Since ancient times, art has shaped humanity, its worldview and value system. The key role in this case has always been played by a certain act of creation, which allowed the representative of the human race to penetrate beyond the limits of everyday life, to add to reality an additional layer woven from one’s own worldview, talent and imagination.
The problem of art awareness
Absolutely every person on planet Earth is familiar with the term "art", actively uses it in everyday life, but not everyone is asking what the art really is. The concept itself is already multifaceted and controversial. An even greater number of arguments and points of view poses the question "what can be called art." First of all, this concerns, of course, modernity, because no one doubts that the paintings of Peter Bruegel or Vincent Van Gogh can be called masterpieces.
First of all, we will understand what the meaning of the word art is fraught with.
The essence of the term
There are quite a lot of points of view on this subject, however, to date, mankind has managed to form a common basic understanding of this term. Most often, art means a certain combination of cultural, spiritual, aesthetic knowledge of a person embodied in art objects. In this case, we are not talking about any specific type of creativity, but about creation as a whole.
In the most general sense, art is an attempt by man to comprehend the world through an act of creation. Of course, over time, such attempts become more and more, they accumulate and an attentive inquiring mind gets the opportunity to track a certain pattern in existing aesthetic objects. Thus, over time, the art of a particular era appears, reflecting the consciousness of a person in a certain time period.
In fact, to the question of what art is, a definition can be given indefinitely, since in this case the human factor plays a huge role , one’s own understanding of the issue by each individual. In some cases, this term refers to realities that are completely unrelated to objects of aesthetics. Surgeons, programmers, postmen, teachers and an endless list of people of other specialties are quite capable of turning their own work into art, although this has absolutely nothing to do with aesthetics.
Types of art
One can talk endlessly about the manifestations of art in the life of mankind, but centuries-old traditions allow us to distinguish several main types. The art of the word appears to mankind in the form of a literary process. The experience of millennia is reflected in it in metaphors, epithets, hidden and explicit meanings, over which the reader thinks again and again, picking up one or another book.
Folk art from ancient times accompanies a person in his life, the development of reality. Originally presented as syncretic rites and acts, and then converted into a purely aesthetic form, it is still developing, improving and expanding its borders. Lyrical songs, murals, elegant embroideries, ditties, and even well-known jokes about Vovochka - all this is a manifestation of the creativity of the people, reflecting their consciousness and worldview.
In colors and shades, human art conveys art. This kind of creativity is special in every sense. Each stroke, each bend of one form or another is aimed at transmitting the image. A holistic, complete object embodied in the smallest details.
Of course, one should not forget about music - the most synesthetic art form of all. From time immemorial, it accompanied a person, serving first to introduce into a kind of trance, and then moving into the field of aesthetics directly.
Views on the classification of art
In addition to the eternal question “what is art”, the definition of the concept itself also provides for a number of aspects of the consideration of this component of human life. In particular, its division into species, an attempt at some classification.
Reflection of reality
The origins of this problem go back to Aristotle himself, who considered art an imitation of nature. It was from his theory that the theory of mimesis emerged as the main component.
In his classification, Aristotle relied directly on the method of imitation. Literature as the art of words was defined precisely by the author of "Poetics."
Being status
Lessing, on the other hand, built his classification on a different principle. The philosopher divided the arts into temporary and spatial. The former included literature and music, while the latter included painting and sculpture. Of course, in this case it is rather difficult to draw a sharp dividing line, since the plan of content and the plan of expression of a work can differ dramatically.
Mind interaction
The era of Romanticism, humanity owes its division into fine and expressive arts. The meaning of the word “art” was understood at that time in a very peculiar way. Fine arts could include both literature and painting, not to mention sculpture and theater. However, any kind: musical art, sculpture or architecture - a priori affects a person, and therefore is expressive. In particular, this applies, of course, to music.
Nationality, culture, own aesthetics
What is art, the definition of which is still not fully understood, if not a reflection of the worldview of a certain category of people within a specific time? If you think about it, it is the general being consciousness that determines the basic principles of creation. Folk art gives impetus to the author, growing into something more. These features are formed depending on various aspects: the political, historical situation in the territory of a country, the religious worldview of its population, and interaction with other cultures.
Fine art, like any other, is determined by several factors at once. First of all, this is an awareness of the concept of beauty by a specific nation. It is clear that the aesthetic standards of Asia are completely incompatible with the ideals of the Slavs or Native Americans. The second component is the global context. In most cases, art nevertheless focuses on certain trends in world culture, borrows specific elements and basic principles from it, which subsequently allows us to determine the worldview of mankind at one or another stage of its development.
Art and responsibility
Any aesthetic object is first and foremost an act of creation. In different eras, the attitude to this process was completely different. In the era of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the poet, for example, was considered a kind of mediator, connected between heaven and reality, a kind of messiah. Later, with the advent of the individual author’s era, the poet, musician or artist began to be considered precisely as creators. Entire worlds came out from the pen of masters, new realities were created with the help of paints, new feelings were born when the music sounded.
What is art ( its definition ), if not responsibility in this case? If not self-awareness as a creator? No wonder the meaning of the word “art” is etymologically and morphologically similar to the word “temptation”. In the apocryphal literature, the plot of the contest of God and the devil in creation is often mentioned, when God created a woman and his opponent is a snake. Even then, creation implied responsibility for itself, since there is no force more comprehensive than musical art, and the stands are more powerful than literature. Humanity itself is determined by creation, exists in it, develops and improves.