I.

Philosophy of Arts
1. History of Arts
The history of art is the history of any activity or product made by humans in a visual form
for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general,
a worldview. Over time visual art has been classified in diverse ways, from the medieval
distinction between liberal arts and mechanical arts, to the modern distinction between fine
arts and applied arts, or to the many contemporary definitions, which define art as a
manifestation of human creativity. The subsequent expansion of the list of principal arts in
the
20th
century
reached
to
nine: architecture, dance, sculpture, music, painting, poetry (described broadly as a form
of literature with aesthetic purpose or function, which also includes the distinct genres
of theatre and narrative), film,photography and graphic arts. In addition to the old forms of
artistic expression such as fashion and gastronomy, new modes of expression are being
considered
as arts such
as video, computer
art, performance, advertising, animation, television andvideogames.
The history of art is a multidisciplinary branch of the arts and sciences, seeking an objective
examination of art throughout time, classifying cultures, establishing periodizations, and
observing the distinctive and influential characteristics of art. [1] The study of the history of
art was initially developed during the Renaissance, with its limited scope being the artistic
production of Western civilization. However, as time has passed, it has imposed a broader
view of artistic history, seeking a comprehensive overview of all the civilizations and analysis
of their artistic production in terms of their own cultural values (cultural relativism), and not
just western art history.
Today, art enjoys a wide network of study, dissemination and preservation of all the artistic
legacy of mankind throughout history. The 20th century has seen the proliferation of
institutions, foundations, art museums and galleries, in both the public and private sectors,
dedicated to the analysis and cataloging of works of art as well as exhibitions aimed at a
mainstream audience. The rise of mediahas been crucial in improving the study and
dissemination of art. International events and exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial and
biennales of Venice and So Paulo or the Documenta of Kassel have helped the development
of new styles and trends. Prizes such as the Turner of the Tate Gallery, the Wolf Prize in Arts,
the Pritzker Prize of architecture, the Pulitzer of photography and the Oscarof cinema also
promote the best creative work on an international level. Institutions like UNESCO, with the
establishment of theWorld Heritage Site lists, also help the conservation of the major
monuments of the planet.[2]
Historical development

The Sakyamuni Buddha, by Zhang Shengwen, c. 1173 1176 CE, ChineseSong Dynasty period
The field of "art history" was developed in the West, and originally dealt exclusively
with European art history, with the High Renaissance(and its Greek precedent) as the
defining standard. Gradually, over the course of the 20th century, a wider vision of art history

has developed. This expanded version includes societies from across the globe, and it usually
attempts to analyze artifacts in terms of the cultural values in which they were created. Thus,
art history is now seen to encompass all visual art, from the megaliths of Western Europe to
the paintings of the Tang Dynasty in China.
The history of art is often told as a chronology of masterpieces created in each civilization. It
can thus be framed as a story of high culture, epitomized by the Wonders of the World. On the
other hand, vernacular art expressions can also be integrated into art historical narratives, in
which case they are usually referred to as folk arts or craft. The more closely that an art
historian engages with these latter forms of low culture, the more likely it is that they will
identify their work as examining visual culture or material culture, or as contributing to fields
related to art history, such as anthropology or archeology. In the latter cases art objects may
be referred to as archeological artifacts.
Prehistory and ancient history[edit]
One way to examine how art history is organized is by examining the major survey textbooks,
which reflect an encyclopedic view of what experts view as art. Frequently consulted textbooks
published in English are Ernst Gombrichs Story of Art, Marilyn Stokstads Art
History, Anthony Jansons History of Art, David Wilkins, Bernard Schultz, and Katheryn M.
Linduffs Art Past, Art Present, Helen Gardners Art Through the Ages, Hugh Honour and
John Flemmings A World History of Art, and Laurie Schneider Adamss Art Across Time.
Information on canonical art history is also found in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History,
[3]
which is sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus (250-260 CE), with battle between Roman soldiers and
barbarians. The general may be Hostilian, Emperor Decius' son (died 252 CE).
Global prehistory

Venus of Willendorf,Naturhistorisches Museum

The first tangible artifacts of human art that have been found are from the Stone Age (Upper
Paleolithic,Mesolithic and Neolithic), periods when the first demonstrations that can be
considered to be art by humans appeared. During the Paleolithic (25,000-8,000 BCE),

humans practiced hunting and gatheringand lived in caves, where cave painting was
developed.[4] After a transitional period (Mesolithic, 8,0006,000 BCE), in the Neolithic
period (60003000 BCE), when humans engaged in agriculture and built increasingly
complex
societies, religion became
more
important
and
the
production
of handicraftscommenced.
In
the Bronze
Age (c.
3,000

1,000 BCE),
the
first protohistoric civilizations arose.
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic had its first artistic manifestation in 25,000 BCE, reaching its peak in
the Magdalenian period (15,000-8,000 BCE). The first traces of human-made objects
appeared
in
southern Africa,
the Western
Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe (Adriatic
Sea), Siberia (Baikal
Lake), India and Australia. These first traces are generally worked stone (flint, obsidian),
wood or bone tools. To paint in red, iron oxide was used, in black, manganese oxide and
in ochre, clay.[5] Surviving art from this period includes small carvings in stone or bone
and cave painting. Cave paintings have been found in the Franco-Cantabrian region. There
are pictures with magical-religious character and also pictures with anaturalistic sense, which
depict animals, notably the caves of Altamira, Trois Frres, Chauvet and Lascaux. Sculpture is
represented by the so-called Venus figurines, feminine figures which were probably used
in fertility cults, such as the Venus of Willendorf.[6] Other representative works of this period
are the Man from Brno[7] and the Venus of Brassempouy.[8]
Neolithic

Cave painting at Roca dels Moros, in El Cogul

This periodfrom c. 8,000 BCE in the Near Eastwas a profound change for the ancient
humans, who became more sedentary and settled as they began to engage
in agriculture and animal husbandry. Along with these changes, new forms of social
coexistence and religion developed.[9] The rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basindated
between the Mesolithic and Neolithic erascontained small, schematic paintings of human
figures, with notable examples in El Cogul, Valltorta, Alpera and Minateda.
This kind of painting was also similar to paintings found in northern Africa (Atlas, Sahara)
and in the area of modern Zimbabwe. Neolithic painting was schematic, reduced to basic
strokes (men in the form of a cross and women in a triangular shape). There are also cave
paintings in Pinturas River in Argentina, especially the Cueva de las Manos.In portable art, a
style called Cardium Potterywas produced, decorated with imprints of seashells. New
materials were used in art, such as amber, crystals found in rock, quartzand jasper. In this
period, the first traces of urbanistic planimetry appeared, such as the remains in Tell asSultan (Jericho), Jarmo(Iraq) and atalhyk (Anatolia).[10]
Metal Age

Megalithic complex of Stonehenge

The last prehistoric phase is the Metal Age, as the use of elements such
as copper, bronze and iron proved to be a great material transformation for these ancient
societies. When humans could smelt metal and forge metal implements, this enabled them to
make new tools and weapons. In the Chalcolithic (also called Copper Age)
the Megalith emerged, massive monuments of stone were built. Examples include
the dolmen and menhir or the English cromlech, as can be seen in the complexes
at Newgrange andStonehenge.[9] In Spain the Los Millares culture was formed, characterized
by the Beaker culture, which pictured human figures with big eyes. In Malta, the temple
complexes of aar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien and gantija were built. In the Balearic
Islands notable megalithic cultures developed, with different types of monuments: the naveta,
a tomb shaped like a truncated pyramid, with an elongated burial chamber; the taula, two
large stones, one put vertically and the other horizontally above each other; and the talaiot, a
tower with a covered chamber and a false dome.[11]
In the Iron Age the cultures of Hallstatt (Austria) and La Tene (Switzerland) mark the
significant phases in Europe. The first was developed between the 7th and 5th century BCE by
the necropoleis with tumular tombs and a wooden burial chamber in the form of a house,
often accompanied by a four-wheeled cart. The pottery was polychromic,
with geometric decorations and applications of metallic ornaments. La Tene was developed
between the 5th and 4th century BCE, and is more popularly known as early Celtic art. It
produced many iron objects such as swords and spears, which have not survived well to the
2000s due to rust. Bronze continued to be used for highly decorated shields, fibulas, and
other objects, with different stages of evolution of the style. Decoration was influenced
by Greek, Etruscan and Scythian art.[12] In most of the European continent, conquest by
the Roman Empire brought the style to an end.[clarification needed]

Venus of Brassempouy, Muse des Antiquits Nationales, Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Menhir in the region ofBrittany (France)

Circular talaiot in the island of Mallorca (Spain)

Solar cart of Trundholm (Denmark)

Ancient Mediterranean art[edit]

Splint on Flood myth, of the Epic of Gilgamesh

In the first period of recorded history, art began alongside the invention of writing, founded
by the great civilizations of Near East: Egyptand Mesopotamia. This period also differed from
others because artistic manifestations occurred in every culture of all the continents. In this
period,
the
first
great
cities
appeared
near
major
rivers: Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Indus and Yellow River.

