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Art

Art

Art (or the creative arts) commonly refers to the act and process of making material works (or artworks) which, from concept to creation, hold a fidelity to the creative impulse —ie. 'art' is work distinct from creative work that is driven by necessity (ie. vocation), by biological drive (i.e. procreation), or (in art-purist contexts) by any undisciplined pursuit of recreation. The creative arts essentially denotes a collection of disciplines whose principal purpose (or sole purpose) is in the output of material whose creation is compelled by a personal drive —untainted by materialist, gratuitous, or wanton concerns—and echoing or reflecting a message, mood, and symbology for the viewer to interpret. As such, the term 'art' may be taken to include forms as diverse as prose writing, poetry, dance, acting, music (both performance and creation), sculpture and painting. In common parlance, 'art' is most commonly used to refer to the visual arts —in particular painting, drawing, and sculpting.
Etymology
The word art derives from the Latin ars, which, loosely translated, means "arrangement" or "to arrange". This is the only universal definition of art, that whatever is described as such has undergone a deliberate process of arrangement by an agent. A few examples where this meaning proves very broad include artifact, artificial, artifice, artillery, medical arts, and military arts. However, there are many other colloquial uses of the word, all with some relation to its etymological roots.
Currently recognized forms of art
There are a variety of arts, including visual arts and design, decorative arts, plastic arts, and the performing arts. Artistic expression takes many forms, painting, drawing, sculpture, music, literature, performance art, printmaking, film, and possibly architecture are the most widely recognised forms. However, since the advent of modernism and the technological revolution, new forms have emerged. These include, photography, comics, video art, installation art, conceptual art, land art, computer art and, most recently, video games. Within each form, a wide range of genres may exist. For instance, a painting may be a still life, a portrait, a landscape and may deal with historical or domestic subjects. In addition, a work of art may be representational or abstract. Most forms of art fit under two main categories: fine arts and applied arts, though there is no clear dividing line. In the visual arts, fine arts refers to painting, sculpture, and architecture, arts which have no practical function and are valued in terms of the visual pleasure they provide or their success in communicating ideas or feelings. The one exception is architecture, which involves designing structures that strive to be both attractive and functional. The term applied arts is most often used to describe the design or decoration of functional objects to make them visually pleasing. Artists who create applied arts or crafts are usually referred to as designers, artisans, or craftspeople.
Defining art
There is often confusion about the meaning of the term art because multiple meanings of the word are used interchangeably. Individuals use the word art to identify painting, as well as singing.
General characteristics of art
There follow some generally accepted characteristics of art; after this there is some lengthier discussion of several of those facets perceived as universal or central to art:
- encourages an intuitive understanding rather than a rational understanding, as, for example, with an article in a scientific journal;
- was created with the intention of evoking such an understanding, or an attempt at such an understanding, in the audience;
- elusive, in that the work may communicate on many different levels of appreciation; one may take the example of Gericault's Raft of the Medusa, in the case of which special knowledge concerning the shipwreck the painting depicts is not a prerequisite to appreciating it, but allows the appreciation of Gericault's political intentions in the piece;
- in relation to the above, the piece may offer itself to many different interpretations, or, though it superficially depicts a mundane event or object, invites reflection upon elevated themes;
- demonstrates a high level of ability or fluency within a medium; this characteristic might be considered a point of contention, since many modern artists (most notably, conceptual artists) do not themselves create the works they conceive, or do not even create the work in a conventional, demonstrative sense (one might think of Tracey Emin's controversial My Bed);
- the conferral of a particularly appealing or aesthetically satisfying structure or form upon an original set of unrelated, passive constituents.
Skill
Art can connote a sense of trained ability or mastery of a medium. It can also simply refer to the developed and efficient use of a language so as to convey meaning, with immediacy and or depth. A common view is that the epithet 'art' (particular in its elevated sense) requires a certain level of creative expertise by the artist, whether this be a demonstration of technical ability (such as one might find in many works of the Rennaisance or in the plays of Shakespeare) or an originality in stylistic approach, or a combination of these two. For example, a common contemporary criticism of some modern painting occurs along the lines of objecting to the apparent lack of skill or ability required in the production of the artistic object. One might take Emin's My Bed or Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, as examples of pieces wherein the artist exercised little to no traditionally recognised sets of skills. It should be noted that this is for varying reasons: in the first case, Emin simply slept (and engaged in other activities) in her bed before simply placing the result in a gallery; in the second, Hirst came up with the conceptual design for the artwork, and left its eventual creation to employued artisans. These approaches are exemplary of a particular kind of contemporary art, that being conceptual art. The exclusionary view that art requires a certain skill level to produce is often described as a lay critique and derives from the fact that in Western culture at least, art has traditionally been pushed in the direction of representationalism, the literal presentation of reality through literal images. On the other hand, criticism has often been brought to bear on modern artists for having no creative involvement whatsoever in their creations: one might take Hirst's work again as emblematic of this approach.
Judgments of value
Somewhat in relation to the above, the word art is also used to apply judgments of value, as in such expressions as "that meal was a work of art" (the cook is an artist), or "the art of deception," (the highly attained level of skill of the deceiver is praised). It is this use of the word as a measure of high quality and high value that gives the term its flavor of subjectivity. Making judgments of value requires a basis for criticism: at the simplest level, a way to determine whether the impact of the object on the senses meets the criteria to be considered art, whether it is perceived to be attractive or repellent. Though perception is always colored by experience, and thus a reaction to art on these grounds is necessarily subjective, it is commonly taken that that which is not aesthetically satisfying in some fashion cannot be art. However, "good" art is not always, or even regularly, aesthetically appealing to a majority of viewers. In other words, an artist's prime motivation need not be the pursuit of the aesthetic, and art often depicts terrible images made for social, moral, or thought-provoking reasons; for example, Francisco Goya's painting depicting the Spanish shootings of 3rd of May 1808 is a graphic depiction of a firing squad executing several pleading civilians, yet at the same time, the horrific imagery demonstrates Goya's keen artistic ability in composition and execution, and his fitting social and polical outrage. Thus the debate continues as to what mode of aesthetic satisfaction, if any, is required to define'art'. It should also be noted that the assumption of new values or the rebellion against accepted notions of what is aesthetically superior need not occur concurrently with a complete abandonment of the pursuit of that which is aesthetically appealing. Indeed, the reverse is often true, that in the revision of what is popularly conceived of as being aesthetically appealing allows for a re-invigoration of aesthetic sensibility, and a new appreciation for the standards of art itself. Countless schools have proposed their own ways to define quality, yet they all seem to agree in at least one point: once their aesthetic choices are accepted, the value of the work of art is determined by its capacity to transcend the limits of its chosen medium in order to strike some universal chord, or by the rarity of the skill of the artist, or in its accurate reflection in what is termed the zeitgeist.
Communicating emotion
Art appeals to human emotions. It can arouse aesthetic or moral feelings, and can be understood as a way of communicating these feelings. Artists have to express themselves so that their public is aroused, but they do not have to do so consciously. Art explores what is commonly termed as the human condition; that is, essentially, what it is to be human, and art of a superior kind often brings about some new insight concerning humanity (not always positive) or demonstrates a level of skill so fine as to push forward the boundaries of collective human ability. This is not to say that technical skill is a necessary prerequisite of art, but rather that a high degree of skill goes some way in conferring a judgement of high standard upon an artist or artwork.
Creative impulse
From one perspective, art is a generic term for any product of the creative impulse, out of which sprang all other human pursuits — such as science via alchemy, and religion via shamanism. The term 'art' offers no true definition besides those based within the cultural, historical and geographical context in which it is applied. Though to the artists themselves, the impulse to create is undeniable; an artist can no more deny that impulse than he/she could ignore breathing (one might compare Kandinsky's inner necessity to this popular view). It is because of the overbearing need to create, in the face of financial ruin, public obscurity or political opposition, that artists are typically conceived of as unstable, even crazy, or misguided.
Differences in Defining Art
Definitions of art and aesthetic arguments usually proceed from one of several possible perspectives. Art may be defined by the intention of the artist as in the writings of Dewey. Art may be seen as being in the response/emotion of the viewer as Tolstoy claims. In Danto's view, it can be defined as a character of the item itself or as a function of an object's context.
Plato
For Plato, art is a pursuit whose adherents are not to be trusted; given that their productions imitate the sensory world (itself an imitation of the divine world of forms) art necessarily is an imitation of an imitation, and thus is hopelessly far from the source of the truth. Plato, it may be noted, barred artists from access to his ideal city, in his Republic.
Aristotle
Aristotle saw art in less of a bad light; though he shared Plato's poor opinion of it, he nevertheless thought that art might serve a purpose in catharthis. That is, by witnessing the sufferings and celebrations of actors onstage onlookers might viacriously experience these same feelings themselves, and thereby purge such negative feelings.
Institutional definition
Many people's opinions of what art is would fall inside a relatively small range of accepted standards, or "institutional definition of art" (George Dickie 1974). This derives from education and other social factors. Most people did not consider the depiction of a Brillo Box or a store-bought urinal to be art until Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp (respectively) placed them in the context of art (i.e., the art gallery), which then provided the association of these objects with the values that define art. Most viewers of these objects initially rejected such associations, because the objects did not, themselves, meet the accepted criteria. The objects needed to be absorbed into the general consensus of what art is before they achieved the near-universal acceptance as art in the contemporary era. Once accepted and viewed with a fresh eye, the smooth, white surfaces of Duchamp's urinal are strikingly similar to classical marble sculptural forms, whether the artist intended it or not. This type of recontextualizing provides the same spark of connection expected from any traditionally created art. It should be noted, however, that Duchamps act might be as readily interpreted as a demonstration of the (not always beneficial) power of artistic institutions, rather than the universal art potentially inherent in all objects. It should also be noted that the placement of an object in an artistic context is not taken as a universal standard of art, but is a common characteristic of conceptual art, prevalent since the 1960s; notably, the Stuckist art movement criticises this tendency of recent art.
Related Issues

