UNIVERSITY OF CALOOCAN CITY

Biglang Awa St., Corner Catleya St., EDSA, Caloocan City

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

ART APPRECIATION
SUBJECT CODE: GEC 006

TOPIC OR LESSON : Functions of Art

WEEK: 2
SUB-TOPIC/S: Functions of Art
Philosophical Import of Art

OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC

Ideally, one can look at a piece of art and guess with some accuracy where it
came from and when. This best-case scenario also includes identifying the artist
because they are in no small way part of the contextual equation. You might wonder,
"What was the artist thinking when he/she created this?" when you see a piece of
art. You, the viewer, are the other half of this equation; you might ask yourself how
that same piece of art makes you feel as you look at it.
These—in addition to the time period, location of creation, cultural influences,
etc.—are all factors that should be considered before trying to assign functions to
art. Taking anything out of context can lead to misunderstanding art and
misinterpreting an artist's intentions, which is never something you want to do.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this module, the students are expected to:

1. Understand the funtions of arts;

2. Explain philosophical import of arts; and
3. Identify the funtions of arts and its philosophical import

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 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Distinguish directly functional and indirectly functional art;
2. Explain and discuss the basic philosophical perspectives on the art;
3. Realize the function of some art forms in daily life; and
4. Apply concepts and theories on beauty and aesthetics in real life scenarios

ENGAGE

Carefully examine the artwork below. What can you say about it? Is it beautiful? Does
it mean something to you?

This is a visual art by Jose T. Joya Jr., Hills of Nikko. It is the artist’s
interpretation of one of the existing hills in Nikko, Japan. During wintertime, the hill’s
imperfections are thoroughly covered by snow. However, during summertime, those
imperfections are expressed by the artist in terms of bold brush strokes and super
imposition of lines.

The painting is an allegory to human imperfections. The earth colors symbolize

the weaknesses and limitations of humanity while the hues of greens and blues
represent life and hope. The white background represents the snow that starts to
envelop the mound. In the process, the entire imperfection will be covered thus
presenting the cycle of life. (https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/)

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 EXPLORE
Elber Hubbard, an artist, once said “Art is not a thing; it is a way.” Art can move us to
tears. Beautiful art can bring tears of joy when we see a painting, sculpture or
photograph of people or creatures experiencing things we want to experience.
Experiencing such heart-warming feelings about it encourages us to hope for the same
thing for ourselves.

Mutiny of Colours, A Project of Love, Peace, and Unity by

Iranian Street Artists is one great example. The powerful
messages of peace, love, and hope in a country torn apart
by internal conflicts are represented by Iranian street
artists through their art, and mostly these works grow in
all endless direction, both metaphorically, conceptually
and physically.

EXPLAIN
The functions of art normally fall into three categories: physical, social, and personal.
These categories can and often do overlap in any given piece of art.
Personal Function. In the first module, it was stated that art is a way of
expressing and communicating. What is the main factor that affects how man
expresses and communicates? The answer to the question is his experiences. His
environment, available resources, limitations, and the time he lives affect his
creativity. An artist’s experiences, emotions, thoughts, and feelings highly influence
how he creates a masterpiece. However, art may be interpreted in different ways. The
work is conceptualized by the artist and he may or not have the same context as with
other viewers or audience.
Physical Function. The physical function of art refers to purposes other than
aesthetic or nonfunctional. Some art products are made to fill man’s needs such as
houses and furniture. When an artwork serves both aesthetic and functional use, it is
called utilitarian. Man’s quest to attain fulfillment, happiness, and satisfaction urge
him to use the utilitarian function of art. Aside from food, medicine, shelter, language,
entertainment, clothing, and transportation, can beautify his surroundings through
landscaping and architecture.
Social Function. The social function of art is associated with cultural, political,
or environmental purposes. Art is used to record events, commemorate history,
promote a product, and influence other people. The following are the ways that art is
used in social settings.
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 1. Pictorial forms: This social function is a
means
of sending humanitarian, ideological, or
political messages. For example, the Nipa
Hut
of Vicente Manansala portrays messages
opposite to what we visualize as nipa
hut. Due
to illegal logging, people may not be able
to
find enough bamboo and time will come that
bamboos are for sale and only for those who
can afford. He also warns us of extreme
poverty and other political issues.

2. Satire (Caricature): This function aims to bring awareness among

individuals and the community. An example of this is the editorial cartoons
in a newspaper.

