art

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Dictionary

art1 (ärt)
n.

  • Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
    • The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
    • The study of these activities.
    • The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group.
  • High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value.
  • A field or category of art, such as music, ballet, or literature.
  • A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts.
    • A system of principles and methods employed in the performance of a set of activities: the art of building.
    • A trade or craft that applies such a system of principles and methods: the art of the lexicographer.
    • Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of the baker; the blacksmith's art.
    • Skill arising from the exercise of intuitive faculties: “Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to practice” (Joyce Carol Oates).
    • arts Artful devices, stratagems, and tricks.
    • Artful contrivance; cunning.
  • Printing. Illustrative material.
  • [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ars, art-.]

    • SYNONYMS art, craft, expertise, knack, know-how, technique. These nouns denote skill in doing or performing that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of rhetoric; pottery that reveals an artist's craft; political expertise; a knack for teaching; mechanical know-how; a precise diving technique.

    art2 (ə?rt; ärt when stressed)
    v. Archaic.

    A second person singular present indicative of be.

    [Middle English, from Old English eart.]

     

     

     

    The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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    Thesaurus

    art

    noun

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    Encyclopedia

    art. The major general surveys on topics in the fine arts are painting; sculpture; drawing; photography, and architecture.

     

     

     

    The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

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    Legal Dictionary

    art
    abbr.

    Article

     

     

     

    Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law 1996. Merriam-Webster's, Incorporated. Published under license with Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

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    art

     

    The Mona Lisa

    Although today the word art usually refers to the visual arts, the concept of what art is has continuously changed over centuries. Perhaps the most concise definition is its broadest—art refers to all creative human endeavors, excluding actions directly related to survival and reproduction. 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 shamanism.

    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 Goldsworthy, 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.

     

    The word art: derivation and usage

    The word "art" comes from the Latin ars, which, loosely translated, means "arrangement" or "to arrange", though in many dictionaries you will simply find it tautologically translated as "art". This is the only universal definition of art—that whatever it is was at some point arranged in some way. A few examples where this meaning proves very broad include artifact, artifice, artillery, medical arts, and military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymological roots.

    It is frequently argued that art cannot be defined, partly because people's standards for judging what is or is not art are completely subjective. Confusion about the meaning of the term derives from two sources: the first of these is that multiple meanings of the word are often used interchangeably in conversation. Secondly, confusion can stem from the fact that in the modern world, art is often seen as belonging to one class and excluding others. Art is seen as a high-status activity associated with wealth and the ability to purchase both works of art and the leisure required to enjoy them. Much of the confusion about what can be or cannot be deemed art comes from an unconsidered use of the word to describe things or people as good or bad, as in such expressions as "(that meal was) a work of art" or "the art of deception". It is this use of the word as an absolute measure of quality or value that gives the term its appearance of subjectivity.

    In addition, most people's choices of what is art fall well in line with generally accepted standards deriving from education and other social factors. Most people did not consider the depiction of a Brillo Box or a store-bought urinal to be art until Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp placed them in a specific context, ie. the art gallery, which then inherently associated the objects with the values that usually define something as art. This, so called "institutional definition of art" was expressed for the first time by George Dickie in 1974. Indeed, most viewers of these objects initially rejected such associations, as the objects did not, themselves, meet the accepted criteria. It required that the objects be absorbed into the general consensus of what art is for them to achieve the near-universal acceptance as art they enjoy today. Once accepted and viewed with a fresh eye the smooth, white surfaces of Duchamp's urinal are strikingly similar to classical marble sculptural forms, whether the artist intended it or not. This type of recontextualizing provides the same spark of connection that we expect from any 'good' art.

    Given the present association of art with status, it is somewhat ironic to note that previous to the 14th century in Europe, artisans were considered as being of a lower caste, since they laboured with their hands. It was only after Europe was re-exposed to Classical culture that artists gained their current association with high status, though arrangements of 'fine' and expensive goods have always been used by institutions of power as marks of their own status. This can still be seen in the commissioning or purchasing of art by big businesses and corporations as decoration for their offices.