Social criticism
Art is often seen as belonging to one social class and excluding others. In this context, art is seen as a high-status activity associated with wealth, the ability to purchase art, and the leisure required to pursue or enjoy it. The palaces of Versailles or the Hermitage in St. Petersburg with their vast collections of art, amassed by the fabulously wealthy royalty of Europe exemplify this view. Collecting such art is the preserve of the rich. However, there is a (not always deliberate) tradition of artists bringing their vision down to earth, and inhabiting a mundane, even poverty stricken, world. The life of Vincent van Gogh is a classic example of this starving artist tradition, as is that of William Blake. It hardly needs to be mentioned, however, that few find such a state of existence desirable, and (bearing in mind that "poverty" in this sense also connotes a certain lack of public approval or appetite) that one of the near-defining characteristics of artists is a desire to be seen universally, if not always to be understood. Before the 13th century in Europe, artisans were considered to belong to a lower caste, since they were essentially manual labourers. After Europe was re-exposed to classical culture during the Renaissance, particularly in the nation states of what is now Italy (Florence, Siena), artists gained an association with high status. However, arrangements of "fine" and expensive goods have always been used by institutions of power as marks of their own status. This is seen in the 20th and 21st century by the commissioning or purchasing of art by big businesses and corporations as decoration for their offices.
The Issue of Utility
There are many who ascribe to certain arts the quality of being non-utilitarian. This fits within the "art as good" system of definitions and suffers from a class prejudice against labor and utility. Opponents of this view argue that all human activity has some utilitarian function, and these objects claimed to be "non-utilitarian" actually have the rather mundane and banal utility of attempting to mystify and codify unworkable justifications for arbitrary social hierarchy. It might also be argued that non-utilitarian is, in this context, a mis-usage; that art is not in and of itself, useless, but rather that it particularly use does not manifest itself in any traditionally demonstrable way (though advances in neuroscience may arguably enable the isolation of those assocaited cortexes of the brain concerned with the creation or appreciation of art). Art is also used by clinical psychologists as art therapy. The end product is not the principal goal in this case; rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought. The resultant piece of artwork may also offer insight into the troubles experienced by the subject and may suggest suitable approaches to be used in more conventional forms of psychiatric therapy. The "use" of art from the artist’s standpoint is as a means of expression. When art is conceived as a device, it serves several context and perspective specific functions. From the artist’s perspective it allows one to symbolize complex ideas and emotions in an arbitrary language subject only to the interpretation of the self and peers. In a social context, it can serve to soothe the soul and promote popular morale. In a more negative aspect of this facet, art is often utlisied as a form of propaganda, and thus can be used to subtly influence popular conceptions or mood (in some cases, artworks are appropriated to be used in this manner, without the creator's initial intention). From a more anthropological perspective, art is a way of passing ideas and concepts on to later generations in a (somewhat) universal language. The interpretation of this language is very dependent upon the observer’s perspective and context, and it might be argued that the very subjectivity of art demonstrates its importance in providing an arena in which rival ideas might be exchanged and discussed, or to provide a social context in which disparate groups of people might congregate and mingle.
History of Art
The term 'art history' typically refers to a historical examination of the various trends of the visual arts through certain periods of human history. It may also be taken to encompass a study of the theories of art, which may or not not include an examination of their historical context. See main article: Art history
Symbols
Much of the development of individual artist deals with finding principles for how to express certain ideas through various kinds of symbolism. For example, Vasily Kandinsky developed his use of color in painting through a system of stimulus response, where over time he gained an understanding of the emotions that can be evoked by color and combinations of color. Contemporary artist Andy Goldsworthy, on the other hand, chose to use the medium of found natural objects and materials to arrange temporary sculptures. See main article: Symbols
See also

- Aesthetics, the philosophy of beauty
- Art criticism
- Art groups
- Art history
- Art sale
- Art school
- Art styles, periods and movements
- Art techniques and materials
- Art theft
- Artist
- Definition of music
- Applied art
- Fine art
- Modern art
- Psychedelic art
- Philosophy of art
- What Is Art?
Further reading

- Peter Magyar, Thought palaces. Amsterdam: Architectura & Natura Press, 1999
- Aristotle, Metaphysics
- Plato, Theory of forms
- Carl Jung, Man and his Symbols
- Gyorgy Doczi, The Power of Limits.
- Benedetto Croce, Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic, 1902
External links
Resources
- [http://www.artlex.com ArtLex.com] - Dictionary of art terms
- [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/ Artcyclopedia.com] - Reference site
- [http://www.art-atlas.net Art-Atlas.Net] The International Art Directory
- [http://www.nelepets.com/art The Art Millennium] - Comprehensive Art Encyclopedia
- [http://www.all-art.org History of Art] - The Complete History of Art
- [http://www.theartsdirectory.info Art Directory] Directory of art links Essays
- [http://www.centrebouddhisteparis.org/En_Anglais/FWBO/The_Arts/the_arts.html Art and the spiritual life]
- [http://samvak.tripod.com/artist.html Art as a private language]
- [http://www.cycleback.com/fashiondisasters.html The Impossibleness of Art] by noted art historian David Cycleback
- [http://www.primitivism.com/case-art.htm The Case Against Art] Websites for Artists
- http://www.wetcanvas.com
- http://www.deviantart.com
- http://www.portraitartist.com
- http://www.passionforpaint.com
- http://www.multimediakunst.net
- http://www.artabus.com Category:Arts
- ms:Seni ja:芸術 simple:Art

