Art Opinions

Essay by fabinaJunior High, 8th gradeB-, November 2004

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The question of "what is art?" has been asked a thousand times. We've been pondering over what art is for years upon years. Some say art must be beautiful to the eye, ignite an emotion, or reach out to the observer. Some say art is not art until it changes their point of view, belief, or opinion. Others say, art is simply a replication of human expression. With all these different opinions and ideas about what art is, could one really answer the question: "what is art?"

In order to attempt to answer this question, other questions must be asked. Does art have to be man made or can it be purely natural? Does art have to be manipulated and imitated by a human or can it just happen? Does art have to be seen by more than one person in order to be art? With all these questions a reasonable place to start finding answers is the dictionary.

There are 18 definitions of the word art on dictionary.com, with the first definition being, "Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature." The second definition being, "The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium." And the third definition being, "The study of these activities, the product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group, the high quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value."

These explications of what art is can adequately answer every prior question. However, one source cannot adequately answer this everlasting question, could it? The main idea of art lies primarily in human hands, so...