Art Appreciation
Assumptions of Art
Art is something that is perennially around us.
Some People may deny having to do with arts but
is its indisputable that life presents us with many
forms of and opportunities for communion with
the arts.
Why study the Humanities?
For as long as man existed in this planet, he has
cultivated the land, altered the conditions of fauna
and the flora, in order to survive. Alongside these
necessitates, man also marked his place in the
world through his works. Through his bare hands.
Man constructed infrastructures that tended to his
needs, like his house. He sharpened swords and
spears. He employed fire in order to melt gold.
The word “art” comes from the ancient Latin, ars
which means a “craft or specialized form of skill,
like carpentry or smiting or surgery.”
Art then suggested the capacity to produce and
intended resilt from carefully plan steps or
methods. The Ancient World did not have any
conceived notion of art in the same way that we do
now. To them, art only meant using the bare hands
to produce something that will be usefull one’s
day-to-day life.
Ars in Medieval Latin came to mean something
different, it meant “any special form of book-
learning, such as grammar or logic, magic or
astrolog.”
It was only during the Renaissance Period
that the word reacquired the meaning that was
inherent int its ancient form of craft. Early
Renaissance artist saw their activities merely as
craftmanship. Devoid of a whole lot of intonations
that are attached to the word now.
It was during the 17th century when the
problem and idea of aesthetics, the study of
beauty, began to unfold distinctly from the notion
of technical workmanship, which was the original
conception of the word “art”.
It was during the 18th century when the world has
evolved to distinguish between the fine arts and
the useful arts. The fine arts would come to mean
“not delicate or highly skilled arts, but beautiful
arts.” This is more akin to what is now considered
art.
- The Galloping Wild Boar found in the cave of
Altamira, Spain.
- Belong to Upper Paleolithic Age
- Even before, man is not just crafting tools to live
and survive but also expressing his feelings and
thoughts.
Art is Universal
Literature has provided key works of arts. Popular
one being taught in school are the 2 Greek epics,
the “IIIiad and the Odyssey”and “Mahabharata and
Ramayana.”
This works are purportedly writtten before the
beginning of recorded history, and believed to be
the man’s attempt at recording stories and tales
that have been passed on, known, and sung,
throughout the years.
“ART has always been timeless and
universal, spanning generations and continents
through and through.”
In every country and generations, there is always
ART. Often times people feel that what is
considered as an artistic are only those which have
been made long time ago. This is misconception.
Age is not a factor in determining art.
“ Art is not good because it is old, but old
because it is good”.
- DUDLEY, (1960)
Art is not Nature
In the Philippines, It is not entirely novel to
hear some consumers of local movies remark that
these movies produced locally are unrealistic. They
contend that local movies work around certsin
formula to the detriment of substance and
faithfulness to reality of the movies. These critical
minds argue that a good movie must reflect reality
as closely as possible, is that so?
One important characteristic of art is that it is not
nature.
-Art is mans’s expression of his reception of nature.
- Art is man’s way of interpreting nature
- Art is made by man
What we find in nature should not be
expected to be present in art too. Movies are not
meant to br direct representation reality. They
may, according to the movie maker’s perception of
reality be a reinterpretation or even distortion
nature.
Paul Cezanne, a French painter
Painted a scene from reality entitled“Well and “The role of art
Grinding Wheel in the forest of the Chateau Noir. as a creative
work is to depict
The said scene is inspired by a real scene in the world in a
a forest around the Chateau Noir area near is in completely
Cezanne’s native Province. Comparing the two, one different light
can see that Cezanne has changed some patterns and perspective”
-Jean-Paul Satre
and details from the way they were actually in the
photograph, what he did is not nature, it’s art.
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” (Dudley
et.,al 1960)
When one claims that he has experienced
falling in love, getting hurt, and bouncing back, he
in effect claims that he knows the (sometimes)
endless cycle of loving.
Dudley et al. (1960) affirmed that “all art
depends on experience, and if one is to know art,
he must know it not as fact or information but as
experience.
A work of art connot be abstracted from
actual doing. In order to know what an artwork is,
we have to sense it, see or hear it, and see AND
hear it. To fully appreciate our national hero’s
monument, one must go to Rizal Park and see the
actual sculpture. In order to know Beyonce’s music,
one must listen to it to actually experience them.
A famous story about someone who adores Picasso
goes something like this; Years ago, Gertrude Stein
was asked why she bought the pictures of the then
unknown Picasso. “ I like to look at them” said Miss
Stein (Dudley et al., 1960)
An important aspect of experiencing art is its being
highly personal, individual, and subjective. In
philosophical terms, perception of art is a value
judgement. It depend on who the perceiver is, his
taste, his biases, and what he has inside him.
DESGUSTIBUS NON DISPUNTANDUM EST ( Matters
of taste are not matters of dispute). One connot
argue with another person’s evaluation of art
because one’s experience can never be known by
another.
finally, without experience,there is no art. The
artist has to be foremost, a perceiver who is
directly in touch with art.

Art Appreciation as a Way of Life