3. Propaganda Literature: This function of art is a powerful way of changing

people’s mind. Examples of this are the works of our own national hero. His
famous two books (Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo). They reveal the
sufferings of the Filipino people under the Spaniards.

4. Advertising art: The main aim of advertising art is to attract more buyers.
This can be seen and heard anywhere: television, newspapers, magazines,
radio networks, billboards, and many others.

5. Cultural/Historical/Religious Functions: This function of art refers to the

commemoration of events inspired by
cultural/historical/religious/traditional activities. This can be observed
from setting up arcs made of bamboo and hanging of colorful flag lets. Art
can also be observed in events such as Pahiyas every May 15 in Lucban,
Quezon, Chinese New Year, and Ed’ll Fitir.

Other functions of art include the following.

Psychological and healing purposes. Art is also used by art therapists,
psychotherapists and clinical psychologists as art therapy. The Diagnostic Drawing
Series, for example, is used to determine the personality and emotional functioning of
a patient. The end product (the art object) is not the principal goal in this case, but
rather a process of healing, through creative acts, is sought. The resultant piece of
artwork may also offer insight into the troubles experienced by the subject and may
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suggest suitable approaches to be used in more conventional forms of psychiatric
therapy.
Educational Function. There are artistic symbols and signs used to illustrate
knowledge and are meant to inform or tell a true story. Examples include infographics
and historical art.

ELABORATE
The Philosophical Imports of Arts
The philosophy of art is the study of the nature of art, including concepts such
as interpretation, representation and expression, and form. It is closely related to
aesthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and taste.
Philosophy of Art vs. Art Criticism. The philosophy of art is distinguished
from art criticism, which is concerned with the analysis and evaluation of particular
works of art. Critical activity may be primarily historical, analytical, or evaluative.
Sometimes it is not a single work of art but an entire class of works in a certain style
or genre (such as pastoral poems or Baroque music) that is being elucidated, and
sometimes it is the art of an entire period (such as Romantic). But in every case, the
aim of art criticism is to achieve an increased understanding or enjoyment of the work
(or classes of works) of art, and its statements are designed to achieve this end. The
task of the philosopher of art is not to heighten understanding and appreciation of
works of art but to provide conceptual foundations for the critic by (1) examining the
basic concepts that underlie the activities of critics and enable them to speak and
write more intelligibly about the arts and by (2) arriving at true conclusions about art,
aesthetic value, expression, and the other concepts that critics employ.
Art As Imitation (Representation). The view that “art is imitation” is at least as old
as the Greek philosopher Plato, and, although not widely held today, its long and
distinguished history is evidence of its continuing hold on human beings as an account
of the distinctive function of art. A terminological
point, however, is in order here: in the interests
of clarity, artists should be spoken of
as representing in their work the persons and
things and scenes of the world but as imitating
the work of other artists. Thus, “In this painting
the artist represents a barn and some wheat
fields, and the artist’s style is imitative of
Vincent van Gogh.” This distinction will be
employed here, with the result that these
traditional theories of art will be spoken of as
theories of representation rather than of
imitation.
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At some period in the history of art, aestheticians and critics wrote as if nature
should be recorded by the artist with photographic fidelity. The invention of
photography (which can do this better than any painter) could plausibly be said to
have relieved the artist of any such responsibility. Still, art can represent reality: the
representation of a house in a painting may not look exactly like a house—it cannot,
since the real house is three-dimensional and the painting is two-dimensional—but it
looks enough like one to enable everyone unhesitatingly to identify it as a house.
A distinction should be made
between
depiction and portrayal. A painting may
be
said to depict a house if it looks more
like a
house than like anything else. Thus,
most
persons unhesitatingly classify this as a
woman, that as a tree, and so on; only
when
the painter has distorted or abstracted
so
much that a thing looks somewhat like a
wolf
and also somewhat like a bobcat do they
hesitate in saying what the object
represented
is. A picture may depict a man in a
French
general’s uniform of the early 19th century,
but it may in addition portray Napoleon. It
portrays Napoleon if (1) the artist intended it to
represent Napoleon (for example, if the title of
the painting is Napoleon) and (2) the painting
does look like Napoleon to some degree at
least—at any rate it contains no important
characteristics known to be incompatible with those of Napoleon. Clearly, if it is a
painting that depicts a tree in someone’s yard, it cannot be considered a portrait of
Napoleon, no matter how much the artist intended it to be one. Depiction subjects can
ordinarily be recognized at once with a little knowledge of the world and the names of
the things in it. Portrayal subjects require knowledge of whomever the artist intended
to portray; even when that seems obvious, as in the case of Napoleon (who would be
instantly recognized, unlike the portrait of a private in his army), the viewer would
have to be told, by the title or otherwise, that not only does the painting depict a man
in a French general’s uniform but that it was intended by the artist to be a portrait of
this particular man. Otherwise, how would the viewer know that it did not actually
portray his double or his stand-in? The word represent, as used in connection with
art, can mean either “depict” or “portray.”
 Art As Expression. The view that “art is imitation (representation)” has not only
been challenged, it has been moribund in at least some of the arts since the 19 th
century. It was subsequently replaced by the theory that art is expression. Instead of
reflecting states of the external world, art is held to reflect the inner state of the artist.
This, at least, seems to be implicit in the core meaning of expression: the outer
manifestation of an inner state. Art as a representation of outer existence (admittedly
“seen through a temperament”) has been replaced by art as an expression of humans’
inner life.

