Methods of Presenting

Art Subject

Art Appreciation
First Semester School Year 2020-2021
Ms. Doris K. Bullong
1. REALISM

When things are depicted

in the way they would
normally appear.

It depicts what the eyes

can see, what the ear can
hear, what the sense
faculty may receive.
Example was the painting of Zeuxis, 5th century
painter. The subject of his painting was a grape. When
he unveiled his painting of grapes, they appeared so
real, luscious and inviting that the birds flew down from
the sky to peck at them.
Realism emerged in France in the 1850s. On the
heels of the 1848 Revolution—an event that
established the “right to work” in the country—the
movement introduced the idea of average, working
class people, contemporary settings, and day-to-day
scenes as worthy artistic subjects.

Artists working in the Realist style rejected the standards

of Romanticism (1800-1850), a genre defined by a
heightened sense of emotion. Typically, Romantic
paintings feature either mythological figures or sublime
scenes of nature. In either case, it glorifies its subjects—a
trait that Realist artists directly dismissed.
 GUSTAVE COURBET
Gustave Courbet is often considered the leading
figure of Realism. He laid the groundwork for the
movement in the 1840s, when he began
portraying peasants and laborers on a grand
scale typically reserved for religious, historical,
or allegorical subjects.

Prior to Courbet's radical emergence, painters

did not depict scenes as they saw them; instead,
they idealized them, virtually erasing any flaws
or imperfections. To Courbet, this approach was
detrimental to painting, as it eliminated any
sense of individuality. “It is society at its best, its
worst, its average,” he said of his practice. “In
short, it's my way of seeing society with all its
interests and passions. It's the whole world
coming to me to be painted.”

Gustave Courbet, “The Stone Breakers” (1849) (Photo: The

Yorck Project via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)
 JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET
Like Courbet, Jean-François Millet also
opted to feature working class people in
his paintings. As he was based in rural
France, he repeatedly returned to farmers
as his subject-of-choice. “Peasant subjects
suit my nature best,” he said, “for I must
confess . . . that the human side is what
touches me most in art.”

In addition to being a premier Realist

painter, Millet is also known for his role in
founding the Barbizon school—a group of
artists who came together to challenge the
dominance of Romanticism.

Jean-François Millet, “Man with a Hoe” (ca. 1860-1862) (Photo:

Google Arts & Culture via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)
 HONORÉ DAUMIER
Honoré Daumier was painter, printmaker,
sculptor, and caricaturist who used his
talents to boldly comment on the politics
of contemporary France.

Unlike the work of Courbet and Millet,

Daumier's art—namely, his political
cartoons—often showcases subjective and
exaggerated undertones. Nevertheless, his
oeuvre offers an eye-opening glimpse into
the nitty-gritty of life in 19th century
France.

Honoré Daumier, “The Third-Class Carriage” (ca. 1862-1864)

(Photo: Google Arts & Culture via Wikimedia Commons Public
Domain)
 ROSA BONHEUR
Rosa Bonheur specialized in animal
depictions. Given this interest, many
of her paintings are set in farms,
fields, and other countryside
settings.

Today, Bonheur is often considered

the most prolific female painter of
the 19th century. One of her most
well-known paintings, Ploughing in
the Nivernais, won first prize at the
French Salon of 1848 and has since
been praised as a key piece of the
Realist movement.

Rosa Bonheur, “Ploughing in Nevers” (1849) (Photo: Google

Arts & Culture via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)

