In our journey through the study of the arts, you will discover that the demarcation of what is considered “Art ” and what is considered “craft” has very weak borders in the same manner that we make a distinction between decorative and fine art.
A skilled craftsman could design a beautiful vase or a handle for a knife, but they could not be considered artists until the early 20th century and the appearance of the Aesthetic movement. These artisans, who were highly regarded lost in the 15th century their social place to individual renaissance artists who where highly learned in all forms of the arts and sciences. The artisans though highly skilled in their craft lacked formal education in the philosophy of art and did not attend Art School, their work was wanting in the knowledge of either geometry, the chemistry of color and or physics. The main reason was their social standing; they did not belong to the middle of upper classes.
Before that change in the definition of an artist accrued in history, one’s origins did not matter, the only distinction for artisans and artists was made with the development of guilds. You belonged to the guild of the silversmith, you apprentices’ with an artisan from the age of 12 when your father sent you to study. Raphael became an artist in the same manner; he was apprenticed and then branched on his own. Your craft was sculpting or paintings. The first “paintings“ were utilitarian; they were to capture the images of humans for the purpose of minting coins, documenting history or sending a prospective spouse a picture in the mail, and or decorate a church and adorn a palace. Not until the existence of patronage come into being, where individuals were supported for the sole purpose of producing beautiful objects of no use but to glorify the patrons name, did we imagined that we have invented “civilized art. Still it is not always in the skill that we search for the artist definition. In the 20th century to qualify – “The artist must say it without saying it.” Duke Ellington (1899-1974), American jazz musician.
What do you think is the definition of an Artist in the 21st century?
