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Art Appreciation | ZGE 1101 | Module 1

2. Art is not Nature
ART AND HUMANITIES: WESTERN AND
FILIPINO CONCEPTS A work of art is man-made and although it may
closely resemble nature, it can never duplicate nature.
To be creative is not magic. It entails continuity
3. Art involves Experience
that requires time, practice, devotion, and passion It is an
innate call for every human being to exert effort, to be We can appreciate art if we look at it, listen to it,
involved in action. touch it and feel its presence.

Artists, in whatever field they are in, must CLASSIFICATION OF ART

patiently hone their skills and improve their crafts.
1. Directly functional
WHAT IS ART?
Art that we use in our daily lives (tools, roads, bridges,
• ART came from the word <ars= which means skill. It furniture, kitchen utensils, dress)
is a human ingenuity in adapting natural things to
man9s use. 2. Indirectly functional
• An artist uses his genius in transforming God-made Arts that are perceived through the senses (painting,
things into man-made things. (e.g., wood into music, sculpture, dance, literary piece, theatrical
religious image, a house, a piece of furniture) performances)
• Art covers all forms of human skill and all the things
which human beings were able to produce by skilled Artist and Artisan
workmanship. Artist is an art practitioner such as painter,
• In a more specialized sense, art applies to those sculptor, dancer, musician choreographer, etc. who
activities that express aesthetic ideas using skill and produces or creates indirectly functional arts with
imagination in the creation of objects, through aesthetic value using imagination.
experiences about the environment or through
other personal or collective experiences, which can Artisan is a craftsman, such as carpenter, carver,
be shared with others. plumber, blacksmith, weaver, embroider, etc. who
produces directly functional and/or decorative arts.
ART IS ANYTHING ACCOMPLISHED WITH GREAT SKILL.
FUNCTIONS OF ART
THE MEANING OF ART APPRECIATION
• While artists (painters, musicians, architect, actors,
• The knowledge and understanding of the universal
dancers, hairstylists, clothes designers) differ in the
and timeless qualities that identify all great art.
art form, they engage in the arts basically to earn
• It involves learning about certain time periods, money.
movements, styles, and techniques so that a person
• Artists have other purposes in engaging in art
has a better understanding of the basis for the art as
activities. Some do it to express their emotions and
well as of the art itself.
thoughts, real or imaginary. Others do it to produce
• It is the positive, perceptual, emotional, and things of beauty (architectural wonders and
intellectual response to the beauty of artworks. masterpieces).
ASSUMPTIONS OF ART • There are writers who are engaged in art to
1. Art is universal persuade; among them are the propaganda writers,
a. art as means of communication copywriters, and editorial cartoonists.
b. art is timeless • Most artists intend to entertain people. That viewers
c. art addresses human needs enjoy the sight of beautiful paintings, sculptures and
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buildings gives credence to the world of John Keats • Paintings, sculptures, architectural works, and other
who says, <A thing of beauty is a joy forever.= art forms serve to record historical figures and
events.
1. Personal or Individual Function
• The Our Lady of EDSA Shrine is a sterling proof of the
Arts serve as a vehicle for the expression of feelings, Filipino’s love of peace and freedom as it reminds
emotions, motivations, and ideas. those who pass by EDSA of the bloodless revolution
in Philippine history, emulated by other nations all
• The English poet Robert Browning expressed his love
over the world.
to Elizabeth Barrett-Browning in the form of a poem
entitled: My last Duchess. Elizabeth did the same by
6. Cultural Function
means of the poem How Do I Love Thee?
Art reflects society9s cultural ideas, values, and
• Others do their thing because of their passion for concerns, either collective or individual.
their respective art form. Gary Valenciano renders
• Representations of the different worldviews,
concerts for free because he loves singing.
religious beliefs, political ideas, and social values.

