The Importance of Art

Meaning of Art
The Importance of Art
Meaning of Art
ART: A HISTORY
visual art can be classified in diverse ways,
such as separating fine arts from applied arts;
or focusing on different media such as:
architecture, sculpture, painting, film,
photography, and graphic arts.
ART: A HISTORY
•history of art is often told as a chronology of
masterpieces created during each
civilization.
•art objects – archeological artifacts.
•major arts – painting, sculpture, and
architecture.
ART: A HISTORY
•minor arts – ceramic, furniture, any other
decorative objects.
•humanities – anchored on a strong
foundation in the arts and sciences; aims to
promote an awareness of the
interrelationships of all fields of knowledge.
ART: A HISTORY
•study of the humanities where appreciation
of the arts is given emphasis.
•creativity – solve problems or express his
feelings, give birth to a new idea and new
methods.
ART: A HISTORY
•method of creativeness is composed of the artist,
being the prime mover, his thoughts,
communicated through the performer, and the
audience as his judge.
•creativity – requires thinking outside the box,
sets apart one artwork from another.
•creative artist does not simply copy or imitate
another artist’s work.
The Importance of Arts

•understanding shapes their behaviors,

interpersonal and intrapersonal
communication and performances.
Meaning of Art
•artis (Italian) – craftsmanship, skill,
mastery of form, inventiveness and the
association that exists between form and
ideas and between material and techniques.
•artizein (Greek) – to prepare.
Meaning of Art
•art (French) - skill as a result of learning or
practice.
•art (Latin) – ability or practical skills.
•ability – make things beauty and things that
stir us; creativity
Meaning of Art
•process – encompasses acts.
•products – completed work.
•Oscar Wilde – most intense mode of
individualism.
•Elbert Hubbard – art is not a thing – it is a
way.
Meaning of Art

•F. Zulueta – product of man’s need.

•C. Sanchez – concerned with the
communication of certain ideas and feelings.
Meaning of Art

•Plato – brings life and harmony.

•Dewey – attitude of spirit, state of mind.
•Panizo and Rustia – skillful arrangement or
composition.
Four Common Essentials of Art
1. has to be man-made
2. creative, not imitative
3. must benefits and satisfy man
4. expressed through a certain medium
• the art is called the humanities since it brings
out the good and noble to us.
Art Appreciation
• being able to look at a work of art and form a wise
opinion of the work.
• having the knowledge, background, and
understanding of the universal and timeless qualities
that comprise all works of art.
• deals with the learning or understanding and
creating artworks and enjoying them.
• ability to interpret or understand man-made arts and
enjoy them.
refers to the exploration and analysis
of the art forms therefore it can be:

1. highly subjective
2. can be done on the basis of several grounds
ASSUMPTION OF ART
•art is universal, art is everywhere.
•art has no limit.
•art is not nature – man’s expression of his
reception to nature.
•art is man-made – creation utilizing his
thoughtful, skill and artistry.
ASSUMPTION OF ART
•art is artificial – imitation or appropriation
of reality and nature.
•art that is created by god is divine, art
created by man is superficial or temporary.
•art can never be natural – momentary in the
constant transformation of change.
Art Involves Experience

•art is depiction of our experiences.

