evolution of art
Art is a diverse range of activities that human beings are engaged in creating artworks that express the imaginative and technical skills of the author. Authors of works of art should be appreciated for their power to show their emotional power and beauty. Art has been existing since antiquity. Different scholars have defined art in different ways from antiquity to present times. Leo Tolstoy, in his works, said art is not how ideas and mysteriously manifested, it is not how man lets his excess energy stored, it is neither the expression of human emotions by signs nor the pleasure for an author to design visual expressions. Still, it is a mean by which men form unions that bring together similar and necessary feelings for the well-being of people and society (Dissanayake 9). It is also the development and use of elementary principles of nature to create beautiful forms and scenarios that are suitable and pleasing to humans.
The oldest forms of art were visual arts that included visual media, printmaking, photography, sculpture, and painting. In modern times architecture has been categorized as an art as it involves decorative forms that create pieces that are considered essential and practical in use. Art is characterized by the use of imitation of things, expression of emotions, and expressions that are presented skillfully to entertain or attract the attention of individuals (Mounce 10).
To examine art, the principles of pattern, unity, movement harmony, variety, contrast balance, and proportion are applied. It also involves considering elements like shape, space, form, texture, line, value, and color. When examining art, there should be harmonious interacti0 between principles and elements. The interactions assist artists in creating pleasing works and creating a framework that allows the analysis of the creation. Art is, therefore, specific to a certain culture and is shared among people of a particular society, which depends upon the cultural practices of the community involved. As such, the main function of art is to appeal to people and connect them with human emotions. Art is therefore divided into intellectual art, therapeutic art, and communicative art, utilitarian, and decorative art. All these forms are employed to express the skills and emotions of the author (Atkins and Snyder 12).
Work cited
Atkins, Sally, and Melia Snyder. Nature-based Expressive Arts Therapy: Integrating the Expressive Arts and Ecotherapy. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017.
Dissanayake, Ellen. What is art for?. University of Washington Press, 2015.
Mounce, Howard Owen. Tolstoy on aesthetics: what is art?. Routledge, 2019.