(ART APPRECIATION)
CHAPTER 1 : THE HUMANITIES AND THE ARTS
THE MEANING OF HUMANITIES
The word HUMANITIES comes from the Latin humanus which means human, cultured,
and refined (Aquino and Santillana,2015)
It pertains to humane feelings and the conduct towards other depicting gentleness,
consideration, and manner (Allen and Autida, 2018)
According to Ortiz (1976), Humanities are records of man’s quest for answers to the
fundamental questions he asks about himself and about life.
THE CONTENT OF HUMANITIES
Humanities include anything that is inherently human - man’s experiences, his values,
his sentiments, his ideals, his goals. The humanities are thus expressions of man’s
feelings and thoughts (Ortiz, 1976)
THE BACKGROUND OF HUMANITIES
⚫ First applied to the writings of ancient Latin authors for their moral teachings.
⚫ Medieval Age - dealt with the metaphysics of the religious philosophers.
⚫ Rennaisance - set of disciplines taught in the universities.
⚫ Modern times - serves to provide the students with certain skills and values
through the arts (Ortiz 1976)
THE DISTINCTIONS OF THE HUMANITIES AND THE SCIENCES
Humanities Sciences
Deals with the internal world of man - his Deal with the external world of man
personality and experiences that cannot be including the aspects of man that can be
measured, classified or controlled. measured, observed, and experimented
exactly.
Deal with human activities and values that Are concerned with and expressed through
can be perceived by the senses, felt by the numbers and symbols.
heart, and expressed through actions in a
variety and subtle ways.
Approach towards the subjective aspect Approach towards the objective aspect.
because of the use of perception, intuition,
and insight.
Focus on man as an individual. Focus on the group of men, institutions,
and society.
Aim to make man more human. Aim to understand and control nature and
to harness energy to make life for man
comfortable.
THE MEANING OF ART
- ART is the conscious creation of something beautiful or meaningful using skill and
imagination.
- The term Art was derived from the Latin “ Ars “ meaning skill and “ Arti/s
“ referring to craftsmanship, skill, mastery of form, and inventiveness.
According to Webster, ART is “ human ingenuity in adapting natural things to
man’s use.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING HUMANITIES
1. The field of knowledge that fall under humanities will help discover and understand
the nature of man. As human beings, we learn to appreciate the different fields of
Humanities since it aims man in educating himself about the world which he is part of.
2. Humanities deal with man’s purpose here on earth which includes his values,
characters, emotions, and sometimes as a forecaster with divine intervention..
3. Humanities will help us understand the culture, world, views, language, and history
of a particular country.
4. Humanities will encourage us to think creatively based on the works of art produced
by the artists around the globe.
5. Humanities teaches us to become human and to ask questions pertaining to the
world which we live in.
NATURE OF ART
❖ Art is everywhere
❖ Art is Pragmatic instrument
❖ Art is a Reflection of Nature
❖ Art is Personal Expression
❖ Art is an Expression and Vehicle of Communication
❖ Art is Creation
❖ Art is not Nature
❖ Art and Beauty
* Another essential human need is the need for beauty and order in our surroundings.
These, in some way, bring us the much-needed comfort and harmony in our lives.
* When we see something beautiful, it brings us joy. The pleasure we feel is known as
aesthetic pleasure, which comes from the Greek word "aesthetic," which means "to
perceive with the senses."
* Our need for beauty is rooted in a primal sense of consistency and order.
* Beauty is subjective rather than objective. Beauty standards varies between
cultures.
Every work of art must be beautiful in our sight. However, this is not always the case.
We can see many works of art that we will not consider to be particularly pleasing if
we look around us. It is not always the objective of an artist to create a beautiful
subject or evoke a pleasant sensation in the viewer. He may express displeasure at
things he has seen in the human condition on occasion. He may occasionally try to
shake us out of our complacency by displaying the horrors of deprivation, injustice,
and conflict.
However, because "ugliness" is the subject, we can also derive aesthetic pleasure
from gazing at it if we perceive a sense of order and a harmonious arrangement of
formal features. The successful organization of lines, colors, shapes, and spaces to
convey an idea or feeling can result in beauty in art.
Art has the potential to offer beauty to humanity and order to what appears to be a
chaotic world. Art is thus a Humanities subject since it inspires individuals to be good
and noble. Arts and humanities, through focusing on people, may bring goodness to
people around the world as man travels through history, searching for realities and
striving to accomplish the objectives of making a meaningful and good life here on
earth.
THE SUBJECT OF ART
Subject Defined
The subject refers to any person, object, scene, or event described or represented in a
work of art.
DIFFERENCE OF SUBJECT AND CONTENT
Subject Content
- Subject is the object, scene, or person - Content is the meaning or message
depicted by the artist in his artwork. that the artist want to express or
communicate in his work.
- It is also the statement we understand
or feeling we experienced with the work
of art.
