ART APPRECIATION

Document: Module 5/ Week 6

Level: College BS3-1
Teacher: Mr. Michael AS. Enaje

Module 5 Contents/ Lessons

1. Applied Arts (Fashion, Furniture)

APPLIED ARTS

The applied arts are all the arts that apply design and decoration to everyday
and essentially practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing.

Applied Art: Definition & Meaning

The term "applied art" refers to the application (and resulting product) of artistic
design to utilitarian objects in everyday use. Whereas works of fine art have no
function other than providing aesthetic or intellectual stimulation to the viewer,
works of applied art are usually functional objects which have been "prettified"
or creatively designed with both aesthetics and function in mind. Applied art
embraces a huge range of products and items, from a teapot or chair, to the
walls and roof of a railway station or concert hall, a fountain pen or computer
mouse.

What Does Applied Art Include?

For the sake of simplicity, works of applied art comprise two different types:
standard machine-made products which have had a particular design applied
to them, to make them more attractive and easy-to-use; and individual,
aesthetically pleasing but mostly functional, craft products made by artisans or
skilled workers. Artistic disciplines that are classified as applied arts, include
industrial design, fashion design, interior design, and graphic art and design
(including computer graphics), as well as most types of decorative art (eg.
furniture, carpets, tapestry, embroidery, batik, jewellery, precious metalwork,
pottery, goldsmithing, basketry, mosaic art, and glassware). Illuminated
manuscripts and later book illustration are also classified as applied arts.
Architecture, too is best viewed as an applied art.

History of Applied Art

Architecture

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The first applied art to be practised in a major way was architecture. From the
Egyptian Pyramids, the Ziggurats of Sumer and the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World, to the precisely organized proportions of Greek temples and the
enduring engineering quality of Roman viaducts and bridges, architects
combine aesthetics with mathematics to design a functional but pleasing
structure. Since then, the demands of the modern world have included housing
and commercial projects, notably high-rise buildings and skyscrapers. For details,
see: Skyscraper Architecture (1850-present).

During this evolution, architectural styles have been influenced by numerous

schools and movements, including: Romanesque (c.775-1050), Gothic (c.1150-
1280), International Gothic (c.1300-1500), Renaissance (c.1400-1530), Mannerism
(c.1530-1600), Baroque (c.1600-1700), Rococo (c.1700-50), Neoclassicism
(c.1750-1815), Greek and Gothic Revival (c.1800-1900), Neo-Renaissance and
Neo-Romanesque Revival (1849-1880), the Second Empire style (1850-
80), Chicago School of architecture (1880-1910), Art Nouveau (c.1895-1915),
Early Modernism (1900-25), Continental Avant-Garde (1900-25), Bauhaus Design
School (1919-33), Art Deco (1925-40)Totalitarian Architecture (Germany, USSR,
1928-1940), the utopian urban building designs of Le Corbusier (1887-
1965), Second Chicago School (1940-70), International Style of modernism (1945-
1970), High Tech Corporate Design (1945-2000), Deconstructivism (1980-2000),
and Blobitecture (1990-2000).

Commercial Design

Aside from architecture, applied art received its biggest boost from the growth
in commerce during the 19th century, following the Industrial Revolution.
Suddenly, competitive manufacturers and service providers needed to ensure
that their products and services "looked good" as well as functioned properly.
This demand for improved aesthetics led to the establishment of
numerous design schools and courses, from which a new generation of industrial
designers emerged. Later, as the range of products multiplied, and new printing
techniques appeared, they were joined by fashion designers, graphic designers
and most recently computer graphics designers.

Decorative Arts

In addition to architecture and design, applied art also includes decorative arts.
Early examples include Chinese pottery (from 18,000 BCE), Jomon style
Japanese pottery (from 14,500 BCE), as well as jade carving (from 4900
BCE), lacquerware (from 4500 BCE) and Chinese porcelain (c.100 BCE onwards).
Enamelwork is exemplified by Celtic Metalwork art such as the silver "Gundestrup
Cauldron" (c.100 BCE), the bronze "Petrie Crown" (100 BCE - 200 CE), and the
gold "Broighter Collar/Torc" (1st century BCE), as well as later religious metalwork
like the Ardagh Chalice (8th/9th century CE), and the Derrynaflan Chalice.
Tapestry (see for instance the Bayeux Tapestry) and stained glass were first
developed during the Romanesque and Gothic period, while interior design,
fine-furniture, textiles, glassware and other objets d'art reached new heights
during the Rococo period (18th century) at the French court at the Palace of
Versailles. For more about the mini-renaissance of applied art during the Louis
Quatorze (XIV), Regency, Louis Quinze (XV), and Louis Seize (XVI) periods, see:

- French Decorative Arts (c.1640-1792)

- French Designers (c.1640-1792)
- French Furniture (c.1640-1792).

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During the last decade of the 19th century the decorative strain of applied art
was re-invigorated by William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement,
the Celtic Art Revival Movement, the Belgian artists group known as Les Vingt,
the international Art Nouveau Style (c.1895-1915), exquisite Fabergé Easter
Eggs (c.1885-1917), the Bauhaus Design School in Germany (1919-33) and Art
Deco (c.1925-40). One of the main applications for decorative design work was
theatrical sets and costumes, such as those designed by Leon Bakst (1866-1924)
and Alexander Benois (1870-1960) for the Ballets Russes. Another application
was poster art, which became high fashion during La Belle Epoque in France.
Top poster designers included the lithographer Jules Cheret (1836-1932), the
Post-Impressionist Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), and the Czech Alfonse
Mucha (1860-1939). Other figures in the history of poster art, include Aubrey
Beardsley (1872-98), the "Beggarstaff Brothers", Theophile Steinlen (1859-1923),
Eugene Grasset (1845-1917), Albert Guillaume (1873-1942), Pierre Bonnard (1867-
1947), Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940), the Italian functionalist Leonetto
Cappiello (1875-1942), Ludwig Hohlwein, Lucian Bernhard, Herbert Matter,
Fernand Leger, Amedee Ozenfant, the French-Ukrainian Adolphe Mouron
Cassandre, William Bradley and Edward Penfield.

Activities:

PART 1: What makes applied arts unique to the other arts?

PART 2: Why is furniture and fashion considered as applied arts?
PART 3: Learning Bank: (Summary of learning) Please write down about what you
have learned in these topics/ lessons.

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