Methods of Presenting the Art

Subjects
 Arts Subjects are:
1. Realism
2. Abstraction
3. Symbolism
4. Fauvism
5. Dadaism
6. Futurism
7. Surrealism
 REALISM
• In Art
 the artist chooses a subject from nature, he
selects, changes and arranges details to express
the idea he wants to make clear.
 Realist try to be objective as possible.
 We can say that an art or a work is realistic when
the presentation and organization of details in
the work seem so natural. Realism is the common
way of presenting the art subject.
• In literature
 Realism has for its goal, the faithful rendering
of the objective reality of human life.
 Since reality is the necessary raw material of all
art, realism has certainly existed since
literature began.
 Poetry and drama were influenced by realism,
but it was in the novel that realism achieved
greatness.
 Abstraction
Abstract – to move away or separate.

 Abstract art moves away from showing things as

they really are. The painter or artist paints the
picture not as really looks like. The picture is not
just like life. It is not “ realistic”.
 Artists began doing abstract sculpture. They
ignored the exact form of a real-life object. They
feel that the texture and shape of a sculpture were
more important to them than the exact form.
 Abstract subject can also be presented in
many ways like:
a. Distortion- this is clearly manifested when the subject is in misshapen
condition, or regular shape is twisted out.
b. Elongation- it refers to that which is being lengthened, a protraction or an
extension.
c. Mangling- this may not be commonly used way of presenting an abstract
subject, but there are few artists who show subject or objects which are
cut, lacerated, mutilated or hacked with repeated blows.
d. Cubism- its stresses abstract form through the use of a cone, cylinder, or
sphere at he expense of other pictorial elements.
e. Abstract Expressionism- is a style of abstract painting that originated in
New York City after World War II and gained an international vogue. In
other words, abstract expressionism departs completely from subject
matter, from studied precision, and from any kind of preconceived design.
 Symbolism
• A symbol, in general, is a visible sign of something invisible such as an idea or a
quality.
• It can be simply an emblem or sign like:
i. % - percent
ii. lion – courage
iii. lamb – meekness
• In poetry and painting, the symbol has a freer development. It transcends the
everyday run-of-the-mill sign and assumes a new and fresh meaning, originating
from a highly personal and even unique association born in the mind of the poet
or painter.
e.g
Spoliarium is an old painting on 4.25m x 7.75m canvas.
Lion of Lucerne – famous masterpiece of the early 19th century, is dedicated to the
memory of the heroic fight and final defeat of the Swiss guards in 1792 in Paris.
 Fauvism
• This was the first important art movement of the 1900s.
• Henry Matisse led the movement, and other important
fauves included Andre Derain, Raoul Dufy and George
Rouault, all from France.
• The fauves did not attempt to express ethical, philosophical,
or psychological themes. Most of the Artist tried to paint
pictures of comfort, joy and pleasure. They extremely bright
colors.
E.g
A tree trunk need not be brown. It could be bright red, purple,
or any other color.
 Dadaism
• The name “dada”, in French word meaning “
hobby horse”, was deliberately chosen because
it was nonsensical. Perhaps the best known
dadaist was in French artist Marcel Duchamp.
• Much dada art was playful and highly
experimental.
• The dadaist reacted to what they believed were
outgrown traditions in art, and the evils they
saw in society.
 Futurism
• It developed in Italy about the same times cubism appeared
in France,
• Futurist painters wanted their work to capture the speed and
force of modern industrial society.
• Their paintings glorified the mechanical energy of modern life
• Subject included that express the explosive vitality of a
modern city:
- Automobiles
- Motorcyles
- Railroad trains
 Surrealism
• This movement in art and literature was founded in Paris in
1924 by the French poet Andre Breton.
• Like dadaism, from which it arose, surrealism uses art as
weapon against evil an restrictions that surrealist see in
society.
• Unlike dadaism, it tries to reveal a new and higher reality
than that of daily life.
• Surrealism – super realism
• This movement was influenced by the Freudian psychology
which emphasizes the activities of the subconscious state of
the mind.
 Expressionism
• This method was introduced in Germany during the first decade
of the 20th century. Its influences were felt by the European
artists from 1910 up to the present.
• It also seemed to have influenced the playwrights in English and
Filipino like the work of Amelia Lapena-Bonifacio in Sepang Loca
(1958).
• The exponents of expressionism believed in the necessity of a
spiritual rebirth for the man in an age that was first becoming
influenced by materialism.
• The emotional expressions in expressionistic paintings could be
described as involving pathos, morbidity, violence or chaos, and
tragedy. It sometimes portrays defeat.
 Design Relationship Between Painting and
other Visual Arts
• The philosophy and spirit of a particular period in painting usually have been reflected
in many ways of its other visual arts.
• The ideas and aspirations of the ancient cultures, of the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo,
and Neoclassical periods of Western art and more recently, of the 19 th century Art
Nouveu and Secessionist movements were expressed in much of the architecture,
interior design, furniture, textiles, ceramics, dress design, and handicrafts, as well as in
the fine arts, of their timers.
• Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci were painters, sculptors, and architects.
• In graphic design:
1. Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, and Raoul Dufy produced posters and illustrated books
2. Andre Deraqin, Fernand Leger, Marc Chagall, Mikhail Larionov, Robert Rauschenberg,
and David Hockney design for Theater
3. Joan Miro, Georges Braque, and Chagall worked with ceramics
4. Braque and Salvador Dali designed jewelry
5. Dali, Hans Richter, and Andy Warhol made films
• Many of these, with other modern painters, have also been sculptors and
printmakers and have designed for textiles, tapestries, mosaics, and stained
glass, while there are few media of the visual arts that Pablo Picasso did not
work on and revitalize.
• Painters have been stimulated by the imagery, techniques, and designs of
other visual arts.
• The discovery or reappraisal of design techniques and imagery in the arts
forms and processes of other cultures have been the important stimuli to the
development of more recent styles of western painting, whether or not their
traditional significance had been fully understood.
• The invention of photography introduced painters to new aspects of nature,
while eventually prompting others to abandon representational painting,
altogether.
• Painters of everyday life, such as Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,
Eduoard Vuillard, and Bonnard, exploited the design innovations of camera
cutoffs, close-ups, and unconventional viewpoints in order to give the
spectators the sensation of sharing an intimate picture space with figures and
objects in the painting.