Humanities and the Arts Self-concept plays an important role in growth

and development.
• What is Humanities? Individuals have an urge for self actualization.
● Humanities are academic disciplines that Reality is defined by each person.
study aspects of human society and culture. In
Individuals have a responsibility to both
the Renaissance, the term contrasted with
themselves and to others.
divinity and referred to what is now called
classics, the main area of secular study in
• Art Explained
universities at the time.
Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating
● Scholars in the humanities are "humanity
visual, auditory or performing artifacts (artworks),
scholars" or humanists. The term "humanist"
expressing the author's imaginative, conceptual
also describes the philosophical position of
ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for
humanism, which some "anti-humanist"
their beauty or emotional power.
scholars in the humanities reject.
● The Renaissance scholars and artists were
The three classical branches of art are painting,
also called humanists.
sculpture and architecture. Music, theater, film, dance
and other performing arts as well as literature and
• Why Study Humanities?
other media such as interactive media, are included in
● Latin “humanus” which means human,
a broader definition of the arts.
cultured and refined, man is taught to be as
what the term exactly means: being cultured
Nature of the Arts
and refined;
The following are identified natures of the Arts from
● Humanities studies man and the manner in
the point of view of different artists and philosophers:
which he conducts himself from the time of his
existence to the present (Martin & Jacobus,
Art or arts is of Aryan root “ar” which means to
2004)
join or put together and has its Latin term
● Humanities is composed of academic
being “sars” or “artis” which means everything
disciplines that make it distinctive in both
that is artificially made or composed by man
content and method from the physical and
(wikipedia)
biological sciences and from the social
sciences Art constitutes one of the oldest and most
● The study is devoted to understanding the important means of expression developed by
different phenomena within the human cultural man.
contexts Humanities studies how people It refers to the skillful arrangement or
process and document the human experience composition of some common but significant
using philosophy, religion, literature, art and qualities of nature such as sounds, colors,
history as their way of understanding and lines, movements, words, stone and wood to
recording the world express feelings, thoughts, imaginations and
dreams in an amazing, meaningful and
Fundamental Principles of Humanities enjoyable way. (Adams, 2002)
The following are identified fundamental Art is subjective as it employs the use of
principles of Humanities which are used as perception, insights, feelings and intuition
guides for a better understanding of life and It is the heightened expression of human
man’s existence. dignity and weaknesses felt and shared so
Human nature is inherently good. powerfully in a world increasingly aware of its
Individuals are free and are capable of making successes and failures
choices. It is man’s expression of himself as an
Human potential for growth and development individual and how he views his existence,
is virtually unlimited. and
 Art also provides enjoyment and stimulation
specially when people understand them
Functions of Art
• The Artistic Philosophers
Arts is a much needed avenue for people to
Express freely oneself;
Socially express his need for display, celebration and
communication; and
Physically express the need for utility of functional
objects.
2. Aristotle ( 384 – 322 BC)
Functional art is generally applied art
● It's art that serves a function, but is designed
artistically for the purpose of beauty. They
meet a need for use, and are works of art as
well.
3. Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
Nonfunctional art
● art that serves no utilitarian purpose. It is in
direct contrast with functional art
• Philosophy and Arts Related
● Philosophy is a field of discipline which has
attempted to explain almost all aspects of
human existence. Philosophy is the study of
general and fundamental questions about
existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind,
and language.
● The term was probably coined by Pythagoras.
Art or Aesthetics
● is a branch of philosophy that deals with the
nature of beauty and taste, as well as the
philosophy of art. It examines subjective and
sensori-emotional values, or sometimes called
judgments of sentiment and taste.
Philosophy of art
● is the study of the nature of art, including
concepts such as interpretation,
representation and expression, and form
● one cannot do away with philosophy when
explaining an art work
Plato ( 428 – 347 BC) is a philosopher of
Ancient Greece
He also explained that the physical world is a
copy of a perfect, rational, eternal and
changeless original which he called FORMS.
Art is imitation;
Art is dangerous
was a student of Plato who first distinguished
between “what is good and what is beautiful'
As exemplified in his Poetics, he stated that
physical manifestation of beauty is affected by
SIZE.
He considered art as imitation or a
representation of nature and his emphasis of
the art is on POETRY which for him is more
philosophical than Philosophy itself.
was a German, Enlightenment philosopher
who wrote a treatise on Aesthetics
His main interest was not on art but on
BEAUTY that it is a matter of TASTE. Kant
explained that TASTE can be both
SUBJECTIVE and UNIVERSAL
● An artist is a person engaged in an activity
related to creating art, practicing the arts, or
demonstrating an art
● "Artiste" (the French for artist
● An artisan (from French: artisan, Italian:
artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes
or creates things by hand that may be
functional or strictly decorative
The Art Forms 5. Fauvism
1. Architecture 6. Dadaism
2. Sculpture 7. Futurism
3. Painting 8. Surrealism
4. Dance 9. Expressionism
5. Music
6. Theatre
7. Literature

Subject and Content

● The term subject in arts refers to the main
idea that is represented in the artwork.

Subject (art) -the essence of the piece.

● Some artworks have subjects and some do
not. Art pieces which use a specific subject
are called representational art or objective art;
while those that have no subjects are called
non-representational or non-objective art.

Representational art
● refers to art which represents something,
● It is art which is clearly identifiable as
something which already exists in life.

Non-representational or non-objective art,

● refers to compositions which do
● not rely on representation or mimesis to any
extent.
○ Abstract art,
○ non figurative art
○ Non objective art,
○ Non representational art

The Sources of Subject

1. Nature
2. People
3. History
4. Legends
5. Religion
6. Mythology
7. Dreams and Fantasy
8. Technology

Ways of Presenting the Subject

1. Naturalism
2. Realism
3. Abstraction
4. Symbolism