Form and content

Last updated

In art and art criticism, form and content are considered distinct aspects of a work of art. The term form refers to the work's composition, techniques and media used, and how the elements of design are implemented. It mainly focuses on the physical aspects of the artwork, such as medium, color, value, space, etc., rather than on what it communicates. [1] Content, on the other hand, refers to a work's subject matter, i.e., its meaning. [2] [3] But the terms form and content can be applied not only to art: every meaningful text has its inherent form, hence form and content appear in very diverse applications of human thought: from fine arts to even mathematics and natural sciences. Even more, the distinction between these terms' meanings in different domains of application seems rather unnatural, since the idea behind "form and content in art" and "form and content in science" is pretty much the same. [4]

Contents

Usage in art

Saxicola maurus indicus on Juniperus formosana - Gould Saxicola maurus indicus on Juniperus formosana - Gould.jpg
Saxicola maurus indicus on Juniperus formosana - Gould
Jade bird Jade bird.jpg
Jade bird

Form is one of the most frequent terms in literary criticism. It is often used merely to designate a genre or for patterns of meter lines and rhymes. For example, the subject of these two artworks is a bird, though both artworks are created in different styles. One is a two-dimensional artwork of two birds resting on a tree branch, created in a natural style, with realistic proportions. On the other hand, the jade bird carving, created with exaggerated proportions and a stylized expression, creates a different emotional content. In other words, the "content" of the artwork changes based on the artist's decisions on the use of form. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art</span> Creative work to evoke aesthetic response

Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around works by creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to induce a worthwhile experience, generally through the expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, beauty, and/or technical proficiency.

Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and the nature of taste and, in a broad sense, incorporates the philosophy of art. Aesthetics examines the philosophy of aesthetic value, which is determined by critical judgments of artistic taste; thus, the function of aesthetics is the "critical reflection on art, culture and nature".

Genre is any style or form of communication in any mode with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. The proper use of a specific genre is important for important for a successful transfer of information (media-adequacy).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fine art</span> Art developed primarily for aesthetics

In European academic traditions, fine art is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork. In the aesthetic theories developed in the Italian Renaissance, the highest art was that which allowed the full expression and display of the artist's imagination, unrestricted by any of the practical considerations involved in, say, making and decorating a teapot. It was also considered important that making the artwork did not involve dividing the work between different individuals with specialized skills, as might be necessary with a piece of furniture, for example. Even within the fine arts, there was a hierarchy of genres based on the amount of creative imagination required, with history painting placed higher than still life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outsider art</span> Art created outside the boundaries of official culture by those untrained in the arts

Outsider art is art made by self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postmodern art</span> Art movement

Postmodern art is a body of art movements that sought to contradict some aspects of modernism or some aspects that emerged or developed in its aftermath. In general, movements such as intermedia, installation art, conceptual art and multimedia, particularly involving video are described as postmodern.

In art history, formalism is the study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style. Its discussion also includes the way objects are made and their purely visual or material aspects. In painting, formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape, texture, and other perceptual aspects rather than content, meaning, or the historical and social context. At its extreme, formalism in art history posits that everything necessary to comprehending a work of art is contained within the work of art. The context of the work, including the reason for its creation, the historical background, and the life of the artist, that is, its conceptual aspect is considered to be external to the artistic medium itself, and therefore of secondary importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinetic art</span> Genre of artworks that contains movement

Kinetic art is art from any medium that contains movement perceivable by the viewer or that depends on motion for its effects. Canvas paintings that extend the viewer's perspective of the artwork and incorporate multidimensional movement are the earliest examples of kinetic art. More pertinently speaking, kinetic art is a term that today most often refers to three-dimensional sculptures and figures such as mobiles that move naturally or are machine operated. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. Kinetic art encompasses a wide variety of overlapping techniques and styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Composition (visual arts)</span> Placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art

The term composition means "putting together". It can be thought of as the organization of the elements of art according to the principles of art. Composition can apply to any work of art, from music through writing and into photography, that is arranged using conscious thought.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Work of art</span> Artistic creation of aesthetic value

A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature and music, these terms apply principally to tangible, physical forms of visual art:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classificatory disputes about art</span> Disputes about what should and should not be classified as art

Art historians and philosophers of art have long had classificatory disputes about art regarding whether a particular cultural form or piece of work should be classified as art. Disputes about what does and does not count as art continue to occur today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rasquachismo</span> Theory of Chicano aesthetics

Rasquachismo is a theory developed by Chicano scholar Tomás Ybarra-Frausto to describe "an underdog perspective, a view from "los de abajo" in working class Chicano communities which uses elements of "hybridization, juxtaposition, and integration" as a means of empowerment and resistance. Rasquachismo is commonly used to describe aesthetics present in the working class Chicano art and Mexican art movements which "make the most from the least." It has been described as a worldview, the "view of the underdog, which combines inventiveness with a survivalist attitude." Artists will oftentimes depict experiences of their own life in the "barrio" or the experiences of being Mexican and Chicano. This art movement has also been defined by artists and scholar Amalia Mesa-Bains "as a survivalist irreverence that functioned as a vehicle of cultural continuity."

The conservation and restoration of new media art is the study and practice of techniques for sustaining new media art created using from materials such as digital, biological, performative, and other variable media.

Figure and ground is a concept drawn from Gestalt psychology by media theorist Marshall McLuhan in the early 1970s. This concept underpins the meaning of his famous phrase, "The medium is the message". The concept was an approach to what was called "perceptual organization." He began to use the terms figure and ground as a way "to describe the parts of a situation" and "to help explain his ideas about media and human communication." The concept was later employed to explain how a communications technology, the medium or figure, necessarily operates through its context, or ground.

Wu Shanzhuan is an artist based in Hamburg.

Art as Experience (1934) is John Dewey's major writing on aesthetics, originally delivered as the first William James Lecture at Harvard (1932). Dewey's aesthetics have been found useful in a number of disciplines, including new media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nude (art)</span> Work of art that has as its primary subject the unclothed human body

The nude, as a form of visual art that focuses on the unclothed human figure, is an enduring tradition in Western art. It was a preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position with the Renaissance. Unclothed figures often also play a part in other types of art, such as history painting, including allegorical and religious art, portraiture, or the decorative arts. From prehistory to the earliest civilizations, nude female figures were generally understood to be symbols of fertility or well-being.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painting</span> Practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface

Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, may be used. One who produces paintings is called a painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art history</span> Academic study of objects of art in their historical development

Art history is, briefly, the history of art—or the study of a specific type of objects created in the past.

A theory of art is intended to contrast with a definition of art. Traditionally, definitions are composed of necessary and sufficient conditions, and a single counterexample overthrows such a definition. Theorizing about art, on the other hand, is analogous to a theory of a natural phenomenon like gravity. In fact, the intent behind a theory of art is to treat art as a natural phenomenon that should be investigated like any other. The question of whether one can speak of a theory of art without employing a concept of art is also discussed below.

References

  1. Barrenscott, Dorothy. "Focus on Research| The Elements of Art: Form, Content, and Context". Avant-Guardian Musings. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  2. "How to Define Art". Archived from the original on 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2011-06-04.
  3. "What is the Difference Between Subject vs Content?". whatisdiff.com. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  4. "The Dichotomy of Form and Content". jstor.org. Journal Storage . Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  5. Barrenscott, Dorothy. "Focus on Research| The Elements of Art: Form, Content, and Context". Avant-Guardian Musings. Retrieved 5 April 2019.

Further reading