INTRODUCTION

Since time immemorial, man has been puzzled about the meaning of his existence. Man is
always in constant search for answers regarding some fundamental questions about himself. “Who am
I?”, “What is the meaning of my life?” “What is it to be truly human?” Many philosophers attempted to
give an answer to these questions. And yet, up to this point in time, there is no definite and core
definition of who man is or what man is.
The study of Humanities is very significant in understanding man as a whole and his vital role as
a member of a particular social system. Specifically, the important concerns of humanities is about the
expression of individual feelings and how he expresses those feelings in different perspectives. It is
about the reflection of what man really is and his gradual development as a complete social being who is
prepared enough to discover his innate knowledge, talents, skills, and certain inclinations. An individual
who is ready to find the real essence of his existence, taking numerous responsibilities within the fast
changing world while exploring life to its fullest.
 ETYMOLOGY | Humanities came from the Latin word – HUMANUS which means to be truly human.
 To be human is to be culturally enhanced and refined.

 Culture comes from the Latin terms: Cultus-Colere, which means to cultivate, to develop. Culture is
the general way of life of a society, including ways of thinking, beliefs, customs, language, art and
traditions. It is cumulative creations of man, the totality of human heritage. It refers to all those things
which mean the refining and development of all man’s powers and natural endowments.
 As regards its historical development, during the MEDIEVAL Period, Humanities refers to anything that
have something to do with the cultivation of man’s spirituality. In the RENAISSANCE Period, it refers to
a set of disciplines being taught in colleges and universities. Lastly, in the MODERN Period, Humanities
is referred to as ARTS. Humanities is art itself.

 ETYMOLOGY & EVOLUTION of ART:

Originally it comes from:
 Aryan root AR meaning “join”, or “put together”.
 Greek verbs:
a. Artizein – to prepare
b. Arkiskein – to put together
 Latin ARS, ARTIS meaning everything that is artificially made or composed of by man.

Essentials of Art
1. Art has to be man-made
2. Art must be creative, not imitative
3. Art must benefit and satisfy man
4. Art is expressed through a certain medium or material by which the artist communicates himself to
his audiences.

ART HISTORY - is the study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts,
formats and design that we may able to understand its purpose and appreciate the work of art.
-as a term, art history encompasses several methods of studying the visual arts; in common usage
referring to works of arts and architecture.

ART APPRECIATION - is the knowledge and understanding of the universal and timeless qualities that
identify all great art.
-its simplest definition is being able to look at a work of art and then being able to form an opinion of
the work.
- having the knowledge, background and understanding of the universal timeless qualities that comprise
all works of art.
ARTS: ITS IMPORTANCE/IMPACT TO HUMAN EXISTENCE:
The world of arts has a particular significance in human lives. We cannot deny the fact that we
are always aspiring to attain beauty in every dimensions of our daily living. There are times that we
encountered certain dilemma regarding the use of the concept “ art “, that pertains to beauty, with the
concept “ craft “, that refers to anything that is being useful. Beautiful things can be useful and useful
things on the other hand can also be considered beautiful. The difference between the two is not that
important as long as we can easily express ourselves in the different ways in presenting art subjects.
According to Aristotle, “ Art is the right reason of making things “. This implies that any kind of human
activity that is directed to change or transform things under the patterns of right reason can be
considered as an art. In addition, the main concerns of the arts regarding its importance may underlie to
individual’s interest about beauty and aesthetic response since all types of arts have their own purpose
and functions.
Art is very important in our lives and it is considered as a “ language of feeling “, aside from the
consideration that it is one of the oldest and most important means of expression developed by man.
Relating art to love which is considered as an ultimate feeling and a blessed faculty given to us by God,
there is a need for a clear and proper communication of sensuous medium/media of expression ( acrylic,
wood, marble, musical sounds, letters, rhythmic movements, film, etc. ) to fully express our thoughts,
ideas, and feelings towards other people, objects, or even events and other social phenomena. Such
expression leads the way into another consideration that Art is a formal expression of human
experience that focuses on two distinct ideas: the FORM (that pertains to expression);and SUBSTANCE
( referring to man’s experiences in life ).
Since arts served as records of our total experiences and aspirations, we are actually affected in
many ways. To fully understand man as a whole, our ability to understand and appreciate its pieces is
deemed so important and a remarkable life’s experience.
 Art is making or composing any object useful for human needs that is, for the contemplation and
enjoyment of its meaning or beauty.
 Art is concerned with objects and human expressions as beautiful or not beautiful
 Art is the skillful arrangement or composition of some common qualities of nature (colors, sounds,
lines, movements, words, etc.) to express human feelings, emotions, or thoughts, in a meaningful and
enjoyable way.
 Therefore, ART IS THE SUBJECTIVE EXPRESSION OF MAN’S THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS.

