Art Appreciation Course 

What is Art?

Man has always had a need for art. From the cave paintings to the art of the twentieth century, a great variety and styles have emerged. Whatever be the time or place of its creation, art has been produced because an artist wished to say something.

Art is a visible and tangible record of man’s creative activities. Although it is the creation of the past, art continues to exist in the present, long surviving its times. Hence art is a persisting event and art history chronicles visual and tangible objects made by human hands. Art can be classified under architecture, sculpture, pictorial arts (drawing & painting, print making, photography) and the arts of design. The arts of design would include crafts like ceramic wares, metal wares, textiles and other objects of utility. The strict division which separates ‘fine’ art from ‘craft’ art and machine art and handcrafted art is vanishing. Craft art and machine art are valued as equally significant.

Certain historical categories can be made use of to study a work of art. 

• Chronology – the measuring scale of historical time. It helps fix an art object in its time period. Disregarding time sequence would only result in confusion.
• Provenance or place of origin is also crucial in the appreciation of art.
• Style or the specific character of form noted during periods of history and art movements helps in the understanding of a work of art. 
• Iconography and subject matter can contribute effectively in identifying and understanding a work of art. Iconography literally means ‘writing of images’ and by extension it includes the study of symbols. Images of Vishnu, Shiva, Buddha etc., are instances where iconography is very important. Symbols like the lotus, wheel and footprints are also very much part of Indian art. 
• Attribution or identifying the artist who executed the work of art is another tool employed in studying an art object. 
• The meaning, cause and context of a work of art helps one understand its style and character. Whereas the iconography of a work of art shows us what it represents, the meaning depends on how it is represented and the cause for that way of representation. For instance, the theme of crucifixion has been represented in so many different ways according to the artists’ purpose or intention. Context changes in historical time are also of great significance. The fall of Rome and the rise of Islam are instances, which have had a great impact on the arts. 

Faster travel and communication have shrunk the world and contributed to a great cultural mixing. Earlier, one was exposed to a very little art and therefore there was a greater understanding and acceptance. In this age of multi-culturalism [that is the categorization of non-Western cultures including Asian and African cultures that are beginning to assert their character and identity within international community] and given the enormous diversity of our world, understanding art becomes more complicated. It is important to note that art appreciation is no more Euro centric, that is, it is not viewed from a European perspective or stand point. The social, political, religious and cultural contexts are very important in the understanding of a work of art.