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[[File:L'église d'Auvers-sur-Oise.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Vincent van Gogh|Van Gogh]]: ''[[The Church at Auvers]]'' (1890)]]
The '''visual arts''' are [[Art#Art forms|art forms]] that create works which are primarily [[visual]] in nature, such as [[ceramics (art)|ceramics]], [[drawing]], [[painting]], [[sculpture]], [[architecture]], [[printmaking]], modern visual arts ([[photography]], [[video]], and [[filmmaking]]), design and crafts. These definitions should not be taken too strictly as many artistic disciplines ([[performing arts]], [[conceptual art]], [[textile arts]]) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts<ref>An About.com article by art expert, Shelley Esaak: [http://arthistory.about.com/cs/reference/f/visual_arts.htm?p=1  What Is Visual Art?]</ref> are the [[applied arts]]<ref>[http://www-en.studienwahl.de/index.aspx?e1=4&e2=3&e3=20&e4=0&e5=0&e6=0&tn=0 Visual Arts in Germany as a Career Choice]</ref> such as [[industrial design]], [[graphic design]], [[fashion design]], [[interior design]] and [[decorative art]].<ref>http://www.georgebrown.ca/centres/AD/index.aspx Centre for Arts and Design in Toronto, Canada</ref>

As indicated above, the current usage of the term "visual arts" includes [[fine art]] as well as the [[applied arts|applied]], [[decorative arts]] and [[craft]]s, but this was not always the case. Before the [[Arts and Crafts Movement]] in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term artist was often restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as [[painting]], [[sculpture]], or [[printmaking]]) and not the [[handicraft]], [[craft]], or applied art media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the [[Arts and Crafts Movement]] who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms.<ref>[http://wwar.com/masters/movements/arts_and_crafts_movement.html Art History: Arts and Crafts Movement: (1861-1900). From World Wide Arts Resources]. Retrieved 24 October 2009.</ref> [[Art school]]s made a distinction between the fine arts and the [[handicraft|crafts]] maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of art.

The increasing tendency to privilege painting, and to a lesser degree sculpture, above other arts has been a feature of [[Western art]] as well as [[Eastern art history|East Asian]] art.  In both regions painting has been seen as relying to the highest degree on the imagination of the artist, and the furthest removed from manual labour - in [[Chinese painting]] the most highly valued styles were those of "scholar-painting", at least in theory practiced by gentleman amateurs. The Western [[hierarchy of genres]] reflected similar attitudes.

==Education and training==
Training in the visual arts has generally been through variations of the [[apprentice]] and workshop system.  In Europe the [[Renaissance]] movement to increase the prestige of the artist led to the [[academy]] system for training artists, and today most train in [[art school]]s at a tertiary level.  Visual arts have now become an elective subject in most education systems. (See also [[art education]].)

==Drawing==
{{Main|Drawing}}
[[Drawing]] is a means of making an [[image]], using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface using dry media such as [[graphite]] [[pencil]]s, [[pen and ink]], [[ink]]ed [[brush]]es, wax [[color pencil]]s, [[crayon]]s, [[charcoal]]s, [[pastel]]s, and [[marker pen|markers]]. Digital tools which simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are: line drawing, [[hatching]], crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, [[stippling]], and blending. An artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a ''draftsman'' or ''draughtsman".

===Early history===

Drawing goes back at least 16,000 years to [[Paleolithic]] cave representations of animals such as those at [[Lascaux]] in France and [[Cave of Altamira|Altamira]] in Spain. In [[Art of ancient Egypt|ancient Egypt]], ink drawings on [[papyrus]], often depicting people, were used as models for painting or sculpture. Drawings on [[pottery of ancient Greece|Greek vases]], initially geometric, later developed to the human form with [[black-figure pottery]] during the 7th century BC.<ref>[http://www.dibujosparapintar.com/english_activities/drawing_course_history.html History of Drawing. From Dibujos para Pintar.] Retrieved 23 October 2009.</ref>

===Renaissance===

With paper becoming common in Europe by the 15th century, drawing was adopted by masters such as [[Sandro Botticelli]], [[Raphael]], [[Michelangelo]], and [[Leonardo da Vinci]] who sometimes treated drawing as an art in its own right rather than a preparatory stage for painting or sculpture.<ref>[http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?vendorId=FWNE.fw..dr085000.a#FWNE.fw..dr085000.a Drawing. From History.com]. Retrieved 23 October 2009.</ref>

