There is no specific definition of art. Art is mostly 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 attractive item. For art the artist 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?
Today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. From a wide perspective, art is simply a generic term for any product of the creative impulse, out of which sprang all other human pursuits – such as science via alchemy, and religion via shaman ism.
Artists, deliberately or not, work under the influence of other artists of the past and present. Much of the development of individual artists deals with finding structured principles for how to express certain ideas through various kinds of symbolism. For example, Vasily Kandinsky famously developed his use of color in painting through a system of stimulus response, where over time he gained an understanding of the emotions that can be evoked by color and combinations of color. Contemporary artist Andy Golds worthy, on the other hand, chose to use the medium of found natural objects and materials to arrange temporary sculptures; the only record of these sculptures brought back to the world comes in the form of a modest photograph.
FORMS OF ART
It means the type of artwork such as drawing, painting, sculpture (carving, modeling, assemblage and construction) architecture, printmaking, electronic media such as computer and digital graphics, ceramics, Visual Design, Graphic Design, collage, photography and Post Modern appropriation and reconceptualization.
How is Art Classified?
Architecture, music, opera, theater, dance, 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” and are commonly. classified into several overlapping categories, such as: fine, visual, plastic, decorative, applied, and performing.
Disagreement persists as to the precise composition of these categories, but here is a generally accepted classification.
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, watercolor, acrylics, ink and wash, or the more old-fashioned tempera or en caustic paints. For an explanation of colorants, see: Co lour in Painting and Co lour Pigments, Types, History.
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, foil imaging prints.
Sculpture
In bronze, stone, marble, wood, or clay.
a) The Evolution of Fine Arts
After primitive forms of cave painting, figurine sculptures and other types of ancient art, there occurred the golden era of Greek art and other schools of Classical Antiquity. The sacking of Rome (c.400-450) introduced the dead period of the Dark Ages (c.450-1000), brightened only by Celtic art and Ultimate La Tenn Celtic designs, after which the history of art in the West is studded with a wide variety of artistic ‘styles’ or ‘movements’ – such as: Gothic (c.1100-1300), Renaissance (c.1300-1600), Baroque (17th century), Noe-Classicism (18th century), Romanticism (18th-19th century), Realism and Impressionism (19th century), Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop-Art (20th century).
For a brief review of modernism (c.1860-1965), see Modern art movements; for a guide to post modernism, (c.1965-present) see our list of the main Contemporary art movements.
The Tradition
Fine art was the traditional type of Academic art taught at the great schools, such as the the Academia delftware Del Disegno in Florence, the Academia DI San Luca in Rome, the Academia Des Beau-Arts in Paris, and the Royal Academy in London. One of the key legacies of the academies was their theory of linear perspective and their ranking of the painting genres, which classified all works into 5 types: history, portrait, genre-scenes, landscape or still life.

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Visual Arts
This category 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 Photography, and film-based forms like Video Art and Animation, or any combination thereof. Another type of visual art, sometimes created on a monumental scale is the new environmental land art.
Plastic Arts
The term plastic art typically denotes three-dimensional works employing materials that can be molded, shaped or manipulated (plasticized) in some way: such as, clay, plaster, stone, metals, wood (sculpture), paper (origami) and so on. For three-dimensional artworks made from everyday materials and “found objects”, see: Junk art.
Decorative Arts
This category traditionally denotes functional but ornamental art forms, such as works in glass, clay, wood, metal, or textile fabric. This includes all forms of mosaic art, as well as ceramics, (exemplified by Chinese Pottery and Greek Pottery) furniture, furnishings, stained glass and tapestry art. Noted styles of decorative art include: Rococo, Pre-Raphaela, Second Empire, Japanese, Art Nouveau and Art Deco, Edwardian, and Retro.
Performance Arts
This type refers to public performance events. Traditional varieties include, theater, 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.
Applied Arts
This category 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 Design School, as well as Art Nouveau, and Art Deco.
History of art
There really is no such things as art history;there are only histories of art .No single way of looking at and interpreting art providesall the answer since there are various methods and approaches to interpretation. For example, we might see the role of art history as a means of communicating factual knowledge, perhaps about the way a work of art was made and the historical circumstances of its production. We may
The history of art refers to the history of the visual arts of painting, sculpture and architecture. It is the history of one of the fine arts, others of which are the performing arts and literature. It is also one of the humanities. The term sometimes encompasses theory of the visual arts, including aesthetics.
