ART APPRECIATION

GE 103
BEN FRANCIS A. OSIAS, MAT
Course Facilitator
COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT
CAPIZ STATE UNIVERSITY
BURIAS CAMPUS

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 LESSON 1:
What is Art: Introduction and Assumptions?

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Understand the role of humanities and arts in man’s attempt at fully realizing his end;
2. Clarify misconceptions the art;
3. Characterize the assumptions of arts; and
4. Engage better with personal experiences of and in art.

Art is something that is perennially around us. Some people may deny having to do with the arts but it is
undisputable that life presents us with many forms of and opportunities for communication with the arts. A bank manager
choosing what tie to wear together with his shirt and shoes, a politician shuffling her music track while comfortably seated
on her car looking for her favorite song, a student ma raveling at the intricate designs of a medieval cathedral during his
field trip, and a market vendor cheering for her bet in a dance competition on a noon time TV program all manifest concern
for values that are undeniably, despite tangentially, artistic.
Despite the seemingly overflowing instances of arts around people, one still finds the need to see more and
experience more, whether consciously or unconsciously. One whose exposure to music is only limited to one genre to finds
it lacking not to have been exposed to more. One, whose idea of a cathedral is limited to the locally available ones, finds
enormous joy in seeing other prototypes in Europe. Plato have the sharpest foresight when he discussed in the symposium
that beauty, the object of any love, truly progresses. As one moves through life, one locates better, more beautiful object of
desire (Scott, 2000). One can never be totally content with what is just before him. Human beings are drawn toward what
is good and ultimately, beautiful.
This lesson is about this yearning for the beautiful, the appreciation of the all-consuming beauty around us, and
some preliminary clarifications on assumptions that people normally hold about art.

Let’s Get Started

In the first column of the table below, list down your most striking encounters with arts. On the second column,
explain why you think each encounter is an experience with art. (Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.)

My Encounters with Arts Why?

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 Let’s Get Sown to Business
Why Study the Humanities

For as long as man existed in this planet, he has cultivated the land, altered the conditions of fauna and the flora, in
order to survive. Alongside these necessities, man also mark his place in the world through his works. Through his bare
hands, man constructed infrastructures that tended to his needs, like his house. He sharpened swords and spears. He
employed fire in order to melt gold. The initial meaning of the word “art” has something to do with all these craft.
The word “art” comes from the ancient latin, ars which means a “craft or specialized form of skill, like carpentry
or smithying or surgery” (Collingwood, 1938). Art then suggested the capacity to produce an intended result from carefully
planned steps method. When a man wants to build a house, he plans meticulously to get to what the prototype promises and
he executes the steps to produce the said structure, then he is engaged in art. The ancient world did not have any conceived
notion art in the same way that we do not now. To them, art only mean using the bare hands to produce something that will
be useful to one’s day-to- day life.
Ars in Medieval Latin came to means something different. It meant “any special form of book-learning, such as
grammar or logic, magic astrology” (Collingwood, 1938). It was only during the Renaissance period that the word
reacquired a meaning that was inherent in its ancient form of craft. Early Renaissance artists saw their activities merely as
craftsmanship, devoid of a whole lot of intonations that are attached to the word now. It was during the seventeenth century
when the problem and idea of aesthetics, the study of beauty, began to unfold distinctly from the notion of technical
workmanship, which was the original conception of the word “art”. It was finally in the eighteenth century when the world
was evolved to distinguish between the fine arts and the useful arts. The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate or
highly skilled arts, but ‘beautiful arts’ (Collingwood, 1938). This is something more akin to what now considered art.
“The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means of expression developed by man” (Dudley
et al., 1960). Human history has witnessed how man evolved not just physically but also culturally, from cave painters to
men of exquisite paintbrush users of the presents. Even if ones goes back to the time before written records of man’s
civilization has appeared, he can find cases of man’s attempts of not just crafting tools to live and survive but also expressing
his feeling and thoughts. The galloping wild Boar found in the cave of Altamira, Spain is one such example. In 1879, a
Spaniard and his daughter were exploring a cave when they saw pictures of a wild boar, hind, and bison. According to
experts, these paintings were purported to belong to upper Paleolithic Age, several thousands of years before the current
era. Pre-historic men, with their crude instrumentals, already showcased and manifested earliest attempts at recording man’s
innermost interests, preoccupations, and thoughts. The humanities, then, ironically have started even before the term has
been coined. Human persons have long been exercising what it means to be a human long before of he was even aware of
his being one. The humanities stand tall in bearing witness to this magnificent phenomenon. Any human person, then, is
tasked to participate, if not, totally part take in this long tradition of humanizing himself.