==Painting==
[[File:Battle of Issus.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Mosaic of Battle of Issus]]
{{Main|Painting}}
[[File:Ankh isis nefertari.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Nefertari]] with Isis]]
[[Painting]] taken literally is the practice of applying [[pigment]] suspended in a carrier (or [[Paint#Components|medium]]) and a binding agent (a [[adhesive|glue]]) to a [[surface]] (support) such as [[paper]], [[canvas]] or a wall. However, when used in an artistic sense it means the use of this activity in combination with [[drawing]], [[composition (visual arts)|composition]] and other aesthetic considerations in order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Painting is also used to express spiritual motifs and ideas; sites of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures on pottery to [[Sistine Chapel|The Sistine Chapel]] to the human body itself.

===Origins and early history===
{{Main|History of painting}}

Like drawing, painting has its origins in caves and on rock faces. The finest examples, believed by some to be 32,000 years old, are in the [[Chauvet Cave|Chauvet]] and [[Lascaux]] caves in southern France. In shades of red, brown, yellow and black, the paintings on the walls and ceilings are of bison, cattle, horses and deer.

[[File:Raphael Spasimo.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Raphael: [[Transfiguration (Raphael)|Transfiguration]] (1520)]]
Paintings of human figures can be found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. In the great temple of [[Ramses II]], [[Nefertari]], his queen, is depicted being led by [[Isis]].<ref>[http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=1320&HistoryID=ab20&gtrack=pthc History of Painting. From History World]. Retrieved 23 October 2009.</ref> The Greeks contributed to the development of painting but much of their work has been lost. One of the best remaining representations is the mosaic of the [[Battle of Issus]] found at [[Pompeii]] which was probably based on a Greek painting. Greek and Roman art contributed to [[Byzantine art]] in the 4th century BC which initiated a tradition in icon painting.

===The Renaissance===
{{Main|Italian Renaissance painting}}

Apart from the [[illuminated manuscripts]] produced by monks during the [[Middle Ages]], the next significant contribution to European art was from [[Italian Renaissance painting|Italy's renaissance painters]]. From [[Giotto]] in the 13th century to [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Raphael]] at the beginning of the 16th century, this was the richest period in [[Art of Italy|Italian art]] as the ''chiaroscuro'' technique was used to create the illusion of 3-D space.<ref>[http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art340/f04/renaissancepainting.html History of Renaissance Painting. From ART 340 Painting]. Retrieved 24 October 2009.</ref>

[[File:The Nightwatch by Rembrandt.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Rembrandt: [[Night Watch (painting)|The Night Watch]]]]
Painters in northern Europe too were influenced by the Italian school. [[Jan van Eyck]] from Belgium, [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]] from the Netherlands and [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] from Germany are among the most successful painters of the times. They used the [[Glaze (painting technique)|glazing technique]] with oils to achieve depth and luminosity.

[[File:Monet dejeunersurlherbe.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Claude Monet: Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1866)]]
===Dutch masters===
{{Main|Dutch Golden Age painting}}
The 17th century saw the emergence of the great Dutch masters such as the versatile [[Rembrandt]] who is especially remembered for his potraits and Bible scenes, and [[Vermeer]] who specialized in interior scenes of Dutch life.

===Impressionism===
{{Main|Impressionism}}
[[Impressionism]] began in France in the 19th century with a loose association of artists including [[Claude Monet]], [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir]] and [[Paul Cézanne]] who brought a new freely brushed style to painting, often choosing to paint realistic scenes of modern life outside rather than in the studio. They achieved intense colour vibration by using pure, unmixed colours and short brush strokes.<ref>[http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/ Impressionism. Webmuseum, Paris.] Retrieved 24 October 2009</ref>

[[File:Paul Gauguin 137.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Paul Gauguin: [[The Vision After the Sermon]] (1888)]]
[[File:The Scream.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Edvard Munch: The Scream (1893)]]
===Post-impressionism===
{{Main|Post-Impressionism}}
Towards the end of the 19th century, several young painters took impressionism a stage further, using geometric forms and unnatural colour to depict emotions while striving for deeper symbolism. Of particular note are [[Paul Gauguin]], who was strongly influenced by Asian, African and Japanese art, [[Vincent van Gogh]], a Dutchman who moved to France where he drew on the strong sunlight of the south, and [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec|Toulouse-Lautrec]], remembered for his vivid paintings of night life in the Paris district of [[Montmartre]].<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/poim/hd_poim.htm Post-Impressionism. Metropolitan Museum of Art]. Retrieved 25 October 2009.</ref>

