User:Pedanti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The history of art is a discipline of social sciences which studies the evolution of art throughout time.
Defined as any activity or product made by humans for aesthetical or communicative purposes, through expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview, art uses various resources, such as plastics, linguistics, sound or mixed. Art history as an academic discipline and institutional environment (museums, art auction, university department, editorial publishing) is often restricted to visual or plastic arts (essentially painting, sculpture and architecture), while other arts are a more specific subject of study like history of literature or history of music, all of which receive attention by the history of culture or cultural history, together with sectors of history focused on other manifestations of thought, like history of science, history of philosophy and history of religion. Fields of knowledge closely related to history of art is aesthetics and art theory.
Over time 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 was widened 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 comics. At the conceptual overlap of terms between plastic arts and visual arts were added design 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 advertising, animation, television and videogames.
History of art is a multidisciplinary science, seeking an objective examination of art throughout time, classifying cultures, establishing periodizations and observing distinctive and influential characteristics of art. The study of history of art was initially developed in Rennaissance, with its limited scope in the artistic production of the 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 the western art history.
These days, art enjoys a wide network of study, dissemination and preservation of all the artistic legacy produced by mankind throughout history. The 20th century has seen the proliferation of institutions, foundations, museums and galleries, encompassing both public and private sectors, dedicated to the analysis and cataloging of works of art as well as exhibitions aimed at mainstream audience. The rise of media has been crucial in improving the study and dissemination of art. International events and exhibitions like the biennales of Venice and São Paulo or the Documenta of Kassel have helped the development of new styles and trends. Prizes such as Turner of the Tate Gallery, the Wolf Prize in Arts, the Pritzker Prize of architecture, the Nobel Prize in Literature, the UNESCO Mozart Medal of classical music, the Pulitzer of photography and the Oscar of cinema also promote the best creative work in an international level. Institutions like UNESCO, with the establishment of the World Heritage Site, also help the conservation of the major monuments of the planet.[1]