The applied arts are all the arts that apply
design and
decoration to everyday and essentially practical objects in order to make them
aesthetically pleasing.[1] The term is used in distinction to the
fine arts, which are those that produce objects with no practical use, whose only purpose is to be beautiful or stimulate the intellect in some way. In practice, the two often overlap. Applied arts largely overlap with
decorative arts, and the modern making of applied art is usually called
design.
Art movements that mostly operated in the applied arts include the following. In addition, major artistic styles such as
Neoclassicism,
Gothic and others cover both the fine and applied or decorative arts.