Saint Mary’s University

SCHOOL OF TEACHER EDUCATION & HUMANITIES

Department of Social and Sciences

PART III. SUBJECT AND CONTENT

At the end of this section, students are expected to:

1. differentiate content from subject;

2. classify works according to subject;
3. analyze how artists present their subjects in relation to the real
subject;
4. characterize sources and kinds of art;
5. categorize and organize information from different sources;
6. identify various planes in art.

Form or subject and content are two different things in the arts.
The first refers to the objects the artist depicts and the second refers to
the meaning the artist expresses or communicates. The content is always
seen, but it is transmitted by the way the form or subject interacts in a
work.

A. Subject in Art

Subject Type

As mentioned, subject refers to any person, object, scene, or event

described or represented in a work of art. A work of art can be
representational or non-representational. The former, which is
sometimes called objective art, affirms that the arts have subject; the
latter, sometimes called non-objective art, affirms that the arts do not
have a subject. In addition, non-representational art “do not present
descriptions, stories or references to identifiable objects or symbols.
Rather, they appeal directly to the senses because of the satisfying
organization of their sensuous and expressive elements” (Ortiz et al.,
1976).
Sources of Subject

According to Dudley, Faricy, and Rice (1978), “the subjects used in

art are usually clear and obvious”. They further added that “the number
of subjects is limitless. Any artist may use any subject from any source
and it is impossible ever to know all the subjects of art. Even the scholar
who has devoted a life-time to his study never expects to know all of
them. There are, however, few sources which are part of the background
of every cultivated person”.

1. Nature

Though art is not nature, different aspects of nature like animals,

people, and landscapes have been the most popular source of inspiration
and subject matter for art. Fernando Amorsolo’s Rice Planting and Pieter
Bruegel’s Fall of Icarus are visual arts whose subject is nature. Nature
can also be the subject in literacy pieces such as William Shakespeare’s
When Icicles Hang by the Wall and Robert Frost’s Birches.

Pieter Bruegel’s Fall of Icarus

Source: i.imgur.com
2. History

Arts whose subject is history is numerous. Dudley et al. (1978),

however, maintained, “we do not call a subject historical unless it refers
to specific places, persons, or events”. There are various art works which
have historical value: one, because “rulers like to have themselves and
the great deeds of their time perpetuated; consequently, statues and
paintings of the great are found in each civilization”; two, “artists are
sensitive to the events taking place in the world around them”. An
example of the latter is the French lithographer and caricaturist Honore
Daumier’s Rue Transnonian.

Honore Daumier’s Rue Transnonian

Source: reddit.com

This subject also includes legends and folklores. Though historical

subjects are clear and easy to find through records and references,
legend is not or cannot be authenticated. For instance, Richard Strauss’s
poem Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks describes Till Eulenspiegel as the
legendary bad boy of medieval Germany.

3. Greek and Roman Mythology

The influence of Greek

and Roman mythologies
permeated even the arts that
their influence on Western
civilization can be traced from
two sources: first, the works of
Greece and Rome during the
period of Greek and Roman
civilization from the sixth
century BC to the fifth century
AD; second, the arts of Europe
during the Renaissance, the Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
period of revived interest in
things Greek and Latin Source: art.com
between the fourteenth century and sixteenth centuries (Dudley et al.,
1978).

Moreover, Greek and Roman mythologies have permeated the

architecture, drama, poetry, sculpture and painting. The building called
Erechtheum and the poems of Homer and Sappho all belong to the first
period as described above. The Italian artist Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of
Venus belongs to the second period.

4. The Judeo-Christian Tradition

Religion and Art

According to Dudley et al. (1978),

“religion has played an enormous role
in inspiring works of visual art, music,
architecture, and literature through
ages”. Pre-historic people painted the
caves. In fact, “in some periods, such as
the prehistoric and the medieval, there
was really no difference between religion
and art”. A good example of this is the
caves at Altamira, Spain. According to
Dudley et al. (1973), the painters “were
performing a religious rite that was
supposed to help them hunting”.
During the Renaissance period,
“European artisans became ‘artists’ and
conscious of their role in a way that had
never been true before”. He added, “with
this change of attitude in the artist, art
itself changed from the spontaneous
Giotto’s Arena Chapel
expression of a universal feeling to a
more studied, artificial, and individual Source: pinterest.com
expression: the art of the
Renaissance”. Hence, religious art did not only become self-conscious
and individual, it even became more intellectual and philosophical. The
Sistine Chapel is a good example of this. According to Dudley et al.
(1973), “it took on a new set of values and dimensions”. It was also
during this period that art “became a kind of private status symbol”.
Examples of this were Giotto’s Arena Chapel frescoes and the church of
S. Maria Novella; the former was sponsored by a wealthy Paduan and the
latter by a wealthy Florentine family.
 Religious art during the Renaissance period therefore, took on a
broader meaning in which “artists wandered somewhat from biblical
texts to produced increasingly humanistic interpretations” (Dudley et al.,
2018).

