Pointers to Review in Art Appreciation

Lesson 1: Art, Art History, Art Appreciation, Creativity, Imagination, and the
Expression

ART

Art was derived from the Aryan root word AR which means to put together, while still another origin of
the word art came from the Latin ARS which means ability or skill.

The study of arts is the study of mankind. Humanities, being the study of arts, have always been concern
with the importance of human being, his feelings, and how he expresses those feelings.

Art is very important in our lives. It constitutes one of the oldest forms and most important means of
expression developed by man. It is a language, which is charged with feelings and significance that has
sprung up among men living together.

Art is concerned with the communication of certain ideas and feelings by means of a sensuous medium
– color, sound, bronze, marble, words, and film.

ART HISTORY

The one thing we as students of art history must notice as we research the various periods and styles of
art is that ART is a MIRROR of society because it reflects the issues, concerns, fears, hopes, beliefs,
superstitions and agendas of every period in history throughout the world back at us viewing it today.

Art history doesn’t consist in simply listing all the art movements and placing them on a timeline. It is
the study of objects of art considered within their time period.

Iconography is a major part of art history. It consists in analyzing the symbolism of works of arts.

UNDERSTANDING CULTURE

Visual art recounts stories of our past, it gives an account of past events. Art history allows us to look
back and understand how our civilization evolved over the centuries.

DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING

Studying art history is really not about memorizing dates, artists’ names, art movements, etc. Instead, it
drives you to analyze paintings, photographs, sculptures, etc. To support your analysis, you must build
rational and convincing arguments, hence developing your critical thinking.
ART APPRECIATION

It takes an artist to make art. One may perceive beauty on a daily basis.

Art is a product of man’s creativity, imagination, and expression. No matter how perfectly blended the
colors of a sunset are, and no matter how extraordinarily the mountains are formed, nature is not
considered art simply because it is not made by man.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE ART

Arts are defined by history and historical process. The aesthetic standards of art vary from one culture to
another since an ideal beauty is a construct created and agreed upon by people in society so that the art
activities grow out of a social cultural order.

ART APPRECIATION AS A WAY OF LIFE

Jean-Paul Sartre, a famous French philosopher of the 20th century described the role of art as a creative
work that depicts the world in a completely different light and perspective, and the source is due to
human freedom (Greene, 1995).

Hence, refining one’s ability to appreciate art allows him to deeply understand the purpose of an
artwork and recognize the beauty it possesses (Collins & Riley, 1931).

CREATIVITY - The Role it Plays in Art Making

Creativity requires thinking outside the box. It is often used to solve problems that have never occurred
before, conflate function and style, and simply make life more unique and enjoyable experience.

A creative artist does not simply copy or imitate another artist’s work. He does not imitate the lines,
flaws, colors, and patterns in recreating nature. He embraces originality, puts his own flavor into his
work, and calls it his creative piece.

IMAGINATION - Art as a Product of Imagination, Imagination as a Product of Art

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and
understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there will be to know and
understand.”

Imagination is not constrained by the walls of the norm, but goes beyond that.
ART AS EXPRESSION

There may have been times when you felt something is going on with you, you try to explain it but you
do not know how. You may only be conscious about feeling this sort of excitement, fear, or agitation,
but you know that just one word is not enough to describe the nature of what you truly feel.

You try to release yourself from this tormenting and disabling state by doing something, which is called
expressing oneself (Collingwood, 1938).

Robin George Collingwood, an English philosopher who is best known for his work in aesthetics,
explicated in his publication The Principles of Art (1938) that what an artist does to an emotion is not to
induce it, but express it.

Lesson 2: ASSUMPTIONS OF ART

WHAT IS ART?

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.

PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM

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 better with what is just before
him. Human beings are drawn toward what is good and ultimately, beautiful.

PREHISTORIC PAINTING INSIDE A CAVE ALTAMIRA, SPAIN

“The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means of expression developed by
man” (Dudley et al., 1960).

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 1979, a Spaniard and his daughter were exploring a cave when they saw pictures of 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.
ASSUMPTIONS OF ART

ART IS UNIVERSAL – The lliad of Homer

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.

MAHABHARATA

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.

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 IS NOT NATURE- Paul Cézanne’s Well and Grinding Wheel in the Forest of the Château Noir

Paul Cézanne, a French painter, painted a scene from reality entitled Well and Grinding Wheel in the
Forest of the Château Noir

The said scene is inspired by a real scene in a forest around the Château Noir area near Aix in Cézanne’s
native Provence. 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 nature. Art is not nature.

BLIND PEOPLE ANDELEPHANT.SCULPTURE, HAITI

This distinction assumes that all of us see nature, perceive its elements in myriad, different, yet
ultimately valid ways.

Each of the five blind men was holding a different part of the elephant. The first was touching the body
and thus, thought the elephant was like a wall.

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.
ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE

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.

Art is always an experience.

Dudley et al, (1960) affirmed that “[a]ll art depends on experience, and if one is to know art, he must
know it not as fact or information but as experience.”

Tim Burton’s 2014 biographical drama film BIG EYES promotional poster

Degustibus non disputandum est (Matters of taste are not matters of dispute).

one should also underscore that every experience with art is accompanied by some emotion. One either
likes or dislikes, agrees or disagrees that a work of art is beautiful. A stage play or motion picture is
particularly one of those art forms 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 experienced.

Lesson 3: VISUAL ARTS

THE VIDUAL ARTS

One of the general classifications of arts is the visual arts. These include the art of painting, sculpture,
and architecture. In understanding these grouping of arts, we use our eyes in appreciation; we use our
feelings to be able to understand.

THE GRAPHIC ARTS

Painting is the process of applying pigment to a surface to secure effects involving forms and colors.

Liberty Leading the People (1830) by French artist Eugène Delacroix

It is the expression of ideas and emotions, with the creation of certain aesthetic qualities, in a
two-dimensional visual language. The elements of this language—its shapes, lines, colors, tones,
and textures—are used in various ways to produce sensations of volume, space, movement, and
light on a flat surface.

These elements are combined into expressive patterns in order to represent real or supernatural
phenomena, to interpret a narrative theme, or to create wholly abstract visual relationships. An
artist’s decision to use a particular medium, such as tempera, fresco, oil, acrylic, watercolor or
 other water-based paints, ink, gouache, encaustic, or casein, as well as the choice of a particular
form, such as mural, easel, panel, miniature, manuscript illumination, scroll, screen or fan,
panorama, or any of a variety of modern forms, is based on the sensuous qualities and the
expressive possibilities and limitations of those options.

DRAWING

Drawing is the art of representing something by lines made on a surface or the process of portraying
an object, scene, or forms of decorative or symbolic meaning through lines, shading, and textures in
one or more colors.

GRAPHIC PROCESSES

are processes for making multi-reproduction of graphic works. It involve the preparation of master
image of the drawing or design on some durable material such as wood, metal, or stone from which
printing is done. There are three kinds of processes; raised (relief), depressed (intaglio), and flat
(surface or plane).

COMMERCIAL ART - book cover of Francisco Balagtas’ Florante at Laura; cover sleeve design of
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, a 1997 PlayStation game by Konami

includes designing of books, advertisements, signs, posters, and other displays to promote sale or
acceptance of product, service, or idea.

MECHANICAL PROCESSES

are developed by commercial printers for rapid, large quantity reproduction of words and pictures in
one or more colors.

PHOTOGRAPHY- The first permanent photograph was captured in 1826 (some sources say 1827) by
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in France.

is a chemical-mechanical process by which images are produced on sensitized surfaces by action of

light. Photography is the art of capturing light with a camera, usually via a digital sensor or film, to
create an image. With the right camera equipment, you can even photograph wavelengths of light
invisible to the human eye, including UV, infrared, and radio

THE PLASTIC ART

ARCHITECTURE

The art of designing and constructing buildings and other types of structures.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

It is planning outdoor areas for human use and enjoyment, especially gardens, parks, playgrounds,
and golf courses.

CITY PLANNING

It refers to planning and arranging the physical aspects of a large or small community.

INTERIOR DESIGN

The term it used to designate design and arrangement of architectural interiors for convenience and
beauty. Interior design, planning and design of man-made spaces, a part of environmental design
and closely related to architecture.

SCULPTURE

It refers to design and construction of three-dimensional forms representing natural objects or

imaginary shapes.

CRAFTS

This term refers to the designing and making of objects by hand for use or for pleasure.

DIGITAL DESIGN

It refers to design of objects for machine use.

