Guns as Art

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Prof Young

New member
So another post got me to thinking about how us shooters talk and write about guns that look good and guns that are ugly etc. Granted beauty and ugly are all relative terms. So are there guns out there that we'd all pretty much say "Yeah that's Art!" when we saw them? Post some pic . . . .

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
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I think that gun was made with the purpose of being art. Granted it is definitely out of my price range, but I think all members could agree that is a work of art.
 
I cant add much to the topic except to say there is quite a bit of Art in regards to firearms.

Many hears ago I was working on a degree in Police Administration. You had to take a bunch of Soc/Phy classes. No knowing what it was, (I assumed it had to do with Soc/phy, I signed up for a Humanities Class.

Wrong, it was about ART. I know nothing of art, nor was I interested. The grade was based on two main topics, The book "Agony and Ecstasy" about Michel Anaglo, which I never was able to get through, and we had to write a lengthily paper on some sort of Art.

I decided to write a paper on the Art found on firearms. My instructor was a rabid anti gun guy and told me up front would probably effect my grade. I told him that my paper wouldn't be about guns but art.

Turns out there is tons of information about art found on guns, and the meanings of the engravings and art. Take into account there was no internet in those days.

I found it quite interesting and really got involved and ended up with an extensive paper which earned me an "A" from my anti gun instructor.

My paper was good enough to make up for not reading that idiotic book and I ended up with a B in the class.

If one searches, you'll find art on firearms not just pretty, but has a story, a back ground that is pretty interesting.

Wish I'd kept that paper.... but I wasn't into such foolishness back then, I just wanted to survive college.
 
"My instructor was a rabid anti gun guy and told me up front would probably effect my grade."

I've been a college professor for 20 years and have worked at 6 different colleges and universities and I can tell you that any instructor who says this would be disciplined if not terminated. Faculty CANNOT allow personal beliefs to influence grades. Of course many do, but to tell the student it will happen is outrageous.

My students regularly express political opinions contrary to my own in classroom discussions and write papers doing the same. This has zero effect on their grades. I evaluate the work based on the established criteria without regard to any political content.

I had one professor punish me for my conservative views with a grade lower than I deserved when I was an undergrad and I appealed the grade and it was changed. He then left the university for another position. In my doctoral program I never met so may far left professors, but none ever tried to screw over my grades. We sure had some lively debates, though.

I always won of course because my arguments were based on logic and not emotion as theirs were.

I did once make a sculpture in an art class that incorporated some 7.62x39 rounds. The instructor mistakenly thought I was criticizing gun ownership when in fact I was celebrating it.
 
There have been articles in design and art journals on the aesthetics of firearms. I saw them a few years ago. One was about jeweled and engraved guns, the other was the design of more utilitarian guns, like Glocks.
 
(Sorry ahead of time if any photos are too big, still learning how to resize this stuff)
There are several great engravers and gun makers who turn out gun as exquisite as anything in the Louvre

http://www.amazon.com/Firmo-Francesca-Fracassi-Master-Engravers/dp/1886768838
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ALL the art in that book was hand done on guns costing way more than the average house with ZERO room for a mistake. Unlike a painter who can just paint over, if these folks screw up, there could be tens of thousands and months of lost time involved.

Or how about some basic and nice Celtic style?
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or even a basic Win21:

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Both Fracassis are true masters. None better, IMHO.:)

I used to think nothing can truly be deemed "gaudy" without gold. Well, I've been proven wrong. The above rifle in #7 is still interesting, but it is gaudy.
 
Interesting thread. I never have been moved by what most would call artistic guns, with the fancy engraving and woodwork. But I have often been impressed with the simple elegance of a well designed and manufactured firearm. Just as I admire the intricacy and skill involved in the manufacture of a WWII airplane engine, I look at a stainless steel S&W revolver and see a sort of simple beauty. Added to that is the kinesthetic appreciation of just holding a well made, solid firearm in one's hands. I own a few not especially valuable handguns that I hardly ever use at the range or elsewhere that I keep just because I like to hold them, look at them, and admire them. I guess in a way that means I see my guns as a type of artistic expression that speaks to me.
 
Vito, I know exactly how you feel, I used to feel the same way and for a long time I never really cared much for engraving. But, after becoming more acquainted with good engraving, I have come to really appreciate it as a true art form. I'd bet if you delve a little deeper into how true master engravers apply their craft, you would be equally impressed and ultimately hooked. Not hooked in that you are going to go out and buy a $250,000 shotgun; hooked in that you could understand how someone might spend that much and still be considered "rational".
 
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