Other Judaeo-Christian sources of art include The Bible, The

Apocrypha, and rituals of the church.

Sacred Oriental Text

Sacred oriental texts, especially from China, India and Japan, have
become apparent and important particularly the texts and traditions of
Hinduism and Buddhism. Examples of these were the Mahabharata and
the Jataka tales. Others include the Vedas, Tao Te Ching, Upanishads,
Bhagavad-Gita (section of Mahabharata) and Buddhist Sutras.

The Bhagavad-Gita, which is translated as “Song of the Blessed”, is

perhaps the most widely read book of India. The Jataka tales have their
inspiration from the life of Buddha. The Vedas, which means knowledge,
are composed of four texts which include Rigveda, Yajurvdea, Sama-
Veda, and Atharva-Veda. The verses are comprised of hymns and prose
that are explained by the Brahmanas. Another is Tao Te Ching, a classic
Chinese text which was composed in a flowing style of Calligraphy. This
has been believed to have influenced Legalism, Confucianism, and
Chinese Buddhism. The Upanishads which can be translated to “sitting
near, laying siege to a Teacher” is regarded to be an extension of the
Vedas (historylist.org, 2016).

Kinds of Subject

This can be categorized into landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes,

still life, animals, portraits, everyday life, history and legend, religion and
mythology, and dreams and fantasies.

1. Landscapes, seascapes and

cityscapes. Landscapes and seascapes
have been the favorite subjects of
Chinese and Japanese painters.
Filipino painters have also captured the
countryside and the sea. Painting of
pure landscapes was unknown in
Europe until the Renaissance period, Vicente Manansala’s Seashore
though it served only as backgrounds
Source: artnet.com
for figures just like the Mona Lisa or as
setting for religious scenes. In modern times, traffic jams, high-rises, and
skylines have served as inspirations for visual artists like Vicente
Manansala, Arturo Luz and Mauro Malang Santos (Ortiz et al., 1976).

2. Still life. This includes inanimate

objects that are arranged in an
indoor setting. This includes fruits
and flowers and “dishes of food on a
dining table, pots and pans on a
kitchen table, or musical
instruments and music sheets”
(Ortiz et al., 1976). Examples of
these were the works of Cezanne
and Picasso, and some of the works
Ang Kiukok’s Still Life with Red
of Manasala and Ang Kiukok.
Cloth

Source: mutualart.com
3. Animals. This is another popular subject that even the earliest
representation of animals is on the
walls of caves. These have also
inspired writers like William Blake
who “wrote about the symmetry of
the tiger and the meekness of the
lamb” (Ortiz et al., 1976). In the
Philippines, artists like Romeo
Napoleon Abueva’s Carabao
Tabuena and Napoleon Abueva have
made carabao (water buffalo) as their Source: flickr.com
favorite animal subject. The
sarimanok for the Maranaws was made by Abdul Mari Imao.

4. Portraits. Other than the face, which is

capable of showing variety of moods and
feelings, the subject’s hands, attire, and
accessories can also reveal much about the
person and his time. Not only is that portrait a
realistic likeness of a person in a sculpture,
painting, drawing or print, it is also used to Jan Van Eyck’s The
mark a milestone in people’s lives just like the Marriage of Jan Arnolfini
painting of Jan Van Eyck’s The Marriage of Source: pinterest.com
Jan Arnolfini.
 5. Figures. The chief subject of
sculptors is the human body. Whether
it is nude or clothed, “the body’s form,
structure and flexibility offers the artist
a big challenge to depict in a variety of
ways ranging from the most idealistic,
as in the classical Greek sculptures, to
Henry Moore’s Reclining
the most abstract, as in Henry Moore’s
Figures
reclining figures”.
Source: tate.org.uk

6. Everyday life. This kind of subject

shows the life around the artists. Arts
about everyday life record artists’
“observation of people going about their
usual ways, performing their usual
tasks”. It may include genre paintings
like the works of Fernando Amorsolo
(Rice Planting), Anita Magsaysay-Ho
(Catching Chickens), and Vicente
Manansala (Candle Vendors). Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s
Catching Chickens

Source: pinterest.com
7. History and Legend. The former consists of verifiable facts while the
latter consists of unverifiable facts but many of them are accepted
because these have been part of their tradition. Juan Luna’s Spoliarium
depicts a scene during the days of the early Roman empire while the
story of Urduja has been doubted since “no one has conclusively proven
that she existed” (Ortiz et al., 1976).