Work
Work may mean:
- Work (project management), the effort applied to produce a deliverable or accomplish a task.
- Work (fine arts), a creation, such as a song or a painting.
- Work (professional wrestling), a staged event – that is, one that enforces kayfabe. The term originates from "working a crowd."
- Work (Charlie Chaplin film), a 1915 Charlie Chaplin silent film co-starring Edna Purviance.
- Mechanical work, defined in Physics as the integral of dot product of force times infinitesimal translation: :: $W = \int \mathbf \cdot \mathrm\mathbf$
- Manual labour, effort expended by people on productive activities in the home, school, or employment, or, by extension, one's place of employment or employer.
- In the context of career, "work" refers to a wide range of paid and unpaid productive activities, including full-time, part-time, casual and fixed-term employment, family responsibilities, voluntary and community service, education including school, further education and training, and cultural activities.
- In the context of spiritual development, "The Work" (generally capitalized) refers, in general, to "any way, school, or method that recognizes the fact of suffering and the cause of unnecessary suffering and works to lead a person back to his true nature, which will eliminate the unnecessary suffering." (A. H. Almaas, Diamond Heart-Book One, p. 32) Specific spiritual schools, such as the The Fourth Way, often refer to their own method of development as "The Work."
- In the context of textile arts, "work" may refer to any type of hand sewing or embroidery, as in needlework, Berlin wool work, blackwork, work basket, worked buttons.
- Work, a painting by Ford Madox Brown. ms:Kerja simple:Work

Writing

Writing may refer to two activities: the inscribing of characters on a medium, with the intention of forming words and other constructs that represent language or record information, and the creation of material to be conveyed through written language. (There are some exceptions; for example, the use of a typewriter to record language is generally called typing, rather than writing.) Writing refers to both activities equally, and both activities may often occur simultaneously.

Methods for recording information

Logographies

A logogram is a written character which represents a word or morpheme. The vast array of logograms needed to write a language, and the many years required to learn them, are the major disadvantage of the logographic systems over alphabetic systems. However, the efficiency of reading logographic writing once it is learned is a major advantage. No writing system is wholly logographic. All have phonetic components as well as logograms ("logosyllabic" components in the case of Chinese, cuneiform, and Mayan, where a glyph may stand for a morpheme, a syllable, or both; "logoconsonantal" in the case of hieroglyphs), and many have an ideographic component (Chinese "radicals", hieroglyphic "determiners".) For example, in Mayan, the glyph for "fin", pronounced ka, was used to represent the syllable ka whenever clarification was needed. However, such phonetic elements complement the logographic elements, rather than vice versa. The main logographic system in use today is Chinese, used with some modification for various languages of China, Japanese, and, to a lesser extent, Korean in South Korea. Another is the classical Yi script.
Syllabaries
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables. A glyph in a syllabary typically represents a consonant followed by a vowel, or just a vowel alone, though in some scripts more complex syllables (such as consonant-vowel-consonant, or consonant-consonant-vowel) may have dedicated glyphs. Phonetically related syllables are not so indicated in the script. For instance, the syllable ka may look nothing like the syllable ki, nor will syllables with the same vowels be similar. Syllabaries are best suited to languages with relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. Other languages that use syllabic writing include the Linear B script for Mycenaean Greek; Cherokee; Ndjuka, an English-based creole of Surinam; and the Vai script of Liberia. Most logographic systems have a strong syllabic component.
Alphabets
An alphabet is a small set of symbols, each of which roughly represents or historically represented a phoneme of the language. In a perfectly phonological alphabet, the phonemes and letters would correspond perfectly in two directions: a writer could predict the spelling of a word given its pronunciation, and a speaker could predict the pronunciation of a word given its spelling. As languages often evolve independently of their writing systems, and writing systems have been borrowed for languages they were not designed for, the degree to which letters of an alphabet correspond to phonemes of a language varies greatly from one language to another and even within a single language. In most of the alphabets of the Mid-East, only consonants are indicated, or vowels may be indicated with optional diacritics. Such systems are called abjads. In other, vowels are indicated through diacritics or modification of the shape of the consonant. These are called abugidas. Some abugidas, such as Ethiopic and Cree, are learned by children as syllabaries, and are often called "syllabics". However, unlike true syllabaries, there is not an independent glyph for each syllable. Sometimes the term "alphabet" is restricted to systems with separate letters for consonants and vowels, such as the Latin alphabet.
Featural scripts
A featural script notates the building blocks of the phonemes that make up a language. For instance, all sounds pronounced with the lips ("labial" sounds) may have some element in common. In the Latin alphabet, this is accidentally the case with the letters b and p; however, labial m is completely dissimilar, and the similar-looking q is not labial. In Korean Hangul, however, all four labial consonants are based on the same basic element. However, in practice, Korean is learned by children as an ordinary alphabet, and the featural elements tend to pass unnoticed. Another featural script is SignWriting, the most popular writing system for many sign languages, where the shapes and movements of the hands and face are represented iconically. Featural scripts are also common in fictional or invented systems, such as Tolkien's Tengwar.
Historical significance of writing systems
Historians draw a distinction between prehistory and history, with history defined by the advent of writing. The cave paintings and petroglyphs of prehistoric peoples can be considered precursors of writing, but are not considered writing because they did not represent language directly. Writing systems always develop and change based on the needs of the people who use them. Sometimes the shape, orientation and meaning of individual signs also changes over time. By tracing the development of a script it is possible to learn about the needs of the people who used the script as well as how it changed over time.
Tools
(see methods of representing text)
Writing in Historical Cultures

Mesopotamia
The original Mesopotamian writing system was initially derived from a system of clay tokens used to represent commodities. By the end of the 4th millennium BC, this had evolved into a method of keeping accounts, using imprints of a wedge-shaped stylus (hence the term cuneiform), atfirst only for numbers, and finally a general purpose writing system, initially used to represent Sumerian. This writing system was originally a logographic writing system, but had begun to evolve phonetic elements by the 29th century BC. By the 26th century BC, this script had been adapted to another Mesopotamian language, Akkadian, and from there to others such as Hurrian, and Hittite. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for Ugaritic and Old Persian.
Egypt
The earliest known hieroglyphic inscriptions are the Narmer Palette, dating to c.3200 BC, and several recent discoveries that may be slightly older, though the glyphs were based on a much older artistic tradition. The hieroglyphic script was logographic with phonetic adjuncts that included an effective alphabet. Writing was very important in maintaining the Egyptian empire, and literacy was concentrated among an educated elite of scribes. Only people from certain backgrounds were allowed to train to become scribes, in the service of temple, pharaonic, and military authorities. The hieroglyph system was always difficult to learn, but in later centuries was purposefully made even more so, as this preserved the scribes' status. The world's oldest known alphabet was developed in central Egypt around 2000 BC from a hieroglyphic prototype, and over the next 500 years spread to Palestine and eventually to the rest of the world.
Phoenician writing system and descendents
The Phoenician writing system was adapted from the Proto-Caananite script in around the 11th century BC, which in turn borrowed ideas from Egyptian hieroglyphics. This writing system was an abjad - that is, a writing system in which only consonants are represented. This script was adapted by the Greeks, who adapted certain consonantal signs to represent their vowels. This alphabet in turn was adapted by various peoples to write their own language, resulting in the Etruscan alphabet, and its own descendents, such as the Latin alphabet and Runes. Other descendents from the Greek alphabet include the Cyrillic alphabet, used to write Russian, among others. The Phoenician system was also adapted into the Aramaic script, from which the Hebrew script and also that of Arabic are descended.
China
In China historians have found out a lot about the early Chinese dynasties from the written documents left behind. From the Shang Dynasty most of this writing has survived on bones or bronze implements. Markings on turtle shells have been carbon-dated to around 1,500 BC. Historians have found that the type of media used had an effect on what the writing was documenting and how it was used.
Indus Valley
The Indus Valley script is one of the most fascinating and mysterious aspects of ancient Indian culture as it has not yet been deciphered. Although we have many example of the Indus script, without true understanding of how the script works and what the inscriptions say, it is impossible to understand the importance of writing in the pre-Indo-European Harappan Civilization.
Elsewhere
Many other systems have been developed independently, e.g. the complex Mayan writing; Etruscan is still not deciphered despite a fairly large corpus of material (mainly Latin and Greek).
Creation of text or information