Sculptures, cave paintings, rock paintings, and petroglyphs from the Upper Paleolithic dating to roughly 40,000 years ago have been found, but the precise meaning of such art is often disputed because so little is known about the cultures that produced them. The oldest art objects in the world-a series of tiny, drilled snail shells about 75,000 years old-were discovered in a South African cave.
Many great traditions in art have a foundation in the art of one of the great ancient civilizations: Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China, Ancient Greece, Rome, as well as Inca, Maya, and Olmec. Each of these centers of early civilization developed a unique and characteristic style in their art. Because of the size and duration these civilizations, more of their art works have survived and more of their influence has been transmitted to other cultures and later times. Some also have provided the first records of how artists worked. For example, this period of Greek art saw a veneration of the human physical form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty, and anatomically correct proportions.
In Byzantine and Medieval art of the Western Middle Ages, much art focused on the expression of Biblical and not material truths, and used styles that showed the higher unseen glory of a heavenly world, such as the use of gold in the background of paintings, or glass in mosaics or windows, which also presented figures in idealized, patterned (flat) forms. Nevertheless a classical realist tradition persisted in small Byzantine works, and realism steadily grew in the art of Catholic Europe.
Renaissance art had a greatly increased emphasis on the realistic depiction of the material world, and the place of humans in it, reflected in the corporeality of the human body, and development of a systematic method of graphical perspective to depict recession in a three dimensional picture space.
In the east, Islamic art’s rejection of iconography led to emphasis on geometric patterns, calligraphy, and architecture. Further east, religion dominated artistic styles and forms too. India and Tibet saw emphasis on painted sculptures and dance with religious painting borrowing many conventions from sculpture and tending to bright contrasting colors with emphasis on outlines. China saw many art forms flourish, jade carving, bronze work, pottery (including the stunning terracotta army of Emperor Qin), poetry, calligraphy, music, painting, drama, fiction, etc. Chinese styles vary greatly from era to era and are traditionally named after the ruling dynasty. So, for example, Tang Dynasty paintings are monochromatic and sparse, emphasizing idealized landscapes, but Ming Dynasty paintings are busy, colorful, and focus on telling stories via setting and composition. Japan names its styles after imperial dynasties too, and also saw much interplay between the styles of calligraphy and painting. Woodblock printing became important in Japan after the 17th century.
The western Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century saw artistic depictions of physical and rational certainties of the clockwork universe, as well as politically revolutionary visions of a post-monarchist world, such as Blake’s portrayal of Newton as a divine geometer, or David’s propagandistic paintings. This led to Romantic rejections of this in favor of pictures of the emotional side and individuality of humans, exemplified in the novels of Goethe. The late 19th century then saw a host of artistic movements, such as academic art, Symbolism, impressionism and fauvism among others.
The history of twentieth century art is a narrative of endless possibilities and the search for new standards, each being torn down in succession by the next. Thus the parameters of Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism, etc. cannot be maintained very much beyond the time of their invention. Increasing global interaction during this time saw an equivalent influence of other cultures into Western art, such as Pablo Picasso being influenced by African sculpture. Japanese woodblock prints (which had themselves been influenced by Western Renaissance draftsmanship) had an immense influence on Impressionism and subsequent development. Later, African sculptures were taken up by Picasso and to some extent by Matisse. Similarly, the west has had huge impacts on Eastern art in 19th and 20th century, with originally western ideas like Communism and Post-Modernism exerting powerful influence on artistic styles.
Modernism, the idealistic search for truth, gave way in the latter half of the 20th century to a realization of its unattainability. Relativism was accepted as an unavoidable truth, which led to the period of contemporary art and postmodern criticism, where cultures of the world and of history are seen as changing forms, which can be appreciated and drawn from only with irony. Furthermore the separation of cultures is increasingly blurred and some argue it is now more appropriate to think in terms of a global culture, rather than regional cultures.
a) When did humans start creating works of art?
Up until recently most paleoanthropologists and art historians thought that the history of art begins during the Upper Paleolithic period between 35,000 and 10,000 BCE, as evidenced by a series of cave paintings and miniature carvings discovered mainly in Europe. However, recent archaeological discoveries seem to confirm that prehistoric art begins much earlier – almost certainly during the middle Lower Paleolithic – between about 290,000 and 700,000 BCE.
b) What is the earliest type of art produced by Stone Age Man?
