ART APPRECIATION
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN LEGAL MANAGEMENT | FIRST YEAR | SECOND
PROFESSOR:
SEMESTER PROF. RAYMA FE LAGUNDI
LECTURES ON INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES
MEDIEVAL AGE
The Humanities dealt with the metaphysics of the religious philosopher.
The goal was the cultivation of the spiritual life and the preparation for
the hereafter.
RENAISSANCE
The word Humanities came to refer to the set of disciplines taught in the
universities, which included grammar, rhetoric, history, literature,
music, philosophy, and theology as a body of knowledge aimed to make
man “human, cultured, and refined”.
IN OUR CENTURY
The humanities serve to provide the student with certain skills and
values through arts.
ART is derived from the Latin word “ars” meaning ability or skill.
* It covers those areas of artistic creativity that seek to communicate beauty primarily through the
senses.
* It embraces the visual arts, literature, music and dance.
* It applies to such activities that express aesthetic ideas by the use of skill and imagination in the
creation of objects, environment and experiences, which can be shared with others.
“Man is the measure of all things,” implying that the humanities emphasizes the dignity and worthiness
of man and recognizes creative expression (Encyclopedia Americana.)
HUMANISM
- Believes that man should be humanized, socialized and educated to respond positively to rapid
changes.
- It is in the humanities course where appreciation of the arts can be strengthened because the
artists convey their thoughts, beliefs, values, and feelings through the visual arts, literary arts,
dance and music.
… if a man is to live like a human being, his heart and mind must be nourished. And the best
spiritual nourishment comes from the Humanities - Tomas Andres
VALUES AND REASONS FOR ART
- We commemorate certain occasions with paintings, songs, dances and dramatic plays to
heighten the importance of such events and keep them memorable and pleasurable.
- We build monuments to remind us of the heroic deeds of great men.
- Art works are valuable sources of inspiration and aesthetic experience.
- The books we read delight us and we are moved by the music we hear.
- We get deep satisfaction from them.
- We enjoy a masterpiece of painting or first-rate play because they capture and hold our
concentration attention.
- We are inspired to plan and construct our houses beautifully when we are stimulated by
modern architectural designs.
- We get a glimpse of the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of the people in their time and the forces
in their environment that influenced their artwork.
- We value beautiful things as a consequence of our encounter with the arts.
- Arts may transform us into highly culture, dignified and respectable human beings.
- Arts may beautify our humanity.
-
Really, art must be fully appreciated for through the arts we come to know the changing image of man
as he journeys across historical time, as he searches for the reality and strives to achieve the ideals that
create meaning for life.
To sum it up:
“It is not the canvass, the hue, the oil or tempera, but the contribution of the arts to our life, its
suggestions to our sensations, feelings and imagination. – Leonel Ventura
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE ARTS (Estolasand Comp.,1995)
1. Arts has been created by various people, at all places and time. Art exists because it is liked
and enjoyed. In addition, Art does not grow old.
2. Art is something to be seen, or heard, or;
3. Art is the product of man’s imagination, good taste and skill in doing things.
4. Nature is artful. Its beauty and artistry could be enhanced
SUBJECT AND CONTENT
SUBJECT refers to the objects depicted by the artist.
CONTENT refers to what the artist expresses or communicates in his work.
- Sometimes it is spoken of as the meaning of the work.
- In literature, it is called the “theme”.
- It reveals the attitude of the artist toward his subject.
LEVELS OF MEANING IN SUBJECT MATTER
Subject matter may acquire different levels of meaning:
1. FACTUAL MEANING is 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 for a
particular culture or group of people.
Example:
[1] Flag is the agreed-upon symbol for a nation.
[2] Cross is a Christian symbol of faith
[3] Wheel is the Buddhist symbol for the teachings of Gautama Buddha
3. SUBJECTIVE MEANING is 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 experiences.
- This can be fully understood only when the artist himself explains what he really means.
THE SUBJECT OF ART
Subject of art refers to any person, object, scene, or event described or represented in a work of art.
1.REPRESENTATIONAL (OBJECTIVE ARTS) - arts that have subject -
Painting, sculpture, graphic art, literature, theaters arts,
2. NON-REPRESENTATIONAL (NON- OBJECTIVE ARTS) - arts that does not have a subject, it:
- Does not present descriptions, stories, or references to identifiable objects or symbols.
