Understanding Art

Art is anything that people add to their 'output' which is

not functionally necessary and is other than the default

properties of that output. The word "art" has been derived

from the Latin word 'ars', which, loosely translated,

means "arrangement" or "to arrange". This is the only

universal definition of art, that whatever it is was at some

point arranged in some way. There are many other

colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its

etymological roots. This word comes from the Greek

technic meaning art.

Art and science are usually treated diagonally opposite to

each other. While science means some phenomenon

resulting in truth, which is universal and objective in

nature. In other words, science findings can be repeated

under the same set of circumstances anywhere in the

world at any given point of time. Same cannot be said of

art. Art, on the other hand is purely subjective in nature.

Take for example, a painting - while one calls it a

masterpiece, same feelings cannot be expected from

other individual.

Art can roughly be divided into two, namely philosophical

art and aesthetic art. The philosophical type of art

involves human figures for some purposive actions. In

other words, philosophical art depicts human condition or

it is the conceptual frame of mind of the artist.

Aesthetic art, on the other hand, shows the perceived

frame of mind. Two examples will help illustrate these

two points of view - a Mona Lisa painting is philosophical

art, while a demon being killed by a super human is

aesthetic. These two categories are also called classical

and modern art respectively.

There are other ways of classifying art - major among

them being architecture, design, painting, music,

drawing, literature, performing art, etc. While these have

been (and still are) traditional forms of art performed by

human kind, newer forms of art have emerged with the

advent of technology. Some of the later era art forms are

games, animation, movie, computer art, shooting, etc.

Two of the most researched areas of interest to artists,

critiques and archeologists has been the art movement

(or art history) and art school.

An art movement is a typical style or tendency in art with

a specific common philosophy, followed by a group of

artists during a restricted period of time (ranging from a

few months to years or decades). Art school is any

educational institute offering education to its students on

various forms of art.

Birth of art gave rise to another group of individuals - art

critics. Art critics study and evaluate a piece of art. Its

main purpose is to rationalize the evaluation of art, and

ridding of any personal opinion affecting the work of art.

Art criticism today deploys systematic and formal

methods to evaluate the piece of art.

Museums are known to nurture and store work of arts

across the world. Early era museums were patronized by

the then kings and emperors. Today these are

maintained by governments or private trusts with or

without public money. Three major museum institutes are

British Museum, Museum of Modern Art, New York and

Galerie des Offices in France.

Understanding art in its totality is almost an impossible

task for a human being. There are over 3,600 terms in art

to be understood. And these are not definitive in nature.

Art is when you are free to redefine these.

Wildlife Art

Wildlife Art - Its History and Development

Summary

Some of the earliest of all known art (pre-historic cave and rock art) features wildlife. However, it might be more properly regarded as art about food, rather than art about wildlife as such.

Then for a lot of the rest of the history of art in the western world, art depicting wildlife was mostly absent, due to the fact that art during this period was mostly dominated by narrow perspectives on reality, such as religions. It is only more recently, as society, and the art it produces, frees itself from such narrow world-views, that wildlife art flourishes.

Wildlife is also a difficult subject for the artist, as it is difficult to find and even more difficult to find keeping still in a pose, long enough to even sketch, let alone paint. Recent advances such as photography have made this far easier, as well as being artforms in their own right. Wildlife art is thus now far easier to accomplish both accurately and aesthetically.

In art from outside the western world, wild animals and birds have been portrayed much more frequently throughout history.

Art about wild animals began as a depiction of vital food-sources, in pre-history. At the beginnings of history the western world seems to have shut itself off from the natural world for long periods, and this is reflected in the lack of wildlife art throughout most of art history. More recently, societies, and the art it produces, have become much more broad-minded. Wildlife has become something to marvel at as new areas of the world were explored for the first time, something to hunt for pleasure, to admire aesthetically, and to conserve. These interests are reflected in the wildlife art produced.

The History and development of Wildlife Art...

Wildlife art in Pre-history.

Animal and bird art appears in some of the earliest known examples of artistic creation, such as cave paintings and rock art

The earliest known cave paintings were made around 40,000 years ago, the Upper Paleolithic period. These art works might be more than decoration of living areas as they are often in caves which are difficult to access and don't show any signs of human habitation. Wildlife was a significant part of the daily life of humans at this time, particularly in terms of hunting for food, and this is reflected in their art. Religious interpretation of the natural world is also assumed to be a significant factor in the depiction of animals and birds at this time.

Probably the most famous of all cave painting, in Lascaux (France), includes the image of a wild horse, which is one of the earliest known examples of wildlife art. Another example of wildlife cave painting is that of reindeer in the Spanish cave of Cueva de las Monedas, probably painted at around the time of the last ice-age. The oldest known cave paintings (maybe around 32,000 years old) are also found in France, at the Grotte Chauvet, and depict horses, rhinoceros, lions, buffalo, mammoth and humans, often hunting.

Wildlife painting is one of the commonest forms of cave art. Subjects are often of large wild animals, including bison, horses, aurochs, lions, bears and deer. The people of this time were probably relating to the natural world mostly in terms of their own survival, rather than separating themselves from it.

Cave paintings found in Africa often include animals. Cave paintings from America include animal species such as rabbit, puma, lynx, deer, wild goat and sheep, whale, turtle, tuna, sardine, octopus, eagle, and pelican, and is noted for its high quality and remarkable color. Rock paintings made by Australian Aborigines include so-called "X-ray" paintings which show the bones and organs of the animals they depict. Paintings on caves/rocks in Australia include local species of animals, fish and turtles.

Animal carvings were also made during the Upper Paleolithic period... which constitute the earliest examples of wildlife sculpture.

In Africa, bushman rock paintings, at around 8000 BC, clearly depict antelope and other animals.

The advent of the Bronze age in Europe, from the 3rd Millennium BC, led to a dedicated artisan class, due to the beginnings of specialization resulting from the surpluses available in these advancing societies. During the Iron age, mythical and natural animals were a common subject of artworks, often involving decoration of objects such as plates, knives and cups. Celtic influences affected the art and architecture of local Roman colonies, and outlasted them, surviving into the historic period.