GE 8 ART APPRECIATION

GE 8 ART APPRECIATION
• develop students’ ability to appreciate, analyze, and critique
works and art.
• Through interdisciplinary and multimodal approaches, this
course equips student with a broad knowledge of the practical,
historical, philosophical, and social relevance of the arts in
order to hone the students ability to articulate their
understanding of the arts.
WHAT IS ART?
 TERMS:
• Art
• Humanities
• Art history
• Art appreciation
Art
• Art is something we do, a verb . Art is an expression of
our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is
even more personal than that: it’s about sharing the way
we experience the world, which for many is an extension
of personality.
• It is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be
faithfully portrayed by words alone.
• And because words alone are not enough, we must find some
other vehicle to carry our intent. But the content that we instill
on or in our chosen media is not in itself the art.
• Art is to be found in how the media is used, the way in which
the content is expressed.
Humanities
• The humanities are studies about human culture, such
as literature, philosophy, and history.
• Studying the humanities gives you general knowledge.
• The humanities provide general knowledge about the
best accomplishments of human beings throughout
history. Learning the works of Shakespeare, Plato, and
Beethoven is part of the humanities.
Art History
• Art history is the study of objects of art in their historical
development and stylistic contexts; that is genre, design,
format, and style. The study includes painting, sculpture,
architecture, ceramics, furniture, and other decorative
objects.
Art Appreciation
• Art Appreciation is the knowledge and understanding of
the universal and timeless qualities that identify all great
art. The more you appreciate and understand the art of
different eras, movements, styles, and techniques, the
better you can develop, evaluate and improve your own
artwork.
Creativity
• Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas
into reality. Creativity is characterized by the ability to
perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns,
to make connections between seemingly unrelated
phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity
involves two processes: thinking, then producing.
Can creativity be learned?
• A study by George Land reveals that we are naturally
creative and as we grow up we learn to be uncreative.
Creativity is a skill that can be developed and a process
that can be managed.
• Creativity begins with a foundation of knowledge,
learning a discipline, and mastering a way of thinking.
You can learn to be creative by experimenting, exploring,
questioning assumptions, using imagination and
synthesing information. Learning to be creative is akin to
learning a sport. It requires practice to develop the right
muscles and a supportive environment in which to
flourish.
Why is creativity needed in
art making?
When can you say that a
person is creative?
• Creativity begins with a foundation of knowledge,
learning a discipline, and mastering a way of thinking.
You can learn to be creative by experimenting, exploring,
questioning assumptions, using imagination and
synthesing information. Learning to be creative is akin to
learning a sport. It requires practice to develop the right
muscles and a supportive environment in which to
flourish.
Imagination
• The term imagination comes from the latin verb imaginari
meaning "to picture oneself."
• Imagination is considered "a power of the mind," "a
creative faculty of the mind," "the mind" itself when in
use, and a "process" of the mind used for thinking,
scheming, contriving, remembering (see memory,)
creating, fantasizing, and forming opinion.
• In Aristotle, the imagination bridges the gap between
"images" and "ideas," implying that rational thought takes
place in the form of images, and are stored and
combined in the imagination.
• Thus, imagination is implied as an actual space or
medium in the individual's mind , and in this space it has
a power to combine images and ideas to do the work of
reason.
Assumptions
of Art
• Art is universal
• Art is cultural
• Art is not nature
• Art involves experience
• Art as expression
• Art as a form of creation
Art is Universal
• Art is a universal language.
• Art has a way of speaking to us in a way that doesn’t use
words.
• The chains of spoken language can old fast the words
that artworks seems to speak to our inner hearts.
Art is Culture
• Why do anthropologists care for
art?
• Art as a representation of culture.
• Art can be both rooted in history and a catalyst for
change in a culture.
• It connects people of a culture to their past, and it
suggest new ideas and insights.
Art is not Nature
• Art is man-made construct. Moreover, “art is not nature”
means that it is not a natural occurrence.
• However, man has taught himself to find art in nature.
Art involves
Experience
• Art is not merely the process by the artist; it involves
both the artist and the active observer who encounter
each other, their mental environments, and their culture
at large.
• That is art is not just according to human experience, but
it is an involvement of human experience. - John Dewey
Art is Expression
• The view that “art is imitation (representation)” has not
only been challenged, it has been moribund in at least
some of the arts for more than a century.
• It was subsequently replaced by the theory that art is
expression.
• Instead of reflecting states of the external world, art is
held to reflect the inner state of the artist .
This, at least, seems to be implicit in the core meaning of
“expression”: the outer manifestation of an inner state.
Art as a form of
Creation
• The purpose of works of art is to communicate ideas,
such as politically, spiritually, or philosophically motivated
art
CATEGORIES OF
ART
• 1. visual arts – usually exist in two dimensional form
and stay in one place. Something that we see and hear.
The visual arts are art forms such as ceramics, drawing,
painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts,
photography, video, filmmaking, and architecture.
• 2. film - A film, also called a movie, motion picture, moving
picture, or photoplay, is a series of still images that, when
shown on a screen, create the illusion of moving images. The
process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. Films are
cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those
cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an
important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a
powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens.
• 3. Performance Art - Performing arts are a form of art in
which artists use their voices, bodies or inanimate
objects to convey artistic expression. It is different from
visual arts, which is when artists use paint, canvas or
various materials to create physical or static art objects.
Performing arts include a range of disciplines which are
performed in front of a live audience.
• 4. Poetry - is an art form that is older than literature,
itself, and dates back to ancient times. It is used as
a form of communication, a way to tell a story, and
a way to express emotion.
• 5. Architecture - Architectural works, in the material
form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural
symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations
are often identified with their surviving architectural
achievements.
• 6. Dance film - Is a film in which dance is used to
reveal the central themes of the film, whether these
themes be connected to narrative or story, states of
being, or more experimental and formal concerns.
In such films, the creation of choreography typically
exists only in film or video.
• 7. Literary - literature refers to writing considered to
be an art form or any single writing deemed to have
artistic or intellectual value,
• 8. Theatre - or theater is a collaborative form of fine
art that uses live performers, typically actors or
actresses, to present the experience of a real or
imagined event before a live audience in a specific
place, often a stage.
• 9. Applied Arts (fashion, furniture) - The applied
arts are all the arts that apply design and
decoration to everyday objects in order to make
them aesthetically pleasing. The term is used in
distinction to the fine arts that produce objects
solely to be beautiful or stimulate the intellect.
FUNCTIONS OF
ART
• 1. personal (utilitarian, public display, expression) – arts
are vehicles for the artists’ expression of their feelings and
ideas. The arts also serve as means of expression for us.
• The therapeutic value of music cannot be ignored.
• Works of art make us aware of other ways of thinking, feeling,
and imagining that have never occurred to us before.
• 2. Social ( use for public display and celebration, use to
affect a collective behavior) – one cannot conceive of a
society without art, for art is closely related to every
aspect of social life.

