Mt. Carmel College of San Francisco, Inc.
San Francisco, Agusan del Sur
8501, San Francisco, Agusan del Sur
Tel. No. (Philcom) (085) 839-21-61
ART APPRECIATION
SELF-LEARNING MODULE
Module Introduction:
How would you define “art?” For many people, art is a specific thing: a painting, sculpture,
or photograph, a dance, a poem, or a play. Art is uniquely human and tied directly to
culture. As an expressive medium, it allows us to experience sublime joy, deep sorrow,
confusion, and clarity. It gives voice to ideas and feelings, connects us to the past, reflects
the present, and anticipates the future. Visual art is a rich and complex subject whose
definition is in flux as the culture around it changes. This unit examines how art is defined
and the different ways it functions in societies and cultures.
WEEK 1
LESSON NO. 1 Definitions, Artistic Roles, and Visual Thinking
LESSON TITLE/S Definition of Art
DURATION/HOURS 3 hours
Specific Learning Outcome/s:
At the end of the session, the students are expected to:
1. Define “art” within the cultural perspective
2. Explain the difference between “objective” & “subjective”
3. Explain the different roles art plays within different cultures.
4. Define the term ‘subject matter.’
5. Define the categories ‘realistic’, ‘abstract,’ and ‘non-objective.’
6. Recognize, evaluate, and describe artistic styles.
7. Discuss the meaning of ‘aesthetics’ and its relationship to cultural conventions.
8. Identify and discuss issues of visual awareness.
TEACHING LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Task 1: Activity
Write About It
Write a brief (approximately one page) response in your journal to the following
questions.
What has been your exposure to visual art?
Has it been primarily from your family? School? Social activities? Personal
explorations?
Do you make art? If so, what kind?
Who is your audience?
Extend It
Optional: Please keep in mind that the course learning objectives are only
stepping stones towards gaining a deeper personal understanding and
appreciation of art. So take a moment to reflect on these questions:
What are your own goals?
Do you want to make art? If so, what do you have in mind?
Would you like to display art? If so, what are some of your ideas?
Journal your thoughts if you wish and refer back to them from time to time to
see if you are experiencing progress in meeting your goals.
Share it
Optional: If you wish and are able, share your "Extend It" thoughts with others;
e.g., other students in the the course, and invite their comments and helpful tips
or experiences. Feel free to do the same for them.
Form and Content
The two basic considerations of art are form: its physical and visible
characteristics, and content: the meaning we derive from the work. These two
terms are roped together in the climb to understand what art has to offer us. As we
examine art from different times, styles and cultures, the issues of form and
content will apply to all of them.
Two basic considerations we need to be acquainted with are form: the physical and
visible characteristics inherent in works of art, and content: the meaning we derive
from them. Formal distinctions include a work’s size, medium (painting, drawing,
sculpture or other kind of work) and descriptions of compositional elements such
as the lines, shapes and colors involved. Issues of content include any visual clues
that provide an understanding of what the art tells us. Sometimes an artwork’s
content is vague or hidden and needs more information than is present in the work
itself. Ultimately these two terms are roped together in the climb to understand
what art has to offer us.
As we examine art from different time periods, styles and cultures, the issues of
form and content will apply to all of them. We’ll explore form and content further in
Modules 3 and 4.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is the philosophical argument about the nature of beauty. It’s an idea
central to any exploration of art. Aesthetics deals with notions of taste, cultural
conventions and the judgments we make based on our perceptions.
As deep as visual art is embedded in the fabric of our lives, it still is the source of
controversy and irony. It thrives on common experience yet contradicts ideas of
ourselves. Art is part of the culture it’s created in, but can reflect many cultures at
once. From where you and I stand today art has become probably more complex
than ever. We need a way to access the visual information of our society, of past
cultures, and cultures not known to us to have a way to understand what we are
looking at.
