ART: INTRODUCTION

AND ASSUMPTIONS
 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 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.
Plato had the sharpest foresight when he discussed in Symposium that
beauty, the object of any love, truly progresses. As one moves through life, one
locates better, more beautiful objects of desire (Scott, 2000). One can never be
totally contented with what is just before him. Human beings are drawn
toward what is good and ultimately beautiful.
HUMANITIES
- A branch of learning or an academic discipline that studies the aspects of
human society and culture.
- This discipline includes Philosophy, History, Religion, Literature, and the arts.
- Takes the larger form, while the arts in general can be subsumed as part of the
large spectrum of humanities which includes visual, architecture, drama,
literature, photography, and film.

“Humanities are those significant achievements of the human race which

illuminate and illustrate the distinctive characteristics of man as a rational and
spiritual being.” (De Leon, 2000)
“Arts are processes, products, and experiences that communicate aspects of
human living in a variety of ways, many of which do not use word.”
(Sporre, 2000)
ART
• Comes from the Ancient Latin word ‘ARS’ which means “craft or specialized
from 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, 1938)
• During the Renaissance Period the word ARS reacquired its original meaning
from the Ancient Latin Period.
*Early renaissance artists coined/ call all their artistic activities and products
merely as “craftsmanship”
• During the 17th Century, the problem and idea of ‘Aesthetics’, the study of
beauty began to unfold distinctly from the original notion and conception of
art which is ‘Technical Workmanship’.
• It was on the 18th Century when the issue on aesthetics was resolved. It was
this period when the word Art has evolved to distinguish between (a) Fine
Arts and (b) useful Arts.
*The Fine Arts would come to mean “not delicate or highly skilled arts, but
‘beautiful arts’.
“The humanities constitute one of the oldest and the most important means
of expression developed by man” (Dudley et al, 1960)
ASSUMPTIONS OF ART
• Art is Universal
Art links the past to the present. It gives us views on significant events that happened before
that could be a great factor of what we have today. What makes art universal is its ability or its
sense to ‘communicate’. Works of Literature and History are the best examples that exhibits
the universality of art. Art is present in every part of the globe and in every period time.

“Art is not good because its is old, it is old because it is good” (Dudley et al, 1960)

The first assumption then about 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. Art will always be present because
human beings will always express themselves and delight in these expressions.
• Art 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 already given around us.

• Art involves Experiences

Art is just experience. By experience, we mean the “actual doing of something” (Dudley et
al, 1960). When one says that he has an experience of something, he often means that he knows
what that something is about.
A work of art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing. In order to know what an artwork
is, we have to sense it, we need to see or 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 of judgement. Degustibus non disputandum est (Matters of taste are not matters of
dispute). One cannot argue with another person’s evaluation of art because one’s experience can
never be known by another.
ART APPRECIATION:
CREATIVITY, IMAGINATION,
AND EXPRESSION
 It takes an artist to make an art. One may perceived beauty on a daily basis.
However, not every beautiful thing that can be seen or experienced may truly
be called a work of art. Art is a product of man’s creativity, imagination and his
expression. No matter how perfectly blended the colors of a sunset are and no
matter how extraordinarily formed mountains are, nature is not considered art
simply because it is not made by man. Not even photographs or sketches of
nature, though captured or drawn by man, are works of art, but mere recordings
of the beauty of nature (Collins & Riley, 1931)
Perhaps not everyone can be considered an artist, but surely, all are
spectators of art. Thus, this gives us a role in the field of art appreciation.
Jean-Paul Sartre
- a famous French philosopher of the 20th century, described the role of art as a
creative work of art that depicts the world in a completely different light and
perspective, and the reason is due to human freedom (Greene, 1995).

Each artwork beholds beauty of its own kind, the kind that the artist sees and wants
the viewers to perceive. More often than not, people are blind to this beauty and only
those who have developed a ‘fine sense of appreciation’ can experience and see the
art the same way the artist did.
“Refining one’s ability to appreciate art allows him to deeply understand the
purpose of an artwork and recognize the beauty it possesses” (Collins & Riley,
1931)
 In cultivating an appreciation of art, one should also exercise and develop
his taste for things that are fine and beautiful. This allows individuals to make
intelligent choices and decisions in acquiring necessities and luxuries, knowing
what gives better value for time or money while taking into consideration the
aesthetic and practical value (Collins & Riley, 1931)

