GE 103 – Art Appreciation/Pagpapahalaga sa Sining

Prepared by:

Marvin D. Catalan, LPT

Rica Mae D. Rio, LPT
Course Instructors
Email: catalanmarvindeocampo@gmail.com
ricamaerio2599@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook/marvin.deocampo.7564
facebook/ricamae.rio.98

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 GE 103 – Art Appreciation/Pagpapahalaga sa Sining

MODULE 1 | ART APPRECIATION

PRELIMINARIES

Module title: MODULES IN ART APPRECIATION

Course title: ART APPRECIATION/ PAGPAPAHALAGA SA
SINING
Course number: GE 103
Course Description: The course deals with art in its various forms or
mediums as well as its history and evolution.
Total learning time: 54 hours or 18 weeks

OVERVIEW

There is nothing that grounds men and women more concretely than
the work of their hands. When Plato claimed that man, more than anything
else, is his soul and his capacity to think, and Aristotle added that his being
social and political is what sets him apart, the masters of thought
disappointed by missing out on one of the most important aspects of man:
his capacity to create and appreciate these creations. The result of this
facet of man is art and the humanities. It is no puzzle then why the field was
called humanities. It is the work of man: his hymns, verses, paintings, and
sculptures that define his humanity, his being man or woman. Without the
great works of civilization, man would not have been man.

GE 103 or Art Appreciation/ Pagpapahalaga sa Sining has the

following major course outcomes: (1) Knowledge – (1.1) Demonstrate
understanding and appreciation of arts in general including their function,
value and historical significance; (1.2) Define and demonstrate the elements
and principles of design; (1.3) Explain and evaluate different theories of art;
(1.4) Situate Philippine arts in a global context. (2) Skills - (2.1) Analyze and
appraise works of art based on aesthetic value, historical context, tradition,
and social relevance; (2.2) Mount an art exhibit (concept development,
production and post-production, marketing, documentation, critiquing;
(2.3) Create their own works of art and curate their own production or
exhibit; (2.4) Utilize art for self-expression and for promoting advocacies. (3)
Values - (3.1) Deepen their sensitivity to self, community, and society; (3.2)
Discover and deepen their identity through art with respect to their
nationality, culture and religion; (3.3) Develop an appreciation of the local
arts.

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INDICATIVE CONTENT

I. CHAPTER 1
• What is Art: Introduction and Assumptions
• Art Appreciation: Creativity, Imagination, and Expression
• Functions and Philosophical perspectives on Art
• Subject and Content
• Artists and Artisans
• Elements and Principles of Art

II. CHAPTER 2
• Art in Early Civilizations
• Art of Emerging Europe
• Caught in Between: Modern and Contemporary Art

III. CHAPTER 3
• Soulmaking, Approriation, and Improvisation
• Art in Asia
• Baybayin: An ancient Filipino Script

IV. Chapter 4
• Exploring true passion in Art

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 GE 103 – Art Appreciation/Pagpapahalaga sa Sining

Prepared by:
Marvin D. Catalan, LPT
Rica Mae D. Rio, LPT
Course Instructors
Email: catalanmarvindeocampo@gmail.com
ricamaerio2599@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook/marvin.deocampo.7564
facebook/ricamae.rio.98

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MODULE 1 | ART APRECIATION

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the unit, the student must have:

1. Interpreted the meaning of Arts;

2. Explained the role of humanities and arts in man’s attempt at

fully realizing his end; and

3. Characterized the assumptions of arts.

DISCUSSION

Note: The information available in this module for students’

reading references are limited, therefore additional
readings are highly encouraged and links for online
readings are provided in the end of this chapter to foster
further learning.

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WHAT IS ART: INTRODUCTION AND ASSUMPTION

Art is something that is perennially around us. Some people may deny
having to do with the arts but it is indisputable that life presents us with
many forms of and opportunities for communion with the arts. A bank
manager choosing what tie to wear together with his shirt and shoes, a
politician shuffling her music track while comfortably seated on her car
looking for her favorite song, a student marveling at the intricate
designs of a medieval cathedral during his field trip, and a market
vendor cheering for her bet in a dance competition on a noontime TV
program all manifest concern for values that are undeniably, despite
tangentially artistic.

Despite the seemingly overflowing instances of arts around people,

one still finds the need to see more and experience more whether
consciously or unconsciously One whose exposure to music is only
limited to one genre finds it lacking not to have been exposed to more
One whose idea of a cathedral is limited to the locally available ones,
finds enormous joy in seeing other prototypes in Europe. Plato had the
sharpest foresight when he discussed in the Symposium that beauty,
the object of any love, truly progresses. As one moves through life, one
locates better more beautiful objects of desire (Scott, 2000) One can
never be totally content with what is just before him. Human beings are
drawn toward what is good and ultimately, beautiful.

WHY STUDY HUMANITIES?