DRESS & COSTUME DESIGN

It covers the design of wearing apparel of all types.

THEATRE DESIGN
The design of setting for dramatic production

Lesson 4: Functions and Philosophical Importance of Art

Greek philosopher Aristotle claimed that every particular substance in the world has an end, or telos
in Greek, which translates into “purpose”.

This telos, according to Aristotle, is intricately linked with function. For a thing to reach its purpose,
it also has to fulfill its function. Man, in Aristotle’s view of reality, is bound to achieve a life of
fulfillment and happiness, or in Greek, eudaimonia.

Man’s natural end, telos, is connected with his function, which is his rationality.

Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)

In contemporary life, the connection between the end, the function, and the “whatness” of a thing
has become closer and more interlaced, suggesting sometimes that the end is the function and vice
versa, and that they determine what kind of thing a thing is.

FUNCTION OF ART

When one speaks of function, one is practically talking about the use of the object whose function is
in question. An inquiry on the function of art is an inquiry on what art is for.

When it comes to function, different art forms come with distinctive functions. There is no one-to-
one correspondence between an art and its function.

The two masterpieces of our national hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo served as a catechist for Filipino revolutionaries to gather strength in rejecting the
oppressive forces of the Spaniards in the Philippines in the nineteenth century.

PERSONAL FUCTIONS OF ART

The personal functions of art are varied and highly subjective. This means that its functions depend
on the person – the artist who created the art. An artist may create an art out of the need for self-
expression.

An art may also be therapeutic. In some orphanages and home for abandoned elders, art is used to
help residents process their emotions or while away their time.
SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF ART

Art is considered to have a social function if and when it addresses a particular collective interest as
opposed to a personal interest. Political art is a very common example of an art with a social
function. Art may convey message of protest, contestation, or whatever message the artist intends
his work to carry.

art can also depict social conditions. Photography, as an art form, delivers this kind of function by
taking photos of subjects in conditions that people do not normally take a look at or give attention
to. Pictures of poverty may carry emotional overtones that may solicit action or awareness from
their audience.

PHYSICAL FUNCTIONS OF ART- Raku ware is a type of Japanese pottery used in Japanese tea
ceremonies, in the form of chawan tea bowls

The physical functions of art are the easiest to spot and understand. The physical functions of art
can be found in artworks that are crafted in order to serve some physical purpose. A Japanese raku
bowl that serves a physical function in a tea ceremony is an example. Architecture, jewelry-making,
and even interior design are all forms of arts that have physical function.

OTHER FUNCTIONS OF ART

Music as an art is also interesting to talk about in relation to function. Music in its original form is
principally functional. Music was used for dance and religion.

Sculpture, on the other hand, is another functional art form that has long existed for various
purposes. In the Roman Catholic world, the employment of sculptures for religious purposes has
remained vital, relevant, and symbolic.

Sculptures were also made in order to commemorate important figures in history. Jose Rizal’s
monument in Rizal Park and Andres Bonifacio’s Monumento in Caloocan are two common
examples. In the University of the Philippines, the iconic statue Oblation by Guillermo E. Tolentino
has remained a pillar of the university and constant reminder of the need to offer oneself up
selflessly for the country. - Pope Francis commemorative coin showing both sides

Another art form that readily leads itself to multiple functions is architecture. In fact, architecture
might be the most prominent functional art form. Buildings are huge, expensive, and are not easily
constructed and replaced.

A lot of investments is put into making megastructures like the pyramids of Giza, the acropolis, or
the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages.
 - An old house of a wealthy family in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era located in Las
Casas de Acuzar, Bataan.

Philosophical Perspective on Art

ART AS AN IMITATION

Plato in his masterpiece, The Republic, particularly paints a picture of artists as imitators and art as mere
imitation.

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.

ART AS A PRESENTATION

Aristotle, Plato’s most important student in philosophy, agreed with his teacher that art is form of
imitation.

Aristotle considered art as an aid to philosophy in revealing truth. The kind of imitation that art does it
not antithetical to the reaching of fundamental truths in the world.

Talking about tragedies, for example, Aristotle (1902) in the Poetics claimed that poetry is a literary
representation in general. Akin to other art forms, poetry only admits of an attempt to represent what
things might be. For Aristotle, all kinds of art, including poetry, music, dance, painting and sculpture, do
not aim to represent the reality as it is.

