LESSON 5

SUBJECT A N D CONTENT

Prepared by:
LUIGI E. PAANO
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
B y the end of this lesson, you should be
able to:
1. Differentiate representational art and
non-representational art:
2 . D is cus s the difference between and
artwork’s subject and its content.
3. Identify the subject matter and content
of specific examples of art and
4. Enumerate the sources of the subjects
of s o m e of the most recognizable works
of art in the Philippine History.
Three Basic Components of a
Work of Art:

● 1.SUBJECT
● 2. FORM
● 3. CONTENT
SUBJECT

●Itrefers to the visual focus or

the image that m a y be
extracted from examining the
artwork.
C O N TENT

●Itrefers to the meaning that is

communicated by the artist or
the artwork.
FO R M

●Itrefers to the
development and
configuration of the
artwork.
Offline Activity
●1.Look at the painting below
by artist David Bailly Entitled
“Selbstbildnis mit
Vanitassymbolen” . List down
everything that you see
within the four corners of the
work. List a s m a n y items as
you can.
2. Based on your
answers, write an
assumption about what
the painting me ans in
the space
SUBJECT

●Itrefers to the visual focus or

the image that m a y be
extracted from examining the
artwork.
TYPES OF SUBJECT
● REPRESENTATIONAL ART

These types of art have subjects

that refer to objects or events
occurring in the real world.
M ONA
LISA
NON-REPRESENTATIONAL ART
Non-representational art does not
make any reference to the real
world, whether it is a person,
place , thing, or even a particular
event.

-It is stripped down to visual

elements that are employed to
translate a particular feeling or
emotion.
Jackson Pollock 克遜 · 波洛克 (1 9 1 2 -1 9 5 6 ) Action
painting
●Itis in this light that
representational
works are often
favored.
M a n y contemporary painters have turned
away from representational to non-objective
painting.

They have shifted their attention to

the work of art a s an object in itself, an
exciting combination of shapes and colors
that
fulfills an aesthetic need without having to
represent images or tell a story.
ACTIVITY
Identify whether it is
REPRESENTATIONAL
OR
NON-
REPRESENTATIONAL
ART.
REPRESENTATIONAL
REPRESENTATIONAL
NON-REPRESENTATIONAL
NON-REPRESENTATIONAL
NON-REPRESENTATIONAL ART
REPRESENTATIONAL
REPRESENTATIONAL
Ways of Representing
Subject
● Themanner of representing
subject varies according to the
intent and i n v e n t i v e n e s s of
each artist:

● Realism
● Abstraction
● Distortion
● Surrealism
Realism
● whenthings are depicted in the
way they would normally appear.
Abstraction
the artist selects and renders the
objects with their shapes, colors
and positions altered. In s ome
abstract works, enough of a
likeness has been retained to
represent real things.
Distortion
– it could also mean twisting,
stretching or
deforming the natural shape of the
object.
Surrealism
it is a method where the artist in
giving expression to what it is in
the
subconscious composes dreamlike
scenes that show an irrational
arrangement of objects.
ACTIVITY

● REALISM
● ABSTRACTION
● DISTORTION
● S U R R E A LIS M
REALISM
SURREALISM
DISTORTION
ABSTRACTION
ABSTRACTION
SURREALISM
SURREALISM
SURREALISM
REALISM
DISTORTION
The Artist and His Choice of
Subject

Practically everything under the sun is raw

material for the artist to draw his subjects
from.

Most, if not all, of the visual arts are

representations of what the artist thought
and felt about the world they lived in. Or they
are representations of things the artists
imagined or dream about.
• Things that affect an artist’s choice of subject

●– Medium
● – Time in which he lives and or
the patronage he gets
● – Developments in Science and
Technology
Kinds of Subject
● Landscapes, Seascapes, and
Cityscapes
● • Still Life
● • Animals
● • Portraits
● • Figures
● • Everyday Life
● • History and Legend
● • Religion and Mythology
● • D re a m s and Fantasies
 • Landscapes, Se ascapes and Cityscapes
●– Artists have always been fascinated
with their physical
● environment.
● – Favorite subject of Chinese and
Japanese painters.
● – Fernando Amorsolo, is well known for
having romanticized
Philippine landscapes.
● – Modern painters s eem to be attracted
to scenes in cities. Vicente Manansala,
Arturo Luz and Mauro Malang Santos are
s ome who have done Cityscapes
Still Lifes
–These are groups of inanimate objects arranged in an
indoor setting (flower and fruit arrangements, dishes
food, pots and pans, musical instruments and music
sheets). The arrangement is like that to show
particular human interests and activities.