2. Social Function • Buildings, furniture, clothes, and the like form part of
the country’s material culture; while music, dance,
Art seeks to influence proper human behavior. It
and language, which is incorporated in oral and
expresses or describe individual, social, or
written literature and drama, form part of its non-
collective, and universal aspects of existence.
material culture.
• Man is a social being and as such he associates with
• Paintings, sculptures, architectural works, songs,
his fellow beings. This association is evidenced by
dances, dramas, and literary pieces are
their choral singing and group dancing in religious
embodiments of a nation’s culture.
rites and other practices.
7. Religious Function
3. Economic Function (Commercial value)
To increase awareness of man9s relationship with
Artists engage in arts to earn money or exists if the God and to promote better and stronger bonds
artwork can sell for a fortune. between God and man.

• Many people believe that it does not pay to be an • People in the olden times worshipped their gods in
artist. This belief was negated by these facts. J. K. the form of songs and dances. The earliest dramatic
Rowling, the author of the best-selling Harry Potter forms were religious in nature.
series, became one of the most-highly- paid women
• Greek paintings and sculptures were those of gods
in British history. Paintings of great painters
and goddesses. The pyramids were built to entomb
(Michelangelo and Leonardo) are now worth millions
the pharaohs.
of dollars.
8. Physical Function
4. Political Function
Art is created to make our lives physically
Artists use their work to convey their ideas and
comfortable.
reactions about political events.

5. Historical Function • Houses and other buildings are constructed to

protect their occupants and all the others inside
Art tells us some significant aspects about the past. them.

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• Many people claim that dance is one of the best distinction between arts and crafts, functionality is a
forms of exercise, while music is a form of therapy. key factor.

9. Aesthetic Function

Artworks serve to beautify. Art for art 8s sake ➢ HISTORY - refers to a branch of knowledge that
records and explains past events.
• Paintings serve to decorate houses and buildings.
➢ LANGUAGE - refers to the subjects (such as reading,
Sculptures serve to decorate churches and similar
spelling, literature, and composition) that aim at
edifices. Set designs, as well as costumes and props,
developing the student's comprehension and
make dramas, dance performances, and song
capacity for use of written and oral language.
renditions not only realistic but also appealing to the
➢ PHILOSOPHY - refers to a search for a general
audience.
understanding of values and reality by chiefly
ART AS A HUMANISTIC DISCIPLINE speculative rather than observational means.
➢ ART - It is a diverse range of human activities in
HUMANITIES creating visual, auditory, or performing artifacts
(artworks), expressing the author's imaginative,
• It is a branch of knowledge that concern themselves
conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be
with human beings and their culture or with analytic
appreciated for their beauty or emotional power;
and critical methods of inquiry derived from an
refers to the conscious use of skill and creative
appreciation of human values and of the unique
imagination especially in the production of aesthetic
ability of the human spirit to express itself.
objects.
• <humanitas=; Erwin Panofsky describes as
➢ CRAFT - It is an art, trade, or occupation requiring
maintaining our rationality and freedom while
special skill, especially manual skill, dexterity.
keeping in mind our own fallibility and frailty. Thus,
➢ HIERARCHAL - It refers to any formalization which
responsibility for ourselves and tolerance to others
ranks different genres in an art form in terms of their
• As Panofsky says so beautifully, "For, if human
prestige and cultural value.
existence could be thought of as a means rather than
an end, how much less could the records of human THE HUMANITIES IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION
activity be considered as value in themselves"
• To the humanist there are two distinctions to be 1. Cosmocentric View
made: the one of nature and the one of culture. - Human person is studied or understood in relation
Everything falls into one category or the other, being to the Cosmos. Here, the Cosmos is at the center.
that all things are either found in nature or are man- Hence, the Cosmos is given great importance.
made, and whatever camp that might be, the 2. Theocentric View
situation always must make sense at the end of the - where human person is being studied or
day. understood in reference to God. Here, human
• That said, the old ideas must maintain credibility, person is the image of God. He is being created by
not to be confused with validity, for even if God, in His own image and likeness.
something is outdated, it led to a new and improved - It is a philosophical viewpoint that acknowledges
thought or idea, and as a steppingstone was integral that all being basically, initially, and ultimately,
to our current knowledge. focuses around and in the transcendent God and
• According to the traditional theory of art, there is a finds in Him its raison d'être.
basic difference between an 'art' and a 'craft'. Put 3. Anthropocentric View
simply, although both activities involve creative - the human person himself is the point of the
skills, the former involves a higher degree of departure. He himself becomes the basis and object
intellectual involvement. In this rather artificial of the study matter.

