ABSTRACT
The Introduction of Art alters a room radically. A painting hung on a wall transforms that wall more than wallpaper does, as a mirror does, almost as much as a window or door does. Art exercises a magic that deserves to be used sparingly and with care. Distinctions between design, craft and fine art are based on judgments of quality, seriousness of intent and rarity. The designer needs to make these judgments because each category will suggest its own use, its appropriate frame or pedestal or niche, its proper lighting treatment, its degree of isolation, its prominence in the total scheme. The distinction between craft and fine art is more controversial. One generally accepted difference is that an art work is conceived freshly by the artist; it is unprecedented. Another difference between art and craft, one that have greater effect on the designer's treatment of the object, is that the emotional content of art is greater than that of craft.