Creativity
In order to write a creative essay or short story, there are several tools that you can employ: dialogue (conversation and your thoughts) sensory imagery (the five senses and your feelings) dialect concrete details (as opposed to abstract ideas) literary devices (such as similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, and understatement)
Author

Critiques
Writers will often search out others to evaluate or critique their work. This can give the writer a better product in the end. To this end, many writers join writing circles, often found at local libraries or bookstores. With the evolution of the internet, writing circles have started to go [http://www.dragonfly-publishing.com/members/index.php online].
See also

- author
- boustrophedon text
- calligraphy
- communication
- creative writing
- decipherment
- interactive fiction
- linguistics
- literacy
- manuscript
- orthography
- pencil
- printing
- publishing
- speech
- graphonomics
- word processing
- writer
- writing slate
- writing systems
- List of writers' conferences
Further reading

- A History of Writing: From Hieroglyph to Multimedia, edited by Anne-Marie Christin, [http://www.flammarion.com/groupe/ Flammarion] (in French, hardcover: 408 pages, 2002, ISBN 2080108875)
- [http://www.lichtensteiger.de/methoden.html Das "Anrennen gegen die Grenzen der Sprache" Diskussion mit Roland Barthes, André Breton, Gilles Deleuze & Raymond Federman] by Ralph Lichtensteiger
- [http://www.authorssociety.org/ By writers for writers Authors Society.org]
- [http://www.ancientscripts.com/ws.html Origins of writing on AncientScripts.com]
- [http://www.delmar.edu/engl/instruct/stomlin/1301int/lessons/language/history.htm History of Writing]
- [http://www.writing.com/ Writing.Com: Online Writing]: A site for writers to exchange feedback ;ERIC Digests
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/writing.htm Writing Instruction: Current Practices in the Classroom]
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/development.htm Writing Development]
- [http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/views.htm Writing Instruction: Changing Views over the Years]
- ja:筆記 simple:Writing

Sculpture

A sculpture is a three-dimensional, man-made object selected for special recognition as art.

Materials of Sculpture

The materials of historical sculpture

The only historical sculptures that are available to us were those made with materials permanent enough to survive their environments until today. Sculpture made for royal courts or large public works were often produced in expensive durable materials, primarily bronze and stone such as marble, limestone, porphyry, and granite. More rarely precious materials such as gold and ivory were used for chryselephantine works. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including wood such as oak, box and lime; terracotta and other ceramics; spelter; and metals such as pewter. Although rarely used for final works, the sculptor would make use of ephemeral materials such as plaster of paris, wax, clay and even plasticine in the case of the victorian Alfred Gilberts maquettes for 'Eros' at Piccadilly Circus, London.

Contemporary materials

maquette, England. This was sculpted with a chain saw from a standing tree, which was diseased and due to be felled]] Most traditional sculpture materials are still in wide use today. However, advancements in technology and changes have broadened the range of materials sculptors can choose to use, including glass and sand, aluminum, polymers and many other synthetic materials, and liquid crystals. Some sculptures are multimedia, for example sound sculptures which, as their name implies, produce sound. Many artists use video and computers in their sculptures as well. Computers and motors can also be used in sculptures, leading to works that may be classified as robotic. Sculptors are constantly searching for new ways to make art and for new materials to make it with, including blood, feces, dead animals. See also body fluids in art. Andy Goldsworthy is notable at a sculptor for his use of almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. In his late writings, Joan Miró even proposed that some day sculptures might be made of gases; see gas sculpture.

Sculpture around the world

:See also History of sculpture

Asian

:See also Buddhist art Many different forms of sculpture were in use in the many different regions of Asia, often based around the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. A great deal of Cambodian Buddhist sculpture is preserved at Angkor, however organized looting has had a heavy impact on many sites around the country. Also see Angkor Wat. In Thailand, sculpture was almost exclusively of Buddha images. Many Thai sculptures or temples tended to be gilded, and on occasion enriched with inlays. See also Thai art

India

:See also Indian Art During the 2nd to 1st century BCE in India, sculptures became more explicit, representing episodes of the Buddha’s life and teachings. Although India had a long sculptural tradition and a mastery of rich iconography, the Buddha was never represented in human form, but only through some of his symbols. Gandharan Buddhist sculpture displays Greek artistic influence, and it has been suggested that the concept of the “man-god” was essentially inspired by Greek mythological culture. Artistically, the Gandharan school of sculpture is said to have contributed wavy hair, drapery covering both shoulders, shoes and sandals, acanthus leaf decorations, etc. The pink sandstone sculptures of Mathura evolved during the Gupta period (4th to 6th century) to reach a very high fineness of execution and delicacy in the modeling. Sculptures in Afghanistan, in stucco, schist or clay, display very strong blending of Indian post-Gupta mannerism and Classical influence, Hellenistic or possibly even Greco-Roman.

China

:See also Chinese art Chinese artifacts date back as early as 10,000 BC -- and skilled,Chinese artisans have been active up to the present time -- but the bulk of what is displayed as sculpture in Euro-culture museums come from a few, select, historical periods. The first period of interest has been the Zhou dynasty (1050-771 BC), from which come a variety of intricate bronze vessels. The next period of interest was the Han Dyanasy ( 206 BC - 220 AD) -- beginning with the spectacular Terracotta army assembled for the tomb of the first emperor of the very brief Chin dynasty that preceded it. (Qin Shi Huang) in 210–209 BC.) Tombs excavated from the Han period have revealed many figures found to be vigorous, direct, and appealing 2000 years later. The period now considered to be China's golden age is the Tang Dynasty. (coinciding with what in Europe is sometimes called "The Dark Ages". Decorative figures like those shown below became very popular in 20th Century Euro-American culture, and were made available in bulk as warlords in the Chinese civil wars exported them to raise cash: Considered especially desirable, and even profound, was the Buddhist sculpture, often monumental, begun in the Sui Dynasty, inspired by the Indian art of the Gupta period, and many are considered treasures of world art: Following the Tang, Western interest in Chinese artifacts drops off dramatically, except for might be considered ornamental furnishings, and especially objects in jade. Pottery from many periods have been collected, and again the Tang period stands out apart for its free, easy feeling. Chinese sculpture has no nudes --other perhaps than figures made for medical training or practice -- and very little portraiture compared with the European tradition. One place where sculptural portraiture was pursued, however, was in the monasteries: Almost nothing, other than jewelry, jade, or pottery is collected by art museums after the Ming period ended in the late 17th century -- and absolutely nothing has yet been recognized as sculpture from the tumultuous 20th century, although there was a school of Soviet-influenced social realist sculpture in the early decades of the Communist regime, and as the century turned, Chinese craftsmen began to dominate commerical sculpture genres (the collector plates, figurines, toys, etc) and avant garde Chinese artists began to participate in the Euro-American enterprise of contemporary art. Image:AIC-winejar2.jpg Image:XianCavalryman.JPG Image:AIC-chimera.jpg Image:AIC-hantomb.jpg Image:AIC-tang-rider2.jpg Image:AIC-tang-girl.jpg Image:AIC-Boddhisatva-side.jpg Image:AIC-jade-dragon-cup.jpg Image:AIC-lushanjar.jpg Image:AIC-portrait-monk.jpg Image:Doctors lady.jpg

Japan

:See also Japanese art, Japanese sculpture Countless paints and sculpture were made, often under governmental sponsorship. Most Japanese sculpture is associated with religion, and the medium's use declined with the lessening importance of traditional Buddhism. During the Kofun period of the third century, clay sculptures called haniwa were erected outside tombs. Inside the Kondo at Horyu-ji is a Shaka Trinity (623), the historical Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas and also the Guardian Kings of the Four Directions The wooden image ( 9th c.) of Shakyamuni, the "historic" Buddha, enshrined in a secondary building at the Muro-ji, is typical of the early Heian sculpture, with its ponderous body, covered by thick drapery folds carved in the hompa-shiki (rolling-wave) style, and its austere, withdrawn facial expression. The Kei school of sculptors, particularly Unkei, created a new, more realistic style of sculpture. The two Nio guardian images (1203) in the Great South Gate of the Todaiji in Nara illustrate Unkei's dynamic suprarealistic style.