FUNCTIONS OF ART
PHYSICAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL
1. Utility 1. Influential media 1. Inspirational
2. Instructional 2. Interaction (communication) 2. Relaxation
3. Historical (communication) 3. Gratification
4. Representational

ART: ITS OTHER FUNCTIONS TO HUMAN EXISTENCE

1. AESTHETIC FUNCTION – As man exerts efforts in attaining perfection, he must be aware and
conscious about the beauty of his environment through arts. He must be receptive to the complex
changes and learns how to use his different senses and at the same time he should know how to project
creative impulses through his symbols and works. This enables man to fully achieved the aesthetic
appeal in every art pieces as well as the attainment of pleasure and satisfaction.
2. CULTURAL FUNCTION – The various production of numerous printed materials and other various
distributive networks like books, newspapers, magazines, comic strips, and other related types paved
the way in providing knowledge and new discoveries to man. Through art, man has an ability to know
more about his own self, becomes more educated, civilized, and refined that makes his whole life more
meaningful.
3. SOCIAL FUNCTION – The new learning and experiences of man and the creation of civic and graphic
arts stimulate inner feelings and emotions conveying positive values where man learns to participate,
empathize and cooperate as an active member of society. The collective behaviour is greatly influenced
by art and it is manifested by every man in the level of his own thinking, feeling, and how man makes his
decision. The different techniques and methods in presenting art subjects served as a gateway in
showing social realities that will provide new perspectives and insights and may serve as a catalyst of
change in society.
4. UTILITARIAN FUNCTION – Art plays a significant role in man’s daily life. Through this, man can
acquire his basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and other necessities and conveniences. Art
serves as an important means of discovering new ideas and techniques and the invention of utensils,
gadgets, machines and other useful needs that help every man to find appropriate solutions to his
problems and enable man to survive.

AREAS OF THE ARTS

The diversity of arts enables various authors in classifying arts in different ways. The following
areas or in other words the different Branches of Learning that are concerned to human thoughts,
feelings, and relations will help us to have a full and better understanding about each topic, their
complexity, differences, and the primary/sensuous medium or media of expression or in other words “
Symbolic languages” with beauty of design and coherence of form.
VISUAL ARTS. These are types of arts that can be perceived by the sense of sight and can be
projected into 3-dimensional graphical forms. From these, we can say that we are all surrounded by
arts, objects from purely useful products and down to the materials that are designed for their aesthetic
appeal where we can derive real pleasure. This distinct area of the arts served as an expression of an
artist’s ideas, feelings, moods, hopes and even fears of the time and place which the artist had lived. The
medium used by an artist may vary on the types of visual art that depends primarily on the different
fields and occasions. ( Water color / acrylic in painting; bricks and concrete for architecture; wood,
stones and metal for sculpture; plants and trees for landscaping; textiles and furnishings for interior
designing; etc. )

