Unit 1: Defining Art
How do we define art? For many people, art is a tangible thing: a painting, sculpture, photograph, dance, poem, or play. Art is uniquely human and tied directly to culture. As an expressive medium, art allows us to experience a wide range of emotions, such as joy or sorrow, confusion or clarity. Art gives voice to ideas and feelings, connects us to the past, reflects the present, and anticipates the future. Visual art is a rich and complex subject, and its definition is in flux as the culture around it changes. This unit examines how art is defined and the different ways it functions in societies and cultures.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- distinguish between the form and content of an artwork;
- explain aesthetics and the role it plays in different cultural conventions and perspectives;
- explain the difference between subjective and objective responses to art;
- define the categories of art, such as fine art, pop art, and decorative art;
- recognize, describe, and evaluate artistic styles, such as naturalistic, abstract, and non-objective; and
- discuss the capacity to reflect personally on art.
1.1: Introduction and Definitions
First, we need to ground ourselves with some key concepts to define our area of study. What do we mean by art, what is and what is not art, and why? Can anything be art based on anyone's subjective opinion, or are there some objective features of art we can generally agree on? Since art is as old as human culture, we have developed many specialized terms associated with its study over time.
- Make forum posts: 1
What has been your prior exposure to visual art? Has it been primarily from your family? School? Social activities? Personal explorations?
Do you make art? If so, what kind? What is the medium you use? What kind of style is it? Who is your audience? If you haven't made any art, have you ever wanted to? What kind?
Click on Discussion Topic 1 to post your thoughts. After posting your response, you can leave a reply to the posts of your classmates as well.
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You probably already have some ideas about what art is or how it can be defined. This first reading introduces concepts such as medium, expression, and culture, which are fundamental to discussions about visual art.
- Make forum posts: 1
How do you define art?
Click on Discussion Topic 2 to post your thoughts. After posting your response, you can leave a reply to the posts of your classmates as well.
1.2: Form and Content
Our understanding of art and how we explain it consists of a few qualities. First, there are descriptions and analyses of the features of a work of art. These are based on the perceptual qualities of the artwork (such as the composition's colors, shapes, or contrasts), the material they are made of, and the methods used to produce them. Secondly, there are interpretive aspects that are informed by culture. These interpretations can be unique to a given person, group, or society. Since most humans perceive art similarly across populations (by using our eyes and ears), there can be quite broad agreement as to the perceptual and material aspects of art, since these can be objectively verified.
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Understanding how to identify and think about the form and content of art is a basic first step toward getting the most out of your visual art experience. Read this definition and explanation of the elements of art. Here, we define form and content and begin to understand why they are important.
1.3: Aesthetics
It is hard to separate art from conversations about it, which are also called the "discourses" of art. Art is saturated with concepts, histories, schools, movements, linkages to the history of ideas, debates about the nature of beauty, or judgments about what makes art "good" or "bad". Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy that deals with matters related to art. This term is based on the ancient Greek word aesthesis, which means "sensory experience". As you might expect, different cultures have produced different discourses on aesthetics: for example, what might have been considered beautiful in Indian art 500 years ago will likely be very different from what was considered beautiful in the European Renaissance or a 20th-century postmodern exhibit. The development of ideas is inextricably linked to the movements of culture, and aesthetics is affected by variations across social geographies and throughout history.
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Read this short definition of aesthetics and how it relates to works of art. Think about how it is different from a merely personal sense of taste and preferences.
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Read this section to get a better understanding of aesthetics in fine art. Pay attention to the role of aesthetics as a way of articulating ideas about art from various points of view.
1.4: Subjective and Objective Perspectives
Interpretations of art can be subjective. Art is often controversial, mysterious, socially significant, or personal. These interpretations depend on other factors, such as the cultural background of the artist or viewer, the use of symbolic material, or the artistic consumption habits of its audience. The perceptual and material dimensions – the objective aspects of an artwork are described as its form, whereas the interpretive (subjective) components are its content. These categories, form and content, derive from Greek antiquity, where philosophers made the distinction between what something says (the content) and how something is said (its form).
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This page will help you differentiate between subjective and objective ways of looking at art. When you think about this difference, focus on how to distinguish aspects related to the medium of the artwork itself, compared to your own reactions and experience of it.
1.5: Artistic Roles
Art performs certain common functions, such as recording faces and places – this will be familiar to anyone today who takes pictures with their smartphone. Images can also serve scientific purposes, such as capturing images of galaxies or microscopic organisms. Churches and temples are also full of artistic images that convey religious, mythical, and spiritual ideas.
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This article gives an overview of the social roles that art can perform. As you read about art's various roles in society and culture, think about concrete examples that you can identify in your own everyday experience.
1.6: Artistic Categories
Taking a broad view of the diversity of artistic practices, we can create categories of art that include art that is in the museums (such as paintings and sculptures), art we find on the streets (such as graffiti or billboards), art on our persons (such as jewelry, clothing, and fashion), and art in our homes (such as embroidery and rugs). Similarly, we can organize art into the categories of fine art, popular art, or decorative art, depending on the roles it fulfills along these social dimensions. We might consider a work of art important for cultural preservation and reflection (fine art), a type of popular communication (pop art), or a handicraft that ornaments or decorates items in our lives (decorative art).
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This article discusses the general categories of art. Note the conditions that define each category and how we distinguish them from each other.
1.7: Artistic Styles
We often expect art to depict something specific, such as when a portrait must resemble a certain person. We call this art's mimetic role, which comes from the Greek word mimesis and refers to creating a representation of something. But we also know that art often takes great creative liberties in representation. Many works impart all strong stylizations to the objects they represent. We call these artworks abstractions because their main goal is not to produce "accurate" mimesis. Finally, we have all experienced works of art that do not resemble anything at all from our everyday experiences. This kind of art may work with geometries, colors, or materials in ways that do not lend themselves to a clear interpretation. We call this kind of art non-objective because it foregoes any ties to objects we recognize.
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The search for truth in art is not limited to making accurate representations in the classical tradition of mimesis. After you view these examples that use widely-different approaches, you will see how individual artists use general and identifiable styles to communicate their ideas.
1.8: Cultural Styles
With much artwork, you have a sense of its cultural background as soon as you see it. Sometimes a certain amount of expertise may be required. For example, something may seem "old and tribal" at first glance. You may not know what part of the world it is from until you read the description cards or consider the name of the museum wing it inhabits. Art embodies cultural values and beliefs. Cultures rely on their art as artifacts to serve as repositories for their values and beliefs. In this way, art and culture rely on each other for their full understanding.
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Read this text which explores how cultural identity influences and is often shaped by artistic expression. Pay close attention to this theme of art and identity. It recurs throughout this course.
1.9: Perception and Visual Awareness
We see biologically and neurologically – our eyes send information about the external world to the brain's visual processing centers. But we also see in personal ways that are informed by our social and cultural background. Both ways of "seeing" are important in art. For example, artists are highly sensitive to the nuances of form and color. They are also attuned to the ways certain audiences may react to their work. Artists often purposely challenge our usual ways of seeing and looking to produce extraordinary effects we are not accustomed to.
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Read this article which helps clarify a major theme of this course: subjective versus objective analysis. An acute sense of visual awareness and perception is important to help you understand and enjoy art.
Unit 1 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.