•art is accompanied by some emotions.
Visual Arts
1. Visual Arts (2D, 3D)
a. painting – application of pigment on any flat 2D
surface.
b. sculpture – carving, modeling, materials into 3D,
art of making figures.
c. architecture – art and science of constructing
buildings (3D).
Performing/Combined Arts
a. music – the medium is sound organized in time.
b. dance – movement of the body in a rhythmic way; most direct
of the arts since it makes use of the human body as its
medium.
c. film – movie, series of still images.
d. theater – collaborative form of art, uses live performers.
e. literary – concentrating the writing, study or content of
literature.
f. performance poetry – composed for or during a performance
before an audience
Digital Arts –
made with the
assistance of
electronic devices.
Applied Arts – application of design and
decoration to everyday objects.
a. fashion design – applying design to clothing and
its accessories.
b. furniture design – function and fashion collide.
c. interior design – enhancing the interior of
building.
d. graphic design – artistic process of effective
communication.
Classification of Visual Arts
A. Graphic Arts – use to describe all processes and
products of the printing industry. (2D)
• painting – process of applying pigment to a surface; medium
include oils, water, color, crayons; canvas, wood, paper
(surfaces).
• drawing – art of representing something by lines made on a
surface; mediums used include pencil, pen and ink, crayons,
brush, charcoal.
• graphic processes – multi-reproduction of graphic works;
master image of the drawing or design on some durable
material such as wood, metal, or stone.
Graphic Arts
• commercial arts – designing of books,
advertisements, signs, posters to promote sale or
acceptance of product, service or idea.
• mechanical processes – rapid, large-quantity
reproduction.
• photography – chemical-mechanical process by
which images are produced.
Classification of Visual Arts
B. Plastic Arts – all fields of the visual arts in which
materials are organized into 3D forms.
• Architecture – designing and constructing buildings; stone,
concrete bricks, wood, steel glass, plastic; often referred to as
mother of the arts; plan, construction, and design.
• Landscape Architecture – planning outdoor areas; gardens,
parks, playgrounds, golf courses.
• city planning – planning, arranging the physical aspects of
community.
Plastic Arts

• interior design – designate design and

arrangement of architectural interiors;
backgrounds (walls, floors, ceilings), furnishings,
and accessories; wallpapers, furniture, textile for
curtains and upholstery.
Plastic Arts
• sculpture – design and construction of 3D forms
representing natural objects or abstract; stone,
wood, clay, and metal, ivory, jade, wire, string;
statues.
• free-standing – 3D figure, round, monumental.
• relief – images are set on a flat background, ex.
carving.
• kinetic or mobiles – moving 3D figures, suspended
in air, ex. good luck sign on doors.
Plastic Arts

• crafts – designing and making of objects by hand;

ceramics, jewelry, weaving.
• industrial design – mass produced crafts; design
of objects for machine production, designs of
automobiles and household appliances.
Plastic Arts

• dress and costume design – design of wearing

apparel of all types.
• theater design – design of settings for dramatic
production.
Literature – art combining spoken or
written words and their meanings
into forms.

• drama – form of literature.

• essay – non-fiction, expository writing.
• prose fiction – narratives created by the author;
novel or a short story describes characters and
events which the author has invented.
Literature

• poetry – literature of a highly expressive nature using

special forms and choice of words; narrative poetry
includes epics, romances, and ballads; lyric forms
include the sonnet, ode, elegy, and song.
• miscellaneous – high quality of writing; history,
biography, letters, journals, diaries; both fiction and
non-fiction such as novels, biographies, and poems.
Music – art of
arranging sounds
in rhythmic
succession and
generally in
combination; song,
march, sonata,
fantasy, concerto,
and symphony.
Drama and Theater

• Drama – story re-created by actors on a stage in

front of an audience.
Common Types of Drama

• tragedy – greatest dramatic art forms; central

character comes to some sad or disastrous end;
portray suffering.
• melodrama – action rather than characters;
sensational or romantic, happy ending.
Common Types of Drama

•comedy – all plays with happy endings.

• romantic comedy – amusing tale of lovers.
• farce – emphasis is on jokes, humorous
physical action.
• comedy of manners – drawing room comedy,
satirical; witty dialogue.
Dance – creative form
that allows people to
freely express
themselves; movement of
the body and the feet in
rhythm.
Types of Dances

•ethnology – folk dancing.

