View source for Plastic arts

{{Short description|Art that involves physical manipulation}}
{{distinguish|Plastic in art}}
'''Plastic arts''' are [[art form]]s which involve physical manipulation of a ''plastic medium'', such as [[clay]], [[wax]], [[paint#Art|paint]]{{snd}} or even plastic in the modern sense of the word (a [[ductile]] [[polymer]]){{snd}} to create [[work of art|works of art]].  The term is used more generally to refer to the [[visual arts]] (such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, architecture, film and photography), rather than literature and music.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plastic%20arts |title=Merriam-Webster Online (entry for "plastic arts") |publisher=Merriam-webster.com |access-date=2011-10-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Jill Anderson  |last=Kyle  |date=2009 |title=Cezanne and American Modernism |editor-last1= Staviydky |editor-last2=Rothkoff |publisher=Yale University Press |edition=First |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cezanneamericanm0000ceza/page/66/mode/2up 67,68] |isbn=9780300147155}}</ref>  Materials for use in the plastic arts, in the narrower definition, include those that can be carved or shaped, such as [[Rock (geology)|stone]] or [[wood]], [[concrete]], [[glass]], or [[metal]].

==History==
The word ''plastic'' draws from the Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|πλαστικός}} (''plastikós''), which means 'to mold' or 'to shape'.<ref>{{cite web |title=It's Greek to Me: PLASTIC |publisher=University of Iowa |access-date=8 February 2025 |url=https://bam.sites.uiowa.edu/its-greek-me/plastic}}</ref> It has long preceded its dominant modern meaning as a [[Plastic|synthetic material]]. The term ''plastic arts'' has been used historically to denote visual art forms (painting, sculpture, and ceramics) as opposed to literature or music. 

The related terms ''plasticity'' and ''plasticism'' became more widely used in the early 20th century by critics discussing modern painting, particularly the works of [[Paul Cézanne]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Jill Anderson |last=Kyle |date=2009 |title=Cezanne and American Modernism |editor-last1= Staviydky |editor-last2=Rothkoff |publisher=Yale University Press |edition=First |pages=67,68 |url=https://archive.org/details/cezanneamericanm0000ceza/page/66/mode/2up |isbn=9780300147155}}</ref>
 
The oldest known "plastic art" dates back to 30,000–34,000 [[Before present|BP]]. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Witzel |first1=E. J. Michael |title=The Origins of the World's Mythologies |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199710157 |page=260 |url=https://archive.org/details/originsofworldsm0000witz/page/260/mode/2up?q=plastic+arts |language=en |quote=Apart from rock art, whether engraved, drawn, or painted, there also exist some examples of early sculptures and plastic art (30,000–34,000 bp )}}</ref>

==Application to literature==
In contrast to the limiting of 'plastic arts' to sculpture and architecture by [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]] in 1807,<ref>{{cite book |title=Russian Romantic Criticism: An Anthology |editor-first= Lauren Gray |editor-last=Leighton |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |date=1987 |ISBN=978-0313255847}}</ref> the German critic [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]] (1767–1845) applied the concept not only to visual arts, but also [[poetry]].

Classical poetry lines he saw using plastic isolation, and rhyme falling under the Romantic (domain).<ref>{{cite book |title=The literary theories of August Wilhelm Schlegel |first=Ralph W. |last=Ewton Jnr |publisher=Walter de Gruyter and Co |date=1972 |ISBN=978-3110991635}}</ref>

In Schlegel's Viennese lectures (1809–1811), published in 1827 as ''On the Theory and History of the Plastic Arts'', he contrasted the plasticism of Classical Art with picturesque [[Romanticism]]: {{quotation|[He] operated with the [[wikt:antinomy|antinomy]] of terms plastic/pictorial, mechanically/ organically, finite/ infinite, and closed/accomplished. Schlegel stated that the spirit of the entire antique culture and poetry was plastic and that the spirit of modern culture, however, was picturesque (pittoresk)<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Civic Art Then and Now: The Culture of Good Place-making |first= Charles C.|last= Bohl |title=Sitte, Hegemann and the Metropolis: Modern Civic Art and International Exchanges |editor-first1= Charles |editor-last1= Bohl  |editor-first2=Jean-François |editor-last2= Lejeune |publisher= Routledge |date=2009 |ISBN=978-0415424073}}</ref>}}

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center">
File:Venus de Brassempouy.jpg|''[[Venus de Brassempouy]]'', a 25th millennium BC carving in [[mammoth ivory]] 
File:Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF retouched.jpg|''[[Mona Lisa]]'' was created by [[Leonardo da Vinci]] using oil paints during the [[Renaissance period]] in the 15th century.
File:Edith Meusnier - Sarabande - Musée des Tissus - Lyon - hiver 2007-2008.jpg|Sarabande Musée des Tissus [[Lyon]] 2007-2008 (fabric)
File:Maillol - Sculpture 04.jpg |Sculpture in [[terracotta]] by [[Aristide Maillol]]
File:Edith Meusnier - Sortilège - Festival Artec - La Ferté Bernard - mai 2010.jpg|La Ferté Bernard Festival Artec 2010
File:If_it_wasn%27t_for_plastic_money_I_wouldn%27t_have_any_money_at_all.jpg|''MasterCard/Visa (If it wasn't for plastic money I wouldn't have any money at all)'' Tyler Turkle, 2006, Poured Acrylic, 54 × 43 inches
File:Barcelona mies v d rohe pavillon weltausstellung1999 03.jpg|[[Barcelona Pavilion]] (1929), designed by [[Mies van de Rohe]]
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Visual arts}}

* {{Annotated link |Art materials}}
* {{Annotated link |Handicraft}}
* {{Annotated link |Media (arts)}}
* {{Annotated link |Neoplasticism}} (according to [[Mondrian]])
* {{Annotated link |Plastic in art}}
* {{Annotated link |Visual arts}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Albert C. Barnes|Barnes, A. C.]], ''The Art in Painting'', 3rd ed., 1937, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., NY.  {{oclc|1572753}}
* Bukumirovic, D. (1998). ''Maga Magazinovic''. Biblioteka Fatalne srpkinje knj. br. 4. Beograd: Narodna knj.
* Fazenda, M. J. (1997). ''Between the pictorial and the expression of ideas: the plastic arts and literature in the dance of Paula Massano''. N.p.
* Gerón, C. (2000). ''Enciclopedia de las artes plásticas dominicanas: 1844–2000''. 4th ed. Dominican Republic s.n.
* [[August Wilhelm Schlegel|Schlegel, August Wilhelm.]], (1966) ''Vorlesungen uber dramatische Kunst und Literatur'', Stuttgart: [[Kohlhammer Verlag]], 1966, p.&nbsp;21f.

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline|Plastic arts}}

{{Art world}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plastic Arts}}
[[Category:Plastic arts| ]]


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