Value of UK Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Value of UK Culture - Essay Example The notion of art as people understand today is not the same as people in the past know it (What is Art 1998). In reality, the term art and artist are modern innovations (What is Art 1998). The aesthetic manifestations were appreciated by people at various times but not as an art form (What is Art 1998). Artists in the past were classified as craftsmen, along with shoemakers and weavers. They were later leveled with poets and musicians whose works are subject to imagination and inspiration (What is Art 1998). Art has not been given a suitable definition (What is Art 1998). Art is also an experience, a personal experience in that different persons may have different interpretations of an art. Therefore, an item of art can have different financial value according to different persons. The experience derived from art should be taken into consideration in appraising the worth of an art (Parker 2003). Current forms of art works include â€Å"painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, decorative arts, photography, and installation† (â€Å"art† 2009, para. 4). According to the Gestalt psychology, visual images are arranged by the nervous system to a form that conforms to dominant conditions (Funch 1997). Human perception is inclined towards â€Å"balance and symmetry† and any stimulus is arranged to achieve balance thereby producing a â€Å"good gestalt† (Funch 1997, p. 78). Since an art work is already a good gestalt, the audience becomes involved with the art work and â€Å"benefit from the new reality created by the artist (Funch 1997, p. 78). An artist externalises his world and draws the viewer to that world without the influence of other factors except those embodied in the art work (Koffka, 1940, cited in Funch 1997). The Gestalt psychology, according to Theodor Lipps, is the basis of the Empathy Theory (by Theodor Lipps) and Aesthetic Theory (by Charles Henry) (Funch 1997). As in other civilizations of the past and countries at the present,