ART AS A DISINTERESTED JUDGEMENT

In the third critique that Immanuel Kant wrote, the “Critique of Judgement,” Kant considered the
judgement of beauty, the cornerstone of art, as something that can be universal despite its subjectivity.

Kant recognized that judgment of beauty is subjective.

ART AS A COMMUNICATION OF EMOTION

Leo Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, provided another perspective on what art
is. In his book, What is Art (1897). Tolstoy defended the production of the sometimes truly extravagant
art, like operas, despite extreme poverty in the world.

art plays a huge role in communication to its audience’s emotions that the artist previously experienced.
Art then serves as a language, a communication device that articulates feelings and emotions that are
otherwise unavailable to the audience.

In the same way that language communicates information to other people, art communicates emotions.
Lesson 5: Subject & Content
One of the major hurdles that spoils an individual’s engagement with an artwork is the notion that in
order to appreciate it, one must be able to extract a specific image, isolate the artist or maker’s
intention, and unearth a particular meaning.

The primary stage of engaging with art is its perception. Looking at art is much like any instance of taking
in information or stimulus that originates from the world around us.

In this section, subject and content will be discussed. To differentiate them briefly, SUBJECT refers to the
visual focus or the image that may be extracted from examining the artwork, while CONTENT is the
meaning that is communicated by the artist or the artwork. Finally, the development and configuration
of the artwork – how the elements and the medium or material are put together – is the FORM. In
simpler terms, the subject is seen as the “what”; the content is the “why”; and the form is the “how.”

TYPES OF SUBJECT

One of the most iconic and recognizable paintings all over the world is the “Mona Lisa” done by
Leonardo da Vinci.

Portraits such as the “Mona Lisa” are good examples of what is called representational art.

Paul Jackson Pollock (1912-

Using large-scale canvasses that were usually laid out on the floor or resting on a wall, Pollock tilted his
paint can and allowed paint to drip.

The works of Jackson Pollock, who is known for his “action paintings,” are often subjected to these
remarks.

he used other implements such as hardened brushes, knives, sticks, and trowels to add detail, texture,
and dimension to his paintings.

This kind of work can be subsumed under the category of non-representational. As the opposite of the
previously discussed type of subject, non-representational art is also often termed non-figurative art.

Non-representational Art and Abstract Art

Pablo Picasso Head of a Woman

One source of confusion is the notion that non-representational art is the same as abstract art.
Sources and Kinds of Subject

For non-representational art, a higher level of perceptiveness and insight might be required to fully
grasp the feeling, emotion, or concept behind the work. It is perhaps easier to infer where the subject
matter comes from if the artwork is an example of representational art.

Vincent van Gogh’s Die Ebene Von Auvers (1890

One artist who was attuned with nature was Vincent van Gogh. He saw art and nature as inseparable,
often finding solace and happiness in painting in it (working in the middle of unspoiled fields) and
painting from it (landscapes). In a letter to his brother Theo, he wrote “…if I felt no love for nature and
my work, then I would be unhappy.” (Van Gogh Museum, 1882).

Discobolus by Myron (500

From narrations in literature, artists, on the other hand, gave faces to Greek and Roman deities or the
gods and goddesses whose fates are seemingly as tragic as those of men.

Jan van Kessel’s A Cockchafer, Beetle, Woodlice and other Insects, with a Sprig

The Judeo-Christian tradition stems from a belief in a lone creator of the universe or what is called
monotheism. This tradition had an immense influence in Western Civilization especially in art.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512

various media and art forms were also experimented with: paintings, frescos, church architecture (over-
all plan of the space, stained glass windows, tabernacles, and altars), sarcophagus, icons and other
carvings, vestments, tapestry, illuminated manuscripts, and other sacred scriptures, among others.

Unlike in Islam for example, practicing Jews and Christians were allowed to depict their God and other
important biblical figures; laying visual foundations in inculcating the faith.

El Tres de Mayo 1808

Tres de Mayo which captures the death of Madrilenes, the local insurgents during the Peninsular War.
Former allies in the overrun of Portugal and France turned against Spain. Napoleonic forces invaded
Madrid without much difficulty and the painting captures the dramatic demise of its people under a
firing squad.
CONTENT IN ART

As outlined in the beginning, in discussing works of art, the subject may simply be referred as the “what”
– what is readily seen and relates to the artwork, its inspiration, and the many kinds of translation.

to recognize and grasp the message of the artwork, the viewer may sometimes need to go beyond what
is visible.

