Humanities

What is art? »Its definition and meaning

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Anonim

It is a simple yet complex discipline designed to entertain crowds in ancient times, it is an enhanced vehicle in which feelings can be observed, heard and felt, without leaving their state of abstraction. However, from a rational point of view, they are different categories in which a subject with skills to perform them dares to innovate with different works, building sculptures, making spectacular poetry or taking a simple camera and capturing simple but profound moments; from music, through painting to clothing design.

What is the art

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The definition of art refers to the word that has come to be expressions made for men who tried to demonstrate a sensitive view of the world. What is art is a concept that includes all the realizations of the human body to express a sensitive vision about the world, be it real or imaginary.

Its definition is valid for various resources, being able to be plastic, sound or linguistic, in order to express ideas, emotions, perceptions and sensations, for example abstractionism that uses a distorted visual language.

Basically, defining what art is is made up of some divisions, among the best known and most common are: literature, in which stories of different longevity are portrayed in different ways, in addition to refining some aspects to embellish the writing.

The painting, can be found in different places, because from it was designed what is art for trade promotion, in her different instruments that help shape ideas on a canvas, mostly with paints or crayons are used.

The sculpture, which from stones from different classes and different scenes are made with unique characters; the cinema, one of the most important nowadays, is one in which only by filming a shocking story can one qualify as an artist.

It should be noted that today, many things are considered as such, in addition to that it has progressed, changed significantly. Art, in itself, is only an illusion and is capable of capturing unprecedented moments, leaving aside the truth where, perhaps, it is seen as a simple expression of a very talented being and with a sea of ​​deep feelings.

What are fine arts

The fine arts refers to a set of aesthetic disciplines that have been perfected over time. Indeed, each of these have a broad technical repertoire that requires a lot of dedication, discipline and a certain degree of skill to master.

Among the types of art or fine arts can mention the music, architecture, literature, painting and dance. These had in all societies the degree of development and the importance that it had in the Greek culture where they achieved challenges of great refinement and it is from that moment, that the techniques used in antiquity and that were collected, have remained as a legacy, adding in time the new elements of relevance.

The fine arts were created to refer to the main forms of art according to the aesthetic criteria of the time. In 1746, a book appeared (Fine arts reduced to a single principle) by Charles Batteux that classified these into five (painting, sculpture, dance, music and poetry), another book made under this inspiration is " The art of war ".

This list has varied, it has also incorporated theater, literature, cinema, even rhetoric. The latter is hardly recognized today as one of the fine arts. Theater and poetry could be included as fine arts within the category of literature itself. Today, there are seven traditional fine arts: architecture, cinema, dance, sculpture, literature, music and painting.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Ricciotto Canudo described cinema as the seventh art, placing it on the same level as the other arts, par excellence. Except for architecture, the fine arts have no practical use.

In the case of the first, the architect must also worry about the efficiency of the construction. However, this absolute opposition between the practical uselessness of fine arts and applied arts cannot be borne so easily, since almost all of these combine aesthetic elements with utilitarian ones to a greater or lesser degree.

Even so, a greater degree of utility can be observed in the visual arts performed than in the fine arts.

In a certain sense, it can be maintained that the concept of art is a relative synonym of major arts, since they can be distinguished from the minor arts, which are used in the denomination of the creation of handicrafts and useful objects.

The majors usually always refer to literature, painting, sculpture and architecture, in the types of art of free men or women, it is where a teacher is recognized.

From this perspective, the fine arts encompass the major arts and others. It is said that what unifies all the fine arts is the ideal of capturing beauty in a composition through the creation of rhythm, balance and harmony. However, this criterion is not always respected in all artistic creations.

History of art

The history of the East relies on other complementary disciplines such as archeology, anthropology, geology and the history of other sciences to more accurately corroborate the data that have been obtained; from movable and real estate remains. Whether it was for decorative, functional purposes, as well as propaganda or religious worship, or for the need to perpetuate the history of art and its civilization, leaving the mark of its existence.

Its history is supported by various disciplines and different sciences, it is obtained as a result of a more complete study of the artistic manifestations that it studies; Among which are: sculpture, architecture, painting, ceramics, music, dance and poetry among others, which have been added thanks to the technical and evolutionary development of society, such as the audiovisual media digital and this has been part of the history of art in order to stay in time.

