Lesson 1

WHAT IS ART:
INTRODUCTION
AND
ASSUMPTIONS
• The word Art comes from the
Ancient Latin, ars which means a
“craft or specialized form of skill”. Art
then suggested the capacity to
produce an intended result from
carefully planned steps or method.
In ancient world, they define arts
by using the bare hands only to
produce something that will be
useful to our everyday life.
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• Ars in Medieval Latin came to
mean something different. It
meant “any special form of
book-learning, such as
grammar or logic, magic or
astrology”.

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• It was only during the
Renaissance Period that the Early
Renaissance artists saw their
activities merely as craftsmanship.
It was during the 17th Century,
when the idea of aesthetic (study
of beauty) began to unfold
distinctly from the notion of
technical workmanship.

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• It was finally in the 18th
Century when the word has
evolved to distinguish between
the fine arts and the useful arts.
Fine arts would come to mean
beautiful arts, which is
something more similar to what
is now considered art.

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

• Human history has witnessed how

man evolved not just physically but
culturally as well. From cave painters
to men of paintbrush users of the
present
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• We can find cases of man's attempt
of not just crafting tools to live and
survive but also expressing his
feelings and thoughts, these early
attempts at recording man's
innermost interests,
preoccupations, and thoughts only
proves that the humanities/arts
have started even before the term
has been coined. 8
 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
1. ART IS UNIVERSAL
Art has always been timeless and universal,
spanning generations and continents through and
through. In every country and in every generation,
there is always art. It has been crafted by all people
regardless of origin, time, place, and that it stayed
on because it is liked and enjoyed by people
continuously. Art will always be present because
human beings will always express themselves and
delight in these expression. 9
 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
2. ART IS NOT NATURE
Art is man’s expression of his reception of
nature, it is man’s way of interpreting
nature. Art is not nature, it is made by
man, whereas nature is a given around us.
What we find in nature should not be
expected to be present in art too.
It is based on individual’s subjective
experience of nature. 10
THE ELEPHANT AND THE BLIND MEN
 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
3. ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE
For most people, art does not
require a full definition. Art is just
experience. By experience we
mean the “actual doing of
something”. If one is to know art, he
must know it not as fact or
information but as experience.
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 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
3. ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE
In order to know what an
artwork as, we have to sense it,
see or hear it, one fully gets
acquainted with art if he
immerses himself into it.
subjective.

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 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
3. ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE
An important aspect of
experiencing art is its being
highly personal, individual, and
subjective. In philosophical
terms, perception of art is
always a value judgement.
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 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
2. ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE
It depends on who the perceiver
is, his tastes, his biases, and
what he has inside him. One
cannot argue with another
person’s evaluation of art
because one’s experience can
never be known by another.
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 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
3. ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE
Every experience with art is
accompanied by some emotion.
With experience comes
emotions and feelings, after all.
Feeling and emotions are
concrete proofs that the
artwork has been experienced.
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