Édouard Manet “The Old Musician” (1862) (Photo: The Yorck
Project via Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)
ÉDOUARD MANET
Though often studied in the context of
Impressionism, Édouard Manet also
played a pivotal role in Realism. In fact,
the painter acted as a bridge between the
movements, inspiring the Impressionist
interest in capturing “impressions” of
everyday life.
“When you look at it,” he remarked about
his ordinary subject matter, “and above
all, when you see how to render it as you
see it, thats is, in such a way that its make
the same impression on the viewer as it
does on you.”
Additionally, Realism directly inspired
prominent contemporary art movements,
including Photorealism and Hyperrealism.
Building on Realism's remarkably modern
focus, these genres demonstrate the enduring
and evolving legacy of the groundbreaking
movement.
2. IMPRESSIONISM
also sometimes referred to as optical
realism due to its interest in the actual
viewing experience, including such
things as the effect of color, light and
movement on the appearance of the
objects depicted in the artworks.
Impressionism focused on directly
describing the visual sensations derived
from nature.
Ordinary life and outdoor scenes
become the prime subjects of artists in
this period.
Impressionist art style featured more
vibrant colors and with not much detail
to subjects.
Broader strokes of brush were replaced
by soft touches of pure intense colors,
which gave a feeling that there are no
brush strokes at all.
The art produced during this period
was the impression of a subject as
perceived by the artist, hence the term
impressionists.
 Edouard Monet preferred to
capture everyday life and common
objects in his paintings.

The cafes and bars of Paris, the city

and urban life, the street, and its
people; beggars, singers, workers,
were common in Manet's
paintings.

His brush strokes were loose and

therefore some parts of the canvas
were not properly covered, which
made the critics comment on his
work that it looks unfinished.

（Music in the Tuileries, 1862）

 Claude Monet is considered to be one of
the founding fathers of Impressionism.
Monet loved to paint in the open air and
capture in his paintings the natural light.
Figures we replaced by light and
atmosphere as subjects of Monet's
paintings. He was not interested in
conforming to the notions of conventional
art that he went on to defy them by
experimenting with art.

Bold colors and unusual compositions were

all present in Monet's paintings. He used
broader fields of color and smaller stroke of
paint and worked with complementary and
contrasting hues. As a landscape artist,
Monet was heavily influenced by John
Constable and Joseph Mallord William
Turner, both landscape painters and this
furthered Monet's interest in landscape
painting.
Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), 1872; )
 Edgar Degas: This impressionist painter's
work mostly consisted of slices of the
Parisian life. His main subjects were
human figures, particularly female
bodies.

Dancers, singers, prostitutes, all made up

Degas work and he was keen to painting
them in innovative ways. He painted
them unusual angles under artificial light
with strange postures. The much-
celebrated academic ideals of historical
and mythical subjects were rejected by
him and took inspiration from modern
day life.

Many critics during the impressionist era

were in complete disapproval of the
lower-class subjects used by Degas in his
paintings.

(At the Races, 1877–1880, oil on canvas, by Edgar Degas,

Musée d'Orsay, Paris)
 Capturing the modernity and leisure of Parisian life was
Pierre-Auguste Renoir's focal point. He had a special eye
for beauty and his skills as a colorist was much celebrated.

He beautifully captured the movement of light and

shadow to create some timeless masterpieces. His works
were full of life and vibrant colors featuring well dressed
Parisian people enjoying their life.

Renoir always tried to incorporate his new approach and

thought in his paintings, which was evident in the
multicolored strokes, bright atmosphere and the radiant
tones of the skin of his female subjects.
Among other impressionist painters who preferred to
work with landscapes, it was Renoir's fascination with
human figures that sets him apart.

(Pont-Neuf, 1872)
 Camille Pissarro’s canvas captured the daily
life of a peasant in Paris. Pissarro's work
mainly focused on the effects of light on
color.

He was heavily influenced by politics and

one cannot separate politics from his art.
His paintings on the labor peasants is a clear
example of this. Rural subjects were his
favorite and painted them in vibrant
compositions.

These artists are considered to be the pioneers of

Impressionism. Their works are timeless masterpieces
which broke the conventions of art during the 19th
Century.
The visible brush strokes, unusual compositions,
emphasis on light and color, subject matter and their
movements, and strange visual angles, put the
impressionist artworks on top of the art history.

