Art is a way of communicating and aesthetically representing an artist's vision, feeling or opinion. This communication is carried out through a language, such as dance, photography, among others.
The forms of artistic expression are very varied, some of them emerged in Prehistory, passing through Ancient and Medieval art.
You 11 types of arts are:
- Song
- Dance
- Painting
- Sculpture
- theater
- Literature
- Movie theater
- Photography
- Comics
- Electronic games
- Digital art
1. Song
Music is art that is linked to sounds, such as instruments, and voices. It is an expression of very old art, dating back to Pre-History, which has records similar to what we consider music.
It is an art spread all over the world, and even used to present and reproduce aspects of a culture.
A song is formed by a combination of:
- harmony: mixing sounds and chords;
- rhythm: determines the speed of the song;
- melody: which is formed by a set of sounds or voices (a song may or may not be accompanied by lyrics).
Music is known for being an art that evokes emotions such as nostalgia, joy, euphoria, melancholy, among others. It also promotes dance, follows stories and is present in other types of art, such as cinema and theater.
Music can be popular, classical, instrumental or folk. You musical styles they are diverse: samba, rock, jazz, bossa nova, reggae, heavy metal, bolero, blues, electronic, sertanejo and forró are some examples.
Freddie Mercury was ahead of queen for 20 years, the band was very successful in the 1970s and 1980s.
2. Dance
Dance is an artistic expression that is performed through bodily movements, within a rhythm.
Like music, dance has also been around since antiquity and can be performed in solos, duos or groups and is almost always accompanied by music. Besides being a kind of artistic expression, dancing is also a form of entertainment.
Different types of dance can represent the culture and identity of a society, such as folk or regional dances. There are also celebration and religious dances.
Some types of dance are: ballet, jazz, ballroom dancing, tap dancing, belly dancing, bolero, frevo, maracatu, hip hop, twist, lambada and contemporary dance.
The work Dancing girls at Cairo (David Roberts/1847) shows Egyptian dance in the 19th century.
3. Painting
Painting is another type of art that takes us back to ancient times, with evidence of this form of expression since the beginning of civilizations.
Painting is a very rich form of expression and the techniques and styles can be very representative of a historical period, an artistic movement or a region.
Some examples are rock painting (existing in the prehistoric period) and indigenous body painting (an ancient artistic expression that remains in some tribes). Some are: Realism, Impressionism, Cubism, Abstractionism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Dadaism, Futurism and Pop Art.
O Harlequin Carnival (Joan Miró/1925) is one of the best known works representing the surrealist movement.
Learn more about visual arts and the importance of these artistic movements: Realism, Impressionism, Cubism, abstractionism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Dadaism, futurism and pop art.
4. Sculpture
The sculptures are built from the manipulation of different materials, such as marble, granite, bronze and wood. They are known since prehistory and appreciated since ancient times.
Sculptures from Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, for example, are of significant historical importance and can still be seen today in many museums around the world.
Sculptures from Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, for example, are of significant historical importance and can still be seen today in many museums around the world.
Some sculptors known for their works are: Michelangelo, Auguste Rodin, Camille Claudel, Marcel Duchamp, Louise Bourgeois, Tomie Ohtake, Fernando Botero, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Patricia Piccinini, Mark Newman and Brazilians Aleijadinho, Abelardo da Hora and Francisco Brennand.
The Thinker (Auguste Rodin/1904) is a well-known sculpture. It is part of the collection of the Rodin Museum (Paris/France).
5. theater
Theater is the artistic representation made by actors, who give life to characters to tell stories that can be fictional or real.
The dramaturgical representation can be accompanied by scenarios, sound, music and even interaction with the audience.
A play can be of different genres: drama, comedy, tragedy, historic or musical. It can also be presented in a group or by a single actor (monologue).
Theatrical shows were born in Ancient Greece, where performances took place in squares and famous Greek theaters. Some well-known pieces from that time - called Greek Tragedies - are Medea (Euripides), Oedipus Rex (Sophocles), Prometheus in Chains (Aeschylus) and Electra (Sophocles).
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the English dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote important plays, such as: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth.
The Odeon of Herod Atticus, theater located in Athens/Greece, is dated 161 AD. Ç.
6. Literature
Literature is a type of art that expresses itself through written words. This writing can be done in prose (colloquial language) or in verse (writing formed by meter).
It covers different styles such as drama, fiction, chronicle, romance, poetry, history, among others. These styles can belong to three different genres: narrative, dramatic and lyrical.
Throughout history there have been many literary movements, each marked by its own characteristics. Examples are: Baroque, Romanticism, Realism, Parnassianism, Symbolism and Modernism.
Literature expresses opinions, tells stories and narrates historical events.
Also read the meanings of prose and verse.
7. Movie theater
Cinema is the artistic expression that reproduces the recording of moving images, called film.
This type of art is constantly influenced by the creation of new technologies and can represent different eras, from silent movies in black and white, to modern animations and fiction exhibitions scientific.
Cinema - also called the seventh art - has existed since the 19th century, precisely since 1895, when the first cinematographic reproduction took place. Those responsible for the feat were the French Louis Lumière (1864-1948) and Auguste Lumière (1862-1954), also creators of the first projector - the cinematograph.
