Awork of art,artwork,[1]art piece,piece of art orart object is an artistic creation ofaesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded asart in its widest sense, including works fromliterature andmusic, these terms apply principally to tangible, physical forms ofvisual art:
An object created for principally or entirely functional, religious or other non-aesthetic reasons which has come to be appreciated as art (often later, or bycultural outsiders).
This article is concerned with the terms and concepts as used in and applied to the visual arts, although other fields such asaural-music and written word-literature have similar issues and philosophies. The termobjet d'art is reserved to describe works of art that are not paintings, prints, drawings or large or medium-sized sculptures, or architecture (e.g. household goods, figurines, etc., some purely aesthetic, some also practical). The termoeuvre is used to describe the complete body of work completed by an artist throughout a career.[2]
Awork of art in the visual arts is a physical two- or three- dimensional object that is professionally determined or otherwise considered to fulfill a primarily independentaesthetic function. A singular art object is often seen in the context of a largerart movement or artisticera, such as: agenre, aestheticconvention,culture, or regional-national distinction.[3] It can also be seen as an item within an artist's "body of work" oroeuvre. The term is commonly used bymuseum andcultural heritagecurators, the interested public, theart patron-privateart collector community, andart galleries.[4]
Theorists have argued that objects and people do not have a constant meaning, but their meanings are fashioned by humans in the context of their culture, as they have the ability to make things mean or signify something.[5] A prime example of this theory are theReadymades of Marcel Duchamp.Marcel Duchamp criticized the idea that the work of art must be a unique product of an artist's labour or skill through his "readymades": "mass-produced, commercially available, often utilitarian objects" to which he gave titles, designating them as artwork only through these processes of choosing and naming.[6]
ArtistMichael Craig-Martin, creator ofAn Oak Tree, said of his work – "It's not a symbol. I have changed the physical substance of the glass of water into that of an oak tree. I didn't change its appearance. The actualoak tree is physically present, but in the form of a glass of water."[7]
Someart theorists and writers have long made a distinction between thephysical qualities of an art object and its identity-status as an artwork.[8] For example, a painting byRembrandt has a physical existence as an "oil painting on canvas" that is separate from its identity as amasterpiece "work of art" or the artist'smagnum opus.[9] Many works of art are initially denied "museum quality" or artistic merit, and later become accepted and valued in museum and private collections. Works by theImpressionists and non-representationalabstract artists are examples. Some, such as thereadymades of Marcel Duchamp including his infamous urinalFountain, are later reproduced as museum quality replicas.
Research suggests that presenting an artwork in a museum context can affect the perception of it.[10]
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