Art Vs Craft – Part 1 (A time travel into history….)

Year: Today, This Year

According to the dictionary,

“Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

“Craft is an activity involving skill in making things by hand.” 

As we try to understand the difference, we will go back in history to find the origin and evolution of art and craft.

The first colour found to be used in prehistoric cave paintings is red ochre. Found in iron-rich soil, this is the first employed artistic material. Around this period of 40,000 BC, the first colour pigments were invented which included soil, animal fat, charcoal and chalk. Thus the first primitive colour palette contained – black, white, yellow, red, and brown. Earlier colours were extracted from soil, plants and animals. Synthetic colours were introduced later after the discovery of minerals.

Archaeologists have conducted so many excavations and have found a lot of rock engravings, pictographs (rock and cave paintings), petroforms (art by aligning or piling natural stones), sculptures, and different kinds of tools. Right from the stone age, different stones were used to make tools used as weapons.

In 6200 BCE, copper was smelted. Artisans produced cups, vessels, bowls, swords etc and these metalsmiths are considered most important people in Egypt. In 2040 – 1782 BC, bronze was introduced. It's typically a mixture of copper and tin. Egypt also mined gold which was a widely used metal. During 2500 BC, Greece artisans were popular at making ceramic wares. As time went on iron industry went into a boom paving the way for the iron age.

From the archaeological surveys, it's evident that each region and civilization had their own type of arts and crafts. They denoted the way of life of people at a given point in time. There was not any difference between art and craft. Each was seen as a different form of work.

At least till the 14th century, painting and sculpting were considered as one of artistic activities as others and the same weightage was given to other artistic works including other forms of crafts. This could be evident from the painting contracts in the 13th and even 14th centuries.

In a painting contract dated 1st Nov 1301, the artist agrees to the below,

“…painted with histories of the divine majesty of Blessed Virgin Mary, of the apostles, the angels, and with other figures and pictures, as shall been seen fit and shall please the said master of or other legitimate persons for the hospital.”

The artists are bounded to their patrons, the persons they worked for. As you can see, the patrons have very much control over the work and the artist is considered a craftsperson executing the given work. They are paid only if the owner finds the delivered piece worthy.

So is there any difference between art and craft? If any, when was the difference established?

Even though there is no definite incident, it might have been in the fifteenth century during the Renaissance period. Renaissance means “rebirth”. Artists wanted to get more innovative and individual talents began to hold greater value in society. One main reason for this could be the patrons themselves. Emperors, rulers and princes, very rich and powerful people of the society used patronage to show their prestige or social position. The Medici family who ruled the city of Florence for almost 200 years are most famous for their patronage of art. They supported painters including Masaccio, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, and Donatello.

Leonardo was also patronaged by the King of France.

Popes patronaged painters like Raphael and Michelangelo. This increased the status of the paintings, painters and sculptors. Painters and sculptors were seen as “artists”.

Later in the sixteenth century, the first art academy was founded by Cosimo l de’ Medici in Florence, Italy. They were groupings of artists whose aim was to improve the social and professional standing of artists, as well as to provide teaching. Academics was established. In the end, they sought possible to have a royal or princely patron. Previously, painters and sculptors had been organised in guilds and were considered mere artisans or craftsmen. The status of the artists further improved. Paintings and sculptures were considered unique entities.

What happened next? Continued in Part 2….