iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Artist

The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. Debate, both historical and present day, suggests that defining the concept of an artist will continue to be difficult.

Dictionary definitions

Wiktionary defines the noun 'artist' (Singular: artist; Plural: artists) as follows:
  1. A person who creates art.
  2. A person who creates art as an .
  3. A person who is skilled at some activity


The Oxford English Dictionary cites broad meanings of the term "artist,"

* A learned person or Master of Arts
* One who pursues a practical science, traditionally medicine, astrology, alchemy, chemistry
* A follower of a pursuit in which skill comes by study or practice - the opposite of a theorist
* A follower of a manual art, such as a mechanic
* One who makes their craft a fine art
* One who cultivates one of the fine arts - traditionally the arts presided over by the muses

History of the term

In Greek the word "techně" is often mistranslated into "art." In actuality, "techně" implies mastery of a craft (any craft.) The Latin-derived form of the word is "tecnicus", from which the English words , technology, technical are derived.

In Greek culture the nine Muses patronaged each a different field of human creation:
  1. Epic poetry
  2. Lyric song
  3. History
  4. Erotic poetry
  5. Tragedy
  6. Sacred song
  7. Dance
  8. Comedy and bucolic poetry
  9. Astronomy


No muse was identified with the visual arts of painting and sculpture. In ancient Greece sculptors and painters were held in low regard, somewhere between freemen and slaves, their work regarded as mere manual labour [1].

The word art is derived from the Latin "ars", which, although literally defined means, "skill method" or "technique", holds a connotation of beauty.

During the Middle Ages the word artist already existed in some countries such as Italy, but the meaning was something resembling craftsman, while the word artesan was still unknown. An artist was someone able to do a work better than others, so the skilled excellency was underlined, rather than the activity field. Looking to registries or acts of those times it is easy to find out how some goods (such as textiles) were much more precious and expensive than paintings or sculptures.

The first division into major and minor arts dates back to Leon Battista Alberti's works (De re aedificatoria, De statua, De pictura), focusing the importance of intellectual skills of the artist rather than the manual skills (even if in other forms of art there was a project behind).

Michelangelo Buonarroti is generally indicated as the first artist who separated his creative work from the committance requirements.

With the Academies in Europe (second half of XVI century) the gap between fine and applied arts was definitely set.

Many contemporary definitions of "artist" and "art" are highly contingent on culture, resisting aesthetic prescription, in much the same way that the features constituting beauty and the beautiful, cannot be standardized easily without corruption into kitsch.

The word "artist" is used as a pejorative in certain circles (connotating, for example, pretentiousness, selfishness, temperamentalness, egotism, and having an inflated sense of one's own self-worth).

(referenced from: P.Galloni, Il sacro artefice. Mitologie degli artigiani medievali, Laterza, Bari, 1998)

The present day concept of an 'artist'

Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. An artist also may be defined unofficially, as, "a person who expresses themselves through a medium". The word also is used in a qualitative sense of, a person creative in, innovative in, or adept at, an artistic practice.

Most often, the term describes those who create within a context of 'high culture', activities such as drawing, painting, sculpture, acting, dancing, writing, filmmaking, photography, and music—people who use imagination, talent, or skill to create works that may be judged to have an aesthetic value. Art historians and critics will define as artists, those who produce art within a recognized or recognizable discipline.

The term also is used to denote highly skilled people in non-"arts" activities, as well—crafts, law, medicine, alchemy, mechanics, mathematics, defense (martial arts), and architecture, for example. The designation is applied to high skill in illegal activities, such as "scam artist" (a person very adept at deceiving others, often profiting (semi-illegaly) from other people) or "con artist" (a person very adept at committing fraud).

Often, discussions on the subject focus on the differences among "artist" and "technician", "entertainer" and "artisan," "fine art" and "applied art," or what constitutes art and what does not. The French word artiste (which in French, simply means "artist") has been imported into the English language where it means a performer (frequently in Music Hall or Vaudeville). The English word 'artist' has thus, a narrower range of meanings than the word 'artiste' in French.

