Unit VI LESSON 12 Art and Philosophy Formalism

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UNIT VI 317

Lesson 12

Art and Philosophy: Formalism


Objectives:

After the session, the students must have:

• related the theory of formalism to the field of philosophy;


• compared and contrasted formalism, expressionism, hedonism and other
theories of art;
• interpreted formalism as the foundation of modern non-objective art;
• formulated a philosophical approach to the study of Art Appreciation;
• evaluated the merit or demerit of artworks using the formalist, expressionist
and hedonistic principles;
• made works of art that showed the application of the theories.

Materials:
Module, Pen, and Paper

Duration: 3 hours

Key concepts and ideas:

Formalism Abstraction Fauvism Minimalism Surrealism


Futurism Abstract Expressionism

Let’s ponder about these!

• Formalism is the study of art that focuses mainly on the analysis of its form –
the way it is made and what it looks like. It explains the critical position of
the important aspects in the production and creation of art such as its
elements and compositions rather than describing the narrative content
highlighted in the work or determining its relationship to the world. Like in
painting, a formalistic perspective will focus on the qualities of colors, strokes
of brushworks, the formation of lines and shapes, and composition.

• Maurice Denise asserted in his published manifesto entitled Definition of Neo-


Traditionism that aesthetic pleasure exists in the painting itself and not its
subject. His assertion became one of the most widely quoted texts in the
history of modern art – “Remember, that a picture, before it is a picture of a
battle horse, a nude woman, or some story, is essentially a flat surface
covered in colors arranged in a certain order.”

• Formalism focuses solely with design and less regards on reality. It


encompasses variety of styles namely Abstraction, Fauvism, Minimalism,
Surrealism, Futurism and Abstract Expressionism. It ranges from basing
loosely on reality to completely detached from reality.

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Reference:

Tate. (n.d.).Formalism. Retrieved on August 20, 2020 at


https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/formalism

Artventure. (n.d.) Formalism. Retrieved on August 21, 2020 at


https://welkaart.weebly.com/formalism-abstract-art.html

I. You can do this!


Study the slides/figures given below and answer the following questions.

Figure 1 Figure 2

1. What is Formalism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Figure 3 Figure 4

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2. Define Art according to Clive Bell and Paul Cezanne’s perspective? (5 points)
_______________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Figure 5

Mount Sainte-Victoire, 1902 by Cezanne


Retrieved from: Lecture 5 – Art & Philosophy: Formalism by Dr. Allan Orate

3. Describe what you see in the painting. (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Figure 6

Apples and Orange by Cezanne


Retrieved from: Lecture 5 – Art & Philosophy: Formalism by Dr. Allan Orate

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4. What does the painting portray? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

5. Using Formalistic perspective, how will you describe the painting? (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________

Figure 7

6. What is the difference between Representation and Formalism? (5 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Figure 8 Figure 9

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7. How can we reduce Representation into Form? In what way/s? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Figure 10

8. What is Art according to Wassily Kandinsky? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________

Figure 11

9. What are the three categories of Kandinsky’s Painting? Define each (3 points)

a. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

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____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

Figure 12 Figure 13

10. How can Formalism relate to Music? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

STYLES OF FORMALISM

ABSTRACTION

Abstraction is not a style or movement because it is a freedom from


representational qualities in art and does not represents things in picturesque
way.

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Figure 14

Woman II by Willem de Kooning

11. Describe the image of the woman of a


woman in this painting?
(3 points)
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/art/abstract-art

12. What is Abstraction? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

FAUVISM

Fauvism in a style of art that concerns with the scientific color theories
developed in the nineteenth century – particularly those relating
to complementary colors. It uses the colors in the complementary color wheel
thus making the artwork tinted with bold and non-naturalistic colors.

Figure 15
André Derain, 1905 by Henri Matisse

11. Why does this painting exemplify a fauvist


perspective? Explain your answer?
(3 points)
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
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_______________________________________
_______________________________________
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_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fauvism

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14. What is Fauvism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

MINIMALISM

Minimalism is a style made to represent what the observer sees in front of


them, not to represent an outside reality. The medium or the material from
which the artwork is made, and the form of the work is the reality.

