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CHAPTER 1: NATURE OF ART

LESSON 3: ASSUMPTION, FUNCTIONS

AND PHILOSOPHIES OF ART

Basic Assumptions of Art

• Art is universal
Arts regardless of origin, time, and place are liked and enjoyed by people continuously.
• Art is not nature
Man’s expression of his reception of nature Man’s way of interpreting nature. Art is made by
man, whereas nature is a given around us. Art, not directed by representation of reality, is a
perception of reality. Five blind men touching an elephant. Art has its reason why the artist
made it. What is it that he wants to show?
• Art involves experience.
It does not full detail but just an experience. “Actual doing of something.” Unlike fields of
knowledge that involve data, art is known by experiencing. 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.

Nature of Art
1. Art is not nature; art is made by man- It is man’s interpretation of objects perceived by him
as art has been created by all people at all times.
2. Arts greatest achievement is that it creates a permanent impression of the passing scene,
unlike a fresh flower which will not stay fresh - somehow it withers but the freshness of the
flower as captured in a simple painting will always stay fresh. Therefore, art never grows old as
recorded by the artists vision. The main purpose of art is to entertain the audience in many
techniques like using colors or lines and making you really ponder over what you see
3. Art imitates life and one can tell the values, traditions, feelings and dreams as well as
aspirations of the artist which are clearly manifested in his own use of colors, lines, forms and
symbols. The artists own style and approaches give a chance to preserve life with the use of
particular media.

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Functions of Art
Arts functions can be classified into:
1. Motivated (Functional)
The purpose of art which are motivated refer to intentional, conscious actions on the part of
the artists or creator.
2. Non-motivated (Non-functional)
Are those which are integral to being human, transcend the individual, or do not fulfill a specific
external purpose. - Is something which humans must do by their very nature and is therefore
beyond utility.
3. Personal Function
Arts are vehicles for the artists’ expression of their feelings and ideas. The arts also serve as
means of expression for us. The personal functions of art are varied and highly subjective.
Functions depends on the artist who created the art. An artist may create an art out of self-
expression, entertainment, or therapeutic purpose.
4. Social Functions
One cannot conceive of a society without art, for art is closely related to every aspect of social
life. Art may convey message of protest, contestation, or whatever message the artist intends
his work to carry. Political art is a very common example of an art with a social function. Art can
also depict social conditions such as photography (pictures of poverty). Performance art like
plays or satires can also rouse emotions and rally people toward a particular end. Art perform a
social function when:
1. Influences Social Behavior It seeks or tends to influence the collective behavior of a
people. (Guernica by Pablo Picasso)
2. Display and Celebration It is created to be seen or used primarily in public situation.
5. Physical Functions
Tools and containers are objects which function to make our lives physically comfortable.
Functional works of art may be classified as either tools or containers. The physical functions of
art can be found in artworks that are crafted in order to serve some physical purpose
6. Other functions
The therapeutic value of music cannot be ignored. Works of art make us aware of other ways of
thinking, feeling, and imagining that have never occurred to us before. Music was principally

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used for dance and religion. The ancient world saw music as an instrument to facilitate worship
and invocation to gods. Music was essential for synchronicity of dancers. Music guarantees that
warriors were simultaneous. Today, music has expanded its functions and coverage. There is a
lot of music that has no connection to dance or religion. Example: Serenade – People compose
hymns to express feelings and emotions. Music is also used as accompaniment to stage plays
and motion pictures
One function of sculpture and painting is the commemoration of important personages in
society. The statues of national heroes that grace our parks and plazas are commemorative
works as are the commissioned paintings of leaders or rulers. Often they serve to record
important historical events, or reveal the ideals of heroism and leadership that the community
would want the young to emulate.
Architecture may be the most prominent functional art. Unlike other forms of art, buildings
take so much time to erect and destroy. One cannot dismiss taking into consideration the
function of a building before construction. The design of the building is determined primarily by
its operational function. What is the building for? Who are going to use it? How many are they?
The design that a building takes is also adapted to the climate of the region. The architect must
take the physical, psychological, and spiritual needs of the family into account when he designs
a house.

Philosophical Perspectives on Art

ART AS AN IMITATION

In Plato’s The Republic, paints a picture of artists as imitators and art as mere imitation. In his
description of the ideal republic, Plato advises against the inclusion of art as a subject in the
curriculum and the banning of artists in the Republic. In Plato’s metaphysics or view of reality,
the things in this world are only copies of the original, the eternal, and the true entities that can
only be found in the World of Forms. For example, the chair that one sits on is not a real chair.
It is an imperfect copy of the perfect “chair” in the World of Forms. Plato was convinced that
artists merely reinforce the belief in copies and discourage men to reach for the real entities in
the World of Forms. Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and artists for two reasons:
1. They appeal to the emotion rather to the rational faculty of men
2. They imitate rather than lead one to reality
Poetry rouses emotions and feelings and thus, clouds rationality of people. Art is just an
imitation of imitation. A painting is just an imitation of nature, which is also just an imitation of

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reality in the World of Forms. Art then is to be banished, alongside the practitioners, so that the
attitudes and actions of the members of the Republic will not be corrupted by the influence of
the arts. For Plato, art is dangerous because it provides a petty replacement for the real entities
than can only be attained through reason.

ART AS A REPRESENTATION
1. “I like this painting.”
2. “This painting is beautiful.”
The first is clearly a judgment of taste (subjective), while the second is an aesthetic judgment
(objective). Making an aesthetic judgment requires us to be disinterested. In other words, we
should try to go beyond our individual tastes and preferences so that we can appreciate art
from a universal standpoint.
Aristotle, agreed with Plato that art is a form of imitation. However, Aristotle considered art as
an aid to philosophy in revealing the truth. The kind of imitation that art does is not
antithetical/mutually incompatible to the reaching of fundamental truths in the world. Unlike
Plato who thought that art is an imitation of another imitation, Aristotle conceived of art as
representing possible versions of reality. For Aristotle, all kinds of art do not aim to represent
reality as it is, it endeavors to provide a version of what might be or the myriad possibilities of
reality. In Aristotelian worldview, art serves two particular purposes: Art allows for the
experience of pleasure (horrible experience can be made an object of humor), Art also has an
ability to be instructive and teach its audience things about life (cognitive)

ART AS A DISINTERESTED JUDGMENT

Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of Judgment, considered the judgment of beauty, the
cornerstone of art, as something that can be universal despite its subjectivity. Kant recognized
that judgment of beauty is subjective. However, even subjective judgments are based on some
universal criterion for the said judgment.

ART AS A COMMUNICATION OF EMOTION

• According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge role in communication to its audience’s emotions
that the artist previously experienced.
• In the same that language communicates information to other people, art communicates
emotions.

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• As a purveyor of man’s innermost feelings and thoughts, art is given a unique opportunity to
serve as a mechanism for social unity.
• Art is central to man’s existence because it makes accessible feelings and emotions of people
from the past and present.

GEC 6 – ART APPRECIATION VILLARUZ, J.