Portal:Visual arts

THE VISUAL ARTS PORTAL

Introduction

The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines, such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts, also involve aspects of the visual arts, as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts, such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design, and decorative art.

Current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as applied or decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, the term 'artist' had for some centuries often been restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the decorative arts, crafts, or applied visual arts media. The distinction was emphasized by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, who valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms. Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts and the crafts, maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of the arts. 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 East Asian art. In both regions, painting has been seen as relying to the highest degree on the imagination of the artist and being 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. (Full article...)

Outline of the visual arts

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Head VI is an oil-on-canvas painting by Irish-born figurative artist Francis Bacon, the last of six panels making up his "1949 Head" series. It shows a bust view of a single figure, modeled on Diego Velázquez's Portrait of Innocent X. Bacon applies forceful, expressive brush strokes, and places the figure within a glass cage structure, behind curtain-like drapery. This gives the effect of a man trapped and suffocated by his surroundings, screaming into an airless void. But with an inverted pathos is derived from the ambiguity of the pope's horrifying expression—whose distorted face either screams of untethered hatred towards the viewer or pleads for help from the glass cage—the question of what he is screaming about is left to the audience.

Head VI was the first of Bacon's paintings to reference Velázquez, whose portrait of Pope Innocent X haunted him throughout his career and inspired his series of "screaming popes", a loose series of which there are around 45 surviving individual works. Head VI contains many motifs that were to reappear in Bacon's work. The hanging object, which may be a light switch or curtain tassel, can be found even in his late paintings. The geometric cage is a motif that appears as late as his 1985–86 masterpiece Study for a Self-Portrait—Triptych. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Selected picture

Fantasy coffin

Credit: Coffin artist: Kudjoe Affutu; Photographer: Regula Tschumi

Fantasy coffin built by Kudjoe Affutu, the main part of Saâdane Afif's exhibition Anthologie de l'humour noir in the Centre Pompidou.

More selected pictures

edit

Selected quote

“	Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.	”
	— G. K. Chesterton, unknown

More selected quotes...

edit

Related portals

edit

Selected biography

Caspar David Friedrich (German: [ˌkaspaʁ ˌdaːvɪt ˈfʁiːdʁɪç] ^ⓘ; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti-classical work, conveys a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings often set contemplative human figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. Art historian Christopher John Murray described their presence, in diminished perspective, amid expansive landscapes, as reducing the figures to a scale that directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".

Friedrich was born in the town of Greifswald on the Baltic Sea in what was at the time Swedish Pomerania. He studied in Copenhagen 1794-1798, before settling in Dresden. He came of age during a period when, across Europe, a growing disillusionment with materialistic society was giving rise to a new appreciation of spirituality. This shift in ideals was often expressed through a reevaluation of the natural world, as artists such as Friedrich, J. M. W. Turner and John Constable sought to depict nature as a "divine creation, to be set against the artifice of human civilization". (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Did you know (auto generated) - load new batch

... that although the icosian game was advertised as a "highly amusing game for the drawing room", it was too easy to play and not a commercial success?
... that Sarah Pickstone based her John Moores Prize–winning painting on an illustration that accompanied the poem "Not Waving but Drowning"?
... that the early woman explorer Adèle de Dombasle travelled to Polynesia in 1847 and worked as an illustrator, drawing people such as Queen Pōmare IV?
... that the documentary Railway with a Heart of Gold has actual footage of a derailment captured whilst the filmmaker was attached to the side of the train?
... that Percy Kelly hoarded his drawings and paintings until the end of his life, saying that his cottage would someday "upstage Beatrix Potter's home"?
... that in 1933 Nazi sympathisers attempted to kidnap two German-Jewish filmmakers in Liechtenstein?
... that in May 1983 British public health physician Spence Galbraith suggested withdrawing blood products made from blood donated in the U.S. after 1978?
... that to encourage the development of Bissau-Guinean cinema, one foreign filmmaker provided the country's film institute with cameras, lights, and a Steinbeck guitar?