Figure 16

Untitled, 1965 by Robert Morris


15. What is your evaluation of this painting?/
Why is this a minimalist art? (3 points)
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-
terms/m/minimalism

16. What is Minimalism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

SURREALISM

Surrealism is a style of art that aims to emphasize human experience and


supersede the rational vision of life to the value of the unconscious and
dreams. It is fascinated with magic and strange beauty in the unexpected,
the uncanny, and the unconventional.

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Figure 17

Galatea of the Spheres, 1952 by Salvador Dali

17. What is your evaluation of this painting?


(3 points)
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Retrieved from: http://rebloggy.com/post/art-trippy-painting-
salvador-dali-surrealism-surreal abstract/112086974712

18. What is Surrealism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

FUTURISM

Futurism is a style of art that create compositions that highlights and


expresses the idea of the dynamism, the energy and movement, of modern
life. It uses the elements of neo-impressionism and cubism.

Figure 18
Unique Forms of Continuity in
Space 1913 by Umberto Boccioni

19. What is your evaluation of this painting?


(3 points)
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
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_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Retrieved from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/futurism

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20. What is Futurism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Abstract expressionism is a style of art that describes new forms of abstract


art and is often characterized by gestural brushstrokes or mark-making, and the
impression of spontaneity.

Figure 19
Love Forever by Novik Tcholokian
21. What is your evaluation of this painting?
(3 points)
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Retrieved from: https://art-sheep.com/abstract-expressionism-by-
novik-tcholokhian/

22. What is Abstract Expressionism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

FORMALISM IN THE FILIPINO ART


23. What do you think the style used by
Figure 20 Hernando Ocampo? Why?
(3 points)
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
________________________________
Retrieved from:
_________________
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/johnvincentjose75/philippines-
art
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Figure 21
24. What do you think the style used by
Ang Kiukok? Why?
(3 points)
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
_
Retrieved from:
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/KyleNhellMacabocsit/nhel __________________________________
_____
Figure 22 __________________________________
_____
25. What do you think the style used by
Ramon Orlina? Why?
(3 points)
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
Retrieved from: _
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/KyleNhellMacabocsit/nhel __________________________________
_____
Figure 23 __________________________________
_____
26. What do you think the style used by
Imelda Cajipe-Endaya? Why?
(3 points)
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
Retrieved from: _
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/KyleNhellMacabocsit/nhel __________________________________
_____
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II. Analysis

1. What is/are the common denominators or the features that all the different
styles of Formalism share? (5 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

2. What is the difference between Abstraction and Abstraction Expressionism? (3


points)
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

3. In all the different styles of Formalism, which one fascinated you most? Justify
your choice. (5 points)
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

III. Highlights of the Lesson

• Formalism, as a pioneer Britain formalist art theory was developed by


the Bloomsbury painter and critic Roger Fry and the Bloomsbury writer
Clive Bellis. This style is applied to examine and evaluate works of art, and
that can be one of the oldest methods to critique art. This emerges the
approach called art criticism as it was based on the use of Formalism in art
evaluation.

• Abstract art has been existed since the Stone Age with drawings of dots and
symbols that were inscribed in prehistoric caves, but Russian artist named
Wassily Kandinsky had widely popularized Abstraction. This style is described
as when an artist has either removed (abstracted) elements from an object
into a more simplified form or produced something which does not have
relation or extension of the outside reality.

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• Fauvism came from the words ‘les fauves’ (means wild beasts) coined by the
critic Louis Vauxcelles when he saw the work of Henri Matisse and André
Derain in an exhibition in Paris in 1905. Fauvism as a style tends to use flat
areas or patches of color in order to create a new pictorial space and its
subjects are simplified making it look quite abstract. It sometimes deemed
as a form of expressionism due to its application of brilliant colors,
spontaneous brushwork, and wild loose dabs of paint.