- Appeals directly to the primary senses primarily because of the satisfying organization of
their sensuous and expressive elements.
- Can be in the form of Music or architecture
KINDS OF SUBJECT
1. LANDSCAPES, SEASCAPES, AND CITYSCAPES – This can be seen in the works of Fernado Amorsolo as
exemplified below.
2. STILL LIFES
Groups of inanimate objects arranged in an indoor setting. (flowers, fruits, leaves)
3. ANIMALS
Earliest known paintings are representations of animals on the walls of caves.
Carabao has been a favorite subject of Filipino artist.
Maranaws have an animal form called the
Sarimanok as their proudest prestige symbol. A
legendary bird that figured prominently in the story
of indarapatra and Sulayman. Animals have also
been used as symbols in conventional religious art.
Some symbolisms are exemplified in the following:
Dove stands for the Holy Spirit in representations of
the Trinity. The fish and the lamb are symbols of
Christ; the phoenix, of the resurrection; the peocock,
of immortality through Christ.
4. PORTRAITS
Is a realistic likeness of a person in a sculpture, painting, drawing, or print.
5. FIGURES
The sculptor’s chief subject has traditionally been the human body, nude or clothed. Such is
exemplified in 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.
6. EVERYDAY LIFE
Observation of people going about their usual ways, performing their usual tasks. These are seen
in paintings depicting Rice threshers, cock fighters, candle vendors, street musicians, children at
play.
7. HISTORY AND LEGEND
History consists of verifiable facts, legends of unverifiable ones.
Juan Luna’s Blood Compact, now at Malacanang, commensurate the agreement between Sikatuna
and Legazpi which they supposedly sealed by drinking wine in which drops of each other’s blood
had been mixed. Luna’s prize-winning spoliarium depicts a scene during the days of the early
Roman Empire when gladiatorial fights were a popular form of entertainment for the upper class.
8. RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY
To aid in worship, to instruct, to inspire feelings of devotion, and to impress and convert non-
believers. to tell the stories about Christ and the saints in picture, usually in mosaics, murals,
stained-glass windows in churches. -tableau and plays to preach and teach
9. DREAMS AND FANTASIES
Surrealists have tried to depict dream
FUNCTIONS OF ART
1. PERSONAL FUNCTION
Arts are vehicles for the artists’ expression of their feelings and ideas.
Art helps to educate our senses and sharpen our perception of colors, forms, textures, design,
sounds, rhythms, and harmonious in our environment.
- works of art make us aware of other ways of thinking, feeling, and imagining that have never
occurred to us before.
- offer us fresh insights into nature and human nature so that we gain a better understanding
of ourselves and world around us. It also help us improve our lives.
2. SOCIAL FUNCTION
a. it seeks or tends to influence the collective behavior of a people.
b. it is created to be seen or used primarily in public situations.
c. it expresses or describes social or collective aspects of existence as opposed to individual
and personal kinds of experiences.
INFLUENCING SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
• Pictorial form is very powerful means of putting across a message.
• Paintings, photographs, posters, cartoons (have been used to express humanitarian
concern as well as ideological or political comment.
[A] SATIRE - puts up people and institutions to ridicule so that they will change is effectively
communicated in various cartoons and caricatures.
[B] EDITORIAL CARTOONS convey the message more directly and clearly than the printed word does.
• Cartoonists comment on the foibles (weaknesses) of society and of its leaders, with the
hope that something is done to correct these faults and improve the human condition.
[C] LITERATURE has served just as well for political and ideological expression. It is a powerful tool
in shaping society and its manners.
• Urbana at Felisa (Modesto de Castro)- an epistolary novel of the 19th century, became the
Filipino code of ethics of the time, guiding the youth on how to conduct themselves in
church, in social gatherings, in school, and at home.
• Propaganda Literature has swayed people’s minds and feelings toward certain ends.
• Religion has especially capitalized on the arts to spread beliefs, reinforce, and sustain
faith.
• Noble functions as enlightening us in our spiritual beliefs and elevating our moral
character.
• Advertising art aims to affect the buying behavior of people.(posters, billboards,
magazine and newspapers adds, catalogs, handbills, package design, radio, television.
