photo is an abbreviation;
many people also call them pictures. In digital photography, the term image has begun to
replace photograph. (The term image is traditional in geometric optics.)
Filmmaking
Main article: Filmmaking

Visual arts exhibition in Centre Georges-Pompidou

Filmmaking is the process of making a motion-picture, from an initial conception and research, through
scriptwriting, shooting and recording, animation or other special effects, editing, sound and music work and
finally distribution to an audience; it refers broadly to the creation of all types of films, embracing documentary,
strains of theatre and literature in film, and poetic or experimental practices, and is often used to refer to video-
based processes as well.

This section requires expansion.

Computer art
Main article: Computer art

Picture produced by Drawing Machine 2

Visual artists are no longer limited to traditional art media. Computers have been used as an ever more
common tool in the visual art since the 1960s. Uses for computers in the visual arts include the capturing or
creating of images and forms, the editing of those images and forms (including exploring multiple compositions)
and then the final rendering and/or printing (including 3D printing).

Computer art is any art in which computers played a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can
be an image, sound, animation,video, CD-ROM, DVD, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery
installation. Many traditional disciplines are now integratingdigital technologies and, as a result, the lines
between traditional works of art and new media works created using computers have been blurred. For
instance, an artist may combine traditional painting with algorithmic art and other digital techniques. As a result,
defining computer art by its end product can thus be difficult. Nevertheless, this type of art is beginning to
appear in art museum exhibits, though it has yet to prove its legitimacy as a form unto itself and this technology
is widely seen in contemporary art more as a tool rather than a form as with painting.
Computer usage has blurred the distinctions between illustrators, photographers, photo editors, 3-D modelers,
and handicraft artists. Sophisticated rendering and editing software has led to multi-skilled image
developers. Photographers may become digital artists. Illustrators may become animators. Handicraft may
be computer-aided or use computer-generated imagery as a template. Computer clip art usage has also made
the clear distinction between visual arts and page layout less obvious due to the easy access and editing of clip
art in the process of paginating a document, especially to the unskilled observer.
Sculpture
Main article: Sculpture

The following is a copy of the introductory summary on the Sculpture page

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials - typically stone -
or marble, metal, glass, or wood. Softer ("plastic") materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles,
plastics, polymers and softer metals.

The term has been extended to works including sound, text and light.

Found objects may be presented as sculptures. Materials may be worked by removal such as carving; or they
may be assembled such as by welding , hardened such as by firing, ormolded or cast. Surface decoration such
as paint may be applied.[15] Sculpture has been described as one of the plastic arts because it can involve the
use of materials that can be moulded or modulated.

Sculpture is an important form of public art. A collection of sculpture in a garden setting may be referred to as
a sculpture garden.
The Plastic arts

Plastic arts is a term, now largely redundant within english usage, specifically encompassing art forms which
involve physical manipulation of a plastic medium by moulding or modeling such as sculpture or ceramics. The
term has also been ambiguously applied to all the visual (non-literary, non-musical) arts[16][17].

Materials that can be carved or shaped, such as stone or wood, concrete or steel, have also been included in
the narrower definition, since, with appropriate tools, such materials are also capable of modulation.[citation
needed]
This use of the term "plastic" in the arts should not be confused with Piet Mondrian's use, nor with the
movement he termed, in French and English, "Neoplasticism."

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to: Plastic arts
Thus even the narrower definition could include Architecture, Ceramics, Collage, Conceptual
art, Drawing, Glass art, Land art, Metalworking, Mosaic, Painting, Paper art, the use of plastics within
the arts or as an artform itself, Printmaking, Sculpture, Textile art, Welding, Woodworking, Film, Film
Photography, New media art.