One of the great advances of this period was writing, generated primarily by the need to keep
tax and commercial records. The first writing code was the cuneiform script, which emerged
in
Mesopotamia
c.
3500 BCE,
written
on clay tablets.
It
was
based
on pictographicand ideographic elements, while later Sumerians developed syllables for
writing, reflecting the phonology and syntax of the Sumerian language. In Egypt hieroglyphic
writing was developed, with the first sample being the Narmer Palette (3,100 BCE).
The Hebrew languagewas one of the first languages to utilize the method of writing with
an alphabet (Abjad, c. 1,800 BCE), which relates a unique symbol for each phoneme;
the Greek and the Latin alphabet derive from it.[13]
Mesopotamia[edit]
Main article: Mesopotamian art

Diorite Statue I, patesi of Lagash (2120 BCE),Louvre Museum, Paris

Mesopotamian art was developed in the area between Tigris and Euphrates (modern
day Syria and Iraq), where from the 4th millennium BCE many different cultures existed such
as Sumer, Akkad, Amorite andChaldea. Mesopotamian architecture was characterized by the
use of brick, lintel and the introduction of construction elements like arc and vault. Notable
are the ziggurats, large temples with the form of a terraced step pyramid, from which we have
practically no traces left except their bases. The tomb was usually a corridor, with a covered
chamber and a false dome, as in some examples found in Ur. There were also palaces walled
with a terrace in the form of a ziggurat, where gardens were an important feature.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Sculpture was developed through wood carving and relief. Sculpture was used in religious,
military and hunting scenes, depicting both human and animal figures, including depictions
of real and mythological figures. In the Sumerian period, small statues of people were
produced. These statutes had an angular form and they were produced with colored stone.
The figures typically had bald head with hands folded on the chest. In the Akkadian period,
statues depicted figures with long hair and beards, the stele of Naram-Sin. In the Amorite
period (or Neosumerian), statues represented kingGudea of Lagash, with his mantle and a
turban on his head and his hands on his chest. During Babylonian rule, the stele
of Hammurabi was important. Assyrian sculpture is notable for its anthropomorphism of
cattle and the winged genie, which is depicted flying in many reliefs depicting war and
hunting scenes, such as in the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.[14]
Storytelling using the oral tradition probably existed since prehistory. However, with the
advent of writing, written stories (literature) arose as a means of expressing human creativity.
The Sumerian literature is represented by the Epic of Gilgamesh, written in the 17th century
BCE. It contains thirty myths about the most important Sumerian and Akkadian deities,
which are: Innana's descent to hell and the gods Enki and Tammuz. Another example is the
poem Lugal
ud
melambi
Nirpal (The
hardship
of
Ninurta),
which

hasmoral and didactic (instructional) messages. During Akkadian period, Atrahasis was
written, which includes the flood myth. In Babylonian literature, the poem Enma
Elidescribes the creation of the world.[15]
Music was developed in this region between 4th and 3rd millennium BCE for use in Sumerian
temples, where priests sang hymns and psalms (ersemma) to the gods. The liturgicchant was
composed of responsoriessong alternating between the priests and choirand antiphons
song alternating between two choirs. They had several instruments liketigi (related to
the flute), balag (drum), lilis (predecessor of timpani, a large, deep drum), algar (lyre, a
plucked string instrument), zagsal (harp) and adapa (pandeiro).[16]
Egypt

The pyramids of Giza

In Egypt, one of the first great civilizations arose, which had elaborate and complex works of
art which were produced by professional artists and craftspeople, who developed specialized
skills. Egypt's art was religious and symbolic. Given that the culture had a highly centralized
power structure and hierarchy, a great deal of art was created to honour the pharaoh,
including great monuments. The Egyptian culture emphasized the religious concept of
immortality. The Egyptian art era spans from 3,000 BCE until the conquest of Egypt
by Alexander the Great. However its influence persisted in the Coptic artand Byzantine art.
The architecture is characterized by its monumental structures, built with large stone blocks,
lintels and solid columns. Funerary monuments included mastaba, tombs of rectangular
form; pyramids, which included step pyramids (Saqqarah) or smooth-sided pyramids (Giza);
and the hypogeum, underground tombs (Valley of the Kings). The other great buildings were
the temple,
which
were
monumental
complexes
preceded
by
an
avenue
of sphinxes and obelisks.
The
temples
used pylonsand trapezoid walls
using hypaethros and hypostyle halls
and shrines.
The
temples
of Karnak, Luxor, Philae and Edfu are good examples. Another type of temple is the rock
temple, which were in the form hypogeum, which can be found in Abu Simbel and Deir elBahari.
Painting of the Egyptian era used a juxtaposition of overlapping planes. The images were
represented hierarchically, i.e., the Pharaoh is larger than the common subjects or enemies
depicted at his side. Egyptians painted the head and limbs in profile, while the shoulders and
eyes in front. Applied arts were developed in Egypt, in particular woodworkand metalwork.
There are superb examples such as cedar furniture inlaid with ebony and ivory which can be
seen in the tombs at the Egyptian Museum. Another example is the pieces found
in Tutankhamun's tomb, which are of great artistic quality.[17]

Aurochs on a cave painting inLascaux, France

Greece and Etruria
Greek and Etruscan artists built on the artistic foundations of Egypt, further developing the
arts of sculpture, painting, architecture, and ceramics. The body became represented in a
more representational manner, and patronage of art thrived.
Rome
Roman art is sometimes viewed as derived from Greek precedents, but also has its own
distinguishing features. Roman sculpture is often less idealized than the Greek precedents.
Roman architecture often used concrete, and features such as the round arch and dome were
invented.
Medieval to contemporary eras
Medieval

The interior of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey

With the decline of the Roman Empire, the narrative shifts to Medieval art, which lasted for a
millennium. Early Christian art begins the period, followed by Byzantine art, Anglo-Saxon
art, Viking art, Ottonian art, Romanesque art and Gothic art, with Islamic art dominating the
eastern Mediterranean and beyond. The Medieval era ended with the Renaissance, followed
by Mannerism, the Baroque and Rococo. In Byzantine andGothic art of the Middle Ages, the
dominance of the church insisted on the expression of biblical truths. There was no need to
depict the reality of the material world, in which man was born in a "state of sin", especially
through the extensive use of gold in paintings, which also presented figures in idealised,
patterned (i.e."flat") forms.
Renaissance and Baroque[edit]
The Renaissance is the return yet again to valuation of the material world, and this paradigm
shift is reflected in art forms, which show the corporeality of the human body, and the three-

dimensional reality of landscape. Although textbooks periodize Western art by movements, as

described above, they also do so by century, especially in Italian art. Many art historians give a
nod to the historical importance of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art by referring to
centuries in which it was prominent with the Italian terms: trecento for the fourteenth
century,quattrocento for the fifteenth, cinquecento for the sixteenth, seicento for the
seventeenth, and settecento for the eighteenth.
Neoclassicalism to Realism[edit]
The 18th and 19th centuries included Neoclassicism, Romantic art, Academic art, and Realism
in art. Art historians disagree when Modern art began, some tracing it as far back as Francisco
Goya in the Napoleonic period, the mid-19th century with the industrial revolution or the late
19th century with the advent of Impressionism. The art movements of the late 19th through
the early 21st centuries are too numerous to detail here, but can be broadly divided into two
categories: Modernism and Contemporary art. The latter is sometimes referred to with
another term, which has a subtly different connotation, Postmodern art.
Modern and Contemporary

Henri Matisse, 1905-06, Le bonheur de vivre, oil on canvas, 175 x 241 cm, Barnes Foundation
In the 20th century, the physical and rational certainties of the "clockwork universe" depicted
by the 18th-century Enlightenment were shattered not only by new discoveries of relativity by
physicist Albert Einstein[18] and of unseen psychology by Sigmund Freud,[19] but also by
unprecedented technological development accelerated by two world wars (World War I (19141918) and World War II (1939-1945)). During WW II, great pressure on scientists to develop
new technologies for the war effort led to many new inventions. In the decades after WW II,
some of these new technological developments were applied to peacetime purposes, leading to
the development of widely available television (which was a medium for entertainment such
as television dramas and music and dancevariety shows) and new electronic instruments such
as the synthesizer.
The history of 20th-century art is a narrative of endless possibilities and the search for new
standards, each being torn down in succession by the next. The art movements
of Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism led to many
explorations of new creative styles and manners of expression. Increasing global interaction
during this time saw an equivalent influence of other cultures into Western art, such as Pablo
Picasso being influenced by Iberian sculpture, African sculpture andPrimitivism. Japonism,
and Japanese woodcuts (which had themselves been influenced by Western Renaissance
draftsmanship) had an immense influence on Impressionism and subsequent artistic
developments. The influential example set by Paul Gauguin's interest in Oceanic art and the
sudden popularity among the cognoscenti in early 20th century Paris of newly discovered
African fetish sculptures and other works from non-European cultures were taken up by
Picasso, Henri Matisse, and by many of their colleagues.
Modernism, in its response to the idealistic 19th century "search for truth", and the 20th
century's technological progress gave way in the last decades of the 20th century to a

realization of that the idealist visions of the 19th century may have been unattainable. Rapid
advances in science and technology led to the late Modern and Postmodern period. In these
periods, the art and cultures of the world went through many changes, and there was a great
deal of intermixture between cultures, as new communications technologies facilitated the
national and even global dissemination of music, art and style. The separation of regional
cultures that had marked the 19th century was replaced by a global culture.
The Americas
The history of art in the Americas begins in pre-Columbian times with Indigenous cultures.
Art historians have focused particularly closely on Mesoamerica during this early era, because
a series of stratified cultures arose there that erected grand architecture and produced objects
of fine workmanship that are comparable to the arts of Western Europe. One textbook about
the art of this era is Mary Ellen Miller's The Art of Mesoamerica.
Preclassic
The art-making tradition of Mesoamerican people begins with the Olmec around 1400 BCE,
during the Preclassic era. These people are best known for making colossal headsbut also
carved jade, erected monumental architecture, made small-scale sculpture, and designed
mosaic floors. Two of the most well-studied sites artistically are San Lorenzo
Tenochtitln and La Venta. After the Olmec culture declined, the Maya civilization became
prominent in the region. Sometimes a transitional Epi-Olmec period is described, which is a
hybrid of Olmec and Maya. A particularly well-studied Epi-Olmec site is La Mojarra, which
includes hieroglyphic carvings that have been partially deciphered.
Classic
By the late pre-Classic era, beginning around 400 BCE, the Olmec culture had declined but
both Central Mexican and Maya peoples were thriving. Throughout much of the Classic period
in Central Mexico, the city of Teotihuacan was thriving, as were Xochicalco and El Tajin.
These sites boasted grand sculpture and architecture. Other Central Mexican peoples included
the Mixtecs, the Zapotecs, and people in the Valley of Oaxaca. Maya art was at its height
during the Classic perioda name that mirrors that ofClassical European antiquityand
which began around 200 CE. Major Maya sites from this era include Copan, where numerous
stelae were carved, and Quirigua where the largest stelae of Mesoamerica are located along
with zoomorphic altars. A complex writing system was developed, and Maya illuminated
manuscripts were produced in large numbers on paper made from tree bark. Although some
Maya cities have existed to the 2000s, several sites collapsed around 1000 AD.
Postclassic
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatn during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maya
were still powerful, but many communities were paying tribute to Aztec society. The latter
culture was thriving, and it included arts such as sculpture, painting, and feather mosaics.
Perhaps the most well-known work of Aztec art is the calendar stone, which became a national
symbol of the state of Mexico. During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, many of
these artistic objects were sent to Europe, where they were placed incabinets of curiosities,
and later redistributed to Westerm art museums. The Aztec empire was based in the city
of Tenochtitlan which was largely destroyed during the colonial era. What remains of it was
buried beneath Mexico City. A few buildings, such as the foundation of the Templo
Mayor have since been unearthed by archaeologists, but they are in poor condition.
Colonial
Art in the Americas since the conquest has been a mixture of indigenous and foreign
traditions, including European, African, and Asian settlers. Thus, books about the visual arts
of the United States, such as Francis Pohls Framing America, start with the conquest and
reconstruct manifold traditions. Numerous indigenous traditions thrived after the conquest.