• Minimalism emerged in the late 1950s when artists such as Frank Stella’s
paintings were dislayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1959,
but it were Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin and
Robert Morris who flourished this style in the 1960s and 1970s. This style is
perceived to be an extreme form of abstract art - its simplified artform is
mainly consist of geometric shapes such as squares and rectangles.
Minimalism presents a highly purified form of beauty and can represent
qualities like truth for its evident genuine form and unpretentiousness to be
anything else, order, simplicity, and harmony.

• Surrealism, as derived from the word ‘surrealist’ (suggesting beyond reality)


was coined by the French avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire in a play
written in 1903, however, Surrealism developed by the works of André
Breton. Surrealism is an artistic movement in the twentieth century that
explores the workings of the mind, prioritizing the irrational, and advancing
the poetic and the revolutionary. Surrealism employs automatic drawing or
writing to muster ideas and images from their unconscious minds and some
portrays their dream worlds or hidden psychological tensions through this
style.

• Futurism was launched by the Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in


1909. This style proposes the idea of art where the modern world of industry
and technology is celebrated and assimilated, asserting the declaration of
appreciating a new beauty - the beauty of speed, and displaying the vibrancy,
dynamism, and activity of a world in a modern era.

• Abstract expressionism prospered due to American painters such as Jackson


Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. This
style pursues to create art that, while in abstract form, can also provide
expressive or emotional in its effect. This style was inspired by
the surrealist idea that art should come from the unconscious mind.

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IV. Application/Follow-up Activity

Comply one of the two categories of activities given below. Choose one activity for
Theoretical Analysis and another one for Theoretical Application.

Submit your work on _________________________

Theoretical Analysis

Read one title from the choices below and write a 3-paragraph Expository
Essay of the theory/style mentioned or explained in the article.

• The Expressiveness of Form - Formalism in Art by Vera Mevorah. (See


Appendix 9.1)
• Introducing Formal Analysis: Still Life by Getty Museum or watch it in
YouTube. (See Appendix 9.2)

Rubrics for rating the Essay


Component EXCELLENT SATISFACTORY UNSATISFACTORY

Points 5-4 3-2 1-0

Ideas/ Provides a thorough, Provides minimal accurate and Provides deficient and
Contents accurate, and original ideas original ideas as bases for the irrelevant ideas and does not
as bases for the formation of formation of essay with enough meet its justification and
essay and justified the ideas justification of ideas. elaboration.
sufficiently and effectively.

Organization Provides clear and Provides understandable order of The flow of ideas is fragmented
of Ideas understandable order of ideas but ideas are a little and are not properly arranged
ideas in accordance to its disarranged with its significance according to its significance
significance and scope. and scope. and scope.

Presentation Provides a clean, succinct, Provides a not much organized The format is not organized
and organized format of the format of the essay and a bit and lengthy, thus, it is
essay. Quite easy to read and lengthy. Not quite easy to read confusing to read and follow.
follow. and follow.

Writing Consistently grammatically Few errors in spelling and Utilizes poor spelling and
Mechanics correct with rare misspellings grammar are evident and just grammar and few good word
and good choice of words. enough good word choices. choices.

Theoretical Application

Select one style of Formalism and comply.

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• Create any artwork based on Abstraction depicting your emotions during this
COVID-19 pandemic.
• Relive your recent dream and present it through art applying Surrealism.

Rubrics for the Artwork


Needs
CRITERIA Excellent Very Good Good Improvement
(94-100 points) (86-93 points) (78-85 points) (below 78)

The application of
Application of The application of The style is The style is
the style is
the style the style is correctly applied wrongly applied
appropriate but
appropriate in the to the large part to the whole of
only in the small
whole composition of the the composition
part of the
composition.
composition

The composition
Following the The composition Some instructions No instructions
instruction does not follow
follows all the are not followed in are followed in
many of the
instructions. the composition the composition.
instructions.

