A visual experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination.
Art is as old as mankind. It is present in all stages of civilisation throughout the world. It no more stands still than does Nature, which is constantly in a state of flux. Its face, down the ages, changes with the generations of men. It is the function of the history of art to elucidate these changes.
It is difficult to define art in a single sentence. Its aim is to express emotions, experiences and ideas that are beyond the reach of language. There would probably be no painters or sculptors if everything they wished to say could be conveyed in a few well-chosen words. If art, then, is entirely concerned with what cannot be expounded, how can we define its true character? Language can do no more than circle around the kernel of the problem.
Although this term, strictly speaking, covers all the arts connected with writing and drawing, it is now principally applied to the processes of printing from various kinds of blocks, plates or type, such as etching, drypoint, lithography, wood and linoleum block printing, etc.