The oldest known art form is the “cu pule”, a hemispherical petroglyph, created by percussion, which occurs on vertical as well as horizontal surfaces.
Venus Art
In archeology, the term “Venus Figurines” is an umbrella description relating to Stone Age statuettes of women, created during the Auriga or Gravitation cultures of the upper Palaeolithic (c.32,000-20,000 BCE), throughout Europe from France to Siberia. The general similarity of these sculptures – in size and shape [obese or pregnant] – is extraordinary. They were carved by Stone Age sculptors in all manner of different materials, ranging from soft stone ( calcite or limestone), bone, ivory, wood, or ceramic clays. The latter type are among the oldest ceramic works yet discovered.
Hundreds of such figurines are known, nearly all between 2 and 8 inches in height. Considered by late 19th century archaeologists to represent the prehistoric idea of feminine beauty, they were dubbed “Venuses” in reference to the Roman goddess of beauty.
First Archaeological Discoveries of Venuses
The first Stone Age 3-D representation of a woman was discovered in the Dordogne in France around 1864 by the Marquis De Vibratye. Other early discoveries included the Venus of Brassempouy, unearthed in south-west France in 1894, and the famous Venus of Willendorf in 1908 in the Danube valley, Austria.
Earliest Known Venus Figurines
Somewhat anomalous to the main period of Venus sculpture – the Aurignacian and Gravettian periods of the Upper Paleolithic era – two Venus-type carvings have been found within the Mediterranean area that predate the Upper Paleolithic by hundreds of thousands of years, making them by far the oldest Venus figurines known to archeology. These include: the Venus of Berekhat Ram, found on the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria, and the Venus of Tan-Tan, discovered in Morocco. Both originate from the Acheulean culture of the Lower Paleolithic epoch, and have been dated to between 200,000 and 300,000 BCE. Although some controversy still exists as to whether they are the product of human design, other even earlier discoveries of Lower Paleolithic art in India suggest that human fine art developed from a much earlier period than first supposed.
When the earliest sculpture ever made?
The first pro to-sculptures are the Acheulian period figurines made by Homo erects, which date from 200,000 BCE.
How old are the earliest cave paintings?
Painted by modern Homo sapien, the oldest known cave murals occur in the Upper Paleolithic rock shelters of Chauvet, Pech-Merle, Cos quer and Lascaux ( France) and at Al Ta amira(Ca ntabria, Spain).
Modern technologies effect on fine arts
In olden periods human used their traditional skills and brain to make an art. For example painting ,pencil drawings,sculpting ,designing etc they use their own skills and techniques but today that method is changed .Now a days all human are busy that is the reason they are depending on the modern technologies such as computer graphics or softwares.
If we look some olden art techniques we can see how much the technology has developed.
a) Paintings
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface (support base). The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects may be used. In art the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete. Paintings may be decorated with gold leaf, and some modern paintings incorporate other materials including sand, clay, and scraps of paper.
Painting is a mode of expression and the forms are numerous. Drawing, composition or abstraction and other aesthetics may serve to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a still life or landscape painting), photographic, abstract, be loaded with narrative content, symbolism, emotion or be political in nature.
b) Pencil Drawings
A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not intended as a finished work. If in oil paint it is called an oil sketch. In general, a sketch is a quick way to record an idea for later use. Artist’s sketches primarily serve as a way to try out different ideas and establish a composition before undertaking a more finished work, especially when the finished work is expensive and time consuming (as in the case of a large painting or fresco). Sketching sharpens an artist’s ability to focus on the most important elements of a subject and is a prescribed part of artistic development for students.
Dry media such as pencil or pastel are often preferred due to time constraints, but a quickly done watercolor study or even quickly modeled clay or soft wax can also be considered a ‘sketch’ in the broader sense of the term. Graphite pencils being a relatively new invention, the artists of the Renaissance could make sketches using the expensive method of a silver stylus on specially prepared paper (known as silver point), with results similar to a modern pencil sketch, or, more cheaply, using charcoal, chalk, or pen-and-ink.
Digital Art
Digital art is an umbrella term for a range of artistic works and practices that utilize digital technology. Since the 1970s various names have been used to describe what is now called digital art including computer art and multimedia art but digital art is itself placed under the larger umbrella term new media art.