[D] DISPLAY AND CELEBRATION – Art can be utilized in Commemoration of important personages
in society. They serve to record important historical events, or reveal the ideals of heroism and
leadership that the community would want the young to emulate.
• Rituals have played an important role in people’s lives and have influenced the growth of
certain arts as well.
• Public celebrations, such as festivals,
-These activities unite people in a shared experience, just as the celebration of important
phase of life do.
[E] SOCIAL DESCRIPTION
• Art works are vital historical documents.
• Tools, weapons furniture, paintings, statues, stories and songs and buildings reflect the
feelings, struggles and achievements of people. They reveal how people thought, felt, and
lived in a certain historical period.
• Temples, sculptures, epics, plays and even the pottery of ancient Greece tell us so much
about the age when man first regarded himself as the measure of all things.
• Portraits are informative.
2. PHYSICAL FUNCTION
• Functional works of art may be classified as either tools or containers.
• A spoon is a tool; so is a car. A building and a community are containers, as is a ceramic
vase.
• Designing a functional objects is making the thing exactly right for its particular use and
at the same time pleasing to the eye of the user.
• Form and function
-The function of an object generally determines the basic form that it takes
MORE THAN YOU SEE: THE MANY FUNCTIONS OF ART
By Frederick A. Horowitz
Art has many different functions in human history. Each society defined its own
purposes for art, and produced an art suited to those purposes. For ancient Romans, art
served as a vehicle of propaganda: their sculptures proclaimed victories, and their buildings
highly praised the power of the State. In modern societies like our own, art serves different
and sometimes contradictory purposes. One artist paints in order to communicate a message
to his audience, while across the street another paints in order to please himself. A third artist
explores shapes and colors; a fourth illustrates books.
Art functions as:
1. An agent of magic ( to ensure a successful hunt, perpetuate the soul after death, triumph
over an enemy, cure diseases, etc.)
2. An aid to meditation
3. An agent to ritual
4. A record of events, objects, situations
5. A substitute for real thing, or a symbol
6. A souvenir
7. Propaganda to impress, persuade or change thinking or behavior
8. Communication of stories, ideas, events
9. An agent of social control
10. Amusement or entertainment
11. A mean of moral improvement
12. education
13. A means of self-expression
14. Self-revelation
15. Release of emotions
16. Exploration of vision
17. A reflection and interpretation of life
18. An expression of beauty
19. Decoration or embellishment
20. Monetary investment
21. A status symbol
The functions of arts are wide ranging. Art is as broad as human experience. All of art comes out of
life and is bound up with life. Art is meaningful, but meaningful in ways that differ from society to
society, from time to time, and from person to person.
- Adapted from More Than You See: A Guide to Art New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1988
I held up a fan. I opened it. I pointed out the various details, the design, the flowers, the figures,
the colors. Then I closed the fan and I said, “ When the fan is close, the design is hidden from your
sight. “ On the edge we see only blurs of colors, nothing definite, no idea of the true design. The true
design is the full design, which we see when the fan is open. How many of us really see the true design,
the real meaning of life? They see only the edge of the fan, a wilter of meaningless forms. And they
say,” This is all that the fan is. This is it! But if these people would only see the fan unfolded as the
spring of the year unfolds the buds and wakes up the sleeping vegetation, they would see how
different true life is from what they formerly thought it was.
-Better English for College, p. 149
METHODS OF PRESENTING THE ART SUBJECT
METHODS DEFINITIONS/CHARACTERISTICS PROPONENTS/ EXAMPLES
A visual art style depicts the actuality of -Fernando Amorsolo, known
what the eyes can see. It is the depiction as realism, the father of
of subjects as they appear in, without Philippine painting.
embellishment or interpretation.
-Short stories of Guy de
- It is used to describe works of art Maupassant -Short stories of
which, in revealing a truth, may Anton Chekhov
emphasize the ugly or
1.REALISM sordid.(literature) - Novels of Gustave
- Goals: truth and accuracy Flaubert
- Realism is concerned directly
with what is absorbed by the senses;
Naturalism, a term more properly
applied tom literature, attempts to apply
scientific theories to art.
- Abstract means “ to move away -“Bird in Space” of
or separate”. Abstract art moves Constantin Brancusi
away from showing things as
they really are.