• 1. influences social behavior – it seeks or tends to influence

the collective behavior of a people.
• 2. display and celebration – it is created to be seen or used
primarily in public situation.
• Sculpture and painting – commemoration of important
personages in society. Often they serve to record important historical
events, or reveal the ideals of heroism and leadership that the
community would want the young to emulate.
• 3. social description – it expresses or describes social or
collective aspects of existence as opposed to individual and personal
kind of experiences.
• 3. Physical (utilitarian) – functional works of art may
classified as either tools or containers. Tools and
containers are objects which function to make our lives
physically comfortable.
• Tell whether the ff. is a tool or container:
• 1. spoon
• 2. car
• 3. building
• 4.community
• 5. ceramic vase
• 6. chair
 PHILOSOPHICAL
IMPORTANCE OF ART
• 1. INTEGRITY
• Integrity as a concept has to do with perceived consistency of
our actions, values, methods, principles, expectations and
outcome .
• Integrity means the quality of being honest and having strong
moral principles that you refuse to change.
• It must not be deficient in what it needs to be most itself.
• What is artistic integrity:
• Always painting with passion
• Never copying but taking ideas and tweaking them to make them our own
• Being original….not normal
• Having the courage to take a chance
• Always remembering your artistic vision comes from your life, your
thoughts…..your courage
• Creating a painting because it comes from your soul and not for recognition or
prizes
• 2. PROPORTION OR CONSONANCE

• Proportion and scale are principles of art that describe

the size, location, or amount of one element in relation to
another. They have a great deal to do with the overall
harmony of an individual piece and our perception of the
art.
• Scale is used in art to describe the size of one object in
relation to another, each object is often referred to as a
whole. Proportion has a very similar definition but tends
to refer to the relative size of parts within a whole. In this
case, the whole can be a single object like a person's
face or the entire artwork as in a landscape.
• For example, if you're painting a portrait of a dog and a person, the
dog should be at the correct scale in relation to the person. The
person's body (and the dog's as well) should be in a proportion to what
we can recognize as a human being.
• Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" (ca. 1490) is a
perfect example of proportion in the human body.

