Art Appreciation (Bernardo Nicolas Caslib, Jr.

, -In 1879, a Spaniard and his daughter were exploring a

Dorothea C. Garing, Jezreel Anne R. Casaul) cave when they saw pictures of a wild boar, hind, and bison.
What is Art -According to experts, these paintings were purported to
Learning Outcomes belong to Upper Paleolithic Age, several thousands of years
-Understand the role of humanities and arts in man’s before the current era.
attempt at fully realizing his end; -Pre-historic men with their crude instruments, already
-Clarify misconceptions about art; showcased and manifested earliest attempts at recording
-Characterize the assumptions of art; and man’s innermost interests, preoccupations, and thoughts.
-Engage better with personal experiences of and in art. -The humanities, then, ironically, have started even before
Introduction the term has been coined.
-Art is something that is perennially around us. -Human persons have long been exercising what it means
-Despite the seemingly overflowing instances of arts to be a human long before he was even aware of his being
around people, one still finds the need to see more and one.
experience more, whether consciously or unconsciously. Assumptions of Art
-As one moves through life, one locates better, more 1.Art is universal
beautiful objects of desire (Scott, 2000.) -Art has always been timeless and universal, spanning
-One can never be totally content with what is just before generations and continents through and through.
him. -In every country and every generations, there is always
-Human beings are drawn toward what is good and art.
ultimately beautiful. -People oftentimes feel that what is considered artistic are
Why Study the Humanities only those which have been made long time ago. This is a
-What makes us human? misconception.
-Plato – soul, capacity to think -Age is not a factor in determining art.
-Aristotle – being social and political -An “…art is not good because it is old, but old because it
-Caslib, Jr. et al., 2018 – Capacity to create and appreciate is good” (Dudley et al., 1960).
these creations 2.Art is universal
Origin of “art” -In the Philippines the work of Jose Rizal and Francisco
-ars – ancient Latin which means “a craft or specialized Balagtas are not being read because they are old.
form of skill, like carpentry or smithying or surgery” -They are read in school and have remained with us
(Collingwood, 1938). because they are good.
-Suggests the capacity to produce an intended result from -Florante and Laura never fails to teach high school
carefully planned steps or method. students the beauty of love, one that is universal and pure.
-The ancient world did not have any conceived notion of -Ibong adarna has always captured the imagination of the
art in the same way that we do now. young with its timeless lessons.
-To them, art only meant using the bare hands to produce -The first assumption then about the humanities is that art
something that will be useful to one’s day-to-day life. has been crafted by all people regardless of origin, time,
-In Medieval Latin ars came to mean “any special form of place, and that it stayed because it is liked and enjoyed by
book-learning, such as grammar or logic, magic or astrology people continuously.
(Collingwood, 1938). -A great piece of work will never be obsolete.
-During the Renaissance Period, it reacquired a meaning 3.Art is not Nature
that was inherent in its ancient form of craft. -One important characteristics of art is that it is not nature.
-Early Renaissance artists saw their activities merely as -Art is man’s expression of his reception of nature.
craftmanship, devoid of a whole lot of intonations that are -Art is man’s way of interpreting nature.
attached to the word now. -Art is made by man, whereas nature is a given around us.
-During the 17th century, the study of beauty – aesthetics – -They can be considered opposites.
began to unfold distinctly from the notion of technical -What we find in nature should not be expected to be
workmanship, which was the original conception of the word present in art too.
“art.” -Remember the story of the 5 blind men who one day
-In the 18th century, the word has evolved to distinguish argue against each other on what an elephant looks like?
between fine arts and useful arts. -Art is like each of these men’s view of the elephant.
-The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate or highly -It is based on an individual’s subjective experience of
skilled arts, but “beautiful arts” (Collingwood, 1938). nature.
Why Study the Humanities -It is not meant to accurately define what the elephant is
-The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most really like in nature.
important means of expression developed by man (Dudley et -Artists are not expected to duplicate nature.
al., 1960). -The question to be asked is: What reasons might the artist
-Even if one goes back to the time before written records have in creating something?
of man’s civilization has appeared, he can find cases of man’s 4.Art involves experience
attempts of not just crafting tools to live and survived but also -Art is just experience.
expressing his feelings and thoughts. -By experience, it means the “actual doing of something”
-The Galloping Wild Boar found in the cave of Altamira, (Dudley et al., 1960).
Spain is one such example.
