art and craft

[mrssusancarr]

what is the difference between art and craft

[Sylday]

Well, in the first place, I would advise you to look the two words up in a good dictionary, or to put them into Google, and click on the definition link at the top of the results page. However, generally the historic distinction was that "art" is concerned mainly with creating beauty; whereas "craft" is concerned with displaying technical skill. However, there is clearly a link beteen the two, and in modern times the distinction has become more and more blurred. For example, Grayson Perry, a potter, won the Turner Prize last year - something which would have been unthinkable some years ago, as he would have been regarded as merely a craftsman. On the other hand, because much modern art seems to lack beauty, though well executed, many people don't see them as true art but simply as craft.

[Brugel]

One view is that art involves the creation of something which is the subject of aesthetic contemplation whereas craft involves the creation of something which has a practical purpose. So, for example, a painting would be art and a chair craft since the latter, unlike the former, exists as an object to be used. Another way of putting this is to say that a work of craft is a means to some further end while a work of art is a means in itself. However, to complicate matters, an object might be both, or either, of these things depending on how it is viewed. Thus a vase could be both a work of art and a work of craft depending on whether you looked upon it as something of beauty or something to hold water. And some objects- such as ancient Greek vases- might change from being one to the other as the years passed.