Unit I

That’s Art, So
What?
MR. JAMES S. FUENTES
Course Instructor
 Learning
Competencies
At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:
a. Integrate the value of art in their personal life experiences
through the functions presented
b. Practice the art of criticism and analyzing artwork; a skill that
can be applied to other areas of thinking
c. Create some works that are thought-provoking, well-thought of,
and show some technical knowledge
d. Increase their vocabulary on the language of art and awareness
of its platforms.
e. Develop a good attitude toward art institutions and issues of
varying degrees.
f. Apply their knowledge of art history to the changing landscape
of the art scene.
Lesson 1
What is Art to me?: Understanding How Art Can Meet
Some Human Needs

• Art comes from the Latin word “ars” which means skill,
talent, or ability
• Art is the expression of the creative skill and imagination
in different genres for appreciation of beauty and emotional
power (Oxford Online Dictionary, 2020)
Functions of Art
1.) Beauty
2.) Happiness and hope
3.) Identity and understanding oneself
4.) Grief and healing
5.) Remembering and mark-making
6.) Raising awareness
7.) Culture and togetherness
1.) Beauty

One of the innate

qualities that “pretty art”
can give is that it makes
our dull, lifeless walls
come to life.

The Artists Garden at Vetheuil”,

Claude Monet 1880
2.) Happiness and Hope
There is a wide range of properties of art why it gives a sense of joy and
hope to its audience. These are examples:
a. When paintings are placed in a daunting environment such as hospitals.
b. The experience and process of creating art itself.
c. The bliss of looking at a piece of imagery evoking a happy memory:
e.g., the painting of a do.
d. Direct words from typography and graphic messages that are so
relatable as if the author has read your mind and feelings.
e. Identifying oneself with the properties of an artwork: a homage to
something ; works addressing diaspora, displacement, and other social
issues.
3.) Identity and Understanding the Self

Art can serve as a powerful tool to help us

communicate and relay our confusion. Even
psychological interventions use art as therapy to
aid in processing some sensitive experiences.
4.) Grief and healing
Some may use art as a tool
to express pain and process
it in therapy. Nonetheless, it
plays an important role in
making grieving somehow
dignified.
The Weeping Woman, Pablo Picasso (1937)
5.) Remembering and mark-making

The monument of
Rizal in Luneta Park is
one example of a type
of art that helps us
remember.

Rizal Monument, Richard Kissling (1913)

6.) Raising Awareness
Through our work,
artists can shed light on
issues that are often
overlooked or
marginalized by
mainstream media.
7.) Culture and togetherness

Forms of art are

often localized so
that they bring
identity also to
certain regions..
Lesson 2
How Do I Study Art? Reading Art
Quick Facts
• An art period is a specific length of time in history with a
prominent, trend, or creed in artistic practice.
• Art movements are distinguishable styles and artistic
tendencies often characterized by a major trend in
techniques or approach.
Prehistoric
• Cave paintings, Venus figurines which are
considered portable sculptures.
• Greek standard of beauty: the birth of the
“Classical Age”
• Romans: the competitor of Greece; created
realistic sculptures of human figure.
 Prehistoric Arts

Cave Paintings Venus Figurines

Middle Ages
• The “death” of artistic freedom due to canonical
standards of visual interpretation
• The rise of Gothic art especially in Gothic
Churches.
• Popular art: Stained glass windows and
illuminated manuscripts.
Middle Ages Arts

Cave Paintings Venus Figurines

Renaissance
• Revival of artistic genius
• Where the term “Renaissance Man” was derived
because of man’s intellectual achievements in the
arts and science.
• The time of “Masters” e.g., Donatello, Da Vinci,
Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Van Eyck.
 Renaissance Arts

The Creation of Adam by

Mona Lisa, Leonardo Da Vinci
Michaelangelo
Baroque
• Grandiose and ornate art
• Artistic innovation: “Spotlight Effect” called
chiaroscuro or in extreme usage, it is called tenebrism.
• Artists to note: Caravaggio (Italy), Velazquez (Spain),
Poussin (France), and Antonio Gaudi (designer of
“Sagrada Familia” chapel in Barcelona)
 Baroque Arts

Teneberism Sagrada Familia, Antonio Gaudi

19 Century
th

• Emergence of “isms”
• Neoclassicism: Greek and Roman Classics revived
• Romanticism, Realism, Art Nouveau, Impressionism.
• Photography comes into the scene
• Post-impressionism, early expressionism, and
symbolism.
 19 Century Arts
th

Romanticism Art Impressionism Art

20 Century Modern Art
th

• Art became more non-representational

• Garish colors explored in fauvism
• Abstracted sculptures emerged
• Simplified forms in paintings by Picasso and Matisse.
• Art movements: Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism,
Expressionism
• Mondrian’s purely geometric art
 20 Century Arts
th

Mondrian’s Geeometric Art Cubism Art

Art During the Wars
• Dadaism: the art movement that defies logic
• Surrealism: stepping into the dream world
• American art blossoms: Jackson Pollock became
famous as the “Jack the Dripper” and paved the way
for American Abstract Expressionism
• Mobile sculptures (Alexander Calder) and Color Field
(Rothko) paintings also became prominent.
 Arts During the Wars

Surrealism Art
Dadaism Art
20 Century to Contemporary
th

• Highly experimental and radical

• Pop art defines consumer culture; dominated mostly
by works of Andy Warhol
• Minimalism: glorifying the simplest art elements.
• Birth of conceptual art
• Photography is further developed which paved way
to art movement, Photorealism
20 Century to Contemporary
th

• Neo-expressionism or new expressionism is

characterized by strong subject matters.
• Contemporary Art: a very diverse art scene; the
rise of appropriation, photography-derived
works, graphic style of art, experimental works,
multimedia and multi-modal art.
20 Century to Contemporary Arts
th

Photorealism
Pop Art
Reference
• Roldan, Albert N.J., Pawilen, G.T., A Course
Module for Art Appreciation, Rex Printing Co.,
2019
Thank you!