Archive

edit

General images

The following are images from various visual arts-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1An Ethiopian illuminated Evangelist portrait of Mark the Evangelist, from the Ethiopian Garima Gospels, 6th century AD, Kingdom of Aksum (from History of painting)
Image 2Juan Luna, The Parisian Life, 1892 (from History of painting)
Image 3Kiasma, a contemporary art museum in Helsinki, Finland (from Contemporary art)
Image 4Giorgio de Chirico 1914, pre-Surrealism (from History of painting)
Image 5Irbid, Jordan, "We are Arabs. We are Humans". Inside Out is a global participatory art project, initiated by the French photographer JR, an example of Street art (from Contemporary art)
Image 6In 2021, researchers discovered ancient cave art in Leang Tedongnge, Sulawesi, Indonesia, estimated to be at least 45,500 years old. Depicting a warty pig, this artwork is recognized as the world’s oldest known example of figurative or representational art. (from History of painting)
Image 7Lascaux, Bulls and Horses (from History of painting)
Image 8Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951), a nephew of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, and a pioneer of the movement (from History of painting)
Image 9Francis Picabia, (Left) Le saint des saints c'est de moi qu'il s'agit dans ce portrait, 1 July 1915; (center) Portrait d'une jeune fille americaine dans l'état de nudité, 5 July 1915: (right) J'ai vu et c'est de toi qu'il s'agit, De Zayas! De Zayas! Je suis venu sur les rivages du Pont-Euxin, New York, 1915 (from History of painting)
Image 10Wayang beber, 17th century (from History of painting)
Image 11Hellenistic Greek terracotta funerary wall painting, 3rd century BC (from History of painting)
Image 12Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912, Philadelphia Museum of Art (from History of painting)
Image 13Petroglyphs, from Sweden, Nordic Bronze Age (painted) (from History of painting)
Image 14Edvard Munch, 1893, early example of Expressionism (from History of painting)
Image 15A Boeing 747 aircraft with livery designating it as Air Force One. The cyan forms, the US flag, presidential seal and the Caslon lettering, were all designed at different times, by different designers, for different purposes, and combined by designer Raymond Loewy in this one single aircraft exterior design. (from Graphic design)
Image 16A Chinese painted jar from the Western Han Era (202 BCE – 9 CE) (from History of painting)
Image 17Pierre Bonnard, 1913, European modernist Narrative painting (from History of painting)
Image 18Loquats and Mountain Bird, anonymous artist of the Southern Song dynasty; paintings in leaf album style such as this were popular in the Southern Song (1127–1279). (from History of painting)
Image 19Golden section in book design (from Graphic design)
Image 20Due to its interdisciplinary nature, graphic design can be performed in different areas of application: branding, technical and artistic drawing, signage, photography, image and video editing, 3D modeling, animation, programming, among other fields. (from Graphic design)
Image 21Colour (from Graphic design)
Image 22Lascaux, Horse (from History of painting)
Image 23The Sakyamuni Buddha, by Zhang Shengwen, 1173–1176 AD, Song dynasty period. (from History of painting)
Image 24Brice Marden, 1966/1986, Monochrome painting (from History of painting)
Image 25The Eternal Father Painting the Virgin of Guadalupe. Attributed to Joaquín Villegas (1713 – active in 1753) (Mexican) (painter, Museo Nacional de Arte. (from History of painting)
Image 26Juan Luna, La Bulaqueña, 1895 (from History of painting)
Image 27Young Mother Sewing, Mary Cassatt (from History of painting)
Image 28A fresco from Cave 1 of Ajanta. (from History of painting)
Image 29Piet Mondrian, "Composition No. 10" 1939–1942, De Stijl (from History of painting)
