Is it valid to make distinctions between ‘high’ and’ low’ or ‘popular art? Essay

What purposes do these categories allot? At one time most people would have mum , when looking at apiece of art, whether to fit it into the category of high or low art. You looked at much(prenominal)(prenominal) things as the quality of the brushwork, the exactness of the representation. indeed paint in tubes was invented the mid 19th century and the Impressionists were in the head of almost instant art.They were rejected at first of flesh, but at one time seem to be highly acceptable when one considers the prices that might be paid for works by Renoir or Degas however muddled the outlines. Is abstract art high art? It is a newer form of course and many are still making up their minds about much(prenominal) artists as Jackson Pollack. And where do you fit the works of modern artists such as Tracy Emin. Few would consider graffiti as art, but cities such as Philadelphia are legitimising the work of graffiti artists by spending unrestricted money to promote it. Emins unmade bed won the turner prize.Whatever else it did it certainly did what the artist intended it shocked. Contemporary art such as this draws huge crowds Perhaps the distinction should rather be mingled with good and bad art, good being art that clearly displays some(prenominal) it was the artist intended and the bad that which does not. This division would not depend upon techniques use or the insurance value of a piece, but whether it achieves what it was meant to achieve i. e. whether or no the viewer sees what they were intended to see. Art will always chivy reaction.To judge it on grounds of being either high or low smacks somewhat of elitism an attitude of What we alike(p) is better than what you like. retardation many would just say I know what I like whether that be Gainsborough or Andy Warhol.Electronic Sources Art and the power to shock, Northern Echo, twenty-fifth February 2004 http//archive. thisisthenortheast. co. uk/2004/2/25/60621. html retrieved 28th October 2007 Philadelphia Mural Arts course found at http//www. muralarts. org/about/ retrieved 28th October 2007/.