Copyright definition of visual art

In the United States, the law protecting the copyright over a piece of visual art gives a more restrictive definition
of "visual art". The following quote is from the Copyright Law of the United States of America- Chapter 1:[18]

A “work of visual art” is —

(1) a painting, drawing, print or sculpture, existing in a single copy, in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer
that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author, or, in the case of a sculpture, in multiple cast,
carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the
signature or other identifying mark of the author; or
(2) a still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only, existing in a single copy that is signed by
the author, or in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the
author.

A work of visual art does not include —

(A)(i) any poster, map, globe, chart, technical drawing, diagram, model, applied art, motion picture or other
audiovisual work, book, magazine, newspaper, periodical, data base, electronic information service, electronic
publication, or similar publication;
(ii) any merchandising item or advertising, promotional, descriptive, covering, or packaging material or
container;
(iii) any portion or part of any item described in clause (i) or (ii);
(B) any work made for hire; or
(C) any work not subject to copyright protection under this title.
See also
Visual arts portal

Main article: Outline of visual arts

 Art materials  Decorative arts  History of film

 Asemic writing  Design  History of painting
 Avant-garde  Eastern art history  History of sculpture
 Collage  Fine art  Illustration
 Comics  Found art  Installation art
 Composition  Graffiti  Landscape art
 Conceptual art  Graphic design  Mail art
 Contemporary art  Handicraft  Mathematics and art
 Craft  History of art  Media (arts)

 Décollage  History of graphic design  Mixed media

References

1. ^ An About.com article by art expert, Shelley Esaak: What Is Visual Art?

2. ^ Visual Arts in Germany as a Career Choice

3. ^ http://www.georgebrown.ca/centres/AD/index.aspx Centre for Arts and Design in Toronto,

Canada
4. ^ Art History: Arts and Crafts Movement: (1861-1900). From World Wide Arts Resources.
Retrieved 24 October 2009.
5. ^ History of Drawing. From Dibujos para Pintar. Retrieved 23 October 2009.

6. ^ Drawing. From History.com. Retrieved 23 October 2009.

7. ^ History of Painting. From History World. Retrieved 23 October 2009.

8. ^ History of Renaissance Painting. From ART 340 Painting. Retrieved 24 October 2009.

9. ^ Impressionism. Webmuseum, Paris. Retrieved 24 October 2009

10. ^ Post-Impressionism. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 25 October 2009.

11. ^ Modern Art Movements. Irish Art Encyclopedia. Retrieved 25 October 2009.

12. ^ Engraving in Chinese Art. From Engraving Review. Retrieved 23 October 2009.

13. ^ The History of Engraving in China. From ChinaVista. Retrieved 25 October 2009.

14. ^ The Printed Image in the West: History and Techniques. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Retrieved 25 October 2009.
15. ^ Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity September 22, 2007 Through
January 20, 2008, The Arthur M. Sackler Museum
16. ^ ART TERMINOLOGY at KSU

17. ^ Merriam-Webster Online (entry for "plastic arts")

18. ^ Copyright Law of the United States of America- Chapter 1 (101. Definitions)
Further reading

 Barnes, A. C., The Art in Painting, 3rd ed., 1937, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., NY.

 Bukumirovic, D. (1998). Maga Magazinovic. Biblioteka Fatalne srpkinje knj. br. 4. Beograd: Narodna
knj.

 Fazenda, M. J. (1997). Between the pictorial and the expression of ideas: the plastic arts and literature
in the dance of Paula Massano. N.p.

 Gerón, C. (2000). Enciclopedia de las artes plásticas dominicanas: 1844-2000. 4th ed. Dominican
Republic s.n.

 Laban, R. V. (1976). The language of movement: a guidebook to choreutics. Boston: Plays.

 La Farge, O. (1930). Plastic prayers: dances of the Southwestern Indians. N.p.

 Restany, P. (1974). Plastics in arts. Paris, New York: N.p.

 University of Pennsylvania. (1969). Plastics and new art. Philadelphia: The Falcon Pr.

External links

 ArtLex - online dictionary of visual art terms.

 Art History Timeline by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.