A brief look at the Majors Within the Arts

Art is the collective expression of various human activities which include an attempt to express aesthetic beauty, visual skill, emotional power, creativity, or technical creativity. The history of arts traces back to the earliest of times and includes the history of art in China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and India. The word “art” can also be used to refer to a particular type of artistic expression, such as painting, sculpture, music, architecture, printmaking, and visual/spatial design. The history of arts is categorized into four major periods, earlier periods being referred to as the Pre-Raphaelites, the Romanticists, the Impressionists, and the Post-Raphaelites.

In contemporary society, the arts are interrelated with other fields of study and are often applied to many different purposes. For example, some schools may focus on applied arts, such as education, counseling, and management, while others may emphasize the fine arts, such as opera, the visual arts, or film studies. Other schools of thought merge the two disciplines as well, creating a hybrid form of the modern arts. A number of universities offer degree programs in the arts and humanities, and most colleges and universities offer some form of individual study or workshop within the field. These programs serve to introduce students to the wide variety of disciplines and provide them with the skills and knowledge necessary to advance their careers in the arts and sciences.

The visual arts refer to artworks including photography, painting, sculpture, motion pictures, and computer graphics. Photography is the oldest form of visual arts, and photography alone is an evolution of art. Paintings are also a part of the visual arts and date from the ancient Greek civilization to the 19th century. Motion pictures and the visual arts comprise movies, television shows, video games, and computer and video game technology. Music is the oldest form of art, and its forms date from the earliest forms of music to modern classical music. Visual art and the humanities have had a profound effect on the social, ethical, and political philosophies of various societies around the world.