Africa

:See also African art African art has an emphasis on Sculpture - African artists tend to favor three-dimensional artworks over two-dimensional works. The earliest known sculptures are from the Nok culture of Nigeria, made around 500 BCE.

Egypt

:See also Art of Ancient Egypt The ancient art of Egyptian sculpture evolved to represent the ancient Egyptian gods, and Pharaohs, the divine kings and queens, in physical form. Very strict conventions were followed while crafting statues: male statues were darker than the female ones; in seated statues, hands were required to be placed on knees and specific rules governed appearance of every Egyptian god. Artistic works were ranked according to exact compliance with all the conventions, and the conventions were followed so strictly that over three thousand years, very little changed in the appearance of statutes.

United States

The history of sculpture in the United States reflects the country's 18th century foundation in Roman republican civic values as well as Protestant Christianity. American sculpture of the mid to late 19th century was often classical, often romantic, but showed a special bent for a dramatic, narrative, almost journalistic realism. Public buildings of the first half of the 20th century often provided an architectural setting for sculpture, especially in relief. In the 1950s traditional sculpture education would almost be completely replaced by a Bauhaus influenced concern for abstract design. Minimalist sculpture (Richard Serra) often replaced the figure in public settings. Modern sculptors use both classical and abstract inspired designs.

Europe

An overview of forms abstract bust at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 19th century.]] Some common forms of sculpture are:
- The bust, a representation of a person from the chest up.
- Equestrian (horse) sculpture
- Free-standing sculpture, not intended to be displayed on a pedestal or shelf
- Fountain
- "In the round": designed by the sculptor to be viewed from any angle.
- Jewellery
- Mobile (See also Calder's Stabiles.)
- Relief: sculpture still attached to a background, standing out from that ground in "High Relief" or "Low Relief" (bas relief)
- Site-Specific Art
- Statue Statue] Perhaps the majority of public art is sculpture. See also sculpture garden.

Greek-Roman-classical

:See also Sculpture of Ancient Greece Features unique to the European Classical tradition: #full figures: using the young, athletic male or full-bodied female nude #portraits: showing signs of age and strong character #use of classical costume and attributes of classical deities #Concern for naturalism based on observation, often from live models. Features that the European Classical tradition shares with many others: #characters present an attitude of distance and inner contentment #details do not disrupt a sense of rhythm between solid volumes and the spaces that surround them #pieces feel solid and larger than they really are #ambient space feels sacred or timeless The topic of Nudity Sculpture of Ancient Greece A Nude or 'unadorned' figure in Greek classical sculpture was a reference to the status or role of the depicted person, deity or other being. Athletes, priestesses and gods could be identified by their adornment or lack of it. The Renaissance preoccupation with Greek classical imagery, such as the 4th century B.C. Doryphoros of Polykleitos, led to nude figurative statues being seen as the 'perfect form' of representation for the human body. Subsequently, nudity in sculpture and painting has represented a form of ideal, be it innocence, openness or purity. Nude sculptures are still common. As in painting, they are often made as exercises in efforts to understand the anatomical structure of the human body and develop skills that will provide a foundation for making clothed figurative work. Nude statues are usually widely accepted by most societies, largely due to the length of tradition that supports this form. Occasionally, the nude form draws objections, often by fundamentalist moral or religious groups. Classic examples of this are the removal of penises from the Vatican collection of Greek sculpture and the addition of a fig leaf to a plaster cast of Michelangelo's sculpture of David for Queen Victoria's visit to the British Museum. The topic of social status Worldwide, sculptors are usually tradesmen whose work is unsigned. But in the Classical tradition, some sculptors began to receive individual recognition in Periclean Athens and more so in the Renaissance revival 2000 years later, culminating in the career of Michelangelo who entered the circle of princes. Sculpture was still a trade, but exceptional sculptors were recognized on a level with exceptional poets and painters. In the 19th century, sculpture also became a bourgeois/upper class avocation, as poetry and painting had been, and the classical work of women sculptors began to appear.

Gothic

Gothic sculpture evolved from the early stiff and elongated style, still partly Romanesque, into a spatial and naturalistic feel in the late 12th and early 13th century. The architectural statues at the Western (Royal) Portal at Chartres Cathedral (ca. 1145) are the earliest Gothic sculptures and were a revolution in style and the model for a generation of sculptors. Prior to this there had been no sculpture tradition in Ile-de-France—so sculptors were brought in from Burgundy. The Bamberg Cathedral had the largest assemblage of 13th century sculpture. In England sculpture was more confined to tombs and non-figurine decorations. In Italy there was still a Classical influence, but Gothic made inroads in the sculptures of pulpits such as the Pisa Baptistery pulpit (1269) and the Siena pulpit. Dutch-Burgundian sculptor Claus Sluter and the taste for naturalism signaled the beginning of the end of Gothic sculpture, evolving into the classicistic Renaissance style by the end of the 15th century.

Renaissance

:See also Renaissance Renaissance Renaissance ]] Sculpture was also revived, in many cases before the other arts. There was a very obvious naturalism about contemporary sculpture, and highly true to life figures were being sculpted. One of the most important sculptors in the classical revival was Donatello. His greatest achievement of his classic period is the bronze David (not to be confused with Michelangelo's David), which is currently located at the Bargello in Florence. At the time of its creation, it was the first free-standing nude statue since ancient times. Conceived fully in the round and independent of any architectural surroundings, it was the first major work of Renaissance sculpture. Among the many sculptures of Michelangelo are those of David and the Pietà, as well as the Doni Virgin, Bacchus, Moses, Rachel, Leah, and members of the Medici family. Michelangelo's David is possibly the most famous sculpture in the world, which was unveiled on September 8, 1504. It is an example of the contrapposto style of posing the human figure. Michelangelo's statue of David differs from previous representations of the subject in that David is depicted before his battle with Goliath and not after the giant's defeat. Instead of being shown victorious over a foe much larger than he, David looks tense and ready for combat.

Mannerist

Benvenuto Cellini created a salt cellar of gold and ebony in 1540 featuring Neptune and Amphitrite (earth and water) in elongated form and uncomfortable positions. It is considered a masterpiece of Mannerist sculpture.

Baroque

contrapposto]] In Baroque sculpture, groups of figures assumed new importance, and there was a dynamic movement and energy of human forms— they spiralled around an empty central vortex, or reached outwards into the surrounding space. For the first time, Baroque sculpture often had multiple ideal viewing angles. The characteristic Baroque sculpture added extra-sculptural elements, for example, concealed lighting, or water fountains. Bernini was undoubtedly the most important sculptor of the Baroque period. His first works were inspired by Hellenistic sculpture of ancient Greece and imperial Rome he could study in the new seat. One of his most famous works is Ecstasy of St Theresa

Neo-Classical

The sculpture examples they actually embraced were more likely to be Roman copies of Hellenistic sculptures. In sculpture, the most familiar representatives are the Italian Antonio Canova, the Englishman John Flaxman and the Dane Bertel Thorvaldsen.

