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HUM 01
(ART APPRECIATION)
CHAPTER II
SUBJECT, CONTENT AND THE ARTISAN

Lesson 1, 2 and 3
Source and Kinds of Subject, and
Content of Art

Source: https://worlduniversityofdesign.ac.in/school-of-visual-art.php

DAN JEROME L. MALAPIRA

Instructor I

First Semester, A.Y. 2020 - 2021

Brgy. 7-B Nuestra Sra. De Natividad, Laoag City, 2900 Ilocos Norte, Philippines
Telephone: (077) 600-3019 Email: cit@mmsu.edu.ph
HUM 01 Chapter I: Introduction to Art Appreciation 1
Website: www.cit.mmsu.edu.ph Facebook: https//web.facebook.com/MMSUCITOfficial/
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CHAPTER II
SUBJECT, CONTENT AND THE ARTISAN

Lesson 1, 2 and 3
Source and Kinds of Subject, and Content of Art

Lesson Objectives
At the end of the lesson, students must have:
1) discuss the difference between an artwork’s subject and its content;
2) classified artworks according to subject;
3) differentiate representational art and non-representational art;
4) characterized sources and kinds of arts;
5) analyzed how artists present their subjects in relation to the real subject;
6) identify the subject matter and content of specific examples of art; and
7) identified the medium in various forms of art, visual, auditory, and combined arts.

Lesson Development
LESSON 1, 2 AND 3
SOURCE AND KINDS OF SUBJECT, AND CONTENT OF ART
Introduction
The primary stage of engaging with art is its perception. Subjectivity is illustrated in the way
that selective perception renders one or two details more prominent than others, prompting the
viewer to focus on some details as essential or as standouts.
In the arts, there are also observable qualities that the artwork holds that will point to its
subject, and sometimes even to its content.
The Subjects of Art
The subject of art is the matter to be described or to be portrayed by the artist. This may refer
to any person, object, scene or event or simply the focus of the artwork.
 Two Kinds of Art as to Subject:
 Representational Art or Objective Art
- They are those arts which depict (represent) objects that are commonly recognized by
most people.
- They attempt to copy, even if in a subjective manner, something that's real.
- It uses “form” and is concerned with “what” is to be depicted in the artwork.
 Non-representational Art or Non-objective Art
- They 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.
 Many contemporary painters have turned away from representational to non-objective
painting.

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 They have shifted their attention to the work of art as an object in itself, an exciting
combination of shapes and colours that fulfils an aesthetic need without having to represent
images or tell a story.
 Many modern paintings are like this making them more difficult to comprehend.
 Sources of Subject
 Landscapes, Seascapes and Cityscapes
- Artists have always been fascinated with their physical environment.
- Favorite subject of Chinese and Japanese painters.
- Fernando Amorsolo, is well known for having romanticized Philippine landscapes.
- In Europe, the paintings of pure landscapes without human figures was almost
unheard of until the Renaissance. They only served as backgrounds prior to this.
- Modern painters seem to be attracted to scenes in cities. Vicente Manansala, Arturo
Luz and Mauro Malang Santos are some who have done Cityscapes.
 Still Lifes
- These are groups of inanimate objects arranged in an indoor setting (flower and fruit
arrangements, dishes food, musical instruments and music sheets). The
arrangement is like that to show particular human interests and activities.
- The still lifes of Chinese and Japanese painters usually show flowers, fruits and leaves
still in their natural setting, unplucked from the branches.
- Today, focus is on the exciting arrangement and combinations of the object’s shapes
and colors.
 Animals
- They have been represented by artists from almost every age and place. In fact, the
earliest known paintings are representations of animals on the walls of caves.
- The carabao has been a favourite subject of Filipino artists.
- The Maranaws have an animal form of “sarimanok” as 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; and
 The peacock is the symbol of Immortality through Christ
 Portraits
- People have always been intrigued by the human face as an index of the owner’s
character. As an instrument of expression, it is capable of showing a variety of moods
and feelings.
- It is a realistic likeness of a person in sculpture, painting, drawing or print but it need
to be a photographic likeness.
- A great portrait is a product of a selective process, the artist highlighting certain
features and de-emphasizing others.
- It does not have to be beautiful but it has to be truthful.
- Besides the face, other things are worth noticing in portraits are the subject’s hands,
which can be very expressive, his attire and accessories for it reveals much about
the subject’s time.
- Statues and busts of leaders and heroes were quite common among the Romans but
it was not until the Renaissance that portrait painting became popular in Europe.

