A fanciful young woman from an aristocratic family, Arte wants to become an artist and contribute to the renewal of civilization. However, she faces the challenge of marrying a nobleman without disgracing her family name. She enlists the help of a master artisan to take her on as an apprentice.
The word ‘arte’ (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) has several meanings in English, with the prevailing sense being that of artistic expression and creation. The term descends from Latin ‘ars’, which in turn is derived from ancient Greek tekhne, or ‘art, craft, skill’. This broad meaning remained in the word’s development to Spanish, where it became ‘artista’ (artist), ‘artesano’ (artisan, craftsperson) and ‘artesania’ (handicraft, craftwork). The term was adopted into English with its narrowing of focus to that of artistic creation and expression, but where it retains connections to both artistic production and skilled craftsmanship.
Arte is also a fanciful noun, meaning ‘benefit’ or ‘advantage’. The derived adjectives are arteca and arteka, which are used to describe benefactors and beneficiaries. The skurun verb ‘arte’, or ‘art
Aesthetics, the philosophical study of art and beauty, arose from the commedia dell’arte, the popular theatrical entertainment that was first performed in Italy in 1551. At that time, it was distinct from the commedia erudita, or ‘learned comedy’, which were written comedies presented indoors by trained and masked actors.
In a more modern context, the Arte Povera movement of Italian artists, originating in post-war Italy, sought to connect art with life and human experience through use of everyday materials, often described as poor due to their ubiquity and affordability. The work of Michelangelo Pistoletto, for example, involves reflected images of people on mirrors, and is intended to provoke a subjective reaction from the viewer that cannot be predicted or controlled. This emphasis on subjectivity is similar to that of the Arte Povera movement’s goal of dissolving the dichotomy between art and life, which is a concern shared by other subcultural movements of the late 20th century.
In Spanish, words that begin with a stressed /’a/ are masculine, and so in singular form the definite article takes the form of el (which is normally reserved for masculine nouns): el arte; in plural form, las artes. When a determiner is placed before the noun, the standard feminine forms of the articles and determiners are used: la arte, una arte; indefinite forms such as alguna and ninguna, are also normal. This applies to the nouns of foreign origin: os fins da arte, or ‘the ends of art’, which has a number of different formulations. The Hegelian prognosis about a possible end of art reverberated throughout aesthetics from the beginning of the twentieth century onwards. This is an area of ongoing debate in contemporary aesthetics. Aesthetics is an important field for the research and training of students, as well as for professionals working in museums, galleries, arts education and related areas.
