By its original and broadest definition, art (from the Latin ars, meaning "skill" or "craft") is the product or process of the effective application of a body of knowledge, most often using a set of skills; this meaning is preserved in such phrases as "liberal arts" and "martial arts". However, in the modern use of the word, which rose to prominence after 1750, “art” is commonly understood to be skill used to produce an aesthetic result (Hatcher, 1999). Britannica Online defines it as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others"Britannica Online. By any of these definitions of the word, artistic works have existed for almost as long as humankind, from early pre-historic art to contemporary art.

Defining art

---

How best to define the term “art” is a subject of much contention; many books and journal articles have been published arguing over even the basics of what we mean by the term “art” (Davies, 1991 and Carroll, 2000). Theodor Adorno claimed in 1969 “It is self-evident that nothing concerning art is self-evident any more.” (Danto, 2003). Indeed, it is not even clear anymore who has the right to define art. Artists, philosophers, anthropologists, and psychologists all use the notion of art in their respective fields, and give it operational definitions that are not very similar to each others.

Nonetheless we can make some progress towards defining art in its most everyday senses. The first broadest sense of “art” is the one that has stayed closest to the older Latin meaning, which roughly translates to "skill" or "craft", and also from an Indo-European root meaning "arrangement" or "to arrange". In this sense, art is whatever is described as having undergone a deliberate process of arrangement by an agent. A few examples where this meaning proves very broad include artifact, artificial, artifice, artillery, medical arts, and military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymology.

More on [ Art ]

Art - Twitter Search

Bout to do n art project with the girls!Watching Nacho Libre! Livie loves her esqueleto.
Yessie_Nish (Jessica Nish) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:30 -0000
Bout to do n art project with the girls!Watching Nacho Libre! Livie loves her esqueleto.
But in the meantime, back to more immediate questions, like what I'm going to start at the contemporary art group's workshop day tomorrow.
TrudiCanavan (Trudi Canavan) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:25 -0000
But in the meantime, back to more immediate questions, like what I'm going to start at the contemporary art group's workshop day tomorrow.
Update: Big Names from Hollywood on Obamas Art Committee http://bit.ly/3xCucQ
sjpcentral (SJP Central) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:25 -0000
Update: Big Names from Hollywood on Obamas Art Committee http://bit.ly/3xCucQ
Find art retreats, painting, photography and other creative courses throughout Europe. Go to krazart! http://www.twivert.com/o/Wi8
b0rne0 (Red) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:24 -0000
Find art retreats, painting, photography and other creative courses throughout Europe. Go to krazart! http://www.twivert.com/o/Wi8
Acrylic painting on cotton canvas, Farrell Hamann Fine Art. on Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/nd7x3 via @addthis
farrellhamann (Farrell Hamann) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:23 -0000
Acrylic painting on cotton canvas, Farrell Hamann Fine Art. on Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/nd7x3 via @addthis
Art Briles and Baylor Hoops back-to-back in just over an hour. Listen to 1660AM in Waco or online: http://bit.ly/4I1iH
ispsportnetwork (ISP Sports Network) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:00:22 -0000
Art Briles and Baylor Hoops back-to-back in just over an hour. Listen to 1660AM in Waco or online: http://bit.ly/4I1iH

Subscribe to Art RSS feed