 -Knowing a thing is different from hearing others what the -In contemporary life, the connection between the end, the
said thing is. function, and the “whatness” of a thing has become closer and
-Unlike field of knowledge that involve data, art is known interlaced.
by experiencing. -It suggests that the end is the function and vice versa, and
-A painter cannot claim to know how to paint if he has not that they determine what kind of thing a thing is.
tried holding a brush. -When one sees an appliance in the department store, one
-All art depends on experience, and if one is to know art, tries to know first its function.
he must know it not as fact or information but as experience -Then one can claim to know its purpose and its identity.
(Dudley et al., 1960). -Does art necessarily have an end?
-In order to know what an artwork is, we have to sense it, -When an artist creates a work of art, does he have an end
see or hear it. in mind?
-In matters of art, the subject’s perception is of primacy. -What function does an artwork perform?
-One can read hundreds of reviews about a particular -Does it have any purpose?
movie, but at the end of the day, until he sees the movie -Do all artworks have a function?
himself, he will be in no position to actually talk about the -Does the function make an object a work of art?
movie. Functions of Art
-An important aspect of experiencing art is its being highly Personal Functions of Art
personal, individual, and subjective. -Are varied and highly subjective.
-In philosophical terms, perception of art is always a value -It depends on the person – the artist who created the art.
judgment. -The need for self-expression – to communicate an idea to
-It depends on who the perceiver is, his tastes, his biases, his audience.
and what he has inside him. -Perhaps mere entertainment for his audience.
-Disgustibus non disputandum est. (Matters of taste are not -Often, no intention to mean anything with his work.
matters of dispute.) -It may also be therapeutic: to process emotion or while
-Finally, one should also underscore that every experience away time.
with art is accompanied by some emotion. -Use of adult coloring books to de-stress.
-One either likes or dislikes, agrees or disagrees that a Social Functions of Art
work of art is beautiful. -If and when it addresses a particular collective interest as
-Feelings and emotions are concrete proofs that the opposed to a personal interest.
artwork has been experienced. -Political art – convey message of protest.
Functions and Philosophical Perspectives on Art -Depict social conditions – like photographs of poverty,
Learning Outcomes which may carry emotional overtones that solicit action or
-Distinguish between directly functional and indirectly awareness.
functional art; -Performance art can also rouse emotions and rally people
-Explain and discuss the basic philosophical perspectives toward an end.
on the art; Physical Functions of Art
-Realize the function of some art forms in daily life; and -Artworks that are crafted to serve some physical purpose.
-Apply concepts and theories on beauty and aesthetics in -Japanese raku bowl in a tea ceremony.
real life scenarios. -Architecture, jewelry-making, and even interior design
Telos, Function, and Identity have physical function.
-Aristotle claimed that every particular substance in the Other Functions of Art
world has an end, or telos in Greek, which translates into -Music in its original form was used for dance and religion.
“purpose.” -It is essential to dance because it assures synchronicity
-Every substance (formed matter) moves according to a among dancers.
fixed path toward its aim. -It also guarantees that marches, in the case of warriors,
-A seed is bound to become a full-grown plant. were simultaneous.
-A cocoon can look forward to flying high when it -Serenade or hymns of love to express feelings and
becomes a butterfly. emotions.
-A baby will eventually turn into a grown man or woman. -As an accompaniment to stage plays and motion pictures.
-According to Aristotle, telos is linked with function. -Sculpture have been made most particularly for religion.
-To achieve its purpose, a thing also needs to fulfill its -Statues in the Roman Catholic remain vital, relevant, and
function. symbolic.
-Man’s telos is fulfillment and happiness or eudaimonia. -To commemorate important figures in history – Jose
-His function is being rational. Rizal’s monument in Rizal Park and Andres Bonifacio’s
-Man can only be happy when he is rational. Monumento in Caloocan.
-The telos and function of a thing are both related to a -In UP, the iconic statue Oblation by Guillermo Tolentino
thing’s identity. is a constant reminder of the need to offer oneself up
-A man becomes a man (identity) when he uses his selflessly for the country.
rationality (function) to achieve happiness (telos). -Philippine coins feature reliefs of famous heroes or
-The telos, the function, and the “whatness” of a thing are personalities.
all interconnected. -Architecture might be the most prominent functional art
form.