• Michelangelo's "David" statue

• Some artists purposely distort proportions to give the work a
certain feel or to relay a message. The photomontage work of
Hannah Höch is a great example. Much of her work is a
commentary on issues and she blatantly plays with scale and
proportion to emphasize her point.
• Its dimensions should suitably correspond to other physical
objects as well as to a metaphysical ideal, an end.
• 3. RADIANCE OR CLARITY

• It should clearly radiate intelligibility, the logic of its inner

being and impress this knowledge of itself on the mind of
the perceiver.
• 4. ART AS A REPRESENTATION

• Aristotle also defined mimesis as the perfection and

imitation of nature. Art is not only an imitation but also
the use of mathematical ideas and symmetry in the
search for the perfect.
• The term 'representation' carries a range of meanings
and interpretations. In literary theory, 'representation' is
commonly defined in three ways:

• To look like or resemble

• To stand in for something or someone
• To present a second time; to re-present
• 5. ART FOR ART’S SAKE
• German philosopher Immanuel Kant qualified “art for art’s
sake” as a mode of approaching art in The Critique of
Judgement (1790). Declaring content, subject matter, and any
other external demands obsolete, Kant argued the purpose of
art is to be “purposeless”. It should not have to justify any
reason of existing and being valued other than the fact that it is
art.
• 6. ART AS AN ESCAPE
• It is an escape from the chaos that our uncertain thoughts
cause within us. It’s an escape from our unrelenting
running footsteps that we focus on more intensely than
reminding ourselves to take magical depths of deep
breaths.
• Creating art puts you in the present moment without a
sound, and you find yourself self-reflecting a great deal.
THE SUBJECT OF ART
• What is subject?
• Ways of Presenting subject
• The Artist and his choice of subject
• Kinds of Subject
• Subject and Content
 WHAT IS A SUBJECT?
• To a majority of people, the appeal of most works of art
lies in the representation of familiar objects.
• Their enjoyment of painting, sculpture, and literature
come not from the satisfaction they get out of
recognizing the subject or understanding the narrative
content.
• The subject of art refers to any person, object, scene or
event described or represented in a work of art.
• Two subject type
• Representational or Objective
• Non-representational or Objective
• Representational or Objective
• Arts that have subject (painting, sculpture, graphic
arts, Literature, and Theatre arts)
• Non-representational or Non-objective
• Arts that do not have a subject
• Music, Architecture and many functional arts
• They do not present descriptions, stores, ore references to
identifiable objects or symbols. Rather they, appeal directly
to the senses primarily because of the satisfying
organization of their sensuous and expressive elements.
• Many contemporary painters have turned away from
representational to non-objective painting.
• They have shifted their attention to the work of art as an
object itself, an exciting combination of shapes and colors
that fulfils an aesthetic need without having to represent
images or tell a story.
• Many modern paintings are like this making them more
difficult to comprehend.
Ways of Representing
Subject
• The manner of representing subject varies according to the intent and
inventiveness of each artist.
• Realism – when things are depicted in the way they would normally
appear
• Abstraction – it is the process of simplifying and or reorganizing
objects and elements according to the demands of the artistic
expression.
• Distortion – is when the figures have been so arranged that
proportions differ noticeably from natural measurements
• Surrealism – it is realism plus distortion
 REALISM
• Strictly speaking, o work of art is realistic. Since no work of
art is an accurate copy of what exists in the natural world.
• Some paintings seem to be photographic rendering of facts
or anchored on historical facts.
A Basket Of Mangoes By
Fernando Amorsolo
1949
Oil In Canvas
 ABSTRACTION
• The artist selects and renders the objects with their shapes,
colors, and positions altered. In some abstract works
enough of a likeness has been retained to represent real
things.
• In others, the original objects have been reduced to simple
geometric shapes and they can be rarely identified unless
the artists named it in title.
• His concern is the rendering of the essence of the subject
rather than the natural form itself.
GEORGE BRAQUE
 DISTORTION
• It could also mean twisting, stretching or deforming the
natural shape of the object.
• The relief sculptures and paintings of the ancient Egypt
were distorted. The head and lower part of the body were
shown in profile, while the eyes and upper part of the body
were in frontal position. Convention demanded the highly
stylized representation of the figure.
• It is usually done to dramatize the shape of a figure or to
create an emotional effect