Juan Luna’s Spoliarium

Source: populopost.ph
8. Religion and Mythology. According to Ortiz et al
(1976), many of the world’s religions have used the
arts to aid in worship, to instruct, to inspire feelings
of devotion and to impress and convert non-
believers”. Among the Christians, many craftsmen
were commissioned to tell stories of biblical
characters like Christ and even the saints in
pictures, but other religions like Judaism and Islam
forbid the representation of divinity as human beings
like Shiva the Destroyer, which is shown as a four-
armed god and Buddha is symbolized by his
footprints, a wheel or a tree. Religious beliefs and
mystical experiences like Dante Alighieri’s Divina Solomon Saprid’s
Commedia are also popular subjects of art. In the Tikbalang
Philippines, Solomon Saprid has shown folk beliefs in
Source: mutualart.com
his statue Tikbalang.

B. Content in Art

The subject matter may have different levels of meaning. A subject

matter may have factual, conventional, and subjective meaning (Ortiz et
al., 1976).

Levels of Meaning

‘The factual meaning is the literal statement or the narrative content

in the work which can be directly apprehended since the objects
presented are easily recognized. The conventional meaning refers to the
special meaning that certain object or color has for a particular culture or
group of people. The subjective meaning is any personal meaning
consciously or unconsciously conveyed by the artist using a private
symbolism which stems from his own association of certain objects,
actions, or colors with past experiences’ (Ortiz et al., 1976).

From here, we can deduce the four basic relationships in art which
are the subject matter, the artist, audience, and form. These
relationships are then the bases for the four approaches to arts criticism
and appreciation. If it was based on subject matter, the approach used is
mimetic; on the artist, expressive; on the audience, pragmatic; and,
formal or aesthetic, on the form.
Reading the Image

The four planes of analysis include basic semiotic, the iconic, the
contextual, and the evaluative planes.

1. Basic Semiotic Plane. Semiotics is the study of signs. A sign is

composed of a signifier and the signified; the former pertains to the
materials or physical aspect and the latter pertains to the non-material
aspects as concept and value. As cited by Guillermo (2001), “the basic
semiotic plane covers the elements and the general technical and
physical aspects of the work with their semantic”, and these are the
visual elements and how they are used, the choice of medium and
technique, the format of the work, and other physical properties and
marks of the work.

As stated by de Saussure, as cited by Guillermo (2001):

meaning is produced from the interplay of the signifiers of

the work. Following this, a number of observations arise. The
first is that artistic analysis takes into account not only the
elements but also other material aspects, such as
dimension, format, medium, frame, and techniques, as
signifiers or conveyors of meaning. The second is that a finer
and more sensitive perception of the element is developed as
it is specifically and materially found in a particular work.
Line, for instance, is not just seen in its vertical, horizontal,
or diagonal orientation, but is examined in its particular
properties of density, porosity, relative sharpness, etc. Third,
the elements are not studied in a sequential and
compartmentalized manner but in a highly relational and
interactive way in which the use of line, color, texture, and
composition in space confirm or verify meanings or create
semantic relationships of similarity or contrast. And fourth,
the signifiers go hand in hand with their signifieds. Thus,
one does not limit oneself to a description of the elements in
the way they are used but links their particularities of usage
with their primary significations, as well as with their
intellectual and emotional associations within the society.

2. The iconic plane or the image itself. This is still part of the semiotic
approach, only that what is dealt with is not the material elements of the
work but the particular features, aspects and qualities of the image
which are the signifiers. It can include the choice of the subject which
has social and political implications. In this particular plane, one may
ask “is the subject meaningful in terms of the socio-cultural context and
does it reflect or have a bearing on the values and ideologies arising in a
particular place and time?”.

Other than the choice of subject, one may consider the

presentation of the image and its relationship to the viewer. Hence, one
may ask “does it address the viewer directly; is it self-contained or self-
absorbed? What kind of subject-viewer relationship is implied by the
subject through his facial expression, body language, costume and
accessories, natural or social background? Is it a relationship of peers or
one of dominance and subordination? Is it a friendly, ironic, aggressive,
or hostile relationship, and all possible nuances thereof?