 -Buildings are huge, expensive, and are not easily -However, the artist’s intentions, the artwork’s place in
constructed and replaced. history, its political and social dimensions are also relevant to
-Buildings take so much time to erect and destroy, unlike art.
pots, furniture, poetry, or even paintings. -These aspects of art fall outside of what we might regard
-A lot of investments is put into making megastructures as “aesthetic.”
like the pyramids of Giza, the acropolis, or the great -In the discussion that follows, we will examine art while
cathedrals of the Middle Ages. recognizing that aesthetics, often but not always, is a fellow
-In architecture, function and form are intimately traveler.
connected. Art as Imitation
-In planning a building, an architect needs to consider -Plato considered artists as imitators and art as mere
natural conditions like topography and climate, as well as imitation.
social conditions such as the purpose of the building. -He advised against the inclusion of art as a subject in the
-Form is determined by its function. curriculum and the banning of artists in the Republic.
-Does art always have to be functional? -He was convinced that artists merely reinforce the belief
-Some arts are functional, while others are not. in copies and discourage men to reach for the real entities in
-The value of an artwork does not depend on function but the World of Forms.
on the work itself. -In his view of reality or metaphysics, the things in this
-The plays of Aeschylus and the poetry of Robert Frost and world are only copies of the original, the eternal, and the true
Edgar Allan Poe are still counted as examples of great works entities that can only be found in the World of Forms.
of art despite their not having known function. -For example, the chair that one sits on is not a real chair. It
-In functional art, an object cannot be claimed to be is an imperfect copy of the perfect “chair” in the World of
beautiful unless it can perform its function. (e.g., a house that Forms.
cannot protect its resident from nasty weather or a spoon that -Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and artists for two
spills the food on it) reasons:
-Efficiency cannot be mistaken as beauty. 1. They appeal to the emotion rather than to the
-While it certainly determines beauty in some works of art, rational faculty of men;
an efficient functional object is not necessarily beautiful. 2. They imitate rather than lead one to reality.
-Art demands more than mere efficiency. -Poetry, for instance, has a capacity to sway minds without
-What then really comprises beauty and art? taking into consideration the use of proper reason.
-What makes something truly beautiful? -For Plato, art is dangerous because it provides a petty
-What really makes a work of art? replacement for the entities that can only be attained through
-What really is art? reason.
Philosophical Perspectives on Art -The arts then are to be banished, alongside the
Aesthetics and Art practitioners, so that the attitudes and actions of the members
-Aesthetics- the branch of philosophy dealing with such of the Republic will not be corrupted by the influence of the
notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., arts.
as applicable to the fine arts, with the view to establishing the Art as Representation
meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works -Aristotle agreed with his teacher Plato that art is a form of
of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such imitation.
judgments. -In contrast to the view of Plato, however, Aristotle
-Aesthetics and art are not the same. considered art as an aid to philosophy in revealing truth.
-They are overlapping but different ideas. -The kind of imitation that art does is not antithetical to the
-As generally understood, aesthetics focuses on properties reaching of fundamental truths in the world.
of objects and our emotional responses to those properties. -Poetry, for instance, admits of an attempt to represent
-The object need not be art per se. what things might be.
-It could be a field of flowers just as easily as it could be -For Aristotle, all kinds of art do not aim to represent
Van Gogh’s painting of irises. reality as it is.
-Aesthetics typically relates to the continuum of beauty -Unlike Plato, Aristotle conceived of art as representing
and ugly. possible versions of reality.
-Most people think that the continuum between beauty and -In the Aristotelian worldview, art serves two particular
ugly is what aesthetics all about. purposes:
-This intuition about aesthetics also pervades analytical 1.Art allows for the experience of pleasure.
philosophical traditions and has historically influenced Experiences that are otherwise repugnant can become
theorizing about art. entertaining in art.
-However, aesthetic encounters need not be confined to 2.Art also has an ability to be instructive and teach its
beauty. audience things about life; thus, it is cognitive as well.
-The philosopher Frank Silby listed examples of other Art as Depicting Beauty
aesthetic properties that include objects being unified, -Alexader Baumgarten’s 1750 book, Aesthetica, marks the
balanced, serene, tragic, delicate, vivid, moving, trite, and beginning of modern aesthetics.
garish. -He linked the term aesthetics, then associated with
-Art can and usually does have aesthetic properties. sensations, to the appreciation of beauty producing what he
called “sensitive cognition.”
 -He focused on our reactions to beautiful natural -In his book, What is Art, Tolstoy defended the production
landscapes rather than art per se. of the sometimes truly extravagant art, like operas, despite
-Like Baumgarten, the philosopher Frances Hutcheson extreme poverty in the world.
thought we have a special sense that is receptive to beauty and -For him, art plays a huge role in communication to its
harmony and proportionality. audience’s emotions that the artist previously experienced.
