A (Partial) "Taxonomy of Art" Chart
Type of Symbolic Art |
Sense
|
Division, Type (phyla, class, order) |
Genre, Movement (family, genus) |
Artist (species) |
Art-Object (individual) |
non-representational | taste | mixology | cocktail | Donato "Duke" Antone | the Harvey Wallbanger drink, c. 1950 |
non-representational | taste | gastronomy, or the culinary arts | dessert | Martha Stewart | A strawberry cheesecake, c 1998 |
non-representational | smell | olfactory entreatments | perfume | Estee Lauder | Intuition, 2001 |
non-representational | sound | music | marching band music | John Philip Sousa | The Liberty Bell, 1893 |
non-representational | sound | music | piano concerto | Ludwig van Beethoven | Appassionata, c. 1806 |
non-representational | sight | image | abstract painting | Wassily Kandinsky | Yellow, Red, Blue, 1925 | non-representational | sight | designer clothing (as symbol, not function) |
haute couture | Gianni Versace | the "safety pin" dress, 1994 |
non-representational | sight, touch | sculpture | abstract sculpture, bronze | Henry Moore | Knife Edge, 1962 |
non-representational | sight, touch | architecture | art deco architecture | William van Allen | Chrysler Building, 1930 |
representational | sight, touch | sculpture | single-stone statue | ancient Egyptians | Great Sphynx of Giza, third millennium BC |
representational | sight, touch | sculpture | Renaissance sculpture | Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni | David, 1504 |
representational | sight | sculpture | ice sculpture | Kevin Gregory | When Hell Freezes Over, 2005 |
representational | sight | image, painting | impressionistic | Claude Monet | Houses of Parliament, London, 1905 |
representational | sight | 2D, comics | satirical | Mad Magazine | Mad Magazine issue #153, September 1972 |
representational | sight | image | pop art | Roy Lichtenstein | Girl With Hair Ribbon, 1965 |
representational | sight | "sculpture" | dada sculpture | Marcel Duchamp | Bicycle Wheel, 1913 |
representational | sight | image | wildlife art | Edwin Henry Landseer | Monarch of the Glen, 1851 | representational | sight | image | painting, fantasy art (poster) | James Cauty | Lord of the Rings, 1973 |
representational | sight | literature | novel | Herman Mellville | Moby Dick, 1851 |
representational | sight/sound | literature, poetry | children's | A. A. Milne | Winnie The Pooh, 1926 |
representational | sight/sound | dance | avant-garde dance | Project Bandaloop | Cliffs, 2005 |
representational | sight/sound | play | classic tragedy | William Shakespeare | Hamlet, 1600 |
representational | sight/sound | play | vaudeville act and song | Sophie Tucker | Some of These Days, 1911 |
representational | sight/sound | magic act | escape | Harry Houdini | Upside Down Water Torture Cell, 1913 |
representational | sight/sound | television show | comedy tv show | Monty Python's Flying Circus | How Not To Be Seen, or The Ministry of Silly Walks, 1970's |
representational | sight | image | cubist painting | Pablo Picasso | Guernica, 1937 |
representational | sight | image | minimalist painting | Kasimir Malevich | Torso, 1928-1932 |
representational | sight | "sculpture" | conceptual art | Joseph Kosuth | One and Three Chairs, 1965 |
re-non-representational | sight | image | painting, or other image | Max Buzzell | Me and You, 2004 |
both representational |
sight/sound | opera | classic opera | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Don Giovanni, 1787 |
both representational and non-representational |
sight/sound | movie with music, b&w | detective | W. S. "Woody" van Dyke (dir.) | The Thin Man, 1934 |
both representational |
sight/sound | movie with music | sci-fi comedy | Barry Sonnenfeld (dir.) | Men in Black, 1997 |
both representational |
sight/sound | movie with music, cartoon | sci-fi musical |
The Beatles, George Dunning (dir.) |
Yellow Submarine, 1968 |
both representational |
sight/sound | video with music and words | hip-hop video |
Beastie Boys, Spike Jonze (dir.) |
Sabotage, 1994 |
both representational |
sound | music with words | reggae | Bob Marley | Exodus, 1977 |
both representational |
sound | music with words | rock and roll | AC/DC | Hells Bells, 1980 |
both representational |
sight/sound/touch | patents | virtual reality | Jaron Lanier | His seminal portfolio of patents related to Virtual Reality and networked 3D graphics (Recently purchased by Sun Microsystems), c1991-1996 |
Note: This chart includes examples of a few things that might be considered art or almost-art to show how they may be arranged in a taxonomy; it is not saying that there is as much artistry in the collection chemicals in a cocktail or perfume as there is in Beethoven's Appassionata.