LITERATURE. Etymologically, it came from the Latin word “ litterae “, which means letters. As an
art, the combination of letters into words then words are use to form a complete sentence, and
sentences into paragraphs as another means of an artist’s expression of personal ideas, feelings,
values, beliefs and convictions, sentiments and even problems in life. Furthermore, it is also related to
a French phrase “ belles lettres “ as a part of classical humanities which means “ beautiful writing “ in
connection to the main goal of every writer in the achievement of high sense of value in every literary
piece. It is also about a particular subject or period of time that greatly affects its audience ( readers,
listeners, viewers ) through various distributive networks such as books, comic strips, radio, television,
computer, e-mail, websites, and other types of literary pieces with various experiences in terms
animated sights, sounds, and colors. Just to inform, educate while entertaining its audience. In a broader
perspective, the primary medium used in literature either in oral or written type is the use of language
covering varied aspects of man’s daily living.
 DRAMA AND THEATER. Drama as a distinct type of art refers to an action played by a number
of characters in a particular type of story giving emphasis on the plot. A PLOT is a brief sequence of
incidents or events of which a story is composed wherein the basis is the conflict, struggle, or the
problem within. The distinction between drama, theatre, and opera vary in terms of the numbers of
the characters portraying certain role endowed with physical, emotional, and intellectual qualities given
by the writer or by the director. Another point of consideration is the combination of several types of
arts like the used of props/ backdrops and other furniture painted materials, costumes and make-up as
parts of visual arts, music that may set the mood of the story or may serve as a part of the plot, the use
of a script which is part of literature, and some rhythmic movements as part of a dance as an art. On the
other hand, OPERA is also a form of theatre wherein a story is mostly expressed not only by a script
but also through the use of either one or two distinct types of musical instruments or the application
of the whole ensemble orchestra.
MUSIC. This is a combination of various sounds at varying pitch in order to produce certain
composition as an expression of the artist’s feelings and experiences. It can also be considered as an
example of PURE ART pertaining to the use of only one kind of medium of expression and that is the use
of musical sounds. As an art, the basis of its appeal in the beauty of musical sounds coming from the
different musical instruments and other types of inputs. The attainment of its beauty depends upon its
primary function on how to entertain its audience. So when a particular music is out of tune, it is in full
blast, or it is unregulated, it fails to achieve its purpose of entertaining the listeners. As a Pure Art, a
typical type of music has its own INTENSITY that can affect people directly since we are very receptive to
the numerous stimulus that need certain responses. It is one of the reasons why a “ great music specially
radiates infectious joy”.
DANCE. It is considered as the “ First art cultivated by man and the origin of all his aesthetic
beauty “. Wherein dance flows originally for man and its practice and it is universally accepted in the
different types of societies, from primitive type moving onwards to a modern and complex type of
communities regardless of its transformational status of development. During the primitive times,
dancing has a great role for early people.
Dance is a part of many rituals and ceremonies and even burial practices as well as during the
time of courtship, planting and season of harvesting wherein people feel liberated when their feelings
are easily shared to others through distinct body movements. As the “ Origin of the Arts “, dance served
as the inspiration in conducting different kinds of arts like painting, music, and literature. One of the
evidences is the numerous carvings in the walls of a cave during Neolithic period where women dancing
around a man whom they considered as an “IDOL”. From then on, dance is uniquely able to intensify the
feelings of us all through its various moods, fields, and occasions.

DIVISIONS OF ARTS
A. WITH RESPECT TO PURPOSE
a. Practical Arts – directed to produce artifacts and utensils which cope with human needs.
b. Liberal Arts – intellectual efforts are considered; take for the cases of AB Courses like
Philosophy, Psychology, Social Sciences, Journalism.
c. Fine Arts – products of the human creativity in so far as they express beauty in different ways
and different media like drawing, painting.
d. Major Arts – characterized by their actual and potential expressiveness like music, poetry,
sculpture
e. Minor Arts – connected with practical uses and purposes like interior design, landscape,
porcelain making
B.WITH RESPECT TO MEDIA AND FORMS
a. Plastic arts –perceived by sense of sight like painting, sculpture, architecture
b. Phonetic arts – based on sounds and words like music, poetry, drama, literature
c. Kinetic arts – rhythmic movement like the different kinds of dances
d. Pure arts – which only take one medium of expression as sound in music and color in
painting e. Mixed arts – which use two or more media like opera is a combination of music,
poetry and drama.

CLASSIFICATION OF ARTS
1. Space arts – visual arts 
 2 Dimensional (seen only in one angle) - painting - printing - photography - drawing/
sketching 
 3 Dimensional (seen in several angle) - sculpture - architecture
2. Time arts – auditory arts - music - dance –
combination: Musical Theatre/ Opera

ARTS ACCORDING TO:

