Art Appreciation
Gaining the knowledge to understand the art.
Acquire the art methods and materials to discuss art verbally or by the written
word.
Ability to identify the movements from ancient cultures to today's contemporary
art.
The six notions of art are the following:
1. Art is everywhere: Art can be found anywhere and everywhere. The moment that you
open your eyes until you close them, art exists and persists.
2. Art as Expression and Communication: Art is considered as a universal language. It is
a means of expressing feelings and ideas to other people. Each art form has different
artistic elements. In general, literature, music, dance, theater, painting, sculpture,
architecture, and other art forms are created to evoke appreciation from viewers.
The verbal expressions of some artists are different in every period. They must be
interpreted in historical context because in most cases, they portray more of the artists’
stand rather than the arts themselves.
3. Art as Creation: The word art comes from the Latin term ars when means skill. So,
anything that you are skilled to do, you are applying art.
4. Art and Experience: Through art, we can know the life of people that lived during a
certain period. For example, people during the Old Stone Age drew on the walls of Chauvet
Cave in Ardeche Valley in France. The paintings were not probably made as works of art to
be contemplated. But they may have been drawn for other purposes such as hunting.
Nevertheless, their drawings depict the lifestyle and activities.
5. Art and Nature: In addition to human activities as subject of art, the natural
environment draws attention of artists. For example, Fernando Amorsolo’s works portray
nature.
6. Art as Beauty: Do you believe that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder? Some people
believe that what is beautiful to them may not be beautiful to others. This is the beauty of
art. It is not absolute and can be influenced by many factors such as culture.
Functions of Art
Personal Function. In the first module, it was stated that art is a way of expressing
and communicating. What is the main factor that affects how man expresses and
communicates? The answer to the question is his experiences. His environment,
available resources, limitations, and the time he lives affect his creativity. An artist’s
experiences, emotions, thoughts, and feelings highly influence how he creates a
masterpiece. However, art may be interpreted in different ways. The work is
conceptualized by the artist and he may or not have the same context as with other
viewers or audience.
Physical Function. The physical function of art refers to purposes other than
aesthetic or nonfunctional. Some art products are made to fill man’s needs such as
houses and furniture. When an artwork serves both aesthetic and functional use, it
is called utilitarian. Man’s quest to attain fulfillment, happiness, and satisfaction
urge him to use the utilitarian function of art. Aside from food, medicine, shelter,
language, entertainment, clothing, and transportation, can beautify his
surroundings through landscaping and architecture.
Social Function. The social function of art is associated with cultural, political, or
environmental purposes. Art is used to record events, commemorate history, promote
a product, and influence other people. The following are the ways that art is used in
social settings.
1. Pictorial forms: This social function is a means of sending humanitarian,
ideological, or political messages. For example, the Nipa Hut of Vicente Manansala
portrays messages opposite to what we visualize as nipa hut. Due to illegal logging,
people may not be able to find enough bamboo and time will come that bamboos are
for sale and only for those who can afford. He also warns us of extreme poverty and
other political issues.
2. Satire (Caricature): This function aims to bring awareness among individuals and
the community. An example of this is the editorial cartoons in a newspaper.
3. Propaganda Literature: This function of art is a powerful way of changing
people’s mind. Examples of this are the works of our own national hero. His famous
two books (Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo). They reveal the sufferings of the
Filipino people under the Spaniards.
4. Advertising art: The main aim of advertising art is to attract more buyers. This
can be seen and heard anywhere: television, newspapers, magazines, radio
networks, billboards, and many others.
5. Cultural/Historical/Religious Functions: This function of art refers to the
commemoration of events inspired by cultural/historical/religious/traditional
activities. This can be observed from setting up arcs made of bamboo and hanging
of colorful flag lets. Art can also be observed in events such as Pahiyas every May
15 in Lucban, Quezon, Chinese New Year, and Ed’ll Fitir.
Other functions of art include the following.
Psychological and healing purposes. Art is also used by art therapists,
psychotherapists and clinical psychologists as art therapy. The Diagnostic Drawing
Series, for example, is used to determine the personality and emotional functioning
of a patient. The end product (the art object) is not the principal goal in this case,
but rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought. The resultant piece
of artwork may also offer insight into the troubles experienced by the subject and
may suggest suitable approaches to be used in more conventional forms of
psychiatric therapy.
Educational Function. There are artistic symbols and signs used to illustrate
knowledge and are meant to inform or tell a true story. Examples include
infographics and historical art.
The Philosophical Imports of Arts
The philosophy of art is the study of the nature of art, including concepts such as
interpretation, representation and expression, and form. It is closely related to
aesthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and taste.
Philosophy of Art vs. Art Criticism. The philosophy of art is distinguished from art
criticism, which is concerned with the analysis and evaluation of particular works of
art. Critical activity may be primarily historical, analytical, or evaluative. Sometimes
it is not a single work of art but an entire class of works in a certain style or genre
(such as pastoral poems or Baroque music) that is being elucidated, and sometimes it
is the art of an entire period (such as Romantic). But in every case, the aim of art
criticism is to achieve an increased understanding or enjoyment of the work (or classes
of works) of art, and its statements are designed to achieve this end. The task of the
philosopher of art is not to heighten understanding and appreciation of works of art
but to provide conceptual foundations for the critic by (1) examining the basic concepts
that underlie the activities of critics and enable them to speak and write more
intelligibly about the arts and by (2) arriving at true conclusions about art, aesthetic
value, expression, and the other concepts that critics employ.
