Does the book title "The Art of XYZ" imply doing XYZ is an art, requiring creative skill?

Question

I am Chinese, when I read a book with the title "The Art of XYZ" I always assume doing XYZ is an art, requiring creative skills. A good example is The Art of War

But the more I read the books with that title format, the more I doubt about it. For example after I read a book called "The Art of Project Management" I think what the author talks about is not art at all, just common sense. It doesn't require highly skilled professional to do what the author talked.

Or this book "The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters" ? Why does gathering deserve a title called "The Art of Gathering" ?

So I was wondering does the title really imply an art, an creative skill, having such connotation or it is just a way to prompt the book

BTW I know this series "The Art of ..." but my question is not about them.

Answer 1

Sometimes it does. In the first paragraph of his preface, Donald E, Knuth explained why he chose the title, The Art of Computer Programming.

The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can be commercially and scientifically rewarding, but because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music. This book [...] has been designed to train the reader in various skills that go into a programmer’s craft.

Answer 2

One of Oxford's definitions of art is a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice (Lexico). In this sense, it doesn't necessarily mean a creative skill, just something that you have to learn how to do properly.

Answer 3

While it certainly can imply skill, I think what these titles have in common is that they want to emphasize the creativity and imagination of that particular subject.

Art in this sense is not just about the skill, but about our common conception of what art entails, including innovation and sophistication.

Answer 4

The use of the word 'Art' is just to promote the book, and has no bearing on the subject matter.

Sometimes, the word "Art" can be used to refer to the role of intuition/experience in a task, as opposed to logic and rules. A relatively common expression is "x is more an Art than a Science", which means that performing x at a high level cannot easily be distilled into an algorithm/process, or that if there are established rules in the field, to be a successful practitioner one must frequently ignore the rules/behave inconsistently.

It is ludicrous to claim that something like Project Management is this type of skill. In fact, as an engineering graduate I can't think of any skill which is less an Art than Project Management. The entire field seems based around regimenting, rationalising, and removing individual whims and intuitions from the process (which is not a criticism! PM is very effective).

Describing something as an 'art' implies that it will be fun, whimsical, creative, and non-rigorous. Of course people marketing a book have an incentive to describe its content as these things. Also, because being an 'artist' carries positive social connotations, practitioners of a field have a social incentive to describe their field as an Art.

The inevitable result is that the word "Art" will be bled dry of its meaning, and so marketers will find new words to flog to death.

Answer 5

Back back a long time ago

• Nature : God's work
• Art : Man's work (Hence Artisan for example.)

Art can refer to the application of any technology. Cooking, farming, bridge-building. Mostly this is about skills learned then applied. However art implies a culture which is more than reading a text book and ticking boxes. Practitioners will come to appreciate not only the subtleties of the skills required in their own work but also acknowledge some people excel or innovate.

It is possible to consider a pamphlet entitled: The art of tying shoelaces. That's stretching usage but it's not about making pretty pictures with knots, rather selecting the right lacing for the right situation and using shortcuts or avoiding breakages at very inconvenient times.

Answer 6

No, not at all.

Grammatically, it should but as so often, grammar counts for less than semantics or idiom and grammar takes no account of the meaning of words. Grammar does not care whether "You are a liar" or "That is so" are true…

The example "The Art of XYZ" relies solely on grammar where, for instance, The Art of War means what it seems to say, on all three levels.

Re-name Machiavelli's The Prince as The Art of Kingship and that, too, would be triply appropriate.

Each language has its own lists of what are generally considered "arts" and even then, different native speakers might argue until the long after the cows have come home.

Answer 7

There is, in fact, a paradox about book titles that begin with The Art of..... The word art itself is quite odd. When the word art appears on a school timetable, it means something very specific: the visual arts, involving mainly the creation of things to be looked at. Then there is the broader use of the arts, which includes photography, drama, music, ballet, drama and so on.

It can also be used to describe some apparently mundane practical activity, which is in some way described as tricky, requiring skill, patience or concentration. Papering a wall, for example could be so described.

It does not stop there. The word 'art' can be used to mean 'a skill'. So you can have a book called The art of war, or, indeed, the art of persuasion.

Going further are the 'dark arts', sinister, devilish skills. These include a politician's ability to remove a political rival without anyone knowing he did anything or, even if they suspect finding out how it was done.

So the word art has a very wide range of usage. You can see this very well set out in the Cambridge English Dictionary:-

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/art

This range should not be surprising. The word art is derived from the Latin word ars, meaning, of course, art. The Roman poet of the Late 1st century BCE to early 1st century CE composed poem called Ars Poetica, normally (and rightly) translated The Art of Poetry. In it he makes the famous statement:-

"Ars est celare artem" or *the art lies in concealing the art (ie the skill which created the art).

Perhaps it would be better to translate it as

The skill lies in concealing the skill.

A contemporary of Horace, Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), was exiled by the emperor Augustus, allegedly for publishing a didactic poem called ars amatoria or the art of love. This account of how to seduce married women was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but fell foul foul of Augustus' morality legislation. But it was certainly a 'How To' poem.

What comes from all of this is that the use of the word art is essentially contextual. A writer needs to make sure that a particular intended meaning is clear from the context.

Answer 8

"Art" in English can connote expertise beyond the norm, rather than creativity. In the book "Oliver Twist", the "Artful Dodger" is named so for his skill at escaping arrest. This may imply some creativity, too, but not in the aesthetically creative sense of creating a song or a painting, and the skillfulness is the primary meaning.

Likewise, a "term of art" is "a term that has a specialized meaning in a particular field or profession" (Merriam-Webster), used by those possessing a certain skill, without regard to creativity. For instance, in the sciences, "theory" and "law" may be considered terms of art, with slightly different meanings than they have in popular usage. This is a not a reference to creativity, but to technical rigor.