Definition of Art
Guide to the Meaning & Types of Visual and Fine Arts
Visual Arts in Cork

What is Art?

There is no universally accepted definition or meaning of 'art'. Although often used to describe something of beauty, or a skill which produces an aesthetic result, there is no clear line in principle between (say) a unique piece of handmade sculpture, and a mass-produced but visually pleasing item. We might say that art requires thought - some kind of creative impulse - but this raises more questions: for example, how much thought is required? If someone flings paint at a canvas, hoping by this action to 'create' a work of art, does the result automatically constitute art?

Even the notion of 'beauty' raises obvious questions. If I think my kid brother's unmade bed constitutes something 'beautiful', or aesthetically pleasing, does that make it art? If not, does its status change if a thousand people happen to agree with me? And what if a million people agree with me, but my kid brother thinks it is just a pile of clothes?

Detail from The Geneva Window
(1929) by Harry Clarke, the Irish
stained glass artist. The work
illustrated top Irish writers like
WB Yeats and JM Synge, but
was rejected by the Irish Govt
as too controversial.

By probing these issues of beauty, taste and artistic thought, it seems clear that trying to define art is a pointless task. It simply defies definition.

No Need for a Precise Definition

The lack of a clear definition of art doesn't imply any lack of reality. For centuries, if not millenia, people have been emotionally affected - sometimes overwhelmed - by works of art: from ancient art cave drawings, to Greek Sculpture, the awesome stained glass in Chartres Cathedral, the Renaissance paintings in Rome and Florence, the music of Tchaikovsky, or the sculpture of Donatello, Giambologna or Auguste Rodin. Literature, poetry, films and architecture can be equally uplifting. So while we may not be able to explain precisely what art is, we cannot deny the huge impact it has on our lives. One reason why public art is worth supporting.

Summary

• Fine Arts
• Visual Arts
• Plastic Arts
• Decorative Arts
• Performance Arts
• Applied Arts
• Arts versus Crafts
• Impact of Renaissance
• Questions About Art
• Where to View Art
• Art in Ireland

Classification of the Arts

Traditional and contemporary art encompasses activities as diverse as: architecture, music, opera, theatre, dance, fine art painting, sculpture, illustration, drawing, cartoons, printmaking, ceramics, stained glass, photography, installation, video, film and cinematography, to name but a few. All these activities are commonly referred to as 'the Arts'. The above activities are classified into several overlapping categories of art, such as: fine, visual, plastic, decorative, applied, and performing arts. Disagreement persists as to the precise composition of these categories, but here is a generally accepted breakdown of these categories.

1. Fine Arts

This category includes those artworks that are created primarily for aesthetic reasons ('art for art's sake') rather than for commercial or functional use. Designed for its uplifting, life-enhancing qualities, fine art typically denotes the traditional, Western European 'high arts', such as:

• Drawing
Using charcoal, chalk, crayon, pastel or with pencil or pen and ink.

• Painting
Using oils, watercolour, gouache, acrylics, ink and wash, or the more old-fashioned tempera or encaustic paints.

• Printmaking
Using simple methods like woodcuts or stencils, the more demanding techniques of engraving, etching and lithography, or the more modern forms like screen-printing or foil imaging.

• Sculpture
In bronze, stone or wood, or clay (eg. Chinese Teracotta Army.)

Another type of Western fine art, which originated in China, is calligraphy: the highly complex form of stylized writing.

The History of Fine Art

The history of art is studded with a wide variety of artistic 'styles' or 'movements'. Examples include: Gothic (c.1100-1300), Renaissance (c.1300-1600), Baroque (17th century), Neo-Classicism (18th century), Romanticism (18th-19th century), Realism and Impressionism (19th century), Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Pop-Art, Modernism and Post-Modernism (all 20th century).

The Theory of Fine Art

Fine art was the traditional type of Academic art taught at the great schools, such as the the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno in Florence, the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the Royal Academy in London. One of the key legacies of the academies was their ranking of the painting genres, which classified all works into 5 types: history, portrait, genre-scenes, landscape or still life.

2. Visual Arts

A more modern term, 'visual art' includes all the fine arts as well as new media and contemporary forms of expression such as Assemblage, Collage, Conceptual, Installation and Performance art, as well as film-based art forms like Photography, Video and Animation, or any combination thereof. Another type of visual art, sometimes created on a monumental scale is the new type of environmental Land Art. Personal art-forms include Face Painting as well as Body Painting.

3. Plastic Arts

'Plastic art' typically denotes three-dimensional visual arts employing materials that can be moulded, shaped or manipulated (plasticized) in some way: such as, clay (ceramics), plaster (sculpture), metals (metalworking), glass art, paper art, wood-carving and so on.

