artisticadj.
/ɑːˈtɪstɪk/, U.S. /ɑrˈtɪstɪk/ 1. Of, relating to, befitting, or characteristic of an artist (esp. in branch III.).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > artist > [adjective]
artistic1753
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Artist Artistic.
1830 L. von Mühlenfels Introd. Course German Lit. 13 The Greek..peoples Olympus with divinities, bearing the trace of his artistic skill.
1859 L. Oliphant Narr. Earl of Elgin's Mission China & Japan II. viii. 181 A series of sketches of groups of horses, in crayon, drawn with much spirit and artistic talent.
1872 Galaxy Jan. 147/1 With all his little faults and artistic eccentricities, what a charming singer we have had in Capoul.
1948 L. Spitzer Linguistics & Lit. Hist. iv. 155 The self-destruction brought about by excessive expressivity was seen by Diderot as a danger to which any artistic nature is exposed.
1963 T. Munro Evol. in Arts iii. xxii. 486 There is no way of knowing how many potential geniuses in art are drawn away from artistic careers into others.
2004 Nature 8 July p. xiii/2 The Aurignacian culture of toolmaking..is widely regarded as a defining characteristic of the earliest stirring of a human artistic sensibility.
2.
a. Of or relating to art or a work of art.
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1829 London Lit. Gaz. 7 Mar. 162/3 The artistic work, if such it may be called..was evidently the work of an uncivilised people, desirous of rivalling the polished elegancies of their conquerors.
1859 J. Ruskin Two Paths ii. 69 Entirely wholesome artistic influence.
1867 Good Cheer 50 Another pleasure in his house is its artistic treasures.
1902 Musical Times 43 532/2 As one kind of tree succeeds another with inevitable sequence in the virgin forests of America, so has each generation its peculiar artistic growth.
1961 J. Perrot in C. Roth Jewish Art i. 67 The incessant conflicts between petty princes scarcely favored conditions conducive to a real artistic flowering.
1998 A. Forna Mother of All Myths (1999) ii. 28 Their own ‘salons’ devoted to the pursuit of intellectual and artistic matters.
b. spec. Of or relating to visual arts such as painting, design, and sculpture, as distinguished from literature, music, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > [adjective]
artistical1801
artistic1841
1841 New World 6 Feb. 94/1 We like the literary and artistic spirit displayed in the Knickerbocker.
1907 R. Muther Hist. Mod. Painting II. iii. xix. 132 A critic who gauged the artistic works of Belgium and Holland with such subtlety, necessarily became in his own painting an epicure of beautiful tones.
1942 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Nov. 559/3 The last International Copyright Convention..afforded a very considerable degree of protection to the literary and artistic property.
2005 Times (Nexis) 8 Apr. 71 This was a new kind of description of a literary, artistic, musical and philosophical movement originating in the 19th century.
3. Displaying the characteristics of art; having aesthetic or creative merit. Also in weakened or ironic use: ostensibly or superficially resembling art; decorative; artsy.
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the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > [adjective] > ornamented or decorated > ornamental or decorative
trinkery1582
ornamental1595
bedecking1598
exornatory1657
ornative1660
ornamentary1715
fancy1753
decorative1791
artistic1835
decoratory1889
1835 Albion 11 July 221/1 She had been urged by a friend to undertake a prose work, and a series of ‘Artistic Novels’.
1875 O. Wilde Let. 23 June (1962) 8 It seemed to be an ‘artistic’ scene from an opera.
1893 J. H. McCarthy Red Diamonds I. 219 Marvellously artistic etchings and ‘silver-points’.
1925 Woman's World (Chicago) Apr. 62/1 Many earn $3 to $10 a day..decorating artistic novelties by hand.
1992 N.Y. Times Mag. 8 Nov. 52/2 We went to see him in a play which was unbelievably long and artistic and weird.
2004 S. M. Shelton Communicating Ideas with Film, Video, & Multimedia viii. 57 Although not artistic, the resulting film would be a faithful reproduction of the operation.
4. Of a person: practising or skilled in (an) art; interested in art. Also: having personal qualities regarded as typical of an artist.