Digital production techniques in visual media
The techniques of digital art are used extensively by the mainstream media in advertisements, and by film-makers to produce special effects. Desktop publishing has had a huge impact on the publishing world, although that is more related to graphic design. It is possible that general acceptance of the value of digital art will progress in much the same way as the increased acceptance of electronically produced music over the last three decades.
Digital art can be purely computer-generated (such as fractals and algorithmic art) or taken from other sources, such as a scanned photograph or an image drawn using vector graphics software using a mouse or graphics tablet.Though technically the term may be applied to art done using other media or processes and merely scanned in, it is usually reserved for art that has been non-trivially modified by a computing process (such as a computer program, micro controller or any electronic system capable of interpreting an input to create an output); digitized text data and raw audio and video recordings are not usually considered digital art in themselves, but can be part of the larger project of computer art and information art.Artworks are considered digital painting when created in similar fashion to non-digital paintings but using software on a computer platform and digitally outputting the resulting image as painted on canvas.
Computer generated visual media
There are two main paradigms in computer generated imagery.The simplest is 2D computer graphics which reflect how you might draw using a pencil and a piece of paper. In this case, however, the image is on the computer screen and the instrument you draw with might be a tablet stylus or a mouse. What is generated on your screen might appear to be drawn with a pencil, pen or paintbrush. The second kind is 3D computer graphics, where the screen becomes a window into a virtual environment, where you arrange objects to be “photographed” by the computer. Typically a 2D computer graphics use raster graphics as their primary means of source data representations, whereas 3D computer graphics use vector graphics in the creation of immersive virtual reality installations. A possible third paradigm is to generate art in 2D or 3D entirely through the execution of algorithms coded into computer programs and could be considered the native art form of the computer. That is, it cannot be produced without the computer. ,Fractal art algorithmic art and Dynamic painting are examples.
Computer generated 3D still imagery
3D graphics are created via the process of designing complex imagery from geometric shapes, polygons or NURBS curves to create three-dimensional shapes, objects and scenes for use in various media such as film, television, print, rapid prototyping and the special visual effects. There are many software programs for doing this. The technology can enable collaboration, lending itself to sharing and augmenting by a creative effort similar to the open source movement, and the creative commons in which users can collaborate in a project to create unique pieces of art.
Computer generated animated imagery
Computer-generated animations are animations created with a computer, from digital models created by the artist[not specific enough to verify]. The term is usually applied to works created entirely with a computer. Movies make heavy use of computer-generated graphics; they are called computer-generated imagery (CGI) in the film industry. In the 1990s, and early 2000s CGI advanced enough so that for the first time it was possible to create realistic 3D computer animation, although films had been using extensive computer images since the mid-70s. A number of modern films have been noted for their heavy use of photo realistic CGI.
Graphic art software
Graphic art software is a subclass of application software used for graphic design, multimedia development, specialized image development, general image editing, or simply to access graphic files. Art software uses either raster or vector graphic reading and editing methods to create, edit, and view art.
Many artists and other creative professionals today use personal computers rather than traditional media. Using graphic art software may be more efficient than rendering using traditional media by requiring less hand-eye coordination, requiring less visualization skill, and utilizing the computer’s quicker (sometimes more accurate) automated rendering functions to create images. However, advanced level computer styles, effects and editing methods may require a steeper learning curve of computer technical skills than what was required to learn traditional hand rendering and visualization skills. The potential of the software to enhance or hinder creativity may depend on the intuitiveness of the interface.
Image development software
Image development professionals may use general graphic editors or may prefer more specialized software. Although images can be created from scratch with most art software, specialized software applications or advanced features of generalized applications are used for more accurate visual effects
Traditional medium effects
Vector editors are ideal for solid crisp lines seen in line art, poster, woodcut ink effects, and mosaic effects.
Some generalized image editors, such as Photoshop are used for digital painting (representing real brush and canvas textures such as watercolor or burlap canvas) or handicraft textures such as mosaic or stained glass. However, unlike Photoshop, which was originally designed for photo editing, software such as Corel Painter and Photo-Paint were originally designed for rendering with digital painting effects and continue to evolve with more emphasis on hand-rendering styles that don’t appear computer generated.
