An INSTRUCTIONAL COURSE PACK

prepared for the students of Education

(Second Semester)

Subject: ART APPRECIATION

Pre-requisite/s: N/A
Course Units: 3
Course Hours/week: 3 Hours
Prepared by: AILEEN MELODY M. DE VERA, LPT
Course Schedule: MWF 11:00-12:00nn, 3:00-4:00 pm, TTH 7:00 - 8:30am

Lesson 3
The Visual Arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature,
such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts,
photography, video, film making and architecture. These definitions should not be taken
too strictly as many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts)
involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also included within the
visual arts are the applied arts such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design
and decorative art.

The current usage of the term “visual arts” includes fine art as well as the
applied, decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the Arts
and Crafts movement in Britain and elsewhere at the turn of the 20 th century, the term
‘artist’ was often restricted to a person working in the fine arts (such as painting,
sculpture or printmaking) and not the handicrafts, craft or applied art media. The
distinction was emphasized by artist of the Arts and Crafts movement who valued
vernacular art forms as much as high forms. Art schools made a distinction between the
fine arts and the crafts maintaining that a craftsperson could not be considered a
practitioner of art (Grau, 2007).

Visual arts include the following:

1. Fine arts. The term “fine art” refers to an art form practice mainly for its aesthetic
value and its beauty rather than its functional value. Fine art is rooted in drawing
and design-based works such as painting, printmaking and sculpture. The area
of fine art is constantly being extended to embrace new activities arising because
of either new technology or artistic invention.

2. Contemporary Arts. The visual arts also include a number of modern art forms,
such as: collage, mixed-media, conceptual art, happening and performance art,

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 film-based disciplines such as photography, video art, animation. This group of
activities also include high tech disciplines like computer graphics and prints.

3. Decorative arts and crafts. In addition, the general category of visual arts
encompasses a number of decorative art disciplines and crafts, including
ceramics, mosaic art, glass art and others.

Philosophical Perspective of Arts

Philosophical perspective points to the nature of art, including such
concepts as interpretation, representation and expression. It is closely related to
aesthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and taste.

Some of these philosophical perspectives are:

1. Art as mimesis (Plato)

Mimesis is derived from the Greek word “mimus” meaning to imitate.

Mimesis is a critical and philosophical term that carries a wide range of
meanings, which include imitation, representation, mimicry, imitation,
receptivity, no sensuous similarity, the act of resembling, the act of the
expression and the presentation of the self (Gebauer, 1992)
Mimes was an idea that governed the creation of works of art, in
particular, with correspondence to the physical world understood as a model
for beauty, truth and the good. Plato contrasted mimesis eventually shifted
toward a specifically literary function in ancient Greek Society, and its uses
has changed and been reinterpreted many times since.
According to Plato, all artistic creation is a form of imitation: that which
really exists, in the “world of ideas” is a type created by God; the concrete
things man perceives in his existence are supernatural representations of this
ideal type. Therefore, the painter, the tragedian and the musician are imitators
of an imitation, twice removed from the truth. Example, God created a bed;
then the carpenter created a bed; the artist in turn, painted the bed in his
canvass.

2. Art as representation (Aristotle)

Similar to Plato’s writings about mimesis, Aristotle also defined mimesis as

the perfection and imitation of nature. Art is not only imitation but also the use
of mathematical ideas and symmetry in the search for the perfect, the

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 timeless and contrasting being with becoming. Nature is full of changes but
art can also search for what is everlasting (Auerbach, 1953).

Aristotle’s Poetics is his treatise on the subject of mimesis. Aristotle was

not against literature as such; he stated that human beings are mimetic
beings, feeling an urge to create texts art that reflect and represent reality.
Aristotle thought of drama as being “an imitation of an action” and of
tragedy as “falling from higher to lower estate” and so being removed to a
less ideal situation in more tragic circumstances than before. He posited the
characters in tragedy as being better than the average human being and
those of comedy as being worse.

3. Art for art sake (Kant)

In the minds of late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century

philosophers, the role of art could be nothing less than to create beauty. The
beautiful, for Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804), is “that which without any concept
is recognized as the object of necessary satisfaction”. In other words, the
appropriate stance of the spectator, perceiving “beauty” is one of indifference.
This indifference does not imply, as it would in the contemporary sense today,
that one is uninvolved; it is simply means acknowledging that the beauty
possessed by the object is necessary and that the agreement as to the
beauty would be universal. In contradiction, taste is always ordered upon the
indifferent, but this indifference is also the key to the recognition of the
universality of beauty. The status of aesthetic judgement is not empirical but
logical, based upon the powers of human reason and rationality, which
excludes internal and external purposiveness or “interest”. Kant introduces
purposiveness without a purpose, allowing the mind of the one who
contemplates art freely to an unrestricted play if the mental faculties.
As Kant wrote in the Critique of Judgement, “for judging of beautiful
objects as such, taste is requisite; but for beautiful art, for the production of
such objects genius is requisite”. In a very famous statement, he asserted
that “Genius is the talent (or natural gift) which gives the rule of art.

