Part 1 CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS IN THE
PHILIPPINES
Visual arts – encompasses a wide range of forms
created by Filipinos.
Tradition visual art form:
 Painting
 Sculpture
 Architecture
LESSON 1: ART AND ITS VISUAL
ELEMENTS
In order to understand how to describe a
painting/ sculpture, it is important
comprehend first the visual art.
Line – refers to a prolongation of a point/mark
on a surface. Also used to suggest dimensions,
and to guide visual movements.
 Vertical line – ambition and strength
 Horizontal line – rest and peace
 Solid diagonal line – dynamic action,
conflict, or stress
 Broken lines – suggest lie that are
hidden from the viewer.
Shape and mass – refer to an area with
boundaries identified/drawn using lines.
 Organic shapes – based on natural or
living forms.
 Geometric shape – based on measured
forms.
Color – refers to visual precipitation that allow a
person to differentiate objects due to the way
various wavelengths of light are reflected.(It can
communicate information and emotion of the
viewer)
Three (3) properties of colors:
 Hue – basic/pure color and represented
in the color wheel.
 Value – lightness and darkness of color.
 Saturation – brightness and dullness of
color.
Color wheel – important too to identify colors
that work well in your artwork (it is an
to
arrangement of primary, secondary, and tertiary
colors.)
Color Schemes:
 Monochromatic – using the same hue
but with different gradients of value.
 Analogous – entails the use of
three/four adjacent color in the color
wheel.
 Complementary – involves the use of a
color located opposite of the first
color(complement).
 Split-complementary – uses two colors
adjacent to the complement.
 Triadic – uses three colors that are of
equal distance with each other.
  Tetradic – also known as “double LESSON 2: PAINTING
complementary color scheme” it uses
Painting - process of applying color on a flat
two pairs of complementary colors.
surface.
Value - lightness or darkness of an area.
 2Dimensional - only has height & width.
Shadows – to give 2D object illusion of depth.
 watercolor, acrylic, ink, oil, pastel,

Texture - feel or appearance of a surface. charcoal.

 Surfaces for painting include wood,
"Surface”is as either smooth
canvas, cardboard & papers.
Also described as actual/implied texture
Easel painting – most common form of painting.
space- area that is occupied by an
 Ang Kiukok's – “Fishermen” worth 65
object/subject.
Million Pesos.

Murals - huge wall sized painting (to help

Types of Perspective: increase social awareness)

1. Atmospherics perspective - Utilizes the  Portable murals - in order to prevent it

properties of light and air depicting the illusion to be erased. (cheese cloth)
of distance.
-GiGi Javier Alfonso - Women Empowerment in
2. Linear perspective - use of vanishing point & the Philippines.
receding hidden lines
 401 Boten -Santos Martial Law in P
Time and motion – (movement) can be either
Telon Painting - back drop / background of a
be an illusion or actual motion.
stage. (photography studios)
Illusion - movement is move common in 2d
Jeepney/Calesa painting –
artworks.
Calesa - painted using one colored deco with
Actual motion = seen in kinetic sculpture.
geometric pattern.
(Moved by wind)
Jeepney painting – evolved from calesa. (mostly
Illusion = Two-dimensional artwork
landscapes/comic books is the design)
Collage – form of painting that involves combine
image in single artwork. (cutting & pasting
materials)
Genre painting - depicts aspect of everyday life
by portraying ordinary people.
Historical painting - depicts a scene from the
past (lesson concerning national value)
The Making of the Philippine flag – Fernando
Amorsolo
Interiors - painting of the space inside of a part
of a house / building.
 Interior of an old house in Liliw Laguna"
- Sofranto Y. Mendesa
Landscape - portray natural sceneries / urban
scenes.
The Native Ph. House - Isido Ancheta
Portraits - painting one or more specific
individuals (portrays physical characteristics
Religous painting - love religious image (Jesus)
The Holy Family – Emmanuel Gariboy
Still life - work of art depict inanimate subject
matter. (natural or man made)
Tropical Fruit - 1Million - Fernando
Nudes – painting that portray the unclothed
human figure.
Nude art – Fernando Amorsolo
sculpture 3 dimensional (height, with 4 depe)
LESSON 3: SCULPTURE AND OTHER
FORM OF VISUAL FORM
Free-standing - Can independently stand in
space. (has flat horizontal base)
Oblation - Guillermo Tolentino
Relief - does not have a flat horizontal base
(projected from a flat surface)
Types of relief:
 low relief - projects slightly from the flat
surface.
 High relief - in contrast with low relief.
Relief - bonded to a solid background of the
same material.
Bronze sculptures - Jose Rizal
 Tabon - low relief
 Tandang sora – high relief
Assemblage formed by putting materials
together. (paper sponges, woods, scraps & other
material)
Man & woman - Lamberto Hechanova
Kinetic sculpture - contains movement that can
be perceived by a viewer. (some are moving due
to wind)
Welded Sculptures - involves the process of
connecting sheets of metal together. (using
acetylene and electric torch.)
Use a glass - Ramon Orlina & limelda Pilapil
started using glass in sculpture.
Ramon Orlina - used glass in table pieces,
murals, sculptures unified into framework
Imelda Pilapil - glass plane with irregular shapes
and linear patterns.
symbolic sculpture - 3 dimensional works of art
serve to convey a specific idea meaning or
purpose.
Advertising design - using paid space or time in
any of the media to inform and influence the
public.
 Used to encourage the public to
patronize certain goods / service.
(animation, photography, computer
generated graphics, neon signs, posters,
mascots, etc.)
Bamboo art - refers to work made of bamboo
(everyday purpose like for decorations &
ornaments]
Basketry - art of creating containers by weaving,
plaiting, or braiding to make a dimensional
space.
Book design - involves structuring & use of gold and silver.
reproduction of bound pages.
Costume - garments, hairstyle and accessories
that are won worn by an individual or a group.
Embroidery - art of stitching ornaments on cloth
by hand
Food Art - involves packaging and/or
presentation of food in an artistic way.
Furniture - decorative & functional objects
which are typically found in public spaces. It is
also known as muebles or kasangkapan
Komiks and Editorial Cartoon – illustration of
story or events.
Editorial cartoon- single frame illustration
(relate sa totoong buhay mostly sa POLITICS)
Komiks – (fictional) use single or multiple
frames.
Leaf art – used in religious rituals and food
wrapping. (modern artistic expression)
Mat Weaving- art of plaiting strips of organic
fibers into mais" (banig)
Metal craft - includes objects made of metal
using the process of bras casting
Brass casting & blacksmithing – involves casting
and forging pieces of brass/bronze
Gold smithing and silversmithing - involves the
Tin smithing - can be easily seen in creating
Jeepney, kalesa. (made out of tin)
Multimedia - work involves the use of other
sources in appreciating these work.
 Conceptual Art - a visual artist ideates
/sets up a situation,
philosophical value in process itself.
 Installation Art - artist put together
materials & objects in on exhibition
space to cast new experience.
 Performance Art - artist
him/herself into an art object in motion
& sound.
Paper Art - processes of cutting, pasting,
recycling and /or constructing of objects from
paper.
Personal Ornaments - objects that are worn on
the human body.( to enhance a part of the
body.)
 Jewelry is one of the samples.
Photography - process of producing images
using a light sensitive chemical plate or films.
Photographers used to save
documentation, for travel research.
Pottery – general term for decorative and useful
objects made from clay and set off at high
temperatures.
Three (3) types of pottery:
placing  Earthenware or Terracotta - made from
clay and is usually fired at 1,700-2100°F.
 Stoneware - made from day and
feldspar. Fired at 2,220-2,230°F.
 Porcelain - made from Kaolin (extra fine
convert & white clay). Fired at 2500-2700°F.
Printmaking - transferring images from a firm
surface, metal/wood using pressure.
Tattoo Art - body adornment permanently
engraved on the skin.
Textile weaving - process of creating cloth by
interweaving a series of parallel vertical threads
with another series of horizontal thread of 90°
angle. (right angle).
Lesson 4: ARCHITECTURE
as a Architecture - are of the most functional
branches of the visual out. ("art to inhabit")
FORMS OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE:
DOMESTIC BUILDINGS & HOUSES:
Apartment - building composed of many
residences called UNITS. Usually built in
populated urban areas. (Condominium)
Bahay na bato - built in many area during 19th - Market/Palengke - place/building for
20th century and is considers as residence of buying/selling goods (tindahan or tiyangge)
the wealthy. (roofs of a typical na bahay na bato
Mall/galleria - were recent evolved form of the
- slants on four sides.)
palengeke (multiple story building)
Barong-barong – house of the landless and poor
Mall – multiple story building
that are built on any land/area (near esteros,
baybay, riverbank) Buildings that house banks, business offices,
and factories - (1950's) - plain wall surface and
Bungalows - one-story house with a wide front
large windows (rectangular & clean lines)
porch & large window. (have terrace)

GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
ETHNIC HOUSE:
Capitol/kapitolyo – buildings of the provincial
Houseboat - a boat that also serves as a
government
dwelling.
Town Hall/munisipyo – building of the municipal
One-and-a-Half Story House - characterized by
government.
an upper level of story covering just a half of the
tower level.

Bahay kubo – ethnic house of Christian peasant PUBLIC BUILDONG AND STRUCTURE

families living in the lowland area. School/eskwelahan - place where young people

Split-level House - in the Philippines has two are educated to become productive members of

main levels the lower level (kitchen, living & the community.

dining area) and upper level (bedrooms) Kamalig - tagalog term for a building used for

Tsalet - refers to a suburban house that has one storing grains. It is considered to be the most

story, a two-story house ... economically significant structing among the

tribes in Northern Philippines
Tsalet comes from the word " chalet" - refers to
a present house in Switzerland. Raised from the ground and is being protected
rats and pets.

Masjid - mosque refers to a place of worship of

COMMERCIAL BUILDING
the Muslims
  minaret- tower
 mimbar reinforced w/ pillar
OTHER FORMS STRUCTURE
 mihrab – a prayer niche
Fort/kuta – that are bult to defend a community
against enemies.
Cemetery/sementeryo - place when people
Light house/parola - bult on an Island, peninsula
burry the dead. Other names are:
or rock to ensure that ships will be able to pass
Kampo santo, pantyon, libingan. through a narrow area safely.

Church/simbahan - place of worship for a Bridge/tulay - horizontal structure that serves as

Christian congregation. We have: a passageway between two areas separated by
a body of water, hallow area, or a road. (1960-
 Roman catholic church - built during
1980)
Spanish colonial period "earthquake
baroque”
 Aglipayan Churches - the Iglesia Filipina
LESSON 5: LITERATURE
Independiente or more popularly
known as the Aglipayan church. Is the Literature - considered to be a whole bulk of
offshoot of roman catholic church(same written work. Another definition is “best that
style but with more architectural style.) has been thought & said" (work showing ideas
 Protestant Churches - have Neogothic emotion)
architectural style.
Performing arts- music, dance
 Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) churches - has a
theater-cinema /film
triangular arch that is lined with tall
slender towers.

Movie house/sinehan - place where people TYPES ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE:

watch films / motion pictures.
Theatre/teatro- building intended for dance,
musical & theatrical presentations.
Poetry - refers to expressing a feeling /idea
using figurative/ symbolic language in verse.
Prose- the literature that is not poetry. (can be
informative or persuasive)
FOLLOWING ELEMENTS WHEN READING ELEMENTS OF FICTION:
POETRY:
Plot or story line - has sequence of events that
Meaning - in order to express his/her build up the whole story.
feelings/ideas (technical term, idiom, dialed,
Character - can be person, animal, thing who
new words)
takes part in narrative story.
Figurative language - consist of simile, metaphor
Setting - time & place
& figure of speech.
Theme - central thought or idea of the whole
Imagery - consist of descriptions and details that
story.
can trigger the readers senses.
Language & style - choices of words the writer
Sound & Rhythm - use of the spoken nature of
user.
poetry, emphasis on certain rhymes.
Point of view- may be presented using the third-
Rhythm - position of beats / sound pattern of
person point of view.
the work.

TRADITIONS AND FORMS OF PHILIPPINE

FOLLOWING ELEMENTS OF AN ESSAY (prose)
POETRY:
Theme/content - the general thought/idea of
Ethnic Tradition - consists of ancient songs, epic
the whole composition.
narrative, maxims & proverbs etc.
Style - choices of words of sentences structures
Epic - adventures of hero with supernatural
used to convey the message.
power.
Form & Structure- the sequence of topic &
Folk songs - song that is transmitted orally from
transitions that make up the whole essay
one generation to another.
reflects the form. Can be the imagination of the
writer. (novel) has melody & it expresses ideas,
emotions of thoughts of the community. Known
as awiting bayan.

Proverbs - concise statements that teach ideas

in morality and tradition.
 Expressed as a rhyming pair of lines that Pasyon - written in a stanza with 5 lines with 8
depict two different elements. syllables per line, recounts the life of Jesus
Christ.
 meaning of each element is not easily
understood. Two (2) types of Pasyon:
 can be easily understood if these two
 Traditional pabasa
elements are joined together.
 Political pasyon
Riddles - describes an object in an entirely
pasyon useful as a source of Images, stones &
different manner / in a way that is not easily
Forms
understood.
The poetry of Reform, Revolution, and
Short poem - usually has four lines with 5-12
Resistance to America.
syllables per line.

"BROWN OUT" - Tanagga of Mana Pl.

Lanot
 Poetic Jousts - each country has its own:
 Balitao in Cebu and Aklan = teasing
impromptu debate
 Ilocano dallot which is later known as
arikenken is a chanting Joust between
man women
AMERICAN COLONIAL TRADITION AND THE
CONTEMPORARY TRADITION – involves the
creation of poem using both traditional and
modern forms.
FORMS OF CONTEMPORARY PROSE IN THE
PHILIPPINES:

Spanish Colonial Tradition - comprises religious Folk narrative - any story based on real /
and secular lyric poems & narrative poem. fictional events in the past told among cultural

Metrical Romance - known as biag / panabiag in group.

llocano, impanbilay in Pangasikan, Kuriru in

Pamparngo, corrido in Cebuan, Ilongo, Bicol and
TYPES OF FOLK NARRATIVE
awit/korido in tagalog.
Myth - story explains the origin of the world its
Koirdo - written in verse with 8 syllables
first inhabitants.
each while awit is 12 syllables each
Legend:
  Heroic & historical - episodes in the lives Komiks - special form of contemporary
of great men & women. literature. Involves drawing frames showing a
 Religious - display of miracles of God set of characters with their actions.
and saints.
plano soft Forte-load
 Supernatural - existence of beings from
the underworld. Lesson 6: MUSIC
 Toponymic - explains why a certain
Music - considered to be the last tangible of the
place has this name.
arts. (arrangement of sound)
Folktales- animal tales/fables.

