Portal:Visual arts

THE VISUAL ARTS PORTAL

Introduction

The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, 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. Within the visual arts, the applied arts, such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design, and decorative art are also included.

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

A large sculpture of six life-sized black-cloaked men, their faces obscured by their hoods, carrying a slab upon which lies the supine effigy of a knight, with hands folded together in prayer. His head rests on a pillow, and his feet on a small reclining lion. — Tomb of Philippe Pot with life-sized hooded pleurants, c. 1477–80, now in the Louvre, Paris

Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and communal memorials to the dead, such as war memorials, which may or may not contain remains, and a range of prehistoric megalithic constructs. Funerary art may serve many cultural functions. It can play a role in burial rites, serve as an article for use by the dead in the afterlife, and celebrate the life and accomplishments of the dead, whether as part of kinship-centred practices of ancestor veneration or as a publicly directed dynastic display. It can also function as a reminder of the mortality of humankind, as an expression of cultural values and roles, and help to propitiate the spirits of the dead, maintaining their benevolence and preventing their unwelcome intrusion into the lives of the living.

The deposit of objects with an apparent aesthetic intention is found in almost all cultures – Hindu culture, which has little, is a notable exception. Many of the best-known artistic creations of past cultures – from the Egyptian pyramids and the Tutankhamun treasure, to the Terracotta Army surrounding the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the Taj Mahal – are tombs or objects found in and around them. In most instances, specialized funeral art was produced for the powerful and wealthy, although the burials of ordinary people might include simple monuments and grave goods, usually from their possessions. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Selected picture

Fez

Credit: Fez cover art, designed by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Fez is an indie puzzle platform game developed by Polytron Corporation and released in 2012. The player-character Gomez receives a fez that reveals his two-dimensional world to be one of four sides of a three-dimensional world; the player rotates between these four views to realign platforms, solve the game's puzzles, and collect cubes and cube fragments to restore order to the universe.

More selected pictures

edit

Selected quote

“	Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.	”
	— Edgar Degas, unknown

More selected quotes...

edit

Related portals

edit

Selected biography

Herbert James Maryon OBE FSA FIIC (9 March 1874 – 14 July 1965) was an English sculptor, conservator, goldsmith, archaeologist and authority on ancient metalwork. Maryon practiced and taught sculpture until retiring in 1939, then worked as a conservator with the British Museum from 1944 to 1961. He is best known for his work on the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, which led to his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

By the time of his mid-twenties Maryon had attended three art schools, apprenticed in silversmithing with C. R. Ashbee, and worked in Henry Wilson's workshop. From 1900 to 1904 he served as the director of the Keswick School of Industrial Art, where he designed numerous Arts and Crafts works. After moving to the University of Reading and then Durham University, he taught sculpture, metalwork, modelling, casting, and anatomy until 1939. He also designed the University of Reading War Memorial, among other commissions. Maryon published two books while teaching, including Metalwork and Enamelling, and many articles. He frequently led archaeological digs, and in 1935 discovered one of the oldest gold ornaments known in Britain while excavating the Kirkhaugh cairns. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Did you know (auto generated) - load new batch

... that John Hoke III, who is dyslexic and the chief design officer of Nike, has described drawing as his first language?
... that a Syrian filmmaker repurposed footage from his first film in his last film in order to criticize his younger self?
... that Graham Crowley entered the John Moores Painting Prize ten times since 1976 before finally winning in 2023?
... that Sculpture Space lets artists create large-scale works in a former metalworking shop?
... 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 a drawing of a dog was promoted by the president of El Salvador, caused an unaffiliated song to peak on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, and got its original creator doxxed?
... that Sarah Pickstone based her John Moores Prize–winning painting on an illustration that accompanied the poem "Not Waving but Drowning"?
... that the filmmakers of 100 Litres of Gold brewed 20 litres of sahti at the Finnish embassy in Rome for its premiere?