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1838 Museum Jan. 113/2 The real merits of the publication had not struck the artistic public at large.
1890 E. Dowson Let. 10 or 11 June (1967) 153 The two artists—with some other artistic & Bohemian types might meet in the early part of the book in a Soho restaurant.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 16 Mar. 2/1 The Yorozu are artistic to the stilts of their wooden geta.
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited ii. iv. 259 She is a jolly attractive girl—artistic, too.
2006 Miami Herald (Nexis) 19 Feb. j8 Encourage the artistic child to make sketches of scenes or people you encounter.
Compounds
artistic direction n. direction of the artistic aspects of a production, organization, etc.; the work or activity of an artistic director.
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1872 N.Y. Times 6 Apr. 3/1 Among the many attractive features of the fair will be tableaux..in which some of the distinguished young debutantes of the past Winter will assist, under the artistic direction of Mr. Satterlee.
1916 Ballet Russe Tour Amer. Oct. 1916–Feb. 1917 8 Adolf Bohm will have under his artistic direction a number of new ballets.
1995 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Apr. c11/3 A dizzyingly prestigious offer from Swedish director Ingmar Bergman to share the artistic direction of his company.
artistic director n. a person responsible for directing the artistic policy of an organization, esp. a performing arts company.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > the theatre or the stage > the staging of a theatrical production > people concerned with theatrical productions > [noun] > director or producer > art director
artistic director1864
art director1871
1864 Times 27 Apr. 12/4 Had it not been for Dr. Laube, the artistic director of the Imperial Theatre, the..anniversary of Shakespeare's birthday would..have passed without any notice.
1964 H. Rosenthal & J. Warrack Conc. Oxf. Dict. Opera 423/2 In 1918 the Hofoper became the Staatsoper—and the music and artistic director was Franz Schalk.
2002 Dance Europe Feb. 54/2 The company's artistic director..invited Nils Christe to stage his Zin!.., a high-octane ballet.
artistic licence n. (freedom to introduce) deviation from verisimilitude, or from an original text, score, etc., for the sake of effect in an artistic work or performance.
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1845 Christian's Monthly Mag. 9 196 There are indeed other limitations.., which would render most pitiable..the restoration of the artistic license of the middle ages.
1858 Albion 18 Dec. 609/2 Several of the Revolutionary heroes are grouped together, who assuredly were never at any one time in each other's presence;—this artistic license having high authority, that of Raffaele in his ‘School of Athens’.
1952 K. Lorenz King Solomon's Ring (1962) Pref. p. xxvii There is..no more contemptible dilettantism than to use artistic licence as a specious cover for ignorance of fact.
1995 Garden (Royal Hort. Soc.) Nov. p. lxxxv/3 The book is well illustrated with clear drawings that accurately support the text with very little artistic licence.
artistic temperament n. a mental disposition regarded as befitting or characteristic of an artist, often associated with emotional sensitivity or volatility.
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1851 Literary World (N.Y.) 21 June 503/1 Few men, dominated so decidedly by the artistic temperament, have shown so obvious an inclination as Mr. Dickens to step beyond the province of the artist.
1915 New Fun 3 Apr. 10/1 He is of an artistic temperament, as otherwise no better and softer feelings would have a chance of showing themselves.
2004 Time Out N.Y. 4 Nov. 93/1 [Her] magnificent displays of artistic temperament would shame today's vulgar pretenders to divadom.
Derivatives
arˈtisticness n.
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1870 ‘S. Tytler’ Noblesse Oblige I. vi. 113 The chambers of the Castle and the theatrical artisticness of the painter's house.
1916 P. Grainger Let. 28 Aug. in All-round Man (1994) 31 To prove to you my own great artisticness (!), I may tell you that no lesson in polyphony..has ever been so deeply instructive..as the polyphony of the improvised part singing of Rarotongan natives.
2006 Nanaimo (Brit. Columbia) Daily News (Nexis) 27 Dec. b7 Even if you live to be 85 but your artisticness stops at 50, that's 35 years you have to figure out how to maintain yourself.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1753