     

    Art as an entity

    Definitions of art and aesthetic arguments usually proceed from one of several possible perspectives. Art may be defined by the intention of the artist as in the writings of Dewey. Art may be seen as being in the response/emotion of the viewer as Tolstoy claims. In Danto's view, it can be defined as a character of the item itself or as a function of an object's context. For Plato, art is imitation. Obviously, there is validity in each of these perspectives and any useful definition of art must, at minimum, address all these categories.

    There is wide disagreement over what constitutes art, and there is no single definition that is widely agreed upon. A common view is that art requires a creative and unique perception of both the artist and audience. For example, a common contemporary criticism of some modern painting might be, 'my five-year old could have painted that' — implying that the work is somehow less worthy of the title art, either because the viewer fails to find meaning in the work, or because the work does not appear to have required any skill to produce. This view is often described as a lay critique and derives from the fact that in Western culture at least, art has traditionally been pushed in the direction of representationalism, the literal presentation of reality through literal images.

    Art can connote a sense of trained ability or mastery of a medium. It can also simply refer to the developed and efficient use of a language so as to convey meaning, with immediacy and or depth. Making this judgment requires a basis for criticism: a way to determine whether the impact of the object on the senses meets the criteria to be considered art, whether it is perceived to be ugly or beautiful. Perception is always colored by experience, so a reaction to art as 'ugly' or 'beautiful' is necessarily subjective. Countless schools have each proposed their own ways to define quality, yet they all seem to agree in at least one point: once their aesthetic choices have been accepted, the value of the work of art is determined by its capacity to transcend the limits of its chosen medium in order to strike some universal chord (which, oddly enough, tends to be the most personal one).

    Art also appeals to human emotions. It can arouse aesthetic or moral feelings, and can be understood as a way of communicating these feelings. Artists have to express themselves so that their public is aroused, but they do not have to do so consciously. Art explores both human emotions and ways to arouse them — and good art brings something new and original in either of these two respects.

    Consider photography. Are photographs of un-posed 'real life' to be considered art? The common answer is overwhelmingly yes, even though many of these photographs simply seek to reproduce by machine what people can see with their own eyes. However, the reproduction is not neutral — a selection is being made by the artist. This is also one of the goals of found art: to recontextualize the art of everyday objects.

     

    Different forms of art

    There are a variety of Arts, including visual arts and design, decorative arts, plastic arts, and the performing arts. Artistic expression takes many forms, painting, drawing, sculpture, music, literature, performance art and possibly architecture are the most widely recognised forms. However, since the advent of modernism and the technological revolution, new forms have emerged. These include film, photography, comics, video art, installation art, conceptual art, and computer art.

    Within each form, a wide range of genres may exist. For instance, a painting may be a still life, a portrait, a landscape and may deal with historical or domestic subjects. In addition, a work of art may be representational or abstract.

     

    The use of art

    There are many who ascribe to certain arts the quality of being non-utilitarian. This fits within the 'art as good' system of definitions and suffers from a class prejudice against labor and utility. Opponents of this view argue that all human activity has some utilitarian function, and these objects claimed to be 'non-utilitarian' actually have the rather mundane and banal utility of attempting to mystify and codify unworkable justifications for arbitrary social hierarchy.

     

    The history of art

     

    Defining art: what is and what is not

    1. requires creative perception both by the artist and by the audience

    2. elusive

    3. communicates on many levels and is open to many interpretations

    4. connotes a sense of ability

    5. interplay between the conscious and unconscious part of our being, between what is real and what is an illusion

    6. Any human creation which contains an idea other than its utilitarian purpose.

     

    See also

    Further reading

    • · Peter Magyar, Thought palaces. Amsterdam: Architectura & Natura Press, 1999
    • · Aristotle, Metaphysics
    • · Plato, Theory of forms
    • · Carl Jung, Man and his Symbols
    • · Gyorgy Doczi, The Power of Limits.

