Portal:Visual arts

THE VISUAL ARTS PORTAL

Introduction

Visual arts are a class of art forms focusing on the creation of works which are primarily visual in nature, such as painting, drawing, illustration, architecture, photography, graphic design, printmaking, and filmmaking. Those that involve moulding or modeling, such as sculpture, public art, and ceramics, are more narrowly referred to as plastic arts.

The visual arts are distinguished from the performing arts, language arts, culinary arts and other such classes of artwork, but those boundaries are not well defined. Many artistic endeavors combine aspects of visual arts with one or more non-visual art forms, such as music or spoken word.

The current use of the phrase "visual arts" includes fine arts as well as crafts, but this was not always the case. Prior to the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century, "visual artist" referred to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, or printmaking) and not the handicraft, craft, or applied art disciplines.

The scope of study and appreciation of visual arts spans the globe, and reaches through time back to people drawing on stone walls. All societies have embellished their tools and toys with more visual interest than is functionally necessary.

More about visual arts...

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View of Mt. Fuji from Numazu by Hiroshige

Ukiyo-e, "pictures of the floating world", is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (or woodcuts) and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, the theatre and pleasure quarters. It is illustrated here by Hokusai's Red Fuji from his Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji series.

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The House with Chimaeras or Gorodetsky House is a major Art Nouveau building in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It was built in the period of 1901-1902 by Vladislav Gorodetsky, who was regarded as the Gaudí of Kiev.

The building is commonly dubbed as "The House With Chimaeras" because it contains various scenes depicting exotic animals and hunting scenes, as Gorodetsky was an avid hunter. It is situated on № 10, Bankova Street, across from the president of Ukraine's office in the historic Pechersk neighbourhood of Kiev. It is currently used as a presidential residence for official and diplomatic ceremonies.

The Italian sculptor Emilio Sala made both the internal and external sculptural decorations, such as mermaids, dolphins, and frogs on the roof of the building, sinking ships and hunting trophies on the exterior walls, and exuberant interior decorations, such as grand stairways and chandeliers depicting huge catfish strangled in the stems of lotus flowers.

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“	I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.	”
	— Joan Miró, unknown

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Adolfo Farsari (11 February 1841 – 7 February 1898) was an Italian photographer based in Yokohama, Japan. Following a brief military career, including service in the American Civil War, he became a successful entrepreneur and commercial photographer. His photographic work was highly regarded, particularly his hand-coloured portraits and landscapes, which he sold mostly to foreign residents and visitors to the country. Farsari's images were widely distributed, presented or mentioned in books and periodicals, and sometimes recreated by artists in other media; they shaped foreign perceptions of the people and places of Japan and to some degree affected how Japanese saw themselves and their country. His studio – the last notable foreign-owned studio in Japan – was one of the country's largest and most prolific commercial photographic firms. Largely due to Farsari's exacting technical standards and his entrepreneurial abilities it had a significant influence on the development of photography in Japan.

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Major topics

Types of visual art: Architecture • Drawing • Fashion • Film • Installation art • Mixed media • Painting • Photography • Computer art • Printmaking • Sculpture
Art history: Pre-historic art • Ancient art • Art of Ancient Egypt • Art in Ancient Greece • Minoan pottery • Scythian art • Roman art • Women artists
Western art periods and movements: Medieval art • Gothic art • Renaissance • Mannerism • Baroque • Rococo • Neoclassicism • Romanticism • Realism • Modern Art • Impressionism • Fauvism • Cubism • Futurism • Dada • Surrealism • Abstract Expressionism • Contemporary Art • Postmodern art
Eastern and Middle Eastern art: Buddhist art • Chinese art • Islamic art • Japanese art • Laotian art • Thai art • Tibetan art
Lists: Architects • Art movements • Art periods • Painters • Printmakers • Sculptors • Statues
Lists of basic topics: Visual arts • Architecture • Drawing • Film • Painting • Photography • Sculpture

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Did you know...

... that Bathsheba at Her Bath has been called "Rembrandt's greatest painting of the nude"?
...that Ananthabhadram, a film by Indian director Santhosh Sivan, was inspired by classical Kathakali dancing and paintings of Raja Ravi Varma?
...that the Royal Fort in Bristol was built with façades in Baroque, Palladian and Rococo styles because it was a compromise between the designs of three different architects?
...that Lil' Pimp was the first feature-length film to be created entirely with Macromedia Flash animation?
...that the world's tallest statue of Hindu god Lord Shiva (pictured) is located in Murudeshwara, a coastal town in Karnataka, India?
...that Henri Le Secq was a founding member of the short-lived, first ever photographic organization Société héliographique?