Art classification

It depends intimately on the concept that exists and is developed in each culture. To that extent, it is impossible to make universal assertions of what is considered or not art because each culture has its own scale of values ​​to validate, or not, a manifestation as a piece of art.

While for ancient Chinese culture, within the arts, activities related to war, science and calligraphy, in ancient Greece, have music, astronomy and poetry, among many others.

During the Middle Ages in Europe the classification of the arts responded to other needs and in it philosophy, rhetoric and geometry, but also in the space of architecture, sculpture and painting.

It is towards the Renaissance, when the individuality and identity of the artist take on more importance, that he begins to outline a classification closer to that known today in the Western world. In the 18th century the term fine arts was used.

Architecture

Architecture is art whose function is to satisfy private and public needs, as well as aesthetics. The process that allows ordering, delimiting and conveniently configuring the human living space, fundamentally involves planning, building and building.

Planning, which precedes execution, consists of an outline or project of a spatial arrangement. Construction requires elements that must be in accordance with the project requirements, technical possibilities, financial means and the characteristics of the sites.

The building is the practical realization or execution of the project. Historically, architecture can be divided according to the succession of stylistic trends (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, etc.) up to the pluralism and eclecticism of the trends of our time. On the other hand, architecture can also be considered according to the purpose or the need to satisfy.

Sculpture

It is called sculpture in the art of modeling clay, carving in stone, wood or other materials. Sculpture includes all the arts of carving and chiselling, along with casting and molding. Within sculpture, the use of different combinations of materials and media originated in a new artistic repertoire, comprising processes such as constructivism and assembly. In a generic sense, it is understood by plastic arts sculpture made by the sculptor.

Painting and drawing

Drawing is the art of graphically representing objects on a flat surface; it is the basis of all creation, and it is a conventional means of expressing the shape of an object.

Painting is a structure of planes, using colored masses. Mainly, it is done with a brush or with colors, on a canvas or anywhere else. But it is normal for people to get these two terms wrong, that the materials and the way they are made are almost the same.

Music

Music is the art of organizing in a logical and sensible way, it is a coherent combination of sounds and silences using the fundamental principles of rhythm, melody and harmony.

Literature and poetry

Poetry is a literary genre appreciated in the midst of this world of haste, today it is a space dedicated to contemplation and art. It can be entered for its musicality for children and for its emotional intensity for adolescents. Poetry invites you to make a different reading of the world, it is a way to be inspired by the beauty of life, it is a way to show your feelings.

To enjoy poetry, it must be read aloud, since poetry is the artistic expression of the word, its sound, rhythm and cadence. In poetry the fundamental thing is not so much to unravel the meaning as to listen to its music, in addition, the poems must be related to other artistic areas. In fact, poetry suggests much more than describing, as it stimulates the imagination.

Theater

The word theater comes from the Greek Theater which means a place to contemplate. Its most important characteristic is the staging, it is totally live, and it must have as a condition to be a spectator public and a story to tell and relate that is treated through a plot in which various elements are combined stories such as the actors, the music, the sound, the scenography and above all there is a lot of emphasis on the gestures , on the non-verbal language that is communicated through the gestures and the activity, especially the response emotions.

So it could be said that the soul of the theater is the communication of emotions through efforts in gestures. Likewise, the theater bears this name not only to the performance but also to the physical space where this performance takes place. It must also be said that the theater is not only the scenography, the actors, the plot, but also the costumes, because it defines the personality of the actors, visually communicates through this as hierarchies and social situations, and that with the The performance itself is shown in time and space.

Dance

Dance is also known as dancing, it is about using art through the use of movements usually accompanied by music. Dance is used as a form of expression of feelings or states of mind, for the purpose of social interactions or various celebrations. It is a non-verbal language through body movements alone, in pairs or in groups, as described in the language. The main types of dance are as follows. Contemporary dance is a style that expresses feelings, through freedom of movement without a specific theme to represent.

The modern dance instead is subject to specific rules, becoming a way of being a dancer, barefoot and expresses an idea, feeling or feeling.

The classical dance expresses the beauty of body expression. Within this classical style, there is classical and modern ballet, in which the classical is described in the clothing or the type of movements.