Subjective and Objective Perspectives
So, the first level in approaching art is learning to LOOK at it. In future
discussions we will spend more time in pure observation than you probably have
done before. Generally, we tend to look at art in terms of "liking" it FIRST, and
"looking" at it later. From this perspective, the "subjective" (knowledge residing in
the emotions and thoughts of the viewer) almost completely dominates our way of
looking at art. In the arts, it is especially important to begin to develop an informed
or objective opinion rather than just an instinctual reaction. An objective view is
one that focuses on the object’s physical characteristics as the main source of
information. This does not mean that you will remove or invalidate your subjective
feelings about a work. In fact you will find that the more informed you become,
the more artwork will affect you emotionally and intellectually. It does mean that
you will learn alternative ways to approach art, ways that allow you to find clues to
meaning and to understand how art reflects and affects our lives.
It’s complex, but the satisfaction of looking at art comes from exploring the work to
find meaning, not shying away from it simply because we don’t ‘understand’ it.
Finding a definition is important because of the role art plays in societies and
cultures.
Artistic Roles
Description
A traditional role of visual art is to describe our self and our surroundings. Some of
the earliest artworks discovered are drawings and paintings of humans and wild
animals on walls deep within prehistoric caves. One particular image is
a hand print: a universal symbol of human communication.
Portraits
Today portraits, landscapes and still life are common examples of description.
Portraits capture the accuracy of physical characteristics but the very best also
transfer a sense of an individual’s unique personality. For thousands of years this
role was reserved for images of those in positions of power, influence and authority.
The portrait not only signifies who they are, but also solidifies class structure by
presenting only the highest-ranking members of a society. The portrait bust of
Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, dated to around 1300 BCE, exemplifies beauty and
royalty. The full-length Imperial Portrait of Chinese Emperor Xianfeng not only
shows realism in the likeness of the emperor, it exults in the patterns and colors of
his robe and the throne behind him.
Landscapes
Landscapes – by themselves – give us detailed information about our natural and
human made surroundings; things like location, architecture, time of day, year or
season plus other physical information such as geological elements and the plants
and animals within a particular region. ‘Nebamun Hunting Fowl’ (below) is loaded
with specific plant and animal life in Egypt’s Nile river delta. This wall painting,
dating from around 1350 BCE, shows the scribe Nebamun as he stands in a reed
boat near a thicket of papyrus capturing ducks. His cat actively grabs at two birds
as they try to fly away. Amongst the different species are hawks, butterflies,
herons, songbirds, and fish. The figure sitting in the boat is his daughter. The
larger female figure standing at the stern is his wife. The artist records the scene in
great detail; he paints every feather on the birds, and every scale on the fish
beneath the boat.
Scientific Illustration
Indeed, in many western cultures, the more realistic the rendering of a scene the
closer to our idea of the ‘truth’ it becomes. In the 15th century German artist
Albrecht Durer creates vivid works that show a keen sense of observation.
His Lobster from 1495 is uncanny in its realism and sense of animation.
Out of this striving for accuracy and documentation developed the art of scientific
illustration, an important part of scientific communication before the advent of
photography. Scientific illustrators concentrate on accuracy and utility rather than
aesthetics and coment many different types of scientific phenomena.
Narratives: How Artists Tell Their Stories
Artists can combine representation with more complex elements and situational
compositions to bring a narrative component into art. Using subject matter – the
objects and figures that inhabit a work of art -- as a vehicle for communicating
stories and other cultural expressions, is a traditional function of visual art.
The narrative tradition is strong in many cultures throughout the world. They
become a means to perpetuate knowledge, morals and ethics, and can signify
historical contexts within specific cultures. Narrative takes many forms; the spoken
or written word, music, dance and visual art are the mediums most often used.
Many times one is used in conjunction with another. In his Migration Series Jacob
Lawrence paints stark, direct images that communicate the realities of the African
American experience in their struggle to escape the repression of the South and
overcome the difficulties of adjusting to the big cities in the North.
In contrast, photographers used the camera lens to document examples of
segregation in the United States. Here the image on film tells its poignant story
about inequalities based on race.
