U N I T 01 TOOLS AND RULES In this Unit you will find a primary introduction to the Visual Arts: what an artwork is, how it is composed, the main techniques and materials used and the most important subjects represented during the centuries. By putting all of these elements together, you will acquire the tools needed to analyse and understand an artwork. A. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE VISUAL ARTS Sandro Botticelli, Venus and Mars, 1483 c., National Gallery, London. Visual Arts is a term for a broad category of art which includes a number of artistic disciplines. In general, this expression includes those artworks created for both aesthetic reasons ( art for art s sake ) and commercial or functional use. The Visual Arts include the traditional Fine Arts (Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture) as well as new media and contemporary forms of expression, such as Assemblage, Collage, Conceptual, Installation, Performance Art and Design (graphic, fashion, scenic, industrial, interior, etc.). Also Photography and film-based disciplines, like Video Art and Animation, fall within this broad category of art. Another type is the new Environmental Land Art; finally, Architecture encompasses both aesthetic design and functional use. Definitions of art vary over time and from one society to another. Much of what we now study as Art (medieval manuscript decoration, for example) was not considered art at the time it was made. The concept of an artist has also changed during the centuries: the idea of a genius developed only during the 14th century; before that, artists were considered as artisans or craftsmen. Therefore, it is important to underline that the Visual Arts are a wide field which is difficult to reduce to one definition. Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. GLOSSARY assemblage: the process of joining or putting things together broad: very wide craftsman: a person who is skilled 12 in making objects to encompass: to include, to embrace for something s sake: because of the interest or value that something has, not because of the advantages it may bring media: the materials or the forms that an artist uses.