Fine Arts

Fine arts may be defined as activities, or results of activities, involved in a type of human expression in which the application of skill and creativity to the structuring of formal qualities (such as colors, shapes, movements, sounds, etc.) results in an aesthetic whole. Examples range from the Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings to Michelangelo's marble sculptures. Any definition of fine arts is likely to be subject to debate, given the difficulties involved in establishing a clear and objective category for this form of human behavior. Throughout history, scholars and philosophers have provided a wide variety of approaches to the topic, ranging from Aristotle's view of art as imitation, to the Kantian emphasis on the genius of the artist and the disinterested pleasure of the viewer, to Leo Tolstoy's view of art as communication, Clive Bell's formalism, John Dewey's account of art as experience, George Dickie's institutional theory of art, and so on. Perhaps the usefulness of a definition of art depends on the context in which it is adopted. In the current consumer-culture context, a consumer-focused perspective seems most appropriate. In other words, art is that which consumers characterize as such. Indeed, Henrik Hagtvedt and Vanessa M. Patrick (2008) argue that consumers possess a general schema for art, evolved through the millennia of human prehistory and reinforced through more recent cultural developments. Based on these notions, these authors define art as works embodying human expression, characterized primarily by the manner of their creation or execution, irrespective of the presence or absence of concepts, ideas, messages, or functions underlying them, conveyed by them, or achieved by them. Further, emphasis is placed on the creativity and skill applied to this manner in the effort to make something special (see also Dissanayake 1995).

There are, of course, many items marketed as art that fall outside such a definition, especially as regards some contemporary art. Typically, consumers do not spontaneously recognize or categorize such works as art. Indeed, the consideration afforded to them usually depends on a context, such as placement in a museum or gallery. Further, a definition with roots in human evolution implies a global relevance, while other definitions tend to be more restricted in terms of historical, geographical, and cultural scope. [Page 605]Every known society, since the dawn of humankind, appears to have engaged in activities that consumers from various corners of the world could recognize as artistic behavior. With many contemporary works appearing in today's highly developed marketplaces, it is often difficult to discern the extent to which their prominence is due to market forces rather than to a universal heritage of artistic behavior.

The notion of fine arts as a distinct category of human behavior is itself relatively recent, and the distinction between art and craft was virtually nonexistent throughout much of history. Since the Middle Ages, however, several classification schemes have been put forward for the arts. For instance, in the mid-eighteenth century, Charles Batteux presented an influential classification of fine arts that included painting, sculpture, music, dance, and poetry. These disciplines were distinguished by having beauty, or aesthetic pleasure, rather than utility, as their goal. Indeed, they flowed from a common source, that is, the imitation of beauty in nature. In general, the inclusion of specific disciplines in a given classification scheme depends on the definition of fine arts on which it is based.

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