4. Decorative Arts

'Decorative art' traditionally denotes functional but ornamental art forms, such as works in glass, clay, wood, metal, or fabric. This includes ceramics, furniture, furnishings, and interior design. Noted styles of decorative art are Rococo, Pre-Raphaelite, Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Retro.

5. Performance Arts

This type refers to public performance events. Traditional varieties include, theatre, opera, music, and ballet. Contemporary performance art also includes any activity in which the artist's physical presence acts as the medium. Thus it encompasses, mime, face or body painting, and the like. A hyper-modern type of performance art is known as Happenings.

6. Applied Arts

Applied art encompasses all activities involving the application of aesthetic designs to everyday functional objects. While fine art provides intellectual stimulation to the viewer, applied art creates utilitarian items (a cup, a couch or sofa, a clock, a chair or table) using aesthetic principles in their design. This wide area includes architecture, photography, industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design, as well as all decorative arts. Noted styles include, Bauhaus, as well as Art Nouveau, and Art Deco.

The 'Arts Versus Crafts' Debate

According to the traditional theory of art, there is a basic difference between an 'art' and a 'craft'. Put simply, although both activities involve creative skills, the former involves a higher degree of intellectual involvement. Under this analysis, a basket-weaver (say) would be considered a craftsperson, while a bag-designer would be considered an artist. In this rather artificial distinction between arts and crafts, functionality is a key factor. Thus, a jeweller who designs and makes non-functional items like rings or necklaces would be considered an artist, while a watchmaker would be a craftsperson; someone who makes glass might be a craftsman, but a person who makes stained glass is an artist. The idea is that artists are somehow superior because they 'create' things of beauty, while craftsmen perform repetitive or purely functional actions. There may be some truth behind this theory, but many types of craftsmanship seem no different to genuine art. An example perhaps, is a cartoonist-animator, exployed to draw thousands of similar pictures of a cartoon character like 'Charlie Brown'. True, his 'art' is purely functional and highly commercial, but no one could deny he was an artist.

The Impact of the Renaissance on the Western Concept of Art

In general, until the early Renaissance of the 15th century, all artists were considered tradesmen/craftsmen. Even the greatest painters like Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael were seen as no more than skilled workers, while master sculptors like Donatello and Michelangelo were seen as mere specialist stone-cutters and bronze metalworkers. Indeed, it was Leonardo's and Michelangelo's stated aim to raise the level of the artist to that of a profession - an ambition which was duly realized in 1561 (three years before the death of Michelangelo) with the establishment of the first Art Academy in Florence, which was set up to train people in the profession of drawing (disegno).

However, although Renaissance artists succeeded in raising their craft to the level of a profession, they defined art as an essentially intellectual activity. (Note: in Italian, 'disegno' implies design - not simply the technical skill of drawing, or painting.) This fixed Renaissance idea of art being primarily an intellectual discipline was passed on down the centuries and still influences present day conceptions of the meaning of art. Despite some modifications, as exemplified by changes in art school curricula, art in general (and fine art in particular) still maintains its notional superiority over crafts such as applied and performing arts.

Questions About Art

We may not be able to define art, but we can explore it further by asking questions about its nature and scope. Here are some of the key questions along with a short commentary.

1. What's the Point of Art?

Sceptics say that art is a waste of time. Even the famous poet WH Auden confessed that no poem saved a single person from the Nazi gas-chambers. And while this may sound a rather meaningless statement, it highlights the notion that art has a limited use in our daily life, except in the case of attractive-looking buildings, teapots, cars or clothes.

There are two broad answers: first, applied art is a major branch of art which cannot easily be separated from fine art, because the root of all design (which is the foundation of applied art) is fine art. Second, ever since Homo Sapiens developed the facility of contemplation, he has expressed his thoughts in pictorial form. At the same time, he has continued to appreciate beauty - whether in the form of human faces or bodies, sunsets, animal-skin colours, cathedrals or sculpture. In a nutshell, to create and to appreciate art is to be human. That's the point.

2. How to Distinguish Good Art from Bad Art?

Not being able to define art doesn't mean that all artworks are good. Trouble is, who decides where good art ends and bad begins?

This popular question may stem from our natural desire to avoid being hoodwinked by snake-oil salesmen dressed up as 'artists', but whatever its origin it is not a particularly important issue. In practice, professional artists need public acceptance. So while temporary art-fashions may occasionally promote works of apparently dubious value, the general public (as well as the artistic community) is unlikely to stand by and allow bad art to become commonplace.

