Humanities

===Visual art===
====History of visual arts====
[[File:Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain.jpg|thumbnail|''Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain'' by [[Emperor Gaozong of Song China|Emperor Gaozong]] (1107–1187) of [[Song dynasty]]; fan mounted as album leaf on silk, four columns in cursive script.]]
The great traditions in [[art]] have a foundation in the art of one of the ancient civilizations, such as [[Ancient Japan]], [[Ancient Greece|Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], [[China]], [[Indus Valley civilisation|India]], [[Greater Nepal]], [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Mesoamerica]].

Ancient Greek art saw a veneration of the human physical form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty and anatomically correct proportions. [[Roman Empire|Ancient Roman]] art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing features (e.g., [[Zeus]]' thunderbolt).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Janson |first1=Horst Woldemar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMYHuvhWBH4C |title=History of Art: The Western Tradition |last2=Janson |first2=Anthony F. |date=2004 |publisher=Prentice Hall Professional |isbn=978-0-13-182895-7 |language=en}}</ref>

The emphasis on spiritual and religious themes in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic]] art of the Middle Ages reflected the dominance of the church. However, in the [[Renaissance]], a renewed focus on the physical world was reflected in art forms that depicted the human body and landscape in a more naturalistic and three-dimensional way.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Janson |first1=Horst Woldemar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MMYHuvhWBH4C |title=History of Art: The Western Tradition |last2=Janson |first2=Anthony F. |date=2004 |publisher=Prentice Hall Professional |isbn=978-0-13-182895-7 |language=en}}</ref>

Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to Western medieval art, namely a concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade and reflection). A characteristic of this style is that the local colour is often defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for example, the art of India, Tibet and Japan.

Religious [[Islam]]ic art forbids iconography, and expresses religious ideas through geometry instead.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ali |first=Nadia |title=The royal veil: early Islamic figural art and the Bilderverbot reconsidered |date=2020-05-21 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780429341588-6 |work=Exploring Aniconism |pages=70–89 |access-date=2023-10-19 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780429341588-6 |isbn=978-0-429-34158-8}}</ref>The physical and rational certainties depicted by the 19th-century Enlightenment were shattered not only by new discoveries of relativity by [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]]<ref>
{{cite news
|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1035752,00.html
|title=Does time fly?
|work = The Guardian|access-date=2008-05-01
|last=Turney
|first=Jon
| location=London
| date=2003-09-06
}}
</ref> and of unseen psychology by [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]],<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook36.html
|title=Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Darwin, Freud, Einstein, Dada
|publisher=www.fordham.edu
|access-date=2008-05-01
}}
</ref> but also by unprecedented technological development. Increasing [[globalization|global]] interaction during this time saw an equivalent influence of other cultures into Western art.

====Media types====

=====Drawing=====
[[Drawing]] is a means of making a [[image|picture]], using a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are graphite [[pencil]]s, [[pen and ink]], [[ink]]ed [[brush]]es, wax [[color pencil]]s, [[crayon]]s, [[charcoal]]s, [[pastel]]s, and [[marker pen|markers]]. Digital tools that simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are: line drawing, [[hatching]], crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, [[stippling]], and blending. A computer aided designer who excels in [[technical drawing]] is referred to as a ''draftsman'' or ''draughtsman''.

=====Painting=====
[[File:Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF retouched.jpg|thumbnail|''[[Mona Lisa]]'', by Leonardo da Vinci, is one of the most recognizable artistic paintings in the world.]]
Literally, [[painting]] is the practice of applying [[pigment]] suspended in a carrier (or [[Paint#Components|medium]]) and a binding agent (a [[adhesive|glue]]) to a surface (support) such as [[paper]], [[canvas]] or a wall. However, when used in an artistic sense, it means the use of this activity in combination with [[drawing]], [[composition (visual arts)|composition]] and other aesthetic considerations in order to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Painting has been used throughout history to express spiritual and religious ideas, from mythological scenes on pottery to the frescoes of the [[Sistine Chapel]], to body art.

Colour is highly subjective, but has observable psychological effects, although these can differ from one culture to the next. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but elsewhere white may be. Some painters, theoreticians, writers and scientists, including [[Goethe]], [[Wassily Kandinsky|Kandinsky]], [[Isaac Newton]], have written their own [[colour theory|colour theories]]. Moreover, the use of language is only a generalization for a colour equivalent. The word "[[red]]", for example, can cover a wide range of variations on the pure red of the spectrum. Unlike music, where notes such as C or C# are universally accepted, there is no formalized register of colors. However, the [[Pantone 448 C|Pantone]] system is widely used in the printing and design industry to standardize color reproduction.

Modern artists have extended the practice of painting considerably to include, for example, [[collage]]. This began with [[cubism]] and is not painting in strict sense. Some modern painters incorporate different materials such as [[sand]], [[cement]], [[straw]] or [[wood]] for their texture. Examples of these are the works of [[Jean Dubuffet]] or [[Anselm Kiefer]]. Modern and contemporary art has moved away from the historic value of craft in favour of [[concept]] ([[conceptual art]]); this has led some e.g. [[Joseph Kosuth]] to say that painting, as a serious art form, is dead, although this has not deterred the majority of artists from continuing to practise it either as whole or part of their work.

[[Sculpture]] involves creating three-dimensional forms out of various materials. These typically include malleable substances like clay and metal but may also extend to material that is cut or shaved down to the desired form, like stone and wood.