There are some


Aesthetic The whole Many parts of the The whole
value of the parts of the
composition is very composition are composition is not
composition composition that
pleasing to look at. not pleasing to pleasing to look
are not pleasing to
see. at.
see.

References:

IdeelArt. (March 13, 2015). What is Abstraction in Art - Definition and Examples.
Retrieved on August 21, 2015 at https://www.ideelart.com/magazine/what-is-
abstraction-a-simple-explanation-by-ideelart

Tate.(n.d.) Fauvism. Retrieved on August 21, 2020 at


https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fauvism

Tate.(n.d.) Minimalism. Retrieved on August 21, 2020 at


https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/minimalism

Tate.(n.d.) Surrealism. Retrieved on August 21, 2020 at


https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/surrealism

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Tate.(n.d.) Futurism. Retrieved on August 21, 2020 at


https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/futurism

Tate.(n.d.) Abstract expressionism. Retrieved on August 21, 2020 at


https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/abstractexpressionism

Sybaris collection. (n.d.). Art History Briefing: Formalism In Art. Retrieved on October
25, 2017 at https://www.sybariscollection.com/art-history-briefing-formalism-
art/

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APPENDIX 9.1

The Expressiveness of Form - Formalism in Art


by Vera Mevorah

How do we judge the value of the work of art? And, no, we are not
talking about its price on the market. One of the oldest answers to that
question is that we judge it by its form, by those structural elements that are always
discernible to the eye - that which we call formalism in art. This approach to
deciphering artwork gave birth to art science, art criticism, as well as a specific way
of creating art by focusing on its visual, aesthetic quality.

The road to understanding what formalism in art really is about takes us from
philosophical ideas of Plato, Aristotle and Immanuel Kant, through the experiments
of the avant-garde, all the way to contemporary ideal of socially-
engaged and conceptual art.
At the same time, at its heart, formalism holds that one question which stands above
all others - what is art? How can we know when we are standing in the presence of
something truly magnificent? Is there a universal way to determine the quality of any
single work and use it to recreate the sublime?

Many believed that there is. They postulated that artistic excellence can be
found in the structure of its elements, that it can be dissected and measured, like
with all good science, but more importantly, that it unveils the very essence of
human creativity.

L’art pour l’art - What is Formalism in Art?

So, what are those compositional elements formalism places at the front? Or,
better yet, what is not formalism? Every time you stopped to appreciate the ultimate
irony of Gustav Klimt's Death and Life (1908-16) or profound social commentary of
Banksy's Rage Flower Thrower (2003), according to formalism doctrine you are
missing the point. Everything in the work of art which is related to symbolism,
context of any kind and iconography can only be secondary to what constitutes its
form - line, shape, color, brushwork. Why is this so important? First, these are the
elements that all artwork ultimately share, and so the only elements which can
provide a basis for understanding art in general. And secondly, putting these
elements in focus means that art can become an autonomous sphere of human
creation - L’art pour l’art.

"L’art pour l’art without purpose, for all purpose perverts art. " - Benjamin Constant,
1804

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L’art pour l’art is perhaps one of the most famous lines in all of art history
and it is closely related to formalist movement. Meaning art for art's sake, it was an
idea that went perfectly in hand with formalist view of value of art. Art needs no
purpose other than its intrinsic beauty. If value of art can only be found in its
structural elements, then surly nothing outside those elements can present motive
for creating art. These ideas of form at the center of artistic creation had different
manifestations in different art movements. For Romantics, form was where you
search for art's essence; For Symbolists and Impressionists, it was its superior power
to convey artist intention; For Abstract Expressionists, it was the raison d'être - for
meaning in art, one should look no further than the form.

