artist

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Creator or performer

Nouns

1. (visual creator) artist, virtuoso, master, maestro, academician; craftsman, artisan; old master. See agency, skill.

2.

a. painter, limner, drawer, sketcher; colorist; illustrator, portraitist, watercolorist, miniaturist, pointillist, surrealist, genre painter, landscapist, landscape artist, seascapist; engraver, designer, etcher; reetcher, retoucher; cartoonist, caricaturist; copyist, draftsman; commercial or graphic artist, advertising artist, layout man; printmaker. See painting, engraving.

b. sculptor, sculptress, carver, chaser, modelist, chiseler, stonecutter; ceramist, potter; glassblower. See sculpture.

c. author, writer, novelist (See writing); poet (See poetry).

d. dramatist, actor, actress, Thespian, performer, vaudevillian (See drama); dancer, ballerina (See dance); musician, composer, arranger, orchestrator, soloist, pianist, etc. (See music).

e. architect, builder; landscape architect or gardener. See architecture.

f. photographer, cameraman, cinematographer. See photography, motion pictures.

g. decorator; interior decorator; window dresser.

Quotations — The artist must be in his work as God is in creation, invisible and all-powerful (Gustave Flaubert), The artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist (Ananda Coomaraswamy), Artists are the antennae of the race (Ezra Pound), The true artist will let his wife starve, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art (G. B. Shaw), All men are creative, but few are artists (Paul Goodman), Great artists have no country (Alfred de Musset).

Antonyms, See unskillfulness.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A creative worker in the fine arts]

Syn. creator, painter, sculptor, master, performing artist, artiste, maestro, virtuoso, musician, singer, performer, entertainer, actor, actress, limner, practitioner of the arts, art student, portraitist, watercolorist, landscapist, muralist, miniaturist, illustrator, caricaturist, cartoonist, etcher, engraver, ceramicist, ceramist, potter, photographer, commercial artist, graphic artist, calligrapher, colorist, writer, belletrist, composer, comedian, mime, performance artist, opera singer, prima donna, dancer, ballerina, interpreter, designer, architect.

2. [A highly skilled workman]

Syn. adept, expert, master, virtuoso, past master, artisan, craftsman, artificer, inventor, contriver, specialist, handicraftsman, professional, skilled hand, genius, proficient.

3. [A clever trickster]

Syn. sharper, crook, con man*; see rascal .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. expert master, *pro, virtuoso, talent.

2. artisan craftsman, painter, portraitist, sculptor, technician, designer. ''An exhibitionist by profession.''—Vincent van Gogh.

ANT.: 1. amateur, tyro. see art, drawing, painting, sculpture