3. Why Do Art Experts Make Everything Sound So Complicated?

An example of this might be the jargon-infested articles commonly encountered in arts magazines, where nobody seems to use plain language anymore. Other culprits include exhibition catalogues and art books.

The writers of this stuff might say that such jargon is no more than necessary shorthand, and that it is mostly written for other 'experts'. But is this really true? For example, it is almost impossible to find a book with a simple explanation of Cubism. So how does a young student get to understand why Picasso and Braque's revolutionery movement is so important? The same could be said about dozens of things in the world of art. And some abstract art sounds so complicated that we almost need a PhD in order to properly 'comprehend' it.

4. What's the Meaning of Abstract Art? It Looks Weird!

Up until the late nineteenth century, most painting and sculpture adhered to traditional principles. Typically, it was representational and naturalistic. Then Impressionism changed everything by introducing non-natural colour schemes: a process continued by the Fauves and the Expressionists. Then Cubism rejected the notion of depth or perspective in painting, and opened the door to more abstract art, including movements like Futurism, De Stijl, Dada, Constructivism, Surrealism, Neo-Plasticism, Abstract Expressionism, and Op-Art, to name but a few. In Ireland, painters like Mary Swanzy, Mainie Jellet and Evie Hone were early pioneers of such modern art.

Because abstract art has few if any naturalistic elements, it is not as instantly appreciable as (say) a classical portrait or landscape. And if you prefer a work of art to portray recognizable people and surroundings, then abstract art is not likely to be for you. But, let's be honest, is this so different from recoiling at the idea of wearing a particular colour or style of clothing? Different people like different things, and this applies to art as much as to jobs, cars, houses, furniture, vacations, and everything else you can think of.

Abstract, or non-naturalistic paintings tend to contain an implicit message or follow a particular theory of art. This can make them less likeable and less beautiful to some people, but it doesn't mean they can't be outstanding works of art.

5. Should Art be Subsidized?

It is extremely hard for most full-time artists to earn a living from (say) their painting or sculpture. To this, the sceptics retort: "well if no one wants to buy their stuff, why should the tax-payer pay for it?"

One should not dismiss this concern too lightly. After all, these sceptics aren't saying that artists shouldn't practise their art, simply that an artist should seek private sponsorship.

One answer to the question is this. First, in reality, most art colleges train students in a range of highly commercial activities, notably in the area of applied art and design. So for these individuals there is no question of subsidy. Moreover, those students who do opt for a full-time career as a painter or sculptor, are choosing a very arduous and materially unrewarding type of life. Not least because sponsorship (in the form of public commissions, bursaries, artist-in-residences, and other grants) is actually very meagre. The level of public subsidy of the arts in Western countries remains pretty low, compared to other equivalent areas. So even here, the amount of public money being spent on works of art is not especially significant.

Nonetheless, public money is being spent, and here is a reason for it. Beauty, whether in the form of an attractive-looking car, a well-designed public building or square, a colourful dress, or an inspiring sculpture, is one of the few phenomena that lifts the spirits and reminds us there is more to life than the price of eggs. But without art, especially fine art, this range of aesthetic experiences will gradually dwindle, as beauty becomes progressively downgraded as a worthwhile goal. Literature (if not history) is full of examples of this type of society, where functionality is everything and citizens wear the same drab clothing, dwell in the same drab apartments, and lead the same drab lives.

Where To View Art Collections Online

There are tons of paintings and sculptures online. (This website alone displays thousands of different artworks.) Search for the large art museums such as: Galleria degli Uffizi (Florence), Musee du Louvre (Paris), Museo del Prado (Madrid), the National Gallery (London), Gemaldegalerie (Berlin), Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg) and the National Gallery (Washington DC), to name but a few. Unfortunately, Irish art museums (with the notable exception of the Crawford Gallery in Cork) are not as visible on the Internet as they should be, but there are plenty of private art galleries in Ireland that have wonderful displays that are available to browse.

Art in Ireland

The current state of Irish painting and Irish sculpture is extremely buoyant. Thanks to a prosperous economy, a number of active art organizations, Irish sculptors as well as Irish landscape artists, Irish portrait artists and Irish genre-painters - continue to excel in all areas.. Big name artists like Francis Bacon, Jack B Yeats and Louis le Brocquy command multi-million dollar prices, while contemporary art is well represented by Irish artists such as James Coleman (video), Dorothy Cross (contemporary sculpture) and Rachel Joynt (public art). For facts about the development of painting and sculpture in Ireland, see History of Irish Art.

• For information about Irish and International artists, see: Visual Arts Cork: Guide to Irish Art.

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