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    Applied Arts and Fine Arts

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    Nicolas Mateo Gonzalez Lopez
    The document discusses the differences between applied arts and fine arts. Applied arts, also known as crafts, are functional objects like containers, shelters, and supports that must obey the laws of physics regarding their form and materials. Fine arts are not as constrained by physics and their primary purpose is not functionality. While both require an understanding of materials, practitioners of fine arts work to overcome material limitations, whereas those in applied arts work within material limitations to serve functional purposes.

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    Applied Arts and Fine Arts

    Uploaded by

    Nicolas Mateo Gonzalez Lopez
    181 views1 page
    The document discusses the differences between applied arts and fine arts. Applied arts, also known as crafts, are functional objects like containers, shelters, and supports that must obey the laws of physics regarding their form and materials. Fine arts are not as constrained by physics and their primary purpose is not functionality. While both require an understanding of materials, practitioners of fine arts work to overcome material limitations, whereas those in applied arts work within material limitations to serve functional purposes.

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    Practica TOEFL - Artes aplicadas

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    The document discusses the differences between applied arts and fine arts. Applied arts, also known as crafts, are functional objects like containers, shelters, and supports that must obey the laws of physics regarding their form and materials. Fine arts are not as constrained by physics and their primary purpose is not functionality. While both require an understanding of materials, practitioners of fine arts work to overcome material limitations, whereas those in applied arts work within material limitations to serve functional purposes.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    181 views1 page

    Applied Arts and Fine Arts

    Uploaded by

    Nicolas Mateo Gonzalez Lopez
    The document discusses the differences between applied arts and fine arts. Applied arts, also known as crafts, are functional objects like containers, shelters, and supports that must obey the laws of physics regarding their form and materials. Fine arts are not as constrained by physics and their primary purpose is not functionality. While both require an understanding of materials, practitioners of fine arts work to overcome material limitations, whereas those in applied arts work within material limitations to serve functional purposes.

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    Reading Passage

    Applied Arts and Fine Arts


    (fbr e,ramples used on pages 15 to 20)

    Although we no\\,.tend to refer to the various crafts according to the materials used
    to construct them-clay, glass, wood, ñber, and metal-it was once common to think
    of crafts in terms of function, which 1ecl to their being known as the "applied arts."
    Approaching crafts from the point of view of function, we can divide them into simple
    categories: containers, shelters, and supports. There is no way around the fact that
    containers, shelters, and supports must be functional. The applied arts are thus bound
    by the laws of physics, which pertain to both the materials used in their making and
    the substances and things to be contained, supported, and sheltered. These laws are
    universal in their application, regardless of cultural beliefs, geography, or climate. If a
    pot has no bottom or has large openings in its sides, it could hardly be considered a
    container in any traditional sense. Since the laws of physics, not some arbitrary decision,
    have determined the general form of applied-art objects, they follow basic patterns, so
    much so that functional forms carr vary only within certain limits. Buildings without
    roofs, for example, are unusual because they depart from the norm. flowever, not all
    functional objects are exactly alike; that is vvhy we recognize a Shang Dynasty vase as
    being different from an Inca vase. Iü(/hat varies is not the basic forms but the incidental
    details that do not obstruct the object's primary function.

    Sensitivity to physical laws is thus an important consideration for the maker of applied-
    art objects. It is often taken for granted that this is also true for the maker of fine-art
    objects. This assumption misses a significant difference between the two disciplines.
    Fine-art objects are not constrained by the laws of physics in the same way that applied-
    art objects are. Because their primary purpose is not functional, they are only limited
    in terms of the materials used to make them. Sculptures must, for exarnple, be stable,
    which requires an understanding of the properties of mass, weight distribution, and
    stress. Paintings must have rigid stretchers so that the canvas will be taut, and the paint
    must not deteriorate, crack, or discolor. These are problems that must be overcome
    by the artist because they tend to intrude upon his or her conception of the work. For
    example, in the earl.y ltaliat Renaissance, bronze statues of horses with a raised foreleg
    usually had a cannonball under that hoof. This was done because the cannonball was
    needed to slrpport the weight of the leg. In other words, the demands of the laws of
    physics, not the sculptor's aesthetic intentions, placed the ball there. That this device
    was a necessary structural compromise is clear from the fact that the cannonball quickly
    disappeared when sculptors learned how to strengthen the internal structure of a statue
    with iron braces (iron being much stronger than bronze).

    Even though the fine arts in the fwentieth century often treat materials in new ways,
    the basic difference in attitude of artists in relation to their materials in the fine arts
    and the applied arts remains relatively constant. It would therefore not be too great
    an exaggeration to say that practitioners of the fine arts work to overcome the
    limitations of their rnaterials, whereas those engaged in the applied arts w.ofk in
    concert with their materials.

    Frope/lo Ha¡ldbook 21

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