Spirit, Myth and Fantasy
Tied to the idea of narrative, another artistic role is the exploration of other worlds
beyond our physical one. This world is in many ways richer than our own and
includes the world of spirit, myth, fantasy and the imagination; areas particularly
suited for the visual artist. We can see how art gives a rich and varied treatment to
these ideas. Artist Michael Spafford has spent his career presenting classical
Greek myths through painting, drawing and printmaking. His spare, abstract style
uses high contrast images to strong dramatic effect. A Smiling Figure from ancient
Mexico portrays a god of dance, music and joy. A third example, Hieronymus
Bosch’s painting the Temptation of Saint Anthony, gives the subject matter both
spiritual and bizarre significance in the way they are presented. His creative
imagination takes the subject of temptation and raises it to the realm of the
fantastic. There is an entire module devoted to the idea of the other world later in
this course.
Artistic Categories
Visual arts are generally divided into categories that make distinctions based on
the context of the work. For example, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ would not
fall into the same category as, say, a graphic poster for a rock concert. Some
artworks can be placed in more than one category.
Fine Art
This category includes drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs and, in the
last decade, new media that are in museum collections and sold through
commercial art galleries. Fine art has a distinction of being some of the finest
examples of our human artistic heritage. Here is where you will find the Mona Lisa,
and ancient sculpture, such as the Gandhara figure from India below, and
stunning ceramics from different cultures and time periods.
Popular Culture
This category contains the many products and images we are exposed to every day.
In the industrialized world, this includes posters, graffiti, advertising, popular
music, television and digital imagery, magazines, books and movies (as
distinguished from film, which we’ll examine in a different context later in the
course). Also included are cars, celebrity status and all the ideas and attitudes that
help define the contemporary period of a particular culture.
Handbills posted on telephone poles or the sides of buildings are graphic, colorful
and informative, but they also provide a street level texture to the urban
environment most of us live in. Public murals serve this same function. They put
an aesthetic stamp on an otherwise bland and industrialized landscape.
Decorative Arts
Sometimes called "crafts," this is a category of art that shows a high degree of
skilled workmanship in its production. Craft works are normally associated with
utilitarian purposes, but can be aesthetic works in themselves, often highly
decorated. The Mexican ceramic vessel below is an example. Handmade furniture
and glassware, fine metalworking and leather goods are examples of craft.
Artistic Styles
The search for truth is not exclusive to representational art. From viewing many of
the examples so far you can see how individual artists use different styles to
communicate their ideas. Style refers to a particular kind of appearance in works
of art. It’s a characteristic of an individual artist or a collective relationship based
on an idea, culture or artistic movement. Following is a list and description of the
most common styles in art.
Naturalistic
A naturalistic style uses recognizable images with a high level of accuracy in their
depiction. Naturalism also includes the idealized object: one that is modified to
achieve a kind of perfection within the bounds of aesthetics and form. William
Sydney Mount’s painting The Bone Player gives accuracy in its representation and
a sense of character to the figure, from his ragged-edged hat to the button missing
from his vest. Mount treats the musician’s portrait with a sensitive hand, more
idealized by his handsome features and soft smile. Note: click the image for a larger
view.
Abstract
An abstract style is based on a recognizable object but which is then manipulated
by distortion, scale issues or other artistic devices. Abstraction can be created by
exaggerating form, simplifying shapes or the use of strong colors. Let’s look at three
landscapes with varying degrees of abstraction in them to see how this style can be
so effective. In the first one, Marsden Hartley uses abstraction to give the spare
“Landscape, New Mexico” a sense of energy. Through the rounded forms and
gesture in treatment we can discern hills, clouds, a road and some trees or bushes.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Birch and Pine Trees -- Pink combines ‘soft’ and ‘hard’
abstraction into a tree-filled landscape dominated by a spray of orange paint
suggesting a branch of birch leaves at the top left. Vasily Kandinsky’s Landscape
with Red Spots, No. 2 goes further into abstraction, releasing color from its
descriptive function and vastly simplifying forms. The rendering of a town at the
lower left is reduced to blocky areas of paint and a black triangular shape of hill in
the background. In all three of these, the artists manipulate and distort the ‘real’
landscape as a vehicle for emotion.