 PLATO
Art imitates nature. Art imitates life.
 ARISTOTLE
Art imitates men and nature in action.
 OSCAR WILDE
It is life that imitates art.
There is no final manner by which a hierarchy of the arts may be
established. Each art has its own value and each person has his/her own
preferences or opinions.
 HENRI-LOUIS BERGSON
It is not reason that enables us to imitate. Art is not imitation. Art is made
from intuition (immediate sensation and intense feeling).
 G.E. MOORE
Art is both imitation and intuition.
 SIGMUND FREUD
Art is a wish fulfillment, an excellent work of art results from frustration.
 JOSE ORTEGA Y GASSET
Art is a form of escape, escape from human negative elements.
 LEO TOLSTOY
Art is communication; it infects our feelings.
 BENEDETTO CROCE
Art is merely an expression regardless if it is understood or not.
 ALBERT CAMUS
Art is rebellion.
 JOHN DEWEY
Art is not limited in the gallery and museum.
 DANTE LEONCINI
When man beautifies himself, he becomes a human art.
 MARGARETTE MACDONALD
Art is esoteric. It is mysterious. It is indefinable. It is trans intelligible. It is only describable.
WHERE DOES BEAUTY LIE?
Beauty is out there; it is objective. It is a primary quality that resides in the object.
Beauty is not there; it is secondary quality that resides in the perceiver. (John Locke)
Beauty is neither primary nor secondary; it is tertiary in nature. It depends on the appropriate
situational perspective.
Everything in nature and art is beautiful for everything is created perfect according to its nature and
form. All things are beautiful and perfect in themselves, BUT not in relation to us. Some reasons are the
following:
a. Objects that we see everyday lose their significance to us. People who have been in the Banawe Rice
Terraces for a long time will not see beauty of their mountains as in the eyes of a tourist.
b. Certain things are dangerous to our lives like snake and other wild beasts.
c. Certain conditions in human life such as poverty and disease are referred to as ugly but once painted
in a canvass or described in a novel, they become meaningful and beautiful.

CATEGORIES OF BEAUTIFUL
1. The Sublime – enjoyment is aroused by astonishment and awe like looking at the starry heavens, the
majesty of mountain ranges, the heroic act of heroes and saints.
2. The Nice – enjoyment is aroused by sympathy, love, benevolence, tenderness and modesty like
children, flowers, flower arrangement, artifacts
3. The Comic – enjoyment is aroused because it makes us laugh like satire and irony, the exaggerated,
the repetitious, the ridiculous, and the playful.

SUBJECT OF ART
- is the matter to be described or to be portrayed by the artist. The subject of art is varied. This may
refer to any person, object, scene or event.

Subject - generally refers to the thing, object, person, landscapes, event, etc. depicted by the artists in
his/her artwork. It serves as the window of the artwork.
- an artwork that has a subject is classified as a representational art. It is also known as objective art
because you can easily objectify the subject. On the other hand, an artwork that has no subject is
classified as non-representational art. It also known as non-objective art because it does not represent
anything.
- Other form of arts that do not depict a subject/representation but have themes that would help the
audience clarify their meaning and intentions.
- Some artworks have content which refers to the meaning of the artwork. Content is the essence or
substance of a thing or an object.

Kinds of Subject
1. Landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes
2. Still life
3. Animals
4. Portrait
5. Figures
6. Everyday Life

WAYS OF PRESENTING ART SUBJECTS

1. REALISM Object depicted in the way they normally appear. What you see is what you get.
2. ABSTRACTION In painting and sculpture, it magnifies one phase of reality without representational
intentions having little or no resemblance to natural appearance. It does not show the subject as a
whole but only his idea or his feeling about it. Kinds of abstraction are as follows:
a. Elongation – it refers to that which being lengthened.
b. Shortening – it refers to that which being shortened.
c. Distortion – dramatization of figure to create emotional effects.
d. Mangling – showing of subjects or objects that are cut, lacerated, mutilated, and hacked.
e. Cubism – originated by Picasso, which transposed natural forms into overlapping
transparent planes.
3. SURREALISM (“Super-realism”) It is the combination of realism and distortion. It emphasized the
omnipotence of the dream and the subconscious mind. Indebted to Dadaism. It was founded by poet-
painter Andre Breton in 1924 in Paris, France.
4. DADAISM In literature and painting, it literally means “the killing of the arts.” Originated by Marcel
Duchamp in 1916 in Zurich, Switzerland. It is characterized to be “non-sensical”.
5. EXPRESSIONISM The emphasis is on the “inner world” of subjective feeling rather than on
descriptions of the outer world.
6. FAUVISM In painting, led by Henri Matisse in 1903-1907 in France, this school showed distorted form
and employed vivid spontaneous color effects. Characterized by the used of extremely bright colors in
order to express joy, pleasure and comfort.
7. FUTURISM It attempts to capture the movement and the dynamism of the modern world.
8. IMPRESSIONISM It is a method in painting with small vibrant dots of color. This gave rise to the later
method called pointillism.
9. SYMBOLISM It uses something invisible such as an idea or a quality to represent another thing.