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 Figures
- The sculptor’s chief subject has traditionally been the human body, nude or clothed.
The body’s form, structure and flexibility offer the artist a big challenge to depict it
in a variety of ways, ranging from the idealistic as in the classical Greek sculptures to
the most abstract.
- The grace and ideal proportions of the human form were captured in religious
sculpture by the ancient Greeks.
 To them, physical beauty was the symbol of moral and spiritual perfection;
thus they portrayed their gods and goddesses as possessing perfect human
shapes.
- Early Christian and medieval artists seldom represented the nude figure.
 The figures they used to decorate the walls and entrances of their churches
were distorted so as not to call undue attention and distract people from their
spiritual thoughts.
- But Renaissance artists reawakened an interest in the nude human figure. The
favourite subject among painters is the female figure in the nude.
 Everyday Life
- Artists have always shown a deep concern about life around them. Many of them
have recorded in paintings their observation of people going about their usual ways
and performing their usual tasks.
- Genre Paintings – representations of rice threshers, cockfights, candle vendors,
street musicians, children at play and many others.
 History and Legend
- History consists of 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.
 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.
 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 nonbelievers.
- 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

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- 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; and
 Buddha, is symbolized by his footprints, a wheel or a true
 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 subconscious.
- 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.

 Ways in Representing the Subject

The manner of representing subject varies according to the intent and inventiveness of
each artist.
 Realism
- When things are depicted in the way they would normally appear.
- 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.
 Abstraction
- It is the process of simplifying and/or reorganizing objects and elements according
to the demands of the artistic expression.
- The artist selects and renders the objects with their shapes, colours 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.
- The artist concern is the rendering of the essence of the subject rather than the
natural form itself.
 Distortion
- When the figures have been so arranged that proportions differ noticeably from
natural measurements.
- It could also mean twisting, stretching or deforming the natural shape of the object.
- 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.

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 Surrealism
- It is the combination of realism and distortion.
- 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.

The Content of Art

The Content of Art is the meaning or message that is expressed or communicated by the
artwork.
In understanding the content of art, it is important to note that there are various levels of
meaning.
 Levels of Meaning
 Factual Meaning
- The most rudimentary level of meaning for it may be extracted from the identifiable
or recognizable forms in the artwork and understanding how these elements relate
to one another.
- The literal statement or the narrative content in the work which can be directly
apprehended because the objects presented are easily recognized.
 Conventional Meaning
- It pertains to the acknowledged interpretation of the artwork using motifs, signs,
and symbols and other cyphers as bases of its meaning.
- These conventions are established through time, strengthened by recurrent use and
wide acceptance by its viewers or audience and scholars who study them.
- Examples: Flag- symbol of a nation, cross for Christianity, crescent moon for Islam,
heart for love, etc.
 Subjective Meaning
- When subjectivities are consulted, a variety of meanings may arise when a particular
work of art is read.
- These meanings stem from the viewer’s or audience’s circumstances that come into
play when engaging with art (what we know, what we learned, what we
experienced; what values we stand for).
- Meaning may not be singular, rather, multiple and varied.

Subject of Art versus Content of Art

Subject or Art Content of Art
This is the object being depicted by
The meaning of the artwork.
the artist.
It could be any person, object, scene
In literature, it is the theme.
or event.
The focus or the image that being
depicted in the artwork. It reveals the artist’s attitude toward
his subject.

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Example:

Creation of Adam (1814, Michelangelo), from the ceiling of Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.
Source: https://www.slideshare.net/janril/subject-and-content-of-arts

Subject A biblical Art that depict the creation of Adan, the first
man.
Kind of Subject Representational
Source of Subject Religion or Mythology
Way/s of Realism
Representation
Content
Factual Creation story/ creation of man from the bible.
Conventional Man was created in the image and likeness of God.
Subjective (Personal) The intelligence of man came from God,
and we can even surpass it.

Mediums and Various Forms or Art

 Elements of Art: Visual
 These elements of art are generally produced when something is done to the medium
after the technique is carried out.
 To enumerate, the elements of art and design are the following: line, shape and form,
space, color, and texture.
 Planes and Perspectives:
 Picture plane is the actual surface of the painting or drawing, where no illusion of a
third dimension exists.
 Aside from this technique, linear perspective changed the way pictorial representation
was done.
 Elements of Art: Auditory
 Perhaps one of the most widespread forms of art, whose intersection in daily life is
most perceptible, is music. Music is sound organized in a specific time.

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 Some of the common elements of music are the following: rhythm, dynamics, melody,
harmony, timbre, and texture.
 Principles of Art:
 The principles of art will provide explicit ways in which these elements are used, how
they are manipulated, how they interact, and how they inform the overall composition
of the artwork to assist the artist in conveying his intention.
 These principles are: balance, scale and proportion, emphasis and contrast, unity and
variety, harmony, movement, rhythm, and repetition and pattern.
 Combined or Hybrid Art:
 In combined arts, improvisation is often tapped in addition to practical and logical
considerations of creating an artwork.
 Another movement that is reminiscent of the motivations of the Renaissance, and
whose emergence is hinged on the frontiers of science and technology, is called hybrid
arts.

References:
 Caslib, B. N. Jr, Garing, D. C., & Casual, J. A. R. (2018). Art Appreciation. Rex Book Store
 https://www.scribd.com/presentation/422772888/Art-Appreciation-Unit-1
 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
 https://www.slideshare.net/janril/subject-and-content-of-arts
 https://www.academia.edu/14874159/THE_SUBJECT_OF_ART_Meanings_Kinds_and_Functi
ons_of_Subject_Meanings_Kinds_and_Functions_of_Subject

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