Modernism

Modern Classicism contrasted in many ways with the classical sculpture of the 19th Century which was was characterized by commitments to naturalism (Antoine-Louis Barye) -- the melodramatic (François Rude) sentimentality (Jean Baptiste Carpeaux)-- or a kind of stately grandiosity (Lord Leighton) Several different directions in the classical tradition were taken as the century turned, but the study of the live model and the post-Renaissance tradition was still fundamental to them. Lord Leighton, France.]] Auguste Rodin was the most renowned European sculptor of the early 20th century. He might be considered as sui generis -- that is, if anyone successfully composed in his turbulent, virtuosic style, they have yet to be discovered. But he is often considered a sculptural Impressionist, like Medardo Rosso, Count Troubetski, and Rik Wouters, attempting to frame the charm of a fleeting moment of daily life. Modern Classicism showed a lesser interest in naturalism and a greater interest in formal stylization. Greater attention was paid to the rhythms of volumes and spaces - as well as greater attention to the contrasting qualities of surface (open, closed, planar, broken etc) while less attention was paid to story-telling and convincing details of anatomy or costume. Greater attention was given to psychological realism than to physical realism. Greater attention was given to showing what was eternal and public, rather than what was momentary and private. Greater attention was given to examples of ancient and Medieval sacred arts:Egyptian, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, and Meso-American. Grandiosity was still a concern, but in a broader, more world-wide context. Early masters of modern classicism included: Aristide Maillol,Alexander Matveev, Joseph Bernard, Antoine Bourdelle, Georg Kolbe, Libero Andreotti, Gustav Vigeland, Jan Stursa As the century progressed, modern classicism was adopted as the national style of the two great European totalitarian empires: Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, who co-opted the work of early masters, like Kolbe and Arno Breker in Germany, and Matveev in Russia. Nazi Germany had a 15-year run; but over the 70 years of the USSR, new generations of sculptors were trained and chosen within their system, and a distinct style, socialist realism, developed, that returned to the 19th century's emphasis on melodrama and naturalism. socialist realism In the rest of Europe, the modern classical became either more decorative/art deco (Paul Manship,Carl Milles) or more abstractly stylized (Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti,Julio González (sculptor)) or more expressive (and Gothic) (Anton Hanak,Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Ernst Barlach, Arturo Martini) -- or turned more to the Renaissance (Giacomo Manzu, Venanzo Crocetti) or stayed the same (Charles Despiau, Marcel Gimond). Classical training was rooted out of art education in Western Europe (and the Americas) by 1970 and the classical variants of the 20th Century were marginalized in the history of modernism. But classicism continued as the foundation of art education in the Soviet academies until 1990, providing a foundation for expressive figurative art throughout eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East. By the year 2000, the European classical tradition maintains a wide appeal to viewers -especially tourists - and especially for the ancient, Renaissance, Baroque, and 19th century periods -- but awaits an educational tradition to revive its contemporary development. Modernist movements included Cubism, Futurism, Minimalism, Installation art and Pop-Art.

Contemporary Sculpture genres

Some modern sculpture forms are now practiced outdoors, and often in full view of spectators, thus giving them kinship to performance art in the eyes of some. Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Popular in China, Japan, Canada, Sweden and Russia. Ice sculptures feature decoratively in some cuisines, especially in Asia. Kinetic sculptures are sculptures that are designed to move, which include Mobiles. Snow sculptures are usually carved out of a single block of snow about 6 to 15 feet on each side and weighing about 20 - 30 tons. The snow is densely packed into a form after having been produced by artificial means or collected from the ground after a snowfall. Sound sculptures take the form of indoor sound installations, outdoor installations such as aeolian harps, automatons, or be more or less near conventional musical instruments. Sound sculpture is often site-specific. A Sand castle can be regarded as a sand sculpture. Other arts which can be regarded as sculptures include:
- Hologram
- pottery
- glass blowing
- costume
- mask
- doll

Greenfield Products Pty Ltd v. Rover-Scott Bonnar Ltd

The Australian copyright case of Greenfield Products Pty Ltd v. Rover-Scott Bonnar Ltd (1990) 17 IPR 417 is authority for the proposition that a thing not intended to be a sculpture is not a sculpture. This seems contrary to some famous examples of sculpture, including Marcel Duchamp's 1917 sculpture consisting of a porcelain urinal lying on its back, titled Fountain, and Carl Andre's sculpture Equivalent III exhibited in the Tate Gallery in 1978, consisting of bricks stacked in a rectangle.

External links

Sculpture basic topics, Portugal]]
- [http://engcom.ipsec.ro/Brancusi/index.html Sculptors from Romania] - Sculptors from Romania
- [http://www.modernsculpture.com/ ModernArts & ModernSculpture.com] - shows contemporary and some historical sculpture
- [http://www.sculptor.org www.sculptor.org, sculptor.org] - resources for sculptors
- [http://www.sculpture.org International Sculpture Center]
- [http://www.sculpture.org.uk/ Cass Sculpture Foundation]
- [http://www.traces.ws/sculpture Traces] - career resource for stone sculptors
- [http://www.scultura-italiana.com/ The Italian Sculpture!] - many images of historical sculptures
- [http://aboutstone.org/ About Stone] - About Stone fosters mutual interests, understanding and contacts amongst people who work with stone Sculpture Category:Arts ja:彫刻 simple:Sculpting

Visual art

The visual arts are a class of artforms, including painting, sculpture, photography, and others, that focus on the creation of artworks which are primarily visual in nature. The visual arts are distinguished from the performing arts, language arts, culinary arts, and other such classes of artwork. The definition is not strict, and many artistic disciplines involve aspects of the visual arts as well other types. In Britain until recently the fine arts—painting, sculpture, printmaking, et cetera—were seen as distinct from craft disciplines such as applied art, design, textiles, and the various metalworking disciplines such as blacksmithing and jewellery. This distinction arose from the work of a group of artists led by William Morris known as the Arts and Crafts Movement whose political aim was to value vernacular artforms as much as high forms. The movement was at odds with modernists who sought to withhold the high arts from the masses by keeping them esoteric. The result of the conflict between the two groups was to politicise the products of what we now know as visual artists. British art schools made a clear distinction between the fine arts (a term that hints at their supposed superiority) and the crafts in such a way that a craftsperson could not be considered a practitioner of high art. Although this is no longer the case, the residue of inequality between the crafts or applied arts and the so-called fine arts still exists in some quarters. In Britain the term "visual arts" is suitably independent of these older, loaded concepts and as such is the preferred term for work across all the disciplines in question. A similar stigma exists in the US, where "arts and crafts" has a very particular meaning, denoting the sort of artwork first taught in elementary school and also (later in life) a variety of kitsch, household artwork. Most craftspeople are still seen as practicing something other than "fine art" among the traditional art school set, but, of course, can produce "high art", in any medium.

Common types of visual art

- Body art
- Ceramics
- Comics
- Concept art
- Decorative arts
- Depliage
- Design
- Drawing
- Film
- Found art
- Installation art
- Intervention art
- Graffiti
- Land art
- Light art
- Mail art
- Minimal Art
- Painting
- Photography
- Printmaking
- Sculpture
- Sound art
- Textile art
- Video art

History of the visual arts

- History of art
- History of film
- History of design
- History of fashion
- History of painting
- History of photography
- History of sculpture

References

External links

- [http://www.artlex.com/ ArtLex] - online dictionary of visual art terms.
- [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm Art History Timeline] by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- [http://people.msoe.edu/~mccrawt/resume/papers/HU438/mccrawt_hu438_art.pdf Tenability of the Distinction Between Arts and Crafts] - essay. (PDF)
- [http://www.passionforpaint.com/BudgetArtCollecting.html The (Budget) Wise Art Collector]
- Visual arts Category:Topic lists ko:미술 ja:視覚芸術

Skill

A skill is an ability, usually learned, to perform actions.
- Interpersonal communication
- Speech: Listening, talking, interpersonal communication,
- Nonverbal communication
- Literacy: writing, reading
- e-skills (the ability to use information and communication technologies)
- Motor skills
- Walking, Arts and crafts, Sport Miscellaneous
- Charisma
- Perception
- Persuasion
- Procedural memory, knowledge, expertise, Fluency
- Profession
- Theory of multiple intelligences
- Thinking and Intelligence, IQ

Artifact

An artifact (also artefact) refers to any object or process resulting from human activity which represents things from the past. The specific meanings of the word are several:
- An artifact in archaeology
- An artifact of observation
- An artifact of fantasy
- A cultural artifact (from sociology)
- An artifact of railways
- An artifact in software engineering
- A compression artifact in computer science, resulting from lossy data compression
- Artifact is a name of an online multiplayer game
- Artifacts is a tribal ambient album by the American artist Steve Roach
- Artifact in electronic information is distortion that is not associated with the actual information in the real world.