•social or ballroom dance – performed by
pairs; waltz, rhumba, tango.
•ballet – middle ages; solo or concerted dances
with mimetic actions accompanied by music;
theme or story.
Types of Dances
•modern dance – contemporary or interpretative
dance; rebellion against the classical formalism
of ballet: emphasize personal communication of
moods and themes.
•musical comedy – soloists, groups, choruses in
theaters, motion pictures, and television; ballet,
modern, acrobatics.
Functions of Art
•Personal Function
• provide comfort, happiness, and convenience to
human beings.
• varied and highly subjective.
• may create an art out of the need for self-
expression.
• can also be mere entertainment.
• may also be therapeutic.
Functions of Art

•Social Function
• used for public display and celebration.
• used to affect collective behavior, ex. political art.
• may convey message of protest or contestation.
• social conditions through photography.
• performance art like plays can also rouse emotions.
Functions of Art

•Physical Function
• found in artworks that are crafted in order to
serve some physical purpose.
• architecture, jewelry-making, interior design.
Functions of Art

•Aesthetic Function
• man becomes conscious of the beauty of nature.
• learns to use love, preserve them for his enjoyment
and appreciation.
• aesthetics is when there are the real feelings of
appreciation of nature’s beauty and are manifested
through appreciation and enjoyment when in
contact with the artwork.
Functions of Art
•Utilitarian Function
• man is provided with shelter, clothing, food,
light, medicine, beautiful surroundings,
personal ornamentals, transportation.
• improves nature through landscape gardening,
creation of super-highways, and through
propagation and conservation – of natural
resources.
Functions of Art
•Cultural Function
• helps preserve, share and transmit culture from
one generation to another.
• makes man aware of his cultural background,
making him more knowledgeable.
•Spiritual Function
• to reinforce the religious or spiritual support of a
culture.
Motivated Functions of Art

1. Communication.
• art is a form of communication.
• it has an intent or goal directed toward another
individual, motivated purpose.
• illustrative arts, scientific illustration, maps.
Motivated Functions of Art
2. Art as entertainment.
• seek to bring about a particular emotion or mood,
for the purpose of relaxing or entertaining the
viewer.
3. The Avant – Garde
• art for political change.
• Dadaism, Surrealism, Russian Constructivism, and
Abstract Expressionism.
Motivated Functions of Art
4. Art for social causes.
• used to raise awareness for a large variety of causes.
• trashion – using trash to make fashion.
5. Art for social inquiry, subversion, and/or anarchy.
• subversive or de- constructivist art may seek to question
aspects of society without any specific political goal.
• simply to criticize some aspect of society.
• graffiti – street art.
Basic Philosophical Perspective on Art
1. Art as imitation.
• Plato, 2000 – The Republic, artists as imitators
and art as mere imitation.
• things in this world are only copies of the
original.
• Socrates claimed that art is an imitation of
imitation.
Basic Philosophical Perspective on Art

2. Art as representation.
• Aristotle – aid to philosophy in revealing truth.
• all kind of art represent reality as it is.
• art serves two particular purposes: art allows the
experience of pleasure; art also has an ability to be
instructive and teach its audience things about life,
thus, it is cognitive as well.
Art as representation.

• art is not to represent the outward appearance

of things but their inward significance.
• rt as representing possible versions of reality.
Basic Philosophical Perspective on Art

3. Art as disinterested judgement.

• Immanuel Kant – Critique of Judgement, the
judgement of beauty, the cornerstone of art, as
something that can be universal, despite its
subjectivity.
Basic Philosophical Perspective on Art

4. Art as a communication of emotion.

•Leo Tolstoy – What is Art, art plays a big
role in communication to its audience’s
emotions.
•serves as a language, a communication
device that articulates feelings.
Other Basic Philosophical Perspective
on Art

1. Art for art’s sake.

• Kant – art has its own reason for being.
•art object is best understood as an
autonomous creation to be valued only for
its success.
Other Basic Philosophical Perspective
on Art

