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  APPLIED ARTS AND FINE ARTS   應用藝術與美術(2)

  Sensitivity to physical laws is  thus an important consideration for the maker of applied-art objects. It is often taken for granted that is also true for the maker of fine-art objects. This assumption misses a significant difference between the two disciplines. Fine-art objects are not constrained by the laws of physics in the same way that applied-art objects are. Because their primary purpose is not functional, they are only limited in terms of the materials used to make them. Sculptures must, for example, be stable, which requires an understanding of the properties of mass, weight  distribution, and stress. Paintings must have rigid stretchers so that the canvas will be taut, and the paint must not  deteriorate,  crack, or  discolor. These are problems that must be overcome by the artist because they lend to intrude upon his or her conception of the work. For example, in the early Italian Renaissance, bronze statues of horses with a raised foreleg usually had a  cannonball under that  hoof. This was done because the cannonball was needed to support the weight of the leg. In other words, the  demands of the laws of physics, not the sculptor’s aesthetic intentions, placed the ball there. That this device was necessary  structural  compromise is clear from the fact that the cannonball quickly disappeared when sculptors learned how to strengthen the internal structure if a statue with iron braces (iron being much stronger than bronze).

 Even thought the fine arts in the twentieth century often  treat materials in new ways, the basic different in attitude of artists in relation to their materials in the fine arts and the applied arts 4. remains 5. relatively 6. constant. It would therefore not be too great  exaggeration to say that practitioners of the fine arts work to  overcome the  limitations of their materials,  whereas those  engaged in the applied arts work  in concert with their materials.