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"Beaux Arts," Why is it plural?

English Language Learners Asked by Phantom wager wallow gilt opus on December 14, 2020

Beaux Arts Architecture in the Spotlight ( A title from an ACT test passage)

Based on Collins Dic, art is plural:

  1. N-VAR Thearts are activities such as music, painting, literature, film, and dance, which people can take part in for enjoyment, or to create works that express certain meanings or ideas of beauty
  2. N-PLURAL At a university or college, arts are subjects such as history, literature, or languages in contrast to scientific subjects.
  3. N-COUNT If you describe an activity as an art, you mean that it requires skill and that people learn to do it by instinct or experience, rather than by learning facts or rules.

I don’t think the "Beaux Arts" fit into any of these category, but rather one type of genre. So why plural is used here?

One Answer

This dictionary defines the French term:
Wordreference.com

Les beaux-arts sont la sculpture, la peinture, la gravure, l'architecture, la musique et la danse.

That includes six different activities under the term, and to top it off, the English translation is fine arts, a plural noun.

As to why beaux-arts architecture is called that, it has to do with the history of that particular school of architecture:

Wikipedia beaux-arts architecture

Beaux-Arts architecture was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century.

Correct answer by Jack O'Flaherty on December 14, 2020

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