2. Art as an escape.
•ceremony of doing or creating art touches the
deepest realms of the mind.
•transforms the artist at the very core of his or
her being.
Other Basic Philosophical Perspective
on Art
3. Art as functional.
•art serves a function.
•meant to be used, to enrich lives to be
spiritually potent, to educate, to support or
protest existing power structures, to
entertain.
Lesson 4:
Subject and
Content of Arts
Directions: Choose one
artwork that you like
and take a picture. Try
to list down the objects
that capture your eyes.
Study the things you
have noted and share
your ideas about the
meaning of the art you
have chosen.
In perceiving art, we need to
understand that every artwork
is composed of three parts:
subjects, content, and form.
However, people tend to
misunderstand the difference
between subject and content.
There are three basic parts of
an artwork.
Basic Components of an Artwork
a. Subject – the image that is being emphasized in
a painting; the what of an artwork.
b. Content – the implication that the artist or
artwork is trying to communicate to the
spectators; the why
c. Form – the creation and the construction of the
artwork – how the medium and elements of art
are applied together; the how
Subject and Content
of Arts
Subject and Content of Art
osubject of art is dynamic and forceful as man’s way of
life, culture, and imagination.
osubject and content of art never comes to an end.
osubject of art is the matter to be described or to be
portrayed by the artist.
osubject of art is varied; this may refer to any person,
object, scene or event.
osubjects can also be real events.
Two Kinds of
Art as to
Subject:
Representational Art
oart that depict objects that are
commonly recognized.
oattempt to copy something that is
real.
ouse form and are concerned with
what is to be depicted in the artwork.
oattempt to portray the subject as it is.
ooften favored because they are easier
to recognize.
Examples:
a. still life – inanimate objects which may be either natural
(food, flowers, plants, rocks) or man-made (drinking
glasses, books, vases, jewelry) in an artificial setting.
b. portrait – painting, photograph, figure, in which the face
and its expression is predominant; the purpose may be to
show the resemblance, personality, or disposition.
c. landscapes, seascapes, moonscapes, cityscapes
d. mythology and religion, dreams and fantasies
John Singer
Sargent,
White Ox at
Siena, 1910
 Joaquín
Sorolla,
Fishermen
from Valencia,
1895
Paul Cézanne,
Four Apples,
1881
Claude Monet,
Waterloo
Bridge,
Sunlight
Effect, 1903
 Wassily
Kandinsky,
The Blue
Rider, 1903
Representational Art
Representational artwork aims to truly represent its
subject in reality. Subcategories under
representational art include Realism, Impressionism,
Idealism, and Stylization. Although some of these
forms are taking steps toward abstraction, they still
fall under the category of representational. This
category of art is the oldest of the three types and is
also the easiest to comprehend.
Nonrepresentational or Nonobjective Art
oart without any reference.
ononobjective because it has nonrecognizable objects.
oabstract in a sense that it does not represent objects.
ouses content and is concerned with how the
oartwork is depicted.
ostripped down to visual elements such as shapes, lines,
and colors that are employed to translate a particular
feeling, emotion, and even concept.
Stairway To
Heaven by
HelaLe (Hela
Zidovnik
Lesac from
Croatia).
 Landscape
n.174 p.3 by
Pluto52
(Morino from
Italy)
 W-out 0064 ‘
Omen
Solstitium ‘ by
W-out (Wout
Werensteijn
from the
Netherlands).
 D.K. by
Bernardumain
e (Bernard
Dumaine of
France),
digital
painting.
 Promotion by
kuuramantoon
is (Kira Leigh
of USA).
 Sources of
the Subject
Art
Nature
ohas been the common subject of
the arts.
ohas been the most inspiration
and object.
ogenre painting – scenario of
everyday life.
History

oart is conditioned by the

historical period in which it is
created.
orulers like to have themselves
sculpted and painted.
Greek and Roman Mythology
oa very important source of
subjects in the arts.
ofamous that they count as a
definite part of our
inheritance.
opoet, painters, and sculptors
drew largely from greeks and
roman sources for subjects
(renaissance period).
Religion
oplayed an enormous role in
inspiring works of visual
arts, music, architecture, and
literature.
oduring the renaissance.
European artisans become
artists and conscious of their
role.
Sacred Oriental Texts

osacred texts of Hinduism,

Buddhism, Taoism,
Confucianism,
Zoroastrianism, Jainism,
and Islam.
The Content of Art

