Gallery de Saint-Germain

Art 101

The term Art is said to have as many definitions as there are individuals to create it. You will find endless books and courses that will provide you with historic detail on what has gone into its development. There you will also find the endless conflicts of what makes up the term and how it can be broken down. But what is most important is that you understand two things; overall, what terms do most use to describe art and what is it that turns you on to art the most.

The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts also involve aspects of visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts[1] are the applied arts[2] such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.[3]

Current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as the applied or decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term 'artist' had for some centuries often been restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the decorative arts, craft, or applied Visual arts media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms.[4] Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts, maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of the arts.

The increasing tendency to prefer the painting styles, and to a lesser degree sculpture, of one technique or style over another has been a feature of artists throughout the ages. In many instances painting has been seen as relying to the highest degree on the imagination of the artist, and the furthest removed from manual labour – in Chinese painting the most highly valued styles were those of "scholar-painting", at least in theory practiced by gentleman amateurs. The Western hierarchy of genres reflected similar attitudes.

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.[1] The term is used in distinction to the fine arts, which are those that produce objects with no practical use, whose only purpose is to be beautiful or stimulate the intellect in some way. In practice, the two often overlap. Applied arts largely overlaps with decorative arts, and the modern making of applied art is usually called design.

Now that you have some of the basics, its time to address the second and most critical understanding of art; what turns you on. And the only way to find that out is to see what your options are. So start your tour by checking out each of the many forms of art. Find your media of choice and discover what it feels like to follow in the footsteps of those that have come before you. Here you will find links to documentaries, publications, and galleries that tell the stories of art’s greatest icons. Enjoy!!

Art 101 Galleries Are Under Development - Enjoy Their Works As The Displays Progress