===Symbolism, expressionism and cubism===
{{Main|Modern art}}
[[Edvard Munch]], a Norwegian artist, developed his symbolistic approach at the end of the 19th century, inspired by the French impressionist [[Manet]]. [[The Scream]] (1893), his most famous work, is widely interpreted as representing the universal anxiety of modern man. Partly as a result of Munch's influence, the German [[expressionism|expressionist]] movement originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century as artists such as [[Ernst Ludwig Kirchner|Ernst Kirschner]] and [[Erich Heckel]] began to distort reality for an emotional effect.
In parallel, the style known as [[cubism]] developed in France as artists focused on the volume and space of sharp structures within a composition. [[Pablo Picasso]] and [[Georges Braque]] were the leading proponents of the movement. Objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form. By the 1920s, the style had developed into surrealism with [[Salvador Dalí|Dali]] and [[René Magritte|Magritte]].<ref>[http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/modern-art-movements.htm Modern Art Movements. Irish Art Encyclopedia]. Retrieved 25 October 2009.</ref>

==Printmaking==
[[File:Jingangjing.jpg|thumb|200px|left|The Chinese [[Diamond Sutra]], the world's oldest [[Woodblock printing|printed]] book (868 CE)]]
[[File:Ancientchineseinstrumentalists.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Ancient Chinese engraving of female instrumentalists]]
{{Main|Printmaking}}
[[Printmaking]] is creating for artistic purposes an image on a matrix which is then transferred to a two-dimensional (flat) surface by means of ink (or another form of pigmentation). Except in the case of a [[monotype]], the same matrix can be used to produce many examples of the print. Historically, the major techniques (also called media) involved are [[woodcut]], [[line engraving]], [[etching]], [[lithography]], and screenprinting (serigraphy, silkscreening) but there are many others, including modern digital techniques. Normally the surface upon which the print is printed is [[paper]], but there are exceptions, from cloth and [[vellum]] to modern materials. Prints in the Western tradition produced before about 1830 are known as [[old master print]]s. There are other major printmaking traditions, especially that of Japan (''[[ukiyo-e]]'').

===Chinese origins===
[[File:Dürer Melancholia I.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Albrecht Dürer: [[Melancholia I]] (1541)]]
{{Main|Woodblock printing}}

In [[China]], the art of printmaking developed some 1,100 years ago as illustrations alongside text cut in woodblocks for printing on paper. Initially images were mainly religious but in the [[Song Dynasty]], artists began to cut landscapes. During the [[Ming Dynasty|Ming]] (1368–1644) and [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] (1616–1911) dynasties, the technique was perfected for both religious and artistic engravings.<ref>[http://www.engraving-review.com/chinese-art-engraving.html Engraving in Chinese Art. From Engraving Review]. Retrieved 23 October 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.chinavista.com/experience/engrave/engrave.html The History of Engraving in China. From ChinaVista]. Retrieved 25 October 2009.</ref>

===European history===
{{Main|Old master print}}

In Europe, from around 1400 AD [[woodcut]], was used for [[old master prints|master prints]] on paper by using techniques for printing on cloth which had been developed in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. [[Michael Wolgemut]] improved German woodcut from about 1475, and [[Erhard Reuwich]], a Dutchman, was the first to use cross-hatching.  At the end of the century [[Albrecht Dürer]] brought the Western woodcut to a level that has never been surpassed, increasing the status of the single-leaf woodcut.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/prnt/hd_prnt.htm The Printed Image in the West: History and Techniques. The Metropolitan Museum of Art]. Retrieved 25 October 2009.</ref>

==Photography==
{{Main|Photography}}

[[Photography]] is the process of making pictures by means of the action of light. [[Light]] patterns reflected or emitted from objects are recorded onto a sensitive medium or storage chip through a timed [[Exposure (photography)|exposure]]. The process is done through [[Machine|mechanical]], [[chemical]] or [[digital]] devices known as [[camera]]s.

The word comes from the [[Greek words]] φως ''phos'' ("light"), and γραφις ''graphis'' ("stylus", "paintbrush") or γραφη ''graphê'', together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines" or "drawing." Traditionally, the product of photography has been called a [[photograph]]. The term ''photo'' is an abbreviation; many people also call them ''pictures.'' In digital photography, the term ''image'' has begun to replace ''photograph.'' (The term ''image'' is traditional in geometric [[optics]].)

==Filmmaking==
{{Main| Filmmaking}}
Filmmaking is the process of making a motion-picture, from an initial conception and research, through scriptwriting, shooting and recording, animation or other special effects, editing, sound and music work and finally distribution to an audience; it refers broadly to the creation of all types of films, embracing documentary, strains of theatre and literature in film, and poetic or experimental practices, and is often used to refer to video-based processes as well.
{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}

==Computer art==
{{Main|Computer art}}

[[Image:wiki.Picture by Drawing Machine 2.jpg|thumb|Picture produced by Drawing Machine 2]]

Visual artists are no longer limited to [[Media (arts)|traditional art media]]. Computers have been used as an ever more common tool in the visual art since the 1960s. Uses for computers in the visual arts include the [[Capture|capturing]] or creating of images and forms, the editing of those images and forms (including exploring multiple [[Composition (visual arts)|compositions]]) and then the final [[Artistic rendering|rendering]] and/or [[printing]] (including [[3D printing]]).

'''Computer art''' is any [[art]] in which [[computer]]s played a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, [[video]], [[CD-ROM]], [[DVD]], [[video game]], [[website]], [[algorithm]], [[performance]] or gallery installation. Many traditional disciplines are now integrating [[digital]] technologies and, as a result, the lines between traditional works of art and new media works created using computers have been blurred. For instance, an artist may combine traditional [[painting]] with [[algorithmic art]] and other digital techniques. As a result, defining computer art by its end product can thus be difficult. Nevertheless, this type of art is beginning to appear in art museum exhibits, though it has yet to prove its legitimacy as a form unto itself and this technology is widely seen in contemporary art more as a tool rather than a form as with painting.

Computer usage has blurred the distinctions between [[illustrator]]s, [[photographer]]s, [[Image editing|photo editors]], [[3D modeling|3-D modelers]], and handicraft artists. Sophisticated rendering and editing software has led to multi-skilled image developers. [[Photographer]]s may become [[digital art]]ists. Illustrators may become [[animator]]s. Handicraft may be [[computer-aided]] or use [[computer-generated imagery]] as a template. Computer [[clip art]] usage has also made the clear distinction between visual arts and [[page layout]] less obvious due to the easy access and editing of clip art in the process of [[pagination|paginating]] a document, especially to the unskilled observer.

==Sculpture==
{{Main|Sculpture}} ''The following is a copy of the introductory summary on the Sculpture page''

{{:Sculpture}}

==The Plastic arts==

[[File:Souhed.jpg|thumb|left|180px|<!-- add caption -->]]
'''Plastic arts''' is a term, now largely redundant within english usage, specifically encompassing art forms which involve physical manipulation of a plastic medium by moulding or modeling such as sculpture or ceramics. The term has also been ambiguously applied to ''all the visual (non-literary, non-musical) arts''<ref>[http://docs.ksu.edu.sa/DOC/Articles19/Article190588.doc ART TERMINOLOGY at KSU]</ref><ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plastic%20arts Merriam-Webster Online (entry for "plastic arts")]</ref>.

The definition could include [[Architecture]], [[ceramics (art)|Ceramics]], [[Collage]], [[Conceptual art]], [[Drawing]], [[Glass art]], [[Land art]], [[Metalworking]], [[Mosaic]], [[Painting]], [[:Category:Paper art|Paper art]], the use of [[plastics]] within the [[The Arts|arts]] or as an artform itself, [[Printmaking]], [[Sculpture]], [[Textile art]], [[Welding]], [[Woodworking]], [[Film]], [[Cinematography|Film Photography]], [[New media art]].
[[File:Destin-commun.gif|thumb|right|180px|<!-- add caption -->]]
[[File:Vue de l'installation ö .jpg|thumb|left|180px|<!-- add caption -->]]

