An artwork is an object that is deemed to have artistic merit, or beauty. Artworks can range from paintings to sculptures, but also include a wide variety of other forms. Regardless of its medium, an artwork is often intended to evoke feelings or stimulate the mind in some way. It may be viewed as having an aesthetic value, which is based on the opinion of a group of individuals, or it may have been created for functional reasons but has come to be appreciated for its artistic worth. An example of this would be a piece of jewellery, many ceramics or folk art.
An important debate in philosophy centres around the question of what exactly distinguishes a work of art from other objects. A number of philosophical approaches to this issue have been developed. Some approaches, like the cluster theory of art, rely on a set of criteria to categorize different objects into one of five arts. Other approaches, such as the functionalism of Kristeller, seek to connect an artwork to some type of purpose or intention – such as the enjoyment of its beauty or the arousal of certain emotions – while still others seek to link an artwork to some property, such as its representational or expressive characteristics.
More recently, a number of scholars have focused on the notion of an artwork in terms of its properties. Some, such as Claude Levi-Strauss’s ‘Clues to the Meaning of Art’, define an artwork in terms of its ability to evoke an emotional response. This view is referred to as the aesthetic definition of an artwork. Others, such as a cluster theorist, define an artwork in terms of its intended and unintended functions (see e.g. a functionalism entry) or in terms of the presence of specific properties (see a cluster theory entry).
Other definitions are more problematic. For instance, institutional conventionalisms, a synchronic approach, claim that an artwork has to be an object that belongs to a particular art form. This is contrasted with a diachronic view that argues that an object has to be in a historical relation to other works of art (see a history of art entry). In this respect, an argument has been made that the fact that new categories of artworks emerge makes it likely that the enumerative definitions of an artwork will not provide a full account of their unity (see a heuristics entry). New universes of discourse therefore make it possible for experts to confer artistic status on mere real things for reasons that ordinary people cannot detect. This is, however, not a persuasive account of the nature of an artwork.