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WHAT IS ART ?

is a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities; this article focuses primarily on the visual arts, which includes the creation of images or objects in fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media . Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts; however, like the decorative arts, it involves the creation of objects where the practical considerations of use are essentialin a way that they are usually not for a painting, for example. Music, theatre, film, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, and other media such as interactive media are included in a broader definition of art or the arts. Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences, but in modern usage the fine arts, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, are distinguished from acquired skills in general, and the decorative or applied arts. Art has been characterized in terms of mimesis, expression, communication of emotion, or other values. During the Romantic period, art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science". Though the definition of what constitutes art is disputed and has changed over time, general descriptions mention an idea of human agency and creation through imaginative or technical skill. The nature of art, and related concepts such as creativity and interpretation, are explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF HUMANITIES TO ART?


The humanities are the study of different cultures through what they left behind. This includes their art, literature etc. So, in the most basic sense, much of what we know of ancient civilizations is based mainly on their art, in the forms of pottery, plays, fiction, paintings and even cave drawings. Thus art and the humanities have a direct relationship as one is dependent on the other.

HISTORY OF ART
The history of art is a multidisciplinary science, seeking an objective examination of art throughout time, classifying cultures, establishingperiodizations and observing the

distinctive and influential characteristics of art. The study of the history of art was initially developed in the Renaissance, with its limited scope being the artistic production of western civilization. However, as time has passed, it has imposed a broader view of artistic history, seeking a comprehensive overview of all the civilizations and analysis of their artistic production in terms of their own cultural values (cultural relativism), and not just western art history.

WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF ART?


That said, the functions of art normally fall within three categories. These are personal, social orphysical functions. These categories can, and (often) do, overlap in any given piece of art. The physical functions of art are most easily dealt with. Works of art that are created to perform some service have physical functions. If you see a Fijian war club you may assume that, however wonderful the craftsmanship may be, it was created to perform the physical function of smashing skulls. A Japanese raku bowl is art that performs a physical function in the tea ceremony. Conversely, a fur-covered teacup from the Dada movement has no physical function. Architecture, any of the crafts and industrial design are all types of art that have physical functions. Art has social functions when it addresses aspects of (collective) life, as opposed to one person's point of view or experience. For example, public art in 1930s Germany had an overwhelming symbolic theme. Did this art exert influence on the German population? Decidedly so. As did political and patriotic posters in Allied countries during the same time. Political art (skewed to whatever message) always carries a social function. The furcovered Dada teacup, useless for holding tea, carried a social function in that it

protested World War I (and nearly everything else in life). Art that depicts social conditions performs social functions. The Realists figured this out early in the 19th century. Dorothea Lange (and, indeed, many other photographers) often photographed people in conditions we'd rather not think about.

Additionally, satire performs social functions. Francisco Goya and William Hogarth both went this route, with varying degrees of success at enacting social change. Sometimes having specific pieces of art in a community can perform the social function of elevating that community's status. A Calder stabile, for example, can be a community treasure and point of pride. The personal functions of art are the most difficult to explain in any great detail. There are many of them, and they vary from person to person. An artist may create out of a need for self-expression, or gratification. S/he might have wanted to communicate a thought or point to the viewer. Perhaps the artist was trying to provide an aesthetic experience, both for self and viewers. A piece might have been meant to "merely" entertain others. Sometimes a piece isn't meant to have any meaning at all. (This is vague, I know. The above is a great example of how knowing the artist can help one "cut to the chase" and assign functions.) On a slightly more lofty plane, art may serve the personal functions of control. Art has been used to attempt to exert magical control over time, or the seasons or even the acquisition of food. Art is used to bring order to a messy and disorderly world. Conversely, art can be used to create chaos when an artist feels life is too staid and ordinary. Art can also be therapeutic- for both the artist and the viewer. Yet another personal function of art is that of religious service (lots of examples for this, aren't there?). Finally, sometimes art is used to assist us in maintaining ourselves as a species. Biological functions would obviously include fertility symbols (in any culture), but I would also invite scrutiny of the ways we adorn ourselves in order to be attractive enough to, well, mate. You, the viewer, are half of the equation in assigning function to art - as mentioned earlier. These personal functions apply to you, as well as the artist. It all adds up to literally billions of variables when trying to figure out the personal functions of art. My best advice is to stick with the most obvious and provide only those details you know as factual. In sum, try to remember four points when required to describe "the functions of art": (1)context and (2) personal, (3) social and (4) physical functions. Good luck, and may your own words flow freely!

BRANCHES OF ARTS

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 and ink, inked brushes, wax color 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, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling, and blending. An artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a draftswoman or draughtsman. Drawings are used to create comics and animation for example.

Painting
taken literally is the practice of applying pigment suspended in a vehicle (or medium) and a binding agent (a glue) to a surface (support) such as paper,canvas, wood panel 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. Colour is the essence of painting as sound is of music. Colour is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but elsewhere white may be. Some painters, theoreticians, writers and scientists, includingGoethe, Kandinsky, Newton, have written their own colour theory. Moreover, the use of language is only an abstraction for a colour equivalent. The word "red", for example, can cover a wide range of variations on the pure red of the spectrum. There is not a formalized register of different colours in the way that there is agreement on different notes in music, such as C or C#, although the Pantone system is widely used in the printing and design industry for this purpose.

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.

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