oanswers the what, what is readily seen and

relates to the artwork, its inspiration.
owe are after the meaning or message that is
expressed or communicated by the artwork.
ocontent of art is the meaning, message, and/or
feeling imparted by work of art.
The Content of Art

onot the same thing as the subject matter the work

depicts.
ocontent is inextricably linked with form.
The Content of Art
omass of ideas associated with each artwork and
communicated through the following
1. the art’s imagery.
2. the symbolic meaning.
3. its surroundings where it is used or displayed.
4. the customs, beliefs, and values of the culture
that uses it.
5. writings that help explain the work.
The Content of Art

ocontent of the work is what the image

means.
ofar more complicated than the subject
matter.
 Levels of
Meaning in
the Content
of Art
Factual Meaning

oliteral statement or narrative content,

directly apprehended.
orecognizable forms, understanding how
these elements relate to one another.
Conventional Meaning

ospecial meaning of certain object.

oacknowledged interpretation of the artwork
using motifs, signs, and symbols.
oestablished through time, strengthened by
recurrent use and wide acceptance by
viewers.
Subjective Meaning

oindividual meaning deliberately expressed

by the artist using a personal symbolism
with past experience.
omeanings stem from the viewer’s or
audience’s circumstances that come into play
when engaging with art.
Keeping the Art
opublic and private institutions like museums
and galleries are also designed for keeping
art, and issues around preserving art, or
restoring art.
onational pride and glory, museums and
private collections, preservation and
restoration.
Mediums of
Art
Painting
odone on a moist plaster Fresco
surface with colors ground
in water or a limewater
mixture.
omust be done quickly
because it dries quickly.
oex. Michelangelo’s The
Creation of Adam in the
Sistine Chapel ceiling
Painting

omineral pigments mixed

with egg yolk or egg white
and ore.
ofilm-forming properties
and rapid drying rate.
oluminous tone – the colors
being clear and beautiful.
Tempera
Painting

odone by applying wax

colors fixed with heat.
oproduces luster and
radiance. Making subject
appear at their best in
portraits.
Encaustic
Painting

otransparent and quick

drying characteristics of
watercolor and flexibility
of oil combined.

Acrylic
Painting

oputting together small

pieces of colored stones or
glass called tesserae.
ousually classified as
painting, medium used is
not strictly pigment.
Mosaic
Painting

ocommon in gothic
cathedrals and churches.
omade by combining small
pieces of colored glass held
together by bands of lead.

Stained Glass
Painting

ofabric produced by hand-

weaving-colored threads.
ohung on the walls,
palaces.

Tapestry
 More on
Medium

refers to the type

of material used
to create a work
of art.
Oil Paints

ooldest mediums.
ooil based and mixed with
turpentine or linseed oil.
otakes a lot of time to dry.
ovalue of the paintings is
based on the age of the
painting.
Watercolors
odifficult to work around.
ocomparatively inexpensive.
ogenerally translucent, we
can see the texture of the
paper that lies beneath.
oallows light to bounce off
the paper and give the color
its effect rather than
bouncing off the paint.
Watercolors

ogives paintings a
mesmerizing quality.
oused to paint landscapes,
abstract pieces, subtle
objects that don’t require
too much precision.
otechniques: wet on wet,
color lifting, flat washes.
Acrylic Paint

oversatile and durable.

ocreates less mess and can
simply be scraped off.
Graphite Pencil

osimilar to normal pencils,

but they come in different
intensity levels.
oeasiest type of pencil and
less messy to use than
paints.
osketching, shading,
blending.
Charcoal

odarker in shade, cannot be

erased easily, requires
more hand control.
osoft charcoal for blending;
hard charcoal for
sketching.
oused for drawing figures
and quick sketches.
Pastels

ooil pastels – coloring

ochalk pastels – similar
to charcoal but they
come in all colors
oideal for blending and
layering.
 comfortable
with, what you
like, budget,
and
availability
(choosing the
medium)