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I have seen artwork used as a mass noun, as in:

Look at all of the artwork, it's beautiful!

As well as:

Look at all of the artworks, they're beautiful!

Per my understanding, there's no need to pluralize a mass noun, so I'm unclear as to which sentence is correct.

user77318
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  • artwork is a mass noun. – Matt E. Эллен Oct 03 '13 at 17:56
  • Example: President Francois Hollande's Socialist government moved on Thursday to halt a push to extend a wealth tax to artworks... (CNBC) – GEdgar Oct 03 '13 at 18:03
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    @MattЭллен Yes. And also, a countable. – Kris Oct 04 '13 at 13:25
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    Though technically a General Reference considering there are dictionary entries that answer the question adequately, I would like to leave this post open because there are evidently some who are not entirely familiar. – Kris Oct 04 '13 at 13:28
  • @Kris At most we should have one Q&A about nouns which create mass/countable confusion. It makes no sense to replicate the dictionary with a separate entry for any word which some are not entirely familiar with. – MetaEd Oct 04 '13 at 13:55
  • @MετάEd Good point (the 'at most'). One (community) post on to 'mass/countable nouns' should be useful. – Kris Oct 04 '13 at 14:00
  • @MετάEd A snag is that some countifications (if I'm allowed to countify 'countification') are considered allowable by some authorities but not by others. 'Information' appears to be going through this process at the moment, according to some. But yes, there are too many similar questions. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 04 '13 at 15:55
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    Can someone post how the OP should have looked this up? I just tried the list of general references. I don't have an OED subscription, the second item isn't really a dictionary, and the first one I was able to access didn't seem to indicate whether its terms are mass nouns. If we want posters to learn how to check these first, I think we need to do more to teach them how to check first (Currently we provide 24 places they should check.) – Jaydles Oct 04 '13 at 16:09
  • the Compact Oxford (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/artwork?view=uk) does not require a subscription. – MetaEd Oct 04 '13 at 16:42
  • @MετάEd, I did overlook that one of the links went there, which it totally my bad. I still think there's a problem in that it's the ninth item on the list of references... – Jaydles Oct 04 '13 at 17:22
  • @Jaydles You're right. And the beautiful thing is that the list of references welcomes your edits. – MetaEd Oct 04 '13 at 17:25
  • @Jaydles: (1st comment above) I already had, in the answer you don't seem to have read (18 hours before your comment). – Edwin Ashworth Oct 04 '13 at 19:52
  • @EdwinAshworth, I'd read it, but the online m-w dictionary clearly can't help the OP to find his or her answer in a "reference" way. It simply gives examples of both count and non-count senses, the existence of which are cited in the question as the explicit thing causing the OP's confusion. – Jaydles Oct 04 '13 at 20:04
  • Incidentally, @user77318, you might find this question helpful: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/94618/count-vs-mass-where-can-you-look-this-up – Shog9 Oct 04 '13 at 20:17
  • @Jaydles: I disagree. OP clearly states 'I'm unclear as to which sentence is correct.' – indicating that he thinks it's an either - or situation – ie 'artwork' must be in the subclass 'count noun' or the subclass 'mass noun', but cannot have separate usages in both subclasses. This view seems to be held by both the other answerers also. M-W clearly points out that some nouns (and in particular this one) may be sometimes count, sometimes uncount. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 04 '13 at 21:12

3 Answers3

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Don't people do a fair amount of research before offering an answer they feel might be correct? At least go through all the major online dictionaries.

Merriam-Webster licenses both count and non-count senses (I've merged some of the sections):

a painting, sculpture, photograph, etc., that is created to be beautiful or to express an important idea or feeling : an artistic work

... 1a : an artistic production an 8-foot metal artwork

and

: drawings, photographs, etc., that are included in books, magazines, and other printed materials

... The walls of the restaurant are decorated in original artwork.

Edwin Ashworth
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Artwork is a mass noun, but it denotes two different types of mass.

In example 1, it denotes the mass of work that has gone into creating a single piece of art, so the comment is actually indicating one should look at the work that has gone into creating said art. This makes sense, because one can see the results of said work, and it is presumed that it is representative of that effort.

Artwork also means "a collection of art", because it refers to all of the work that went into creating it, so looking at a gallery of art, one could say "look at all that artwork!" and be correct.

For further definitions of Artwork: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/artwork

Zibbobz
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The first sentence is correct.

"Artwork" is a mass noun:

"Look at all the beautiful artwork"

Singular:

"Look at the beautiful example of artwork."

OpenSorceress
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