Examples of art and artists

See also

Notes

1. ^ In Our Time: The Artist BBC Radio 4, TX 28th March 2002

References

  • P.Galloni, Il sacro artefice. Mitologie degli artigiani medievali, Laterza, Bari, 1998
  • C. T. Onions (1991). The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Clarendon Press Oxford. ISBN 0-19-861126-9

External links

 •  • [ e]
List resources
Activity may mean:
  • action, in general
  • Activity, an alternative name for the game charades
  • Activity, a task.
  • Activity, the ability of a piece to influence the game in chess
  • Activity

..... Click the link for more information.
ART is a three-letter acronym that can mean:

Medicine

  • Antiretroviral therapy. It is used in the treatment of HIV infection.
  • assisted reproductive technology

Other

  • Adaptive resonance theory

..... Click the link for more information.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language.
..... Click the link for more information.
A craft is a skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a trade or particular art.

The term is often used as part of a longer word (and also in the plural).
..... Click the link for more information.
Fine art refers to arts that are concerned with a limited number of visual and performing art forms, including painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, architecture and printmaking.
..... Click the link for more information.
MusE is a MIDI/Audio sequencer with recording and editing capabilities written by Werner Schweer. MusE aims to be a complete multitrack virtual studio for Linux: it currently has no support under other platforms, due to its reliance on JACK and ALSA.
..... Click the link for more information.
Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
..... Click the link for more information.
Technical may refer to:
  • The use of technology in a specific or precise way
  • Vocational education, often known as "technical education"
  • Technical (fighting vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle often used in civil conflict

..... Click the link for more information.
MusE is a MIDI/Audio sequencer with recording and editing capabilities written by Werner Schweer. MusE aims to be a complete multitrack virtual studio for Linux: it currently has no support under other platforms, due to its reliance on JACK and ALSA.
..... Click the link for more information.
For other meanings of epic, see .
The epic is long, exalted narrative poetry, generally concerning a serious subject and details the heroic deeds and events important to a culture or nation.
..... Click the link for more information.
History is the study of the past, focused on human activity and leading up to the present day.[1] More precisely, history is the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race [1]
..... Click the link for more information.
Erotic Poetry This album was originally released as Erotic Poetry Part #2. The reason behind this is that Esham (after the success of his album Boomin Words From Hell) was planning to release 4 EP albums.
..... Click the link for more information.
In a figurative sense a tragedy (from Classical Greek τραγωδία, "song for the goat", see below) is any event with a sad and unfortunate outcome, but the term also applies specifically in Western culture to a form of drama defined by
..... Click the link for more information.
worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.


Dance (from French danser, perhaps from Frankish) generally refers to movement used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a
..... Click the link for more information.
In common, present day usage the word comedy almost always refers to the creation or presentation of humor with the intention of provoking laughter. Most comedy contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations,
..... Click the link for more information.
Pastoral, as an adjective, refers to the lifestyle of shepherds and pastoralists, moving livestock around larger areas of land according to seasons and availability of water and feed.
..... Click the link for more information.
Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, and galaxies) and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere (such as the cosmic background radiation).
..... Click the link for more information.
A skill is the learnt capacity or talent to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time energy or both Examples include:
  • Academic skills
  • Reading

..... Click the link for more information.
Beauty is commonly defined as a characteristic present in a person, place, object or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning or satisfaction to the mind or to the eyes, arising from sensory manifestations such as a shape, color, personality, sound, design or
..... Click the link for more information.
Anthem
Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Fratelli d'Italia)


..... Click the link for more information.
Leon Battista Alberti (February 14, 1404 – April 25, 1472) was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer, and general Renaissance humanist polymath. In Italy, his first name is usually spelled "Leon".
..... Click the link for more information.
De re aedificatoria (English: On the Art of Building) is a classic architectural treatise written by Leon Battista Alberti in 1450. Although largely dependent on Vitruvius' De architectura
..... Click the link for more information.
project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a product or service[1].

Origin

The word project comes from the Latin word projectum from projicere, "to throw something forwards" which in turn comes from pro-
..... Click the link for more information.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Chalk portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra
Birth name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
March 6 1475(1475--)
..... Click the link for more information.
academy (Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia
..... Click the link for more information.
Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significant importance.
..... Click the link for more information.
Kitsch /kɪtʃ/ is a term of German or Yiddish origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior copy of an existing style.
..... Click the link for more information.
Country Italy
Region Apulia
Province Bari (BA)
Mayor Michele Emiliano

Area km
Population
 - Total (as of December 31, 2005)
 - Density /km
Time zone CET, UTC+1

..... Click the link for more information.
Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.

From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought)
..... Click the link for more information.
The classic definitions of innovation include:
  1. the act of introducing something new: something newly introduced (The American Heritage Dictionary).
  2. the introduction of something new. (Merriam-Webster Online)
  3. a new idea, method or device.

..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter