MODULE 1: WHAT IS ART APPRECIATION?

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish the role of humanities and arts in man’s attempt at fully realizing his end;
2. Differentiate art from nature;
3. Characterize artistic expression based on personal experiences with art;
4. Discuss the nature of art’s preliminary expression;
5. Differentiate creativity from imagination;
6. Reflect on how to use art as self-expression; and
7. Categorize works of art by citing personal experiences.

“It takes one to know one.” It means it takes an artist to make art. One may perceive
beauty daily; however, not every beautiful thing that can be seen or experienced may be
called or considered as a work of art. Art is a product of man’s creativity, imagination, and
expression. No matter how perfectly blended the colors of a sunset are and no matter how
extraordinarily formed mountains are, nature is not considered art simply because it is not
made by man. Not even photographs or sketches of nature, though captured or drawn by man,
are works of art, but mere recordings of the beauty in nature (Collins & Riley, 1931). An
artwork may be inspired by nature or other works of art, but an artist invents his own forms
and patterns due to what he perceives as beautiful and incorporates them in creating his
masterpiece.

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Let’s Begin

Art exists around us. It is certain that life presents us with many forms of and
opportunities for association with the arts. Despite the seemingly flooding instances of arts
around people, one still finds the need to see more and experience more. Plato had the
sharpest foresight when he discussed in the Symposium that beauty, the object of any love,
truly progresses. As one moves through life, one locates better, more beautiful objects of
desire (Scott, 2000). One can never be totally content with what is just before him. Human
beings are drawn toward what is good and ultimately, beautiful.

Let’s Recall

What forms of art do you know? Why do you think they are considered as art?

Forms of Art Description

Let’s Discuss

Why Study the Humanities?

For as long as man existed in this planet, he has cultivated the land, altered the
conditions of the fauna and the flora, in order to survive. Alongside these necessities, 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 initial meaning of the word “art” has
something to do with all these craft.

The word “art” comes from the ancient Latin, ars which means a “craft of specialized
form of skill, like carpentry or smithying or surgery” (Collingwood, 1938). Art then
suggested the capacity to produce an intended result from carefully planned steps or method.
When a man wants to build a house, he plans meticulously to get to what the prototype
promises and he executes the steps to produce the said structure, then he is engaged in art.
The Ancient World did not have any conceived notion on art in the same way that we do
now. To them, art meant using the bare hands to produce something that will be useful to
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 astrology” (Collingwood, 1938). It
was only during the Renaissance Period that the word reacquired a meaning that was inherent
in its ancient form or craft. Early Renaissance artists saw their activities merely as
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craftsmanship, devoid of a whole lot of intonations that are attached to the word now. It was
during the seventeenth 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 finally in the eighteenth century when the word 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” (Collingwood, 1938).

“The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means of expression
developed by man” (Dudley et al., 1960). Human history has witnessed how man evolved not
just physically but also culturally, from cave painters to men of exquisite paintbrush users of
the present. Even if one goes back to the time before written records of man’s civilization has
appeared, he can find cases of man’s attempts of not just crafting tools to live and survive but
also expressing his feelings and thoughts. The galloping Wild Boar found in the cave of
Altamira, Spain is one such example. In 1879, a Spaniard and his daughter were exploring a
cave when they saw pictures of a wild boar, hind and bison. According to experts, these
paintings were purported to belong to Upper Palaeolithic Age, several thousands of years
before the current era. Pre-historic men with their crude instruments, already showcased and
manifested earliest attempts at recording man’s innermost interests, preoccupations, and
thoughts. The humanities, then, ironically, have started even before the term has been coined.
Human persons have long been exercising what it means to be a human long before he was
even aware of his being one. The humanities stand tall in bearing witness to this magnificent
phenomenon. Any human person, then, is tasked to participate, it not, totally partakes in this
long tradition of humanizing himself.

Let’s Discuss

Art Appreciation as a Way of Life

Jean-Paul Sartre, a famous French philosopher of the twentieth century, described the
role of art as a creative work that depicts the world in a completely different light and
perspective, and the source is due to human freedom (Greene, 1995). Each artwork beholds
beauty of its own kind, the kind that the artist sees and wants the viewers to perceive. More
often than not, people are blind to this beauty and only those who have
developed a fine sense of appreciation can experience and see the art the
same way the artist did. Because of this, numerous artworks go
unnoticed, artists are not given enough credit, and they miss
opportunities. It sometimes takes a lifetime before their contribution to
the development of art is recognized. Hence, refining one’s ability to
appreciate art allows him to deeply understand the purpose of an artwork
and recognize the beauty it possesses (Collins & Riley, 1931).

In cultivating an appreciation of art, one should also exercise and develop his taste for
things that are fine and beautiful. This allows individuals to make intelligent choices and
decisions in acquiring necessities and luxuries, knowing what give better value for time or
money while taking into consideration the aesthetic and practical value (Collins & Riley,
1931). This continuous demand for aesthetically valuable things influences the development
and evolution of art and its forms.

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The Role of Creativity in Art Making

Creativity requires thinking outside the box. It is often used to solve problems that
have never occurred before, conflate function and style, and simply make life a more unique
and enjoyable experience. In art, creativity is what sets apart one artwork from another. We
say something is done creatively when we have not yet seen anything like it or when it is out
of the ordinary. A creative artist does not simply copy or imitate another artist’s work. He
does not imitate the lines, flaws, colors, and patterns in recreating nature. He embraces
originality, puts his own flavor into his work, and calls it his own creative piece.

Yet, being creative nowadays can be quite challenging. What you thought was your
own unique and creative idea may not what it seems to be after extensive research and that
someone else has coincidentally devised before the idea may not what it seems to be after
extensive research and that someone else has coincidentally devised before the idea in
another part of the world. For instance, the campaign ad “It’s More Fun in the Philippines”
used by the Department of Tourism (DOT) boomed popularity
in 2011, but later on it was found out that it was allegedly
plagiarized from Switzerland’s tourism slogan ‘It’s More Fun
in Switzerland,” back in 1951. In DOT’s defense, former DOT
Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. claimed that it was “purely
coincidental.” Thus, creativity should be backed with careful
research on related art to avoid such conflicts.

Art as a Product of Imagination, Imagination as a Product of

Art

Where do you think famous writers, painters, and musicians get their ideas? Where do
ideas in making creative solutions begin? It all starts in the human mind. It all begins with
imagination.

German physicist Albert Einstein who had made significant and major contributions
in science and humanity demonstrated that knowledge is actually derived from imagination.
He emphasized this idea through his words.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we

now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever
will be to know and understand.”

Imagination is not constrained by the walls of the norm, but

goes beyond. That is why people rely on curiosity and imagination
for advancement. Through imagination, one is able to craft
something bold, something new, and something is in the hopes of
creating something that will stimulate change. Imagination has
endless possibilities.
In an artist’s mind sits a vast gallery of artworks. An artwork does not need to be a
real thing, but can be something that is imaginary (Collingwood, 1938). It remains imaginary
until he hums, sings, or writes down notes of the tune on paper. However, something
imaginary does not necessarily mean it cannot be called art.

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 In the same way that imagination produces art, art also inspires imagination. Often,
you will find coffee shops, restaurant and libraries with paintings hung or sculptures and
other pieces of art placed at the room to add beauty to the surroundings. This craving and
desire to be surrounded by drawings and paintings of animals
they hunted: wild boars, reindeers, and bison. Clays were molded
and stones were carved into forms that resemble men and
women; burial jars were created with intricate designs on them.
These creative pieces were made not only because they were
functional to men, but also because beauty gave them joy
(Collins & Riley, 1931).

Art as Expression

An emotion will remain unknown to a man until he expresses it. Robin George
Collingwood, an English philosopher who is best known for his work in aesthetics, explicated
in his publication The Principles of Art (1938) that what an artist does to an emotion is not to
induce it, but expresses it. Through expression, he is able to explore his own emotions and at
the same time, create something beautiful out of them. Collingwood further illustrated that
expressing emotions is something different from describing emotions. An artist has the
freedom to express himself the way he wants to. Hence, there is no specific technique in
expression. This makes people’s art not a reflection of what is outside or external to them, but
a reflection of their inner selves.

Let’s Have More

The ability to create is one of the special characteristics of being human. The urge to
make and enjoy what we call art has been a driving force throughout human history. Art is
not something apart from us. It grows from common—as well as uncommon—human
insights, feelings, and experiences. Art does not need to be “understood” to be enjoyed. Like
life itself, it can simply be experienced. Yet the more we understand what art can offer, the
richer our experience of it will be.

Artistic creation is a two-way street. That is, we form art, and then the art forms us by
enriching our lives, teaching us, touching our spirits, commemorating our human past, and
inspiring or persuading us It can also challenge us to think and see in new ways, and help
each of us to develop a personal sense of beauty and truth.

What is Art? When people speak of the arts, they are usually referring to music,
dance, theater, literature, and the visual arts. Each art form is perceived in different ways by
our senses, yet each grows from a common need to give expressive substance to feelings,
insights, and experiences. The arts communicate meanings that go far beyond ordinary verbal
exchange, and artists use the entire range of thought, feeling, and observation as the subjects
of their art.

The visual arts include drawing, painting, sculpture, film, architecture, and design.
Some ideas and feelings can best be communicated only through visual forms. American
painter Georgia O’Keeffe said: “I found that I could say things with colors and shapes that I
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couldn’t say in any other way—things I had no words for.” A work of art is the visual
expression of an idea or experience, formed with skill, through the use of a medium. A
medium is a particular material, along with its accompanying technique. (The plural is
media.) Artists select media to suit the function of the work, as well as the ideas they wish to
present. When a medium is used in such a way that the object or performance contributes to
our understanding or enjoyment of life, we experience the final product as art. Media in use
for many centuries include clay, fiber, stone, wood, and paint. By the mid-twentieth century,
modern technology had added new media, including video and computers, to the nineteenth-
century contributions of photography and motion pictures. Art made with a combination of
different materials, as many artists do today, is referred to as mixed media.

What is Creativity?

The source of all art, science, and technology—in fact, all of civilization—is human
imagination, or creative thinking. But what do we mean by this talent we call “creativity”?
Creativity is the ability to bring forth something new that has value. Mere novelty is not
enough; the new thing must have some relevance, or unlock some
new way of thinking.

Creativity also has the potential to influence future thought or

action and is vital to most walks of life. In 2010, the IBM corporation
interviewed 1,500 chief executive officers (CEOs) from 60 countries,
asking them what was the most important leadership skill for the
successful businesses of the future. Their answer was not economic
knowledge, management skills, integrity, or personal discipline, but creativity. While
studying creative people in several disciplines, the authors of the 2011 book Innovator’s
DNA4 found five traits that seem to define creativity:

1. Associating. The ability to make connections across seemingly unrelated fields.

2. Questioning. Persistently challenging the status quo, asking why things function as
they do now, and how or why they might be changed.

3. Observing. Intently watching the world around, without judgment, in search of new
insights or ways of operating.

4. Networking. Being willing to interact with others, and learn from them, even if their
views are radically different or their competencies seem unrelated.

5. Experimenting. Exploring new possibilities by trying them out, building models, and
taking them apart for further improvement.

Creativity can be found in most human endeavors, but here we focus on artistic
creativity, which can take many forms. A film director places actors and cameras on a stage
in order to emphasize a certain aspect of the script. A Hopi potter decorates a water jar by
combining traditional designs in new ways. A graphic designer seated at a computer screen

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arranges a composition of type, images, and colors in order to help get his or her message
across.

There are countless ways of expressing oneself through art. The

following list includes, but is not limited to, popular art expressions.

Visual Arts

Creations that fall under this category are those that appeal to
the sense of sight and are mainly visual in nature. Artists produce visual arts driven by
their desire to reproduce things that they have seen in the way that they perceived
them (Collins & Riley, 1931). Visual arts is the kind of art form that the population is
most likely more exposed to, but its variations are so diverse – they range from
sculptures that you see in art galleries to the last movie you saw.

Some mediums of visual arts include paintings, drawings,

letterings, printing, sculptures, digital imaging, and more.

Film

Film refers to art of putting together successions of still

images in order to create an illusion of movement. Filmmaking
focuses on its aesthetic, cultural, and social value and is considered as both an art and an
industry. Films can be created by using one or a combination of some or all of these
techniques: motion-picture camera (movie camera), animation techniques, Computer-
Generated Imagery (CGI), and more. Filmmaking simulates experiences or creates one that is
beyond the scope of our imagination as it aims to deliver ideas, feelings, or beauty to its
viewers.

The art of filmmaking is so complex it has to take into account

many important elements such as lighting, musical score, visual effects,
direction, and more. That is why in famous film festivals and awards such
as the Metro Manila Film Festival and Oscars, a long list of categories is
considered to recognize excellence in the art of filmmaking.

Performance Art

Performance art is a live art and the artist’s medium is mainly the human body which
he or she uses to perform, but also employs other kind of art such as visual art, props, or
sound. It usually consists of four important elements, time, where the performance took
place, the performer’s or performers’ body, and a relationship between the audience and the
performer(s) (Moma Learning, n.d.). The fact that performance art is live makes it intangible,

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which means it cannot be bought or traded as a commodity, unlike the previously discussed
art expressions.

Poetry Performance

Poetry is an art form where the artist expresses his emotions not
by using paint, charcoal, or camera, but through words. These words
are carefully selected to exhibit clarity and beauty and to stimulate
strong emotions of joy, anger, love, sorrow, and so on. It uses a word’s
emotional, musical, and spatial values that go beyond its literal
meaning to narrate, emphasize, argue, or convince. These words,
combined with movements, tone, volume, and intensity of the delivery,
add to the artistic value of the poem. Some poets even make poems out
of their emotions picked up from other works of art, which in turn
produce another work of art through poetry.

Architecture

As discussed, art is the pursuit and creation of beautiful things

which architecture is the making of beautiful buildings. Not all
buildings can be considered architecture. Take, for example, the Grand
Theatre de Bordeaux where the functionality of the theater remains, but
the striking balance of the lines, colors, and shapes completes the
masterpiece. Buildings should embody these three important elements – plan, construction,
and design – if they wish to merit the title architecture (Collins & Riley, 1931).

Dance

Dance is a series of movements that follows the rhythm of the

music accompaniment. It has been an age-old debate whether dance can
be really be considered an art form, but we primarily describe dance as
a form of expression. Dancing is a creative form that allows people to
freely express themselves. It has no rules. You may say that
choreography does not allow this, but in art expression, dancers are not
confined to set steps and rules but are free to create and invent their
own movements as long as they deem graceful and beautiful.

Literary Art

Artists who practice literary arts use words – not paint, musical
instruments or chisels – to express themselves and communicate
emotions to the readers. However, simply becoming a writer does not
make one a literary artist. Simply conducting a succession of sentences
in a meaningful manner is not literary art. Literary art goes beyond the
usual professional, academic, journalistic, and other technical forms of
writing. It focuses on writing using a unique style, not following a

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specific format or norm. It may include both fiction and non-fiction such as novels,
biographies, and poems. Examples of famous literary artists and their works include The
Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Theater

Theater uses live performers to present accounts or imaginary events before a live
audience. Theater art performances usually follow a script though they should not be
confused with literary arts. Much like filmmaking, theater also considers several elements
such as acting, gesture, lighting, sound effects, musical score, scenery, and props. The
combination of these elements is what gives the strongest impression on the audience and the
script thus becomes a minor element. Similar to performance art, since theater is also a live
performance, the participation of the viewer is an important element. Some genres include
drama, musical, tragedy, comedy, and improvisation

Applied Arts

Applied arts are incorporating elements of style and design to everyday items with the
aim of increasing their aesthetical value. Artists in this field bring beauty, charm, and comfort
into many things that are useful in everyday life (Collins & Riley, 1931). Industrial design,
interior design, and graphic design are considered applied arts. Applied is often compared to
fine arts, where the latter is chiefly concerned on aesthetic value. Through exploration and
expression of ideas, consideration of the needs, and careful choice of materials and
techniques, artists are able to combine functionality and style.
Let’s Summarize

Humanities and the art have always been part of man’s growth and civilization. Since
the dawn of time, man has always tried to express his innermost thoughts and feelings about
reality through creating art.

Art is a product of a man’s creativity, imagination, and expression. An artwork may

be inspired by nature or other works of art, but an artist invests his own forms and patterns
due to what he perceives as beautiful and incorporates them in creating his masterpiece.
Perhaps not everyone can be considered an artist, but surely, all are spectators of art, which
gives us all a role in the field of art appreciation. Refining one’s ability to appreciate art
allows him to deeply understand the purpose of an artwork and recognize
the beauty it possesses.

Creativity is what sets apart one artwork from another. A creative

artist does not simply copy or imitate another artist’s work. He does not
imitate the lines, flaws, colors, and patterns in recreating nature. While
through imagination, an artist is able to craft something bold, something
new, and something better in the hopes of creating something that will
stimulate change. In the same way that imagination produces art, art also
inspires imagination. Through expression, an artist is able to explore his
emotions while at the same time, creating something beautiful out of it.

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Expression individualizes the artist.

Some forms of art expression include visual arts, film, performance art, poetry
performance, architecture, dance, literary arts, theater arts, and applied arts.

Answer the questions:

1. Differentiate creativity from imagination. Cite examples.

2. How can you utilize the arts to express yourself, your community, and your
relation to others?

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 MODULE 2: ASSUMPTIONS AND FUNCTIONS OF ART

LESSON 1: What Is Art: INTRODUCTION AND ASSUMPTIONS

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Characterize the assumptions of arts;
2. Break down the different functions of art;
3. Explain the philosophical perspectives on art;
4. Identify and defend chosen philosophical perspectives on art; and
5. Engage better with personal experience of and in art.

ASSUMPTIONS OF ART

Art is universal

Literature has provided key works of art. Among the most popular ones being taught
in school are the two Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Sanskrit pieces
Mahabharata and Ramayana are also staples in this field. These works, purportedly written
before the beginning of recorded history, are believed to be 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 in every generation, there is always art. Oftentimes, people feel
that what is considered artistic are only those which have been made long time ago. This is a
misconception. Age is not a factor in determining art. An “…art is not good because it is old,
but old because it is good” (Dudley et al, 1960). In the Philippines, the works of Jose Rizal
and Francisco Baltazar (Balagtas) are not being read because they are old. Otherwise, works
of other Filipinos who have long died would have been required in junior high school too.
The pieces mentioned are read in school and have remained to be with us because they are
good. They are liked and adored because they meet our needs and desires. Florante at Laura
never fails to teach high school students the beauty of love, one that is universal and pure.
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Ibong Adarna, another Filipino masterpiece, has always captured the imagination of the
young with its timeless lessons. When we recite the Psalms, we feel in communion with King
David as we feel one with him in his conversation with God. When we listen to a kundiman
or perform folk dances, we still enjoy the way our Filipino ancestors whiled away their time
in the past. We do not necessarily like a kundiman for its original meaning. We just like it.

A great piece of work will never be obsolete. Some people say that art is art for its
intrinsic worth. In John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism (1879), enjoyment in the arts belongs to a
higher good, one that lies at the opposite end of base pleasures. Art will always be present
because human beings will always express themselves and delight in these expressions. Men
will continue to use art while art persists and never gets depleted.

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 certain 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.

One important characteristic of art is that it is not nature. Art is man’s expression of
his reception of nature. Art is man’s way of interpreting nature. Art is not nature. Art is made
by man, whereas nature is given around us. It is in this juncture that they can be considered
opposites. What we find in nature should not be expected to be present in art too. Movies are
not meant to be direct representation of reality. They may, according to the moviemaker’s
perception of reality, be a reinterpretation or even distortion of nature.

This distinction assumes that all of us see nature, perceive its elements in myriad,
different, yet ultimately valid ways. One can only imagine the story of the five blind men
who one day argue against each other on what an elephant looks like. Each of the five blind
men was holding a different part of the elephant. The first was touching the body and thus,
thought the elephant was like a wall. Another was touching the beast’s ear and was convinced
that the elephant was like a fan. The rest was touching other different parts of the elephant
and concluded differently based on their perceptions. Art is like each of these men’s view of
the elephant. It is based on an individual’s subjective
experience of nature. It is not meant, after all, to
accurately define what the elephant is really like in nature.
Artists are not expected to duplicate nature just as even
scientists with their elaborate laboratories cannot make
nature.

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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 says
that he has an experience of something, he often means that he knows what that something is
about. Knowing a thing is different from hearing from others what the said thing is. Art is
always an experience. A painter cannot claim to know how to paint if he
has not tried holding a brush. A sculptor cannot produce a work of art if a
chisel is foreign to him. Dudley et al. (1960) affirmed that “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 then cannot 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. In matters of art, the subject’s perception is of primacy.
One can read hundreds of reviews about a particular movie, but at the end of the day, until he
sees the movie himself, he will be in no position to actually talk about the movie. He does not
know the movie until he experiences it. An important aspect of experiencing art is its being
highly personal, individual, and subjective. In philosophical terms, perception of art is always
a value judgment. It depends on who the perceiver is, his tastes, his biases, and what he has
inside him. Degustibus non disputandum est (Matters of taste are not matters of dispute). One
cannot argue with another person’s evaluation of art because one’s experience can never be
known by another.

Finally, one should also underscore that every experience with art is accompanied by
some emotion. One likes or dislikes, agrees or disagrees that a work of art is beautiful. A
stage play or motion picture is particularly one of those art forms that evoke strong emotions
from its audience. With experience comes emotions and feelings, after all. Feelings and
emotions are concrete proofs that the artwork has been experienced.

Describe. the picture

TASK:

Why study the functions of art?

 Art reflects a society’s cultural ideas, values, and concerns, either collective or
individual.
 Cross-cultural studies of art shows that it represents different worldviews, religious
beliefs, political ideas, social values, kinship structures, economic relations, and
historical memory.

Let’s Discuss…

What Are the Functions of Art?

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 First, proceed with this caution: No piece of art can be "assigned" a function (or
functions), either in essay or in casual conversation, if it isn't first considered within the
proper context. Trying to classify function depends on context.
Ideally, one can and know (approximately) where it came from and when. The best-
case scenario includes identifying the artist, as well, because s/he is part of the contextual
equation (i.e.: What was the artist thinking at the time s/he created this?), are the other half
(i.e.: What does this piece of art mean to you, living right now?). These are all factors that
should be considered before trying to assign functions. Besides, taking anything out of
context can lead to misunderstanding, which is never a happy place to visit.
The functions of art normally fall into three categories. These are personal, social or
physical functions. These categories can, and (often) do, overlap in any given piece of art.

The Physical Functions of Art

The physical functions of art are often the most easy to understand. Works of art that
are created to perform some service have physical functions.
If you see a Fijian war club, you may assume that, however wonderful the
craftsmanship may be, it was created to perform the physical function of smashing skulls.
A Japanese raku bowl is art that performs a physical function in the tea ceremony.
Architecture, any of the crafts, and industrial design are all types of art that have
physical functions.

The Social Functions of Art

Art has a social function when it addresses aspects of (collective) life, as opposed to
one person's point of view or experience. For example, public art in 1930s Germany had an
overwhelming symbolic theme. Did this art exert influence on the German population?
Decidedly so. As did political and patriotic posters in Allied countries during the same time.
Political art always carries a social function. The fur-covered Dada teacup, useless for
holding tea, carried a social function in that it protested World War I (and nearly everything
else in life).
Art that depicts social conditions performs social functions. The Realists figured this
out early in the 19th century. Dorothea Lange (and, indeed, many other photographers) often
photographed people in conditions we'd rather not think about.
Additionally, satire performs social functions. Francisco Goya and William Hogarth
both went this route, with varying degrees of success at enacting social change. Sometimes
having specific pieces of art in a community can perform the social function of elevating that
community's status. A Calder stabile, for example, can be a community treasure and point of
pride.

The Personal Functions of Art

The personal functions of art are often the most difficult to explain. There are many
types of personal function, and they are subjective and will, therefore, vary from person to
person.
An artist may create out of a need for self-expression, or gratification. S/he might
have wanted to communicate a thought or point to the viewer. Perhaps the artist was trying to
provide an aesthetic experience, both for self and viewers. A piece might have been meant to
"merely" entertain others. Sometimes a piece isn't meant to have any meaning at all.

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 Art has been used to attempt to exert magical control over time, or the seasons or even
the acquisition of food. Art is used to bring order to a messy and disorderly world.
Conversely, art can be used to create chaos when an artist feels life is too staid and ordinary.
Art can also be therapeutic - for both the artist and the viewer.
Yet another personal function of art is that of religious service (lots of examples for
this, aren't there?). Finally, sometimes art is used to assist us in maintaining ourselves as a
species. Biological functions would obviously include fertility symbols (in any culture), but I
would also invite scrutiny of the ways we adorn ourselves in order to be attractive enough to,
well, mate.
You, the viewer, are half of the equation in assigning a function to art. These personal
functions apply to you, as well as the artist. It all adds up to innumerable variables when
trying to figure out the personal functions of art.

Philosophical Perspectives on Art

Art as an Imitation

In Plato’s metaphysics or view of reality, the things in this world are only copies of
the original, the eternal, and the true entities that can only be found in the World of Forms.
Human beings endeavor to reach the Forms all throughout this life, starting with formal
education in school. From looking at “shadows in the cave,” men slowly crawl outside to
behold the real entities in the world. For example, the chair that one sits on is not a real chair.
It is an imperfect copy of the perfect “chair” in the World of Forms. Much is true for
“beauty” in this world. When one ascribes beauty to another person, he refers to an imperfect
beauty that participates only in the form of beauty in the World of Forms. Plato was
convinced that artists merely reinforce the belief in copies and discourage men to reach for
the real entities in the World of Forms.

Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and artists for two reasons: they appeal to the
emotion rather than to the rational faculty of men and they imitate rather than lead one to
reality. Poetry and painting, the art forms that Plato was particularly concerned with, do not
have any place in the ideal state that Socrates (as the protagonist) in Plato’s dialogue
envisions. First, Plato is critical of the effects of art, specifically, poetry to the people of the
ideal state. Poetry rouses emotions and feelings and thus, clouds the rationality of people.
Poetry has a capacity to sway minds without taking into consideration the use of proper
reason. As such, it leads one further away from the cultivation of the intellect that Plato
campaigned for. Likewise, Socrates is worried that art objects represent only the things in this
world, copies themselves of reality. As such, in the dialogue, Socrates claimed that art is just
an imitation of imitation. A painting is just an imitation of nature, which is also just an
imitation of reality in the World of Forms.

Art as a Representation

Aristotle, Plato’s most important student in philosophy, agreed with his teacher that
art is a form of imitation. However, in contrast to the disgust that his master holds for art,
Aristotle considered art as an aid to philosophy in revealing truth. The kind of imitation that
art does is not antithetical to the reaching of fundamental truths in the world. Talking about

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tragedies, for example, Aristotle (1902) in the Poetics claimed that poetry is a literary
representation in general. Akin to other art forms, poetry only admits of an attempt to
represent what things might be. For Aristotle, all kinds of art, including poetry, music, dance,
painting, and sculpture, do not aim to represent reality as it is. What art endeavors to do is to
provide a vision of what might be or the myriad possibilities in reality. Unlike Plato who
thought that art is an imitation of another imitation, Aristotle conceived of art as representing
possible versions of reality.

In the Aristotelian worldview, art serves two particular purposes. First, art allows for
the experience of pleasure. Experiences that are otherwise repugnant can become entertaining
in art. For example, a horrible experience can be made an object of humor in a comedy.
Secondly, art also has an ability to be instructive and teach its audience things about life;
thus, it is cognitive as well. Greek plays are usually of this nature.

Art as a Disinterested Judgment

In the third critique that Immanuel Kant wrote, the “Critique of Judgement,” Kant
considered the judgment of beauty, the cornerstone of art, as something that can be universal
despite its subjectivity. Kant mentioned that judgment of beauty, and therefore, art, is
innately autonomous from specific interests. It is the form of art that is adjudged by one who
perceives art to be beautiful or more so, sublime. Therefore, even aesthetic judgment for Kant
is a cognitive activity.

Kant recognized that judgment of beauty is subjective. However, Kant advanced the
proposition that even subjective judgments are based on some universal criterion for the said
judgment. In the process, Kant responded to the age-old question of how and in what sense
can a judgment of beauty, which ordinarily is considered to be a subjective feeling, be
considered objective or universal. For Kant, when one judges a particular painting as
beautiful, one in effect is saying that the said painting has induced a particular feeling of
satisfaction from him and that he expects the painting to rouse the same feeling from anyone.
There is something in the work of art that makes it capable of inciting the same feeling of
pleasure and satisfaction from any perceiver, regardless of his condition. For Kant, every
human being, after perception and the free play of his faculties, should recognize the beauty
that is inherent in a work of art. This is the kind of universality that a judgment of beauty is
assumed by Kant to have. So when the same person says that something is beautiful, he does
not just believe that the thing is beautiful for him, but in a sense, expects that the same thing
should put everyone in awe.

Art as a Communication of Emotion

The author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, provided another
perspective on what art is. In his book, What is Art (2016), Tolstoy defended the production
of the sometimes truly extravagant art, like operas, despite extreme poverty in the world. For
him, art plays a huge role in communication to its audience’s emotions that the artist
previously experienced. Art then serves as a language, a communication device that
articulates feelings and emotions that are otherwise unavailable to the audience. In the same
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 way that language communicates information to other people, art communicates emotions. In
listening to music, in watching an opera, and in reading poems, the audience is at the
receiving end of the artist communicating his feelings and emotions.

Tolstoy is fighting for the social dimension of art. As a purveyor of man’s innermost
feelings thoughts, art is given a unique opportunity to serve as a mechanism for social unity.
Art is central to man’s existence because it makes accessible feelings and emotions of people
from the past and present, from one continent to another. In making these possibly latent
feelings and emotions accessible to anyone in varied time and location, art serves as a
mechanism of cohesion for everyone. Thus, even at present, one can commune with early
Cambodians and their struggles by visiting the Angkor Wat or can definitely feel for the early
royalties of different Korean dynasties by watching Korean dramas. Art is what allows for
these possibilities

Let’s Wrap It UP
These assumptions on art are its universality; it’s not being nature, and its need for experience. Art is
present in every part of the globe and in every period time. This is what is meant by its universality. Art not
being nature, not even attempting to simply mirror nature, is the second assumption about art. Art is always a
creation of the artist, not nature. Finally, without experience, there is no art. The artist has to be foremost, a
perceiver who is directly in touch with art.
Art has remained relevant in our daily lives because most of it has played some form of function for
man. Since the dawn of the civilization, art has been at the forefront of giving color to man’s existence. The
different functions of art may be classified as personal, social, or physical. An art’s function is personal if it
depends on the artist herself or sometimes still, the audience of the art. There is a social function in art if and
when it has a particular social function, when it addresses a collective need of a group of people. Physical
function, finally, has something to do with direct, tangible uses of art. Not all products of art have function. This
should not disqualify them as art though. As mentioned and elucidated by some of the most important thinkers
in history, art may serve either as imitation, representation, a disinterested judgment, or simply a communication
of emotion.

Other perspectives:

Art forms us by meeting our needs. Not our most basic needs for food or shelter, but
deeper and more subtle ones that define us as people and as members of a society. These
needs vary with time and cultural setting. In a culture in which religion is very important, for
example, a great deal of art answers that need. In our own society, which emphasizes
individual achievement, much of our art is devoted to self-expression. Note that here we are
considering public purposes and functions of art, not the personal goals or needs of artists
themselves. Thus, we consider art in its social and cultural context, as it relates to six
functions, with several diverse examples of each: delight, commentary, worship,
commemoration, persuasion, and self-expression.

Art for Delight

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 Many of us probably think of delight as the principal goal of art. Why create art, after
all, if not for someone’s pleasure or enjoyment? We need delight, enjoyment, pleasure,
decoration, amusement, and embellishment in our lives to “lift us above the stream of life,” as
a noted art critic wrote. Absorbed in contemplating a work, we forget where we are for a
moment. Visual delight in a work of art can take many forms, including an appreciation of
beauty or decoration, or delight in an element of surprise. Aesthetics refers to an awareness of
beauty or to that quality in a work of art or other manmade or natural form which evokes a
sense of elevated awareness in the viewer. Most cultures that have a definition of “beautiful”
define it as something pleasing to the eye, and often approximating to an ideal of some sort.
In the Western tradition works from classical Greece or the Renaissance are most frequently
described as beautiful. However, what is pleasing to the eye (and hence to the sense of
beauty) varies considerably across cultures. Most
definitions of beauty in painting include a pleasant or
inspiring subject, thoughtful execution, and a harmonious
balance of colors in a pleasing arrangement. The
nineteenth-century artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler
attempted to create a beautiful work when he painted
Nocturne: Blue and Gold— Old Battersea Bridge (Fig.
2.1).

Art as Commentary

Art has often been used to answer to our need for information. Before the advent of
photography in the nineteenth century, artists and illustrators were our only source of
information about the visual appearance of anything. By providing a visual account of an
event or a person, or by expressing an opinion, artists have shaped not only the way people
understand their own world but also how their culture is viewed by others. Artists who fulfill
our need for commentary often speak in a language easy to understand; they view art’s
primary goal as communication between artist and viewer by means of subject matter.
Nineteenth-century painter Gustave Courbet spoke for this function of art when he wrote, “To
record the manners, ideas, and aspect of the age as I myself saw them—to be a man as well as
a painter, in short to create a living art—that has been my aim.” One of the classic instances
of commentary in Western art is Francisco Goya’s print series The Disasters of War. Goya
made 82 prints dealing with various episodes in Spain’s 1808–14 war of resistance against
domination by Napoleon. I Saw This (fig. 2.6) , for example, shows a stream of refugees
fleeing their homes in advance of invading troops. The mother and child in the foreground
draw an unbelieving stare from another refugee at the left. Goya
both witnessed and recorded many scenes in that conflict, some of
them rather gruesome; the title of this work indicates his presence
at the scene. His commentaries in The Disasters of War form a
strong protest against the brutality and violence of conflict. In
order to improve their distribution, he created them as prints, or
works that exist in multiple copies.
Capturing what they had seen was also one of the more
important goals of the Impressionist artists of the nineteenth
century. Artists’ commentaries often include personal judgments
on conditions, facts, or politics.

Art in Worship and Ritual

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 Another function of art has been to enhance religious contemplation, and most of the
world’s religions have found ways to incorporate artists’ creativity into their sacred rituals,
places, and ceremonies. One of the most important Roman Catholic theologians, Thomas
Aquinas, wrote in the thirteenth century of the function of art as an aid to religious teaching:
“It is befitting Holy Scripture to put forward divine and spiritual
truths by means of comparisons with material things. For God
provides for everything according to the capacity of its nature.” He
wrote, “It is natural for man to be pleased with representations,”
meaning that we humans enjoy looking at pictures of things. Thus
an artwork, if attractively presented, “raises [viewers] to the
knowledge of intelligible truths.” This belief about art dominated
visual creativity during the period in which Aquinas lived, the
Middle Ages. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Europe,
towering cathedrals were drenched in light, a symbol of God’s
presence, through windows that illustrated Bible stories and divine
truths.

The Tree of Jesse (fig. 2.9), in Chartres Cathedral in France, illustrates the genealogy
of Christ, starting with the Jewish patriarch Jesse in red at the base of the tree. The spreading
branches above show four kings in successive layers, then Mary, the mother of Jesus; Christ
himself sits at the top. The composition leads the eye upward toward Christ, a metaphor for
elevating the mind beyond the physical world toward the spiritual. For worshippers the
window thus reveals Christ’s humanity—as evidenced through
this ancestry—but also provides a vehicle for religious
transcendence. Avenues to the spiritual realm are as varied as
cultures themselves.

Art for Commemoration

As the word itself suggests, commemoration is something done as an aid to memory.
We all have a profound need to remember and show respect for those who have gone before
us. Some commemoration is personal, as we each hold memories of people important in our
lives. But commemoration is more often a more public act, perhaps celebrating a significant
person or event, or honoring patriotic actions. Commemoration of any kind connects us with
the chain of humanity that stretches back for millennia, making human life seem more
significant and valuable. Visual imagery has played a decisive role in most types of
commemoration. One of the world’s best-known monuments, the Taj Mahal in India (fig.
2.13), is an example of personal commemoration. Erected in the seventeenth century on the
banks of a river between a guest house and a small mosque, the Taj Mahal (which means
“Crown of the Palace”) was a tomb for the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan’s favorite wife, who
died in childbirth. It sits at one end of a four-part paradise garden that recalls the description
of Paradise in the Qur’an. The surface of the white marble exterior seems to change color by
catching sunlight at various angles. The proportions of the bulb-shaped dome make the
building look light, as if it barely touches the ground. The Taj Mahal’s testament to romantic
love and devotion, and its combination of otherworldliness and beauty, draws visitors from
across the world.

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Art for Persuasion

Many art forms have a persuasive function.

Splendid government buildings, public monuments,
television commercials, and music videos all harness the
power of art to influence action and opinion. They invite
and urge us to do or think things that we may not have
otherwise thought of. We do not know which ancient
Roman artist or artists created the Augustus of Prima Porta
(fig. 2.16), but we do know that they created one of the
most beautiful pieces of persuasive art. The emperor
Augustus wears a military uniform as he stands, one arm
extended, gesturing as if to address his troops. He wears
the body armor of the day, a breastplate with relief
sculptures that tell of a military victory, amid depictions of
various Roman gods. We know from contemporary coins
and other statues that the head is indeed a portrait. The face is calm, and the body seems to
stride serenely, with assurance. This is a leader in deliberate action. But the statue implies
that the emperor may be more than a man. The shoeless feet follow the Roman manner of
representing gods, and along his right calf, the Cupid riding the dolphin is a subtle reminder
that Augustus’s family claimed descent from the goddess Venus (the mother of Cupid).
Augustus seems to have tolerated such rumors of divine parentage, which likely brought him
political benefits. This statue was found in a private home, but it resembles others that the
Romans routinely set up in public places, requiring citizens to bow toward them or salute as
they passed. The Romans knew that societies run more efficiently if the people believe their
rulers to be strong and wise, and this statue boldly encourages that belief.

Art as Self-Expression

For most of human history, self-expression has not been a primary reason for creating
art. Other social and cultural needs, such as the five we have already considered, more fully
engaged the talents of artists. In more recent times,
however, particularly when a great deal of art is sold as a
private possession, self-expression has increasingly become
one of art’s most common functions. Art fulfils an
expressive function when an artist conveys information
about his or her personality or feelings or worldview, aside
from a social cause, market demand, commissioning ruler,
or aesthetic urge. Such art becomes a meeting site between
artist and viewer, the viewer feeling empathy and gaining an
understanding of the creator’s personality. We all derive
comfort from the fact that others in the world are similar to
ourselves, and artists’ various modes of self-expression
reach out to us in hopes of establishing a bond. Self-
portraiture has traditionally been an important vehicle by
which artists reach out to us. Felix Nussbaum’s Self-Portrait
with Jewish Identity Card (fig. 2.22) is one of the more
compelling works of this type. The artist furtively turns
back his collar to reveal the yellow star that the Nazi regime required all Jews to wear. In his
other hand he holds the card with his ethnicity prominently displayed in red block letters. The

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high wall behind, and his sidelong glance, tell of an existence haunted by fear and oppression.
The artist invites us to share his personal and political anxiety. Nussbaum’s life played out
tragically: In the year after he painted this work, he was arrested and sent to a concentration
camp, where he joined the millions of other victims of the Holocaust.
Kandinsky often named his works after musical forms, because he wanted them to
communicate as music does: “Color directly influences the soul,” he wrote; “Color is the
keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the
piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that
plays, touching one key or another purposefully, to
cause vibrations in the soul.” He hoped that the
souls of viewers would resonate with the rhythms
and colors of his paintings, and infect viewers with
the same emotions that he felt while creating them.
As we have seen, many works of art may fulfil more
than one function; art that is persuasive may also
delight with its beauty; a religious work may also
express the creator’s personal quest for
transcendence; a commemorative piece may also
inform us. Yet all art meets one human need or
another, and has the power to shape our lives in
many ways.

KEY TERMS
aesthetics – in the art context, the philosophy of art focusing on questions regarding what art
is and how it is evaluated, the concept of beauty, and the relationship between the idea of
beauty and the concept of art

idealism – the representation of subjects in an ideal or perfect state or form

Let’s Work On These

Among the given philosophical perspectives, choose three (3) and defend why you
agree with each viewpoint.

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Let’s Make It Happen

Choose one artwork under each given category that you are familiar with. This can be
the last artwork that you have come across with or the one that made the most impact to you.
Criticize each using the guide questions provided.
Categories:
Movie Novel Poem
Music An architectural structure A piece of clothing

Category: ___________________________
Artwork: ____________________________

 What is it about? What is its function? What is it made of?

 What is its style? How good is it?
 What is its philosophical perspective?

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 MODULE 3: PHILOSOPHICAL IMPORTANCE OF ART

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Relate the study of art to the field of philosophy.

2. Explain and discuss the basic philosophical perspectives on the art;
3. Formulate a philosophical approach to the study of Art Appreciation;
4. Apply the standards of beauty to the analysis of art;
5. Evaluate the merit or demerit of artworks using the four-fold criteria or standards of
beauty;
6. Make works of art that show the application of the standard of beauty.

Let’s Begin
“Good is the object of desire… Beauty, on the other hand, is the object of cognitive
power, for we call beautiful things which give pleasure when they are seen; thus
beauty rests on proper proportion, because the senses delight in things with proper
proportion as being similar to themselves; for the sense and all cognitive power is a
kind of reason, and because cognition takes place by means of assimilation, and
assimilation pertains to form, beauty properly belongs to the concepts of formal
cause.” Summa Theologiae, I q. 5 a 4 ad.1

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What is beauty?

St. Thomas defined beauty as that which gives pleasure when seen [ST 1-11, 27.1).
But what does the word “seen” mean? “Seen” is the “activity of contemplation”

 “…beauty relates to the cognitive faculty; for beautiful things are those which
please when seen. Hence, beauty consists in due proportion; for the senses delight in
duly proportioned, as in what is after their own kind-because even sense is a sort of
reason, just as is every cognitive faculty. Now, since knowledge is by assimilation,
and similarity relates to form, beauty properly belongs to the nature of a formal
cause” [Q. 5, Art. 4].

Let’s Recall

What forms of art do you know? Why do you think they are considered as art?

Forms of Art Description

Let’s Discuss Illustrations and Ideas (cf. Dr. Allan Orate)

Plato in Symposium expounds that it is the Form

of Beauty that is the object of love. Beauty
transcends the world of sense experience, which
means that the experience of beauty diverged from
what would be described as aesthetic experience.
Plato’s theory of beauty is metaphysical. The
existence of beauty is like the existence of
number, truth or justice. Since the individual
beautiful things in this world change and pass
away, they are not, in reality, beautiful; they are
beautiful only as appearances of the universal
form of beauty, like the reflection in a mirror.
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Plato would like to expel the mimetic artists from
the state because they make people ignorant by
bringing them two times farther away from reality.

1. RELATIVE BEAUTY. Consideration of beauty

is subjective and defends on the person looking at
the thing. In this way it is said that “Beauty is in
the eye of the beholder.”
2. ABSOLUTE BEAUTY. It considers the view
that a thing is beautiful by virtue of itself. Beauty
is objective, and resides in the thing regardless of
the people looking at it.
3. PLATO. Ancient Greek philosopher (348-267
BC) who formulated an idealist and metaphysical
theory of beauty. He wrote The Dialogue and The
Republic.
4. AESTHETIC IDEALISM. Theory of beauty
which asserts that real beauty is an idea that exist
in the world of being. Things in this world are
beautiful as appearances of the idea of beauty. Art
is beautiful as imitation of things in this world.
Plato’s theory of beauty is metaphysical. The
existence of beauty is like the existence of
number, truth or justice. Since the individual
beautiful things in this world change and pass
away, they are not, in reality, beautiful; they are
beautiful only as appearances of the universal
form of beauty, like the reflection in a mirror.
Plato would like to expel the mimetic artists from
the state because they make people ignorant by
bringing them two times farther away from reality.
Plotinus, like Plato, thought that the experience of
beauty itself is not a sensuous experience but an
intellectual one. It establishes contemplation as a
central idea in the theory of beauty and
consequently in the theory of aesthetic experience.

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St. Thomas Aquinas’ understanding of beauty is
not an unworldly one; he defines beauty as that
which pleases when seen. Objects please when
they have the conditions of beauty which are
perfection, proportion and brightness or clarity.
Importantly, his theory has both objective and
subjective aspects. The idea of pleasing brings in
the notion of the subject who is pleased. Being
pleased is a property of a subject.

Integrity - Thomas utilises the term (integritas) in

relation to beauty, it is meant as a “type of
proportion” and is thus a criterion of the beautiful
object that it is not impaired; otherwise, if it were
impaired, the object would be ugly. Example:
legless or handicapped child - that (object) which
has wholeness or integrity insofar that it is not
ugly because of its lack of wholeness. This
definition of integritas (in light of modernity) does
not define perfection in terms of bodily perfection
but rather by means of ontological completeness
which is, for the most part, an abstract intellectual
definition of beauty. Aquinas’ understanding of
beauty is not an unworldly one; he defines beauty
as that which pleases when seen. Objects please
when they have the conditions of beauty which are
perfection, proportion and brightness or clarity.
Importantly, his theory has both objective and
subjective aspects. The idea of pleasing brings in
the notion of the subject who is pleased. Being
pleased is a property of a subject. Integrity
(wholeness): Two aspects: 1: Integrity involves its
existence (esse), its being-lacks nothing essential
or substantive to its primal nature. 2. Integrity
involves its action; it lacks nothing in its ability
necessary for completion.

Quote on Conditions of Beauty:

“Beauty demands the fulfillment of three

conditions: the first is integrity, or perfection of
the thing, for what is defective is, is consequence,
CF. Dr. Allan Orate
ugly; the second is proper proportion, or harmony;
and the third is clarity-thus things which have
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glowing colors are said to be beautiful.” ~ Summa
Theol., I q. 39 a. 8.

Proportion – can be traced back to the Pre-

Socratics (such as Pythagoras), then to Cicero and
St. Augustine. Basic ontological proportion is
expressed consistently with consonantia. There are
at least two ways of looking at proportion: the
qualitative and the quantitative (or mathematical).
For Thomas Aquinas, “form and matter must
always be mutually proportioned. The importance
of the act—in this instant, the moment of
apprehension of a beautiful object—lies in its
ability to “recognise” a relation of form and
matter. This form and matter is consonant with the
soul and the body of an intelligent creature. As
Aristotle had expressed in his De anima, “Thus
soul is the first actuality of a physical body
potentially having life”. Thomas extracts this
“equilibrium” of form and matter from Aristotle.
Proportion refers particularly to the proportion of WWW.PRSHOCKLEY.ORG
form and the potentiality of matter. Form and
matter work similarly to the soul and the body in
that there must be a proportionate ontological
relation (habitudo) or analogy between the two: it
is part of the rational structure of form to relate to
matter. Although this relationship can also be
quantitative, in terms of harmony or music, it is
helpful to see that even in some forms of atonal
music, there is still the basic ontological
proportion of form (i.e., the musical notes) and
matter (i.e., the physical instruments that
play/vibrate these notes).  “Proportion is twofold:
In one sense it means a certain relation of one
quantity to another. In another sense every relation
to one thing to another is called proportion. And in
this sense there can be a proportion of the creature
to God, inasmuch as it is related to Him as the
effect of its cause, and as potentiality to its act;
and in this way the created intellect can be
proportioned to know God (ST I.12.1).”
WWW.PRSHOCKLEY.ORG
Proportion involves both quantity (mathematical)
and quality (agreement; analogy; mutual
reference; e.g., matter to form; cause to effect;
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Creator to created).

Radiance or Clarity - appeared in the Pseudo-

Dionysius, Grosse- teste, and other mediaeval
authors, Albertus Magnus influenced Thomas’s
conception of claritas, which may be translated as
resplendence, clarity, symmetry, or radiance
(splendor). Resplendence was the essence of
beauty for Albertus. Radiance: Luminosity which
emanates a beautiful object: “Radiance belongs to
being considered precisely as beautiful: it is, in
being, that which catches the eye, or the ear, or the
mind, and makes us want to perceive it again”
[Etienne Gilson, The Arts of the Beautiful (Dalkey
Archive Press, 2000), 35].

Because all that is beautiful is connected to God,

the Cause of all beauty, radiance will find
expression. “Beauty consists in a certain lustre
and proportion” ~ Aquinas in Summa Theol., II-a
II-ae q. 180 a. 2 ad. 3. Consider this example

WWW.PRSHOCKLEY.ORG

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Work on These: Answer the questions:
3. Differentiate the four-fold criteria or standards of beauty. Cite examples.

4. How can you utilize the standards of beauty to yourself, your community,
and your relation to others?

Let’s Make It Happen

Beauty is an activity of the mind. How? The form of the matter exist in the mind of the
knower.

WWW.PRSHOCLEY.ORG
1. Your physical senses do not recognize the blue rose to be beautiful.
2. Instead, your mind is responsible for recognizing the beauty of the blue rose.
3. Knowledge has two aspects: (1) passive part receives the data from outside of your mind
(extra-mental reality) whereas the (2) active part of your mind abstracts the forms new
existence in your mind. The apprehension of beauty is the result of your mind.
+Sight and hearing are the most important physical senses for cognitive beauty since it is
through those senses that one perceives and extracts the form from the object.
Bibliography:
Michael Spicher, “Medieval Theories of Aesthetics” in the Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (11 December 2010); Wladyslaw Tatarkiewics, History of Aesthetics, Volume 2
(New York: Continuum, 1995, 2000).
Orate, Allan C. (2010). “Lecture Notes on Aesthetics: Theories of Art and Beauty,” and
“Representationalism” from Blended Learning Modules.

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 MODULE 4: TYPES, SOURCES, CONTENT AND KINDS OF ART PRINCIPLES

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
8. Explain and discuss the basic philosophical perspectives on the art,
9. Realize the function of some art forms in daily life,
10. Apply concepts and theories on beauty and aesthetics in real life scenarios.
11. Differentiate representational art and non- representational art;
12. Discuss the difference between an artwork’s subject and its content;
13. Identify the subject matter and specific examples of art; and
14. Enumerate the sources of the subjects of some of the most recognizable works of art
in Philippine art history.
Let’s Begin
Augustine draw heavily from the Platonist and Neo-Platonist traditions. In effect,
Platonic philosophy dominated the Christian medieval thought until Thomas Aquinas
popularized the writings of Aristotle. Augustine made a sharp distinction between the
creation of God (ex nihilo) and the creation of artists (ex materia). Thus, God’s creation was
not related to the notion of mimesis, which was perceived to be the goal of the arts. Even
natural beauty, which was made by God, is like a shadow of God’s beauty, rather than fully
actualized beauty. In a sense, God’s beauty emanates out to natural things through His act of
creation. The framework for this idea had its source in Neoplatonic philosophers, particularly
Plotinus. God created matter, which was initially formless, “without any beauty”
(Augustine, Confessions, Bk. 12.3). The earth occupies the lowest form of beauty, and things
become more beautiful as they possess more form, and less of the void. God is supremely
beautiful, since only God possesses perfect form. Augustine, therefore, believes in a
hierarchy of beautiful things, based on how much form they possess or lack.

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 Augustine developed ideas about rhythm that originates with God. This idea of rhythm
is expounded in Augustine’s De Musica. Rhythm is immutable and eternal because its source
is God. Rhythm is like math; it can only be discovered by people. Rhythm is already
determined in God, and human beings cannot invent it. The way Augustine describes this
process of discovery is reminiscent of, though not identical with, Plato’s theory of
recollection. In other words, rhythm can be discovered through a questioner (or
investigation), like Socrates’ questioning of the servant boy in the Meno.
Unity, equality, number, proportion, and order are the main elements in Augustine’s
theory of beauty (Beardsley, 93ff.) located in relation to one another, throughout his writings.
First, everything exists. Each thing has unity. It has potential to be beautiful, unless it exists.
Second, equality (or likeness), “The existence of individual things with respect to equality or
inequality, gives rise to proportion, measure, and number” (Beardsley, 94). Third, “Number,
the base of rhythm, begins from unity” (De Musica, xvii. 56). Number measures rhythm.
Since rhythm is based on number it follows that rhythm is likewise immutable. Fourth, “in all
the arts it is symmetry [or proportion] that gives pleasure, preserving unity and making the
whole beautiful” (Of True Religion, xxx. 55). Fifth, “everything is beautiful that is in due
order” (Of True Religion, xli. 77). “Order is the distribution which allots things equal and
unequal, each to its own place” (City of God, XIX, xiii). In other words, the degree to which
things are in their proper place is the degree in which they are beautiful.
Let’s Discuss
Categories/classifications of Art
Different Types of Art
Fine Art~ alludes to an art form practiced mainly for its aesthetic value and beauty
Rather than its functional value. Fine art is rooted in drawing and design based works
such as painting, printmaking and sculpture. It's often contrasted with ''Applied Art.''
Visual Art~ is a modern but imprecise umbrella term for a broad category of art
which comprises a number of artistic disciplines from various subcategories.
Decorative Art~ is a traditional term for an un widely range of artistic disciplines
concerned with the designs and ornamentation of items, usually functional, that do not have
any aesthetic qualities.
Applied Art~ It's an application used for artistic design. Fine art may go along with this.
Crafts~ is a skill used by artists. A craft is like a drawing, paper makings, etc.
Traditional categories within the arts comprises literature (composed of poetry, drama,
story, and so on), the visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.), the graphic arts (painting,
drawing, design, and other forms expressed on flat surfaces), the plastic arts (sculpture,
modeling), the decorative arts (enamelwork, furniture design, mosaic, etc.), the performing
arts (theatre, dance, music), music (as composition), and architecture (inclusive of interior
design).
Subject Type/Source of Subject

1. Representation (with subject) - The subject of art is the

matter to be described or to be portrayed by the artist. This
may allude to any person, object, scene or event. It
highlights art as a copy, an image, an appearance or a
reproduction of things, people, objects, nature and events.
Representational Art or Objective Art depict (represent)
objects that are commonly recognized by most people. They
attempt to copy, even if in a subjective manner, something

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 that's real. It uses “form” and is concerned with “what” is to
be depicted in the artwork. It is also called figurative art for
it contains representation. Examples: A. Still life is a work
of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically
commonplace objects which may be either natural (food,
flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking
glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on) in an
artificial setting. B. Portraiture (portrait) is a painting,
photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a
person, in which the face and its expression is predominant.
C. Landscapes, Seascapes, Cityscapes. Much
representational art may also be categorized as realist, or
naturalist. Realism, or naturalism, is characterized by
representational art that aims to closely reproduce images of
persons, places, or things, clearly resembling that which may
be seen in the world around us. By contrast, representational
art that is not realist may include images of persons, places,
or things that resemble the real world but represent them in
ways that are distorted, imaginary, improbable, or fantastical.
D. Literature

Illustrations and
ideas by Dr. Orate

2. Non-Representational (without subject) or Non-objective

Art are those arts without any reference to anything outside
itself (without representation). It is non- objective because it
has no recognizable objects. It is abstract in the sense that it
doesn’t represent real objects in our world. It uses “content”
and is concerned with “how” the artwork is depicted.
Example, music, architecture and many of the functional arts
– Program Music - musical compositions which have
subject. They do not present descriptions, stories, or

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 references to identifiable objects or symbols.
Rather they, appeal musical compositions which have
subject. They do or references to identifiable objects or
symbols. Rather they, appeal not present descriptions,
stories, or references to identifiable objects or symbols.
Rather they, appeal directly to the senses primarily
because of the satisfying organization of their sensuous
and expressive elements. This third type of art is often
mistaken for Abstract art although it is entirely different
from it. Non-Objective art takes nothing from reality. It is Robert
created purely for aesthetic reasons. The intent of Non- Delaunay, Le
Premier Disque,
objective art is to use the elements and principles of
1913. Work is in
art in a way that results in a visually stimulating work. It
the public domain
is purely that simple

3. Nature is the entire system of things, with the aggregation of

all their powers, properties, process and products – whatever
follows natural law and whatever happens spontaneously.
Landscape is the scope of nature, modified by culture.

4. Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual

expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally,
the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing,
sculpture, architecture, ceramics, and decorative arts, yet
today, art history examines broader aspects of visual culture,
including the various visual and conceptual outcomes related
to an ever-evolving definition of art. Art history
encompasses the study of objects created by different
cultures around the world and throughout history that convey
meaning, importance, or serve usefulness primarily through
visual means.

5. Greeks and Roman Mythology - Not only are they filled

with drama, but they represent aspects of the human
condition that are as relevant now as when the Greeks first
imagined them, creating stories of gods made in the image
of human beings. These myths explore love and lust, envy
and rage, rejection and loss, violence and death, and every
type of family relationship. We relate to the characters in
them because their emotions, desires and struggles are our
own. Myth can be allegorical -- made to speak of other
things, or to encrypt hidden meanings. Medieval
anthologies of ancient mythology often imparted Christian
morals and meanings to the tales. So, for example, the

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 story of Zeus and Danaë could be reinterpreted as a
cautionary story of a man who used gold to bribe his way
into a princess' bedchamber.

6. Judaeo Christian Tradition - Context of art arises

reflectively through the interest of philosophers, artists
themselves, and in modern times through the work of art
historians and critics. Beauty. A Christian synthesis of
Jewish thought and of Greek thought from Plato to Plotinus
on beauty in relation to God is already located in St.
Augustine and the Pseudo-Dionysius. It formed a tradition
that had a profound influence on the art of the Middle Ages
and was clearly formulated in the 12th-century school of
Chartres. Its speculation on number, light, proportion, and
order was actualized especially in the Gothic cathedral. This
tradition saw beauty, in its formal elements, as verified most
fully in God, and as shared from God to creatures, so that the
beauty of finite things was seen as stemming from God and
as apt to raise the mind of the beholder to the contemplation
of God. To see beauty as a divine perfection is to accentuate
its spiritual nature, or at least to ensure that it will not be
identified entirely with its sensible forms. The transcendent
character of beauty was thus efficaciously affirmed by
Christian thought, all the more so since created beauty was
viewed as sharing in the perfection of the Creator. The
humanity of Christ was, moreover, exalted as the supreme
beauty of the created order, and that beauty was consiered as
shared and manifest to varied degrees in the sensible realities
of the world. Beauty was thus more closely anchored with
God and valued because of that link. The Incarnation was
viewed as an exemplar that elevated all created and visible
forms of beauty.

7. Sacred Oriental Texts and other works of Art - The

majority of the most influential sacred texts in history were
written in the ancient world. The ideas and beliefs of the
ancients tell us who they were at their very sense of being,
what they believed and how they understood the world
surrounding them.
a. Bible - The Bible is one the most famous and one of the
most beautifully written books of all times. Its message has
provoked many believers and scholars alike. It consists of 66
books which are divided into two sections – the Old
Testament consisting of 39 books and the New Testament
which consists of 27 books. Classically a Hebrew text,
however, the Bible also reveals middle-eastern influences, The Bible
while the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library and the
Dead Sea Scrolls in the 20th century shed a new light on
early Christianity and Christ himself.
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 b. The Torah - the Torah was written by Moses at Mount Sinai
and the Tabernacle. But historians agree that the Torah
probably doesn’t have just one author and that it was written
down during the so-called Babylonian Captivity in the 6th
century BC and finalized in the 2th century BC. Consisting
of 39 books, the Torah comprises the first five books of the
Bible (Bereishit - Genesis, Shemot - Exodus, Vayikra -
Leviticus, Bamidbar - Numbers and Devarim -
Deuteronomy) which include both written and oral law of
Rabbinic Judaism as well as religious teachings from the
furthest reaches of history. The Torah
c. The Quran, the religious text of Islam, has the same
historical roots as Judaism and Christianity and consists of
114 chapters, each known as sura. It initially didn’t exist in a
written form (the word Quran is derived from Arab for “to
recite”) and was composed about 20 years after Prophet
Muhammad’s death in 632. He, according to the Muslim
believe, received the word of God through angel Gabriel
over a period of twenty-three years.
d. The Vedas (meaning “knowledge”) are comprised of four
ancient Indian texts, with the oldest dating from about 1500
BC to 1200 BC. They are not only the oldest form of The Quran
Sanskrit literature but they are also the oldest writings of
Hinduism. The four texts of the Vedas include Rigveda,
Yajurveda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. The individual
verses, known as mantras are comprised of hymns and prose
which are explained by the Brahmanas, serving as a
complementary prose. Like most other ancient sacred texts,
the Vedas are traditionally believed to be divinely revealed.
e. Egyptian Book of the Dead, Tao Te Ching, Upanishads,
Bhagavad Gita, Buddhist Sutras
Vedas

Kinds of Subject

History Paintings which are also called Historical

Paintings portray a moment in man’s history and are not to be
confused with a genre painting which depicts scenes of everyday
life. History paintings is composed of a range of historical subjects
and topics and often illustrate a part of a story or significant event.
History and Legend –History constitute verifiable facts, legends of
unverifiable ones, although many of them are often accepted as true
because tradition has held them so far. Insofar as ancient past is
concerned, it is difficult to tell how much of what we know now is
history and how much is legend. –History and Legend are popular
subjects of art. –History and Legend are popular subjects of art. –

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While many works may not be consciously done historical records,
certain information about history can be pieced from them. The
costumes and accessories, the status symbols, the kinds of dwellings
or the means of transportation. –Malakas and Maganda and Mariang
Makiling are among the legendary subjects which have been
rendered in painting and sculpture by not a few Filipino artists.

Still Life paintings feature an arrangement of everyday inanimate

objects laid out on a table or similar surface. The objects used can be
either natural or man-made. Examples of natural objects could be
flowers, food, wine, rocks, seashells, dead animal skulls, pots and
pans, musical instruments and music sheets etc The arrangement is
to depict specific 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.
Wildlife Art or Animals is characterized as works of art which
portray the natural world and the wildlife or domesticated animals
that inhabit it. It is one of the earliest forms of art dating back to
prehistoric cave paintings. Portraits of animals or fish (whether
wildlife or family pets) could also fit into this genre. The wildlife art
sample shown is titled Raging African Elephant. The earliest known
paintings are representations of animals on the walls of caves. –The
carabao has been a favorite subject of Filipino artists. The Maranaws
have an animal form of sarimanok, their proudest prestige symbol. –
Animals have been used as symbols in conventional religious art.
The dove stands for the Holy Spirit in representations of the Trinity.
The fish and lamb are symbols of Christ. The phoenix is the symbol
of Resurrection. The peacock is the symbol of Immortality through
Christ.

Figures

Nature

Landscape paintings depict the beauty of the great outdoors with its
natural scenery of mountains, valleys, meadows, trees, rivers,
forests, sky and weather. It can even include the countryside, farms,
and structures that one would expect to find there. For instance
fencing, a bridge, barn, windmill, or farmhouse. See example of
landscape painting. Title: The Grand Teton Mountains. It is also
known as landscape art. Sky is almost always included in the view,
and weather is often an element of the composition. Detailed
landscapes as a distinct subject are not found in all artistic traditions,
and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of
representing other subjects. Landscape views in art may be entirely
imaginary, or copied from reality with varying degrees of accuracy.

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If the primary purpose of a picture is to depict an actual, specific
place, especially including buildings prominently, it is called
a topographical view.

Seascape paintings are much like landscapes, only this genre of

art depicts the sea with marine landscapes, beach scenes, fish and
marine animals, or views of the ocean itself. Fish and other marine
animals can also be categorized as wildlife. Seascapes should not be
confused with Maritime Art which depicts life out on the open sea,
not necessarily a marine landscape.

Cityscapes, or as it is sometimes called Urban Landscapes, are

paintings whose subject matter is the physical aspects of the
city, urban life, city sections (like a city block, street corner, outdoor
café, rooftops, etc.) or other urban area. A Townscape is similar to a
cityscape, only it is of a township with a smaller population and
perhaps less modern architecture as well. Shown is an example of a
cityscape or urban landscape.

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- devotion and to impress and convert non-
believers. –The Christian Church commissioned craftsmen to tell the
stories about Christ and the saints in pictures, usually in mosaics,
murals and stained glass windows in churches. It also resorted to the
presentation of tableaux and plays to preach and teach.
–Some religions however, forbid the representation of divinity as
human beings or animal forms, although they allow the use of some
signs or symbols in their place. •Pictures of God, human beings, or
animals are forbidden in Judaism and Islam because people might
worship the images themselves Other religions have taught that a
god may sometimes assume. Other religions have taught that a god
may sometimes assume human or other visible forms. –Thus he is
distinguished from human beings by a halo, wing, or a darker
complexion, or by the use of some attributes. The ancient Egyptians
portrayed their gods as part human and part animal. The ancient
African tribes distorted their god’s features. Among the Hindus,
Shiva is shown as a four-armed god. Buddha, is symbolized by his
footprints, a wheel or a true
In the early Christian world, representation of divinity were also

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symbolic. There were precise conventions in rendering them. –The
serpent has been used to mean evil –The Four Evangelists were
represented by animal forms: St Luke by an Ox, St John by an
Eagle, St Mark by a Lion, St Matthew by a Winged Man

Dreams and Fantasies –Dreams are usually vague and illogical.

Artists especially the surrealists have tried to depict dreams as well
as the grotesque terrors and apprehensions that lurk in the depths of
the subsconscious. –A dream may be lifelike situation. Therefore,
we would not know if an artwork is based on a dream unless the
artist explicitly mentions it. –But if the picture suggests the strange,
the irrational and the absurd, we can classify it right away as a
fantasy or dream although the artist may not have gotten from the
idea of a dream at all but the workings of his imagination –No limits
can be imposed on an artist’s imagination.

Content in Art
1. Factual - the literal statement or the narrative content in the work which can be
directly the work which can be directly apprehended because the objects presented are
easily recognized.
2. Conventional - refers to the special meaning that a certain object or color has a
particular culture or group of people. people. Examples: Flag-symbol of a nation,
cross for Christianity, crescent moon –Islam

People from different times and places have different social values, hence have different
perception and concept of beauty and ugliness. For the ancient Greeks, the beauty of a
woman’s body is determined by her bulging stomach which symbolizes fertility. A long-
necked woman is beautiful for the Padaung people in Burma. The Negritos perceived a
beautiful woman with dark teeth. The modern standard is the vital statistics of 36-24-36.
Aesthetic conventionalism is also applied to the fashion of clothing or hair-do.

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Illustrations and ideas (by Dr. Allan Orate)
3. Subjective - refers to the special meaning that a certain object or color has a particular
culture or group of people. people. Examples: Flag-symbol of a nation, cross for
Christianity, crescent moon –Islam
Ways of Representing Subject
The manner of representing subject varies according to the intent and inventiveness of each
artist.
1. Realism –Strictly speaking, no work of art is realistic. Since no work of art is an
accurate copy of what exists in the natural world. Some paintings seem to be
photographic renderings of facts or anchored on historical facts.
2. Abstraction–the artist selects and renders the objects with their shapes, colors and
positions altered. In some abstract works, enough of a likeness has been retained to
represent real things. In others, the original objects have been reduced to simple
geometric shapes and they can be rarely identified unless the artist named it in title.
His concern is the rendering of the essence of the subject rather than the natural form
itself.
3. Distortion–it could also mean twisting, stretching or deforming the natural shape of
the object. The relief sculptures and paintings of ancient Egypt were distorted. The
head and lower part of the body were shown in profile, while the eye and upper part
of the body were in the frontal position. Convention demanded the highly stylized

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 representation of the figure. It is usually done to dramatize the shape of a figure or to
create an emotional effect. Caricatures employ distortions so that their targets of
ridicule would appear grotesque and hateful.
4. 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. The images are recognizable, sometimes drawn from the nature but they are
so combined in utterly fantastic and unnatural relationships.
Principles of Art
The elements and principles of art and design are the foundation of the language we use to
talk about art. The elements of art are the visual tools that the artist uses to create a
composition. These are line, shape, color, value, form, texture, and space. The principles of
art represent how the artist uses the elements of art to create an effect and to help convey the
artist's intent. The principles of art and design are balance, contrast, emphasis, movement,
pattern, rhythm, and unity/variety. The use of these principles can help determine whether a
painting is successful, and whether or not the painting is finished.
A successful painting is unified, while also having some variety created by areas of
contrast and emphasis; is visually balanced; and moves the viewer's eye around the
composition. Thus it is that one principle of art can influence the effect and impact of
another.
Organic unity - A work of art must have what Aristotle called “a beginning, a middle, and
an end”; it must be unified, it must “hang together” as one entity. Everything, of course, has
some degree of unity or other. Take away one part, and the remainder of the parts fail to
function as before.
Complexity, or diversity - A blank wall has unity but no variety and is not long worth
contemplating. Nor is there any triumph in achieving unity at so small a price. The work of
art must hold in suspension (as it were) a great diversity of elements and unify them—the
greater the complexity that is integrated into a unity, the greater the achievement. This fact is
so universally recognized that the two criteria are often stated as one, unity-in-diversity, or
variety-in-unity.
Theme or Thematic Variation
Development or Evolution
Balance refers to the visual weight of the elements of the composition. It is a sense that the
painting feels stable and "feels right." Imbalance causes a feeling of discomfort in the viewer.
Balance can be achieved in 3 different ways:
1. Symmetry, in which both sides of a composition have the same elements in the same
position, as in a mirror-image, or the two sides of a face.
2. Asymmetry, in which the composition is balanced due to the contrast of any of the
elements of art. For example, a large circle on one side of a composition might be
balanced by a small square on the other side
3. Radial symmetry, in which elements are equally spaced around a central point, as in
the spokes coming out of the hub of a bicycle tire.

Contrast is the difference between elements of art in a composition, such that each element
is made stronger in relation to the other. When placed next to each other, contrasting
elements command the viewer's attention. Areas of contrast are among the first places that a
viewer's eye is drawn. Contrast can be achieved by juxtapositions of any of the elements of
art. Negative/Positive space is an example of contrast. Complementary colors placed side by
side is an example of contrast. Notan is an example of contrast.

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Emphasis is when the artist creates an area of the composition that is visually dominant and
commands the viewer's attention. This is often achieved by contrast.

Movement is the result of using the elements of art such that they move the viewer's eye
around and within the image. A sense of movement can be created by diagonal or curvy lines,
either real or implied, by edges, by the illusion of space, by repetition, by energetic mark-
making.

Pattern is the uniform repetition of any of the elements of art or any combination
thereof. Anything can be turned into a pattern through repetition. Some classic patterns are
spirals, grids, weaves. For examples of different pattern types see the Artlandia Glossary of
Pattern Design. A popular drawing practice is Zentangles, in which an abstract or
representational outline is divided into different areas, each of which contains a unique
pattern.

Rhythm is created by movement implied through the repetition of elements of art in a non-
uniform but organized way. It is related to rhythm in music. Unlike pattern, which demands
consistency, rhythm relies on variety.

Work on These/Let’s Make it Happen

a. Create a representational work of art using coffee mixed with water
(*use paint brush and pallet). Vary the shades of your object/subject.

Bibliography

Orate, Allan C. (2010). “Lecture Notes on Aesthetics: Theories of Art and Beauty,” and
“Representationalism” from Blended Learning Modules.

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 MODULE 5: ARTISTS AND ARTISANS

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. identify the medium in various forms of art: visual, auditory and combined arts;
2. define an artist’s or artisan’s medium and technique; and
3. identify the national and GAMABA artists’ notable works and their contribution to
society.

Let’s Discuss

The art is one of the most significant ways in which we try to grapple with how the
present unfolds. In Robert Henri’s The Art Spirit (1923), he stated that “Art when really
understood is the province of every human being. It is simply a question of doing things,
anything, well. It is not an outside, extra thing. When the artist is alive in any person,
whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-
expressing creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens,
and he opens ways for a better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to
close the book he opens it, shows there are more pages possible.” There is a gap when one
continues to persist with the idea that art is something that is detached from the every day. In
what has been reduced to a blur, it became more integral that man pursues a better
understanding of the world where he lives. One of the avenues that makes this both possible
and exciting is the engagement with art and culture.
Let’s Get Started

What art form can The artist whose Work of art created
you most relate to works you really by him or her that
and appreciate? like. you can relate to
Paste a picture and appreciate
above.

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Let’s Get Down to Business

One type of knowledge that fuels the twenty-first century is creativity. Artists have
treaded a long history. Their roots can likewise be traced in one of the major milestones in
human civilization. In the first episode of the video series “New Ways of Seeing,” a project
by The New York Times’ T Brand Studio and jewelry giant Tiffany & Co., art critic Jerry
Saltz (2016) underscored the significance of not only the discovery of the cave paintings, but
also the paintings themselves. He asserted that “these first artists invented a way to get the
three-dimensional world into two dimensions and attach value to their own ideas. And all of
the history of art flows forth from this invention.” He is apparently referring to the drawings
and painted images of animals, hunting scenes, and a variety of symbolic figures created
during the Stone Age. Examples of these are scattered all around the world, from France,
Spain, Namibia, 78uustralia, and Argentina to name a few. Of course, these works were not
yet subsumed in the highly systematized art world, let alone considered as “art.”

The impulse to create is at the core of human civilization, much like the impulse to
communicate through language. Early on, artists were embedded in the development of
culture, and in turn, art was nurtured by the varying cultures in which it existed. The works
produced varied from the prosaic to those that explored a wide range of aesthetic
possibilities. Seen every day, the interaction with these objects was intimate in the sense that
their presence was experienced in a multitude of ways and in all of the affairs of man:
ornamentations in tools and other surfaces, weaving patterns in textiles, visual features and
design/plan for architectural structures, and ritual and
burial implements, among others. Artists even created
places and spaces where communities may gather. There
are numerous monuments and memorials that are plotted
over the world such as the infamous Vietnam veterans
Memorial in Washington DC. There are others like the
cave paintings that have an aura of mystery like the
Pyramids of Giza, or have alluded comprehension like the
Stonehenge. Stonehenge

The Artisan and the Guilds

Museums are packed with numerous artefacts and interesting objects from all over the
world that have survived centuries for us all to see. Magnificent structures that are often
appreciated not only for their historical significance but more so for their aesthetic
characteristics that render them unique, become tourist destination for those who wish to
explore and see the remarkable façade, interior, and even the minutest of details up close.
Perhaps what made the difference were the materials, medium, and the principles behind the
process of their creation. Another contributory factor is the emergence of technology and
knowledge in managing and conserving all these objects and structures, enabling the
retention of the integrity of the artwork and the intention of the artist in terms of the design
and overall aesthetic.

Consider the Gothic cathedrals and other mega structures that were built all over
Europe during the middle Ages. Craftsmen and builders in the past did not have sophisticated
terminologies and principle that architects and engineers abide by today. Yet, they fulfilled
overlapping rules such as draftsman, architect, engineer, and even as the builder. What they
had was a sense on how materials behaved, how environment, light, and weather patterns

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affected structures, and other more intuitive principles of creation. Experimentation and luck
must not also be forgotten. Gothic cathedrals along with other structures inspired by its
architectural tenets have survived through time, not only by their sheer durability, but more
so through the articulation of the process that they followed. An example of this would be the
Cologne Cathedral. In Germany, it is but one of the many examples of early Gothic
architecture. The account was that master mason Gerhard Ryle started the project in 1248 but
was only completed roughly 600 years later, claiming the record as one of the longest
construction projects to date.

The Cologne Cathedral between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900, Koin, Germany

What is meant here is a kind of formalization of craft education in which regulation

was set in place. Here, skills qualification was needed for an apprentice to register under a
particular craft guild. These guilds were prevalent during the middle Ages particularly during
the thirteenth to fifteenth century, where towns had formalized groups of artisans of
craftsmen who took on a particulate specialization or trade :shoemakers, textile, and glass
workers, carpenters, carves, masons, armorers, and weapon-makers, among others. Here, the
practice of artist was not grounded on the idea of individual capacities of success; rather, in
the commitment to work together as a collective. Guilds were a type of social fellowship, an
association structured with rules, customs, rights, and responsibilities. With a lifetime
commitment to a particular trade, an artisan develops immense skills and expertise in his
craft.

A master artisan or craftsman would then be open to hiring apprentices who would be
under his tutelage and instruction. In these guilds, artistry and technology flourished under
one roof. In the context of the cathedral construction site, the master mason oversaw the work
by numerous men of varying artistic proclivities and skills, from the smiths (metal work),
carpenters, carriers, and glaziers(stained glass artists), among others.

Four Crowned Saints

Orsanmichele, Florence
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 This brought to light various ways of thinking about transferring knowledge and skills
by visualizing and articulating the principles, processes, and tricks of the trade both in words
and in print through manuals and publications were done cheaply and did not have the same
thoroughness as with handbooks manuals of biblical proportions. Aside from funds, another
hurdle was the fact that some of the knowledge that went into production was difficult to put
into words. This can be attested in a way that often, we find ourselves at a loss when tasked
with explaining a particular step or process in something that we created.
In the visual arts, an example of an artist strongly influenced by this was Albrecht
Durer. Born in 1471, his father was goldsmith; that is why he also apprenticed as such. Later
on, he shifted to the visual arts. During that time, it was
customary to travel after completing an apprenticeship to
gather more experience and knowledge elsewhere. His
life was ripe with travels, fame, and fortune. One of the
biggest credits to his practice was his dedication and
interest in scholarship with his attendance to a close
friend’s meetings of artists and scholars. He also
published quite a number of books and treatises
including those that talked about practical skills as an
artist which would be useful to other artisans and
craftsmen who dared to read it.

Although the timeline is a bit skewed, the culture of artisans became prevalent in the
Philippines as well, particularly during the Spanish colonial period. Formerly done with the
spirit of the communal and the everyday, patronship changed the way art was perceived.
This was both the case for religious and secular art, wherein the existence of artisans proved
to be of immense use. It was through mimesis or copying that artisans first learned to depict
religious images and scenes. Friars, being non-artists themselves, provided the references that
artists could use. During the propagation of the faith, Spanish friars commissioned a lot of
artisans to carve, paint, and engrave images for churches and public
sites. Each locality had a characterizing style or feature in the way
their depictions were different from those of Rizal on in Laguna.
Like other baroque churches the benefitted from the talents of
artists, Spanish colonial churches were also lined with frescos and
ceiling paintings, with a number of them undergoing restoration in
the early 1900s. Project Ki same is a collective endeavor amongst
enthusiasts, engagement, and appreciation of surviving ceiling
paintings in more than 60 churches in the Philippines. Technology
and heritage conservation occupied a substantial part of this project.

One example of a Spanish architecture that has been documented is the church of the
most Holy Trinity in Loay, Bohol. Built in 1822, the ceiling paintings were rendered trompe
I’oeil style depicting biblical scenes. In 2003, It became a National Historical Landmark. It
was therefore unfortunate that this church was one of those heavily damaged during the
devastating earthquake that rattled Bohol in 2013. The only section of the structure that
remained erected was the bell tower. Although it is but a fragment of the real thing, the
photos taken by project Ki same were able to document the beauty of the ceiling paintings
prior to its destruction.

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 One key example that illustrated the
systematization of art instruction--- a combination of sorts
of the guild and the art school – was the establishment
Damian Domingo of the Academia de Dibujo . Known as
the best tipos Del pais painter, this school specialized in
teaching the miniaturismo style of painting along with the
tenets of classical European painting. Eventually, other
schools emerged teaching other genres such as bodegones
(still life) and paisajes (landscape).

The Artist and His Studio

Moving back to Europe, the big shift that propelled the

evolution of the pivotal role of the artist in the arts started
during the Middle Ages up to the Renaissance period. Most pivotal developments included
the transformation of the craftsman to an artist or an independent artist; the widespread
patronization of secular art (alongside the continuous production of works with religious
subjects); and the assertion of cognition, the will, and individuality. Before the Renaissance
Period, artworks were left unsigned. Artists claiming authorship for their works by affixing
their mark onto the surfaces of their paintings were a big milestone in the history of the artist.
Combined, these resulted in a wider variety of artworks, not just in form, but more so in style
and technique. The site that saw this shift was a very personal space for the artist himself,
which is the studio.

Today, artist studios have been a place of interest for the public. It is interesting to see
and learn where creativity manifests itself, especially since an artist’s studio is an extension
of the artist himself. The studio model dates back from the Renaissance. Therein, artists
flexed their relationship with their patron as a site where negotiations and works were made.
There were those whose work stations were segmented into two, the studiolo and the
bottega; the latter is where the work usually happened. Apprentices studied under masters,
assisting with menial tasks or the preparation of the painting surfaces. In the seventeenth
century, these demarcations became lose, eventually merging together. This was especially
true with artists who explored oil painting techniques whose long process can be described by
cycles of mixing, layering, and drying of paint. This format remained throughout the latter
part of the 1800s.

In France, on the other hand, academies and art salons became popular as they did
not only support the production of art but also the discourse around them. Criticism and
analysis were highlighted and integral aspects of art engagement and therefore the display of
the artworks through official art salons was sought for. To be included in the exhibition was
deemed an honor, especially since it did not take a while before it was considered an arbiter
of standards and taste. The beginnings of Industrial Revolution had an interesting
ramification for artists. A compendium of events released the artists from the limitations that
affected the way in which they produced their works. These included the availability and
portability of materials (i.e., foldable easels and paint in tubes) and the reliance on the
wealthy patrons to place a commission. More painters enjoyed painting on their own behalf,
creating works they wanted to create. It was during this time that a host of styles developed
side-by-side, allowing artists to fully grasp the potential of artistic license, with minimal (to
no) consideration for the prevailing tastes and stylistic preferences. During the latter part of
the 1800s, artists began to question the merits of stringent artistic training and education, but

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it was during the 1900s that art was truly liberated from the traditions of the past. Perhaps, it
was then that artists found freedom to articulate their distinct aesthetic way of creative
production.

Other Players in the World of Art

The terrain in which the artist traverses is becoming increasingly complex. In the last
century, some of the roles that have been existent since the beginning of art history have been
properly dealt with—ascribed with a name--- and legitimized into a sophisticated network of
relationships and exchanges. This network is what we call the art world.

In Howard S. Becker’s Art Worlds (1982), he asserted that ‘’ all artistic work, like all
human activity, involves the joint activity of a number, often a large number, of people.
Through their cooperation, the artwork we eventually see or hear comes to be and continues
to be. The work always shows signs of that
cooperation. The forms of cooperation may be
ephemeral, but often become more or less routine;
producing patterns of collective activity we can call an
art world. The existence of art worlds, as well as the
way their existence affects both the production and
consumption of artworks, suggests a sociological
approach to the arts. It is not an approach that
produces aesthetics judgements; although that is a task
many sociologists of art have set for themselves.
“There is an assumption that an artist works in
solitary; that the only time the external world is
allowed in would be when the work is displayed and when in circulation. This would
necessitate the seemingly central position that the artist enjoys in the grand scheme of art
experience. Although a popular opinion still, it has considerably, waned, with the emergence
of another art player as a super power---the curator.

But the task at hand is not to christen a specific group of people in the art world as its
focus. What must be recognized is that, as Becker contented, there are numerous people who
either work in consent dissension, and in doing so, continuously (re)-define, (in) validate,
maintain (or boyish), reproduce, and circulate the ‘’cultural category of art, and to produce
the consent of the entire society in the legitimacy of the
art world’ authority to do so’’ (Irvine, 2013). The terrain
where art is distributed is a global network comprised of
individuals, groups, and institutions such as school,
museums, galleries, art spaces, auction houses, and other
commercial market platforms, and professions. The last
aspect is very important because this implies that the art
world does not only rely on ideas, sentiments, and
aesthetic values, but also on skills that are
professionalized, stratified, and more importantly,
monetized. An example of a multi-level platform , where different players in what we call
an art world can engage, interact ,and flex their art muscles, is the international art fair like
the Art Basel in Hong Kong.

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 A curator, on the other hand, is one of the most elusive of roles to pin down.
Institutional curators are typically affiliated with museums and galleries , while
independent or freelance curators have the leeway to move around various projects,
platforms , and art spaces in a multiplicity of terms . Generally, the role of the curator is more
of the interpretation and development of the artwork(s) or the collection(s) through
establishing the significance, relationship, and relevance of these materials---in isolation
and/or as part of a wider narrative. Some of the roles expected of curators are the ability to
research and write, as an arbiter of design and layout, and deciding for the display and
hanging of materials for exhibition.

If curators are the hardest to define, it is buyers and collectors who are probably the
easiest to qualify. Often they are construed as one and the same, but separately taken, buyers
are those who initially assess and survey the artwork that collectors are interested in. It is
their role to oversee the sale of the artwork, on behalf of the collector who may either be too
busy or who would rather keep his identity hidden. Formerly ascribed with the term
‘’patron,’’ buyers and collectors are those who acquire and purchase artworks for a variety
of reasons: for the appreciation and enjoyment of art ; for the scholarship and education
opportunity it may provide ( donors of study collections); for safeguard and preservation of
their posterity; for investment; for communicating a way of life /lifestyle; among others.

In addition, art dealers are those whose direct hand is in the distribution and
circulation of the artworks through a variety of means, such as direct sales, through galleries,
and the more recent player in the Philippines, auction houses. The knowledge and insight that
art dealers are expected to have include a specialization in art form, style, medium, or period;
market trends; and even the interrelationships of other key players in the art world who will
benefit from the circulation and distribution of the artwork (or artist) he promotes.

As the art world is seen as a socio-economic network, it is important to note the major
difference between museums and galleries. These are the main institutions that display,
distribute, and circulate different artworks; however, they behave in different ways. The
most substantial demarcation that separates one from the other is the ethics that admonishes
museums from entering into the more market aspect of the art world. What this means is that
museums should involve themselves in the sale of artworks. The predominant role that
museums are mandated to fulfil is the display of artworks for the education of the public and
the appreciation of these objects only, both in isolation or as part of a collection and a wider
narrative rendered possible by its inclusion in exhibitions or informed by museum
programming (i.e. Lectures, workshops, screenings, etc.).

Medium and Technique

Medium is one of the aspects of art that directly correlates with its composition and
presumed finality of the artwork. It is mode of expression in which the concept, idea, or
message is conveyed. It maybe concretes or tangible, such as paintings, sculptures,
monuments, and structures; or it may be ephemeral or something transient, such as a track
(recording of sound), a film, or a performance.

A chosen a medium must not be expected to yield the same results. Giving two
different artists the same exact material and the general qualifier of “painting” the end
product will still vary minimally or in an exponential scale. This is where technique comes in,
as it is the reason why art history is described by a seemingly limitless example of works of

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art. The technique of the artwork shows the level of familiarity with the medium being
manipulated. It alludes to the necessity of additional tools of implements (e.g., hammer and
chisel may come in handy for sculptors), or consideration of time (e.g., behavior or different
kind of paint especially in drying time requirements), and the specificity of the site of
creation (e.g., indoor or outdoor production requirements).

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Engagement with Art

The defining roles and nature of exhibitions have had an interesting evolution,
changing alongside the demands of the society that purports to partake in its display. In Anna
Cline’s The Evolving Role of the Exhibition and Its Impacts on Art and Culture (2012), she
wrote the “exhibitions act as the catalyst of art and ideas to the public;’ they represent a way
of displaying and contextualizing art that makes it relevant and accessible to contemporary
audiences. The art exhibitions, by its nature, holds a mirror up to society, reflecting its
interest and concerns while at the same time challenging its ideologies and preconceptions.
Keeping art relevant to society and to a diverse audience at any given point in history is one
of the main goals of the art exhibition and one of the reasons it is so important to the history

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art.” Therefore, it is apparent that exhibitions are not only of import to artist who rely on its
being, but more so to the varied audiences who get see them.

In Paula Morin cola’s What Makes a Great Exhibition? (2006), it reads that
“exhibitions are strategically located at the nexus where artist, their work, the arts institution,
and many different publics intersect. “Exhibitions create an opportunity in which the different
roles in the art world get to meet, interact, and even enter into a discussion.

One of the most common platforms to engage with the art is through exhibitions
either at museums or galleries. Nowadays, there are other exhibition spaces that have opened
up for artist to showcase their works. Exhibitions may be long-term or permanent hangs, or it
may be temporary or periodically changing. An artist has may have a solo exhibition or may
be included in a two-person showing or even a group exhibition.

Aside from exhibitions, other opportunities for art engagement transpire in the
classroom (instruction); studio visits; lectures, workshops, and other events that augment the
exhibitions (programs); auction sales; art fairs, biennials, and triennials; and other larger
showing of not only artworks but also where art personalities can flex their influence and
authority. Publications are also a good way to introduce the artwork the artwork and open it
up for appreciation, critique, and analysis.

Awards and Citations

In history, support for the arts and culture is not limited to the allocation of funding
or patronship. One of the most common measures in which artist and other creative
producers are given incentives and honor for their work is through state-initiated and given
awards and citations. The two major awards given to artist in the Philippines are the Order ng
Pambansang Alagad ng Sining (Order of National Artist) and Gawad sa Manililika ng Bayan
(National Living Treasures Awards).

The conferment of the Order of National Artist is the “highest national recognition
given to Filipino individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of
Philippine arts; namely, music, dance, theater, visuals arts, literature, film, broadcast arts, and
architecture and allied arts. The order is jointly administered by the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and conferred
by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation by both institutions” (NCCA,
2015). The very first recipient of this award was painter Fernando Amorsolo, who was touted
as the “Grand Old Man of Philippine Art.” He was the sole awardee in the year 1972, a
National Artist for Visuals Arts.

At present, there are 66 awardees of this prestigious honor across different art forms.
Some of them were given the award posthumously, while others were fortunate enough to
receive the award themselves. Some of the honors and privilege that a national artist awardee
receives are the following: (1) the rank and title, as proclaimed by the President of the
Philippines; (2) a medallion or insignia and a citation that will be read during
the conferment; (3) cash awards and a host of benefits (monthly) life
pension, medical, and hospitalization benefits, life insurance coverage); (4) a
state funeral and burial at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery );
and (5) a place of honor or designated area during national state functions,
along with recognition or acknowledgement at cultural events. The most

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recent conferment was in 2016.

The Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan or the National Living Treasures Award was
createdin1992 under the Republic Act No.7355. Also under the jurisdiction of the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the NCCA (2015) “through the search for the
finest traditional artist of the land, adopts a program that will ensure the transfer of their skills
to others and undertakes measures to promote a genuine appreciation of and instill pride
among our people about the genius of the Manlilikha ng Bayan.” It was first conferred to
three outstanding artists in music and poetry back in 1993. They are Ginaw Bilog, a master of
the Ambahan poetry; Masino Intaray, a master of various traditional music instruments of the
Palawan people; and Samoan Sulaiman, a master of the kutyapi and other instruments.

The recipients of the GAMABA are sought under the qualification of a “Manlilikha
ng Bayan” who is a ‘citizen engaged in any traditional art uniquely Filipino whose distinctive
skills have reached such as high level of technical and artistic excellence and have been
passed on to and widely practiced by the present generations in his/her community with the
same degree technical and artistic competence” (NCCA2015). This artists’ practice may fall
under the following categories; folk, architecture, maritime transport, weaving, carving,
performing arts, literature, graphic and plastic arts, ornament, textile or fiber art, pottery and
other artistic expressions of traditional culture.

Some of the incentives accorded to the awardee are the following: (1) a specially
designed gold medallion; (2) an initial grant of $100,000 and a$10,000 monthly stipend for
life (this was later increased to $14,000); (3) benefits such as a maximum cumulative amount
of $750,000 medical and hospitalization benefits; and (4) funeral assistance or tribute fit for a
National Living Treasure.

The evolution of the artist throughout history is one of the most interesting progressions
in the affairs of man. From the banalities of the works he created to assist and inform the
every day, he was caught in the midst of prevailing and shifting ideologies, and utilized the
power of creativity and imagination in attempt to grapple with the world around him. There
is much responsibility and expectation ascribed to artists. As Woodrow Wilson (1913)
relates, “You are not here to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live
more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to
enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget that errand.”

Let’s Wrap It Up

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 Let’s Work On These Questions

What do you think is the role of

the artist in the twenty-first
century society?

How relevant still are the

awards National Artist and
GAMABA, not only to the art
world, but also to the
Filipino society as a whole?

Do you know of any

artist/artists who is/are
awardee(s) in the field of
arts?

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 MODULE 6: PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN, THE RULE OF THIRDS AND READING
THE IMAGE

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

4. Define the different Principles of Design

5. Identify and make use the different planes of analysis

AN INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN

In any field of art, the first thing for the artist is his idea, or subject matter. After this comes
the composition of his ideas to best achieve the effect wanted. To do his planning, the artist
must be aware of certain principles or rules to be followed. No matter if the field is visual art,
dance, music, literature, or drama; we still see the same principles at work. These are not
considered to be rules arbitrarily made up by a teacher – they are basic to the human
condition. An understanding of these principles is inherent in good art, whether you are an
observer or a doer.

For example, it is a psychological truth in human nature that all men feel a “rage for order” –
the need to control his situation and bring unity to his existence. We all strive for order – we
organize into families, into clubs, companies, societies, and nations so that we can be
stronger. “United we stand, divided we fall.” This is called UNITY.

However, UNITY can become boring at times. We need some VARIETY to avoid
monotony. This often leads to CONFLICT. Biological psychological, and emotional needs
trigger competition between individuals, and between parts of an individual. Life is full of
conflict, and it must be resolved, or it leads to the breakdown of the individual or the society.
“A man cannot serve two masters.” But CONFLICT can be constructive — it leads to growth
and maturity. Every story or play must have a conflict that leads to a solution; otherwise we
lose interest in it.

DOMINANCE resolves the CONFLICT. One of the opposing forces becomes stronger than
the other and takes over the situation; or a decision is made that leads to a solution.
DOMINANCE, or EMPHASIS, restores UNITY until the cycle is again broken. In a play or
story, the solution is often called the denouement.
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Although these are the most important principles of design, there are two others that are also
basic to nature: BALANCE and RHYTHM. BALANCE, or stability, is indispensable to
human life. For every breath we inhale, we must exhale as well. Our days of work must be
balanced by nights of rest. Disease is an upset of balance, either by germs or the action of our
environment. Proper medication or living style will restore the balance. In nature the rough
bark of a tree is balanced by the smoothness of its leaves, and sometimes the smallest flowers
have the strongest fragrance, while bright, showy flowers have no noticeable scent. This too
is BALANCE.

To continue the discussion of design principles, we turn to RHYTHM. We can understand

the use of rhythm in dance and music,but it is also important in the visual arts. And it is
common to human nature. All we have to do is look around us to discover the RHYTHM in
nature. The cycles of the seasons — the growth, production, death, and rebirth of the land is
familiar to each of us. Even the simplest one-celled organism has a rhythmic pattern that
relates it to the complex world outside. Man’s own internal system demonstrates the rhythm
of life. Music and the dance began with the simple rhythms of primitive man, as he beat
patterns on animal skin drums and stamped out the rhythm with his feet.

These five basic principles of design (UNITY, VARIETY, DOMINANCE, BALANCE,

AND RHYTHM) work together to form aesthetic wholes in any form of art: dance, drama,
literature, music, or the visual arts. The major difference between art forms is the matter of
timing. The musician and the writer can manipulate an audience over a period of minutes or
hours, attracting our attention, building up suspense to a climax, and unfolding the
denouement to our enthralled eyes or ears. The visual artist, however, places his entire
composition before the eyes of the viewer all at one, and it is the knowledge and experience
of the viewer that determines how much he gleans from it. no one would leave a play in
progress, but many walk by a painting with just a cursory glance. A work of visual art
deserves the time and study necessary to discover the artist’s design – his plan of
arrangement to achieve his total effect.

(By:pastelanne:https://pastelanne.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/basic-principles-of-design-
unity-and-harmony/)

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 UNITY AND HARMONY

What is Unity?

 Unity in design occurs when the elements in a space work together in such a way that
the resulting look is balanced and harmonious. It is difficult to achieve unity
without harmony.

Source :(APRIL 19, 2017 / HEATHER HELMS:

http://www.schaubsrote.com/interior-design-blog/the-principles-of-design-unity-
harmony/#:~:text=Unity%20in%20design%20occurs%20when,look%20is%20balanc
ed%20and%20harmonious.&text=Harmony%20is%20accomplished%20by%20the,cr
eates%20the%20sense%20of%20unity.)

 Unity is the banding together of all elements by organization and balance for
total effect. It is reached when all elements work together
harmoniously. Technique and material are important here. Consider Van
Gogh’s unity — his brush strokes and the emotion underlying it all. His use of
the brush brings the whole composition into one. The subject matter of a
painting may also give unity. In some cases, the background color may pull it all
together. Unity really means ONE IDEA.
(By: pastelanne : https://pastelanne.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/basic-principles-of-design-
unity-and-harmony/)

 Unity is the principle of art that gives an artwork a feeling of “oneness”. Unity and
harmony are similar, but unity is more broad. There are numerous ways to create
unity in art. Some of those ways are particular to individual artist’s style.

Here are some proven methods that ensure a unified composition according to Ashley Hurts..

 Simplicity
 Repetition
 Proximity

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Let’s take a closer look at each of these techniques…

1. Simplicity – Simplicity refers to purposely reducing the amount of potential variety.

For example, a graphite pencil drawing is likely to exhibit some measure of unity,
given the lack of color. By eliminating color, the image is simpler than it potentially
could have been if color was introduced.

Look at the image below. The simplicity of the line-type and the lack of color are
simplifications of the original reference. Much of the visual information has been
intentionally left out. The result is a unified image.

2. Repetition – Repetition within a composition will guarantee a feeling of unity.

Tessellations are an obvious example of how repetition unifies a composition. A
tessellation is an arrangement of shapes that fit together in a repeated pattern without
gaps.
Repetition can also unify an entire series of artworks, like a group of paintings. A certain
shape, object or texture that is repeated among a group of paintings acts as a motif, helping
each painting to feel as though it is part of a greater whole.

3. Proximity – Proximity refers to the closeness of different components in a work of

art. By placing parts close together, the mind is able to see the parts as one thing, a
mass.

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Negative space is the space between elements in a work of art. It can refer to the “empty
spaces” within a drawing or painting. The more limited the negative space, the more unified
the areas of a composition may feel.
The tessellation below depends on both repetition and proximity, resulting in a highly unified
image. Due to the complete lack of negative space, the repeated bird shapes feel like one
pattern.

(by Ashley Hurst: https://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/unity-harmony-and-variety-principles-

of-art)

What is Harmony?

 Harmony is accomplished by the repetition of a particular design element, such as

color, shape, texture, etc… that harmony is what creates the sense of unity. DIY’ers
beware, too much unity in a room can lack personality and interest

(APRIL 19, 2017 / HEATHER HELMS: http://www.schaubsrote.com/interior-design-

blog/the-principles-of-design-unity-
harmony/#:~:text=Unity%20in%20design%20occurs%20when,look%20is%20balanced%20a
nd%20harmonious.&text=Harmony%20is%20accomplished%20by%20the,creates%20the%2
0sense%20of%20unity.)

 Harmony is related to unity, but is not synonymous with it. Harmony is a

combination of units similar in one or more respects. Types of harmony include:

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 a. Harmony of function: dissimilar objects that are commonly associated, as a
bottle and a cork.
b. Harmony of literary association: symbolism as the dove and the olive branch.
c. Harmony of similar shapes, colors, lines, or textures
(By: pastelanne : https://pastelanne.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/basic-principles-of-design-
unity-and-harmony/)

 It can be described as sameness, the belonging of one thing with another. The
repetition of design elements like colour, texture, shape, and form is one of the easiest
ways to achieve harmony to create a composition.

 Harmony is the principle of art that creates cohesiveness by stressing the similarities
of separate but related parts.

One should note that harmony is not the same as unity. Harmony does, however,
enhance unity in a work of art. Specifically, harmony uses the elements of art (color,
line, shape, form, value, space, texture) as a vehicle to create a sense of togetherness
amongst otherwise separate parts.
A set of colors that relate according to a specific scheme creates harmony.
Likewise, a uniform texture of brush strokes across the surface of a canvas creates
harmony.
Another way to guarantee harmony is to choose compositional components that are
similar in shape and contour. For example, a composition that utilizes only curvy
shapes will have more harmony than a similar composition that includes both curvy
and geometric shapes. The parts of the image below are in harmony because every
contour is a curve.

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Posted on June 21, 2018 by Ashley Hurst

You can see how these two principles of design go hand-in-hand. Harmony and unity are two
words that designers often use to describe the feeling of a space. They can provide a sense of
calmness, or at least play a role in limiting chaos in our workplaces, and can also add to the
comfort level of a room; especially when balance is also considered and effectively realized.

(Source: https://www.hatchdesign.ca/principles-of-interior-design-part-4-harmony-and-
unity/)

RHYTHM AND VARIATION

What is Rhythm?

 Rhythm is the regular, uniform or related visual movement made through the
repetition of a unit or motif. It is the basis of almost all performing arts
because it is the principle which is more quickly felt.
 It is a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound.
 A principle that defines “synchronization”.

In rhythm, there are slight variations in the pattern. Rhythm is easily perceived but complex
and subtle. Think of water on a beach; it continually breaks on the shore in lines that are
repeated, yet each one is different.

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Rhythm is most easily understood within music. Rhythm represents our desire for order.
Rhythm is like our own heartbest; it gives us a sense of the pulsing of life.

Monthly Archives: January 2014

What is Variation/Variety?

 Variety is the quality of having different forms or types. The differences give a
design visual and conceptual interest: notably use of contrast, emphasis,
difference in size and colour.

BALANCE AND PROPORTION

What is Balance?

Balance as a principle of design refers to the overall distribution of visual weight in a

composition. A well-balanced composition feels comfortable to look at.

Each visual component of an artwork has visual weight. Different than actual weight, visual
weight is not measured using a scale but must be observed instead. Visual weight balances
around an artwork’s axis. The axis may be vertical, in which visual elements balance on both
sides of the axis. Artworks may also balance around a horizontal axis, in which visual
elements balance from top to bottom.

There are three types of balance: symmetric, asymmetric and radial. Symmetric and
radially balanced artworks use formal balance. Asymmetric balance is quite different and is
also referred to as informal balance. Let’s take a closer look at the three types of balance and
then consider how to manage the feeling of balance in art.

Symmetrical Balance

Symmetry is a type of formal balance in which two halves of an artwork mirror each other.
This type of balance is familiar and common. The human body is balanced symmetrically as

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is our planet, our cars, clothes, furniture etc. Symmetry imposes a strong sense of order and
stability on both the composition and the subject.

Approximate symmetry is just symmetry with a touch of variety. When using approximate
symmetry, elements on either side of a compositional axis are similar in size and shape and
number but are not mirror images of one another.

Radial Balance

Radial balance is symmetry in several directions. Visual elements are arranged around a
central point in the composition, like the spokes on a wagon wheel. Often, radially balanced
designs are circular. Other shapes lend themselves to radial balance as well – squares,
hexagons, octagons, stars, etc.

In nature, we most easily observe radial balance in the form of flowers.

Radial balance is prevalent in human design as well; car wheels, architectural domes, clocks,
man-hole covers, a compass, etc.

Asymmetric Balance

Asymmetry is informal and seems less organized than symmetry. The two halves of a
balanced asymmetric artwork do not look the same but have similar visual weights.
Asymmetric balance is more subjective than both symmetry and radial symmetry.
Asymmetry allows for more variety in a composition than symmetrically balanced designs. It
provides the same “comfortable” feeling as symmetry without using like elements on each
side of a central axis.
Many artists appreciate asymmetric balance because it feels less rigid and more realistic than
symmetric balance. Although symmetry makes clear the artist’s desire to present a visually
balanced image, asymmetric balance does not happen by accident, but instead requires
planning and intention.

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(Source: Ashley Hurts https://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/balance-a-principle-of-art)

What is Proportion?

Proportion is the size relationship of forms and shapes. Good proportions causes a sense
of unity and harmony.

It is a quality of art which shows pleasing relationship between a whole and its parts
and between the parts themselves. It is expressed in terms of ratios.

EMPHASIS (FOCAL POINT) AND SUBORDINATION

Emphasis (also called focal point) is where the focus is concentrated through design
principles or meaning. To do this one develops points of interest to pull the viewer’s eye
to important parts of the work. It is to make one part of an artwork dominant. It makes
an element or object in a work stand out. To use emphasis in an artwork is tp attract
the viewer’s eyes to a place of special importance in an artwork. Emphasis establishes a
centre of interest, while subordination supports a centre of interest.

(Source: J O H N C H I A P P O N E
http://www.johnchiappone.com/principles_of_art.html)

THE SEMIOTIC PLANE

Semiotics is the study of "signs"--here the work of art is the iconic or pictorial sign. A sign
consists of a "signifier" or its material/physical aspect and its "signified" or non-material
aspect as concept and value. Related to these is the "referent" or object as it exists in the real
world. A visual work. A visual work, whether it be a two-dimensional pictorial space or a
three-dimensional body, is an embodiment of signs in which all physical or material marks
and traces, elements, figures, notations are signifiers which bear a semantic or meaning-
conveying potential and which in relation to each other convey concepts and values which are
their signifieds. Their semantic potential is realized in the analysis or reading of the integral
work.
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The basic semiotic plane covers the elements and the general technical and physical aspects
of the work with their semantic (meaning-conveying potential). It includes:

1. The visual elements and how they are used: line value, color, texture, shape, composition
in space, movement. Each element has a meaning-conveying potential which is realized,
confirmed, and verified in relation to the other elements which form the text of the work.
While the elements usually reinforce one another, there can also exist contrasting or
contradictory relationships which may be part of the meaning of a work. The elements and all
material features are thus to be viewed in a highly relational manner and not isolated or
compartmentalized.

2. The choice of medium and technique. In contemporary art, medium enters more and more
into the meaning of the work. While the European academies or salons of the nineteenth
century decreed the choice of medium, today the artist exercises free choice in this respect, a
choice determined less by its availability as by its semantic potential. For instance, handmade
paper with its organic allure, irregularities of texture, and uneven edges is favored by a
number of artists because it bears significations conveying the uniquely personal, human, and
intimate, in contrast to mass-produced standard paper. Technique, of course, goes hand in
hand with the nature of the medium. Likewise, there are techniques which valorize the values
of spontaneity and play of chance and accident, while there are those whch emphasize order
and control.