    • External links

    For the Celtic mythological figure Art, see Airt; for the play, see Art (play).

     

     

     

    This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Art".

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    Translations

    Translations for: Art

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    kunst, (mv) schone kunsten, vaardigheid, creatieve bezigheid, uitgekookt gedrag tot in de puntjes beheersen

    Français (French)
    art

    Deutsch (German)
    n. - Kunst

    Ε?λ?λ?η?ν?ι?κ?ή? (Greek)
    n. τtέ?χ?ν?η?, τtέ?χ?ν?αaσsμαa, κ?ό?λ?πpο? έ?χ?ω? αaν?αaπpτtύ?ξ?εeι? σsεe τtέ?χ?ν?η?

    Italiano (Italian)
    arte, arte del mestiere

    Português (Portuguese)
    n. - arte (f), habilidade (f), cultura (f), ofício (m), truque (m), método (m)

    Р?у?с?с?к?и?й? (Russian)
    и?с?к?у?с?с?т?в?о?, ж?и?в?о?п?и?с?ь?, у?м?е?н?и?е?, т?а?л?а?н?т? и?м?е?т?ь? г?л?у?б?о?к?и?е? з?н?а?н?и?я? п?о? к?а?к?о?м?у?-л?и?б?о? п?р?е?д?м?е?т?у?

    Español (Spanish)
    n. - arte, habilidad

    Svenska (Swedish)
    n. - konst, hantverk, skicklighet

    中?国?琣? (Simplified Chinese)
    n. - 綆?术?, 技?术?, 巧?妙?
     

    中?國?疏? (Traditional Chinese)
    n. - 稣?瞭?, 技?瞭?, 巧?妙?
     

    日?本?畢? (Japanese)
    n. - 男?子?名?, 絈?瞭?, 技?瞭?, 挿?絵?, ピ?ン?ナ?ッ?プ?写?真?, 学?問?の?科?目?, 人?工?, 熟?練?
    v. - 絈?瞭?的?に?癵?せ?る?
    adj. - 絈?瞭?品?の?, 絈?瞭?家?の?
     

    ا?ل?ع?ر?ب?ي?ه? (Arabic)
    ‏?(ا?ل?ا?س?م?) ف?ن?, م?ه?ا?ر?ه?, ف?ن?و?ن? ج?م?ي?ل?ه? إ?ت?ق?ا?ن? ع?م?ل? ا?ل?ش?ي? ب?د?ق?ه?‏?

    ע?ב?ר?י?ת?‬? (Hebrew)
    n. - ‮?א?מ?נ?ו?ת?, מ?י?ו?מ?נ?ו?ת?, (א?ת?ה?) ה?י?נ?ך?, א?ת?ה?‬?
     

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    design

    Did you mean: Design Within Reach, Inc. (NASD: DWRI)

     

    Dictionary

    de·sign (dĭi-zīin')

    v., -signed, -sign·ing, -signs.

    v.tr.

      • To conceive or fashion in the mind; invent: design a good excuse for not attending the conference.
      • To formulate a plan for; devise: designed a marketing strategy for the new product.
    • To plan out in systematic, usually graphic form: design a building; design a computer program.
    • To create or contrive for a particular purpose or effect: a game designed to appeal to all ages.
    • To have as a goal or purpose; intend.
    • To create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner.
  • v.intr.
    • To make or execute plans.
    • To have a goal or purpose in mind.
    • To create designs.
  • n.
      • A drawing or sketch.
      • A graphic representation, especially a detailed plan for construction or manufacture.
    • The purposeful or inventive arrangement of parts or details: the aerodynamic design of an automobile; furniture of simple but elegant design.
    • The art or practice of designing or making designs.
    • Something designed, especially a decorative or an artistic work.
    • An ornamental pattern. See synonyms at figure.
    • A basic scheme or pattern that affects and controls function or development: the overall design of an epic poem.
    • A plan; a project. See synonyms at plan.
      • A reasoned purpose; an intent: It was her design to set up practice on her own as soon as she was qualified.
      • Deliberate intention: He became a photographer more by accident than by design.
    • A secretive plot or scheme. Often used in the plural: He has designs on my job.
  • [Middle English designen, from Latin dēesignāare, to designate. See designate.]