The popular urban dance or expressions are coupled with the performing arts, encompassing many types of dances like ballroom dancing. The folk dances or regional are discussed, in certain regions and thus to express the lifestyle of the inhabitants of each region.

Popular dances are often confused with regional or folk dances, and they have realized what has been said in one way or another. These dances are intended to bring groups together to dance.

Dance is practiced in many communities around the world and continues to preserve its original elements.

Movies

Cinema is the art that represents images in constant movement, within the objectives of cinema are: to entertain, distract and dilute boredom and worries in a change of a very personal representative feeling, and once social (mass). In this sense , cinema is defined as a show. Indeed, it is capable of creating amazement, delight, pain, fear, etc. attracting attention and activating intellectual contemplation until identification with the technical story is achieved. The power of awareness that cinema has supports its conception as a spectacle. In addition, in the same chapter you can see a "type of show among others" (theater, television, sports, music), in addition to fiction made for enjoyment.

It can also be said that cinema is the seventh art, and as a human activity that creates beauty through a display of intelligence and the creative will to arouse feelings that involve the person.

Referencing the elements of art, with the cinema the feeling that any author carries in himself is being expressed, creating an artistic or immaterial object for aesthetic purposes, which penetrates the world of the sensible and what excites the observer; so, gather the fundamental references to be an art. But also, we must take into account the theme of music, sound, image, gesture or language, without a doubt, cinema is a masterpiece from the point of view of the means it has used to create.

Photography

Photography was born in France, at a time of transition from pre-industrial society to industrial society, favored by the technical innovations of the time. The positivist Philosophy also influences its birth, which states that each element of nature must be empirically tested. The Bourgeoisie is the dominant social class of the moment, which uses the portrait as an instrument of verification and affirmation of social ascent.

In 1816 Niépce obtained a first negative image, imperfect and unstable, with a camera obscura. In 1826, he obtained his first Heliography, starting from Judean bitumen or Asphalt.

Louis Daguerre is associated with Niépce, to continue the investigations. But in 1833 Niépce died, and Daguerre continued alone until obtaining a reliable and commercial procedure. Photography is an important activity due to the connection of the human being and their relationship, it is so much that many factors are beneficial for those who use this form of artistic expression.

Photography is the act by which a person, through the use of a photographic camera prepared to reflect their optics of the reality that is observed, requires knowledge in the use of lenses and work with lighting, it is about portraits instantly or to capture a particular moment of life. Photography has a characteristic that generates an image that serves as a memory of that moment that will never be repeated, that in addition to being seen and understood through the eyes of the person taking the photograph, which can also make that image unrepeatable.

Comic

It is a visual means of verb-iconic narration that communicates the stories of one or more characters. That is, through a series of images (made up of drawn caricatures) that are complemented by texts.

It is a cultural product that seeks to persuade large audiences and has its own codes. The comic or cartoon is a sociolinguistic product. The cartoon is a semiotic system, which has a denotation and a connotation. The ideological function of this medium has been little analyzed, but the work so far allows us to affirm that the comic is an ideological apparatus.

Art elements

The elements that compose it are talent, concept, environment, context, reference, style, value and aesthetics. All of the above influence the shaping of art in its different manifestations.

It is an activity that the human being has developed since he appeared on earth until today and that he will never stop doing because it involves all his senses, emotions, imagination and knowledge.

What distinguishes art from science is that the creator of an artistic work can fill his creation with value and have defense of his point of view based on his knowledge and sensitivity; While in science, everything can be refuted, laws or theories can be invalidated through exhaustive investigations, where works of art have permanent value.

There are various elements that compose it, and it is divided into different expressions that are: Music, Painting, Dance, Plastic Arts, Photography, Multimedia, Installations and Theater among others. It is very wide, but it is integrated with the same elements such as: space, shape, color, sound, harmony, rhythm and movement; each of these elements have qualities that distinguish one artistic expression from another.

The artist

He is the one who gives life to the work, is the protagonist and who is inspired by materializing the fine arts.

The masterpiece

This concept establishes a distinction with that of craftsmanship. A work of art is conceived as a unique and unrepeatable piece, whose purpose is strictly aesthetic and not utilitarian. In this sense, the name of the author or artist is of vital importance. For example, the painting La Gioconda, by Leonardo da Vinci.