<!-- any particular reason to keep this image? File:Universo-irene-vilar.jpg -->

{{commonscat|Plastic arts}}
Materials that can be carved or shaped, such as stone or wood, concrete or steel, are also included in this definition, since, with appropriate tools, such materials are also capable of modulation.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} This use of the term "plastic" in the arts should not be confused with [[Piet Mondrian]]'s use, nor with the movement he termed, in French and English, "[[Neoplasticism]]."
<div style="clear:both"></div>

==Copyright protection of visual art==
In the United States, the law protecting the copyright over a piece of visual art gives a more restrictive definition of "visual art". The following quote is from the Copyright Law of the United States of America- Chapter 1:<ref>[http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#101 Copyright Law of the United States of America- Chapter 1 (101. Definitions)]</ref>
<blockquote>
A “work of visual art” is —
<br />(1) a painting, drawing, print or sculpture, existing in a single copy, in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author, or, in the case of a sculpture, in multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author; or
<br />(2) a still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only, existing in a single copy that is signed by the author, or in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author.<br /><br />
A work of visual art does not include —
<br />(A)(i) any poster, map, globe, chart, technical drawing, diagram, model, applied art, motion picture or other audiovisual work, book, magazine, newspaper, periodical, data base, electronic information service, electronic publication, or similar publication;
<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;(ii) any merchandising item or advertising, promotional, descriptive, covering, or packaging material or container;
<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;(iii) any portion or part of any item described in clause (i) or (ii);
<br />(B) any work made for hire; or
<br />(C) any work not subject to copyright protection under this title.
</blockquote>

==See also==
{{Portal|Visual arts}}
{{Main|Outline of visual arts}}<br />
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-4}}
* [[Art materials]]
* [[Asemic writing]]
* [[Avant-garde]]
* [[Collage]]
* [[Comics]]
* [[Composition (visual arts)|Composition]]
* [[Conceptual art]]
* [[Contemporary art]]
* [[Craft]]
* [[Décollage]]
{{Col-4}}
* [[Decorative arts]]
* [[Design]]
* [[Eastern art history]]
* [[Fine art]]
* [[Found art]]
* [[Graffiti]]
* [[Graphic design]]
* [[Handicraft]]
* [[History of art]]
* [[History of graphic design]]
{{Col-4}}
* [[History of film]]
* [[History of painting]]
* [[History of sculpture]]
* [[Illustration]]
* [[Installation art]]
* [[Landscape art]]
* [[Mail art]]
* [[Mathematics and art]]
* [[Media (arts)]]
* [[Mixed media]]
{{Col-4}}
* [[Portrait painting|Portraiture]]
* [[Old master print]]
* [[Recording medium]]
* [[Sketch (drawing)]]
* [[Sketchbook]]
* [[Sound art]]
* [[Textile arts]]
* [[Video art]]
{{Col-end}}

==References==
<references/>


==Further reading==
<!-- these come from the plastic arts page merged to here - please review -->

* Barnes, A. C., The Art in Painting, 3rd ed., 1937, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., NY.
* Bukumirovic, D. (1998). ''Maga Magazinovic''. Biblioteka Fatalne srpkinje knj. br. 4. Beograd: Narodna knj.
* Fazenda, M. J. (1997). ''Between the pictorial and the expression of ideas: the plastic arts and literature in the dance of Paula Massano''. N.p.
* Gerón, C. (2000). Enciclopedia de las artes plásticas dominicanas: 1844-2000. 4th ed. Dominican Republic s.n.
* Laban, R. V. (1976). ''The language of movement: a guidebook to choreutics''. Boston: Plays.
<!--need 2 by same author? * Laban, R. V. (1974). ''Effort: economy in body movement''. 2nd. ed. Boston: Plays.-->
* La Farge, O. (1930). ''Plastic prayers: dances of the Southwestern Indians''. N.p.
* Restany, P. (1974). ''Plastics in arts''. Paris, New York: N.p.
* University of Pennsylvania. (1969). ''Plastics and new art''. Philadelphia: The Falcon Pr.

==External links==
* [http://www.artlex.com/ ArtLex] - online dictionary of visual art terms.
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm ''Art History Timeline''] by the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].
* [http://people.msoe.edu/~mccrawt/resume/papers/HU438/mccrawt_hu438_art.pdf ''Tenability of the Distinction Between Arts and Crafts''] - essay. (PDF)
* [http://www.gorselsanatlardergisi.com/ "Görsel Sanatlar Dergisi"]

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