Medicine

Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with maintaining human health and restoring it by treating disease and injury; it is both an area of knowledge, a science of body systems and diseases and their treatment, and the applied practice of that knowledge. The practice of medical care is shared between the medical profession—physicians or doctors—and other groups of professionals, such as nurses or pharmacists (sometimes called allied health professions). Historically, only members of the medical profession proper have been considered to actually practice medicine in the strictest sense, in contrast to the allied fields of health care professionals. Clinicians can be physicians, nurses, or physician assistants -- those who provide health care or otherwise tend to their patients. The medical profession is the social and occupational structure of the group of people formally trained and authorized to apply medical knowledge. Many countries and legal jurisdictions have legal limitations on who may practice medicine or the allied medical fields. Medicine is typically seen as composed of various specialized sub-branches, such as pediatrics, gynecology, neurology, dealing with particular body systems, diseases, or areas of health. Systems of medical and healthcare practices have existed among human societies since at least the dawn of recorded history. These systems have developed in various ways in different cultures and regions. Medicine as understood in the modern period has historically been considered to be the mainstream tradition which developed in the Western world since the early modern age. Many other traditions of medicine and healthcare are still widely practiced throughout the world, most of which are still considered to be separate and distinct from Western medicine, also called biomedicine or the Hippocratic tradition. The most highly developed systems of medicine outside the Western system are the Ayurvedic tradition of India and traditional Chinese medicine. Various non-mainstream traditions of health care have also developed in the Western world distinct from mainstream medicine. The various other systems practiced among various cultures are sometimes practiced alongside or in cooperation with Western medicine, while sometimes being seen as competing traditions. Medicine is also often used amongst medical professionals as shorthand for Internal Medicine. Veterinary medicine is the practice of health care specialized for other animal species.

History of medicine

Medicine as it is practiced now is rooted in various traditions, but developed mainly in the late 18th and early 19th century in Germany (Rudolf Virchow) and France (Jean-Martin Charcot, Claude Bernard and others). The new, "scientific" medicine replaced earlier Western traditions of medicine, mostly based on the "four humours" and other pre-modern theories. The focal points of development of clinical medicine shifted to the United Kingdom and the USA by the early 1900s (Sir William Osler, Harvey Cushing). Evidence-based medicine is the recent movement to link the practice and the science of medicine more closely through the use of the scientific method and modern information science. Genomics and knowledge of human genetics is already having a large influence on medicine, as the causative genes of most monogenic genetic disorders have now identified, and the development of techniques in molecular biology and genetics are influencing medical practice and decision-making.

Practice of medicine

The practice of medicine combines both science and art. Science and technology are the evidence base for many clinical problems for the general population at large. The art of medicine is the application of this medical knowledge in combination with intuition and clinical judgment to determine the proper diagnoses and treatment plan for this unique patient and to treat the patient accordingly. Central to medicine is the patient-doctor relationship established when a person with a health concern or problem seeks the help of a physician (i.e. the medical encounter). Other health professionals similarly establish a relationship with a patient and may perform interventions from their perspective, e.g. nurses, radiographers and therapists. As part of the medical encounter, the doctor needs to:
- develop a relationship with the patient
- gather data (medical history and physical examination combined with laboratory or imaging studies)
- analyze and synthesize that data (assessment and/or differential diagnosis), and then
- develop a treatment plan (further testing, therapy, watchful observation, referral and follow-up)
- treat the patient accordingly
- assess the progress of treatment and alter the plan as necessary. The medical encounter is documented in a medical record, which is a legal document in many jurisdictions. One method that is used is called the problem-oriented medical record (POMR), which includes a problem list of diagnoses and a "SOAP" method of documentation for each visit:
- S - Subjective, the medical history of the problem from the point-of-view of the patient.
- O - Objective, the physical examination and any laboratory or imaging studies.
- A - Assessment, is the medical decision-making process including the differential diagnoses and most probable diagnoses.
- P - Plan, the way resolve the problem and monitor progress

Medical systems

Medicine is practiced within the medical system of a particular culture or government. Leaving aside tribal cultures, the most significant divide in developed countries is that between universal health care and the market based health care (such as practiced in the U.S.).

Patient-doctor relationship

The doctor-patient relationship and interaction is a central process in the practice of medicine. There are many perspectives from which to understand and describe it. An idealized physician's perspective, such as is taught in medical school, sees the core aspects of the process as the physician learning from the patient his symptoms, concerns and values; in response the physician examines the patient, interprets the symptoms, and formulates a diagnosis to explain the symptoms and their cause to the patient and to propose a treatment. In more detail, the patient presents a set of complaints or concerns about his health to the doctor, who then obtains further information about the patient's symptoms, previous state of health, living conditions, and so forth, and then formulates a diagnosis and enlists the patient's agreement to a treatment plan. Importantly, during this process the doctor educates the patient about the causes, progression, outcomes, and possible treatments of his ailments, as well as often providing advice for maintaining health. This teaching relationship is the basis of calling the physician doctor, which originally meant "teacher" in Latin. The patient-doctor relationship is additionally complicated by the patient's suffering (patient derives from the Latin patiens, "suffering") and limited ability to relieve it on his own. The doctor's expertise comes from his knowledge about, or experience with, other people who have suffered similar symptoms, and his presumed ability to relieve it with medicines or other therapies about which the patient may initially have little knowledge. The doctor-patient relationship can be analyzed from the perspective of ethical concerns, in terms of how well the goals of non-maleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice are achieved. Many other values and ethical issues can be added to these. In different societies, periods, and cultures, different values may be assigned different priorities. For example, in the last 30 years medical care in the Western World has increasingly emphasized patient autonomy in decision making. The relationship and process can also be analyzed in terms of social power relationships (e.g., by Michel Foucault), or economic transactions. Physicians have been accorded gradually higher status and respect over the last century, and they have been entrusted with control of access to prescription medicines as a public health measure. This represents a concentration of power and carries both advantages and disadvantages to particular kinds of patients with particular kinds of conditions. A further twist has occurred in the last 25 years as costs of medical care have risen, and a third party (an insurance company or government agency) now often insists upon a share of decision-making power for a variety of reasons, reducing freedom of choice of both doctors and patients in many ways. The quality of the patient-doctor relationship is important to both parties. The better the relationship in terms of mutual respect, knowledge, trust, shared values and perspectives about disease and life, and time available, the better will be the amount and quality of information about the patient's disease transferred in both directions, enhancing accuracy of diagnosis and increasing the patient's knowledge about the disease. In some settings, e.g. the hospital ward, the patient-doctor relationship is much more complex, and many other people are involved when somebody is ill: relatives, neighbors, rescue specialists, nurses, technical personnel, social workers and others.

