ART APPRECIATION

INTRODUCTION TO ART
Week 1

Presented by:
Mr. Jeremias A. Cenizal
The Parisian Life (Juan Luna, 1892)
The Parisian Life (Juan Luna, 1892)

◦The three men in the

painting are Ariston
Bautista Lin (the closest
to the lady)who was the
original owner of the
painting, the gentlemen,
at the middle is Juan
Luna himself, and the
half-turned gentleman,
Jose Rizal
The Parisian Life (Juan Luna, 1892)

◦The woman is
identified as
courtesan or
prostitute,
representing
“fallen
womanhood”
WHAT IS ART??
What is Art??
◦Art is something that is perennially
around us.
◦Some people may deny having to do
with arts but it is indisputable that life
presents us with many forms of and
opportunities for communion with the
arts.
What is Art??
◦The word ART comes from the ancient Latin, ars
which means a “craft or specialized form of skill,
like carpentry or smithying or surgery”
(Collingwood,1938).
◦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, 1983).
What is Art??
◦The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate
or highly skilled arts, but “beautiful arts”
(Collingwood, 1983).
◦“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.
ASSUMPTIONS OF
ART
 Art is Universal
◦Timeless, spanning generations and continents through and through
◦ Age is not a factor in determining art.
◦ Literature has provided key words of art.
◦ lliad and the Odyssey are the two Greek Epics that was being taught in
school.
◦ The Sanskrit pieces Mahabharata and Ramanaya are also staples in this
fields.
◦In every country and in every generation, there is always art. Often
times, 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)
 Art is Universal
◦In the Philippines, the works of Jose Rizal and Francisco
Balagtas are not being read because they are old.
◦Florante at Laura never fails to teach high school students the
beauty of love, one that is universal and pure.
◦ 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 while away their time in the
past.
 Art is not Nature
◦Art, not directed by representation of reality, is a
perception of reality.
◦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 movies.
 Art involves experience
◦It does not full detail but just an experience. Actual doing
of something.
◦ Getting this far without a satisfactory definition of art can
be quite weird for some. 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) and it also affirmed that art depends
on experience, and if one is to know art, he must know it
not as fact or information but as an experience.
 Art involves experience
◦ A work of an art then cannot be abstracted from
actual doing. In order to know what an artwork, we
have to sense it, see and hear 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 perceive is,
his tastes, his biases, and what he has inside.
FUNCTIONS OF
ARTS AND
PHILOSOPHY
Lesson 2
Personal Function of Arts
◦Personal functions of art is highly
subjective and depends on the artist who
created the art.
◦An art may be created for expressing
self, for entertainment or for other
purposes.
Social Function of Arts
◦If an art is opposed to personal interest and for
collective interest it is considered to have a social
function. Art may convey, message such as to
support, to protest, contestation and other messages
an artist intends to carry at his work.
◦Political Art is a very common example of an art with a
social function.
◦Art can depict social conditions such as photography
of industrialization and poverty.
◦Performance art like plays serves social functions as it
rouses emotions for a common situation a society has.
Physical Function of Arts
◦This are artworks that are crafted in
order to serve physical purpose such as
jars, plates, and jewelries.
◦Architecture, jewelry-making, interior
design all serves physical functions
Other Functions of Arts
◦Other functions of art may serve culture,
history and religion.
◦Music is an artwork used for different
purposes such events for culture,
historical and religious gatherings.
◦Sculpture, poems, spoken poetry, movies
and other form of arts are used for its
specific functions.
PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVE OF
ARTS
Art as an imitation
◦In Plato’s The Republic, paints a picture of
artists as imitators and art is mere imitations.
In his metaphysics or view of reality, the things
in this world are only copies of the original, the
eternal, and the true entities can be found in
the World of Forms.
◦Art is just an imitation of imitation. A painting
is just an imitation of nature, which is also an
imitation of realty in the World of Forms.
Art as a representation
◦Aristotle, agreed with Plato, however he
considered art as an aid to philosophy in
revealing the truth.
◦Art represents version of reality. In Arestotelian
worldview, art serves two particular purposes:
art allows for the experience of pleasure and
art has an ability to be instructive and teach its
audience things about life.
Art as a disinterested judgment
◦Emmanuel Kant, in his Critique of Judgement,
considered the judgement of beauty, the
cornerstone of art, as something universal
despite its subjectivity.
◦He recognized that judgement of beauty is
subjective.
Art as a communication of emotion
◦According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge role
in communication to its audience’s emotions
that the artist previously experienced
◦Art communicates emotions.
ASSESSMENT
1. Do Arts always have functions? Why? Provide your
own example.
2. If an artwork has no function is it still considered as
art?
3. Why perception of beauty is subjective? Support
your answer by providing your own example.
4. What kind of artwork you are capable of doing that
can showcase your emotions?
5. If there is an artwork that changed your perspective
in life, what is it and how it
inspired you?