Image 30Diego Rivera, Recreation of Man at the Crossroads (renamed Man, Controller of the Universe), originally created in 1934, Mexican muralism movement (from History of painting)
Image 31Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, rock painting, Stone Age, India (from History of painting)
Image 32Patrick Henry Bruce, American modernism, 1924 (from History of painting)
Image 33Grant Wood, 1930, social realism (from History of painting)
Image 34Spanish cave painting of Bulls (from History of painting)
Image 35Eland, rock painting, Drakensberg, South Africa (from History of painting)
Image 36Lascaux, Aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) (from History of painting)
Image 37Qianlong Emperor Practicing Calligraphy, mid-18th century. (from History of painting)
Image 38Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942, an American Scene painting (from History of painting)
Image 39Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands) in the Santa Cruz province in Argentina, c. 7300 BC (from History of painting)
Image 40Hand stencils in the "Tree of Life" cave painting in Gua Tewet, Kalimantan, Indonesia (from History of painting)
Image 41Mother Goddess A miniature painting of the Pahari style, dating to the eighteenth century. Pahari and Rajput miniatures share many common features. (from History of painting)
Image 42Two Scribes Seated with Books and a Writing Table Fragment of a decorative margin Northern India (Mughal school), ca. 1640–1650 (from History of painting)
Image 43Book of Hours (from History of painting)
Image 44Silk painting depicting a man riding a dragon, painting on silk, dated to 5th–3rd century BC, Warring States period, from Zidanku Tomb no. 1 in Changsha, Hunan Province (from History of painting)
Image 45Rembrandt van Rijn, The Jewish Bride, ca. 1665–1669 (from History of painting)
Image 46Spring Morning in the Han Palace, by Ming-era artist Qiu Ying (1494–1552 AD) (from History of painting)
Image 47Morgan Russell, Cosmic Synchromy (1913–14), Synchromism (from History of painting)
Image 48Henri Matisse 1909, late Fauvism (from History of painting)
Image 49Pictographs from the Great Gallery, Canyonlands National Park, Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, c. 1500 BCE (from History of painting)
Image 50Cover of the Thanksgiving 1895 issue of The Chap-Book, designed by Will H. Bradley (from Graphic design)
Image 51Gwion Gwion rock paintings found in the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia c. 15,000 BC (from History of painting)
Image 52Graphic symbols are often functionalist and anonymous, as these pictographs from the US National Park Service illustrate. (from Graphic design)
Image 53Muromachi period, Shingei (1431–1485), Viewing a Waterfall, Nezu Museum, Tokyo. (from History of painting)
Image 54Joan Miró, Horse, Pipe and Red Flower, 1920, abstract Surrealism, Philadelphia Museum of Art (from History of painting)
Image 55Baptism of Christ on a medieval Nubian painting from Old Dongola (from History of painting)
Image 56The Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Florida. (from Contemporary art)
Image 57Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, rock painting, Stone Age, India (from History of painting)
Image 58Max Ernst, 1920, early Surrealism (from History of painting)
Image 59Barnett Newman, Untitled Etching 1 (First Version), 1968, Minimalism (from History of painting)
Image 60Paul Klee, 1922, Bauhaus (from History of painting)
Image 61A fresco showing Hades and Persephone riding in a chariot, from the tomb of Queen Eurydice I of Macedon at Vergina, Greece, 4th century BC (from History of painting)
Image 62Max Beckmann, The Night (Die Nacht), 1918–1919, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (from History of painting)