• Caricatures employ distortions so that their targets of

ridicule would appear grotesque and hateful.
 SURREALISM
• It is a method where the artist is giving expression to
what is in the subconscious composes dreamlike scenes
that show an irrational agreement of objects.
• The images are recognizable, sometimes drawn from the
nature but they are so combined in utterly fantastic and
unnatural relationships.
• Joan Miro, Carnival of Harlequin
• Salvador Dali. The persistence of Memory 1931
 THE ARTIST AND HIS CHOICE OF SUBJECT
• Thins that affect an artist’s choice of subject
• Medium
• Time in which he lives and or the patronage he gets
• Developments in Science and Technology
• The value of work of art does not depend on the artist’s
choice of subject. It does not mean that the more profound
the subject, the greater the work of art. Rather, the worth of
any representational work of art depend upon the way the
subject has been presented.
• How a work of art is to be appreciated and assessed, it
has been agreed has more to do with the way in which its
subject or theme is presented than what is presented.
 KINDS OF SUBJECT
• Landscapes, seascapes, • Everyday life
and cityscapes • History and legend
• Still life • Religion and mythology
• Animals • Dreams and fantasies
• Portraits
• Figures
 LANDSCAPES, SEASCAPES, AND CITYSCAPES
• Artists has always been fascinated with their physical environment
• Favorite subject of Chinese and Japanese painters
• Fernando Amorsolo, is well known for having romanticized Philippine
landscapes
• In Europe, the paintings in landscapes without human figures was almost
unheard of until the Renaissance. They only served as background prior to
this
• Modern painters seem to be attracted to scenic in cities Vicente Manansala,
Arturo Luz and Mauro Malang Santos are some who have done cityscapes.
• Barung-Barong. Vicente Manansala
• Antipolo. Fernando Amorsolo
 STILL LIFES
• These are groups of inanimate objects arranged in an
indoor setting (flower and fruit arrangements, dishes food,
pots and pans, musical instruments and musical sheets).
The arrangement is like that to show particular human
interest and activities.
 STILL LIFES
• The still lifes of Chinese and Japanese painters usually
show flowers, fruits, and leaves still in their natural setting
unpluck from the branches.
• Today, focus is on the exciting arrangement and
combination of the object’s shape and colors.
• Juan Sanchez. Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber
 ANIMALS
• They have represented by artists from almost every age
and place. In fact, the earliest known paintings are
representations of animals on the walls of caves.
• The carabao has been a favorite subject of Filipino
artists.
• The Maranaws have an animal form of sarimanok as
their proudest prestige symbol.
• Animals have been used as symbols in conventional
religious art.
• The dove stands for the Holy Spirit in representations of
the Trinity
• The fish and the lamb are symbols of Christ
• The phoenix is the symbol of Resurrection
• The peacock is the symbol of immortality through Christ
 PORTRAITS
• People have always been intrigued by the human face as
an index of the owner’s character. As an instrument of
expression, it is capable of showing a variety of mood and
feelings.
• It is a realistic likeness of a person in sculpture, painting,
drawing or print but it need to be a photographic likeness.
A great portrait is a product of a selective process, the
artist highlighting certain features and de-emphasizing
others.
• It does not have to be beautiful but it has to be truthful.
• Besides the face, other things are worth noticing in portraits
are the subject’s hands, which can be very expressive, his
attire and accessories for it reveals much about the subject’s
time.
• Statues and busts of leaders and heroes were quite common
among the Romans but it was not until the Renaissance that
portrait painting became popular in Europe.
• Many artists did self portraits. Their own faces provided them
unlimited opportunities for character study.
Madonna.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Bust of Aphrodite
Fida Kahlo.
Self-portrait with flowers
 FIGURES
• The sculptor’s chief subject has traditionally been the
human body, nude or clothed. The body’s form,
structure, and flexibility offer the artist a big challenge to
depict it in a variety of ways, ranging from the idealistic
as in the classical Greek sculptures to the most abstract.
• The grace and ideal proportions of the human form were
captured in religious sculpture by the Ancient Greeks. To
them, physical beauty was the symbol of moral and
spiritual perfection, thus they portrayed their gods and
goddesses as possessing perfect human shapes.
• Early Christians and medieval artists seldom
represented the nude figure. The figures they used to
decorate the walls and entrances of their churches were
distorted so as not to call undue attention and distract
people from their spiritual thoughts.
• But Renaissance artists reawakened an interest in the
nude human figure
• A favorite subject among painters is the femalu figure in
the nude.
Venus De Milo.
C. 150 Bc
 EVERYDAY LIFE