（Entrée du village de Voisins, 1872. Musée D'Orsay, Paris.）

The Floor Scrapers by Gustave Caillebotte
Note how beautifully Caillebotte captures the
light through the window and the resulting
shadows. The painting is also known for being
as realistic as a photograph.
Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
In Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir uses elements
of design like balance and harmony; and rich colours
characteristic of Impressionist style to create a delightful
image. Famous for its richness of form and masterful
use of light, this painting is a romanticized portrait of
Renoir’s friends enjoying an afternoon on a balcony
along the Seine River.
 Famous Impressionist Painting – Paris Street; Rainy Day
by Gustave Caillebotte
The piece depicts the Place de Dublin, an
intersection near the Gare Saint-Lazare, a railroad
station in north Paris. Even though there are no
raindrops to be seen, Caillebotte masterfully
creates the impression of rain through lighting,
lack of strong shadows and impression of water
on the street.
Dance at Le moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
His use of light in this composition as well as his
fluidity of brushstrokes is typically Impressionistic.
The canvas of the painting was unique due to its
size. It was Renoir’s most ambitious figure painting
and no artist before him had created a canvas
capturing an aspect of daily life of this magnitude.
3. SYMBOLISM
Artists systematically use symbols to
concentrate or intensify meaning,
making the work of art more subjective
(rather than objective) and
conventional.
Example, a flag is a symbol of a country
and it depicts the value of nationalism;
a lion to represent courage and a lamb
to represent meekness. The logos and
emblems of business firms and the coat
In architecture, the most consistent
of arms of bishops are also examples of symbolic forms have been the dome,
symbolism. the tower, the stairway, the portal,
and the colonnade.
Symbolism is to convey the hidden meaning to the
reader or listener. It tells us about artistic expression
and represents abstract ideas. However, it is not limited
to poetry and literature.

Symbolism is one of the most important elements

which gives depth to art; it can be the color of the
painting or the depiction of characters that are
significant to symbolic to some specific themes.

A painter uses symbolism when he wants to put

emotions and ideas in the picture which we can’t
experience with our five senses. It’s all about showing
instead of telling.
Starry Night – Vincent Van Gogh

Symbols can be very broad, like a storm that symbolizes
danger, or a crow that symbolizes death. Or you can use
more specific symbols, like a broken mirror that
symbolizes separation or insecurity.
This painting is the best representative of the painter’s emotions. Many
critics agree at this point that the dimness of night sky reflects the
painter’s quest to overcome his illness. The relation of fire, mist, and
water is very well depicted.
It is an attempt to express a state of shock, and the cypresses, olive trees,
and mountains had acted as painter’s catalyst. The hill rose up steep and
abruptly now, menacing, threatening to drag the lonesome soul down
into vertiginous depths. The tree reaching into the sky is a symbol of the
connection between earth and heaven. The movement of the wind is the
traveling of the soul.
The Dance Of Life – Edvard Munch
This art piece presents the three stages of woman. The
woman in white is a symbol for virgin; the red one is
symbolic for a carnal woman of experience and the woman
in black is satanic who is shown aged one. The scene in the
back symbolizes the eternity, vast unknown and finally
death. The dance is symbolic of worldly works and merry-
making. The dance of life is thus also a dance of death. The
theme of alienation and isolation is also very well depicted.
Mona Lisa – Leonardo Da Vinci
Mona Lisa is one of the favorite and mysterious of most artworks. It is
known to be the portrait of Francesco Del Giocondo’s wife. The Mona
Lisa’s enigmatic expression seems both alluring and aloof. Mona Liza’s
smile is the central motif of the piece. It is this notion that makes it a
masterpiece. At the back, the winding roads are symbols of the
problems of life. The blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic
contrasts of light and dark enhance its symbolism. The sitting posture
represents the Pyramid image, ‘sitting of Maddona’. The arm postures
are symbolic of the sense of distance between the spectator and the
sitter. The half-smile of Mona Lisa is symbolic of the possible happiness
in the world or even pride.
Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Image from Wikimedia
Commons
During the Renaissance period, in Botticelli’s The Birth of
Venus, a type of symbolism is used to assign human
Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange.
values to mythological figures. Image from Wikimedia Commons
Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother
Venus herself represents love and beauty. The large became a symbol of the great
scallop shell at Venus’s feet is representative of birth and depression of the 1930s.
fertility.
 Green
https://expertphotography.com/symbolism-in-photography/
Photo by Sylwia Pietruszka on Unsplash
Green represents growth and nature, putting the eye at rest.
Black and White
Photo by Mihail Ribkin on Unsplash
Paired with each other, black and white can
symbolize age, nostalgia and the separation of
creative realities.
4.FAUVISM
Derived from the French “les fauves,”
which means “the wild beasts.”

