{{Short description|Art that involves physical manipulation}} {{distinguish|Plastic in art}} [[File:Terrisser.JPG|thumb|upright|A ceramist moulding clay on a pottery wheel.]] '''Plastic arts''' are art forms which involve physical manipulation of a ''plastic medium'', such as clay, wax, paint{{snd}} or even plastic in the modern sense of the word (a ductile polymer){{snd}} to create 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 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 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 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 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:Benin bronze in Bristol Museum.jpg|A 16th-century bronze sculpture from the Kingdom of Benin File:Moai Rano raraku.jpg|Moai, stone sculptures created by the Rapa Nui people File:Baskets (inkoko) - Rwanda - Royal Museum for Central Africa - DSC06584.JPG|Woven baskets in Rwanda File:Maillol - Sculpture 04.jpg |Sculpture in terracotta by Aristide Maillol File:Circle of Life from Ivana Houserova.jpg|Glass art by {{ill|Ivana Houserová|cs}} File:Sheila Hicks Exhibition at Toronto Textile Museum (29758946624).jpg|''Hastings Visit to the Great Plains'' (1979), a tapestry in linen and cotton by Sheila Hicks File:Taj Mahal (Edited).jpeg|The Taj Mahal, an architectural work designed by Ustad Ahmad Lahori File:Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF retouched.jpg|''Mona Lisa'', an oil painting created by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century </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== * 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. * 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 Category:Visual arts