History of Formalism - The Question of Aesthetics

Plato was the first thinker to introduce the concept of form. For him, form
or appearance, was that one element shared by both tangible and abstract
phenomena in the world. His ideas framed how we understand human perception,
why is a portrait or a shadow equally important to us as the real thing. Plato's
theories were the basis for birthing the aesthetic discipline - the study of
beautiful. Aristotle believed that catharsis in art can only be achieved if the work is
dominated by its structure. Immanuel Kant, on the other hand, was more concerned
with universality. His philosophical quests for universal truth lead him to conclude
that only form of an art object can be judged equally by different people, equally
leading to pleasure. For what kind of world it is we live in, if we all see things
differently, if there's no objective knowledge? From Kant we inherited that idea of
form as shape, which will later lead to analysis of what today we call style. It was
through reading of Kant that aesthetics of art, and art criticism with it, was gradually
formulated by Eduard Hanslick (1891), Clive Bell (1913) and Roger Fry (1920).

As an idea, formalism reached its peak in the period of high modernism,


between the last decades of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. This is not
surprising if we remember that first works of abstract art appeared during this
period. Non-representational art brought this new way of expression where often
nothing is discernible except its structure, inspired greatly by evolution of aesthetic
thinking on the expressiveness of form. Works of Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock,
together with their thinking about art, pushed an American art critic Clement
Greenberg (1960) to fortify this formal approach for analyzing modern art only
through those elements used to create it.

Philosophy of Formalism - Form in Literature and Music

A big part of philosophy of formalism is related to 19th century striving for


scientific truth. People then believed that in art, like in physics or architecture, we
need to learn to recognize formalistic aspects of the work in order to study art as a
scientific discipline. Such discipline would study how art is made in order to
understand what it is we are looking at. Formalism is the reason why today we can
enroll into Literary Theory, Musicology and Art History programs and courses at
universities. It is the reason why there are still people around who are trained to
trace back every brushstroke of Mona Lisa. This philosophy, governed by 19th
century logical thinking, enabled us to understand the syntax in a literary
masterpiece, succession of chords in an orchestral symphony, every breath in actor's
performance. Formalism brought discourse of color, texture, rhythm, composition
and flow into the world, concepts we all use when we try to describe the beautiful.

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Formalism was an attempt on philosophical inquiry into the very nature of art,
and as such was one approach among many others, like Voluntarism, Intellectualism
and Naturalism. But, it took all of the arts with a storm. Formalism was particularly
strong in music. It positioned music itself as above history, composers and even text
which is often present in vocal works. It was much easier to celebrate the
abstraction in music than it was with the other arts, but also to diminish the value of
anything outside the work itself. In literature, formalism meant focusing on exploring
the meaning of a literary work only from what we can experience while reading it,
and then only considering those elements inherent in the text - grammar, syntax,
tropes etc...

The Art Critics: Clive Bell and Clement Greenberg

One of the most important figures in formalism was Bloomsbury writer and
art critic Clive Bell. His 1914 book Art was first attempt to define the form in visual
art which he did through his notion of significant form. Reflecting the L’art pour
l’art ideology, his goal was to give irrefutable proof that art form is different than
what we find in all other objects. Bell believed that emotions we experience when
looking at an artwork are incited by its formal quality and not its subject matter,
sensation he called the aesthetic emotion. Significant form is actually a combination
of formal elements, primarily lines and colors which Clive Bell thought are building
blocks of all visual art.

Following Bell's influential ideas, it was American critic Clement


Greenberg who proved to be the strongest advocate of formalism and modern art
inspired with it. It not for his striving to codify the expressive elements in non-
representational art, it is questionable whether works of Pablo Picasso, Clyfford Still,
Mark Rothko and other Abstract Expressionist artists would be so quickly accepted in
the U.S. art community. For Greenberg, the rejection of representation by abstract
artists was a natural evolution of visual art. The manipulation of form was the king of
artistic expression.

The Formal Analysis of a Painting - What Constitutes the Form

As pertaining to the meaning of the word "formalism", the formal analysis of


the work of art refers to description of purely visual elements. The Formal analysis
role is to locate all the elements of art's form and explain their arrangement - the
work's composition. So, what are those elements? Explanations which can be found
differ in number, but all agree on the most
important: line, color, shape, space and texture.

