The question of what form is in art is not as simple as it might seem. The ambiguity of the concept leads to difficulties in the definition and classification of its types. Art is realized in various forms, which differ in different parameters. There are several approaches to the definition of this phenomenon.
What is form in art: the problem of definition
Art is the most important way of knowing the world, with the help of it a person in a figurative form represents his perception of the world. This is an important part of the spiritual culture of mankind. It helps people satisfy cognitive, aesthetic and social needs. Art has its own, special language, through which it conveys information. The difficulties in defining this concept are related to the fact that the art form is extremely diverse and multifaceted. In addition, art as a form of culture has the characteristic of syncretism, it combines various expressive means, it embodies various ideas that are difficult to give a specific definition. The strength of the impact and the degree of transfer of ideas in art are directly related to the art form.
Global understanding of form
By and large, art itself is a form. It realizes the whole spiritual experience of mankind and reflects the subjective perception of the world. Accumulating the artistic heritage of civilizations, art becomes an art form of spiritual culture. It transforms reality into images and takes materialized forms: books, paintings, plays. In this interpretation, the form refers to art itself as the embodiment of a creative idea and the realization of an artistic image.
Form vs content
The main philosophical problem, which has not found a unique solution, is the question of the primacy and interconnection of form and content in art. In contrasting content and form, the question of what form is in art is examined through a comparison of these concepts. In such an interpretation, by the form is meant the inextricable unity of the external qualities and internal structure of the object, the form is what the content is clothed with.
The art form in this approach is multifaceted and is implemented in the concrete structure of a work of art through various expressive means characteristic of certain types of art, genres and styles. These tools are always material, therefore, often the form is understood as the material shell of the idea, content.
In a broad sense, form in art is a way of expressing and existing an artistic idea, i.e. content. The harmonious coexistence of form and content creates the ideological and artistic value of a work of art.
Features of the art form
Art is designed to reflect real life, while it develops a universal language of artistic images that is understandable to all people. The main features of the form in art follow from this: it is always determined by the author’s intention, that is, it is secondary to the content, it always has a structure, is associated with the constructive characteristics of the work, always contains an emotive component and is always perceived subjectively.
The art form is characterized by both stability and mobility. On the one hand, it obeys the laws of the times and types of art, for example, in literature stable forms are sonnet, romance, elegy, ode, story, story, etc., on the other hand, art constantly searches for new expressive possibilities, which leads to the appearance of special forms, for example, in literature it is a jazz novel, a novel is a stream of consciousness.
Form Properties in Art
For all the variety of forms in art, they have a set of characteristics that allow us to answer the question of what form is in art. It is inextricably linked with an image that may not always be meaning, but always has an emotional component. For example, the art of abstractionism or verses of the Oberiuts carry an image in themselves, but the meaning is not always decodable. Form has visibility, since it always has material execution in various expressive means, then it is comprehended with the help of the senses. It is expressive, in any case, the form is created to convey the idea, i.e. its main function is the expression of an idea. The form is built on the principles of similarity and similarity. Human creativity is always based on any objects existing in reality, the form is always likened or contrasted with the real objects of the world. It is also diverse, the number of art forms is innumerable, since the imagination of mankind continues to produce all new varieties of them.
Types of art form
In aesthetics, there is a tradition of separating the art form in relation to time and space. Forms that develop in time are temporary: literature and music; unfolding in time and space: cinema, dance, theater, architecture; decorative and applied forms that exist only in space: graphics, sculpture, painting, photography.
It is also customary to distinguish such varieties of form as external and internal. The external form is associated with the use of expressive means, which are selected and arranged by the author in accordance with the artistic design and requirements of the genre. The internal form is associated with the development of content in the structure of the work, it is implemented in the composition, plot, set of characters.
Each type of art reveals its figurative content through a form that has certain characteristics. Thus, the form in the visual arts, according to A. Hildebrand, has four varieties: existence, phenomenon, influence and representation, and has such characteristics as orientation, imagery, expressiveness, tactile value, sensuality.
Form and Genre
There is a strong idea that art form is a genre of art. This point of view has every reason, because the genre is a stable set of formal and substantial characteristics of a work of art. Each type of art has its own set of such forms. For example, painting genres are still life, landscape, portrait, in which there are purely formal parameters that make it possible to realize an artistic idea.
Shape and style
The form has relative independence, it lives and develops according to its internal laws, but temporary factors always exert its influence on it. So, art styles have their own stable forms. They, like genres, combine a complex of formal and substantial characteristics. There is an expressive language of Art Nouveau, Gothic, Renaissance, Classicism, Expressionism, etc., which is formed under the influence of the era and the prevailing aesthetic ideals. Each art school at one time prefers its own set of expressive means, which are added up in an art form. For example, the baroque form is characterized by splendor, redundancy, scope, intensity of emotions, complex rhythm.
Ancient world: a source of art
The main forms of art began to form during its inception and formation. In the ancient world, creative activity was distinguished by syncretism, the isolation of individual art forms occurs unevenly. First, the isolation of the pictorial forms takes place, this process began in the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. The oldest pictorial form is ornament. Later, music and verbal creativity appeared, they existed mainly in the form of myths and folklore. Forms of ancient art were transformed and enriched with an arsenal of expressive means. A little later, the antique art school replenishes the assortment of forms with theater, choreography, and music takes on special significance. In the Middle Ages, due to the high role of religion, architecture comes to the forefront, many new forms are formed in it, which will subsequently become the norm. From the Renaissance to the New Age, a traditional system of art forms has developed. The genres of literature, painting, and choreography are finally being formed. The era of great styles enriched the piggy bank of art forms and completed the formation of a traditional set of sustainable attributes of a work of art. Since that time, there has been a growing tendency to create synthetic art forms that combine the capabilities of several traditional varieties.
Modern shape transformations
Technological progress leads to the fact that art is experiencing a surge in the generation of new forms of art. New and synthetic forms and means of translating the author’s intention appear: photography, cinema, television. Art seeks to use the capabilities of technology to solve artistic problems.
Today, the form of contemporary art is once again undergoing modernization. There are such new forms as: body art, performance, graffiti, actionism. And the development of digital technology provokes the emergence of installations, media art, 3D-video.
The trend towards synthetics continues to exist today, a contemporary artist is increasingly less likely to use one form to realize his idea, and the answer to the question of what a form is in art is becoming increasingly difficult to find. We see that even in such low-tech forms of art as literature and painting, new art forms appear. So, all the works of postmodernism try to combine several forms, for example, M. Pavich’s novels “Khazar Dictionary” and U. Eco “The Name of the Rose” combine different genre, style and functional characteristics.