edit

Major topics

Types of visual art – Architecture • Art intervention • Ceramic art • Computer art • Drawing • Fashion • Film • Installation art • Land art • Mixed media • Painting • Performance art • Photography • Printmaking • Sculpture • Stained glass; • Artists' Books

Art history – Pre-historic art • Ancient art • Art of Ancient Egypt • Art in Ancient Greece • Minoan pottery • Scythian art • Roman art • Women artists

Western art periods and movements – Medieval art • Gothic art • Renaissance • Mannerism • Baroque • Rococo • Neoclassicism • Romanticism • Realism • Modern Art • Impressionism • Symbolism • Fauvism • Proto-Cubism • Cubism • Futurism • Dada • Art Deco • Surrealism • Abstract Expressionism • Lyrical abstraction • Conceptual Art • Contemporary Art • Postmodern art visual arts.

Eastern and Middle Eastern art – Buddhist art • Chinese art • Islamic art • Japanese art • Laotian art • Thai art • Tibetan art

Lists – Architects • Art movements • Art periods • Painters • Printmakers • Sculptors • Statues

Lists of basic topics – Visual arts • Architecture • Film • Painting • Photography • Sculpture

edit

Subcategories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

Visual arts

Art by country | Visual arts genres | Art movements | Women artists

edit

WikiProjects

edit

Things you can do

Here are some Open Tasks :

Article requests: Art of Central America – Claus Bury – Paint thatch – Art horse – Downtown Gallery – Marie Sterner – Isabel Carleton Wilde – Grace Borgenicht – Anita Reuben– Virginia Zabriskie – Beatrice Monti della Corte – Martha Jackson – Bertha Schaefer – Jill Kornblee – Pat Hearn – Gracie Mansion – Andrea Rosen – Marianne Boesky – Mary Sabbatino – Accola Greifen – Janelle Reiring (Metro Pictures Gallery) – Luisa Strina – Shaun Caley Regen, Regen Projects – Rhona Hoffman – Andrea Meislin more...
Image requests: Illusionism (art) – Nōami – Étrécissements – Villa Massimo – of art and of artists
Pages needing attention: Colin McCahon – Jamaican art – Folk art – Product design – Fiestaware – Monochrome painting (was Meditative art) – Reginald Gray (artist) – Science of photography – Studio art – more...
Articles needing expansion: Art education – Art of the Crusades – Decoupage – James Turrell – American Impressionism – Crocheted lace – Sacred art – Art fabrication – Chinese painting Jamaican art – more...
Visual arts stubs: Commission (art) – Conté – Sanguine – Post-surrealism – Verdaccio – Luminism (Impressionism) – Biomorphism – more...
Artist stubs: Frank Dobson (sculptor) – Niko Pirosmanashvili – more...
Art organization stubs: Federal Project Number One – Art colony – Not-for-profit arts organization – Arts centre – more...
Get involved in the Wikipedia Visual Arts Project.

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Commons
Free media repository
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

edit

References

More portals

Discover Wikipedia using portals

v t e Visual arts and the art world
Artwork	Appropriation Collage Conceptual art Cultural artifact Drawing Fine art Fine-art photograph Found object Installation art Kinetic art Mixed media bricolage Mural fresco graffiti New media art history digital virtual Painting Performance art Plastic arts Portrait Printmaking Public art street art Sculpture carving relief statue tallest Site-specific art Social sculpture Soft sculpture Stained glass Artwork title
Roles	Artist Collector Conservator-restorer paintings frescos Critic Curator Dealer Model Patron Visual arts education Europe
Places and events	Art auction Art colony Art commune Art exhibition alternative exhibition space Art gallery Contemporary art gallery Art museum Single-artist museum Art school Europe Arts centre Arts festival Artist collective Artist cooperative Artist-in-residence program Artist-run initiative Artist-run space Biennale Commission Sculpture garden Sculpture trail Virtual museum
History of art	Timeline of art Art history (academic study) Art manifesto Art movements Criticism feminist History of painting outline Periods in Western art history Timeline of 20th century printmaking in America
Related	Art market The arts Catalogue raisonné Classificatory disputes Museum collection management deaccessioning Conservation-restoration paintings Cultural policy Depiction Destination painting Eclecticism in art Economics of art art finance art valuation Elements of art Index of painting-related articles Outline of the visual arts painting sculpture Provenance Sociology of art Style Unfinished work
Lists	Art magazines Art media Art techniques Art movements Art museums largest most visited sculpture parks single artist Art reference books Colossal sculptures in situ Contemporary artists Contemporary art galleries Modern artists National galleries Painters by name by nationality Photographers Sculptors female Stolen paintings Most expensive paintings, sculptures, works by living artists
Painting portal Visual arts portal Arts portal