It is an artistic movement of the last

part of the 19th century which
emphasized spontaneity and use of
extremely bright colors.

To a fauvist, for example, a tree trunk

need not be brown. It could be
bright red, purple or any other color.
https://www.boredart.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Influencing-Fauvism-Style-Art-Examples-18.jpg
Henri Matisse
Luxe, Calme, et Volupté (Luxury, Calm, and Desire), 1904
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-matisse-
fauvists-harnessed-expressive-power-color
The Open Window, 1905 -The terracotta of flowerpots and the rusty red of
masts and furled sails become a blazing Indian red: the reflections of the boats,
turning at anchor through the dazzle of light on the water, are pink; the green
of the left wall, reflected in the open glazed door on the right, is heightened
beyond expectation and picked up in the sky’s tints. The brushwork has a
eupeptic, take-it-or-leave-it quality.
Devajyoti Ray born in 1974 is
today one of the youngest and
most promising acrylic and oil
artist.

Ray paints predominantly in

acrylic. Since Ray had no formal
training in art, his techniques are
largely self-developed and this
adds to his uniqueness. Ray uses
large areas of flat colours, offbeat
shapes and yet at the end the
paintings look realistic and
comprehendible. Ray has also
worked in water colours and
mixed media and has produced
many new forms of experimental
art.
5.DADAISM
a system of art which is per se
“nonsensical”

It is a reaction to what people

believed were outworn traditions in
art, and the evils they saw in
society.

It tried to shock and provoke the

public with outrageous pieces of
writing, poetry recitals and art
exhibitions.
Giuseppe Arimboldo and his piece,
"Vertumnus" (1590 - 1591
http://fambamx.blogspot.com/2014/10/
context-dadaism-lecture.html
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, 1917, Tate
L.H.O.O.Q. by Marcel Duchamp, 1919, Staatliches Museum
https://www.thecollector.com/dadaism-art-of-dada/ Schwerin
Dada Collage
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/268879040239162163/
6. FUTURISM
Futurism was presented as a
modernist movement celebrating
the technological, future era.

The car, the plane, the industrial

town were representing the motion
in modern life and the technological
triumph of
man over nature.

Donald Davis’ Shaped Space Coony, 1970

7. SURREALISM
An offshoot or a child of dada.

It is also known as “super realism,”

which revolves on the method of
making ordinary things look
extraordinary.

It focuses on real things found in the

imagination or fantasy or it has realistic
subjects that are found in the
unconscious mind; depicting
dreamlike images
of the inner mind.

Beatriz Susana Zobel de Ayala by

Filipino artist, AndresBarri-oquinto
8. ABSTRACTION
The process of simplifying and/or
reorganizing objects and elements
according to thedemands of the artistic
expression

The artist does not show the subject at all as

an objectivel reality,but only his idea, or his
feeling about it (exaggerated
emotionalism). It is all about what the artists
feel and what mood they might want to
portray.

Abstract art is all shapes, no real-life images,

scenery, or objects.
Forms of Abstraction
In understanding the content of art, it is important to note the various levels
of meaning (Ortiz, 1978).

