For centuries people have struggled to come up with a good definition of art. Before the 18th century, the word art was often used to describe any skill that produced something. At the time, both painting and farming were thought of as arts. Today, people think of the arts more as forms of expression. Artists use skill and imagination to create a product. This creation often draws a response from others. These can include admiration of a beautiful sculpture, feelings of sadness from a moving poem, or pleasure from a funny play.

Form and styles

All arts are influenced by time and place. Materials may be plentiful in one location and scarce in another. Art may also change as different materials become available. Sculpture developed as early peoples discovered how to make bronze, and architecture evolved as builders learned new engineering techniques.

The ideas and tastes of society during a given period also have an effect on what is created. Prior to the 19th century, audiences tended to favor paintings and sculpture that looked like real objects rather than those that expressed an idea or emotion. This idea changed with the development of modern art.

Categories of art

Individual arts are often grouped into categories based on similarities. Theater, dance, and music are common examples of performing arts. Poetry, short stories, and novels are thought of as literature—words crafted to express ideas. Art forms that result in “useful” products are sometimes called decorative arts. Furniture design, metalworking, basketry, and pottery are a few examples of decorative arts.

Sometimes an art can be classified in more than one category. For instance, painting and drawing are often thought of as visual arts—art forms enjoyed through sight. They are also graphic arts—art forms expressed on flat surfaces. Similarly, sculpture is both a visual art and a plastic, or three-dimensional, art. Some arts, such as architecture, are combinations of several different forms. The great religious structures built in Europe during the Middle Ages were created by architects, stonemasons, glassmakers, sculptors, painters, and mosaicists, to name a few. An opera brings together a dramatic plot, music that is both played and sung, well-designed scenery and costumes, acting, and perhaps dance.

Training

Many colleges and universities offer courses in the arts. There are also special schools that focus on architecture, music, design, dance, and other arts. In earlier times, artists were trained by other artists in their workshops or studios. The trainees, known as an apprentices, learned their craft at first by assisting the artist; later, the apprentices became more independent. By the 17th century, most budding artists were not thought of as apprentices but as students being taught by a master.