-This aesthetic sense, Hutcheson claimed, evoked a feeling -Art then serves as a language, a communication device
of pleasure in the beholder. that articulates feelings and emotions that are otherwise
-The philosopher and political theorist Edmund Burke also unavailable to the audience.
emphasized and expanded on the way beauty evokes feelings. -In the same way that language communicates information
-He distinguished between the beautiful and the sublime. to other people, art communicates emotions.
-Beautiful objects are tied to pleasure. -Tolstoy is fighting for the social dimension of art.
-By contrast, sublime objects overwhelm us, produce awe, -As purveyor of man’s innermost feelings and thoughts, art
and force us to face our own insignificance. is given a unique opportunity to serve as a mechanism for
-People do not always agree on which art is beautiful. social unity.
-Do we resign ourselves to thinking that beauty in art is all -Art is central to man’s existence because it makes
subjective? accessible feelings and emotions of people from the past and
-To avoid this conclusion, the philosopher David Hume, present, from one continent to another.
developed the notion of “taste.” -In making these possibly latent feelings and emotions
-He viewed beauty as a pleasure that involved a value accessible to anyone in varied time and location, art serves as
judgment. a mechanism of cohesion for everyone.
-These value judgments were an expression of taste rather Art as Ritual
than the result of logical analysis. -Art is a ritualized behavior that brings a community
-Taste, he thought, might start out being automatic and together by solidifying communal values.
spontaneous, but it could be nurtured with careful observation -Before the 18th century, much of what we regard as art
and education. was done in the service of the church or the state.
-People develop a special sensitivity to aesthetic qualities -Art served to elevate us communally.
in the world. -Watching plays by Aeschylus and Sophocles probably
-As taste matures, these sensitive people are best at brought Greek audiences together.
deciding what is art, or at least what is good art. -Beautiful hymns and chants in churches and temples bring
-Hume recognized that education and culture profoundly people together.
influence our experience of art. -The idea that we all participate in a ritual of appreciating
Art as a Disinterested Judgment art that brings us together is wonderful.
-Immanuel Kant considered the judgment of beauty as Art as Significant Form
something that can be universal despite its subjectivity. -As art became more abstract, art theorizing in the early
-For Kant, judgment of beauty and, therefore art, is 20th century became more formal.
innately autonomous from specific interests. -Clive Bell introduce the idea of “significant form,” which
-It is the form of art that is adjudged by one who perceives refers to particular combinations of lines and colors that excite
art to be beautiful, or more so, sublime. aesthetic emotions.
-Therefore, even aesthetic judgment for Kant is a cognitive -For Bell, aesthetic emotional responses were different
activity. from other emotional responses.
-Kant recognized that judgment of beauty is subjective. -The photograph of a lover might engender desire; the
-However, he advanced the proposition that even statue of a hero might arouse admiration; the painting of a
subjective judgments are based on some universal criterion for saint might evoke faith.
the said judgment. -For Bell, these emotional responses are perfectly normal,
-For instance, when one judges a particular painting as but they are not aesthetic responses.
beautiful, one in effect is saying that the said painting has -The aesthetic response is to the forms and relations of
induced a particular feeling of satisfaction from him and that forms themselves, not to meanings and memories evoked by
he expects the painting to rouse the same feeling from anyone. the image.
-There is something in the work of art that makes it -Significant form is the reason abstract art can be appealing
capable of inciting the same feeling of pleasure and even if it does not seem to signify any object or meaning in
satisfaction from any perceiver, regardless of his condition. particular.
-For Kant, every human being, after perception and the Art as Family Resemblance
free play of his faculties, should recognize the beauty that is -A popular view in the mid-twentieth century was that art
inherent in a work of art. could not be defined.
-This is the kind of universality that a judgment of beauty -Philosophers call this view anti-essentialist.
is assumed by Kant to have. -Morris Weitz makes two arguments on the anti-essentialist
-So when the same person says that something is beautiful, view of art:
he does not just believe that the thing is beautiful for him, but 1. Art is inherently revolutionary. Art’s rebellious nature
in a sense, expects that the same thing should put everyone in undermines itself. Any attempt to confine art with a definition
awe. is bound to fail.