“Learning to appreciate art, no matter what vocation for profession you

have, will lead to a fuller and more meaningful life” (Collins & Riley, 1931)
THE ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN ART MAKING
Creativity requires thinking outside the box. In art, creativity is what sets
apart one artwork from another. We say something is done creatively when we
have not yet seen anything like it or when it is out of the ordinary. Most of the
time we associate the word creative with originality, unique, new and others. A
creative artist does not simply copy or imitate another artist’s work.
Being creative sometimes becomes challenging. What you thought was
your own unique and creative idea may not be what it seems to be after
extensive research and that someone else has coincidentally devised before the
idea in another part of the world.
Thus, creativity should be backed with careful research on related art to
avoid issues especially on plagiarism.
ARTS AS A PRODUCT OF IMAGINATION,
IMAGINATION AS A PRODUCT OF ART
All arts and artistic products started in the human mind. It begins with our
imagination.
German physicist Albert Einstein who had made significant and major
contributions in science and humanity demonstrated that knowledge is actually
derived from imagination. He emphasized this idea through his words:
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited
to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire
world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
 Imagination is not constrained by the walls of the norm, but goes beyond
that. This is why people rely on curiosity and imagination for advancement.
Through imagination, one is able to craft something bold, something new, and
something better in the hopes of creating something that will stimulate change.
thus, imagination allows endless possibilities.
“An artwork does not need to be a real thing, but can be something
imaginary” (Collinwood, 1938)
Artists use their imagination that gives birth to reality through creation. In
the same way that imagination produces art, art also inspires imagination.
ART AS EXPRESSION
An emotion will remain unknown to a man until he expresses it.
Robin George Collingwood, an English philosopher who is best known for his
works in aesthetics, explicated in his publication The Principles of Art (1983) that
what an artist does to an emotion is not to induce it, but express it. Through
expression, he is able to explore his own emotions and at the same time, create
something beautiful out of them. He further illustrated that expressing emotions is
something different from describing emotions.
Description actually destroys the idea of expression, as it classifies the emotion,
making it ordinary and predictable.
Thus, this makes people’s art not a reflection of what is outside or external to
them, but a reflection of their inner selves.
SOME POPULAR ART EXPRESSIONS:
• Visual Arts
Creations that fall under this category are those that appeal to the sense of
sight and are mainly visual in nature. Artists produce visual arts driven by their
desire to reproduce things that they have seen in the way that they perceived
them (Collins & Riley, 1931).
Visual Arts is the kind of art form that the population is most likely more
exposed to, but its variations are so diverse – they range from sculptures that
you see in art galleries to the last movie you saw.
Some mediums of visual arts include paintings, drawings, letterings,
printing, sculptures, digital imaging, and more.
• Film
Film refers to the art of putting together succession of still images in order to
create an illusion of movement. Filmmaking focusses on its aesthetics, cultural
values and social values and is considered both an art and an industry.
Films can be created by using one or a combination of some or all of these
techniques: motion-picture camera (movie camera), animation techniques,
Computer-generated Imagery (CGI), and more.
Filmmaking simulates experiences or creates one that is beyond the scope of
our imagination as it aims to deliver ideas, feelings, or beauty to its viewers.
The art of filmmaking is so complex it has to take into account many important
elements such as lightning, musical score, visual effects, direction, and more.
• Performance Art
It is a live art and the artist’s medium is mainly the human body which he or she
uses to perform, but also employs other kind of art such as visual arts, props, or
sound. It is usually composed of four important elements: time, the venue or where
the performance took place, the performers or performer’s body, and a relationship
between the audience and the performer.
• Poetry Performance
Poetry is an art form where the artist expresses his emotions not by using paint,
charcoal, or camera, but expresses them through words. These words are carefully
selected to exhibit clarity and beauty and to stimulate strong emotions of joy, anger,
love, sorrow, and the list goes on. It uses word’s emotional, musical and spatial
values that goes beyond its literal meaning to narrate, emphasize, argue, or convince.
• Architecture
Art is the pursuit and creation of beautiful things while architecture is the making
of beautiful building. However, not all buildings are beautiful. Some buildings only
embody the functionality they need, but the structure, lines, forms, and colors are not
beautifully expressed. Thus, not all buildings can be considered architecture. Buildings
should embody these three important elements – plan, construct, and design – if they
wish to merit the title architecture.
• Dance
Dance is a series of movements that follows the rhythm of the music
accompaniment. Dancing is a creative form that allows people to freely express
themselves. Dancers are not confined to set steps and rules but are free to create and
invent their own movements as long as they deem them graceful and beautiful.
• Literary Art
Artists who practice literary arts uses words – not paint, musical instruments, or
chisels – to express themselves and communicate emotions to the readers. Literary art
goes beyond the usual professional, academic, journalistic, and other technical forms
of writing. It focuses on writing using a unique style, not following a specific format
or norm.
• Theater
Theater uses live performers to present account or imaginary events before a live
audience. Theater art performances usually follow a script. Much like in filmmaking,
theater also considers several elements such as acting, gesture, lighting, musical score,
scenery, and props. Similar to performance art, since theater is also a live performance,
the participation of the viewer is an important element in theater arts.
• Applied Arts
Applied arts is incorporating elements of design to everyday items with the aim of
increasing their aesthetical value. Industrial design, interior design, fashion design are
considered applied arts. The goal of the artists under applied arts is to combine
functionality and style.

-FIN