For example, the Plains Indians created quillwork, beadwork, winter counts, ledger art,
and tipis in the pre-reservation era, and afterwards became assimilated into the world of
Modern and Contemporary art through institutions such as the Santa Fe Indian School which
encouraged students to develop a unique Native American style. Many paintings from that
school, now called the Studio Style, were exhibited at the Philbrook Museum of Art during its
Indian annual held from 1946 to 1979.
Modern
Intertwined with this story of indigenous art, are movements of painting, sculpture, and
architecture such as the Hudson River School and the Ashcan School of the 19th century,
and Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism of the 20th. Some of the most celebrated images
were produced by artists of the American West, featuring Cowboys and Indians, and some
of the most visually complex objects were created by African Americans.
Western Asia
Religious Islamic art often forbids depictions of people, as they may be misused as idols.
Religious ideas are thus often represented through geometric designs instead. However, there
are many Islamic paintings which display religious themes and scenes of stories common
among the three main monotheistic faiths of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
Central/Southern/Eastern Asian

The Great Wave off Kanagawa byHokusai

Eastern civilization broadly includes Asia, and it also includes a complex tradition of art
making. One Eastern art history survey textbook is John Laplantes Asian Art. It divides the
field by nation, with units on India, China, and Japan.

Fresco from Ajanta caves, c. 450-500

Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to Western medieval art, namely a
concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object,
such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by
light, shade and reflection). A characteristic of this style is that the local colour is often
defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for
example, the art of India, Tibet and Japan.
Africa

One of many ancient Yoruba sculptures discovered at Ife

The long story of African Art includes both high sculpture, perhaps typified by the brass
castings of theBenin people, as well as folk art. In the ancient world, Egypt is often thought of
as the greatest artistic culture of Africa, but it is also rivaled by Nubia, which was located in
present-day Sudan. Concurrent with the European Middle Ages, in the eleventh century CE a
nation that made grand architecture, gold sculpture, and intricate jewelry was founded
in Great Zimbabwe. Impressive sculpture was concurrently being cast from brass by
the Yoruba people of what is now Nigeria. Such a culture grew and was ultimately
transformed to become the Benin Kingdom, where elegant altar tusks, brass heads, plaques of
brass, and palatial architecture was created. The Benin Kingdom was ended by the British in
1897, and little of the historical art now remains in Nigeria. Today, the most significant arts
venue in Africa is the Johannesburg Biennale.
Oceania
The Art of Oceania includes the geographic areas of Micronesia, Polynesia, Australia, New
Zealand, andMelanesia. Nicholas Thomass textbook Oceanic Art treats the area thematically,
with essays on ancestry, warfare, the body, gender, trade, religion, and tourism.
Unfortunately, little ancient art survives from Oceania. Scholars believe that this is likely
because artists used perishable materials, such as wood and feathers, which did not survive in
the tropical climate, and there are no historical records to refer to this most material. The
understanding of Oceania's artistic cultures thus begins with the documentation of it by
Westerners, such as Captain James Cook in the eighteenth century. At the turn of the
twentieth century the French artist Paul Gauguin spent significant amounts of time in Tahiti,
living with local people and making modern arta fact that has become intertwined with
Tahitian visual culture to the present day. The indigenous art of Australia often looks like
abstract modern art, but it has deep roots in local culture.
Art museums

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,Spain

The experience of art history, as conveyed by art museums, tends to be organized differently
from that of textbooks due to the nature of collections and the institutions themselves. Rather
than a full march through time, museums employ curators who assemble objects
into exhibitions, often with unique commentary that is later reinterpreted by docents. Because
they have the responsibility to store objects, museums develop taxonomies for their
collections, using conventions of classification authority for the sake of consistency. This may
be undertaken with the museums archivist. The result is to occasionally find a strong
emphasis on the history of media in conjunction with the history of culture.
Such an emphasis on media is a natural outgrowth of the internal classification systems used
in art museums, which usually include departments of painting, sculpture, decorative arts,
and works on paper. Painting itself includes several media, such as oil painting,Tempera
painting, watercolor. Sculpture can be divided into carving and casting. The decorative arts
are perhaps the most diverse, as they include: textiles and needlework, which
includes weaving, lace, shibori, and other work with fabric; Murals, of which frescoes are one
form; and objects of adornment such assilver, ceramics, lacquerware, stained glass,
and furniture. Museums generally cannot collect full buildings, but they may acquire pieces of
architectural ornamentation, which also fall under the decorative arts department. Works on
paper includes printmaking, photography, and the book arts such as illuminated manuscripts.
Museums may also include a department of applied arts, which includes objects of
good design along with the graphic art, illustration, and other forms of commercial art.
Art market
The art market can also be used to understand what counts as part of art history. Art
dealers and auctioneers organize material for distribution to collectors. Two of the largest,
and oldest, art auction houses are Sotheby's and Christie's, and each hold frequent sales of
great antiquities and art objects.
In addition to upstanding practices, a black market exists for great art, which is closely tied
to art theft and art forgery. No auction houses or dealers admit openly to participating in the
black market because of its illegality, but exposs suggest widespread problems in the field.
Because demand for art objects is high, and security in many parts of the world is low, a
thriving trade in illicit antiquities acquired through looting also exists. Although the art
community nearly universally condemns looting because it results in destruction of
archeological sites, looted art paradoxically remains omnipresent. Warfare is correlated with
such looting, as is demonstrated by the recent archaeological looting in Iraq.
Nationalist art history
Both the making of art, the academic history of art, and the history of art museums are closely
intertwined with the rise of nationalism. Art created in the modern era, in fact, has often been
an attempt to generate feelings of national superiority or love of ones country. Russian art is
an especially good example of this, as the Russian avant-garde and laterSoviet art were
attempts to define that countrys identity.
Most art historians working today identify their specialty as the art of a particular culture and
time period, and often such cultures are also nations. For example, someone might specialize

in the 19th-century German or contemporary Chinese art history. A focus on nationhood has
deep roots in the discipline. Indeed, Vasari's Lives of the Artists is an attempt to show the
superiority of Florentine artistic culture, and Heinrich Wlfflin's writings (especially his
monograph on Albrecht Drer) attempt to distinguish Italian from German styles of art.
Many of the largest and most well-funded art museums of the world, such as the Louvre,
the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington are stateowned. Most countries, indeed have a national gallery, with an explicit mission of preserving
the cultural patrimony owned by the governmentregardless of what cultures created the art
and an often implicit mission to bolster that countrys own cultural heritage. The National
Gallery of Art thus showcases art made in the United States, but also owns objects from across
the world.
Academic art history

Laocon and his Sons, Greek,

marble, Vatican Museum

(LateHellenistic),

c.

160 BCE

and

20 BCE,White

The study of the history of art is a relatively recent phenomenon; prior to the Renaissance, the
modern concept of "art" did not exist. Over time, art historians have changed their views
about what art is worthy of scrutiny. For example, during the early Victorian era, the 15thcentury Italian artists were considered inferior to those of 16th-century High Renaissance.
Such a notion was challenged by the Pre-Raphaelite movement. There has since been a trend,
dominant in art history of the 21st century, to treat all cultures and periods neutrally.
Thus, Australian Aboriginal art would not be deemed better or worse than Renaissance artit
is just different. Art historical analysis has also evolved into studying
the social and political use of art, rather than focusing solely on the aesthetic appreciation of
its craftsmanship (beauty). What may once have been viewed simply as a masterpiece is now
understood as an economic, social, philosophical, and cultural manifestation of the artist's
world-view, philosophy, intentions and background.
Sacred art history
While secular approaches to art history often emphasize individual creativity, the history
of sacred art often emphasizes the ways that beautiful objects are used to convey symbolic
meaning in ritual contexts. The ten largest organized religions of the world each have imagemaking
traditions.
They
are Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Bah', Jainis
m, and Shinto.
2. Definition of Arts
In its most basic abstract definition, art is a documented expression of a sentient being
through or on an accessible medium so that anyone can view, hear or experience it. The act
itself of producing an expression can also be referred to as a certain art, or as art in general.

If this solidified expression, or the act of producing it, is 'good' or has value depends on those
who access and rate it and this public rating is dependent on various subjective factors.
Collins English Dictionary defines 'the arts' as "imaginative, creative, and nonscientific
branches of knowledge considered collectively, esp. as studied academically". [1] The singular
term art is defined by the Irish Art Encyclopedia as follows: "Art is created when an artist
creates a beautiful object, or produces a stimulating experience that is considered by his
audience to have artistic merit."[2] The same source states:
Art is a global activity which encompasses a host of disciplines, as evidenced by the range of
words and phrases which have been invented to describe its various forms. Examples of such
phraseology include: Fine Arts, Liberal Arts, Visual Arts, Decorative Arts, Applied
Arts, Design, Crafts, Performing Arts, and so on.
3. Objectives of Arts

4. Principles of Arts
The principles of design are mechanisms of arrangement and organization for the various
elements of design in artwork. Please note that different sources might list slightly different
versions of the Principles of Design, but the core fundamentals are essentially the same.

Harmony
Balance
Proportion
Dominance/Emphasis
Variety
Movement
Rhythm

Harmony
Harmony in art and design is the visually satisfying effect of combining similar, related
elements. For instance: adjacent colors on the color wheel, similar shapes etc.

