- What is a work of art?
- What is a work of art for?
- Types of works of art
- Characteristics of a work of art
- Language of art
We explain what a work of art is and what these types of objects are for. Also, how it can be classified and its characteristics.
What is a work of art?
A work of art or artistic work is understood to be an object made using artistic techniques and for an aesthetic or social purpose. That is, it is traditionally the product of the so-called Fine arts: painting, sculpture, literature, music, dance, theater, movie theater, Photography and cartoon.
However, it is not easy to define a work of art, or restrict the use of this expression, which can also be used to metaphorically refer to something very well done, someone very beautiful or simply something that we like too much. And this difficulty is due to the fact that it is also difficult to define the art per se.
In fact, the arbitrary nature of the criterion regarding what is or is not art, today, is a matter of debate and there is no single, scientific criterion. Art is a historical and social construction, to which it is attributed values transcendental aspects of human civilization. These can be historical (documentary), aesthetic (technical) or symbolic (social).
Traditionally a work of art is supposed to be an object that represents the most transcendent universal values of the humanity, or that in any case entails an important reflection on them. But these criteria are not always met for everyone equally.
Museums, like institutions Protectors and selectors of the artistic, they can be accused of following an ideological, culturalist or some other bias criterion, so their criterion should not be taken as an absolute truth either. Also, due to their nature, many works of art cannot be kept in a museum.
On the other hand, in contemporary times the idea of an artistic work has been subject to criticism and deconstruction, as art proliferates towards more unpredictable and less controllable, more modern and daring variants, less linked to the tradition historical. Modern art museums, in fact, are often the scene of such debate, about what may or may not be considered a work.
What is a work of art for?
The simplest answer to this question is: not at all. Art does not have a specific purpose to fulfill, a role or a utility. It can be used as decoration, as a historical document or as an exploration of the sensibilities of an era, as one who tries to verify which are the most common personal perspectives in a given period.
However, complex as it may seem, works of art have a single and simple task: to remind us who we are and where we come from, who we live with in the world and how much we know and how much we ignore about it, and ourselves.
Types of works of art
We could classify works of art according to the techniques used to make them:
- Pictorial works. Fruit of painting and He drew or illustration.
- Sculptural works. Product of sculpture, abstract or figurative.
- Musical works. Fruit of the musical composition and that can be interpreted by artists with musical instruments.
- Literary works. Written by authors of literature in their genres: poetry, rehearsal, dramaturgy and narrative.
- Plays. Directed and staged by a director and performed by actors, based on a script.
- Cinematographic works. Those that are produced by a team and shot on photosensitive film.
- Scenic works. Product of other forms of visual art that require a stage.
Characteristics of a work of art
Again, it is difficult to establish the characteristics common to any work of art. But let's agree that a masterpiece should be:
- Long lasting It must be able to be preserved and displayed for generations to come.
- Contextual. The work does not exist without its historical context and without everything we can say about it, since all that is precisely what it represents.
- Symbolic. Works of art do not always contain an explicit message, but rather represent meanings and meanings, that is, they contain implicit messages that we must learn.
- Valuable Its value is not necessarily measurable in money or precious goods, but rather has a cultural value, since it is an unrepeatable object.
- Original. There are no others identical to the work of art, rather it is something unique and unrepeatable.
Language of art
Artistic language or art language is understood to be that medium that an artistic form uses to transmit its contents: painting and sculpture are eminently visual, while cinematography is audiovisual and music is merely auditory.
It is called language because art exists only to the extent that it communicates a message, even if that message is not always very clear or easy to decipher.