Artisan works are conceived to be reproduced and can be linked to everyday functions. For example, basketry or handmade ceramic pieces.

When a particular work of art stands out uniquely in quality over other pieces by the same author and achieves surprising significance. For example, the work that made Picasso famous as a cubist was Las damsels and Avignon, his masterpiece is considered to be the painting Guernica.

The public

In the field of what the visual arts are, the concept of spectator responds to a passive attitude on the part of the public, it is a way of openly contemplating the subject of the person in front of the work.

The evolution of the art - public relationship and visual arts increased to such a degree, for example, it occurs in performance presentations, or in installation works that have electrical circuits that work controlled by the public in this way complementing what it's the visual arts.

Perception

Perception is the first process, it is the response, the first step that man takes, touch, vision, hearing, among others, in order to understand the object, acquiring a representation of reality. The light, the sounds, the flavors, are some of the results. Sometimes the senses work together, especially smell and taste, both work and reading their substances.

On the one hand, the smell receives the dissolved particles in the air and the other, the taste receives the responses in the mouth and they dissolve in the saliva.

For example, a fruit can deliver both content and taste, and although the different zones are obtained, they are necessary to create a complete image of taste and smell.

Probably the most complex sense is touch, and you look at the large number of receptors, in addition to traditional ones, for information about temperature, pain and pressure, origins, tendons, joints and muscles. Have an internal perception of movement, mechanics and location.

In conclusion, perception consists of an internal representation of what the external world is.

The art market

The concept of the art market must refer to its own nature, due to the essence of the object that is exchanged in this market. To take into account in a place that it is not a market like any other, as they say, due to the peculiarity of its product. Despite this, it should not be channeled either, basically, it is still a commercial exchange.

The peculiarities of the product lie fundamentally in the fact that the object of exchange in question is the only form of a very short print run. In addition to the values ​​that have contributed to the subjectivity of the actors who act in this market, such as matters of taste, current trends.

Different elements also have a determining weight, such as having a limited production for each artist; the impossibility of demanding or planning a specific production; pricing does not depend on customary values; and above all that it is a much less transparent and less regulated commercial activity than most.

Furthermore, the usual economic concept of supply and demand cannot be applied to such a market. This fact becomes more evident when an artist is in fashion, he can be required to produce more, however, it has not increased. Other elements that influence the valuation of these objects is their origin or the type of exchange that takes place. For this, the distinction between the primary and secondary markets must be considered.

The primary market for art is integrated into the agents who work with objects. On the contrary, the secondary market is made up of agents that are not related to the artist, that is, that is dedicated to the purchase and resale in the second or more instances of an artistic object, such as some galleries or auction houses.

It is also interesting to observe how periods of economic crisis or boom in the art market have been affected, but the magnitude of the effect of these changes is debatable and analysts differ in their opinions. It is clear that the artistic object is a luxury product and, therefore, it is not strange to think that it is one of the first expenses to be dispensed with in the case of the economic recession.

Despite this, this is not always the case, not even in the market. After an analysis of the sales made since September 2017 and up to the present, it stands out that, in general, sales have remained in the highest range, have been greatly reduced in the media range and have only been reduced by little in the lower end of the market.

How art is valued

The artistic work is not only creation (the painter before the canvas, the sculptor with his tools, the video artist planning his video-installation, etc.). It is above all mysticism, what is done in favor of creation, inspiration.

Local museums and other national ones have been created such as the modern art museum that contemplate different works and new themes that are not limited only to the so-called Fine Arts. In one way or another artistic works have become more available to the great masses and the influence of these historical artistic works has been observed in countless forms of design expression today and in the expressions of artists.

It must be taken into account that the rise of the communication media has been fundamental for the best study and dissemination of modern art in our days and has contributed to the proliferation of artists with new aesthetic visions; But, of course, they have also been established in the cultural heritage of the past.

Modern art has now begun to be included in the cinema. Photography is also regarded as the eighth art (although it is sometimes claimed to be an extension of painting) and comics as the ninth.

Other modern media such as television, fashion, body painting, and video games are other disciplines considered as artistic.