1. Factual Meaning is the literal statement of the work because of the

recognizable figures or images.

2. Conventional Meaning refers to a special meaning that a figure, color, line

or image has to a specific group or culture.

3. Subjective Meaning stems from the viewer’s or audience’s circumstance

that comes into play when engaging with art (what we know, what we learned,
what we experienced, and what values we stand for). When subjectivities are
consulted, a variety of meanings may arise when a particular work of art is
read. Thus, meaning may not be singular, rather multiple and varied.
In identifying content, elements and form play important roles in bringing out what the viewers should
feel and how they experience these works of art. The conveyed messages of these artworks come from
the analysis of all their compositions.

In order to understand and apply this concept in the next part of the lesson, watch the analysis done by
Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris in Goya’s Third of May in 1808. Visit this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QM-DfhrNv8 ( Next slide of this PowerPoint presentation)and
pay attention to how they interpret the compositions of the painting leading to its conveyed message.

After watching the video, write down three (3) images that contribute to the subjective meaning of the
painting and what these images stand for.

IMAGES MEANINGS
1.
2.
3.

Submit it to our Google Classroom on September 4, 2020

Click to watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QM-DfhrNv8
To illustrate the different meanings of a work of art, let’s take a
look at the painting, Creation of Adam of Michelangelo in 1814.
This narrates a story in the Bible, thus, its subject is biblical art.
In terms of its factual meaning, literally it shows a creation
story or the creation of man. This idea is extracted from the
identifiable and recognizable forms, elements, or images
(naked Adam reclining, background, God surrounded angels
and floating, etc.)

In terms of conventional meaning, man is created in the image

and likeness of God. This kind of interpretation has been
acknowledged by many viewers and scholars. The likeness of
the actors in the painting, leveling and other symbols
contribute to this type of meaning. Lastly, the subjective
meaning is the endowment of intellect to man from God.
Michelangelo’s painting shows God is bestowing Adam with the
gift of the intellect and that it is by using this great gift that
man may reach his highest potential and bring all things his
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-
mind develops into creation.
measure-of-genius-michelangelos-sistine-chapel-at-
500-123313873/
EVALUATION:
You are now equipped with the vital information you will be needing for your task.

Study the picture on our next slide. Identify its subject, method of representation, then provide its factual, conventional, and subjective meanings in
the matrix. Make sure you write the images, elements, symbols, or forms with short descriptions that help you come up with those meanings in the
third column of the matrix.

KIND/SOURCE OF SUBJECT: ________________________________________________________

REPRESENTATIONAL METHOD:______________________________________________________

Types of Meaning Answers in 2-3 sentences Images/Elements/ Symbols/

Factual
Criteria:
1. General Information (5 points)
2.Depth of content (10 points)
3.Clear articulation of each meaning 10
points)
4.Neatness ( 5 points)

Conventional To be submitted on
September 7, 2020 in your
Google Classroom

Subjective
www.pinterest.com
References
Antliff, M. & Leighten (2008) P. Sur quelques peintre, Les Marches du Sud-Ouest, June 1911, pp. 57-64 in A Cubism
Reader, Documents and Criticism, 1906-1914, The University of Chicago Press. Arsology. Retrived from
https://artsology.com/emotion-in-art.php
"Constructivism". Tate Modern. Retrieved 9 April 2020. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/constructivism
Dela Cruz, M. (2014). Functions of Art (PPT) Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/dennismarkdelacruz/functions-
of-art
Hasso, J. Social Protest in Art History, Harold Washington College, Triton College
Ingram, C. (2019). Art criticism steps for inspired art connections and conversations.
Retrieved from SPARK Distance Learning Art Curriculum Website: https://artclasscurator.com/art-criticism-
steps/
Kuczynski, P. (2004). Satirical painting [Painting]. Retrieved from
https://digitalsynopsis.com/inspiration/36-thought-provoking-paintings- pawel- kuczynski

Thank You!