Essay - explain insights and/or information using

ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
description, narration/humor.
Melody - refers to succession of consecutive
 Formal essay - discusses crucial topics
notes/types changing in pitch/duration.
based on research in serious manner.
 Informal essay - enables writers to Melody - is inseparable from rhythm.

express his/her experience. Rhythm - patterns in time. three (3) qualities:

Novel - a lengthy & complex narrative of events  Tempo - fast/slow of the music.
based on author's imagination  Meter - unit of time

 Didactic Tradition - to guide people in (accented/unaccented beats/pulse)

the Roman Catholic faith.  Rhythmic pattern

 Romantic Tradition - Love, magic, Harmony - combination of different tones

religious. /pitches played together.( applicable sa chords n
 Realist Tradition - describing ot only sa vocal)
experiences of a person/people as
Texture - relationship of melodic & harmonic
social structures.
lines in music. (more melodic line = thick music)
 Radical Tradition - promotes change in
social and political system. Dynamics - degree of softness & loudness of
music.
Short story - a concise secular narrative.
Timbre - also known as tone color refers to the
quality of sound generated by
instrument/voice.
Form - refers to how the other elements of
music are organized.
FORMS AND TYPES OF PHILIPPINES MUSIC
three types of Philippine music:
 Ethnic Tradition
 European influenced religious
secular music.
 American-inspired popular, classical,
and semi classical music.
Ethnic Traditional music - music that has similar
elements with music from Southeast Asian,
 Ballad - a song that explains an event
occurring in a community.
"ballad" - is loosely described as
a popular romantic song in the
urban areas.
 Chant - song with an unaccompanied
melody & variable rhythm. (usually
found in epic songs)
 Song debate song - involving male and
female sing as who try to outsmart each
other about certain topic.(love,
courtship, and marriage.)
on
European influenced Religious and Secular
Music
 Art song - characterized by merging the
voice part, lyrics, and the
accompaniment.
 Kundiman - signature love song of the
Philippine
 Habanera/panza - refers to a social
dance in duple time, (from cuba)
and (performed in stage/ballroom)
 Liturgical Music - refers to social
instrument composition that go
together with the official rites of
Christian Churches.
 Kumintang – war song (kumintang =
dance of love accompanied with guitar
and bajo de unas/string bass)
 Pasyon chant – various style used
throughout the country for the singing
of pasyon (usually in two groups)
American inspired music - there (3); classical,
semi- classical, popular music.
Classical music:
 Chamber Music - refers to instrument
played by a small ensemble.
  Choral Music - involves music written  Symphony: considered as sonata. - has
for a group of singers. Choral three/four different movement (no
composition can be: symphony at 1981-1990)
 Suite - refers to a well-arranged set of
Monodic - sung together or unison without
individual movements. (scenery and folk
accompaniment.
songs)
Homophonic - consist of one melodic line  Concert overture - typically written in a
that is accompanied by chords/instrument. sonata – allegro from.

Polyphonic- entails two / more distinct and  Symphonic poem - called the "tone

equally significant melodic lines at the same poem" based on nonmusical/realistic

time. idea.

 Opera - essentially drama that is sung Semi-classical Music

accompanied by instruments.  Band music - Composition created for

Filipinization of opera began before the the band (group of brass, percussion &

early 1900s. wood wind instruments) brass band,

symphonic band, military band, jazz
Solo Instrumental Literature - this type of music
band.
highlights a solo instrument. Samples are:
 Marcha/march - composition with
 Concerto - piece for a solo instrument, a music played in regular phrases &
group of solo instruments, and an strongly accented rhythm (4/4)
orchestral ensemble. (ochestra ang back
Popular Music - it includes OPM-1973, Joey
up)
“Pepe” Smith.
 Sonata - work for solo instrument with
four movements (piano ang backup) Several form of Pinoy Pop:

 typical sequence of movement allegro-  Pinoy rock- use of drums, electric

andante- minuet. guitars, synthesizers, & electronic
instruments.

Symphonic Literature – refers to lengthy

 Safe pinoy pop -middle of the road.
orchestral composition
 Pinoy Folk- simple of repetitive tunes
made popular by Western Folk.
  Pinoy disco music- Filipino adaption of
Western disco music.
 Rap Fast - paced rhythmic narration.

1970s Protest song

 Jazz and classical - remain unpopular to

Filipinos.