For as long as man existed in this planet, he has cultivated the land,
altered the conditions of the fauna and the flora, in order to survive.
Alongside these necessities man also marked his place in the world
through his works. Through his bare hands man constructed
infrastructures that tended to his needs, like his house. He sharpened
swords and spears. He employed fire in order to melt gold. The initial
meaning of the word "art" has something to do with all these craft.

The word "art" comes from the ancient Latin, ars which means a “craft
or specialized form of skill, like carpentry or smithying or surgery”
(Collingwood, 1938). Art then suggested the capacity to produce an
intended result from carefully planned steps or method. When a man
wants to build a house, he plans meticulously to get to what the
prototype promises and he executes the steps to produce the said
structure then he is engaged in art The Ancient World did not have any
conceived notion of art in the same way that we do now. To them, art
only meant using the bare hands to produce something that will be
useful to one's day-to-day life.

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Ars in Medieval Latin came to mean something different. It meant "any

special form of book-learning, such as grammar or logic, magic or
astrology (Collingwood, 1938). It was only during the Renaissance
Period that the word reacquired a meaning that was inherent in its
ancient form of craft. Early Renaissance artists saw their activities merely
as craftsmanship devoid of a whole lot of intonations that are attached
to the word now. It was during the seventeenth century when the
problem and idea of aesthetics, the study of beauty, began to unfold
distinctly from the notion of technical workmanship, which was the
original conception of the word "art It was finally in the eighteenth
century when the word has evolved to distinguish between the fine arts
and the useful arts The fine arts would come to mean "not delicate or
highly skilled arts, but beautiful arts" (Collingwood, 1938). This is
something more akin to what is now considered art.

The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means
of expression developed by man" (Dudley et al, 1960). Human history
has witnessed how man evolved not just physically but also culturally,
from cave painters to men of exquisite paintbrush users of the present.
Even if one goes back to the time before written records of man's
civilization has appeared, he can find cases of man's attempts of not
just crafting tools to live and survive but also expressing his feelings and
thoughts. The Galloping Wild Boar found in the cave of Altamira, Spain
is one such example. In 1879, a Spaniard and his daughter were
exploring a cave when they saw pictures of a wild boar, hind, and
bison. According to experts, these paintings were purported to belong
to Upper Paleolithic Age, several thousands of years before the current
era Pre-historic men, with their crude instruments, already showcased
and manifested earliest attempts at recording man's innermost
interests, preoccupations, and thoughts. The humanities, then ironically,
have started even before the term has been coined. Human persons
have long been exercising what it means to be a human long before
he was even aware of his being one. The humanities stand tall in
bearing witness to this magnificent phenomenon Any human person,
then, is tasked to participate, if not, totally partake in this long tradition
of humanizing himself.

ASSUMPTIONS OF ART

Art is Universal

Literature has provided key works of art. Among the most popular ones
being taught in school are the two Greek epics, the Iliad and the
Odyssey. The Sanskrit pieces Mahabharata and Ramayana are also
staples in this field. These works. purportedly written before the
beginning of recorded history, are believed to be man's attempt at
recording stories and tales that have been passed on known, and sung
throughout the years Art has always been timeless and universal
spanning generations and continents through and through.
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In every country and in every generation there is always art Oftentimes,

people feel that what is considered artistic are only those which have
been made long time ago. This is a misconception. Age is not a factor
in determining art. An "...art is not good because it is old, but old
because it is good" (Dudley et al 1960). In the Philippines, the works of
Jose Rizal and Francisco Balagtas are not being read because they are
old. Otherwise, works of other Filipinos who have long died would have
been required in junior high school tool. The pieces mentioned are read
in school and have remained to be with us because they are good.
They are liked and adored because they meet our needs and desires.
Florante at Laura never fails to teach high school students the beauty
of love, one that is universal and pure Ibong Adarna, another Filipino
masterpiece, has always captured the imagination of the young with
its timeless lessons. When we recite the Psalms, we feel in communion
with King David as we feel one with him in his conversation with God.
When we listen to a kundiman or perform folk dances, we still enjoy the
way our Filipino ancestors whiled away their time in the past. We do not
necessarily like a kundiman for its original meaning. We just like it. We
enjoy it. Or just as one of the characters in the movie Bar Boys thought,
kundiman makes one concentrate better

The first assumption then about the humanities is that art has been
crafted by all people regardless of origin, time, place, and that it
stayed on because it is liked and enjoyed by people continuously. A
great piece of work will never be obsolete. Some people say that art is
art for its intrinsic worth. In John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism (1879),
enjoyment in the arts belongs to a higher good, one that lies at the
opposite end of base pleasures. Art will always be present because
human beings will always express themselves and delight in these
expressions. Men will continue to use art while art persists and never gets
depleted.

Art is not nature

In the Philippines, it is not entirely novel to hear some consumers of local

movies remark that these movies produced locally are unrealistic. They
contend that local movies work around certain formula to the
detriment of substance and faithfulness to reality of the movies. These
critical minds argue that a good movie must reflect reality as closely as
possible. Is that so?