Art as Communication of Emotion
2. Art cannot be defined with necessary and sufficient -Arthur Danto suggests that the status of an artwork
condition. Rather art is a collection of objects with a family depends on its place within an ongoing narrative and
resemblance. theoretical discussion about art.
-When confronted with a new object, we judge whether or -Similarly, Noël Carroll and Jerold Levinson emphasize
not it is art based on how well it resembles objects we already the status of art as being fundamentally connected to its
accept as art. precedents.
-The family resemblance argument is tricky because it -George Dickie has stressed the role of social and
doesn’t tell us which features are important for the institutional practices that combine to designate an object as
resemblance. art.
-A recent version of the family resemblance idea comes -Just looking at something does not tell us that it is art.
from Berys Gaut. -When Duchamp placed a urinal on a pedestal in 1917 and
-He argues that art is a cluster concept. titled it Fountain, why did anyone consider it art?
-Artwork contains a list of possible attributes. -Arthur Danto used the example of Andy Warhol’s 1964
-When we find a subset of the list in an object, we call it Brillo Box to make the point that physical properties of
art. objects are irrelevant to their status as art.
-But we are still left with the problem of having to pick -Warhol’s box is almost indistinguishable from the
some properties as more relevant than others to the cluster. commercial Brillo boxes mass-produced by Proctor and
Art as Intuition Gamble.
-Another argument for art is that maybe we really do know -Yet, one box is deifined as art, and the others are just
what art is, even if we can’t define it. containers for a product to be bought and sold.
-In a 1964 case about the right of free speech, U.S. -Art, as it turn out, is a cultural artifact and can only be
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said about understood in its historical context and by cultural practices.
defining pornography, “Perhaps I could never succeed in The Subject of Art
intelligently doing so. But I know it when I see it.” Learning Outcomes
-The philosopher William Kennick used this intuition -Differentiate representational and non-representational
about art in describing a scenario with a burning warehouse art;
that stored art as well as other objects. -Discuss the difference between an artwork’s subject and
-He suggested that ordinary people would know which its content;
pieces to grab as art and which not to, even if they did not -Identify the subject matter and content of specific
understand a philosopher’s definition of art. examples of art; and
-Given some contemporary art, that prediction is not so -Enumerate the sources of the subjects of some of the most
certain. recognizable works of art in Philippine art history.
-How many of us would desperately grab a urinal as we What Subject Is?
sputter our way to open air? -When people look at a painting or sculpture for the first
Art as Functional Relation time, the initial question they usually ask is “What is it?” or
-To get around the definitional problems of understanding “What does it show?”
art raised by anti-essentialist philosophers, some philosophers -Somehow, they expect to see recognizable images in these
suggest that we can have a coherent concept of art by works of art.
understanding its relational properties. -To a majority of people, the appeal of most works of art
-These relational properties may be how art functions in lies in the representation of familiar objects.
our lives, or how it is situated in history and culture. -Their enjoyment of painting, sculpture, and literature
-The functionalist position suggests that art is understood comes from the satisfaction they get out of recognizing the
through our interactions with this special class of objects and subject or understanding the narrative content.
how they function in our lives. -The subject of art refers to any person, object, scene, or
-These objects produce aesthetic experiences that are event described or represented in a work of art.
different from our reactions to other objects. -Some arts have subjects, others do not.
-Scientists who study aesthetics are sympathetic to this -The arts that have subject are called representational or
way of thinking about art. objective art.
-When they construct experiments to probe psychological -Those that do not have subject are known as non-
mechanisms or identify neural markers, they are trying to representational or non-objective art.
understand interactions between art and the person. Representational & Non-representational Art
-In some ways, functionalist arguments shift the focus -Painting, sculpture, the graphic arts, literature, and the
from defining the underlying properties of the art object to theater arts are generally classified as representational,
what is crucial about the encounter with an object that we although a good deal of paintings, prints, and sculptures are
regard as an aesthetic experience. without subject.
Art as Cultural and Historical Artifact -Music, architecture, and many functional arts are non-
-Another contemporary view emphasizes art as understood representational.
by its relation to culture and history. -Some musical compositions have subjects, though. They
-This approach to art falls outside the realm of aesthetics are generally referred to as program music.
since it is not concerned about the sensory properties of the -This kind of music may imitate natural sounds, like
artwork and the emotions evoked in the viewer. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Flight of the Bumblebee; set
a mood, like Jules Massenet’s Meditation from Thais; or -It is totally the opposite of realism.
narrate a story like John Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. -In abstract art, the artist does not show the subject at all as
Non-representational Art an objective reality, but only his idea, or his feeling about it
-The non-objective arts do not represent descriptions, (exaggerated emotionalism).
stories, or references to identifiable objects or symbols. -It is all about what the artists feel and what mood they
-Rather, they appeal directly to the senses primarily might want to portray.
because of the satisfying organization of their sensuous and -Abstract art is all shapes, no real-life images, scenery, or
expressive elements. objects.