- In literature, it is the “ Theme ”
TYPES OF ART BASED ON SUBJECT
Representational Arts/ Objective Non - representational Art/ Non -
Art/ Figurative Art objective Art
- A type of art with concrete subject - A type of art with no concrete subject
- Subject represented by bright light,
dark colors, or abstract things or objects
MANNERS OF REPRESENTING SUBJECTS
REALISM
- A way of depicting things, objects, or persons where they would normally appear
in nature.
ABSTRACTION
- A method of simplifying or organizing objects and elements according to the
demands of artistic expression
- Alterations of shapes, colors, and positions.
- Reduction of original objects into geometric shapes.
DISTORTION
- The arrangement of figures wherein the proportions differ noticeably from natural
measurements
- Means twisting, stretching, or deforming of the natural shape of the objects
- Used to dramatize the shape of a figure or to create emotional effect to viewers
- To portray sadness or sufferings and to solicit reactions such as hatred, ridicule,
sympathy
SURREALISM
- A combination of realism and distortion
- Expression of what is inside the subconscious of the artist
- A dreamlike scene to show the irritational arrangement of objects
- Images recognizable from nature but combined with unnatural relationship
KINDS OF SUBJECTS
❖ Landscapes ❖ Animals
Depict inland physical environments The earliest and most popular subject of
art
❖ Seascapes
❖ Portraits
Depicts the seas and their surroundings
including objects and sceneries found Depicts realistic likeness of a person in
on them painting, sculpture, drawing, or prints
and always with clothes
❖ Cityscapes
❖ Figures
Urban sceneries - The Burj Khalifa (Burj
Dubai) and Focus: human body either clothed or
nude
* The Megaworld
* Represent human form
* Sometimes only the body with the
❖ Still life
absence of the face
Inanimate objects in an indoor setting
❖ Everyday life
- Represents man’s daily activities ❖ Myth
- Represents mythological symbols,
gods, and goddesses
❖ History
❖ Dreams
- Portrays historical scenes or significant
events in the past - Describe vague and illogical scenes
and sometimes life like situations which
* The Spolarium
seems to represent something real,
* Tracing Rizal’s footsteps in Dapitan unless the artist tells us that his work is
only a dream
❖ Legend
- Depicts legendary stories ❖ Fantasy
* Maria Makiling - A depiction of strange, irrational and
absurd scene
* Si Malakas at si Maganda
❖ Religion
- Pictures religous symbols and
personalities which are used to aid
worship and inspire or instruct feeling or
devotion
THE FUNCTION OF ART
General Functions:
1. Satisfying individual needs for personal expression
2. Satisfying social needs for display, celebrations, and communications
3. Satisfying physical needs for utilitarian objects and structures
Specific Functions:
⚫ Personal Function
Arts serves the needs of individuals. For art serves as vehicle of expression of their
feelings and ideas for self-fulfillment (e. g. a painter paints the portrait of his
sweetheart to express his longing for her, a song composer/writer composed or wrote
a song to appease his feeling of loneliness or reaction to the situation).
We sing, dance, paint, compose a poem or song to express our happiness, loneliness,
or to do away our boredom. We listen to music to ease our tension. Art strengthens
our awareness of the beautiful in life; hence, it can make our existence less boring.
Art offers us fresh insights about human nature and by this we are given a better
understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Thus, it helps improve our life.
Movie, drama, theater, literature have important roles in reshaping our life.
⚫ Social Function
Art takes social function when it is used in:
a. Influencing social behavior. Artworks take the role of moving people or society to
react on certain concern or issue. They can bring about in us decisions to collectively
change, correct or improve upon the human condition.
e. g. The use of materials to influence people's beliefs, decisions, tastes, etc. such as:
1. advertisement posters/billboards
2. political, religious, cultural murals, streamers, banners, flags, billboards, flyers,
banderittas, effigies
3. social and political photographs depicting poverty, human rights violations and
other social issues
4. political and social cartoons
5. songs of alternative artists such as: Asin's Pagbabalik, Joey Ayala's Magkabilaan.
Pol Galang's Bigas hindi Bala, Freddie Aguilar's Anak, etc.
6. poems and literary pieces
7. movies
8. religious visual arts
b. display and celebrations. Sculptures and paintings and other visual arts are used to
commemorate important personages and events in society.
e. g. statues and monuments of heroes/leaders, images of saints and other religious
symbols displayed in religious venues and events like Christmas lanterns, masks for
Moriones and Masskara festivals
⚫ Physical Function
It refers to the function of art wherein it is utilized for the physical, bodily and material
needs of man to make him physically comfortable. Art takes physical function when it
is used either as tools or containers.
e. g. Tools - spoons, cars, ball pens, plates, knives, etc. Containers chairs, buildings,
vases, communities/subdivisions, houses, schools, churches, markets, malls, hospitals,
recreation centers, airports, ports, streets, roads, industrial buildings, parks, plazas,
etc.
Art has the power to transform, to illuminate, to educate, inspire
and motivate.
"Art is life; life is life, but to lead life artistically is the art of life."
-Peter Altenberg
