| The visual arts are a class of art
forms, including painting, sculpture, photography, and others, that focus on the
creation of artworks which are primarily visual in nature. The visual arts are
distinguished from the performing arts, language arts, and other such classes of
artwork. The definition is not strict, and many artistic disciplines involve
aspects of the visual arts as well other types. In Britain until recently the fine arts-painting, sculpture, printmaking, and so on-were seen as distinct from craft disciplines and the various metalworking disciplines. This distinction arose from the Arts and Crafts Movement whose political aim was to value daily art forms as much as high forms. The result of the conflict between the two groups was to politicize the products of what we now know as visual artists. British art schools made a clear distinction between the fine arts (a term that hints at their supposed superiority) and the crafts in such a way that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of high art. Although this is no longer the case, the inequality between the crafts or applied arts and the so-called fine arts still exists in some quarters. A similar stigma exists in the US, where "arts and crafts" has a very particular meaning, referring to the sort of artwork first taught in elementary school and also (later in life) a variety of kitsch, household artwork. Most craftspeople are still seen as practicing something other than "fine art" among the traditional art school set, but, of course, can produce "high art", in any medium. |