DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,

INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

GE ART1
ART APPRECIATION

LEARN
ING MODULE
SY 2020 - 2021

Prepared by: MR. JAVIER B. BAARDE

GE Art1 Instructor

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Week 1

Unit 1: Introduction to Art Appreciation

Topic: What Is Art? Introduction and Assumptions

Learning Outcomes:
1. Understand the role of humanities and arts in man’s
attempt
2. Clarify misconceptions the art
3. Characterize the assumptions of art
4. Engage better with personal experiences of and in art

Concept Digest (Discussion)

Let’s Get Started

In first column of the table below, list down your most

striking encounters with arts. On the second column, explain why
you think each encounter is an experience with art.

My Encounter with Arts Why?

What Is Art?

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Art is something that is perennially around us. Some people

may deny having to do with the arts but it is indisputable that
life presents us with many forms of and opportunities for
communion with the arts.
Despite the seemingly overflowing instances of arts around
people, one still finds the need to see more and experience more,
whether consciously or unconsciously.

One whose exposure to music is only limited to one genre

finds it lacking not to have been exposed to more.

One whose idea of a cathedral is limited to the locally

available ones, finds enormous joy in seeing other prototypes in
Europe.

This lesson is about this yearning for the beautiful, the

appreciation of the all-consuming beauty around us, and some
preliminary clarifications on assumptions that people normally
hold about art.

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 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. 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”.

The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate or highly

skilled arts but ‘beautiful’ art” (Collingwood, 1938).

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

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 Paleolithic Age, several
thousands of years before the
current era.
Cave Paintings
Assumptions of Art

Art is universal.

Literature has provided key words

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 stapling in the
field.

This is a misconception. Artistic

made long time ago. Age is not a factor
in determining art. “Art is not good
because it is old, but old because it
is good” (Dudley et al., 1060).

In the Philippines, the works of Jose Rizal and Francisco

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.

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.

Ibong Adarna, another Filipino

masterpiece, has always captured the
imagination of the young with its
timeless lessons. When we recite the

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

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 ancestor whiled away their time
in the past.
The first assumption then about the humanities is that art
has been crafted by all people regardless of origin, time, place,
and that it stayed on because it is liked and enjoyed by people
continuously. 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.

Art is not nature.

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 a given around us. It is in this
juncture that they can be considered opposites.

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.
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 were touching other
different part 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.

Art involves experience.

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

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

experience of something, he often means that he knows what that

something is about.

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. According to Dudley et al., (1960)
affirmed that “all art depends on experience, and if one is to
know art, he must know it not as fact or information but as
experience.”

A famous story about

someone who adores Picasso goes
something like this: “Years
ago, Gertrude Stein was asked
why she bought the pictures of
the unknown artist Picasso. ‘I
like to look at them,’ said
Miss Stein” (Dudley et al.,
1960)

At the end of the day, one fully gets acquainted with art if
one immerses himself into it. In the case of Picasso, one only
learns about Picasso’s work by looking at it.

Finally, one should also underscore that every experience

with art accompanied by some emotion. One either likes or
dislikes, agrees or disagrees that a work of art is beautiful. A
stage play or emotion 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
experiences.

Let’s Wrap It Up
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. Three assumptions on art are its university, it’s
not being nature, ant it’s need for experience. Art is present in
every part of the globe and in every period time. 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.

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Activity
Title: Let’s Work On This
Things to do:
Answer the following questions.

1. If you were an artist, what kind of artist would you

be?

2. Why is art not nature?

3. Why is art ageless and timeless?

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

4. Why does art involve experience?

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Assessment (Summative)
Title: Let’s Make It Happen
Date of Submission:
Rubric Used:
Things to do:
1. Choose one of the topics listed below:
a. Why Study Humanities?
b. Art and Nature
c. What makes an art valuable?
2. Develop your chosen topic an essay (minimum of 150
words)
3. Follow the format provided.

______________________________
Title

Introduction
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_______________________
___________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Body
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_______________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________

Conclusion
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

References:

R1: Collingwood, R.G. (1938). The Principles of Art.

Worcestershire: Read Book Ltd.
R2: Dudley, L., Faricy, A., and McGraw-Hill Book Company. (1960).
The Humanities, New York: McGraw-Hill
R3: Mill, J.S. (1879). Utilitarianism.7th Ed. London: Longmans,
Green, and Co.
R4: Scott, D. (2000). “Socrates and Alicibiades in the
Symposium.” Hermathena 168, 25-37

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