The decorative arts are the arts concerned with designing and making objects that are both useful and beautiful. They include furniture, ceramics, glass, silver and metalwork, lighting, textiles, jewellery, clocks, wallpaper and many smaller objects, and are often contrasted with the fine arts of painting and sculpture, which are valued primarily for their aesthetic or intellectual content.
The distinction between fine and decorative arts has long been debated. Movements such as Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau argued that well-designed everyday objects deserved the same respect as paintings, and many great artists also worked as designers. The decorative arts provide a rich record of changing tastes, technologies and ways of living, from the formal display of Baroque silver to the clean lines of Art Deco. Museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London were founded specifically to celebrate them. For collectors, the decorative arts offer an enormous variety of objects, materials and price levels, and pieces that can be enjoyed and used every day as well as admired.