– The still lifes of Chinese and Japanese painters

usually
show flowers, fruits and leaves still in their natural
setting, unplucked from the branches.

–Today, focus is on the exciting arrangement and

combinations of the object’s shapes and colors.
Anim als

– They have been represented by

artists from almost every a ge and
place. In fact, the earliest known
paintings are representations of
animals on the walls of caves.
– The carabao h a s been a favorite
subject of Filipino artists.
– The Maranaws have an animal form
of sarimanok a s their proudest
prestige symbol.
– Animals have been used as symbols
in conventional religious art.
• The d o v e stands for the Holy Spirit in
representations of the Trinity
• The fish a n d l a m b are symbols of
Christ
• The p h o e n i x is the symbol of
Resurrection
• The p e a c o c k is the symbol of
Immortality through Christ
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.

It is a 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 a selective process, the artist highlighting
certain features and de-emphasizing others.
–Besides the face, other things are worth noticing in
portraits are t h e su b j ec t ’s h a n d s , which can be very
expressive, his attire and accessories for it reveals mu c h
about the subject’s time.

–Statues and busts of l e a d e r s a n d h e r o e s were quite

c o mmo n a m o n g the Ro man s but it w as not until the
Renaissance that portrait painting became popular in
Europe.

–M a n y artists did sel f portraits. Their own faces

provided them unlimited opportunities for character
study.
Figures

The sculptor’s chief subject has

traditionally been the h u m a n
body, nude or clothed. The body’s
form, structure and flexibility offer
the artist a big challenge to depict
it in
a variety of ways, ranging from the
idealistic as in the classical Greek
sculptures to the most abstract.
Everyday Life

Artists have always shown a deep

concern about life a r o u n d them.
M a n y of them have recorded in
paintings their observation of
people going about their u s u a l
w a y s and performing their u s u a l
task .
History and Legend

History consists of verifiable facts,

legends of unverifiable ones,
although m a n y of them are often
accepted a s true because tradition
h a s held them s o far.

Insofar a s ancient past is concerned,

it is difficult to tell how much of what
we know now is history and how
much is legend.
Malakas and M a g a n d a and
M a r i a n g M a k i l i n g are a m o n g the
legendary subjects which have
been rendered in painting and
sculpture by not a few Filipino
artists.
Religion and Mythology

Art has always been a handmaiden

of Religion. Most of the world’s
religions have used the arts to aid
in worship, to instruct, to inspire
feelings of devotion and to impress
and convert non-believers
devotion and to impress and
convert non-
believers.
In the early Christian world, representation of
divinity were also symbolic. There were
precise conventions in rendering them.
– The serpent h a s been used to m e a n evil
–The Four Evangelists were represented by
animal
forms:
• St Luke by an O x
• St John by an Eagle
• St Mark by a Lion
• St Matthew by a Winged M a n
Dreams and Fantasies

Dreams are usually vague

and illogical. Artists
especially the surrealists
have tried to depict dreams
a s well as the
grotesque terrors and
apprehensions that lurk in
the depths of the
SUBJECT A N D CONTENT
● Subject refers to the
objects depicted by
the artist

● Contentrefers to
the themewhat the artist expresses or
communicates on the
whole of his work.

● Content is the
Meaning

● Inliterature, it is
the theme

● Content reveals the artist’s attitude toward his subject.

Subject Matter’s Different Levels of
Meaning

1. Factual Meaning
2. Conventional Meaning
3. Subjective Meaning
1. Factual Meaning

-the literal statement or the

narrative content in the work
which can be directly
apprehended because the objects
presented are easily recognized
2. Conventional Meaning – refers to the
special meaning that a certain object or
color ha s a particular culture or group of
people.

Examples: Flag- symbol of a nation,

cross
for Christianity, crescent moon - Islam
3. Subjective Meaning

-any personal meaning consciously

or unconsciously conveyed by the
artist using a private symbolism
which stems from his own
association of certain objects,
actions
or colors with past experiences.
A S S IGNM E NT
● Watch the B B C documentary about
Botticelli’s Venus: The Making of an Icon.
Write a reflection paper regarding the said
documentary. (TO B E S UB MITTE D NEXT
MEETING )

● TYPERWRITTEN
● TNR 12,
● DOUBLE-SPACE
● Maximum of two page s