- It means twisting, stretching,
deforming the natural shape of the
object.
- DISTORTION is the alteration of the
original shape of an object, image, sound,
waveform or other form of information
2.ABSTRACTION or representation.
It is usually done to dramatize the shape -“Body of jesus Christ in
of the figure or to create an emotional his Resurrection” by
effect. Caricatures employed distortions El Greco-has been called a
so that targets of ridicules would appear prophet of modern art, a
Grotesque and hateful. mystic.
- ELONGATION refers to that which is
being lengthened, a protraction or an
extension.
- MANGLING illustrates objects that
are cut, lacerated, mutilated or hacked
with repeated blows.
- CUBISM stresses abstract form
through the use of a cone, cylinder, or
sphere at the expense of other pictorial
elements.
-Objects are broken up, analyzed, and
reassembled in an abstracted form-
instead of depicting objects -
from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the -was developed by
subject from a multitude of viewpoints to Pablo Picasso
present the piece in a greater context. -“ Les Demoiselles d’
Avignon”( The Young Ladies
TWO MAIN TYPESOF CUBISM: of Avignon)- a celebrated
painting by Pablo Picasso
1. SYNTHETIC is much more energetic, and that depicts five prostitutes
often in a brothel from
makes use of collage, normally playing Avinyo street(Barcelona).
cards or musical notation paper. - practiced by George
Braque
2.ANALYTICAL is very simple, with dark,
almost monochromatic colours. - it is a
style of painting in which the painter
shows his personality through
spontaneity.
- it is not a painting of an object or
image, but instead study in color and
brush stroke.
- The expressive method of
painting was often considered as
important as the painting itself.
- These painting were very large,
often big enough to cover an entire wall.
- They paint without a subject at
hand and they paint by chance.
TWO TYPES OF ABSTRACT
EXPRESSIONISM
1. ACTION PAINTING strives to show
paint texture and the movement of the
artists.
2. COLOR FIELD PAINTING is concerned with
just color the shape. -Jackson Pollock
3. ABSTRACT
EXPRESSIONISM
-Mark Rothko
-means the systematic use of symbols or -“The parable of the Lost
pictorial conventional to express an Sheep” signifies the children
allegorical meaning. of God.
-symbol- is a visible sign of something
invisible such as an idea or a quality. -“Spoliarium”- with the use
of heavy and strong brush
4. SYMBOLISM strokes, Juan Luna expressed
his anger over the abuses
and cruelties during that
time, being suffered y his
countrymen, the Filipinos,
from the
Spanish authorities.
-“The Lion Lucerne ”lion”
symbolizes courage and
strength, served the
artist to
demonstrate a tragic
event, a fight to the death.
-is dedicated to the memory
of the heroic fight and final
defeat of the Swiss Guards
1792 in Paris.
-The name Fauves, French for “Wild - Henry Matisse led
Beasts”, was given to artists adhering to the movement.
this style because it was felt that they
used intense colors in a violent,
uncontrolled way.
its primary focus is non-naturalistic and
vibrant color.
5. FAUVISM
Its aim is to express emotion through
color choices.
Tried to point pictures of comfort, joy,
and pleasure.
To a fauve, a tree trunk needs not be
brown. It could be bright red, purple or
any other color.
The name “dada”, a French word
meaning “hobby horse”, was deliberately
chosen because it was nonsensical.
It rejected the way art was appreciated
and defined in contemporary art scenes.
Was an oppressive intellectual rigidity in
both art and everyday society; its works
were characterized by a deliberate -best known Dadaist was
6. DADAISM irrationality and the rejection of the
Marcel Duchamp
prevailing standard of art.
The Dadaists reacted to what they
believed were outworn traditions in art,
and the evils they saw in society. -They
tried to shock and provoke the public
with outrageous pieces of writing, poetry
recitals, and art exhibitions.
was presented as a modernist movement Italian poet Filippo
celebrating the technological, future era. Tommaso Marinetti
-The car, the plane, the industrial town
7. FUTURISM
were representing the motion in modern
life and the technological triumph of man
over nature.
-Is an invented word meaning super -French poet Andre’ Breton
realism. founded this movement.