3. The format of the work. The very format of the work participates in its meaning. Again, in
contemporary art, format is no longer purely conventional but becomes laden with meaning.
For instance, the choice of a square canvas is no longer arbitrary but enters into the meaning
of the work as a symbolic element, the square signifying mathematical order and precision.

4. Other physical properties and marks of the work. Notations, traces, textural features,
marks, whether random or intentional, are part of the significations of the work.

The elements of the visual arts derive their semantic or meaning-conveying potential from
two large sources: a) human psychophysical experiences (psychological and
physical/sensory) which are commonly shared; and b) the socio-cultural conventions of a

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particular society and period (Matejka and Titunik 1976). As human beings, our sensory and
physical experiences in general are intimately fused with our psychological conditions and
processes. Among our basic psychophysical experiences are those of day and night, of
warmth and cold, of weight or gravity, relative distance, pleasure and pain, with the complex
intellectual and emotional associations that go with these. Because of these humanly shared
experiences, it is possible to arrive at a general agreement of what these elements and their
usage convey in a work of art.

The semantic potential of line, for instance, does not merely lie in its orientation as
horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curvilinear, but also in its very quality, its thickness or thinness,
density and porosity, regularity or irregularity, its production by even or uneven pressure on a
surface, as well as qualities determined by the instruments producing it. A line made by a
technical pen signifies a set of concepts and values different from that made by a stick of
charcoal. Likewise, the different orientations of line derive their meaning from the positions
of the body. At rest, one is horizontal, in readiness, vertical, and in action, diagonal. In dance,
one creates curved lines in space with one's body and limbs.

Our sense of tonal values from light through shades of gray to dark comes from our
experience of the cycle of night and day, from early dawn through the gradual series of light
changes in the course of the day until evening to darkest night. These changes in the light and
dark of our environment have always affected us psychologically; in general, dawn ushers in
bright optimism, while night creates a sense of mystery, melancholy, and respite. In our
perception of color around us, warm hues that seem to advance are associated with human
warmth, congeniality, openness and spontaneity, while cool hues which seem to recede are
associated with remoteness, self-containment, quietness, and restraint. Shapes are also linked
to our physical experiences; geometric shapes, whether two- or three-dimensional are
measurable and circumscribed; organic shapes are drawn from natural living and growing
forms, while free shapes project, expand, and contract in all directions. Texture is associated
with experiences of pleasure and pain, pleasantness and unpleasantness, in tactile sensations
of hard and soft, smooth and rough, silky and gritty. Movement in the visual art, whether
implied or actual, parallels human experiences of movement within our own bodies or in
relation to things around us. Rhythm is part of the body's processes as an organic whole. Our
sense of composition is affected by gravity and the relative weights of things, as well as our
physical experience of bodies massing, crowding or in isolation and apartness; it is also
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determined by our sense of the relationship between figures or objects, as well as between
figures or objects and their intervals or intervening spaces within a given field.

Just as important, the meaning-conveying potential of the elements also comes from their
socio-cultural context with its conventions and traditions. As to social conventions, these
have to do with symbolic systems commonly understood by members of a society or group.
These systems include those of color, for instance, where apart from the signfications drawn
from the basic psychophysical associations, they acquire socially derived meanings. For the
various hues possess differential semantic inflections in different societies. A common
example is black which is the colour of mourning in western or western-influenced societies,
while it is white in many Asian societies. Likewise, groups and societies have their own
chromatic codes which have to do with the range of hues with their tones and saturations that
operate in their art and with prevalent or favored color combinations. For instance, the
chromatic code used by artists in urban areas is determined by the standard sets of colors
industrially produced in the west. On the other hand, the chromatic codes of the cultural
communities are determined by their lore of local dyes derived from available plants and
minerals. Each cultural community has its own particular chromatic code because it has its
own lore of dyes, although there may be general similarities between a number of
communities. By bringing out the distinctiveness of each, one does not lump indigenous
qualities into one homogenous category. Conventions may also include formats, as in the
Chinese horizontal or vertical hanging scroll. The different writing conventions in different
societies may influence composition in space. Also important are cultural conventions in the
use of space which is linked with world views. There is, for instance, the dialogue between
figure and space in the arts of China and Japan, on one hand, and the phenomenon of horror
vacui in the arts of India and Southeast Asia, on the other. In abstract art, it is the basic
semiotic plane which alone operates, but in figurative art, one proceeds to two other planes.

According to de Saussure again, meaning is produced from the interplay of the signifiers of
the work. Following this, a number of observations arise. The first is that artistic analysis
takes into account not only the elements but also other material aspects, such as dimension,
format, medium, frame, and techniques, as signifiers or conveyors of meaning. The second is
that there is developed a finer and more sensitive perception of the elements as they are
specifically and materially found in a particular work. Line, for instance, is not just seen in its
vertical, horizontal, or diagonal orientation, but is examined in its particular properties of
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density, porosity, relative sharpness, etc. Third, the elements are not studied in a sequential
and compartmentalized manner but in a highly relational and interactive way in which the use
of line, color, texture, composition in space confirm or verify meanings or create semantic
relationships of similarity or contrast. And fourth, the signifiers go hand in hand with their
signifieds, and thus one does not limit oneself to a description of the elements in the way they
are used but links their particularities of usage with their primary significations, as well as
with their intellectual and emotional associations within the society. In the images of art and
the media, the use of the elements affects us subliminally or unconsciously and, especially in
the media are part of what have been called the "hidden persuaders" that influence choice and
behavior. However, it is through art criticism that we become highly conscious of the means
and their effects and what they signify. It is also in semiotic analysis that we work within the
specific language of art. In contrast, the classical approach often overlooks the basic language
of art and bears heavily on the image, its iconography and descriptive details, as well as its
iconology and its narratives.

ICONIC PLANE

This is still part of the semiotic approach since it is still based on the signifier-signified
relationship. But here it is not that material elements of the work that are dealt with as in the
basic semiotic plane, but this has to do with the particular features, aspects, and qualities of
the image which are the signifiers. The image is regarded as an "iconic sign" which means,
beyond its narrow associations with religious images in the Byzantine style, that it is a unique
sign with a unique, particular and highly nuanced meaning, as different from a conventional
sign such as a traffic or street sign which has a single literal meaning.

The iconic plane includes the choice of the subject which may bear social and political
implications. An example in art history is the French realist artist Gustave Courbet's choice of
workers and ordinary people in his paintings, instead of the Olympian gods and goddesses or
heroes from Greek and Roman antiquity that were the staple of classical and academic art up
to the nineteenth century. We can ask the question: Is the subject meaningful in terms of the
socio-cultural context, does it reflect or have a bearing on the values and ideologies arising in
a particular place and time?

One proceeds to consider the presentation of the image and its relationship to the viewer. If
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the subject is a human figure, does it address the viewer directly; is it self-contained or self-
absorbed? What kind of subject-viewer relationship is implied by the subject through his
facial expression, body language, costume and accessories, natural or social background? Is it
a relationship of peers or one of dominance and subordination? Is it a friendly, ironic,
aggressive, or hostile relationship, and all possible nuances thereof? Most examples of
Philippine genre, for instance, are based on the concept of the stage or tableau which is
oriented towards a large public audience which it is aware of and directly addresses—a mark
of the social cohesiveness of rural peasant society as well as the extended Filipino family
system in which all members of society have their kinship appellations. John Berger in
his Ways of Seeing has an engrossing study of paintings with the female nude as subject,
many of which he demonstrates as stemming from sexist attitudes reifying (reducing to object
status) or commodifying women with respect to the implied male viewer.

Also part of the iconic plane is the positioning of the figure or figures, whether frontal, in
profile, three-fourths, etc. and the significations that arise from these different presentations.
Does the painting show strong central focusing with the principal figure occupying the center
space or is it decentered and the painting asymmetrical in composition? How do these
presentations contribute to different meanings? Does the subject or subjects have a formal or
a casual air? How does one describe the central figure's stance: poised, relaxed, indifferent,
provocative, or aloof? How much importance is given to psychological insight into character?
to costume and accessories? to the setting, natural, social or domestic? What is the relative
scaling of the figures from large to small? What bearing does this have to the meaning of the
work? Luna's Tampuhan brings to the fore the artist's sensitivity to body language. How do
the postures of the man and the woman convey their emotional attitudes?

In portraits, where is the gaze of the subject directed? This is important not only in defining
the relationship of subject and viewer but also in describing pictorial space. Degas'
painting Woman with Chrysanthemums shows a middle-aged woman beside a large vase of
flowers. More importantly, her intense and scheming look projects an imaginary line to a
figure or figures that are the objects of her gaze outside the pictorial field of the painting into
an implied open and expanded space. This work deconstructs the classical conventions of
portraiture.

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Is there cropping of the figure or figures? What is the significance of the kind of cropping
used? Some kinds of cropping are intended to create a random, arbitrary effect as against the
deliberate and controlled. Other kinds isolate a segment of the subject, such as the hand or the
feet, in order to draw attention to its physical qualities--when a part stands for the whole, a
peasant's bare feet can tell us about an entire life of labor and exploitation. Some artists use
cropping as a device to imply the extension of the figure into the viewer's space.

Here one also takes into account the relationship of the figures to one another, whether
massed, isolated, or juxtaposed in terms of affinity or constrast. A painting may expand or
multiply its space by having not just one integral image but several sets of images in montage
form, from the same or different times and places. These may occur in temporal sequence to
constitute a narrative or may take the form of simultaneous facets or aspects of reality. Serial
images which show an image multiplied many times, as in Andy Warhol's Marilyn
Monroe or Campbell Soup Cans, convey significations arising from the blatant consumerism
of the advanced capitalist societies of the First World.

The style of figuration is an important part of the iconic plane. The figurative style is not
mere caprice, passing fashion, or the artist's personal ecriture; beyond these, it implies a
particular re-presentation or interpretation of the world, a world view, if not ideology.
Classical figuration basically follows the proportion of 7 1/2 to 8 heads to the entire figure in
its pursuit of ideal form, as in a formal studio portrait with the subject enhanced by make-up,
all imperfections concealed. Realist figuration is based on the keen observation of people,
nature, and society in the concern for truth of representation, thus creating true portraits of
individuals or exposing the poverty and squalor that arise from social inequities.
Impressionist figuration is fluid and informal, often catching the subject unawares like a
candid camera. Expressionist figuration follows emotional impulses and drives, thus often
involving distortion that comes from strong emotion. However, the viewer should not be too
anxious to find precise stylistic labels, for contemporary art has seen the development of
highly original styles that have gone far beyod the School of Paris. It is important to be
sensitive to the meaning-conveying potential of highly individual styles. In the basic semiotic
plane which deals with the material aspect of the work and in the iconic plane which deals
with the features of the image itself, one can see that as the signifier cannot be separated from
the signified, concrete fact or material data cannot be divorced from value; in other words,
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fact is value-laden and value or ideological meaning is derived from material fact.

THE CONTEXTUAL PLANE

Here one proceeds from the basic semiotic and iconic planes and the knowledge and insights
one has gained from these into the social and historical context of the work of art. Resituating
the work in its context will bring out the full meaning of the work in terms of its human and
social implications. The viewer draws out the dialogic relationship of art and society. Art
sources its energy and vitality from its social context and returns to it as a cognitive force and
catalyst for change. If one does not view the work in relation to its context, but chooses to
confine analysis to the internal structure of the work, one truncates its meaning by refusing to
follow the trajectories of the work into the larger reality that surrounds it. One prevents the
work from reverberating in the real world.

As has been said earlier, the meaning of a work is a complex that involves concepts, values,
emotions, attitudes, atmospheres, sensory experiences that arise from the three planes. The
experience of a work cannot be reduced or paraphrased to a statement, such as a moral lesson
or message, but is a total experience involving the faculties of the whole person--not just his
eyes or his senses, but his mind and emotions as well. The work of art has its horizon of
meaning which is narrower or larger depending on the degree of cultural literacy, cultural
breadth, art exposure and training, and intellectual and emotional maturity of the viewer. Art
involves cognition or learning; it is an important way of learning about people, life, and
society. Does the work expand our knowledge of reality as a whole? Is its experience
liberative artistically, psychologically, humanly, or socially?

A broad knowledge of history and the economic, political and cultural conditions, past and
present, of a society is called upon in the contextual plane. With this comes a knowledge of
national and world art and literatures, mythologies, philosophies, and different cultures and
world views. The work of art may contain references and allusions, direct or indirect, to
historical figures and events, as well as to religious, literary, and philosophical ideas and
values which are part of the meaning of the work.

The different symbolic systems which are culture-bound also come into play. Although we
have been strongly influenced by western symbolic systems, we have to move towards a
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greater awareness of our many indigenous and Asian/Southeast Asian, Malay animist and
Islamic symbolic systems which must be given even greater value for they are part of our
social context. These systems may have to do with color, shape, design, as well as cultural
symbols associated with the belief systems of the different ethnic groups. Figures may also
bear rich and distinct intellectual and emotional associations built around them in the course
of the history of a group.

The contextual plane likewise situates the work in the personal and social circumstances of its
production. The work may contain allusions to personal or public events, conditions, stages,
as well as influences, such as persons and literary texts, that have been particularly
meaningful to the artist. Themes and sub-themes may be derived from biographical
experiences significant to the artist and particular biographical data may play an important
part in understanding the work and its view of reality.

The work is firmly situated in a particular society and time, "in its social and historical
coordinates" (Wolff 1983). The work is viewed or studied in relation to its epoch, to the
prevailing world views, ideologies, issues, concern, trends, and events of the day. It situates
the artist with respect to the debates of his time. The work may have allusions or references to
the personalities and events of a particular period, and convey attitudes of espousal, approval,
indifference, or rejection with respect to these. For the work of art conveys values, artistic,
religious, social or political. Art then is not value-free. All art contains values of one kind or
another. Abstract art, likewise, may express world views and values, as Mondrian's
abstraction conveyed his neo-platonism, as he considered his paintings symbolic of the
underlying harmony and order in the universe. On the contrary, Pollock's gestural abstraction
valorizes spontaneity and the release of kinetic energy and non-rational impulses. Values
such as spontaneity as against discipline and order, mystery and elusiveness as against clear
definition, informality as against the formal, transitoriness as against permanence--these may
be found in abstract art, at the same time that these can be viewed in the light of the events
and intellectual trends of the time.

Finally, a single work of art is often more completely understood when it is viewed in the
context of the artist's entire body of work, when it is juxtaposed and compared on the
semiotic, iconic, and contextual planes with works of the artist in the same period, in different
periods of his/her career, and then with the work of contemporaries. This is because the
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 meaning of one work may become part of a larger body or work or of an integral artistic
vision. In comparative intertextuality, the work of art reveals its numerous ramifications of
meaning.

(Source: Alice G. Guillermo http://asymptotik.net/artweb/reading_the_image_3.html)

LET’S DO THIS ACTIVITY!

Find three images online that demonstrate each of the principles of contrast,
repetition, alignment, and proximity (for a total of 12 images). Copy and paste the
images into a word processor document, and add a description that explains which
principle the image illustrates and explains how the image demonstrates the
principle.

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