Decorative arts

The decorative arts is traditionally a term for the design and manufacture of functional objects. It
includes interior design, but not usually architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in
opposition to the "fine arts", namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture, which
generally have no function other than to be seen.
The distinction between decorative and fine arts has essentially risen from the post-Renaissance art of
the West, where it is for the most part meaningful. It is much less so when applied to the art of other
cultures and periods, where the most highly regarded works often include those in "decorative" media, or
all works are in such media. For example,Islamic art in many periods and places consists entirely of the
decorative arts, as does the art of many traditional cultures, and in Chinese art the distinction is less
useful than in Europe. Even in Europe, the distinction is unhelpful for Early Medieval art, where although
"fine arts" such as manuscript illumination and monumental sculpture existed, the most prestigious works,
commissioned from the best artists, tended to be in goldsmith work, cast metals such as bronze or other
techniques such as ivory carving. Large-scale wall-paintings were apparently much less regarded,
relatively crudely executed, and rarely mentioned in contemporary sources; they were probably seen as a
cheap but inferior substitute formosaic, which in this period must be treated as a fine art, though in recent
centuries contemporary production has tended to be seen as decorative. The term "ars sacra" ("sacred
arts") is sometimes used for medieval Christian art in metal, ivory, textiles and other high-value materials
from this period, though this does not cover the even rarer survivals of secular works.

Chinese bowl, Northern Song Dynasty, 11th or 12th century, porcelaneous pottery with celadon glaze

Modern understanding of the art of many cultures tends to be distorted by the modern privileging of fine
art media over others, as well as the very different survival rates of works in different media. Works in
metal, above all in precious metals, are liable to be "recycled" as soon as they fall from fashion, and were
often used by owners as repositories of wealth, to be melted down when extra money was needed.
Illuminated manuscripts have a much higher survival rate, especially in the hands of the church, as there
was little value in the materials and they were easy to store.
The promotion of the fine arts over the decorative in European thought can largely be traced to the
Renaissance, when Italian theorists such as Vasaripromoted artistic values, exemplified by the artists of
the High Renaissance, that placed little value on the cost of materials or the amount of skilled work
required to produce a work, but instead valued artistic imagination and the individual touch of the hand of
a supremely gifted master such asMichelangelo, Raphael or Leonardo da Vinci, reviving to some extent
the approach of antiquity. Most European art during the Middle Ages had been produced under a very
different set of values, where both expensive materials and virtuoso displays in difficult techniques had
been highly valued. In China both approaches had co-existed for many centuries: ink and wash painting,
mostly of landscapes, was to a large extent produced by and for the scholar-bureaucrats or "literati", and
was intended as an expression of the artist's imagination above all, while other major fields of art,
including the very important Chinese ceramics produced in effectively industrial conditions, were
produced according to a completely different set of artistic values.

The lower status given to works of decorative art in contrast to fine art narrowed with the rise of the Arts
and Crafts movement. This aesthetic movement of the second half of the 19th century was born in
England and inspired by William Morris and John Ruskin. The movement represented the beginning of a
greater appreciation of the decorative arts throughout Europe. The appeal of the Arts and Crafts
Movement to a new generation led, in 1882, to the English architect and designer Arthur H.
Mackmurdo organizing the Century Guild for craftsmen, which championed the idea that there was no
meaningful difference between the fine and decorative arts. Many converts, both from professional artists
ranks and from among the intellectual class as a whole, helped spread the ideas of the movement. [1] The
influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement led to the decorative arts being given a greater appreciation
and status in society and this was soon reflected by changes in the law. Until the enactment of the
Copyright Act 1911 only works of fine art had been protected from unauthorised copying. The 1911 Act
extended the definition of an "artistic work" to include works of "artistic craftsmanship". For the first time
works of decorative art could be classfied as works of art rather than design and benefit from the full
period of copyright protection previously available only to works of fine art. [2]
Contents
[hide]

1 Some decorative arts

2 See also

3 References

4 External links

Some decorative arts[edit]

Ceramic art (that is Pottery)

Glassware, including some stained glass and studio glass

Furniture

Hardstone carving, including pietra dura work and engraved gems

metalwork, especially by goldsmiths and whitesmiths

jewellery

ivory carving and bone carving

textile arts

Woodwork, especially wood carving

Some mosaics, and all micromosaics

Wallpaper

Fretwork

Fold-forming

Enamel

See also[edit]

American craft

Applied art

Arts and Crafts

Design museum

Faux painting

History of decorative arts

Ornament (architecture)

Customised buses and trucks in Pakistan