Art

Art, disciplined activity that may be limited to a skill at painting, drawing, sculpture, and architecture. The term is also expanded to apply to human skill in its broadest sense—for example, to writing, to composing and performing music, to acting, or to photography. In this brief survey, however, art is taken exclusively in the sense of drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts. The question “What is art?” is addressed in the field of aesthetics.

Art is often considered to be the earliest manifestation of culture; it fulfils one aspect of the innate human desire to interpret the world and is the earliest tangible evidence of spiritual belief; the cave paintings of the Palaeolithic age (see Stone Age: The Palaeolithic Period) date from 32,000 years ago, and, although their precise meaning will never certainly be known, they bear witness to a strong aesthetic sense and great artistic skill. Art also precedes the development of writing and of the alphabet, and is indeed their direct precedent, pictographs having evolved into the complex cuneiform of ancient Sumer and the hieroglyphic scripts of ancient Egypt and of the Maya. In the form of grave goods, decorated tombs, and richly endowed royal palaces, art is also of great value to archaeology, throwing light on the structure of a society, its system of religion, and the power of its ruling class (for example, see Minoan Civilization and Aegean Civilization). In such contexts, the very nature of art as a status symbol has frequently ensured its survival.

Art is also the expression of a creativity, of pleasure in dexterity, invention, and the ingenious use of natural materials. This is especially so in the applied arts, in such accomplishments as carvings in ivory and jade; the creation of netsuke, lacquer work, or enamels (see Enamel (art)), of jewellery, pottery and porcelain; of mosaic and metalwork; in the execution of woodcarving and the weaving of rugs and carpets.

The role of art not only as a status symbol for individuals but also as the very embodiment of state religion and government is seen, for example, in Egyptian art and architecture. Ideals of natural beauty in the human body and of proportions in the orders of architecture are expressed in Greek art and architecture. Art may also stand for the power and prosperity of the state and power of individuals, civic pride, and imperial grandeur, as it does in Roman art and architecture. In Islamic countries, where the representation of living things is regarded as a sin (see Islamic Art and Architecture), art has developed in the form of geometric abstract patterns, whose intricacy and mathematical complexity reflect the glory of God.

In the West, particularly since the Renaissance, religious and secular patronage has given art, and the artist, a special role and prominence. It is manifest from the great cathedrals of Western Europe, with their frescos and altarpieces, to the intimate still life paintings, genre scenes (see Genre Painting), and sensitive landscapes of the Dutch and Flemish school, and the great range of portraiture. Propelled by evolving tastes and artistic techniques, the Western artistic tradition has also been subject to a strong developmental dynamic that has resulted in a succession of styles (for example, Baroque, Rococo, and Neo-Classical). In more recent times, this development has accelerated and fragmented, so that modern art (see Modern Art and Architecture) encompasses such diverse styles and movements as Cubism and Surrealism, Futurism and Expressionism, and, more recently, Minimalism, Body Art, and Land art. In the form of posters, art in the 20th century has also been the vehicle for political propaganda and for commercial and other advertising.

In non-Western cultures, there is frequently no cultural framework for regarding art as a distinct skill or phenomenon. In tribal Africa, for example (see African Art and Architecture), art has no purely aesthetic status in the Western sense; its purpose is chiefly religious, socio-political, or functional. This is also the case among Maori of New Zealand (see Maori Art) and the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands (see Oceanic Art).