The Art Newspaper

The varied visual arts exist within a continuum that ranges from purely aesthetic functions at one end to purely utilitarian functions at the different. Such a polarity of objective is mirrored within the commonly used phrases artist and artisan, the latter understood as one who offers considerable consideration to the utilitarian. This ought to certainly not be taken as a rigid scheme, nevertheless. Even inside one form of art, motives might vary widely; thus a potter or a weaver could create a extremely useful work that’s on the identical time beautiful—a salad bowl, for instance, or a blanket—or could create works that haven’t any objective past being admired. In cultures corresponding to those of Africa and Oceania, a definition of art that encompasses this continuum has existed for centuries.

Historically, art and inventive abilities and concepts have usually been unfold by way of trade. An instance of …