Archive

edit

General images

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

Image 1Spanish cave painting of Bulls (from History of painting)
Image 2Juan Luna, The Parisian Life, 1892 (from History of painting)
Image 3Grant Wood, 1930, social realism (from History of painting)
Image 4Irbid, 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 5Francis 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 6Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912, Philadelphia Museum of Art (from History of painting)
Image 7Qianlong Emperor Practicing Calligraphy, mid-18th century. (from History of painting)
Image 8The 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 9Barnett Newman, Untitled Etching 1 (First Version), 1968, Minimalism (from History of painting)
Image 10Pierre Bonnard, 1913, European modernist Narrative painting (from History of painting)
Image 11Piet Mondrian, "Composition No. 10" 1939–1942, De Stijl (from History of painting)
Image 12Lascaux, Aurochs (Bos primigenius primigenius) (from History of painting)
Image 13The Sakyamuni Buddha, by Zhang Shengwen, 1173–1176 AD, Song dynasty period. (from History of painting)
Image 14Gwion Gwion rock paintings found in the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia c. 15,000 BC (from History of painting)
Image 15Wayang beber, 17th century (from History of painting)
Image 16Lascaux, Bulls and Horses (from History of painting)
Image 17Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, rock painting, Stone Age, India (from History of painting)
Image 18Paul Klee, 1922, Bauhaus (from History of painting)
Image 19A fresco from Cave 1 of Ajanta. (from History of painting)
Image 20Baptism of Christ on a medieval Nubian painting from Old Dongola (from History of painting)
Image 21Diego 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 22Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951), a nephew of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, and a pioneer of the movement (from History of painting)
Image 23Henri Matisse 1909, late Fauvism (from History of painting)
Image 24Spring Morning in the Han Palace, by Ming-era artist Qiu Ying (1494–1552 AD) (from History of painting)
Image 25A 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 26Hellenistic Greek terracotta funerary wall painting, 3rd century BC (from History of painting)
Image 27Kiasma, a contemporary art museum in Helsinki, Finland (from Contemporary art)
Image 28Two 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 29Loquats 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 30Colour (from Graphic design)
Image 31Due 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 32A 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 33Pictographs from the Great Gallery, Canyonlands National Park, Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, c. 1500 BCE (from History of painting)
Image 34Silk 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 35The Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, Florida (from Contemporary art)
Image 36Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands) in the Santa Cruz province in Argentina, c. 7300 BC (from History of painting)
Image 37Morgan Russell, Cosmic Synchromy (1913–14), Synchromism (from History of painting)
Image 38Max Ernst, 1920, early Surrealism (from History of painting)
Image 39Book of Hours (from History of painting)
Image 40Brice Marden, 1966/1986, Monochrome painting (from History of painting)
Image 41In 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 42Mother 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 43Juan Luna, La Bulaqueña, 1895 (from History of painting)
Image 44Joan Miró, Horse, Pipe and Red Flower, 1920, abstract Surrealism, Philadelphia Museum of Art (from History of painting)
Image 45A Chinese painted jar from the Western Han Era (202 BCE – 9 CE) (from History of painting)
Image 46Young Mother Sewing, Mary Cassatt (from History of painting)
Image 47Cover of the Thanksgiving 1895 issue of The Chap-Book, designed by Will H. Bradley (from Graphic design)
Image 48Petroglyphs, from Sweden, Nordic Bronze Age (painted) (from History of painting)
Image 49Patrick Henry Bruce, American modernism, 1924 (from History of painting)
Image 50Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942, an American Scene painting (from History of painting)
Image 51Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, rock painting, Stone Age, India (from History of painting)
Image 52An Ethiopian illuminated Evangelist portrait of Mark the Evangelist, from the Ethiopian Garima Gospels, 6th century AD, Kingdom of Aksum (from History of painting)
Image 53Poster to promote the Centennial of Argentina (1910) (from Graphic design)
Image 54Max Beckmann, The Night (Die Nacht), 1918–1919, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (from History of painting)
Image 55Muromachi period, Shingei (1431–1485), Viewing a Waterfall, Nezu Museum, Tokyo. (from History of painting)
Image 56Edvard Munch, 1893, early example of Expressionism (from History of painting)
Image 57Hand stencils in the "Tree of Life" cave painting in Gua Tewet, Kalimantan, Indonesia (from History of painting)
Image 58Graphic symbols are often functionalist and anonymous, as these pictographs from the US National Park Service illustrate. (from Graphic design)
Image 59Golden section in book design (from Graphic design)
Image 60Giorgio de Chirico 1914, pre-Surrealism (from History of painting)
Image 61Eland, rock painting, Drakensberg, South Africa (from History of painting)
Image 62Lascaux, Horse (from History of painting)
Image 63Rembrandt van Rijn, The Jewish Bride, ca. 1665–1669 (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 Forgery 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