Art As Imitation (Representation). The view that “art is imitation” is at least as old
as the Greek philosopher Plato, and, although not widely held today, its long and
distinguished history is evidence of its continuing hold on human beings as an
account of the distinctive function of art. A terminological point, however, is in order
here: in the interests of clarity, artists should be spoken of as representing in their
work the persons and things and scenes of the world but as imitating the work of
other artists. Thus, “In this painting the artist represents a barn and some wheat
fields, and the artist’s style is imitative of Vincent van Gogh.” This distinction will be
employed here, with the result that these traditional theories of art will be spoken of
as theories of representation rather than of imitation.
Art As Expression. The view that “art is imitation (representation)” has not only been
challenged, it has been moribund in at least some of the arts since the 19 century. It
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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 representation of outer existence (admittedly “seen through
a temperament”) has been replaced by art as an expression of humans’ inner life.
But the terms express and expression are ambiguous and do not always denote the
same thing. Like so many other terms, express is subject to the process-product
ambiguity: the same word is used for a process and for the product that results from
that process. “The music expresses feeling” may mean that the composer expressed
human feeling in writing the music or that the music when heard is expressive (in
some way yet to be defined) of human feeling. Based on the first sense are theories
about the creation of art. Founded on the second are theories about the content of art
and the completion of its creation.
Art as a Disintegrated Judgement. Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Judgment,
considered the judgment of beauty, the cornerstone of art, as something that can be
universal despite its subjectivity. He recognized that judgment of beauty is subjective.
However, even subjective judgments are based on some universal criterion for the
said judgment. How and in what sense can a judgment of beauty, which ordinarily is
considered to be a subjective feeling, be considered objective or universal? How are
these two statements different?
1. “I like this painting.”
2. “This painting is beautiful.”
The first is clearly a judgment of taste (subjective), while the second is an aesthetic
judgment (objective). Making an aesthetic judgment requires us to be disinterested. In
other words, we should try to go beyond our individual tastes and preferences so that
we can appreciate art from a universal standpoint.
Art as a communication of Emotion. According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge role
in communication to its audience’s emotions that the artist previously experienced. In
the same that language communicates information to other people, art communicates
emotions. As a purveyor of man’s innermost feelings and thoughts, art is given a
unique opportunity to serve as a mechanism for social unity. It is central to man’s
existence because it makes accessible feelings and emotions of people from the past
and present.
Subject and Content of Art
Subject Matter. Anything could ignite an artist’s imagination, prompting him to
create. The artist’s subject matter is an object, a person, a scene, or an event that
the work or art depicts. An art that has subject matter is called representational,
figurative or objective art. An art which has no subject matter is called non-
representational or non-objective art.
In representational art, we see recognizable figures or objects. Appearances of
objects are represented as faithfully as possible. Abstract art, likewise, depicts
recognizable objects. However, in abstract art, the appearance of objects is not
realistically presented. Certain aspects of the object are either simplified or
exaggerated.
Subjects of art could be:
1. Interesting Person(s) - Mona Lisa by Da Vinci
Song to Celia by Ben Jonson
2. The Human Form - Venus de Milo
David by Michelangelo
3. Activities of Man -Planting of Rice by Amorsolo
4. Commemorative Events - Jahangir Receives a Cup of Khusrau by Manohar
Blood Compact by Juan Luna
5. Interesting Animal - The Raven by Edgard Allan Poe
Bird in Space by Brancusi
6. Common Objects -Cabbage Leaf by Edward Weston
7. Nature - A Field of Poppies by Claude Monet
8. Deity - Armida Nyorai (Japanese Buddhism)
On the other hand, non-representational or non-objective art does not depict
recognizable objects. It does not give descriptions or stories about a subject. An
example of this is music. Through the creative arrangements of sounds, tones, and
pitches, a musical composition is created, not representing anything, yet able to
move us deeply. For the non-representational artists, art’s power to communicate
rests on the language of art itself, in the elements of colors, line, shape, and
figures.
Form. The specific quality or shape of an artistic expression is its form. It includes
all the visual aspects of the work that can be isolated and described. It is also the
shape by which the artist projects his subject matter.
Content. What the artist is trying to express or communicate is the concept of his
work. It tells what the work of art is all about, the artist’s subject matter. It is the
meaning or the theme expressed by the artist. Through the content, the artist’s
attitude toward his subject is revealed. The artistic value of the substance or the
content of an art work can be measured by its originality, its imaginative quality,
its sincerity, and its truth.
Sources of Subject. The following are the source of subject: nature,
history, mythology, religious tradition or event, sacred texts, other works of
art.
Kinds of Sources. The following are the kinds of sources of subject: history, still
life, animals, figures, nature, landscape, seascape, cityscape, mythology, myth,
dreams, fantasies
Levels and Meaning of Subject
A subject that is presented and referred to its literal statement or narrative content is
called factual meaning. So much so that a flower is a flower when it is viewed as a
flower and not in any other form However, an artist who provided its personal
meaning to its work is called subjective meaning.
Subjective meaning is also used to mean and symbolised religion, like when one sees
a Holy Cross refers to the catholic fate, and a quarter moon In the Islamic religion,
Buddhism is symbolised or represented by the wheel of figure of buddha Subjective
meaning is also used to represent or symbolised an animal, like the dove represents
peace, unity and the trinity for the catholic religion In marriage, it also represents
the couple and their unification, while the color red is used to mean war, love,
passion and anger
Conventional meaning refers to the special meaning that a certain object has for a
particular culture, society or group of people. The country is symbolised by its flag
and its national costumes. In the case of the Philippines, we have our barong tagalog
for men and the Filipina dress for women. Vakul, the headress, is made of straws
used by the people of Batanes to protect them from the sun and the rain The vakul
symbolises and represents Batanes and paper picado for Bulacan. Paper Picado is an
intricately well crafted papel de japon It is a special way of wrapping pastillas, a
delicacy and a candy made from cows’ milk It is a special way of preparing and
presenting desserts during the Spanish period, while Pampanga is known for its
parol or lantern making.
