Master

DEFINITION

Paper or plastic plate used on a duplicating press.<br><br>In the arts, a master is a person whose teachings or doctrines are accepted by followers. In the old apprenticeship system, a master was an artist of great and exemplary skill, whose followers might be called apprentices or disciples.The "old masters" are artists recognized in the canon, most often from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries.The college degree most often achieved after that of a "baccalaureate (bachelor&#39;s) degree" is a "master&#39;s degree." The one most often following this is a doctorate (Ph.D.) In the visual arts, the master&#39;s degree a student most often achieves is a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree or a Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree. With few exceptions, a master&#39;s degree is the "terminal" degree, meaning there is no doctorate available in most visual arts disciplines. One notable exception is in art history.The Latin "magister" is an ancestor of "master." "Maitre" is the French word for "master," and "meister" is the German one.Examples:Master of Balaam, Dutch, St. Eligius in His Studio, c. 1450, engraving on paper, 11.5 x 18.5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Netherlands. A man in a bishop&#39;s mantle is working in a metalsmiths workshop. "The man is Eligius, patron saint of smiths. He is hammering a goblet into shape on his anvil. Three other people are working in the studio: a master smith and two apprentices. The table is covered with tools. On the right, hammers, tongs and files hang in orderly rows against the wall. On the left is the furnace."Jan van der Straet (Stradanus) (Dutch, 1523-1604), Painter&#39;s Studio, woodcut. As the master paints a large canvas with a picture of St. George and the Dragon at the center, an apprentice paints a portrait from a model at left, two make drawings and one mixes colors in the foreground, two more grind pigments into oil on the right, and a last one carries a canvas toward the doorway. Windows let in natural light from several angles. There are numerous shelves, drawers and tables for supplies and works-in-progress. See studio.Quote: "The secret is to follow the advice the masters give you in their works while doing something different from them." Edgar Degas (1834-1917), French artist. See Impressionism. "Disciples be damned. It&#39;s not interesting. It&#39;s only the masters that matter. Those who create." Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quoted in: Michel George-Michel, De Renoir ? Picasso, (1954, pp. 94-95). Also see architect, artisan, DWM, masterpiece, teacher, and virtuoso.