    • de·sign'a·ble adj.

     

    The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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    Thesaurus

    design

    verb

  • noun

    •  

    Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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    Encyclopedia

    design, plan or arrangement of line, form, mass, color, and space in a pattern. A design may be created to serve a functional purpose as in architecture and in industrial designs or else purely to provide aesthetic pleasure. The design may refer to preparatory stages for a work of art (see drawing; cartoon) or it may be extended to include the compositional elements in a finished work of art.

     

    The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

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    WordNet

    Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

    The noun design has 7 meanings:

    Meaning #1: the act of working out the form of something (as by making a sketch or outline or plan)
    Synonym: designing

    Meaning #2: an arrangement scheme
    Synonym: plan

    Meaning #3: something intended as a guide for making something else
    Synonyms: blueprint, pattern

    Meaning #4: a decorative or artistic work
    Synonyms: pattern, figure

    Meaning #5: an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
    Synonyms: purpose, intent, intention, aim

    Meaning #6: a preliminary sketch indicating the plan for something

    Meaning #7: the creation of something in the mind
    Synonyms: invention, innovation, excogitation, conception

     

    The verb design has 7 meanings:

    Meaning #1: make or work out a plan for; devise
    Synonyms: plan, project, contrive

    Meaning #2: design something for a specific role or purpose or effect

    Meaning #3: create the design for; create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner

    Meaning #4: make a design of; plan out in systematic, often graphic form
    Synonym: plan

    Meaning #5: create designs

    Meaning #6: conceive or fashion in the mind; invent

    Meaning #7: intend or have as a purpose

     

     

     

    WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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    design

    When applied to fine and applied arts, engineering, and other such creative efforts, design is both a noun and a verb. The verb is the process of originating and developing a plan for an artistic or functional object, which may require countless hours of thought, modelling, iterative adjustment, and re-design. The noun is either the finalized plan of action, or the result of following that plan of action.

    In philosophy, the abstract noun design refers to purpose/purposefulness, or teleology. Design is thus contrasted with purposelessness, randomness, or lack of complexity.

    The design of complex systems is sometimes called architecture.

     

    See also

  • Some industrial designs are viewed as classic pieces of design that can be regarded as much as works of art as pieces of engineering. This is a list of designs that are regarded as having reached this classic status.

  • External links

     

    This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Design".
    Misspellings

    designed

    Common misspelling(s) of designed

    • · dessigned
    • · desgined
  • Directory > Language > Misspeller's Dictionary > design

    •  

    Translations

    Translations for: Design

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    ontwerp, opzet, design (vormgeving), dessin, plan/opzet, ontwerpen, uitdenken, bedoelen, construeren

    Français (French)
    concevoir, dessiner, tracer, ébaucher, dessein, plan, brouillon, avant-projet, design, dessin

    Deutsch (German)
    v. - entwerfen, planen, beabsichtigen
    n. - Entwurf, Plan, Design, Gestaltung, Muster, Absicht

    Ε?λ?λ?η?ν?ι?κ?ή? (Greek)
    v. σsχ?εeδdι?ά?ζ?ω?, εeπpι?ν?ο?ώ?, εeκ?πpο?ν?ώ? μεeλ?έ?τtη? ή? σsχ?έ?δdι?ο? n. σsχ?εeδdί?αaσsη?, (κ?αaκ?ο?πpρ?ο?αaί?ρ?εeτtη?) εeπpι?δdί?ω?ξ?η?, βλ?έ?ψ?η? ή? πpρ?ό?θ?εeσsη?, σsκ?ο?πpι?μό?τtη?τtαa, αaπpώ?τtεeρ?ο?ς? σsκ?ο?πpό?ς?, τtεeχ?ν?ι?κ?ή? μεeλ?έ?τtη? ή? σsχ?εeδdί?αaσsη?, δdι?αaκ?ο?σsμη?τtι?κ?ό? σsχ?έ?δdι?ο?, εeκ?πpό?ν?η?σsη?, μεeλ?έ?τtη?, δdι?ά?τtαaξ?η? (σsτtο?ι?χ?εeί?ω?ν? κ?αaτtαaσsκ?εeυ?ά?σsμαaτtο?ς?)

