Art

Art is a term used to describe objects or ideas that are creative in origin or design. It is typically defined as 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 arts is a term broader than "art", which usually means the visual arts (fine art and decorative art). The arts encompasses visual arts, performing arts (Music and dance), language arts (Literature) and culinary arts. The major general surveys on topics in the fine arts are painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and architecture.

Art appreciation

See also: Art appreciation

Antonio Canaletto, London Seen through an Arch of Westminster Bridge, 1746–7.

Art appreciation is the study and understanding of the visual arts which includes learning to better see, understand, and enjoy art. This includes better understanding the materials, techniques, and the various elements and principles of art, as well as the historical and cultural context in which works of art were created. The goal of art appreciation is to deepen one's understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts. It involves the art forms of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other forms of artistic expression.

Articles and other resources

• Beginner’s Guide: Understanding & Appreciating All Art Forms
• Art appreciation, Lumen Learning
• Practice Looking at Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Art appreciation

Videos:

• How to better understand art - video playlist, video playlist
• Art history - video playlist, video playlist

Investing in art

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

"Blue-chip art refers to artwork produced by established, internationally recognized artists whose pieces consistently sell for high prices and at volume, demonstrating strong market demand and a stable, reliable value. These artists typically have a long history in the market, a well-established collector base, and their works often feature in major museum collections."

One of the primary reasons why investors invest in blue chip art is that is doesn't correlate with other asset classes so it a form of diversification. So if stocks/bonds and other types of investments are down that doesn't necessarily apply to blue chip art. According the Masterworks, which allows small investors to purchase shares of blue chip art, between 1994 to 2024, blue chip are has provided a higher rate of return than the Standard and Poor's index by 32%.

Investing in art articles

• Investing in art for beginners
• How To Invest In Art
• How to Invest in Art: A Seven-Point Guide to Help You Understand the World of Contemporary Art Investment, Maddox Gallery
• Investing in art: What to know about turning a passion into a purposeful wealth strategy, RBC Wealth Management

Investing in blue chip art articles:

• What is Blue-Chip Art and How to Start Investing in it
• A Guide to Investing in Blue-Chip Art
• What is a Blue Chip Art Gallery? A Guide to the World of Blue Chip Art Investment, Maddox Gallery
• Art's 11.5% Returns Have Outperformed S&P 500, 2024

Liberalism and art

A Cultural Revolution poster.

Liberals use art to express their political views, hoping to gain extra protection for their political speech by claiming that it is not really political but merely "artistic expression". This has been used to defend hate speech in the case of an art exhibit in the 1980s which invited museum goers to step on an American Flag and then record their opinions in a journal.

In 2008, visual artist Shepard Fairey utilized Socialist and Communist propaganda poster aesthetics to create the infamous Barack Obama "HOPE" campaign poster. Fairey's work has long employed visual elements directly referencing fascist imagery, styling and color palettes. His representation of Obama bore striking resemblance to socialist realism and recalled posters used to promote Mao, Stalin and Lenin. This iconographic image became synonymous with Obama's presidential campaign, despite claims by the Associated Press that Fairey had illegally stolen the original image from their photo archives. In a September 2008 article on San Francisco-based news website SF Gate, Fairey admitted freely that he employed propaganda techniques, saying, "The illustration does have roots in propaganda art... I also want it to seem like a patriotic image, but not be seen as too countercultural... It needed just enough mainstream ingredients to transcend."

Aside from the propaganda elements, liberals, in particular Susan Sontag, also desecrated the concept of art during the 1960s, where they left beauty as the sole guiding principal of art, with "beauty" in this case being the pleasure one received from hearing or viewing a piece, derived from 19th century Aestheticism. There's also ample evidence that she overturned Matthew Arnold's culture-based viewing of art, sought to eliminate the notion of art being influenced by morality in favor of nihilism, and had caused the demise of New York's intellectual elite with her views.

Books

• Foundations of Art and Design 2nd Edition by Lois Fichner-Rathus. Cengage Learning; 2nd edition (May 16, 2014)
• Understanding Art by Lois Fichner-Rathus. Cengage Learning; 11th edition (January 1, 2016)
• How To Understand Art (Art Essentials) by Janetta Rebold Benton, Thames & Hudson (October 26, 2021)
• Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See by Bianca Bosker. Publisher: ‎ Viking. Publication date: ‎February 6, 2024

See also

Adriaen van Ostade, The painter in his studio (Self portrait).

The secret of art is love. — Emile Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), French sculptor, studied with Rodin

• Art movements
• Art history
• Painting Schools
• Painting Galleries
• Aesthetics
• Bible Art Gallery
• Masterpiece
• Design (Discipline)
• Atheist art

External links

• National Arts Education
• The Arts U. S. Life, Culture and History.
• Academic Art Artcyclopedia.
• Best Graduate Schools - Fine Arts Ranked in 2008.
• Art Gallery. Kevin Alfred Strom.

The masterfully designed and crafted table, known as the Catherine Goddard Chippendale Block-and-Shell Carved and Figured Mahogany Bureau Table, is attributed to the Newport, Rhode Island cabinetmaker John Goddard (1724-1785).