Harmony

Balance
A feeling of equality in weight, attention, or attraction of the various visual elements within
the pictorial field as a means of accomplishing organic unity.
There are a few types of balance:

Symmetry: A form of balance achieved by the use of identical balance compositional

units on either side of a vertical axis within the picture plane.

Approximate Symmetry: A form of balance achieved by the use of similarly

balanced compositional units on either side of a vertical axis within the picture plane.
Radial Symmetry: A form of balance than is even, radiating out from a central

points to all four quadrants of the shapes constraining plane.

Asymmetry: A form of balance attained when the visual units on balance either side
of a vertical axis are not identical but are placed in positions within the picture plane so as
to create a felt equilibrium of the total form concept.

Horizontal Symmetry

Symmetry
Asymmetry

Approximate

Radial Symmetry

Proportion
Proportion is the comparison of dimensions or distribution of forms. It is the relationship in
scale between one element and another, or between a whole object and one of its parts.
Differing proportions within a composition can relate to different kinds of balance or
symmetry, and can help establish visual weight and depth.

Proportion (ratio)

Proportion (scale)

Dominance/Emphasis
The principle of visual organization that suggests that certain elements should assume more
importance than others in the same composition. It contributes to organic unity by
emphasizing the fact that there is one main feature and that other elements are subordinate to
it. In the below examples, notice how the smaller elements seem to recede into the
background while the larger elements come to the front. Pay attention to both scale and value
of the objects that recede and advance.

Dominance / Emphasis

Variety
Variety is the complement to unity and harmony, and is needed to create visual interest.
Without unity and harmony, an image is chaotic and unreadable; without variety it is dull
and uninteresting. Good design is achieved through the balance of unity and variety; the
elements need to be alike enough so we perceive them as belonging together and different
enough to be interesting.

Variety

Movement
Movement is the path our eyes follow when we look at a work of art, and it is generally very
important to keep a viewers eyes engaged in the work. Without movement, artwork becomes
stagnant. A few good strategies to evoke a sense of movement (among many others) are using
diagonal lines, placing shapes so that the extend beyond the boundaries of the picture plane,
and using changing values.

Movement

Rhythm
A continuance, a flow, or a feeling of movement achieved by the repetition of regulated visual
information.

Regular Rhythm

Progressive Rhythm

Flowing Rhythm
5. Philosophies of Arts
6. Relation of Arts to Philosophy
We might imagine aesthetics, the study of art and beauty, and philosophy as two unhappy
partners in a failing relationship, coming to us seeking counselling. You cant give me
anything, aesthetics might complain, you dont help people appreciate art or beauty, you
dont make artists better at their creative activity. You have no contribution to make to the
aesthetic experience whatsoever. I wish youd simply get out of my life! You never listen to
reason, philosophy might grumble in reply, You are just so messy, without principles. No
universal truths to speak of.
So what is the point of philosophical aesthetics? Why force aesthetics and philosophy
together?
Scepticism about the merits and even the possibility of a philosophical aesthetics has been the
subject of irreconcilable controversies among thinkers. It is by no means self-evident that
problems of aesthetics should be an object of philosophy: many philosophers have held that
issues relating to art and beauty cannot be the object of philosophical work. The rationalist
thinkers simply denied aesthetics a place in their systems of thought, while positivist and neopositivist thinkers argued that it could not be part of philosophical enquiry.
Although classical Greek philosophers commented about both art and beauty, they didnt
regard these problems as deserving a discipline of their own within philosophy. The classical
tripartition of the subject into theoretical philosophy (what is there in the world and how can
we know about it), practical philosophy (what should we do) and logic (how should we think)
leaves open the question of where, if at all, aesthetics fits in. A philosophical aesthetics can be
justified if it can be shown that it is meaningful to approach matters of an aesthetic nature
philosophically. If this is the case, what are the implications for philosophy on the one hand,
and for aesthetics on the other?
In recent times, a number of attempts have been made to determine the position of aesthetics.
Thinkers such as Schelling and Nietzsche in their own ways sought to rehabilitate aesthetics
to the degree that they even claimed this neglected field to be the highest form of philosophy.
To most philosophers, however, reflections about aesthetics seem to be less important than
epistemology or ethics. Even in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, it seems at first sight as if
aesthetics came as an afterthought, made thematic only in the third of his famous
three Critiques. However, it is in Kants system that aesthetics was for the first time assigned
an autonomous place as a discipline within philosophy.
The importance of aesthetics to philosophy can, on reflection, not be denied: if philosophers
want to explore what it means to be human, they must study this mysterious and significant

ability of human beings to make aesthetic judgements. Why do we, for instance, claim that a
sunset is beautiful? How do we decide this and what does it mean?
One of the most important questions asked by philosophical aesthetics and one much
discussed by contemporary thinkers is that of the definition of art. The field is split
between those who deny the possibility of there being necessary and sufficient conditions for
something being a work of art, and the far greater group of those who have tried to lay down
such conditions. The latter includes theories so diverse as Platos idea of art as representation
(mimesis) and George Dickies institutional definition of art as an artifact of a kind created to
be presented to an artworld public.
An interesting set of ideas about art, its context and its relation to philosophy comes from the
American philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto. What makes something a work of art is
not, says Danto, to be found by looking at its obvious properties. Danto believes that what
makes the difference between a Brillo box and a work of art consisting of a Brillo box is a
certain theory of art. It is the theory that takes it up into the world of art, and keeps it from
collapsing into the real object which it is.
What are we, however, doing when we ask about the difference between a Brillo box in a
supermarket and a Brillo box in an art gallery? Dantos answer is that we are asking a
philosophical question. Art now prompts us to do philosophy. Much of art today is about
boundary testing of art: Can this object be considered art?, What is art? Danto argues
that art is doing philosophy; art is collapsing into philosophy.
G.W.F. Hegel in the nineteenth century declared that art would in future no longer be a
predominant mode of expression for human beings. Danto seems to agree: Art has nothing
left to do. It has run itself out, and has as its only project a philosophical one, the definition of
art. And that would much better be left to the philosophers.
Aesthetics and philosophy have been through some rocky times together, and it is likely that
the debates about the nature of their relationship, their relative importance and limitations
will continue. The marriage as such may be saved simply because the two partners need each
other too much, but are they ever going to be happy?
7. Implication of Arts

II. Different forms of Arts

1. Poetry
WHAT IS POETRY?
It is words arranged in a rhythmic pattern with regular accents (like beats in music), words which are
caref ully selected for sound, accent and meaning to express imaginatively ideas and emotions. Each
poem has rhythm, melody, imagery, and form.

SOME ELEMENTS OF POETRY

WHAT IS RHYTHM?
Rhythm is produced by a recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables and pauses. Each
poem has a metric pattern (except in free verse which has no metrical pattern since it is based on the
natural cadences of speech). That is, the accents of the syllables in the words fall at regular intervals,
like the beat of music. This pattern is described by indicating the kind and number of feet in a regular
verse line.
THE FOUR M05T-USED KIND OF FEET
No.
of
Syllabl
2

Technical
Name of
Kind of Foot
iamb, iambic

Accented = ( / )
DUMM
= (~ )
~ Unaccented
/
de DUMM
/
~
DUMM de

trochee, trochaic

anapest, anapestic

dactyl, dactylic

Such as
~ /
~ /
a WAY, i WILL
/ ~
/
~ COM ing,
DO
~ it~ /
~ ~
/ can non ADE, let us
IN/ ~ ~
/ ~ ~
VIC to ries, TWO of them

~ ~
/
de de DUMM
/
~ ~
DUMM de
de

Less Often Used: spondee, spondaic (DUMM DUMM) pyrrhus, pyrraic (de de)

The beat of poetry feet in called meter. Marking lines as the following are marked to show feet or meter
is called scansion:
~ /
~ /
~ /
~ /
The stag l at eve | had drunk | his fill
This line is iambic tetrameter. If meter should vary within a line, it is called inversion.

1 foot

monometer

6
feet

hexameter

The number of feet in a line is expressed as follows:

2 feet

dimeter

3 feet

trimeter

4 feet

tetrameter

5 feet

pentameter

7
feet
8
feet
9
feet

heptameter
octameter
nonameter

Pauses do not usually figure significantly in scansion, but they do affect the rhythm of a line, just as they
affect the rhythm of music. There are three types of pauses:
End-stopped which is a pause at the end of a line.
Caesura which is a pause that occurs within a line.
Enjambement which is a line that runs over to the next line without a pause.

WHAT IS MELODY?
Like music, each poem has melody (i.e., sound devices). A poet chooses words for their sound, as well
as for their meaning. Rhythm, of course, is a kind of sound device based upon pattern. Euphony
(literally good sound) and cacophony (literally bad sound) contribute to producing melody, or a
musical quality in verse.
One of the principle tools of melody is rhyme that is where two words have the same sound on their
last accented vowel preceded by different consonants, such as:
Single (Masculine) Rhyme

dame, same
love, dove

Double (Feminine) Rhyme

napping, tapping
weather, heather

Triple Rhyme

mournfully, scornfully
victorious, glorious

Other rhyming terms include:

Sight (Eye) Rhyme in which two words look alike but dont sound alike,
such as LOVE and JOVE or DAUGHTER and LAUGHTER.
Slant (Imperfect) Rhyme in which two words are nearly rhymed but have a
slight variation in vowel sound, such as LAKE and FATE. NOTE: Sometimes what
is now a sight rhyme was once a true rhyme, but pronunciation changes have occurred,
such as AGAIN and RAIN.
Identical Rhyme (Rime Riche) in which two words are spelled differently but
have the same pronunciation (also called homonyms), such as TWO and TOO or
RITE and RIGHT.
End Rhyme in which the rhyming words occur at the ends of lines of poetry.
Internal Rhyme in which the rhyme occurs inside a line, such as
Lets BEAT the HEAT.
Besides rhyme, poets also use other sound effects:
Alliteration is the repetition of similar speech sounds in closely associated
words or syllables. There are three kinds of alliteration:
Consonantal Alliteration

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Vowel Alliteration

Apt alliterations artful aid is often

an occassional ornament in prose.

Internal Alliteration

The moan of doves in immemorial elms,

And murmuring of innumerable bees.