Assumptions of Arts
Art is universal.
Literature has provided key works of arts. Among the most popular ones being taught in school are the two Greek
epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Sanskrit pieces Mahabharata and Ramayana are also staples in this field. These works,
purportedly written before the beginning of recorded history, are believed to man’s attempt at recording stories and tales
that have been passed on, known, and sung throughout the years. Art has always been timeless and universal, spanning
generations and continents through and through.
In every country and in every generation, there is always art. Oftentimes, people feel that what is considered artistic
are only those which have been made long time ago. This is a misconception. Age is not a factor in determining art. An ‘art
is not good because it is old, but old because it is good” (Dudley et al., 1960). In the Philippines, the works of Jose Rizal
and Francisco Balagtas are not being read because they are old. Otherwise, works other Filipinos who have long died would
have been required in junior high school too. The pieces mentioned are read in school and have remained to be with us
because they are good. They are liked and adored because they meet our needs and desires. Florante and Laura never fails
to teach high school students the beauty of love, one that is universal and pure. Ibong Adarna, another Filipino masterpiece,
has always captured the imagination of the young with its timeless lessons. When we recite the Psalms, we feel with
communion with King David as we feel one with him in his conversation with.

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 A work of art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing. In order to know what an art is, we have sense it, see or
hear it, and see and hear it. To fully appreciate our national hero’s monument, one must go to Rizal Park and see the actual
sculpture. In order to know Beyonce’s music, one must listen to it to actually experience them. A famous story about
someone who adores Picasso goes something like this: “Years ago, Gertrude Stein was asked why she bought the pictures
of the then unknown artist Picasso. ‘ I like to look at them’, said Miss Stein” (Dudley et al., 1960). At the end of the day,
one fully gets acquainted with art if one immerses himself into it. In the case of Picasso, one only learns about Picasso’s
work by looking at it. That is precisely what Miss Stein did.
In matters of art, the subject’s perception is of primacy. One can read hundreds of reviews about a particular movie,
but at the end of the day, until he sees the movie himself, he will be in no position to actually talk about the movie. He does
not know the movie until he experiences it. An important aspect of experiencing art is its being highly personal, individual,
and subjective. In philosophical terms, perception of art is always a value judgment. It depends on who the perceiver is, his
tastes, his biases, and what he has inside him. Degustibus non disputandum est (Matters of taste are not matters of dispute).
One cannot argue with another person’s evaluation of art because one’s experience can never be known by another.
Finally, one should also underscore that every experience with art is accompanied by some emotion. One either
likes or dislikes, agrees or disagrees that a work of art is beautiful. A stage play or motion picture is particularly one of those
art forms that evoke strong emotions from its audience. With experience comes emotions and feelings, after all. Feelings
and emotions are concrete proofs that the artwork has been experiences.

Let’s Wrap It Up
Humanities and the art have always been part of man’s growth and civilization. Since the dawn of time, man has
always tried to express his innermost thoughts and feelings about reality through creating art. Three assumptions on art are
its universality, it’s not being nature, and its need for experience. Art is present in every part of the globe and in every period
time. This is what is meant by its universality. Art not being nature, not even attempting to simply mirror nature, is the
second assumption about art. Art is always a creation of the artist, not nature. Finally, without experience, there is no art.
The artist has to be foremost, a perceiver who is directly in touch with art.

Let’s Work On This

Answer the following questions as precisely yet as thoroughly as possible in a separate sheet of paper.
1. If you were an artist, what kind of artist would you be?
2. Why is art not nature?
3. Why is art ageless and timeless?
4. Why does art involve experience?

Let’s Make It Happen

Choose one artwork under each given category that you are familiar with. This can be the last artwork that you
have come across with or the one that made the most impact to you. Criticize it using the guide questions provided.
Categories:
1. Movie
2. Novel
3. Poem
4. Music
5. An architectural structure
6. A piece of clothing

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 Category:
Artwork:
1. What is it about? What is it for?

Category:
Artwork:
2. What is it made of?

Category:
Artwork:
3. What is its style?

Category:
Artwork:
4. How good is it?

References
Collingwood, R.G. (1993). The Principles of Art. Worcestershire: Read Books Ltd.
Dudley, L., Faricxy, A., and McGraw-Hill Book Company. (1960). The humanities. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Mill, J.s. (1879). Utilitarianism. 7th Ed. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Scott, D. (2000). “Socrates and Alcibiades in the Symposium”. Hermathena !68, 25-37.

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 Lesson 2:
Visual Arts
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Discuss the nature of visual Arts, literature, music, drama and theater and dance.
2. Characterize the different methods of presenting the art subjects.

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REFERENCES
Art Appreciation
Author: Bernard Nicalas Caslib, Jr
Dorothea C. Garing
Jezreel Ann R. Casual
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