• Artists have always shown a deep concern about life
around them. Many of them have recorded in paintings
their observation of people going about their usual ways
and performing their usual tasks.
• Genre Painting – representations of rice threshers, cock
fighters, candy vendors, street musicians and children at
play.
Lavandera. Fernando Amorsolo
 HISTORY AND LEGEND
• History consists of verifiable facts, legends of
unverifiable ones, although many of them are often
accepted as true because tradition has held them so far.
Insofar as incident past is concerned, it is difficult to tell
how much of what we know now is history and how
much is legend.
• While many works may not be conciously done historical
record, certain information about history can be pieced
from them. The costumes and accessories, the status
symbols, the kinds of dwelling or the means of
transportation.
• Malakas and Maganda and Mariang Makiling are among
the legendary subjects which have been rendered in
painting and sculpture by not a few Filipino artists.
Eugene Delacroix. Liberty Leading The People
 RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY
• Art has always been a handmaiden of Religion. Most of
the world’s religions have used the arts to aid in
worship, to instruct, to inspire feelings of devotion and to
umpress and convert non-believers.
• The Christian church commissioned craftsmen to tell the
stories about Christ and the saints in pictures, usually in
mosaics, murals and stained glass windows in churches.
• It is also resorted to the presentation of tableaux and
plays to preach and teach.
• Some religions however, forbade the representation of
divinity as human beigns or animal forms.
• Pictures of God, human beings, or animals are
forbidden in Judaism and Islam because people might
worship the images themselves.
• Other religions have taught that a god may sometimes
assume human or other visible forms.
• Thus he is distinguished from human beings by a
halo, wing, or a darker complexion, or by the use of
some attributes.
• The Egyptians portrayed their gods as part human
and part animal
• The ancient African tribes distorted their god’s
features
• Among Hindus, Shiva is shown as a four-armed god
• Buddha, is symbolized by his footprints, a wheel or
a true
• In the early Christian world, representation of divinity
were also symbolic. There were precise conventions in
rendering them.
• The serpent has been used to mean evil
• The Four Evangelists were represented by animal forms.
• St. Luke by an Ox
• St. John by an Eagle
• St. Mark by a Lion.
• St. Matthew by a Winged man
 DREAMS AND FANTASIES
• Dreams are usually vague and illogical. Artists
especially the surrealist have tried to depict dreams as
well as the grotesque terrors and apprehensions that
lurk in the depths of the subconscious.
• A dream may b be life-like situation.
• Therefore, we would not know if an artwork is based on
a dream unless the artist explicitly mentions it.
• But if the picture suggests the strange, the irrational and
the absurd, we can classify it right away as a fantasy or
dream although the artist may not have gotten from the
idea of a dream at all but the workings of his
imaginations.
• No limits can be imposed on an artist’s imagination.
 The Ugly and Tragic in Art
• There is nothing that may be considered as an improper
subject when it comes to art.
• The grotesque, the ugly and the tragic are all legitimate
subjects as the pleasure and the beautiful.
• Many, in fact, have often deviated away from the
stereotyped and beautiful subjects.
• The greatest plays are invariably tragedies.
• And many of our songs speak about love denied or lost.
• Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest
thoughts according to Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• There are reasons for the wide appeal of works of art that
show human suffering. Each of us has suffered grief,
frustration or loss one way or another.
• In thse works of art we find an affinity with the rest of the
humanity who have likewise experienced these painful
emotions and tensions.
• It is as of by vicariously experiencing the suffering evoked
by these works, we are purged of the pain and we achieve
a release of tension.
 Subject and Content
• Subject refers to the • Content is the meaning
objects depicted by the • In literature, it is the
artist theme
• Content refers to what • Content reveals the
the artist expresses or artist’s attitude toward
communicates on the his subject
whole of his work
 Subject matter’s different level of meaning
1. Factual Meaning
2. Conventional Meaning
3. Subjective Meaning
 1. Factual Meaning
• The literal statement or the narrative content in the work
which can be directly apprehended because the objects
presented are easily recognized.
 2. Conventional Meaning
• Refers to the special meaning that a certain object or
color has a particular culture or group of people.
• Examples: flag, symbol of a nation
Cross for Christianity
Crescent moon - Islam
 3. Subjective Meaning
• Any personal meaning consciously or unconsciously
conveyed by the artist using a private symbolism which
stems from his own association of certain objects,
actions or colors with past experiences.