What is art?This is a big, big question. Here are some basic distinctions you may

want to consider.The fine arts

The fine arts are what most people mean when they just say

“art”. These include artistic disciplines such

as painting and sculpture. Typically, they are objects created to be

“beautiful”. Arts and crafts

A craft is a similar, related concept and we do use the term arts and

crafts. In arts and crafts, objects are created by hand. A good

example would be tapestry. The visual arts

These are the ones we look at and

include paintings, drawings and photographs. Does cinema

count? For some people, yes. Television? The plastic arts

These are the ones we can touch. A sculpture and a piece

of pottery are examples. Performance art

This is when you see someone performing and what they do/produce

is a piece of art. Theatre can be called a form of performance art,

perhaps a better example is juggling. We normally use this term for

art that is “different”. There is also a relatively new phenomenon of

the street artist. PicturesThere are many types of pictures. If it is picture of somebody, it is

generally a portrait. if it is a picture of a place, it is generally a

landscape. While a picture of an object by itself is a still life.

Three genres of picture possibly worth knowing are a

watercolour which is painted onto paper, an oil painting which is

normally painted onto canvas (a tent like material) and a

sketch which is normally a preparatory drawing.Philosophies of artArt has changed greatly over the ages. You certainly don’t need to be

able to talk about the differences between Renaissance art,

Mannerism, the Baroque, the Pre-Raphaelites, Impressionism and

Cubism – if you did, you would probably scare your IELTS examiner.

It might help to have this much knowledge though:

figurative/representational art: this is where the painting/object

looks like something from life

abstract art: this is where you see squares, circles and other shapes

and you cannot (immediately) tell what the painting is about

contemporary art: this is the art of now. It’s dangerous to use the

word “modern” because “modernism” in art actually happened quite

a long time ago (the 1930s was probably its heyday).Where do you see art?You normally find art in an art gallery. You walk around and admire

the exhibits in an exhibition, while discussing whether the

curator has got the lighting right and whether that picture should

really be hung next to that one.

Sometimes you might also find art in museums, but that is much less

common. For example, the British Museum has artefacts from

Britain’s past, while the National Gallery is a collection of art. Would you buy it?Art tends to be expensive. A masterpiece by Van Gogh could be said

to be priceless – that’s so expensive that no one has the money to

afford it. A lot of art forms part of a nation’s heritage and the

government protects it from sale abroad.People and artNot everyone likes art. People who like to spend a lot of time

admiring art are often termed culture vultures (a fairly idiomatic

term), while the idiom for people who dislike art is philistines.

 There is of course art and art. People who appreciate the

more elitist forms of art may be said to have highbrow tastes, while

those who prefer the less intellectual art forms may

have lowbrow tastes.What makes art special?Another big question. Some people think that it is important for a

work of art to be original or creative. Others would say that what

matters is how it appeals to our imagination.One or two idioms Perspective shows the depth of a picture – how many dimensions

you see. If you have/keep a sense of perspective, then you see a

problem/issue for what it is – often meaning that it is not as serious

as it seems.

If you describe someone as being no oil painting, be careful. This

means that they are ugly.Test your basic art vocabulary

Culture vulture or philistine?

Read more: Art vocabulary http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-vocabulary/art-vocabulary-and-exercises/#ixzz3VFd0Oxok Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives