fine art

noun: 1. a visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness, specifically, painting, sculpture, drawing, watercolor, graphics, and architecture. Compare commercial art (see below). 2. art produced chiefly for its aesthetic value, as opposed to applied art. 3. Also called "beaux arts," (often plural) any of the fields in which such art is produced, such as painting, sculpture, and engraving. 4. art (such as painting, sculpture, or music) concerned primarily with the creation of beautiful objects —usually used in plural. 5. objects of fine art. 6. an activity requiring a fine skill. 7. art that is produced more for beauty or spiritual significance than for physical utility. Painting, sculpture, and music are fine arts. as a phrase: Something requiring highly developed techniques and skills, as in He's turned lying into a fine art, or The contractor excels in the fine art of demolition. This term alludes to the fine arts, such as music, painting, and sculpture, which require both skill and talent. It is now often used to describe anything that takes skill to do. [First half of 1800s.] commercial art: 1. graphic art created specifically for commercial uses, especially for advertising, illustrations in magazines or books, or the like. 2. graphic art for commercial uses such as advertising, packaging, etc. Related Words for commercial art: picture, sketch, layout, etching, study, depiction, design, graphics, likeness, painting, cartoon, representation, delineation, portrayal, doodle, outline, tracing, comp, storyboard. Origin: First recorded in 1920–25. Examples: a collector of fine art; She studies painting in the department of fine arts. Origin: First recorded in 1760–70. Source 1, Source 2.