Paul Cézanne, a French painter, painted a scene from reality entitled

Well and Grinding Wheel in the Forest of the Chateau Noir. The said
scene is inspired by a real scene in a forest around the Chateau Noir
area near Aix in Cézanne's native Province. Comparing the two, one
can see that Cézanne's landscape is quite different from the original
scene. Cézanne has changed some patterns and details from the way
they were actually in the photograph. What he did is not nature. It is art.

One important characteristic of art is that it is not nature. Art is man's

expression of his reception of nature. Art is man's way of interpreting

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nature. Art is not nature. Art is made by man, whereas nature is a given
around us It is in this juncture that they can be considered opposites
What we find in nature should not be expected to be present in art too.

Movies are not meant to be direct representation of reality. They may,

according to the moviemaker's perception of reality, be a
reinterpretation or even distortion of nature.

This distinction assumes that all of us see nature, perceive its elements
in myriad, different, yet ultimately valid ways. One can only imagine
the story of the five blind men who one day argue against each other
on what an elephant looks like. Each of the five blind man was holding
a different part of the elephant. The first was touching the body and
thus, thought the elephant was like a wall. Another was touching the
beast's ear and was convinced that the elephant was like a fan. The
rest were touching other different parts of the elephant and concluded
differently based on their perceptions. Art is like each of these men's
view of the elephant. It is based on an individual's subjective
experience of nature. It is not meant, after all, to accurately define
what the elephant is really like in nature. Artists are not expected to
duplicate nature just as even scientists with their elaborate laboratories
cannot make nature.

Once this point has been made, a student of humanities can then ask
further questions such as: What reasons might the artist have in creating
something? Why did Andres Bonifacio write "Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang
Lupa”? What motivation did Juan Luna have in creating his
masterpiece, the Spoliarium? In whatever work of art. one should
always ask why the artist made it. What is it that he wants to show?

Art involves experience

Getting this far without a satisfactory definition of art can be quite weird
for some. For most people, art does not require a full definition. Art is just
experience. By experience, we mean the actual doing of something"
(Dudley et al 1960). When one says that he has an experience of
something, he often means that he knows what that something is
about. When one claims that he has experienced falling in love, getting
hurt, and bouncing back, he in effect claims that he knows the
(sometimes) endless cycle of loving. When one asserts having
experienced preparing a particular recipe, he in fact asserts knowing
how the recipe is made. Knowing a thing is different from hearing from
others what the said thing is. A Radio DJ dispensing advice on love
when he himself has not experienced it, does not really know what he
is talking about. A choreographer who cannot execute a dance step
himself is a bogus. Art is always an experience. Unique fields of
knowledge that involve data, art is known by experiencing. A painter
cannot claim to know how to paint if he has not tried holding a brush.
A sculptor cannot produce a work of art if a chisel is foreign to him.
Dudley et al (1960) affirmed that “all art depends on experience, and
if one is to know art, he must know not as fact or information but as
experience.”

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A work of art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing. In order to
know what an artwork is, we have to sense it, see or hear it, and see
AND hear it. To fully appreciate our national heroes monument, one
must go to Rizal Park and see the actual sculpture. In order to know
Beyonce's music one must listen to it to actually experience them.

A famous story about someone who adores Picasso goes something

like this Years ago, Gertrude Stein was asked why she bought the
pictures of the then unknown artist Picasso. ‘I like to look at them,’ said
Miss Stein” (Dudley et al 1960). At the end of the day, one fully got
acquainted with art if one immerses himself into it. In the case of
Picasso, one only learns about Picasso's work by looking at it. That is
precisely what Miss Stein did.

In matters of art, the subject's perception is of primacy. One can read

hundreds of reviews about a particular movie, but at the end of the
day, until he sees the movie himself, he will be in no position to actually
talk about the movie. He does not know the movie until he experiences
it. An important aspect of experiencing art is its being highly personal,
individual, and subjective. In philosophical terms, perception of art is
always value judgment. It depends on who the perceiver is, his tastes
his bases and what he has inside him. Gustibus non disputandum est
(Matters of taste are not matters of dispute). One cannot argue with
another person's evaluation of art because one's experience can
never be known by another.

Finally, one should also underscore that every experience with art is
accompanied by some emotion. One either likes or dislikes, agrees or ,
that a work of art is beautiful. A stage play or motion picture is
particularly one of those art for that evoke strong emotions from its
audience. With experience comes emotions and feelings, after all.
Feelings and emotions are concrete proofs that the artwork has been
experiences.

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EVALUATION

General Direction: You may submit your answer/s through online

learning platforms available with you or you may affix it here in
this module.

1. Define arts in your own words.

2. What is the role of humanities and arts in man’s attempt at
fully realizing its end?
3. Why is Art not nature?
4. Why is Art ageless and timeless?
5. Why does art involve experience?

Note: See attached rubrics for your reference.

ADDITIONAL READINGS

a. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
arthistory/chapter/what-is-art/

REFERENCES

a. Caslib, B.N., Jr., et. al. (2018) – ART APPRECIATION

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