What is the hierarchy of art?

Answer 1

During the Renaissance, scholarly concepts of art divided all artistic creations into "fine art" and "decorative art". Artistic creations were judged and were classified in a hierarchy by critics. Fine art consisted of paintings and sculpture. Decorative art consisted of everything else, such as furniture and needlepoint. This lead to a popular distinction between the arts and the crafts. Crafts were considered "applied art". In addition, many art critics of past centuries felt that only males could create fine art. Any creation by a woman was automatically "decorative" and of a lesser quality. Today, these concepts have been revised. However, this concept of a hierarchy in art is nevertheless an important component in the history of art criticism. A very good discussion of this concept appears as a chapter in a book by Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock titled Old Mistresses: Women, Art, and Ideology. New York: Pantheon Books, 1981. This answer is by Mary Murphy Hammid, UCLA graduate student.