-Most musical pieces are not imitations of natural sounds, -An example is the sculpture of Constantin Brancusi’s
but we enjoy listening to them because the sounds have been “Bird in Space.”
pleasingly arranged and because they evoke certain emotional -He was so impressed by the grace of a bird in flight, by
responses in us. the sweep of its body as it flew through the air.
-Through such elements of design as line and color, a -His sculptural work does not look like a bird for it is
painter may convey a message non-objectively. supposed to convey an impression of a bird’s grace and speed.
-Bright colors usually convey a happy mood; dark, drab Forms of Abstraction
ones create a somber mood. Distortion
-Similarly, light and delicate lines suggest gaiety, while -This is clearly manifested when the subject is in
dark, heavy ones communicate serious or heavy feeling. misshapen condition, or the regular shape is twisted out.
-Many contemporary painters have turned away from -It is a form of emphasizing detail to the point that
representational to non-objective painting. something is no longer “correctly” depicted.
-They have shifted their attention to the work of art as an -An example is Pablo Picasso’s The Old Guitarist.
object in itself, an exciting combination of shapes and colors -See how the left shoulder is hitched up so high and the
that fulfills an aesthetic need without having to represent other shoulder barely exists; how spidery his hands are; and
images or tell a story. how his head is twisted around unnaturally.
-Many modern paintings have a purely visual appeal; they -Another is Henry Moore’s sculptural works.
are therefore difficult for the literal-oriented spectator to relate -Also, the ancient Egyptian paintings and sculptural works
to. are good examples of this kind.
Ways of Representing Subjects Mangling
-The manner of representing subject matter varies -This may not be a commonly used way of presenting an
according to the inventiveness and purpose of each artist. abstract subject, but there are few artists who show subject or
Realism objects which are cut, lacerated, mutilated, torn, hacked or
Abstraction disfigured.
Symbolism Elongation
Fauvism -It refers to that which is being lengthened, a protraction or
Dadaism an extension.
Futurism -An example of this is El Greco’s "Christ Crucified," a
Surrealism sculpture by Giambologna from around 1588, an elegant but
Impressionism somewhat formulaic work in which the elongated body of
1. Realism Christ seems to float almost birdlike off the cross.
-It often refers to the artistic movement, which began in Cubism
France in the 1850s. -It began in the early 1900s when artists such as Georges
-The popularity of realism grew with the introduction of Braque (French) and Pablo Picasso (Spanish) began painting
photography - a new visual source that created a desire for in such a way that was far removed from traditional art styles.
people to produce things that look “objectively real”. -The Cubists tried to create a new way of seeing things in
-Undistorted by personal bias, realism believed in the art.
ideology of objective reality and revolted against exaggerated -Many of their subjects, be they people or landscapes, were
emotionalism. represented as combinations of basic geometric shapes -
-It is a method of portraying an art subject according to the sometimes showing multiple viewpoints of a particular image.
objective reality. -Cubist pictures are therefore often described as looking
-It depicts what the eyes can see, what the ear can hear, like pieces of fractured glass.
what the sense faculty may receive. Abstract Expressionism
-An example was the painting of Zeuxis, 5th century -Abstract Expressionism is a modern art movement that
painter. flourished in America after the Second World War and held
-The subject of his painting was a grape. sway until the dawn of Pop Art in the 1960’s.
-When he unveiled his painting of grapes, they appeared so -With this movement New York replaced Paris as the
real, luscious and inviting that the birds flew down from the center of the art world.
sky to peck at them. -In a painting, the artists apply paint rapidly and with force
2. Abstraction to their huge canvases in an effort to show feelings and
-Its etymology is derived from Latin “abstractus "drawn emotions, painting gesturally, non-geometrically, sometimes
away," or Latin past participle “abstrahere:” from ab(s)- applying paint with large brushes, sometimes dripping or even
"away" + trahere "draw," which means "withdrawn or throwing it into the canvas.
separated from material objects or practical matters."
 -Abstract Expressionism was influenced by the -Futurism came into being with the appearance of a
Existentialist philosophy, which emphasized the importance manifesto published by the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
of the act of creating, not of the finished object. on the front page of the February 20, 1909, issue of Le Figaro.
-What matters for the artist are the qualities of the paint -It was the very first manifesto of this kind.
itself and the act of painting itself. Marinetti summed up the major principles of the Futurists.
*Jackson Pollock’s Number One -He and others espoused a love of speed, technology and
3. Symbolism violence.
-A symbol is a visible sign of something invisible such as -Futurism was presented as a modernist movement
an idea or quality. celebrating the technological, future era.
-Symbolism systematically uses symbols to concentrate or -The car, the plane, the industrial town were representing
intensify meaning, making the work of art more subjective the motion in modern life and the technological triumph of
(rather than objective) and conventional. man over nature.
-For example, a flag is a symbol of a country and it depicts *Donald Davis’ Toroidal Shaped Space Colony
the value of nationalism; a lion to represent courage and a *Klause Burgle’s Reto Futurismo
lamb to represent meekness. 7. Surrealism
-The logos and emblems of business firms and the coat of -It is an offshoot or a child of dada.
arms of bishops are also examples of symbolism. -It is also known as “super realism,” which revolves on the
-Lucerne’s Lion Monument, a famous masterpiece of the method of making ordinary things look extraordinary.
early 19th century, is dedicated to the memory of the heroic -It focuses on real things found in the imagination or
fight and final defeat of the Swiss Guards in Paris in 1792. fantasy or it has realistic subjects that are found in the
-In the Philippines, we have the Spolarium of Juan Luna. unconscious mind; depicting dreamlike images of the inner
-The painting shows fallen gladiators being dragged to an mind.
unseen pile of corpses in a chamber beneath the Roman arena. Types of Surrealism
-It expresses his anger over the abuses and cruelties of the Veristic Surrealism
colonial rule of the Spanish authorities over the people of his -It allowed the images of the subconscious to be
native country. undisturbed so that the meaning could be understood through
-The sculpture in the EDSA Shrine depicts the braveness analysis.
and courage of the Filipinos against the tyrant dictator, -They follow images of the subconscious until
Ferdinand Marcos. consciousness could understand the meaning.
4. Fauvism -Examples: Rene Magritte would show a nighttime sky,
-It is derived from the French “les fauves,” which means then a daytime foreground, or Salvador Dali would melt
“the wild beasts.” clocks to show how unreal time and space were; slice of a
-It is an artistic movement of the last part of the 19th cheese with a face on it.
century which emphasized spontaneity and use of extremely *René Magritte’s The Return
bright colors. *Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory
-To a fauvist, for example, a tree trunk need not be brown. Automatism or Abstract Surrealism
-It could be bright red, purple or any other color. -Images of the subconscious should not be burdened by
-Henri Matisse, French artist, was known for his use of meaning, so they are represented in an abstract form.
color and his fluid, brilliant and original draughtsmanship. -It is focused more on feelings and less analytical.
-As a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but -Proponents: Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud.
principally as a painter, Matisse is one of the best-known *Ruedi Eichenberger’s Sign of the Times
artists of the 20th century. Surrealistic Techniques
-He was initially labeled as a Fauve (wild beast). Scale – changing an object’s scale, or relative size. Example:
*Henri Matisse’s Joy of Life ordinary small size of glass to a big extraordinary size.
5. Dadaism Levitation – Floating objects that don’t normally float.
-The term “dada” is a French word, which means a Example: Stone Floating
“hobby-horse.” Juxtaposition – Joining two images together in impossible
-A hobby-horse is a child’s toy consisting of a wooden combinations. Example: Car running and on top of it is a
horse mounted on a stick. horse running with a man riding.
-With this etymology, we could say that Dadaism is system Dislocation – Taking an object form its usual environment
of art which is per se “nonsensical.” and placing it in an unfamiliar one. Example: a face wrapped
-Some would say it is not an art because it strives to have by a piece of cloth; an electric burner inside the car.
no meaning at all. Transparency – Making objects transparent that are not
-It started as a Post World War cultural movement against transparent.
the barbarism of the war. Transformation – Changing objects in unusual way.
-It is a reaction to what they believed were outworn 8. Impressionism
traditions in art, and the evils they saw in society. -It is also sometimes referred to as optical realism due to
-It tried to shock and provoke the public with outrageous its interest in the actual viewing experience, including such
pieces of writing, poetry recitals and art exhibitions. things as the effect of color, light and movement on the
*Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain appearance of the objects depicted in the artworks.
6. Futurism -Impressionism focuses on directly describing the visual
sensations derived from nature.
 -Devotees of Impressionism were not concerned with the -Early Christian and medieval artists decorate churches with
actual depiction of the objects they painted. distorted figures to not distract people from their spiritual
-Instead they were concerned with the visual impressions thoughts
aroused by those objects. -Renaissance awakened interest in the nude human figure;
-The Impressionists created one of the most important female subject is the fave
artistic movements of the nineteenth century and it got its start Everyday Life
in France. -Genre paintings- representatios of rice threshers,
-The theme of the Impressionism movement teaches, “the cockfighters, candle vendors, street musicians, and children at
human eye is a marvelous instrument”. play
-The worldwide impact of Impressionism was large and -paintings of their observation of people going about their
lasting. usual ways and performing their usual tasks
-Claude Monet is widely recognized as the father of the -Fernando Amorsolo, Lavandera, 1932, Oil on a board, 13 1/2
Impressionist movement, and his work Impression: Sunrise by 10 ½ inches
is widely recognized as the first work of this new movement.
-Fascination with color, light and movement formed the
core of the Impressionism movement. History and Legend
*Claude Monet’s Sunrise -consists of verifiable facts, legends of unverifiable ones,
Kinds of Subject many of them are accepted as true because tradition has held
Landscapes, Seascapes, Cityscapes them so far, it is difficult to tell how much of what we know
-Fave subject of Chinese and Japanese painters now is history and how much is legend
-Fernando Amorsolo(Antipolo) romanticized Philippine -popular subjects of art
landscapes -costumes, accessories, status symbols, means of
-Modern painters: Vicente Manansala(Barung-Barong), transportation, kinds of dwellings are some kinds of historical
Arturo Luz, Mauro Malang Santos info found in history sometimes
Still life -Malakas and Maganda, Maria Makiling
-groups of inanimate objects arranged in an indoor setting -Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830, Oil on
-Chinese and Japanese still lifes: flowers, fruits, unplucked canvas, Louvre, Paris
from natural setting branches
-today, focus is on the exciting arrangement and combinations Religion and Mythology
of the object’s shapes and colors -art has always been a handmaiden of religion
-example: Juan Sanchez Cotan(1560-1627), Quince, Cabbage, -most world religions use art to aid I worship, inspire feelings
Melon, and Cucumber(1602), San Diego Museum of Art of devotion and impress/ convert non-believers.
Animals -Christian Church: tell stories about Christ and saints in
-earliest: animals on walls of caves pictures, mosaics, murals, stained glass windows, tableaux
-carabao: favorite subject of Filipino artists and plays(preach and teach)
-Sarimanok: proudest prestige symbol of Maranaws -Judaism and Islam: pics of God, human beings, and animals
-Animals have been used as symbols in conventional religious are forbidden because people might worship the photos
art: -Other Religions: God in human/ other visible forms(has a
-dove: Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity halo, wing, darker complexion, or by some attributes)
-fish and lamb: Christ -ancient Egyptians: Gods are part human part animal
-phoenix: resurrection -ancient African tribes: distorted God’s features
-peacock: immortality through Christ -Hindus: Shiva is a four-armed God
Portraits -Buddha: symbolized by his footprints, a wheel, or a true
-human face: index of one’s character, instrument of -Christian world: Four Evangelists
expression, capable of showing a variety of moods and -St Luke: Ox
feelings. -St John: Eagle
-photographic likeness, product of selective process, artist -St Mark: Lion
highlights certain features and de-emphasizing others -St Matthew: Winged Man
-Monalisa by Leonardo da Vinci Dreams and Fantasies
-doesn’t have to be beautiful, but has to be truthful -Dreams: vague and illogical, lifelike situation, irrational,
-attire and accessories reveal about subject’s time absurd
-statues and busts of leaders and heroes (Romans) until -no limits can be imposed on an artist’s imagination
portrait painting became popular in Renaissance
-bust of Aphrodite; Frida Kahlo(Self-portrait with flowers)
Figures
-human body as chief subject of sculptors (nude or clothed)
-to Ancient Greeks: physical beauty was the symbol of moral
and spiritual perfection, portraying their Gods and Goddesses
as possessing perfect human shapes
-Venus de Milo c. 150 B.C.