Assonance is the repetition of identical vowel sounds in syllables that have different consonant sounds,
such as LAKE and FAKE or In Xanadu did Kubla Khan (which repeats only vowel sounds).
Consonance is the repetition of identical consonant sounds in syllables that have different vowel
sounds, such as BILL and BALL or BORN and BURN.
Onomatopoeia is the use of words which sound like their meanings, such as HISS, MURMUR,
BUZZ, and so on. A really skillful poet may merely use S-sounds in a poem about a snake, rather than
the word HISS.

WHAT IS IMAGERY
Each poem also uses imagery which is produced by figures of speech. These take many forms, but all
are rhetorical methods which affect the literal meaning of words. Lets start by looking at single words
which appear synonymous:
dumb, stupid, slow, uneducated, ignorant, obtuse, dense
smart, clever, shrewd,brilliant, intelligent, with-it, cagey
skinny, slender, thin, emaciated, scrawny, lithe, lean, underweight
fat, chubby, plump, corpulent, pudgy, junoesque, zaftig. overweight
home, house, shack, bungalow, mansion, crib, pad, hearth,
quarters
Even though the denotation (literal meaning) of the words appears synonymous, the connotation
(figurative meaning) is different. Figures of speech work the same way.
Imagery is the use of figures of speech which are concrete it always refers to a sensory experience.
The sun perceived by the senses is concrete; the enlightenment associated with it is abstract
(perceived by the intellect, not the senses). Thus, we have the image of a peacock which serves as the
vehicle of the comparison. Its theme or meaning may be something abstract like vanity or beauty, but
the image must be concrete. Generally speaking, there are three kinds of figures of speech:
comparisons, substitutions, and ambiguities.

Comparisons
Analogy

A comparison of two things, alike in certain aspects a simile is an expressed

analogy; a metaphor is an implied one.

Metaphor

Two unlike things compared directly, implying several similar qualities, such
as The river is a snake which coils on itself .

Simile

Two unlike things compared using like or as, implying only one similar
quality, such as The man paced like a hungry lion.

Personification

Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or non-human creatures, such as

The trees danced in the breeze.

Apostrophe

Addressing some abstract object as if it were animate, such as O world! Tell

me thy pain! Thus, it is a kind of personification.

Allusion

Referring metaphorically to persons, places or things from history or previous

literature, with which the reader is expected to have enough familiarity to
make extended associations, such as The new kid is as mean as Grendel
and twice as ugly or He must think hes some kind of Superman.

Allegory

A form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a

narrative are equated with meanings that lie outside the narrative itself, such as
Everyman. Special kinds of allegories include the fable and the parable.

Conceit

An extended or elaborate metaphor which forms the framework of an entire

poem with all comparisons being interrelated in some way, such as What Is Our
Life? by Raleigh.

Symbolism

The use of one object to represent or suggest another object or an idea. Thus, a
rose might be used to symbolize the loved one or love in general, depending on
the context.

Substitutions
Metonymy

Substitution of one word for another closely related word, such as The
pots boiling or The White House announced.

Synechdoche

Substitution of part for the whole, such as All hands on deck.

Synaesthesia

Substitution of one sensory response for another (or the concurrent stimulation of
several senses), such as a blue note or cool green or The blind man turned
his face to feel the sun.

Ambiguities
Hyperbole

Saying more than is true, an over-exaggeration, such as He wore his fingers

to the bone.

Meiosis

Saying less than is true, an under-exaggeration, such as The reports of my

death have been exaggerated.

Irony

Saying the opposite to what is true, such as War is kind.

Antithesis

Using contrasts for an accumulative effect, such as Man proposes; God

disposes.

Oxymoron

An antithesis which brings together two sharply contradictory terms, such as

wise fool, little big man, eloquent silence, and loving hate.

Litotes

A form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of

its opposite, such as He was not unmindful which actually means he was
mindful.

Paradox

A statement which while seemingly contradictory or absurd may actually be

well- founded or true; a logic twist, such as Everything I say is a lie.

Pun

A play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with
different meanings, such as She offered her honor; he honored her offer; and
all night long he was on her and off her.

Neologism

A word concocted for deliberate effect, such as slithy from lithe and slimy,
frumious from fuming and furious. Some such words actually become a part
of the language, such as smog, brunch, or motel. Sometimes called a
coined word or a portmanteau word.

WHAT IS POETIC LICENSE?

It means that a poet is allowed to break rules in order to improve his poem in some way. For example,
he may break a spelling rule to make his rhyme or his meter more perfect, such as using oft instead
of often. Poets also use such special effects as:
1. Catalexis: An unstressed syllable omitted from the beginning of an iambic or
anapestic line or from the end of a trochaic or dactylic line.
2. Hypermeter: Adding an unstressed syllable at the beginning of a trochaic line or
at the end of an iambic line.
The whole point of poetic license is dependent upon the poets knowledge of the very rules he is
breaking. Irregularities should be deliberately planned by the poet to establish a desired poetic effect;
they should not be unintentional errors.

WHAT IS FORM?
And finally, every poem has form. A poet can arrange his poem so that you will read it as he wants you
to read it to get its sound, rhythm, and emphasis. The length of lines and the location of pauses affect
the speed at which you read his poem. In modern free verse the very typographical arrangement of
words in lines produces emphasis, just as regular rhythm and rhyme produce emphasis in regular
verse.
There is such a vast difference in the following arrangements of words that the very meaning of the
words is changed:

Star, if you are a love compassionate, you will walk

with us this year. We face a glacial distance who are
here huddled at your feet. Burford
Star,
If you are
A love compassionate,
You will walk with us this year.
We face a glacial distance who are here
Huddld
At your feet.
--Burford

PROSE

POETRY

words

words
_

sentences

lines

paragraphs

stanzas

chapters

cantos

The appearance of the poem is often a clue to its form, since form is usually determined by the number
of lines, the length of the lines, the rhythmic pattern, and/or the rhyming scheme. The rhyming scheme
(rhyme pattern) can be determined only by looking at the form of the whole poem. Rhyme shemes are
indicated by the use of letters to designate rhyming combinations:
soun
-ten
men
-fight

=
=
=
=
=

A
B
B
C

ABBA
C

KINDS OF POETRY ACCORDING TO FORM:

Regular Verse, Blank Verse, Free Verse
REGULAR VERSE: Rhyme and Rhythm
What Its Called
What It Is
rhymed couplet
2 lines with identical rhymes
heroic couplet
2 lines with identical rhymes
tercet, triplet
3 lines any rhyme scheme, any meter
quatrain
4 lines any rhyme scheme, any meter
ballad quatrain
4 lines rhyming a b c b;
1st & 3rd lines iambic
tetrameter, 2nd & 4th lines
iambic
trimeter
5
quintet
5
lines
any rhyme scheme, any meter
5
cinquain
5 lines no rhyme, no meter BUT
consisting respectively of 2, 4, 6. 8 and, 2
6
sestet
6 lines (often 3 sets of
couplets) any rhyme
7
rime royal
7 lines rhyming a b a b b
c c iambic pentameter
8
octave
8 lines any rhyme scheme, any meter
8
ottava rima
8 lines rhyming a b a b a b
c c iambic pentameter
9
Spenserian stanza
9 lines rhyming a b a b b c b
c c lines 1 - 8 iambic
pentameter line 9 iambic
14
sonnet
14 lines iambic pentameter
English - 3 quatrains + 1
couplet abab cdcd efef gg
Italian - 1 octave + 1 sestet
abbaabba cdecde OR cdcdee OR cdccdc OR
19
villanelle
19 lines 5 tercets + 1 quatrain
2 repeating refrains 8 of 19 lines are
refrain line 1 A (repeated entirely at 6,
12, & 18)
line 3 A (repeated entirely at 9, 15, &
19)
BLANK VERSE
Any scheme
number
ofAbA abA abA abA abA
lines No rhyme
Usually iambic pentameter
FREE VERSE
Any number of
lines No rhyme
No meter
No.
of
Lin2
2
3
4
4

POETRY IS ALSO CLASSIFIED BY CONTENT:

Type of Poetry
Narrative Poetry

Dramatic Poetry

Lyric Poetry

Definition
A nondramatic poem which tells a
story or presents a narrative,
whether simple or complex, long or
short.
Poetry which employs dramatic

Specific Forms
ball
ad
epi
c
verse drama

form or dramatic techniques as a

means of achieving poetic ends.

dramatic
monologue verse
dialogue
dirge, epithalamion,

A brief subjective poem marked by

imagination, melody, and emotion,
but strict definition is impossible.

elegy, epigram, epitaph,

hymn, sonnet, song,
light verse, ode, pastoral,
vers de societe,

2. Novel and Short Stories

A novel is a long narrative, normally in prose, which describes fictional characters and events, usually in
the form of a sequential story.
The genre has also been described as possessing "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two
thousand years".[1] This view sees the novel's origins in Classical Greece and Rome, medieval,
early modern romance, and the tradition of the novella. The latter, an Italian word used to describe short
stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century. Ian Watt, however, in The Rise of
the Novel (1957) suggests that the novel first came into being in the early 18th century,
Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, is frequently cited as the first

significant

European novelist of the modern era; the first part of Don Quixote was published in 1605.[2]
The romance is a closely related long prose narrative. Walter Scott defined it as "a fictitious narrative in
prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents", whereas in the
novel "the events are accommodated to the ordinary train of human events and the modern state of
society".[3] However,

many

romances,

including

the historical

romances of

Scott,[4] Emily

Bront's Wuthering Heights[5] and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick,[6] are also frequently called novels, and
Scott describes romance as a "kindred term". Romance, as defined here, should not be confused with
the genre fiction love romance or romance novel. Other European languages do not distinguish between
romance and novel: "a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo."[7]
A novel is a long, fictional narrative which describes intimate human experiences. The novel in
the modern era usually makes use of a literary prose style, and the development of the prose novel at this
time was encouraged by innovations in printing, and the introduction of cheap paper, in the 15th century.
The present English (and Spanish) word for a long work of prose fiction derives from
the Italian novella for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the Latin novella, a
singular noun use of the neuter plural of novellus, diminutive of novus, meaning "new".[note

1]

