art vs finesse

art

noun
  • Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation. 

  • The study and the product of these processes. 

  • Aesthetic value. 

  • The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colours, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the senses and emotions, usually specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. 

  • The creative and emotional expression of mental imagery, such as visual, auditory, social, etc. 

  • A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts. 

  • A field or category of art, such as painting, sculpture, music, ballet, or literature. 

  • Skillful creative activity, usually with an aesthetic focus. 

  • Artwork. 

finesse

noun
  • Skill in the handling or manipulation of a situation. 

  • An adroit manoeuvre. 

  • The property of having elegance, grace, refinement, or skill. 

  • In bridge, whist, etc.: a technique which allows one to win a trick, usually by playing a card when it is thought that a card that can beat it is held by another player whose turn is over. 

verb
  • To play (a card) as a finesse. 

  • To obtain something from someone through trickery or manipulation. 

  • To evade (a problem, situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or stratagem. 

  • To attempt to win a trick by finessing. 

  • To handle or manage carefully or skilfully; to manipulate in a crafty way. 

How often have the words art and finesse occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )