Louise Immaculate Grace M.

Cruz BSCS 2-1N

I. Art and Anthropology: Cultural Relativism
A. Cultural Relativism in Aesthetics – Relativism holds that beauty varies with cultures or ‘taste-publics’
without collapsing into personal preference. A version close to the dispositional account in §4 could be
obtained by relativizing the beauty-disposition to the maximal discrimination-capacities attainable in
distinct cultures, especially if some neural explanation of the difference could be found – following the
analogy of sensory colour, which is vulnerable to the same relativization if different cultures are found to
have different but equally acute colour-sensibilities.
B. Culture, Beauty, and the Female Body – Culture plays a huge role in our ideas of beauty. For instance,
“youthfulness” is the beauty goal in America, while naturally flawless skin is the beauty ideal in Europe.
Fairness is coveted in most Asian countries. A voluptuous figure, long bouncy hair and tanned skin is
considered beautiful in Brazil. Having a slender figure is considered an important beauty criterion is most
parts of the world. However, in Africa, a filled-out larger figure is considered beautiful. As the world
becomes smaller and connectivity improves, people began associating beauty with happiness and
prosperity. As a result of which, women from the East began to covet the Western ideal of beauty. Being
tall, fair, slender, having light eyes and light hair, and Aryan features became the platinum standard for
beauty.
C. The Art of Pleasure in Hindu Culture and Religion - Kama, (Sanskrit: “Love,” “Desire,” “Pleasure”) in
the mythology of India, the god of erotic love and pleasure. During the Vedic age (2nd millennium–7th
century BCE), he personified cosmic desire, or the creative impulse, and was called the firstborn of the
primeval Chaos that makes all creation possible. In later periods he is depicted as a handsome youth,
attended by heavenly nymphs, who shoots love-producing flower-arrows. His bow is of sugarcane, his
bowstring a row of bees. Once directed by the other gods to arouse Shiva’s passion for Parvati, he
disturbed the great god’s meditation on a mountaintop. Enraged, Shiva burned him to ashes with the fire
of his third eye. Thus, he became Ananga (Sanskrit: “the Bodiless”). Some accounts say Shiva soon
relented and restored him to life after the entreaties of Kama’s wife, Rati. Others hold that Kama’s subtle
bodiless form renders him even more deftly omnipresent than he would be if constrained by bodily
limitation.
D. Aesthetic Relativism in Popular Culture - common sense may appear to suggest that aesthetic
relativism is false. There is widespread agreement—at least among the "informed" and "educated" public
—as to the aesthetic value of individual works of architecture, painting, music, etc. The question whether
or not such agreement pre-exists social conditioning is an ongoing one, and mirrors the broader nature
versus nurture debate within the social sciences, and within science and philosophy in general. (For
example, an informed and educated public might have been informed and educated in different ways, and
their tastes might then have been quite divergent.) The extent to which taste might be explained in
fundamentally sociological as distinct from aesthetic terms, is a matter of ongoing debate. At the same
time, the dominant media-generated image in terms of facial structure, body shape and hair colour is that
associated with northern Europeans. Furthermore, it should be noted that the fashion for darker skin
among white people is of relatively recent origin, coinciding with the fashion among the upper classes for
sun-holidays in the early twentieth century.
E. Batok: Art of the Tattoo – Batok is believed to have been practiced for one thousand years already.
Unlike today, tattooing in ancient times isn’t done for money. The tribespeople of Kalinga are
headhunters, they customarily practice headhunting, making it one of the main reason behind tattooing. It
is said that tribal wars (where headhunting takes place) happen when one tribe wants to get a certain land
and the other tribes won’t allow it. Men in these tribe groups should first make themselves worthy of the
tattoo by joining the fights. A successful headhunter take the head back to his tribe and that’s when he’ll
get the tattoo. Men who choose to have their skin tattooed with these ancient marks are viewed as brave
and courageous people in the society. Thus, it marks their social status within their community. A Kalinga
warrior who is heavily marked with these ancient tattoo, commands a lot of respect and could make his
enemies tremble in fear. People at that time, believe that tattoos possess spiritual power and magical
qualities which gave them strength and protection. More women is also attracted to men with lots of
tattoos in his body.
II. Art and Psychology: Perception and Symbolism
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A. Gestalt Principles Applied to Visual Arts - The term Gestalt means 'unified whole', which is a good way
of describing the over-arching theme behind the Gestalt principles. These refer to the way in which
humans, when looking at a group of objects, will see the whole before we see the individual parts. If you
collect together your design elements in a visual arrangement using one of the various approaches that
we explain below, your design will feel more connected, coherent and complete.
B. Perception of Space: Perspective - Space perception, process through which humans and other
organisms become aware of the relative positions of their own bodies and objects around them. Space
perception provides cues, such as depth and distance, that are important for movement and orientation to
the environment. Human beings have been interested in the perception of objects in space at least since
antiquity. It was popularly thought in ancient Greece that objects could be seen because they emitted
what was imagined to be a continuous series of extremely thin “membranes” in their own image; these fell
upon the eye and merged into the picture that was perceived.
C. Symbolic Meaning: Psychoanalyzing the Art and the Artist - The relationship between
psychoanalysis and art is dominated by the certainty that artists have something fundamental to say
to the psychic world, and about the psychic world, and no less evident is the aspiration on the part
of psychoanalysis to say something fundamental about art, about the artist and the work of art. helps
to investigate in the field of art: (1) the ubiquity of certain themes drawn from the individual’s fantasy life;
(2) the relationship between the artist’s biography, in the psychoanalytic sense, and his work; and (3) the
study of the artist’s imaginative activity and creative capacity.
D. Subliminal Suggestions and Escapism in Music - Subliminal (audio) messages are recorded just
below normal levels of hearing. These messages enter the mind stealthily, bypassing conscious
resistance. Because your conscious mind is not aware of the subliminal messages, it cannot dispute,
judge, or block them. Your mind relaxes into heightened receptivity, allowing positive messages to flow
into your subconscious mind without the disruption of limiting beliefs. With repeated listening, your
subconscious will accept the subliminal directives as true, and your behavior will reflect your new, positive
belief system. Your retrained mind will attract and manifest in alignment with the messages received.With
repeated daily listening, you will relax deeply and sleep soundly while experiencing subtle shifts in
perception that will draw you towards your wellness goals. Your conscious mind will hear only music, but
there is much, much more happening “behind the scenes” of these programs. ideas stress the role music
plays in feelings of transcendence. For example, (Frith, 1996, p. 275) has noted that: “We all hear the
music we like as something special, as something that defies the mundane, takes us “out of ourselves,”
puts us somewhere else.” Thus, music may provide a means of escape. The experience of flow states
(Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2009), peaks (Maslow, 1968), and chills (Panksepp, 1995), which are
often evoked by music listening, might similarly be interpreted as forms of transcendence or escapism
(see also Fachner, 2008).
III. Art and History: The Evolution of Styles
A. Styles of Classical Art –
1.Classical Greek Pottery - During this era, Ceramic art and thus vase-painting experienced a
progressive decline. Exactly why, we don't know, but, judging by the lack of innovations and the
increasing sentimentality of the designs, the genre appears to have worn itself out. The final
creative development was the White Ground technique, which had been introduced around 500.
Unlike the black-figure and red-figure styles, which relied on clay slips to create pictures, the
White Ground technique employed paint and gilding on a white clay background, and is best
illustrated by the funerary lekythoi of the late 5th century. Apart from this single innovation,
classical Greek pottery declined significantly in both quality and artistic merit, and eventually
became dependent on local Hellenistic schools.
2.Classical Greek Architecture - Like most Greek visual art, building design reached its apogee
during the Classical period, as the two main styles (or "orders") of Greek architecture, the Doric
and the Ionic, came to define a timeless, harmonious, universal standard of architectural beauty.
The Doric style was the more formal and austere - a style which predominated during the 4th and
5th centuries - while the Ionic was more relaxed and somewhat decorative - a style which
became more popular during the more easy-going Hellenistic era. (Note: The Ionic Order later
gave rise to the more ornate Corinthian style.)
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3.Classical Greek Sculpture - In the history of sculpture, no period was more productive than the
150 years between 480 and 330 BCE. As far as plastic art is concerned, there may be sub-
divided into: Early Classical Greek Sculpture (480-450), High Classical Greek Sculpture (450-
400), and Late Classical Greek Sculpture (400-323).
4.Classical Greek Painting - Classical Greek painting reveals a grasp of linear perspective and
naturalist representation which would remain unsurpassed until the Italian High Renaissance.
Apart from vase-painting, all types of painting flourished during the Classical period. According to
authors like Pliny (23-79 CE) or Pausanias (active 143-176 CE), the highest form was panel
painting, done in encaustic or tempera. Subjects included figurative scenes, portraits and still-
lifes, and exhibitions - for instance at Athens and Delphi - were relatively common. Alas, due to
the perishable nature of these panels along with centuries of looting and vandalism, not a single
Greek Classical panel painting of any quality has survived, nor any Roman copy.
B. Styles of Modern Art –
1.Impressionism (c.1870-80) - French Impressionism, championed above all by Claude Monet
(1840-1926), was a spontaneous colour-sensitive style of pleinairism whose origins derived from
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and the techniques of the Barbizon school - whose quest was to
depict the momentary effects of natural light. It encompassed rural landscapes [Alfred Sisley
(1839-1899)], cityscapes [Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)], genre scenes [Pierre-Auguste Renoir
(1841-1919)
2.Post Impressionism (c.1885 onwards) - Essentially an umbrella term encompassing a number
of developments and reactions to Impressionism, Post-Impressionism involved artists who
employed Impressionist-type colour schemes, but were dissatisfied with the limitations imposed
by merely reproducing nature. Neo-Impressionism with its technique of Pointillism was pioneered
by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac (1863-1935), while major Post-Impressionists include Paul
Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne. Inspired by Gauguin's synthetism and Bernard's
cloisonnism, the Post-Impressionist group Les Nabis promoted a wider form of decorative art;
another style, known as Intimisme, concerned itself with genre scenes of domestic, intimate
interiors. Exemplified by the work of Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) and Edouard Vuillard (1868-
1940), it parallels other tranquil interiors such as those by James McNeil Whistler, and the Dutch
Realist-influenced Peter Vilhelm Ilsted (1861-1933). Another very important movement - anti-
impressionist rather than post-impressionist - was Symbolism (flourished 1885-1900), which went
on to influence Fauvism, Expressionism and Surrealism. Note also that many post-Impressionist
artists adopted the forms and aesthetics of classicism, as a response to the passive naturalism of
Impressionist art. This led to a widespread Classical Revival in modern art, known as the 'return
to order', between 1900 and 1930.
3.Colourism: Fauvism (1900 onwards) - The term "Fauves" (wild beasts) was first used by the art
critic Louis Vauxcelles at the 1905 Salon d'Automne exhibition in Paris when describing the
vividly coloured paintings of Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Andre Derain (1880-1954), and Maurice
de Vlaminck (1876-1958). Other Fauvists included the later Cubist Georges Braque (1882-1963),
Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), Albert Marquet (1875-1947) and Georges Rouault (1871-1958). Most
followers of Fauvism moved on to Expressionism or other movements associated with the Ecole
de Paris.
4.19th Century/Early 20th Century Sculpture - Sculptural traditions, although never independent
from those of painting, are concerned primarily with space and volume, while issues of scale and
function also act as distinguishing factors. Thus on the whole, sculpture was slower to reflect the
new trends of modern art during the 19th century, leaving sculptors like Auguste Rodin (1840-
1917) free to pursue a monumentalism derived essentially from Neoclassicism if not Renaissance
ideology. The public dimension of sculpture also lent itself to the celebration of Victorian values
and historical figures, which were likewise executed in the grand manner of earlier times. Thus it
wasn't until the emergence of artists like Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) and Umberto Boccioni
(1882-1916) that sculpture really began to change, at the turn of the century.
5.Expressionist Art (c.1900 onwards) - Expressionism is a general style of painting that aims to
express a personal interpretation of a scene or object, rather than depict its true-life features, it is
often characterized by energetic brushwork, impastoed paint, intense colours and bold lines.
Expressionism duly spread worldwide, spawning numerous derivations in both figurative painting
(eg. Francis Bacon) and abstract art (eg. Mark Rothko).
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6.Art Nouveau (Late 19th Century - Early 20th Century) - It was noted for its intricate flowing
patterns of sinuous asymetrical lines, based on plant-forms (dating back to the Celtic Hallstatt and
La Tene cultures), as well as female silhouettes and forms. Art Nouveau had a major influence on
poster art, design and illustration, interior design, metalwork, glassware, jewellery, as well as
painting and sculpture.
7.Cubism (c.1908-12) - Invented by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963)
and considered to be "the" revolutionary movement of modern art, Cubism was a more
intellectual style of painting that explored the full potential of the two-dimensional picture plane by
offering different views of the same object, typically arranged in a series of overlapping
fragments: rather like a photographer might take several photos of an object from different
angles, before cutting them up with scissors and rearranging them in haphazard fashion on a flat
surface. This "analytical Cubism" (which originated with Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon")
quickly gave way to "synthetic Cubism", when artists began to include "found objects" in their
canvases, such as collages made from newspaper cuttings.
8.Surrealism (1924 onwards) - Largely rooted in the anti-art traditions of the Dada movement
(1916-24), as well as the psychoanalytical ideas of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Surrealism
was the most influential art style of the inter-war years. According to its chief theorist, Andre
Breton, it sought to combine the unconscious with the conscious, in order to create a new "super-
reality" - a "surrealisme". The movement spanned a huge range of styles, from abstraction to
true-life realism, typically punctuated with "unreal" imagery.
9.Early 20th Century American Art (c.1900-45) - American painting during the period 1900-45
was realist in style and became increasingly focused on strictly American imagery. This was the
result of the reaction against the Armory Show (1913) and European hypermodernism, as well as
a response to changing social conditions across the country. Later it became a patriotic response
to the Great Depression of the 1930s. See also the huge advances in Skyscraper architecture of
the early 20th century.
10. Abstract Expressionism (1945-60) - The first international modern art movement to come out
of America (it is sometimes referred to as The New York School - see also American art), it was a
predominantly abstract style of painting which followed an expressionist colour-driven direction,
rather than a Cubist idiom, although it also includes a number of other styles, making it more of a
general movement.
11. Pop Art (Late 1950s-60s) - The bridge between modern art and postmodernism, Pop art
employed popular imagery and modern forms of graphic art, to create a lively, high-impact idiom,
which could be understood and appreciated by Joe Public. It appeared simultaneously in America
and Britain, during the late 1950s, while a European form (Nouveau Realisme) emerged in 1960.
Pop had close links with early 20th century movements like Surrealism. It was a clear reaction
against the closed intellectualism of Abstract Expressionism, from which Pop artists sought to
distance themselves by adopting simple, easily recognized imagery (from TV, cartoons, comic
strips and the like), as well as modern technology like screen printing.
12. Mid-20th Century Sculpture - From the early works of Brancusi, 20th century sculpture
broadened immeasurably to encompass new forms, styles and materials. Major innovations
included the "sculptured walls" of Louise Nevelson (1899-1988), the existential forms of
Giacometti (1901-66), the biomorphic abstraction of both Barbara Hepworth (1903-75) and Henry
Moore (1898-1986), and the spiders of Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010). Other creative angles
were pursued by Salvador Dali (1904-89) in his surrealist "Mae West Lips Sofa" and "Lobster
Telephone" - by Meret Oppenheim (1913-85) in her "Furry Breakfast", by FE McWilliam (1909-
1992) in his "Eyes, Nose and Cheek", by Sol LeWitt (b.1928) in his skeletal box-like
constructions, and by Pop-artists like Claes Oldenburg (b.1929) and Jasper Johns (b.1930), as
well as by the Italians Jonathan De Pas (1932-91), Donato D'Urbino (b.1935) and Paolo Lomazzi
(b.1936) in their unique "Joe Sofa".
C. Styles of Post-Modern Art –
1.Postmodernist Painting - Painters since the 1970s have experimented with numerous styles
across the spectrum from pure abstraction to figuration. These include: Minimalism, a purist form
of abstraction which did little to promote painting as an attractive medium; Neo-Expressionism,
which encompassed groups like the "Ugly Realists", the "Neue Wilden", "Figuration Libre",
"Transavanguardia", the "New Image Painters" and the so-called "Bad Painters", signalled a
return to depicting recognizable objects, like the human body (albeit often in a quasi-abstract
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style), using rough brushwork, vivid colours and colour harmonies; and the wholly figurative styles
adopted by groups such as "New Subjectivity" and the "London School". At the other extreme
from Minimalism is the ultra-representational art form of photorealism (superrealism,
hyperrealism).
2.Postmodernist Sculpture - Sculpture since 1970 has appeared in a variety of guises, including:
the large scale metal works of Mark Di Suvero (b.1933), the minimalist sculptures of Walter de
Maria (b.1935), the monumental public forms of Richard Serra (b.1939), the hyper-realist nudes
of John De Andrea (b.1941), the environmental structures of Anthony Gormley (b.1950), the site-
specific figures of Rowan Gillespie (b.1953), the stainless steel works of Anish Kapoor (b.1954),
the high-impact Neo-Pop works of Jeff Koons (b.1955), and the extraordinary 21st century works
by Sudobh Gupta (b.1964) and Damian Ortega (b.1967). In addition, arresting public sculpture
includes the "Chicago Picasso" - a series of metal figures produced for the Chicago Civic Centre
and the architectural "Spire of Dublin" (the 'spike'), created by Ian Ritchie (b.1947), among many
others.
3.Postmodernist Avant-garde - The pluralistic "anything goes" view of contemporary art (which
critics might characterize as exemplifying the fable of the "Emperor's New Clothes"), is aptly
illustrated in the works of Damien Hirst, a leading member of the Young British Artists school.
Renowned for "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living", a dead Tiger
shark pickled in formaldehyde, and lately for his diamond encrusted skull "For the Love of God",
Hirst has managed to stimulate audiences and horrify critics around the world. And while he is
unlikely ever to inherit the mantle of Michelangelo, his achievement of sales worth $100 million in
a single Sotheby's auction (2008) is positively eye-popping.
4.20th Century Architecture - One might say that 19th century architecture aimed to beautify the
new wave of civic structures, like railway stations, museums, government buildings and other
public utilities. It did this by taking ideas from Neo-Classicism, Neo-Gothic, French Second
Empire and exoticism, as well as the new forms and materials of so-called "industrial
architecture", as exemplified in factories along with occasional landmark structures like the Eiffel
Tower (1887-89). In comparison, 20th century architecture has been characterized by vertical
development (skyscrapers), flagship buildings, and post-war reconstruction. More than any other
era, its design has been dominated by the invention of new materials and building methods. It
began with the exploitation of late 19th century innovations developed by the Chicago School of
architecture, such as the structural steel frame, in a style known as Early Modernism. In America,
architects started incorporating Art Nouveau and Art Deco design styles into their work, while in
Germany and Russia totalitarian architecture pursued a separate agenda during the 1930s.
Famous architects of the first part of the century included: Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), Frank
Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), Victor Horta (1861-1947), Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), Peter Behrens
(1868-1940), Walter Gropius (1883-1969) and Le Corbusier (1887-1965). After 1945, architects
turned away from functionalism and began creating new forms facilitated by reinforced concrete,
steel and glass. Thus Late Modernism gave way to Brutalism, Corporate Modernism and High
Tech architecture, culminating in structures like the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the
iconic Sydney Opera House - one of the first buildings to use industrial strength Araldite to glue
together the precast structural elements. Since 1970, postmodernist architecture has taken
several different approaches. Some designers have stripped buildings of all ornamentation to
create a Minimalist style; others have used ideas of Deconstructivism to move away from
traditional rectilinear shapes; while yet others have employed digital modeling software to create
totally new organic shapes in a process called Blobitecture.
D. Philippine Art Style and Movements –
1.Painting – Introduced by the Spaniard during the 16th century. Spaniard used paintings as
religious propagandas.
a) Water Color Painting – Increased the subject matter of paintings in the filipino art to
include landscapes, filipino people, Philippine fashion.
b) Portrait Painting – Featured the painters themselves, Filipino jewelry, and native
furniture.
c) Landscape Paintings – Featured artists names painted ornately as well as day-to-day
scenes of average filipinos partaking in their daily tasks.
2.Dances –
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a) Cordillera – Banga, women perform while using heavy pots on their heads and dancing
to the beat of wind chimes.
b) Muslim
c) Tribal – A national folklore dance. Tells the story of the origin of the Filipino people on
the islands. Includes: Tinikling, Singkil, and Binasuan.
d) Rural
e) Spanish style
3.Weaving – Uses fabrics found in the Philippines such as: Abaca,Pineapple, and Cotton. Used to
make Textiles, Clothes, Rugs, Baskets, and Hats.
4.Sculpturing – From the traditional carving of anitos to the santos to Christ and down to the
saints, Filipinos find it rather not difficult as they are already familiar with the ways of the wood.
5.Pottery – Used to make ceramic jars, water vessels, plates, and cup.
6.Tanaga – Filipino Poetry.
7.Kutkut – Technique which is a combination of European and oriental style used in Samar island.
8.Social Realism in a Philippine perspective - A broad description on different artworks whose
themes spew biting commentaries on socio-political issues of the country. According to art critic
and writer Alice Guillermo, social realism reared its head during the awakening of politicized
Filipino consciousness during the late 1800s revolutionary period and then again in the First
Quarter Storm in the 1970s.
9.Figurative Art - This is one of the most popular art movements, as figurative art is
representational, meaning it is derived from real object sources. Early figurative art in the
Philippines is mostly realistic and classical, but in modern times, surreal depictions of human
figures and conditions entered figurative art. A visual mix of hues, and in some cases, irony are
brought in to add drama to an otherwise commonplace event or situation. Also, figures and
anatomy are distorted or altered.
10. Abstract art or non-representational art - Objects from the natural world and also ideas are
portrayed using color and form. Abstract art in the Philippines emerged after World War II; during
this time, modernists were steering away from the more conservative style of Amorsolo, and
finding new ways of expressing themselves. Modernists received plenty of support from two
institutions: the Art Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Art Gallery.
11. Conceptual Art - In this movement, the idea is more important than the object, and
encompasses site-specific art installations, three-dimensional assemblages of discards and non-
art elements, performance, and video art. It gives emphasis on the artist's thinking while the
artworks are merely documents of the artist's thoughts. Some of the works are ephemeral or
temporary, and therefore requires documentation.
12. Pop-surreal and Lowbrow Art - An underground visual art movement that is based on comic
books, tattoos, punk music and other alternative-pop culture themes. American illustrator Dave
McKean, though more surrealist than Pop Surrealist influenced a lot of young Filipino artists, who
created informal movements within the universities. On the other hand, graffiti art, which utilizes
spray paint and even stickers, which was influenced by the late Jean Michel Basquiat and Keith
Haring in the late 70s to 80s, has recently caught on with a lot of young Filipino artists.
E. Theory of the End of Art - What marks the end of art is not that art turns into philosophy, but that from
this point on, art and philosophy go in different directions. Art is liberated, on this view, from the need to
understand itself philosophically, and when that moment has been reached, the agenda of modernism-
under which art sought to achieve its own philosophywas over. The task of definition belonged to
philosophy-and art was thereby free to pursue whatever ends, and by whatever means, seemed
important to artists or their patrons. From that point on there was no internal historical direction for art,
and this is precisely what the condition of pluralism amounts to.