 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(January 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
.jpg)
_01.jpg)
.jpg)
Thedecorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is thedesign and manufacture of objects that are bothbeautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well asinterior design, but typically excludesarchitecture.Ceramic art,metalwork,furniture,jewellery,fashion, various forms of thetextile arts andglassware are major groupings.
Applied arts largely overlap with the decorative arts, and in modern parlance they are both often placed under the umbrella category ofdesign. The decorative arts are often categorized in distinction to the "fine arts", namelypainting,drawing,photography, and large-scalesculpture, which generally produce objects solely for theiraesthetic quality and capacity to stimulate theintellect.
The distinction between the decorative and fine arts essentially arose from the post-renaissance art of the West, where the distinction is for the most part meaningful. This distinction is much less meaningful when considering the art of other cultures and periods, where the most valued works, or even all works, include those in decorative media. For example,Islamic art in many periods and places consists entirely of the decorative arts, often usinggeometric andplant forms, as does the art of many traditional cultures.[1]
The distinction between decorative and fine arts is not very useful for appreciatingChinese art, and neither is it for understanding earlyMedieval art inEurope. During that period in Europe, fine arts such asmanuscript illumination andmonumental sculpture existed, but the most prestigious works tended to be ingoldsmith work, in cast metals such as bronze, or in other techniques such asivory carving. Large-scale wall-paintings were much less regarded, crudely executed, and rarely mentioned in contemporary sources. They were probably seen as an inferior substitute formosaic, which for the period must be considered a fine art, though in recent centuries mosaics have tended to be considered decorative.[citation needed] A similar fate has befallentapestry, which late medieval and Renaissance royalty regarded as the most magnificent artform, and was certainly the most expensive. The term "ars sacra" ("sacred arts") is sometimes used for medieval christian art executed in metal, ivory, textiles, and other more valuable materials but not for rare secular works from that period.
The view of decoration as a 'lesser art' was formally challenged in the 1970s by writers and art historians likeAmy Goldin[2] and Anne Swartz.[3] The argument for a singular narrative in art had lost traction by the close of the 20th century through post-modernist irony and increasing curatorial interest in street art and in ethnic decorative traditions. ThePattern and Decoration movement in New York galleries in the 1980s, though short-lived, opened the way to a more inclusive evaluation of the value of art objects.[4]
Modern understanding of the art of many cultures tends to be distorted by the modern privileging of fine visual arts media over others, as well as the very different survival rates of works in different media. Works in metal, above all in precious metals, are liable to be "recycled" as soon as they fall from fashion, and were often used by owners as repositories of wealth, to be melted down when extra money was needed. Illuminated manuscripts have a much higher survival rate, especially in the hands of the church, as there was little value in the materials and they were easy to store.[citation needed]
The promotion of the fine arts over the decorative in European thought can largely be traced to the Renaissance, when Italian theorists such asVasari promoted artistic values, exemplified by the artists of theHigh Renaissance, that placed little value on the cost of materials or the amount of skilled work required to produce a work, but instead valued artistic imagination and the individual touch of the hand of a supremely gifted master such asMichelangelo,Raphael orLeonardo da Vinci, reviving to some extent the approach of antiquity. Most European art during theMiddle Ages had been produced under a very different set of values, where both expensive materials and virtuoso displays in difficult techniques had been highly valued. In China both approaches had co-existed for many centuries:ink wash painting, mostly oflandscapes, was to a large extent produced by and for thescholar-bureaucrats or "literati", and was intended as an expression of the artist's imagination above all, while other major fields of art, including the very importantChinese ceramics produced in effectively industrial conditions, were produced according to a completely different set of artistic values.[citation needed]
The lower status given to works of decorative art in contrast to fine art narrowed with the rise of theArts and Crafts movement. This aesthetic movement of the second half of the 19th century was born in England and inspired by the writings ofThomas Carlyle,John Ruskin andWilliam Morris. The movement represented the beginning of a greater appreciation of the decorative arts throughout Europe. The appeal of the Arts and Crafts movement to a new generation led the English architect and designerArthur Heygate Mackmurdo to organize the Century Guild for craftsmen in 1882, championing the idea that there was no meaningful difference between the fine and decorative arts. Many converts, both from professional artists' ranks and from among the intellectual class as a whole, helped spread the ideas of the movement.[5]
The influence of the Arts and Crafts movement led to the decorative arts being given a greater appreciation and status in society and this was soon reflected by changes in the law. Until the enactment of theCopyright Act 1911 only works of fine art had been protected from unauthorized copying. The 1911 Act extended the definition of an "artistic work" to include works of "artistic craftsmanship".[6][7]
In the context ofmass production andconsumerism some individuals will attempt to create or maintain theirlifestyle or to construct their identity when forced to accept mass-produced identical objects in their life. According to Colin Campbell in his piece "The Craft Consumer",[8] this is done by selecting goods with specific intentions in mind to alter them. Instead of accepting a foreign object for what it is, the foreign object is incorporated and changed to fit one's lifestyle and choices, orcustomized.[citation needed]
One way to achieve a customized look and feel to common objects is to change their external appearance by applying decorative techniques, as indecoupage,art cars,truck art in South Asia andIKEA hacking.[citation needed]
References
Sources
.jpg){kind=link}