    Italiano (Italian)
    abbozzare, progettare, progetto, disegno

    Português (Portuguese)
    v. - projetar, desenhar, idealizar
    n. - projeto (m), modelo (m)

    Р?у?с?с?к?и?й? (Russian)
    р?а?з?р?а?б?а?т?ы?в?а?т?ь?, п?р?о?е?к?т?и?р?о?в?а?т?ь?, п?л?а?н?, п?р?о?е?к?т?, р?а?з?р?а?б?о?т?к?а?, д?и?з?а?й?н?

    Español (Spanish)
    n. - propósito, intención, diseño, bosquejo, plan, proyecto, estilización, dibujo, estilo, trama
    v. tr. - trazar, diseñar, proyectar, idear, concebir, dedicar pienso
    v. intr. - trazar, diseñar, idear, dibujar, bosquejar

    Svenska (Swedish)
    v. - utforma, formge, skissera, planera
    n. - formgivning, utformning, skiss, utkast

    中?国?琣? (Simplified Chinese)
    n. - 瑂?瑟?, 絏?样?, 图?案?
    v. tr. - 瑂?瑟?, 打?算?将?...用?作?, 构?思?, 绘?制?, 瑟?划?
    v. intr. - 瑂?瑟?, 画?图?样?, 瑟?划?, 珵?划?, 当?瑂?瑟?师?
     

    中?國?疏? (Traditional Chinese)
    n. - 痓?痸?, 絏?樣?, 圖?案?
    v. tr. - 痓?痸?, 打?算?將?...用?作?, 構?思?, 繪?眃?, 痸?劃?
    v. intr. - 痓?痸?, 畫?圖?樣?, 痸?劃?, 甀?劃?, 當?痓?痸?師?
     

    日?本?畢? (Japanese)
    n. - デ?ザ?イ?ン?, 図?案?, 意?匠?, 柄?, 模?様?, 痓?痸?, 構?想?, 筋?書?き?, 意?図?, た?く?ら?み?
    v. - デ?ザ?イ?ン?す?る?, 痓?痸?す?る?, 翽?案?す?る?, 痸?画?す?る?
     

    ا?ل?ع?ر?ب?ي?ه? (Arabic)
    ‏?(ف?ع?ل?) ي?ص?م?م? ش?ئ? ب?ع?م?ل? م?خ?ط?ط?ا?ت? و?ر?س?و?م?ا?ت? ل?ه?, ي?خ?ط?ط? (ا?ل?ا?س?م?) ت?ص?م?ي?م?, م?خ?ط?ط?, ف?ن? ا?ل?ت?ص?م?ي?م?‏?

    ע?ב?ר?י?ת?‬? (Hebrew)
    n. - ‮?ת?ו?כ?נ?י?ת?, ת?ר?ש?י?ם?, מ?י?ד?ג?ם?, ד?ו?ג?מ?ה?, ש?ר?ט?ו?ט?, מ?ו?ד?ל?, ת?כ?נ?ו?ן?, ע?י?צ?ו?ב?, כ?ו?ו?נ?ה?‬?
    v. tr. - ‮?ת?כ?נ?ן?, ש?ר?ט?ט?, ע?י?צ?ב?, ת?י?כ?ן?‬?
    v. intr. - ‮?ת?כ?נ?ן?, ש?ר?ט?ט?, ע?י?צ?ב?‬?
     

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