Photorealistic effects
Unlike traditional medium effects, photorealistic effects create the illusion of a photographed image. Specialized software may contain 3D modeling and ray tracing features to make images appear photographed. Some 3D software is for general 3D object modeling, whereas other 3D software is more specialized, such as Poser for characters or Bryce for scenery. Software such as Photoshop may be used to create 3D effects from 2D (flat) images instead of 3D models. Add Depth is a discontinued software for extruding 2D shapes into 3D images with the option of beveled effects. Meta Creations Detailer and Painter 3D are discontinued software applications specifically for painting texture maps on 3D Models.
Hyper realistic effects
Specialized software may be used to combine traditional medium effects and photorealistic effects. 3-D modeling software may be exclusively for, include features for, or include the option of 3rd party plugins for rendering 3-D models with 2-D effects (e.g. cartoons, illustrations) for hyperrealistic effects. Other 2-D image editing software may be used to trace photographs or rotoscope animations from film. This allows artists to rapidly apply unique styles to what would be purely photorealistic images from computer generated imagery from 3-D models or photographs. Some styles of hyperrealism may require motion visual effects (e.g. geometrically accurate rotation, accurate kinetics, simulated organic growth, life-like motion constraints) to notice the realism of the imagery. Software may be used to bridge the gap between the imagination and the laws of physics.
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer.
The development of computer graphics, has made computers easier to interact with, and better for understanding and interpreting many types of data. Developments in computer graphics have had a profound impact on many types of media and have revolutionized animation, movies and the video game industry.
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, line art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings, or other images. Graphics often combine text, illustration, and color. Graphic design may consist of the deliberate selection, creation, or arrangement of typography alone, as in a brochure, flier, poster, web site, or book without any other element. Clarity or effective communication may be the objective, association with other cultural elements may be sought, or merely, the creation of a distinctive style.
Image types
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics are the computer-based generation of digital images-mostly from two-dimensional models, such as 2D geometric models, text, and digital images, and by techniques specific to them. The word may stand for the branch of computer science that comprises such techniques, or for the models themselves.
2D computer graphics are mainly used in applications that were originally developed upon traditional printing and drawing technologies, such as typography, cartography, technical drawing, advertising, etc.. In those applications, the two-dimensional image is not just a representation of a real-world object, but an independent artifact with added semantic value; two-dimensional models are therefore preferred, because they give more direct control of the image than 3D computer graphics, whose approach is more akin to photography than to typography.
Pixel art
Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old (or relatively limited) computer and video games, graphing calculator games, and many mobile phone games are mostly pixel art
Vector graphics
Vector graphics formats are complementary to raster graphics, which is the representation of images as an array of pixels, as it is typically used for the representation of photographic images. There are instances when working with vector tools and formats is best practice, and instances when working with raster tools and formats is best practice. There are times when both formats come together. An understanding of the advantages and limitations of each technology and the relationship between them is most likely to result in efficient and effective use of tools.
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics in contrast to 2D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images. Such images may be for later display or for real-time viewing.
Despite these differences, 3D computer graphics rely on many of the same algorithms as 2D computer vector graphics in the wire frame model and 2D computer raster graphics in the final rendered display. In computer graphics software, the distinction between 2D and 3D is occasionally blurred; 2D applications may use 3D techniques to achieve effects such as lighting, and primarily 3D may use 2D rendering techniques.
3D computer graphics are often referred to as 3D models. Apart from the rendered graphic, the model is contained within the graphical data file. However, there are differences. A 3D model is the mathematical representation of any three-dimensional object. A model is not technically a graphic until it is visually displayed. Due to 3D printing, 3D models are not confined to virtual space. A model can be displayed visually as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering, or used in non-graphical computer simulations and calculations.
Digital painting
Digital painting is an emerging art form in which traditional painting techniques such as watercolor, oils, impasto, etc. are applied using digital tools by means of a computer, a digitizing tablet and stylus, and software. Traditional painting is painting with a physical medium as opposed to a more modern style like digital. Digital painting differs from other forms of digital art, particularly computer-generated art, in that it does not involve the computer rendering from a model. The artist uses painting techniques to create the digital painting directly on the computer. All digital painting programs try to mimic the use of physical media through various brushes and paint effects. Included in many programs are brushes that are digitally styled to represent the traditional style like oils, acrylics, pastels, charcoal, pen and even media such as airbrushing. There are also certain effects unique to each type of digital paint which portraying the realistic effects of say watercolor on a digital ‘watercolor’ painting. In most digital painting pro