-realism and distortion
-It claims to create forms and images not -Benjamin Mendoza, a
primarily by reason by unthinking Bolivian painter, is well-
impulse and blind feeling or even by known in presenting violent
accident. and cruel surrealist
-It emphasizes the omnipotence of the paintings.
dream and fantasy as the product of the
8. SURREALISM subconscious mind.
-heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud,
the Austrian founder of
Psychoanalysis.
-Uses art as a weapon against the evils
and restrictions that surrealists see in
society.
-believes that the unconscious mind
reveals a truer reality than the natural
world.
- El Greco “View of
is the tendency of an artist to distort Toledo”
reality for an emotional effect; it is a
subjective art form. -Edvard Munch “The
Scream”
-subjects of expressionist works were
frequently distorted, or otherwise -Vincent Van Gogh”
altered. The Starry Night”
- Landmarks of this movement were
9.EXPRESSION violent colors and exaggerated lines that
helped contain intense emotional
expression.
-trying to pinpoint the expression of
inner experience rather than solely
realistic portrayal, seeking to depict not
objective reality but the subjective
emotions and responses that objects and
events arouse in them.
-Claude Monet
was attempt to accurately and “Impression: Soteil
objectively record visual reality in terms levant”(Impression
of the transient effects of light and color. Sunrise)
-did not seek to show reality in classical
sense of a picture image; instead, they -Charles Baudelaire was the
emphasized light and color to give an intellectual father of this
overall “impression”of their subjects. movement.
-is called optical realism because of its
10. IMPRESSIONISM almost scientific interest in the actual
visual experience and effect of light and
movement on appearance of objects.
-to capture the momentary appearance of
objectives in full light.
-Characteristics: visible brushstrokes,
light colors, open composition, emphasis
on light in its changing qualities, ordinary
subject matter, unusual visual angles
LITERATURE – was derived from the latin word “literatura” meaning writing
• Considered as the soul of a nation, greatly influences society in different aspects.
• Means “appreciate life and to make us see beauty”. Thomas Moore Means much more
that it says and does more than just make statements.
• Body of written work of art that conveys permanent and universal truth.
• It is an artistic interpretation, reconstruction, imitation or reproduction of life through
language.
• “A piece of literature is considered as literary type of literature when it possesses artistic
merit or aesthetic quality.
WRITERS SHOULD BEAR THESE OBJECTIVES IN MIND.
a. To strive in raising the level of the reader’s humanity
b. To accomplish the purposes of making a man a better person, giving him a high sense
of value
IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE
1. EMOTIONAL APPEAL- is attained when the reader is emotionally moved or touched by any
literary work like.
2. INTELLECTUAL APPEAL- adds knowledge and information and reminds the reader of what he
has forgotten.
Ex. Rizal’s two revolutionary novels
“Don’t you realize that it is a useless life which is not consecrated to a great idea? It is a stone
wasted in the fields without becoming part of any edifice.” - Simoun to Basilio
3. HUMANISTIC VALUE - can be attained when a literary work makes the reader an improved
person with a better outlook in life and with a clear understanding of his inner self.
Ex. Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace”
It shows that woman’ s vanity changes the normality of life, but at the same time, the change
is to the advantage of the individual for it leads to self-understanding and clearer outlook in
life.
CLASSIFICATION OF LITERATURE (Perrine)
ESCAPE LITERATURE INTERPRETATIVE LITERATURE
• Is written for entertainment • Is written to broaden and sharpen
purposes, that is, to help us pass the our awareness of life.
time in an agreeable manner.
• Takes us, through imagination,
• Takes us away from the real world deeper into the real world and
and enables us to temporarily forget enables us to understand our
our troubles. troubles.
• Has for its object- pleasure plus
• Has for its object only pleasure. understanding.
USES OF LITERATURE
1. Moralizing literature- the purpose is to present moral/values for the reader to understand
and appreciate; the moral may be directly or indirectly stated. Ex. “The Monkey’s Point of
View”
2. Propaganda literature- is found not only in history books and advertising and marketing
books but also in some books describing one’s personal success and achievements in life.
3. Psychological continuum of the individual- therapeutic value- It could be looked on as
sophisticated modern elaboration of the idea of catharsis- an emotional relief experienced by
the reader thereby helping him recover from a previous pent-up emotion.