Most

European languages use the word "romance" (as in French, Dutch, Russian, Slovene, Serbo-Croatian,
Romanian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian "roman"; German "Roman"; Portuguese "romance" and
Italian "romanzo") for extended narratives.
A fictional narrative[edit]
Fictionality is most commonly cited as distinguishing novels from historiography. However this can be a
problematic criterion. Throughout the early modern period authors of historical narratives would often
include inventions rooted in traditional beliefs in order to embellish a passage of text or add credibility to
an opinion. Historians would also invent and compose speeches for didactic purposes. Novels can, on the
other hand, depict the social, political and personal realities of a place and period with clarity and detail
not found in works of history.
Literary prose[edit]
While prose rather than verse became the standard of the modern novel, the ancestors of the modern
European novel include verse epics in the Romance language of southern France, especially those
by Chrtien de Troyes (late 12th century), and in Middle English (Geoffrey Chaucer's (c. 1343 1400) The
Canterbury Tales).[8] Even in the 19th century, fictional narratives in verse, such as Lord Byron's Don
Juan (1824), Alexander Pushkin's Yevgeniy Onegin (1833), and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora

Leigh (1856), competed with prose novels. Vikram Seth's The Golden Gate (1986), composed of
590 Onegin stanzas, is a more recent example of the verse novel.[9]
Content: intimate experience[edit]
Both in 12th-century Japan and 15th-century Europe, prose fiction created intimate reading situations.
On the other hand, verse epics, including the Odyssey and Aeneid, had been recited to a select audiences,
though this was a more intimate experience than the performance of plays in theaters.
A new world of Individualistic fashion, personal views, intimate feelings, secret anxieties, "conduct" and
"gallantry" spread with novels and the associated prose-romance.
Length[edit]
See also: List of longest novels
The novel is today the longest genre of narrative prose fiction, followed by the novella, short story,
and flash fiction. However, in the 17th century critics saw the romance as of epic length and the novel as
its short rival. A precise definition of the differences in length between these types of fiction, is, however,
not possible.The requirement of length has been traditionally connected with the notion that a novel
should encompass the "totality of life."[10]
The length of a novel can still be important because most literary awards use length as a criterion in the
ranking system.[note 2]

Short Stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction, which can be read in one sitting. Emerging from earlier
oral storytelling traditions in the 17th century, the short story has grown to encompass a body of work
so diverse as to defy easy characterization. At its most prototypical the short story features a small cast
of named characters, and focuses on a self-contained incident with the intent of evoking a "single
effect" or mood.[1] In doing so, short stories make use of plot, resonance, and other dynamic
components to a far greater degree than is typical of an anecdote, yet to a far lesser degree than
a novel. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel, authors of both generally draw from a
common pool of literary techniques.
Short stories have no set length. In terms of word count there is no official demarcation between
an anecdote, a short story, and a novel. Rather, the form's parameters are given by the rhetorical and
practical context in which a given story is produced and considered, so that what constitutes a short
story may differ between genres, countries, eras, and commentators. [2] Like the novel, the short story's
predominant shape reflects the demands of the available markets for publication, and the evolution of
the form seems closely tied to the evolution of the publishing industry and the submission guidelines of
its constituent houses.[3]
The short story has been considered both an apprenticeship form preceding more lengthy works, and a
crafted form in its own right, collected together in books of similar length, price, and distribution as
novels. Short story writers may define their works as part of the artistic and personal expression of the
form. They may also attempt to resist categorization by genre and fixed formation.

Length[edit]
Determining what exactly separates a short story from longer fictional formats is
problematic. A classic definition of a short story is that one should be able to read it in
one sitting, a point most notably made in Edgar Allan Poe's essay "Thomas Le Moineau
(Le Moile)" (1846). Interpreting this standard nowadays is problematic, since the
expected length of "one sitting" may now be briefer than it was in Poe's era. Other
definitions place the maximum word count of the short story at anywhere from 1,000 to
4,000. In contemporary usage, the term short story most often refers to a work of
fiction no shorter than 1,000 and no longer than 20,000 words. Stories of fewer than
1,000 words are sometimes referred to as "short short stories", [4] or "flash fiction."
As a point of reference for the genre writer, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of
America define short story length in the Nebula Awards for science fiction submission
guidelines as having a word count of fewer than 7,500.[5]
Longer stories that cannot be called novels are sometimes considered "novellas" or
novelettes and, like short stories, may be collected into the more marketable form of
"collections", often containing previously unpublished stories. Sometimes, authors who
do not have the time or money to write a novella or novel decide to write short stories
instead, working out a deal with a popular website or magazine to publish them for
profit.
Characteristics[edit]
As a concentrated form of narrative prose fiction, the short story has been theorised
through the traditional elements of dramatic structure: exposition (the introduction of
setting, situation and main characters), complication (the event that introduces the
conflict), rising action, crisis (the decisive moment for the protagonist and his
commitment to a course of action), climax (the point of highest interest in terms of the
conflict and the point with the most action) and resolution (the point when the conflict
is resolved). Because of their length, short stories may or may not follow this pattern.
For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition, more typically
beginning in the middle of the action (in medias res). As with longer stories, plots of
short stories also have a climax, crisis, or turning point. However, the endings of many
short stories are abrupt and open and may or may not have a moral or practical lesson.
As with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story will vary by creator. Short
stories tend to be less complex than novels. Usually a short story focuses on one
incident; has a single plot, a single setting, and a small number of characters; and covers
a short period of time. The modern short story form emerged from oral storytelling traditions, the brief moralistic narratives of parables and fables, and the prose
anecdote, all of these being forms of a swiftly sketched situation that quickly comes to
its point. With the rise of the realistic novel, the short story evolved in a parallel
tradition, with some of its first distinctive examples in the tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann.
The character of the form developed particularly with authors known for their short
fiction, either by choice (they wrote nothing else) or by critical regard, which
acknowledged the focus and craft required in the short form. An example is Jorge Luis
Borges, who won American fame with "The Garden of Forking Paths", published in the
August 1948 Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Another example is O. Henry (author
of "Gift of the Magi"), for whom the O. Henry Award is named. Other of his most
popular, inventive and most often reprinted stories (among over 600) include: A
Municipal Report, An Unfinished Story, A Blackjack Barginer, A Lickpenny
Lover, Mammon and the Archer,Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, The Last Leaf.
American examples include: Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest

Hemingway, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, John Cheever, and Raymond

Carver. Science fiction short story with a special poetic touch was a genre developed
with great popular success by Ray Bradbury. The genre of the short story was often
neglected until the second half of the 19th century. The evolution of printing
technologies and periodical editions were among the factors contributing to the
increasing importance of short story publications. Among others, pioneering role in
founding the rules of the genre in the Western canon have: Rudyard Kipling(United
Kingdom), Anton Chekhov (Russia), Guy de Maupassant (France), Manuel Gutirrez
Njera (Mexico) and Rubn Daro (Nicaragua). An important theoretical example for
storytelling analysis is provided by Walter Benjamin in his illuminated essay The
Storyteller where he argues about the decline of storytelling art and the
incommunicability of experiences in the modern world. [6] Oscar Wildes essay The
Decay of Lying and Henry Jamess The Art of Fiction are also partly related with this
subject.
3. Performing Arts
Performing arts are those forms of art in which individual people perform separately or
together. The artist's own body, face, and presence is needed for the performance.
Types of performing arts[change | change source]
Performing arts include the dance, music, opera, drama, magic, oratory and circus arts.
Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers,
including actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, musicians, and singers. Performing
arts are also supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting and stagecraft.
Performers often adapt their appearance, such as with costumes and stage makeup, etc.
There is also a specialized form of fine art in which the artists perform their work live to
an audience. This is called performance art. Most performance art also involves some
form of plastic art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often referred to as
a plastic art during the Modern dance era.
Music

Music focuses on three career paths, music performance, music education, and
musicology (theory, history, etc.). Students learn to play musical instrument, but also
study music theory, musicology, history of music and musical composition. In the arts
tradition, music is also used to broaden skills of non-musicians by teaching skills such
as concentration and listening.
Drama

Kudiyattam, an example of performance art. Artist Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar

Drama (Greek 'to do', 'seeing place') is the branch of the performing arts concerned
with acting out stories in front of an audience. It uses speech, gesture, music, dance,
sound and spectacleindeed any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In
addition to the standard narrative dialogue style of plays, theatre takes such forms
as musicals, opera, ballet, illusion, mime, Indian dance, kabuki, mummers' plays, standup comedy,pantomime, and non-conventional or arthouse theatre.
Dance

Dance (from Old French dancier) generally refers to human movement either used as a
form of expression or in a social, spiritual or performancesetting.
'Dance' is also used to describe methods of non-verbal communication (see body
language) between humans or animals (bee dance, mating dance),motion in inanimate
objects (the leaves danced in the wind), and certain music genres.
Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who does this is called a
choreographer.
The definition of what is dance depends on society, and ranges from folk dance to
codified, virtuoso techniques such as ballet. In sports, rhythmic gymnastics, figure
skating, ice dancing and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines. Some martial
arts have dance-like moves.
4. Films and Theaters

A form of performing art is theater and films. Both theater and films use stories that
captures the imagination of people. It is also a good form of entertainment. Opera,
carnivals, circus, magic shows and concerts are also different art forms that are
performing
in
nature.
Theater as a form of art has evolved from medieval times to become one of the best mode
of entertainment. Theater artists perform in front of an audience and there are various
forms of theater that are performed across different regions of the world. In films, a story
is revealed that is enacted by actors and has elements of dance and music to give people a
complete
entertainment
package.
5. Opera

The performers from the Atlanta Opera sing the finale of Lucia di
Lammermoor. The opera orchestra is visible in the lowered area in front of
the stage.
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work
combining text (libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting.[1] In
traditional opera, singers do two types of singing: recitative, a speech-inflected
style[2] and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of
spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance.
The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or
smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by
a conductor.
6. Magic and Circus

Magic

"Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses" by John William Waterhouse