Clinical skills

Main articles: Medical history, Physical examination. A complete medical evaluation includes a medical history, a physical examination, appropriate laboratory or imaging studies, analysis of data and medical decision making to obtain diagnoses, and treatment plan. The components of the medical history are:
- Chief complaint (CC) - the reason for the current medical visit.
- History of present illness (HPI) - the chronological order of events of symptoms. A mnemonic PQRST is sometimes helpful in obtaining the history:
- Provocative-palliative factors - what makes a symptom worse or better.
- Quality - description of the symptom
- Region - which part of the body is affected
- Severity - what is the intensity of the symptom; using a scale of 0-10 (10 worst)
- Timing - what is the course of the symptom
- Current activity - occupation, hobbies, what the patient actually does.
- Medications - what drugs including OTCs, and home remedies, as well as herbal remedies such as St. John's Wort. Allergies are recorded.
- Past medical history (PMH/PMHx) - other medical diagnoses, past hospitalizations and operations, injuries, past infectious diseases and/or vaccinations, history of known allergies.
- Review of systems (ROS) - an outline of additional symptoms to ask which may be missed on HPI, generally following the body's main organ systems (heart, lungs, digestive tract, urinary tract, etc).
- Social history (SH) - birthplace, residences, marital history, social and economic status, habits (including diet, medications, tobacco, alcohol).
- Family history (FH) - listing of diseases in the family that may impact the patient. A family tree is sometimes used. The physical examination is the examination of the patient looking for signs of disease. The doctor uses his senses of sight, hearing, touch, and sometimes smell (taste has been made redundant by the availability of modern lab tests). Four chief methods are used: inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation; smelling may be useful (e.g. infection, uremia, diabetic ketoacidosis). The clinical examination involves study of:
- Vital signs include height, weight, body temperature, blood pressure, pulse, respiration rate, hemoglobin oxygen saturation
- General appearance of the patient
- Skin
- Head, eye, ear, nose, and throat (HEENT)
- Cardiovascular - heart and blood vessels
- Respiratory - lungs
- Abdomen and rectosigmoid
- Genitalia
- Spine and extremities - musculoskeletal
- Neurological and psychiatric Laboratory and imaging studies results may be obtained, if ncessary. The medical decision-making (MDM) process involves analysis and synthesis of all the above data to come up with a list of possible diagnoses (the differential diagnoses), along with an idea of what needs to be done to obtain a definitive diagnosis that would explain the patient's problem. The treatment plan may include ordering additional laboratory tests and studies, starting therapy, referral to a specialist, or watchful observation. Follow-up may be advised. This process is used by primary care providers as well as specialists. It may take only a few minutes if the problem is simple and straightforward. On the other hand, it may take weeks in a patient who has been hospitalized with multi-system problems, with involvement by several specialists. On subsequent visits, the process may be repeated in an abbreviated manner to obtain any new history, symptoms, physical findings, and lab or imaging results or specialist consultations.

Settings where medical care is delivered

See also clinic, hospital, and hospice Medicine is a diverse field and the provision of medical care is therefore provided in a variety of locations. Primary care medical services are provided by physicians or other health professionals who has first contact with a patient seeking medical treatment or care. These occur in physician's office, clinics, nursing homes, schools, home visits and other places close to patients. About 90% of medical visits can be treated by the primary care provider. These include treatment of acute and chronic illnesses, preventive care and health education for all ages and both sex. Secondary care medical services are provided by medical specialists in their offices or clinics or at local community hospitals for a patient referred by a primary care provider who first diagnosed or treated the patient. Referrals are made for those patients who required the expertise or procedures performed by specialists. These include both ambulatory care and inpatient services, emergency rooms, intensive care medicine, surgery services, physical therapy, labor and delivery, endoscopy units, diagnostic laboratory and medical imaging services, hospice centers, etc. Some primary care providers may also take care of hospitalized patients and deliver babies in a secondary care setting. Tertiary care medical services are provided by specialist hospitals or regional centers equipped with diagnostic and treatment facilities not generally available at local hospitals. These include trauma centers, burn treatment centers, advanced neonatology unit services, organ transplants, high-risk pregnancy, radiation oncology, etc. Modern medical care also depends on information - still delivered in many health care settings on paper records, but increasingly nowadays by electronic means.

Branches of medicine

Working together as an interdisciplinary team, many highly trained health professionals besides medical practitioners are involved in the delivery of modern health care. Some examples include: nurses, laboratory scientists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, dietitians and bioengineers. The scope and sciences underpinning human medicine overlap many other fields. Dentistry and psychology, while separate disciplines from medicine, are sometimes also considered medical fields. Physician assistants, nurse practitioners and midwives treat patients and prescribe medication in many legal jurisdictions. Veterinary medicine applies similar techniques to the care of animals. Medical doctors have many specializations and subspecializations which are listed below.

Basic sciences

- Anatomy is the study of the physical structure of organisms. In contrast to macroscopic or gross anatomy, cytology and histology are concerned with microscopic structures.
- Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry taking place in living organisms, especially the structure and function of their chemical components.
- Biostatistics is the application of statistics to biological fields in the broadest sense. A knowledge of biostatistics is essential in the planning, evaluation, and interpretation of medical research. It is also fundamental to epidemiology and evidence-based medicine.
- Cytology is the microscopic study of individual cells.
- Embryology is the study of the early development of organisms.
- Epidemiology is the study of the demographics of disease processes, and includes, but is not limited to, the study of epidemics.
- Genetics is the study of genes, and their role in biological inheritance.
- Histology is the study of the structures of biological tissues by light microscopy, electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry.
- Immunology is the study of the immune system, which includes the innate and adaptive immune system in human, for example.
- Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, including protozoa, bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
- Neuroscience is a comprehensive term for those disciplines of science that are related to the study of the nervous system. A main focus of neuroscience is the biology and physiology of the human brain.
- Nutrition is the study of the relationship of food and drink to health and disease, especially in determining an optimal diet. Medical nutrition therapy is done by dietitians and is prescribed for diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, weight and eating disorders, allergies, malnutrition and neoplastic diseases.
- Pathology is the study of disease - the causes, course, progression and resolution thereof.
- Pharmacology is the study of drugs and their actions.
- Physiology is the study of the normal functioning of the body and the underlying regulatory mechanisms.
- Toxicology is the study of hazardous effects of drugs and poisons.

Diagnostic specialties

- Clinical laboratory sciences are the clinical diagnostic services which apply laboratory techniques to diagnosis and management of patients. In the United States these services are supervised by a Pathologist. The personnel that work in these medical laboratory departments are technically trained staff, each of whom usually hold a medical technology degree, who actually perform the tests, assays, and procedures needed for providing the specific services.
- Transfusion medicine is concerned with the transfusion of blood and blood component, including the maintenance of a "blood bank".
- Cellular pathology is concerned with diagnosis using samples from patients taken as tissues and cells using histology and cytology.
- Clinical chemistry is concerned with diagnosis by making biochemical analysis of blood, body fluids and tissues.
- Hematology is concerned with diagnosis by looking at changes in the cellular composition of the blood and bone marrow as well as the coagulation system in the blood.
- Clinical microbiology is concerned with the in vitro diagnosis of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
- Clinical immunology is concerned with disorders of the immune system and related body defenses. It also deals with diagnosis of allergy.
- Radiology is concerned with imaging of the human body, e.g. by x-rays, x-ray computed tomography, ultrasonography, and nuclear magnetic resonance tomography.
- Interventional radiology is concerned with using imaging of the human body, usually from CT, ultrasound, or fluoroscopy, to do biopsies, place certain tubes, and perform intravascular procedures.
- Nuclear Medicine uses radioactive substances for in vivo and in vitro diagnosis using either imaging of the location of radioactive substances placed into a patient, or using in vitro diagnostic tests utilizing radioactive substances.

Clinical disciplines

- Anesthesiology (AE), Anaesthesia (BE), is the clinical discipline concerned with providing anesthesia. Pain medicine is often practiced by specialised anesthesiologists.
- Dermatology is concerned with the skin and its diseases.
- Emergency medicine is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of acute or life-threatening conditions, including trauma, surgical, medical, pediatric, and psychiatric emergencies.
- General practice, Family practice, family medicine or primary care is, in many countries, the first port-of-call for patients with non-emergency medical problems. Family doctors are usually able to treat over 90% of all complaints without referring to specialists.
- Hospital medicine is the general medical care of hospitalized patients. Doctors whose primary professional focus is hospital medicine are called hospitalists.
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