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 The Subject of Art
1. Representational or
Objective.
Representational art
or figurative art
represents objects or
events in the real world. It
uses “form” and concern
with “what” is to be
depicted in the artwork.
Example: Painting,
sculpture, graphic arts, literature and theater arts.

Courtesy of pinterest
Filipino painting depicting the old way
2. Non-representational or non-objective.

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 These are those arts without any reference to anything outside itself (without
representation). It is non-objective because it has no recognizable objects. It is
abstract in the sense that it doesn’t represent real objects in our world. It uses
“content” and is concerned with “how” the artwork is depicted.

Courtesy by Retne-Abstract Artist

Filipino painting depicting the old way

Sources of Subject Art

1. Primary sources provide first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning
a topic under investigation. They are created by witness or recorders who
experienced the events or conditions being documented. Often these sources
are created at the time when the events or conditions are occurring, but
primary sources can also include autobiographies and oral histories recorded
later. Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of
whether they are available in original format, in microfilm/microfiche, in digital
format or in published format.

2. Secondary sources interpret and analyze primary sources. Because they

are often written significantly after events by parties not directly involved but
who have special expertise, they may provide historical context or critical
preservatives. Secondary sources routinely include pictures, quotes or
graphics of primary sources. Depending on the subject, newspaper and
journal articles can fall into both categories.

Some of these sources of art subject are:

1. Nature animals, people, landscapes. These three are the most common
inspiration and subject matter for art.

2. History Artist are sensitive to the events taking place in the world around
them. The dress, the houses, the manner of living, the thoughts of a period
are necessarily reflected in the work of the artist

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3. Greek and Roman Mythology These are the Gods and Goddesses. Its
center is on deities and heroes.

4. The Judaeo Christian tradition religion and art, the bible, the rituals of the
church

5. Oriental Sacred Texts The countries of

the orient, especially China, Japan and
India have all produced sacred texts of
one kind or another and these inspired
various kinds of art. Most fruitful have
been the texts and traditions of Hinduism
and Buddhism.

6. Other Works of Art These are the

subjects that can be found in the works
that take their subjects directly from other
works of art.

Kinds of Subject
1. Still Life These are groups of innate
objects arranged in an in-door setting. Examples: flowers and fruits
arrangements; dishes, food, pots and pans, musical instrument and music
sheets. The arrangement is that like to show particular human interests and
activities.

Still life picture of an egg

Courtesy of Pinterest

2. Landscapes, seascapes and Cityscapes Artist have always been

fascinated with their physical environment.
In Europe, the paintings of pure landscapes without human
figures were almost unheard of until the Renaissance period. They
only served as backgrounds prior to this Modern painter seem to be
attracted to scenes in cities. Vicente Manansala, Arturo Luz and
Mauro Malang Santos are some local painters who have done
cityscapes.
Cityscape painting
Courtesy of pinterest

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3. Animals They have been represented by artists from almost every ages and
places. In fact, the earliest known paintings are representation of animals on the walls of
caves. The carabao has been a favorite subject of Filipino
artists. The Maranaos have an animal form of sarimanok
as their proudest prestige symbol. Sometimes, animals
have been used as symbols in conventional religious art,
examples: the dove stands for the Holy Spirit in
representation of the Holy trinity. The fish and lambs are
Karabao in The Philippines
symbols of Christ. The phoenix is the symbol of
Courtesy of pinterest

resurrection and the peacock is the symbol of immortality

through Christ.

4. Portraits People have always been intrigued by

the human face as an index of the owner’s
character. As an instrument of expression, it is
capable of showing a variety of moods and
feelings. Portraits are realistic likeness of a
person in sculpture, painting, drawing or print
but it need to be a photographic likeness. A
great portrait is a product of selective
process, the artist highlighting certain
features and de-emphasizing others. It
does not have to be beautiful, but it has to
be truthful. Besides the face, other things
are worth noticing in portraits are the
subject’s hands, which can be very
expressive, his attire and accessories for
it reveals much about the subject’s time.
Statues and bust of leaders and heroes were quite
common among the Romans but it was not until the
Renaissance that portrait painting became popular in
Europe. Many artists did self-portraits. Their own faces
provided them unlimited opportunities for character study.
5. Figures The sculptures’ chief subject has
traditionally been the human body, nude or cloth. The body’s form structure

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 and flexibility offers the artist a big challenge to depict it in a variety of ways,
ranging from the idealistic as in the classic Greek sculptures to the most
abstract. The grace and ideal proportions of the human form were captured in
religious sculpture by the ancient Greeks. To them, physical beauty was the
symbol of moral and spiritual perfection; thus they portrayed their gods and
goddesses as possessing perfect human shapes.
Early Christian and medieval artists seldom
represented the nude figures. The figures used to
decorate the walls and entrances of their churches were
distorted so as not to call undue attention and distract
people from their spiritual thoughts. But Renaissance
artists reawaked an interest in the nude human figure. A
favorite subject among painters is the female figure in the
nude.
Aphrodite: Goddess of Love and Beauty
(Courtesy of Getty.edu)

6. Everyday Life Artists have always shown deep concern about life around
them. Many of them have recorded in paintings their observation of people
going about their usual ways and performing their usual tasks. Genre
paintings usually are representations of rice threshers, cock fighters, candle
vendors, street musicians and children at play.