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- It is a philosophical viewpoint arguing that human • The increasing tendency to privilege painting, and to
beings are the central or most significant entities in a lesser degree sculpture, above other arts has been
the world. a feature of Western art as well as East Asian art. In
4. Scientific-Technocentric both regions, painting has been seen as relying to the
- believes in classical science, technology, highest degree on the imagination of the artist, and
conventional economic thinking, and in the human the furthest removed from modulator – in Chinese
control over nature. Such view is almost arrogant in painting the most highly valued styles were those of
its assumption that man is supremely able to "scholar-painting", at least in theory practiced by
understand and control events to suit his purposes gentleman amateurs. The Western hierarchy of
and more anthropocentric in the sense that it views genres reflected similar attitudes.
humankind as separate from and superior to nature
and that the earth is regarded as a life support PERFORMING ARTS
system for the benefit of human beings. • Performing arts are a form of art in which artists use
5. Eclectic view their voices, bodies, or inanimate objects to convey
- refers to a conceptual approach that does not hold artistic expression. Performing arts include a range
rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, of disciplines which are performed in front of a live
but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or audience.
ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, • Theatre, music, dance and object manipulation, and
or applies different theories in particular cases. other kinds of performances are present in all human
However, this is often without conventions or rules cultures. The history of music and dance date to pre-
dictating how or which theories were combined. historic times whereas circus skills date to at least
VISUAL ARTS Ancient Egypt. Many performing arts are performed
professionally. Performance can be in purpose-built
• The visual arts are art forms such as painting, buildings, such as theatres and opera houses, on
drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, open air stages at festivals, on stages in tents such
photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts, and as circuses and on the street.
architecture. Many artistic disciplines (performing • Live performances before an audience are a form of
arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of entertainment. The development of audio and video
the visual arts as well as arts of other types. Also recording has allowed for private consumption of the
included within the visual arts are the applied arts performing arts. The performing arts often aim to
such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion express one's emotions and feelings.
design, interior design, and decorative art.
• Current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine FINE ARTS
art as well as the applied or decorative arts and
crafts, but this was not always the case. Before the • It is creative art, especially visual art whose products
Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain and elsewhere are to be appreciated primarily or solely for their
at the turn of the 20th century, the term 'artist' had imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content.
for some centuries often been restricted to a person
working in the fine arts (such as painting, sculpture, ELITIST ART
or printmaking) and not the decorative arts, craft, or • It favors a select group of people with a certain
applied art media. The distinction was emphasized ancestry, intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth,
by artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, who special skills, or experience—are more likely to be
valued vernacular art forms as much as high forms. constructive to society as a whole, and therefore
Art schools made a distinction between the fine arts deserve influence or authority greater than that of
and the crafts, maintaining that a craftsperson could
not be considered a practitioner of the arts.
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others. most powerful, rich, or talented people

within a group, place, or society.

LINGUISTIC

• Linguistic arts is the study and improvement of the

arts of language. Traditionally, the primary divisions
in language arts are literature and language, where
language in this case refers to both linguistics, and
specific languages. Language arts instruction
typically consists of a combination of reading, writing
(composition), speaking, and listening. In schools,
language arts are taught alongside science,
mathematics, and social studies. It is the scientific
study of language. It involves analyzing language
form, language meaning, and language in context.

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