Like other types of art, cinema is an important means of entertainment, reflection and information. Films can promote reflections on important events, tell stories (real or fictional) and allow the experience of other realities.
There are many movie genres such as: drama, comedy, documentary, musical, animation, horror, suspense, action, romance and detective.
Charles Chaplin (1889-1977) and Virginia Cherrill (1908-1996) in the film City lights (1931).
8. Photography
Photography is the record of images that are developed and printed. A photograph can be analog (film development) or digital.
It arose in the first half of the 19th century, although the processes that gave rise to it appeared about 300 years earlier.
Two inventions were very important for the creation of photography: the darkroom and the daguerreotype.
The darkroom, demonstrated in 1558 by Giovanni Battista della Porta (1535-1615), is a creation of the principle of photography and image formation. A few centuries later, the creation of the daguerreotype helped to popularize photography. The apparatus was created in 1839 by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre (1787-1851).
Some important photographers are Pierre Verger, Henry Cartier-Bresson, Cindy Sherman, Steve McCurry, Dorothea Lange, Maureen Bisilliat, and blind photographer Evgen Bavcar.
In Brazilian photography, Sebastião Salgado, Walter Firmo, Vânia Toledo, Boris Kossoy, Bob Wolfenson and Evandro Teixeira stand out.
photography migrant mother, taken by photographer Dorothea Lange in 1936. Pictured, Florence Thompsom, during the economic depression that hit the United States in the 1930s.
9. Comics
The comic book (Comic) is a story told through sequential drawings of events, thoughts and dialogues of the characters.
The first publication took place in the United States at the end of the 19th century, with the creation of illustrator Richard Felton Outcault (1863-1925). In Brazil, these stories began to be published in the 1930s.
The comics can be published in their own versions or as supplements in editions, mainly in newspapers. Several successful comics were turned into movies, giving more life to the characters' stories.
Some famous comics are: Recruta Zero, Gato Felix, Mafalda, Zé Carioca, Star Wars, Uncle Scrooge, Flash Gordon, Wonder Woman, Spider Man, Batman, Hulk and the mangas Dragon Ball and Naruto.
In Brazil, comic books such as Turma da Mônica, O Tico-Tico, Pererê and O Menino Maluquinho became famous.
The first publication of Star Wars comic book was in 1977.
10. Electronic games
Electronic games are virtual platform games used on televisions, computers or portable devices.
There are numerous types of games and they are usually based on disputes that can be played individually, in pairs or groups. Video games can be structured in phases and to advance it is necessary to go through challenges.
The exact origin of electronic games is unknown, but it was in the late 1950s that Willy Higinbotham (1910-1994) created the first electronic game prototype, a kind of game of sneakers. The first electronic game console - the Magnavox Odyssey - was created in the 1970s by the German engineer Ralph Baer (1922-2014).
Currently, electronic games are also available on cell phones and technological innovations bring constant innovations to this form of entertainment.
Some video game classics are Street Fighter, Super Mario, Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong and Sonic.
O Magnavox Odyssey it was the first electronic game console sold to the public.
11. Digital art
Digital art is the modern artistic expression and one that benefits the most from technological innovations, founded on the interaction between artistic expressions and technology.
Its emergence took place in the mid-1980s, along with the beginning of the popularization of computers.
This type of art encompasses various forms of digital expression that can include videos, animations, photographs and graphic editing. Illustrations, 3D projections, vector drawings and pixel images are also examples of digital art.
Important in the history of digital art: Charles Csuri, Andy Warhol, Immo Jalass, Carla Chan and the Brazilian Guto Lacaz.
Digital art is one of the newest types of art.
Learn more about the meanings of song, dance, theater and literature.
How did the classification of types of art come about?
German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) proposed an initial listing of five forms of artistic expression. The philosopher understood that there were three forms of art: symbolic, classical and romantic
Hegel also proposed a form of classification for the fine arts, considered as such at the time: architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry.
The Manifesto of the Seven Arts
In the next century, the Manifesto of the Seven Arts and Aesthetics of the Seventh Art was written by the Italian theorist Ricciotto Canudo (1877-1923) in the year 1932.
For Canudo, there would be seven types of arts: music, dance, painting, sculpture, theater, literature and cinema. Canudo's publication was responsible for the cinema becoming known as the seventh art.
The theorist's proposition was widely publicized and is still used today as one of the most accepted classifications for types of art.
Inclusion of other artistic expressions
Over the years and with the emergence of new types of art, especially through the creation of new technologies integrated to art, the following were included in the list: photography, comic books, video games and digital art.
Also read the meaning of Art and meet the art history.
Another classification of art types
The arts can also be classified in another, broader way, which groups the forms of artistic expression into three broad groups.
- visual artsAttractions: painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, architecture, photography and cinema.
- performing arts: music, theater and dance.
- literary arts: production of different literary genres, such as prose and poetry.
To learn more about the subject, see also: Contemporary art, Modern Art, Abstract art, rock art, Indigenous Brazilian Art and Gothic art.