Magic or sorcery is the use of rituals, symbols, actions, gestures, and language with
the aim of exploiting supernaturalforces. The belief in and practice of magic has been
present since the earliest human cultures and continues to have an important spiritual,
religious, and medicinal role in many cultures today.
Psychological theories consider magic a personal phenomenon intended to meet
individual needs as opposed to a social phenomenon serving a collective purpose. The
belief that one can influence supernatural powers, by prayer, sacrifice, or invocation
dates back to prehistoric religions and it can be found in early records such as the
Egyptian pyramid texts and the Indian Vedas.
Rituals
Magical rituals are the precisely defined actions (including speech) used to work
magic. Bronisaw Malinowski describes ritual language as possessing a high "coefficient
of weirdness" in that the language used in rituals is archaic and out of the ordinary. This
he ascribes to the need for to create a mindset that fosters belief in the ritual.However S.
J. Tambiah notes that even if the power of the ritual is said to reside in the words,
"[they] only become effective if uttered in the special context of other actions."
Magical symbols

Helm of Awe (gishjlmr) - magical symbol worn by Vikings for

invincibility. Modern day use by satr followers for protection.
Anthropologists, such as Sir James Frazer (18541938), have characterized the
implementation of symbols into two primary categories: the "principle of similarity",
and the "principle of contagion." He further categorized these principles as falling under
"sympathetic magic" and "contagious magic" and asserted that these concepts were
"general or generic laws of thought which were misapplied in magic." [2]:52
Principle of similarity
The principle of similarity, also known as the "association of ideas", which falls under
the category of sympathetic magic, is the thought that if a certain result follows a certain
action, then that action must be responsible for the result. Therefore, if one is to
perform this action again, the same result can again be expected, a classic example
being the rooster that heralds the rising of the sun: when a rooster crows, it is a
response to the sun's rising but this interpretation can be inverted if the observer
believes in the law of similarity (which would suggest that it is a least possible the
sunrise follows - or is caused by - the crowing of the rooster). In other words,
Causality is inferred where it might not otherwise have been.
Principle of contagion
Another primary type of magical thinking includes the principle of contagion. This
principle suggests that once two objects come into contact with each other, they will
continue to affect each other even after the contact between them has been broken.
Magical language
The performance of magic almost always involves the use of language. Whether spoken
out loud or unspoken, words are frequently used to access or guide magical power.
Magicians

The "Magician" card from a 15th-century tarot deck.

A magician is any practitioner of magic, even if they are specialists or common
practitioners who do not consider themselves to be magicians.

The possession of magical knowledge alone may be insufficient to grant magical power;
often a person must also possess certain magical objects, traits, or life experiences in
order to be a magician.
Witchcraft
Witchcraft means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able
to be exercised individually, by designated social groups, or by persons with the
necessary esoteric knowledge.
Circus
A circus is a company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained
animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists, as
well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term 'circus' also
describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year
modern history.

Advertisement for the Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1900

Performance
A traditional circus performance is often led by a ringmaster who has a role similar to a Master of
Ceremonies. The ringmaster presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the
show moving. The activity of the circus traditionally takes place within a ring; large circuses may have
multiple rings, like the six-ringed Moscow State Circus. A circus often travels with its own band, whose
instrumentation

in

the

United

States

has

traditionally

included brass

instruments,

drums, glockenspiel, and sometimes the distinctive sound of the calliope.

Acts
Common acts include a variety of acrobatics, gymnastics (including tumbling and trampoline), aerial
acts

(such

as trapeze, aerial

silk,corde

lisse), contortion, stilts,

and

variety

of

other

routines. Juggling is one of the most common acts in a circus; the combination of juggling and
gymnastics is called equilibristic and include acts like plate spinning and the rolling globe.

Fire breathers risk burns, internal and external, as well as poisoning in the pursuit of
their art.

Animal acts

Female lion tamer and leopard.

Elephants from Cole Brothers Circus parade through downtown Los Angeles, 1953

Circus horse act

A variety of animals have historically been used in acts. While the types of animals used vary from
circus to circus, big cats, elephants,horses, birds, sea lions, bears, and domestic animals such
as cats and dogs are the most common.
III. Visual Arts
1. Medieval Arts
-Liberal arts is the term given to an education based on classical antiquity. It is meant to be a
practical education which develops mental capacity. It was designed in the late medieval period
(12th/13th centuries) using ideas from Ancient Greek and Roman culture. The students were meant to
be young gentlemen, that is, from respectable and important families. In modern times, liberal arts
colleges educate both sexes, and a wider range of people.
The seven liberal arts[change | change source]
The seven liberal arts were taught in two groups: the trivium and the quadrivium :

Trivium

Grammar

Dialectic (logic)

Rhetoric

Quadrivium

Arithmetic

Geometry

Astronomy

Music

During the Middle Ages, the liberal arts were central to university education. The quadrivium followed
the preparatory work of the trivium.
The area and range of the liberal arts evolved in time. Originally, most of the teaching, and all of the
text-books, would have been in Latin, the language the students would have learnt at school before
they came to college. In the beginning the courses were aimed at educating the elite in the classical
works. Eventually, the meaning of "liberal arts" got extended to include both humanities and science.
But even today, practical activities as agriculture, business, engineering, pedagogy or pharmacy are
excluded from the liberal arts. The liberal professions include only professions which
require education at university, mainly law and medicine.
-Artes Mechanicae, or mechanical arts, are a medieval concept of ordered practices or skills,
often juxtaposed to the traditional seven liberal arts Artes liberales. Also called "servile" and "vulgar",
[1]

from antiquity they had been deemed unbecoming for a free man, as ministering to baser needs.

Johannes Scotus Eriugena (9th century) divides them somewhat arbitrarily into seven parts:

vestiaria (tailoring, weaving)

agricultura (agriculture)

architectura (architecture, masonry)

militia and venatoria (warfare and hunting, Military education, "martial arts")

mercatura (trade)

coquinaria (cooking)

metallaria (blacksmithing, metallurgy)

2. Modern distinction

Self-Portrait with Two Circles, oil on canvas, Rembrandt, c. 16651669.

Fine art is art developed primarily for aesthetics or beauty, distinguishing it from applied art that
also has to serve some practical function.
Historically, the five main fine arts were painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry, with
performing arts including theatre and dance. Today, the fine arts commonly include additional forms,
such
as film, photography, video
production/editing, design, sequential
art, conceptual
art,
and printmaking. However, in some institutes of learning or in museums, fine art and frequently the
term fine arts (pl.) as well, are associated exclusively with visual art forms.
One definition of fine art is "a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic and
intellectual purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specifically, painting, sculpture,
drawing, watercolor, graphics, and architecture." In that sense, there are conceptual differences
between the fine arts and the applied arts. As originally conceived, and as understood for much of the
modern era, the perception of aesthetic qualities required a refined judgment usually referred to as
having good taste, which differentiated fine art from popular art and entertainment.

Applied arts are the application of design and decoration to everyday objects to make them
aesthetically pleasing. The term is applied in distinction to the fine arts which aims to produce objects
which are beautiful and/or provide intellectual stimulation. In practice, the two often overlap.
The fields of industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design, and the decorative
arts are considered applied arts. In a creative and/or abstract context, the fields
of architecture and photography are also considered applied arts.
For the sake of simplicity, works of applied art comprise two different types: standard machine-made
products which have had a particular design applied to them, to make them more attractive and easyto-use; and individual, aesthetically pleasing but mostly functional, craft products made by artisans or
skilled workers. Artistic disciplines that are classified as applied arts, include industrial design, fashion
design, interior design, and graphic art and design (including computer graphics), as well as most
types
of decorative
art(eg.
furniture,
carpets, tapestry,
embroidery,
batik, jewellery,
preciousmetalwork, pottery, goldsmithing, basketry, mosaic art, and glassware).Illuminated
manuscripts and later book illustration are also classified as applied arts. Architecture, too is best
viewed as an applied art.

The application of color to these glass cups is an act of applied art since they did not need any
colour at all to perform their function.

IV. Principal Arts

1. Architecture
Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructingbuildings
and other physical structures. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often
perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their
surviving architectural achievements.
Architecture has to do with planning and designing form, space and ambience to reflect functional,
technical, social, environmental and aesthetic considerations. It requires the creative manipulation
and coordination of materials and technology, and of light and shadow. Often, conflicting
requirements must be resolved. The practice of architecture also encompasses the pragmatic aspects of
realizing buildings and structures, including scheduling, cost estimation and construction
administration. Documentation produced by architects, typically drawings, plans and technical
specifications, defines the structure and/or behavior of a building or other kind of system that is to be
or has been constructed.
The word "architecture" has also been adopted to describe other designed systems, especially
in information technology.
Examples of styles

Ancient Roman architecture: Colosseum, an amphitheater built in the 1st century AD,
capable of seating 50,000 spectators

Persian Islamic architecture from the 7th- to 9th-century period: theShah

Mosque, Naqsh-i Jahan Square, Iran

Gothic architecture: St. Vitus Cathedral inPrague, Czech Republic

Renaissance: Juleum inHelmstedt, Germany - built in Weser Renaissance style

Baroque architecture:Melk Abbey, Austria

Neoclassical architecture: Cathedral of Vilnius in Lithuania

Historicism: Resort architecture in Binz onRugia Island, a specific style common

in Germanseaside resorts

Early modern architecture: Bauhaus University in Weimar,Germany - built in 1911

Postmodern architecture:Wells Fargo Center inMinneapolis, United States, completed

in 1988
2. Dance
Dance is a performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement.
This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and
observers within a particular culture. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by
its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin.
An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance,
[4]
although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions,
whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Other forms of human

movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, figure
skating, synchronized swimming and many other forms of athletics.
Here are some of the most popular dance categories and types:
Ballroom Dances
These dances started appearing first in Italy, during the early years of Renaissance. Popularity of this
kind of entertainment quickly swept over the Europe, United States and the World. Although many
other simpler and more easily preformed types of dances caused the ballroom dances to lose some of
their influence, modern worldwide dancing audience started resurrecting these immortal dances in
ever increasing pace.

Waltz - This graceful and slow two person dance was first introduced in mid-19th century and
was greatly popularized by the music of the famous composer Johann Strauss. Today this
dance represents gold standard and the most famous dance of the ballrooms around the world.