The definition of ‘abstract’ is relative to cultural perspective. That is, different
cultures develop traditional forms and styles of art they understand within the
context of their own culture (see ‘Cultural styles’ below), and difficult for another
culture to understand. So what may be ‘abstract’ to one could be more ‘realistic’ in
style to another. For example, the Roman female bust below looks very real from a
western European aesthetic perspective. Under the same perspective, the African
mask would be called ‘abstract’. Yet to the African culture that produced the mask
it would appear more realistic.
In addition, the African mask shares some formal attributes such as the
exaggerated eyes and mouth, and the painted lines and designs found on the
Tlingit ‘Groundhog Mask’ (below under ‘Cultural styles’) from Canada’s west coast.
It’s very possible these two cultures would see the Roman bust as the ‘abstract’
one. So it’s important that we understand artworks from cultures other than our
own in the context in which they were originally created.
Questions of abstraction can also emerge from something as simple as our distance
from an artwork. View and read about Fanny/Fingerpainting by the artist Chuck
Close. At first glance it is a highly realistic portrait of the artist’s grandmother-in
law. You can zoom it in to see how the painting dissolves into a grid of individual
fingerprints, a process that renders the surface very abstract. With this in mind, we
can see how any work of art is essentially made of smaller abstract parts that,
when seen together, make up a coherent whole.
Non-Objective
Non-objective imagery has no relation to the ‘real’ world – that is – the work of art is
based solely upon itself. In this way the non-objective style is completely different
than abstract, and it’s important to make the distinction between the two. This
style rose from the modern art movement in Europe, Russia and the United States
during the first half of the 20th century. Pergusa Three by American artist Frank
Stella uses organic and geometric shapes and strong color set against a heavy
black background to create a vivid image. More than with other styles, issues of
content are associated with a non-objective work’s formal structure.
Cultural Styles
Cultural styles refer to distinctive characteristics in artworks throughout a
particular society or culture. Some main elements of cultural styles are
recurring motifs, created in the same way by many artists. Cultural styles are
formed over hundreds or even thousands of years and help define cultural identity.
Let’s find evidence of this style by comparing two masks; one from Alaska and the
other from Canada. The Yup'ik dance mask from Alaska is quite stylized with oval
and rounded forms divided by wide bands in strong relief. The painted areas
outline or follow shapes. Carved and attached objects give an upward movement to
the whole mask and the face carries an animated expression.
By comparison, a ‘Groundhog Mask’ from the Tlingit culture in coastal
northwestern Canada exhibits similar forms and many of the same motifs. The two
mouths are particularly similar to each other. Groundhog’s visage takes on human
– like characteristics just as the Yup’ik mask takes the form of a bird. This cultural
style ranges from western Alaska to northern Canada.
Celtic art from Great Britain and Ireland shows a cultural style that’s been
identified for thousands of years. Its highly refined organic motifs include spirals,
plant forms and zoomorphism. Intricate and decorative, the Celtic style adapted to
include early book illustration. The Book of Kells is considered the pinnacle of this
cultural style.
Perception and Visual Awareness
Visual information – images from media and the environment around us –
dominates our perception. Our eyes literally navigate us through a visual landscape
all our lives, and we all make decisions based on how and what we see. Separating
the subjective and objective ways we see helps us become more visually aware of
our surroundings. Scientifically, the process of seeing is the result of light passing
through the lens in our eye, then concentrating it on the retina at the back of the
eye. The retina has nerve cells that act like sponges, soaking up the information
and sending it to the visual cortex of our brain. Here the light is converted to an
image that we can perceive – the ‘truth’ – as we understand it to be. We are exposed
to so much visual information every day, especially with the advent of mass media,
that it’s hard to process all of it into specific meaning. Being visually aware is more
complicated than just the physical act of seeing because our perceptions are
influenced by exterior factors, including our own prejudices, desires and ideas
about what the ‘truth’ really is. Moreover, cultural ties to perception are many. For
example, let’s look at three images that share one particular element; that of raised
arms, and see how we perceive each one according to what we know about them.