Erwin Panofsky in his seminal work Meaning in the Visual Arts (1983). His methodology will be later
identified as Iconology through the interpretation of iconography.

Creazione di Adamo a fresco painting by Italian artist Michelangelo

To take on the challenge of understanding the content of art, it must be reiterated that there are various
levels of meaning. Perhaps the most common is what we call factual meaning.

Conventional meaning, on the other hand, pertains to the acknowledged interpretation of the artwork
using motifs, signs, symbols and other cyphers as bases of its meaning.

Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” can be read using various levels of meaning previously discussed.
There, Adam is figured with an aged God, both of them with an arm stretched and their respective index
fingers appearing to be fixed at an impending contact

Lesson 6: Artist & Artisans

In the advent of technology, it is remarkable what has now been made possible. With a click a button, an
array of overwhelming information is made available, informing every aspect of human life.

Arts is one of the most significant ways in which we try to grapple with how the present unfolds. In
Robert Henri’s The Art Spirit (1923), he stated that “Art, when really understood is the province of every
human being.

Peter Drucker’s seminal book, Post Capitalist Society (1993), he stated that “the real controlling resource
and the absolutely decisive factor of production is neither capital not land nor labor.

The Stonehenge (Wiltshire, England) of the Neolithic

It was in this light that artists worked and most of the time, the products were considered not as
artworks at all but rather as craft or placed under some other category. The use of the word
“embedded” may be taken to mean that what was created automatically circulated in the operations of
society and was not integral to an art object that the identity of its maker be known.
The Artisans and the Guilds

The Cologne Cathedral between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900, in Cologne,

Detail of the stained-glass windows of Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany (2019)

Consider the Gothic cathedrals and the other megastructures that were built all over Europe during the
Middle Ages. Craftsmen and builders in the past did not have sophisticated terminologies and principles
that architects and engineers abide by today.

they fulfilled overlapping roles such as the draftsman, architect, engineer, and even as the builder.

The account was that master mason Gerhard Ryle started the project in 1248 but was only completed
roughly 600 years later, claiming the record as one of the longest construction projects to date

The guild niche under the Four Crowned Saints Martyrs Statue Orsanmichele Church Florence Italy.
Statue by Nanni di Banco (1408)

during the Middle Ages particularly during the thirteenth to fifteenth century, where towns had
formalized groups of artisans or craftsmen who took on a particular specialization or trade: shoemakers,
textile and glass workers, carpenters, carvers, masons, armorers, and weapon-makers, among others.

Guilds were a type of social fellowship, an association structured with rules, customs, rights, and
responsibilities.

Albrecht Dürer’s Self-Portrait (1500) oil on panel. It was on public display in the Nürnberg Rathaus from
approx. 1528 to 1805 when it was taken to Munich and where it is still housed today in the Alte
Pinokothek.]

In the visual arts, an example of an artist strongly influenced by this was Albrecht Dürer. Born in 1471,
his father was goldsmith, that is why he also apprenticed as such.

His life was ripe with travels, fame, and fortune. One of the biggest credits to his practice was his
dedication and interest in scholarship with his attendance to a close friend’s meetings of artists and
scholars.

He also published quite a number of books and treatises including those that talked about practical skills
as an artist which would be useful to other artisans and craftsmen who dared to read it.

The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Loay, Bohol, locally referred to as Santisima Trinidad Parish

One example of a Spanish architecture that has been documented is the Church of the Mos Holy Trinity
in Loay, Bohol. Built in 1822, the ceiling paintings were rendered trompe l’oeil style depicting biblical
scenes.
THE ARTIST AND HIS STUDIO

Moving back to Europe, the big shift that propelled the evolution of the pivotal role of the artist in the
arts started during the Middle Ages up to the Renaissance period. Most pivotal developments included
the transformation of the craftsman to an artist or an independent artist.

In France, on the other hand, academies and art salons became popular as they did not only support the
production of art but also the discourse around them. Criticism and analysis were highlighted as integral
aspects of art engagement and therefore the display of the artworks through official art salons was
sought for.

The beginnings of Industrial Revolution had an interesting ramification for artists. A compendium of
events released the artists from the limitations that affected the way in which they produced their
works.