Viennese Waltz - Original form of waltz, first performed at the Italian courts is today
remembered as Viennese Waltz. It differs from the much more famous "English Slow Waltz" by
having much faster 180 beats per minute and was the first who introduced "closed hold"
between performers.

Tango - Originally created in the Argentinean region of Rio de la Plata, this dance is today
known by many of its variations (Argentine tango, Uruguayan tango, Finish Tango and two
types of Ballroom tangos - standard and American) and the fascinating sensual and energetic
style.

Cha-Cha-Cha - This incredibly rhythmic dance created in Latin America managed to meld
together both the slow and very energetic movements, making it an instant hit among the
dancers around the world.

Rumba - Popularity of this Cuban dance came from its focus on sensual hip movements of
dance partners. Since its creation in 1930s many types of Rumba were created, most notably
Cuban Rumba (with the style of the African slaves which created it), Catalan Rumba (with
Spanish flavor), Flamenco Rumba and African Rumba.

Samba - Samba is a famous dance and musical genre that originated form the coast of Africa
and land of Brazil. Today infectious rhythm of Samba is regarded as the national dance of
Brazil, and its famous Brazilian Carnival gathers millions Samba dance fans every year.

Mambo - This Cuban dance that accompanies the music of the same name was introduced in
1930s, and quickly managed to gain popularity with the exploits of famous musicians and
dancers such as Perez Prado, Benny Mor, Tongolele, Adalberto Martnez, Rosa Carmina and
Lilia Prado.

Quickstep

Jive

Bolero

African-American and Traditional Jazz dances

Charleston - This extremely popular dance type was popularized by famous tune called "The
Charleston" by composer and pianist James P. Johnson. Charleston craze soon took over the
enthusiastic dancers of Prohibition era of United States.

Swing - This dance is today synonym for the jazz and swing music of the 1920s-1930s.Because
of the many styles of Jazz music, Swing also comes in many flavors - Lindy Hop, Jitterbug,
Boogie Woogie, West Coast Swing and Rock and Roll.

Tap Dance - This extremely popular form of dance was first introduced during 1920s
Prohibition era in United States. Originally created by the African slaves, tap dancing came into
the mainstream with the performances of Nicholas brothers. Few short years later, tap dancing
conquered Hollywood and then entire world.

Moonwalk - This extremely famous dance move that emuates the illusion of walking backwards
was first performed by pop icon Michael Jackson in March of 1983, and ever since then it
gained planetary fame. No single dance move ever created managed to receive this amount of
popularity and recognition.

Boogie-woogie - This quick and energetic style of dance became widely popular during 1930s
and 1940s.

Worldwide Dances / Latin dances

Salsa - This Latin dance is today one of the most popular dances in Latin America, North
America, Europe and Australia. It's very sensual form, energetic movement and innovative
choreography that was influenced by Mambo, Changuyi and Rumba made it very popular all
around the world.

Flamenco - This famous Spanish dance originated from the region of Andalusia, and it gained
its name only in 18th century. Its magical, passionate and energetic fusion of singing (cante),
guitar playing (toque), dance and handclaps (palmas) made it famous in entire world and
became one of the accepted heritages of entire humanity.

Argentine tango - Among many types of tango dance, Argentinian dance strives to preserve
original form of tango that was first created in the region of Rio de la Plata.

Lambada - This famous dance that originated from Para, Brayil became internationally popular
during 1980s. It managed to successfully fuse aspects of Forro, salsa, merengue, maxixe and
the carimb into unforgettable dance style.

Polka - Appearance of polka in mid-19th century created one of the largest "dance crazes" that
our world ever seen. It managed to influence countless other dances, became national dance of
many European countries and is extremely popular in entire Western hemisphere.

Jive

East Coast Swing

Capoeira

Country/ Western Dances

Folk Dance

Belly dance

Professional performance dance

Professional dancing was first introduced in the early years of Italian Renaissance when music, dance,
arts and poetry started to rise in popularity after the millennia of medieval stagnation. Refined by the
efforts of the France and Russia, ballet became the premier technical concert dance. Hailed as one of
the most revered and most complicated dance of all time, ballet continued its rise to worldwide
domination. In the modern times, many other professional dances came to be, such as Contemporary
dance, Modern Dance, Concert dance, but none of them managed to surpass the complexity, physical
strain, and heritage of ballet.

Ballet

Contemporary dance

Concert Dance

Modern Dance

Tap Dance

Modern Dances
Advancements in music technology brought the birth of many new types of dances. Introduction of
electronic and rock music brought the era of House, Punk, Rave and Disco dance. Faraway country of
India did not cared much for those styles, and in accordance to the deeply seeded religious beliefs, they
incorporated dance of their gods to everyday life and was and profitable Bollywood movie scene.

House dance

Punk dance

Rave dance

Disco dance

Bollywood dance

Hip-hop & Funk dance

Dancing style of Hip-Hop evolved from the music style that was first introduced during 1970s.
Powered by the great popularity, exposure in media, movies and television programs, hip-hop dances
found a great foothold in United States, France, United Kingdom and South Korea. A very similar style
called Funk was also created during 1970s, and is today regarded as one of the most influential pieces
of Hip-hop dance styles.

Breakdance (Breaking)

Bounce

Electric boogaloo

Street Jazz

Jookin'

Locking

Popping

3. Sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic
arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modeling (the
addition

of

material,

as

clay),

in stone, metal,

ceramics, wood and

other

materials

but,

since Modernism, there has been an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety
of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modeling, or molded,
or cast.
One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in some form of association with religion. Cult
images are common in many cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which
characterized ancient Greek art, like the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. The actual cult images in the
innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples, of which none have survived, were evidently rather small,
even in the largest temples. The same is often true in Hinduism, where the very simple and ancient
form of the lingam is the most common. Buddhism brought the sculpture of religious figures to East
Asia, where there seems to have been no earlier equivalent tradition, though again simple shapes like
the bi and cong probably had religious significance.

Sculpture can be divided into two classes: relief sculpture and sculpture in the round. There
are three methods for making sculpture: modeling, carving, and joining.

Relief sculpture is sculpture in which images are set against a flat background. A coin is a
good example of relief sculpture: the inscription, the date, and the figure--sometimes a portrait
of a statesmanare slightly raised above a flat surface. When the image is only slightly
raised, as with the coin, the sculpture is called low relief or bas-relief. The ancient Egyptians
sometimes carved figures into a flat surface. This type of carving is known assunken relief.
Statues that are almost three-dimensional but still are attached to backgrounds are regarded
as high relief.

Open air Buddhist rock reliefs at theLongmen Grottos, China

Sculpture in the round is freestanding, attached to no background. Most statues and portrait
busts are carved in the round.
Modeling is done with clay, wax, or some other soft, pliable material. The sculptor adds
pieces of material and molds it to the desired shape.
Carving can be thought of as the opposite of modeling because it involves removing rather
than adding material. With knife or chisel, the sculptor carves from a block of wood or stone
until the form is made.
Joining, or constructing, was not widely practiced until the 20th century. In this method the
artist uses pieces of wood, metal, or plastic and joins them together into a construction. The
airy, abstract kind of forms that are popular in modern times lend themselves to the joining
system.
4. Music
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence. The common elements
of

music

are pitch (which

governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and

its

associated

concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities
of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or
types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with
a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are
solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces(such as songs without instrumental accompaniment)
and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek (mousike; "art of
the Muses").

In many cultures, music is an important part of people's way of life, as it plays a key role in religious
rituals, rite of passage ceremonies (e.g., graduation and marriage), social activities (e.g., dancing) and
cultural activities ranging from amateur karaoke singing to playing in an amateur funk band or singing
in a community choir.
Music can be divided into genres (e.g., country music) and genres can be further divided
into subgenres (e.g., country blues and country are two of the many country subgenres), although the
dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to personal
interpretation, and occasionally controversial. For example, it can be hard to draw the line between
some early 1980s hard rock and heavy metal. Within the arts, music may be classified as a performing
art, a fine art or as an auditory art. Music may be played or sung and heard live at a rock
concert or orchestra performance, heard live as part of a dramatic work (a music theater show
or opera), or it may be recorded and listened to on a radio, MP3 player, CD player, Smartphone or
as film score or TV show.

Beethoven was an influential composer from the Classical era. This portrait is from
1820.

The Beatles were a four-piece rock band. They are pictured here in 1965, celebrating
their Grammy win.
5. Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium[1] to a solid surface
(support base). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such
as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, can be used.

Painting is a mode of creative expression, and the forms are numerous. Drawing, gesture (as
in gestural painting), composition, narration(as in narrative art), or abstraction (as in abstract art),
among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the
practitioner.[2] Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a still life or landscape
painting),photographic,
abstract,
narrative, symbolistic (as
in Symbolist
art), emotive (as
in Expressionism), or political in nature (as in Artivism).
Paintings are traditionally divided into five categories or 'genres'. The establishment of these genres
and their relative status in relation to one other, stems from the philosophy of arts promoted by the
great European Academies of Fine Art, like the Royal Academy in London, and the influentialFrench
Academy of Fine Arts (Academie des Beaux-Arts).
The five categories of fine art painting, listed in order of their official ranking or importance, are as
follows:

1. History Painting
Religious, historical or allegorical work, with a moral message.
2. Portrait Art
Includes individual, group or self-portraits.
3. Genre Painting
Scenes of everyday life.
4. Landscape Painting
Paintings whose principal content is a scenic view.
5. Still Life Painting
An arrangement of domestic objects or everyday items.
HISTORY PAINTING

Detail showing the Virgin Mary, from

The Descent From the Cross (1440),
one of the great religious paintings
by Roger Van der Weyden of the
15th century Flemish School.

PORTRAIT

Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione

(1514-15) Louvre, Paris. One of
the greatest portrait paintings by
the High Renaissance genius Raphael.
GENRE PAINTING

Young Woman with a Water Jug

(1662) Metropolitan Museum, NY.
By Jan Vermeer. One of the
greatest genre paintings of
the Dutch Golden Age.
LANDSCAPE

Lower Norwood under Snow (1870) National Gallery, London.

Camille Pissarro. One of the famous
Impressionist landscape paintings of
the 19th century French School.

STILL LIFE

Bouquet of Flowers (1884)

By Ivan Kramskoy.
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
One of the great still-lifes of