When we try to describe the line, we ask ourselves is it straight, curved,


flowing, and thick or thin, horizontal or vertical. Shape and space represent the
relationship of objects in the painting and space behind them. The main question is
whether the shape is geometric or organic, how many shapes are used to produce
the desired image? In what dimension, form of space, are they placed? Color is,
besides the line, the most important element of a painting. We describe the color
through concepts of hue (red, blue, yellow etc.), value (brightness), intensity
(purity), saturation, delineating between primary and secondary colors and
considering their complementarities. Texture is that last piece of the puzzle which
gives us the idea of surface quality of an object. Is it silk the man on the portrait is
wearing? What would the object feel like if we could touch it? In order to make a

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successful analysis we must ask that most important question - What is the
composition of the painting? It is the collective dance of all of these elements that
constitutes the significant form, that which provides its expressiveness.

Formalist Art - Creating the Absolute

The works of art that we could dub as formalist already achieved fame by
other names - modern art, abstract art, the avant-garde, yet they here are presented
in the context of their philosophical origin. After all, Clement Greenberg's famous
essay Modernist Painting (1960) uses works of Jackson Pollock as The example of
formalism. Greenberg saw Pollock's style as maybe the greatest example of that
manipulation of pure form. But perhaps, the best example of formalist art would be
compositions of Piet Mondrian like his Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red (1937-
42). Working with simple geometrical lines and primary colors, his paintings are the
purest manifestation of that which Clive Bell considered significant form. Formalist
approach to music, which produced the concept of absolute art, as unattached to
anything outside itself, was a great inspiration for abstract artists who strived to
achieve this lack of referentiality.

Even though formalism stared in many other arts, it was the painting that
both Bell and Greenberg had in mind while formulating their theories. Great works of
formalist art were produced by Expressionism, Cubism, Geometrical Abstract Art,
Post-Painterly Abstraction, and Informal Art by artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Kasimir
Malewitsch, Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, Jean Dubuffet and many others. But
this purified painterly approach to form also inspired artists in other media and
continues to do so today: Hans Richter and Viking Eggeling and their Abstract films,
Minimalism of Yves Klein and Frank Stella, Vsevolod Yemilyevich Meyerhold's
Formalist theatre, Land art etc.

Welcome to the Age of Post-formalism

Like with all good social theories, there is usually more criticism involved,
than the actual content discussing the theory. Anti-formalism opinions appeared
almost instantly after first attempts of canonization. Questions demanding more
detailed description of the form, disputes over the historical function of art and what
constitutes its value continue to inflame art critics and historians. But the biggest
challenge to formalism came with Postmodernism and Conceptual art. Works of
artists like Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol brought the question of concept in play
when nobody could've guessed that it would come to rule contemporary art.
Postmodernism on the other hand introduced that hard critical reflection into the
inner workings of the art world, tearing down all big narratives and search for
universal truth. But in 2017, we live in a truly Post world, where Postmodernism is
also something we had to overcome, leading us to a whole new appreciation of the
form.

References:

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Mevorah, V. (n.d.). The Expressiveness of Form - Formalism in Art. Retrieved on


August 21, 2020 at https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/formalism-in-art

APPENDIX 9.2

Introducing Formal Analysis: Still Life


by Getty Museum

Do you think these two artworks have anything in common?


Let's investigate.

Describing what we see can be a useful place to start.


Each of these artworks has either natural things like fruits and flowers, or manmade
objects arranged together on a flat surface.

This makes them both still life. Artists have been making still life is for
thousands of years because they offer an opportunity to reflect on the objects that
surround us in daily life.

Now, let's spend time with each artwork so we can learn more about them.
This is a painting known as "Fruit Piece" made by Jan van Huysum in 1722.
We can see a variety of fruits and flowers arranged together in an outdoor setting.
There are many organic shapes throughout, in the grapes, nectarines, flowers, and
more. What shapes can you identify?

There are a wide variety of colors, also known as hues.


There are secondary and intermediate colors, which are different combinations of the
primary colors; red, yellow, and blue. The colors are also low intensity, meaning they
are not extremely bright. How many colors can you identify?