Another factor to consider is the positioning of the figure or figures

whether these are frontal, in profile, or three-fourths as well as the
significance that arises from these different presentations. One may ask,
“Does the painting show strong central focusing with the principal figure
occupying the center space or is it decentered and the painting
asymmetrical in composition? How do these presentations contribute to
different meanings? Does the subject or subjects have a formal or a
casual air? How does one describe the central figure's stance: poised,
relaxed, indifferent, provocative, or aloof? How much importance is given
to psychological insight into character, to costume and accessories, and
to the setting, natural, social or domestic? What is the relative scaling of
the figures from large to small? What bearing does this have to the
meaning of the work? How do the postures of the man and the woman
convey their emotional attitudes?”

One can also take into account the relationship of the figures to
one another. Guillermo (2001) further stated:

The style of figuration is an important part of the iconic

plane. The figurative style is not mere caprice, passing
fashion, or the artist's personal ecriture; beyond these, it
implies a particular re-presentation or interpretation of the
world, a world view, if not ideology. Classical figuration
basically follows the proportion of 7 1/2 to 8 heads to the
entire figure in its pursuit of ideal form, as in a formal studio
portrait with the subject enhanced by make-up, all
imperfections concealed. Realist figuration is based on the
keen observation of people, nature, and society in the
concern for truth of representation, thus creating true
 portraits of individuals or exposing the poverty and squalor
that arise from social inequities. Impressionist figuration is
fluid and informal, often catching the subject unaware like a
candid camera. Expressionist figuration follows emotional
impulses and drives, thus often involving distortion that
comes from strong emotion. However, the viewer should not
be too anxious to find precise stylistic labels, for
contemporary art has seen the development of highly original
styles that have gone far beyond the School of Paris. It is
important to be sensitive to the meaning-conveying potential
of highly individual styles. In the basic semiotic plane which
deals with the material aspect of the work and in the iconic
plane which deals with the features of the image itself, one
can see that as the signifier cannot be separated from the
signified, concrete fact or material data cannot be divorced
from value; in other words, fact is value-laden and value or
ideological meaning is derived from material fact.

3. The contextual plane. In this plane, one resituates the work in its
context in order to bring out the full meaning of the work in terms of
human and social implications. As stated by Guillermo (2001), “the
viewer draws out the dialogic relationship of art and society. Art sources
its energy and vitality from its social context and returns to it as a
cognitive force and catalyst for change. If one does not view the work in
relation to its context, but chooses to confine analysis to the internal
structure of the work, one truncates its meaning by refusing to follow the
trajectories of the work into the larger reality that surrounds it. One
prevents the work from reverberating in the real world”. Hence, “it is
called upon in the contextual plane a broad knowledge of history and the
economic, political and cultural conditions, past and present, of a
society” and that it also “situates the work in the personal and social
circumstance of its production”.

Guillermo (2013) further stated:

a single work of art is often more completely understood

when it is viewed in the context of the artist's entire body of
work, when it is juxtaposed and compared on the semiotic,
iconic, and contextual planes with works of the artist in the
same period, in different periods of his/her career, and then
with the work of contemporaries. This is because the
meaning of one work may become part of a larger body or
 work or of an integral artistic vision. In comparative
intertextuality, the work of art reveals its numerous
ramifications of meaning.

4. The Axiological or Evaluative Plane. In this plane, values of a work

are analyzed. As Guillermo (2001) stated, “after the understanding of the
work is the difficult task of evaluating it”. He added,

It becomes clear that, on one hand, the artist is not or

should not be a mere technician but expresses a view of life
in his or her work. On the other hand, the viewer/critic is
also not a mere technical expert confined to the analysis of
the elements, techniques, and processes alone. The mature
viewer or critic is one who must have, after long expression
and experience, arrived at the formulation of his or her own
value system, his or her view of the world and humanity
which he or she has come to feel deeply and strongly about.
As the artist enjoys artistic independence, the critic/viewer
also enjoys a measure of autonomy. For, to be sure, the critic
is not an appendage of the artist or a promoter or publicist,
but one who vitally contributes to the dynamic dialogue,
interaction, and debate in the field of art and culture as
these intersect with other human concerns, among them the
political, social, and economic. The viewer/critic, as also the
artist should, places a value on the capacity of art to
influence and transform society.

Self-assessment questions:

1. What are the two types of representing subject?

2. What are the sources and kinds of subjects?
3. Defend or negate: The mission of art is to represent nature,
not to imitate it.

Required Activity:

1. The class will be provided with an image or picture. Analyze

the image or picture using the four planes in reading the
image. Use the space in the next page to write your answers.