The decorative arts are traditionally defined as ornamental and functional works in ceramic, wood, glass, metal, or textile. The field includes ceramics, furniture, furnishings, interior design, and architecture. The decorative arts are often categorized in opposition to the "fine arts", namely, painting, drawing, photography, and large-scale sculpture. Some distinguish between decorative and fine art based on functionality, intended purpose, importance, status as a unique creation, or single-artist production. Decorative arts, or furnishings, may be fixed (for example, wallpaper), or moveable (for example, lamps).

See also

• American craft
• Applied art
• Arts and crafts
• Craft
• Faux Painting
• History of decorative art
• Mosaic
• Ornament (architecture)
• Textile arts

Selected bibliography

• Fiell, Charlotte and Peter, eds. Decorative Art Yearbook (one for each decade of the 20th century). Translated. Bonn: Taschen, 2000.
• Fleming, John and Hugh Honour. Dictionary of the Decorative Arts. New York: Harper and Row, 1977.
• Frank, Isabelle. The Theory of Decorative Art: An Anthology of European and American Writings, 1750–1940. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
• Campbell, Gordon. The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Thornton, Peter. Authentic Decor: Domestic Interior, 1620–1920. London: Seven Dials, 2000.

External links

• Decorating with Art, Antiques and Collectibles
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• Argentine Decorative Art Museum
• The Bard Graduate Center (BGC) for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture
• Parsons/Cooper-Hewitt Program in the History of Decorative Arts & Design
• Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
• Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture - electronic resources
• Metropolitan Museum of Art American decorative arts collection
• National Gallery of Art decorative arts collection
• Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, Milan, Italy
• Museum of the City of New York Decorative Arts Collection
• Decorative Artists in Canada