Women Wasing Clothes by: Isidro Ancheta

Courtesy of pinterest

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7. History and Legends History consists if verifiable facts, legend of unverifiable ones.
Although many of them are often accepted as true because tradition has held them so
far. Insofar as ancient past is concerned, it is difficult to tell how much of what we know
now is history and how much is legend. History and legend are popular subjects of art.
While many works may not be consciously done historical records, certain information
about history can be pieced from them such as the costumes and accessories, the
status symbols, the kinds of dwellings
or the means of transformation.
Malakas at maganda and
Mariang Makiling are among the
The Legend of Malakas and Maganda
Courtesy of pinterest legendary subjects which have been
rendered in painting and sculpture by
not a few Filipino Artists.
8. Religion and Mythology
art has been a hand maiden
of religion. Most of the
worlds’ religions have used
the arts to aid in worship, to
instruct, to inspire feelings of
devotion and to impress and
convert non-believes. The
Christian church
The First Mass in the Philippines by Fernando Amorsolo commissioned craftsmen to
Courtesy of worldlyrise.Blogspot.com
tell the stories about Christ
and the saints in pictures,
usually in mosaic, murals

and stained glass windows in churches. It also resorted to the presentation of tablue and
plays to preach and to teach.
9. Dreams and Fantasies Dreams
are usually vague and illogical. Artists,
especially the surrealists have tried to
depict dreams as well as the grotesque
terrors and apprehensions that lurk in
the depths of subconscious. A dream
may be lifelike situation. Therefore, we
would not know if an art is based on
dream unless the artist explicitly
mentions it. But if the picture suggests,
the strange, the irrational and the

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absurd, we can classify it right away as a fantasy or dream although the artist may have
not gotten from the idea of a dream at all but the workings of his imagination. No limits
can be imposed on imagination.

Different Levels of Meaning

1. Factual Meaning the literal meaning or the narrative content un the work
which can be directly apprehended because the objects presented are easily
recognized. Example: stones, river, house, etc.

2. Conventional Meaning refer to the special meaning that certain object has in
a particular culture or group of people. Examples: flag symbol of a nation,
cross for Christianity and others.

3. Subjective Meaning Any personal meaning consciously or unconsciously

conveyed by the artist using private symbolism which stems from his own
association of certain objects, actions or colors with past experience.

rpreted message - manliness is being a positive part of the home team, and
a
Mastercard can get you there.
Objective or Interpretive World Views: Sorting Out the Labels
- Glenn - social scientist who works objectively
- scientist/objective scholar
- Marty - rhetorical critic of interpretive study
- Not always rhetoricians
- Humanists - study what it’s like to be another person in a specific time and
place
- Postmodern communication theorist call themselves - hermeneuticists,
poststructuralists, deconstructivists, phenomenologist, cultural studies
researchers, social action theorists
- Usually involve a combo of these terms

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- Interpretive analysis - scholarship concerned with meaning
- Interpretive scholars, interpreters = whole group
- Rhetoricians, humanists, postmodernists, critical scholars = subgroups
- Humanistic scholarship - study of what it’s like to be another person in a
specific time
and place; assumes there are few important panhuman similariti

REFERENCE/S
A. Books

Agtani Jenny Marsha B. et al (2018) Art Appreciation

MINDSHAPERS CO., inc. Rm. 108, Intramuros Corporate Plaza
Bldg., Recoletos St., Manila

Young, James O. (February 1,2010). Cultural Appropriation and the

Arts. John Wiley & Sons, p. 5. ISBN 9781444332711. Retrieved
July 22.

Cooper, Barry (2008) Beethoven. Oxford University Press US.

Cruz, Rachelle (2013-08-23). “The Bayanihan: Art Installation at

Daniel Spectrum” The Philippine Reporter. Toronto, Ontario,
Canada.

B. Electronics
www.study.com
www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-greek-art
www.britannica.com/art/Mannerism
www.biography.com
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/249300/inaul-maguindanos-living-
weavingtradition”surrealism.”The new International Illustrated
Encyclopedia of Art. 1970 ed.

Prepared by: Noted by:

AILEEN MELODY M. DE VERA, LPT SARANAY I. DOYAOEN, LPT, MS-MATH, CPA

Guro ng Wika Dekana, Kolehiyo ng Edukasyon

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