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But the terms express and expression are ambiguous and do not always denote
the same thing. Like so many other terms, express is subject to the process-product
ambiguity: the same word is used for a process and for the product that results from
that process. “The music expresses feeling” may mean that the composer expressed
human feeling in writing the music or that the music when heard is expressive (in
some way yet to be defined) of human feeling. Based on the first sense are theories
about the creation of art. Founded on the second are theories about the content of art
and the completion of its creation.
Art as a Disintegrated Judgement. Immanuel Kant, in his Critique of
Judgment, considered the judgment of beauty, the cornerstone of art, as something
that can be universal despite its subjectivity. He recognized that judgment of beauty is
subjective. However, even subjective judgments are based on some universal criterion
for the said judgment. How and in what sense can a judgment of beauty, which
ordinarily is considered to be a subjective feeling, be considered objective or universal?
How are these two statements different?
1. “I like this painting.”
2. “This painting is beautiful.”
The first is clearly a judgment of taste (subjective), while the second is an aesthetic
judgment (objective). Making an aesthetic judgment requires us to be disinterested. In
other words, we should try to go beyond our individual tastes and preferences so that
we can appreciate art from a universal standpoint.

Art as a communication of Emotion. According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a

huge role in communication to its audience’s emotions that the artist previously
experienced. In the same that language communicates information to other people, art
communicates emotions. As a purveyor of man’s innermost feelings and thoughts, art
is given a unique opportunity to serve as a mechanism for social unity. It is central to
man’s existence because it makes accessible feelings and emotions of people from the
past and present.

EVALUATE
Take a tour around your house and identify a product of art. It would be better to
show its picture (limit its size to approximately 2×2 inches), but not required. Trace
the history (functions) of this item then determine its current functions. Elaborate
your answers on the following questions.
1. Are there differences in its function today compared to its function before?
2. Does this art always have a function? Why?
3. If the art ceased to have a function, will it remain an art? Why?
Font style and size: Times New Roman, 12”
Margin: 1” for all sides
First line: Your name – e.g. Bingo Aligo (left align)
Second line: Course, Year and Section, Campus – e.g. BSE English 2A North (left
align) Third line: Title of Paper – e.g. Porcelain Vase
For the body of your paper, it must be Justify aligned with 1.5 spacing For
reference or citations, use single spacing and use the 7th edition APA format
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Rubric
Scale Description

9-10 points Facts are consistently detailed/precise and very relevant. The text
uses correct spelling and grammar effectively almost all of the
time. It addresses the questions completely.

7-8 points Most facts are detailed/precise and relevant. The text uses
spelling and grammar with considerable accuracy and
effectiveness. It addresses the questions, but left out few details.

5-6 points The text lacks few substantial details and examples to
support ideas. The spelling and grammar require moderate
editing. It addresses the question, but provided few details.

1-4 points More specific details and examples are needed to support
opinions. The spelling and grammar require considerate editing.
The text addresses the questions, but in very few details.

REFERENCES
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sac-artappreciation/chapter/oer-1-
2/ https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art
https://www.slideshare.net/janril/art-appreciation-creativity-imagination-and
expression

Prepared:

BINGO L. ALIGO
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