This is a photograph known as "Still Life" made by Man Ray in 1933. The
composition of this artwork indicates to us that it is considered a still life. But there
are no flowers! Instead there are hands, faces, and rounded shapes.
What other objects can you identify?

The colors are eye catching. The primary colors red, blue, and yellow are
featured. Overall, the colors are high in intensity, meaning they are very bright.
There are also many distinct lines and hard edges, as seen in these geometric
shapes.

Now that we have described these artworks, let’s consider what they have in
common. Both use repetition and variety of elements to make the picture seem
active and unified. In what ways are these artworks different from one another?

The shapes in "Fruit Piece" are more organic than the geometric
shapes in "Still Life." The colors are complimentary and low intensity in "Fruit Piece,"

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and primary and high intensity in "Still Life."

Now, let's share our impressions of the artworks. It's like a test question that
you always get right, because it's about your opinion.
It may help to have some background information on the artists so you can better
reflect on potential meanings of their work.

Jan van Huysum, like others still life painters of his time, painted
arrangements of natural objects in celebration of the beauty and abundance of life.
Van Huysum developed his own special process of building up layers of color in order
to create these realistic looking fruits and flowers.
Man Ray was really interested in making things that were new and different.
This photograph refers to the traditional still life paintings that artists like van
Huysum made.

The different choices in subject matter, like Man Ray including his own sculpture and
photograph, draw attention to the fact that he was having fun with tradition.

So if you were going to make a still life, what would you put in it?

Reference:

Getty Museum. (n.d.) Introducing Formal Analysis: Still Life. Transcript retrieved on
August 21, 2020 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxALpig_Cac

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UNIT VI-LESSON 12

ANSWER SHEET (ft)

NAME:__________________________________ CR.,YR. & SEC:____________________


LESSON NO. & TITLE: _______________________________________________________
DATE: ___________________________________ SCORE: _________

1) What is Formalism? (3 points)

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

2) Define Art according to Clive Bell and Paul Cezanne’s perspective? (refer to
Figures 3-4) (5 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

3) Describe what you see in the painting. (refer to Figure 5) (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

4) What does the painting portray? (refer to Figure 6) (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

5) Using Formalistic perspective, how will you describe the painting? (refer to
Figure 6) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

6) What is the difference between Representation and Form? (refer to Figure 7)


(5 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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7) How can we reduce Representation into Form? In what way/s? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

8) What is Art according to Wassily Kandinsky? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

9) What is Art according to Wassily Kandinsky? (refer to Figure 10) (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

10) What are the three categories of Kandinsky’s Painting? Define each. (refer to
Figure 11) (3 points)

a. _________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
b. _________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
c. _________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

11) How can Formalism relate to Music? (refer to Figures 12-13) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

12) What is Abstraction? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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13) What is your evaluation of this painting? (refer to Figure 15) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

14) What is Fauvism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

15) What is your evaluation of this painting? (refer to Figure 16) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

16) What is Minimalism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

17) What is your evaluation of this painting? (refer to Figure 17) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

18) What is Surrealism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

19) What is your evaluation of this painting? (refer to Figure 18) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

20) What is Futurism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

21) What is your evaluation of this painting? (refer to Figure 19) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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22) What is Abstract Expressionism? (3 points)


_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

23) What do you think is the style used by Hernando Ocampo? Why? (refer to
Figure 20) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

24) What do you think is the style used by Ang Kiukok? Why? (refer to Figure 21)
(3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

25) What do you think is the style used by Ramon Orlina? Why? (refer to Figure
22) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

26) What do you think is the style used by Imelda Cajipe-Endaya? Why? (refer to
Figure 23) (3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

27) What is the common denominator or the feature that all the different styles
of Formalism share? (5 points)

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

28) What is the difference between Abstraction and Abstraction Expressionism?


(3 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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29) In all the different styles of Formalism, which one fascinated you? Justify your
choice. (5 points)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

END

WVSU A.A. Module

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