Art is a resource for questioning our perceptions about how objects and ideas
present themselves. The Belgian artist Rene Magritte used his easel as a soapbox to
confront the viewer with confounding visual information. Click the hyperlink to
watch a short video where Magritte considers language and perception.
As was mentioned at the beginning of this module, there is a difference
between looking and seeing. To look is to glance back and forth, aware of surface
qualities in the things that come into our line of sight. To see is more about
comprehending. After all, when we say “I see” we really mean that we understand.
Seeing goes beyond appearances. So, as we confront the huge amounts of visual
information coming at us we start to make choices about what we keep and what
we edit out. We concentrate on that which has the most meaning for us: a street
sign that helps us get home, a view of the mountains that lets us enjoy a part of
nature’s spectacle, or the computer screen that allows us to gather information,
whether it’s reading the content in this course or catching up on the day’s news or
emails. Our gaze becomes more specific, and with that comes specific meaning. At
this point what we see becomes part of what we know. It’s when we stop to
contemplate what we see – the view of the mountain mentioned above, a portrait or
simple visual composition that catches our eye – that we make reference to
an aesthetic perception. That is, when something is considered for its visual
properties alone, and their relation to our ideas of what is beautiful, as a vehicle for
meaning.
No matter how visually aware we are, visual clues alone hinder our ability to fully
comprehend what we see. Words, either spoken or read as text, help fill in the
blanks to understanding. They provide a context, a historical background,
religious function or other cultural significance to the art we are looking at. We ask
others for information, or find it ourselves, to help understand the meaning. In a
museum or gallery it may be wall text that provides this link, or a source text,
website or someone knowledgeable about the art.
Now that we have a basic understanding of:
what art is,
the cultural roles it plays, and
the different categories and styles,
we can now begin to explore more specific physical and conceptual issues
surrounding it in the next module. Before we do this however, this is time to
complete a quiz and some other learning activities.
Activity
Quiz
Complete the following auto-marking quiz. If there are areas where you encountered
difficulties, this is a good time to undertake a review.
'QUIZ HERE
Write about it
In your journal respond to the following questions:
Do you agree with the definition for "art" as it is explained in this module? Why or
why not?
Can you add to the definition?
Is your definition coming from a subjective or objective perspective? Explain your
thinking.
Share it
Optional: If you wish and are able, share your "Write about Ii thoughts with others;
e.g., other students in the the course, and invite their comments and helpful tips or
experiences. Feel free to do the same for them.
Assignment
Using the External Links (TO BE LINKED LATER) as a resource, find a work of art to
answer the following questions. The artwork can be from any culture or time period.
Respond to the following questions in your journal. Your response should be at
least 200 words.
How would you describe the work? What medium is used?
What artistic role does it play within the culture it was created?
Does it take on more than one role? How?
2. Artistic styles change over time and throughout cultures, yet some forms are
repeated despite the changes. We can examine these forms to aid in finding the
meaning, or content, in them. View the three works of art from the hyperlinks below.
They are all from different time periods and cultures. Notice how each one has a
repeated formal element similar to the others. In your journal write at least one
paragraph to explain each work of art. Your response should be at least 200 words.
What style and category does each work belong to?
Do these similarities have ties to a common meaning between all of them, or do
you think the meaning for each work is separate from the others? Why or why
not?
What cultural, religious or other considerations do you take into account in
defining your answers?
Here are the images to view:
Conclusion
You have now reached the end of Module 1. Before you proceed to the next module,
make sure you have completed the activities and assignments. If you have been
able to communicate with others, share ideas and suggestions, and communicate
with an instructor if available, all the better. Look back at your personal goals in
the "Extend it" section. If your studies through this module inspired ideas that can
enhance your achievement of your goals, please make a note of them in your
journal.
Developed by:
DANDY V. ANINO
Part-time College Instructor
Mt. Carmel College of San Francisco, Inc.
