Editing Decorative arts (section)

==Distinction from the fine arts==
[[File:Surahi national Museum India.JPG|thumb|right|Surahi, [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]], 17th century CE. [[National Museum, New Delhi]]]]
The distinction between the decorative and fine arts essentially arose from the post-[[renaissance]] art of the West, where the distinction is for the most part meaningful. This distinction is much less meaningful when considering the art of other cultures and periods, where the most valued works, or even all works, include those in decorative media. For example, [[Islamic art]] in many periods and places consists entirely of the decorative arts, often using [[Islamic geometric patterns|geometric]] and [[plants in culture|plant forms]], as does the art of many traditional cultures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleming |first1=John |last2=Honour |first2=Hugh |chapter=Arabesque |title=Dictionary of the Decorative Arts |year=1977 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-670-82047-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofdeco00john }}</ref>

The distinction between decorative and fine arts is not very useful for appreciating [[Chinese art]], and neither is it for understanding early [[Medieval art]] in [[Europe]]. During that period in Europe, fine arts such as [[manuscript illumination]] and [[monumental sculpture]] existed, but the most prestigious works tended to be in [[goldsmith]] work, in cast metals such as bronze, or in other techniques such as [[ivory carving]]. Large-scale wall-paintings were much less regarded, crudely executed, and rarely mentioned in contemporary sources. They were probably seen as an inferior substitute for [[mosaic]], which for the period must be considered a fine art, though in recent centuries mosaics have tended to be considered decorative.{{Citation needed|reason=This claim needs reference to a reliable source.|date=January 2024}} A similar fate has befallen [[tapestry]], which late medieval and Renaissance royalty regarded as the most magnificent artform, and was certainly the most expensive. The term "ars sacra" ("sacred arts") is sometimes used for medieval christian art executed in metal, ivory, textiles, and other more valuable materials but not for rare secular works from that period.
[[File:Chinese bowel, Northern Sung dynesty, 11th or 12th century, porcelaneous pottery with celadon glaze, Honolulu Academy of Arts.jpg|thumb|Chinese bowl, [[Song Dynasty|Northern Song Dynasty]], 11th or 12th century, porcelaneous pottery with [[celadon]] glaze]]

The view of decoration as a 'lesser art' was formally challenged in the 1970s by writers and art historians like [[Amy Goldin]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.artforum.com/print/197507/patterns-grids-and-painting-36072|title = Patterns, Grids, and Painting| journal=Artforum | date=September 1975 | volume=14 | issue=1 | last1=Goldin | first1=Amy }}</ref> and Anne Swartz.<ref>{{Cite web |title=With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972–1985 |url=https://www.moca.org/exhibition/with-pleasure |website=MOCA}}</ref> The argument for a singular narrative in art had lost traction by the close of the 20th century through post-modernist irony and increasing curatorial interest in street art and in ethnic decorative traditions. The [[Pattern and Decoration]] movement in New York galleries in the 1980s, though short-lived, opened the way to a more inclusive evaluation of the value of art objects.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thackara |first=Tess |date=31 January 2020 |title=The Pattern and Decoration Movement Challenged the Machismo of Modernism |url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-pattern-decoration-movement-challenged-machismo-modernism |website=[[Artsy (website)|Artsy]]}}</ref>