Topic 1: Understanding the Arts

Presentation of Content
We can say that art is the lifeblood of humanities because it conveys one’s
feelings and expressions. Art is the essential factor which motivates an individual
to create and appreciate “a thing of beauty.”
But before we formally discuss art, let’s look at the etymological meaning
as well as the different meanings of art given by the experts.
Etymologically, art is derived from the Latin word “ars”, meaning ability or
skill. Art is from an Italian “artis” defined as a human or skill.
Webster’s New Collegiate dictionary defines art as “The conscious use of
skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetics objects.”

Art according to writers and philosophers:

“Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious
idea of beauty of God: it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game
in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not the expression
of man’s emotions by external signs; it is not the production of pleasing
objects, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of unions among men,
joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life
and progress toward well-being of individuals and humanity.” Russian
novelist Leo Tolstoy
“Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life.” American writer
Henry Miller
“Art is higher type of knowledge than experience.” Greek philosopher
Aristotle
“The object of art is to give life a shape.” French dramatist Jean Anouilh
“Art is science in the flesh.” French poet and playwright Jean Couteau
“All art is social,” because it is the result of a relationship between an artist
and his time.” Historian James Adams
“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.”
Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde
“Art is a discovery and development of elementary principles of nature into
beautiful forms suitable for human use.” American architect, interior
designer, writer, and educator Frank Lloyd Wright

ART HISTORY
a) Art history, also called as art histography, is a historical study of the visual arts, being
concerned with identifying, classifying, describing, evaluating, interpreting, and
understanding the art products and historic development of the fields of painting, sculpture,
architecture, the decorative art, drawing, etc.
For example:
It＇s size is 77cm x 53cm
The woman in the painting is Lisa Gherardini.
It＇s italian name is La Gioconda which means happy.
It is 516 years old.

Assumptions about Art

1. Art is everywhere.
"Your surroundings, home, personal care, pets, clothing and body are all
reflections of how you see and express yourself." - Dr. Christiane Northrup
2. Art is not nature.
Art is not nature because art is man-made. It is the creature of man that may
reflect a profound skillfulness and craftsmanship. Art can never be natural
because nature is evanescent, in constant transformation of change, and yet art
is permanent.
3. Art is imitating and creating.
Creation in art is the act of combining or re-ordering already existing
materials so that new objects will be formed. An artist only copies the things in
nature he believes would express his thought and feelings. Art is a process of
imitating involving personal assimilation through mind, feeling and style (Barrios,
____).
4. Art perfects nature.
Artists only enhance things they like and eliminate the undesirable
elements in nature to convey their message of beauty and love.
5. Art is universal.
It transcends cultures, races, and civilization. As long as human beings exist,
art is feasible, alive, and dynamic.
6. Art is timeless
Art is timeless because it goes beyond the time of our existence. It is present
in every corner of the world to serve basic needs of mankind, from ancient time to
modern world. Further, art is timeless because it continually evolves. Aside from
artists birthing new artworks, they also never stop innovating, recreating,
reinventing, and reviving works of art.
Art defines time.
In watching film, for example, even when you do not have
the idea when it was created, the style of directing and filming, the clothing and
bearing of the characters, musical scoring and the setting and the plot of the story
would make the viewer’s guess the period when it was produces.
While art defines time, time also defines art. It identifies the artwork that
would “click” in a particular time for the particular audience.
Having a clearer understanding about art, contemplate on the following
universally accepted ideas about art.

Art as Expression and Communication

Art has grown out of man’s need to express himself. Expression is not
limited to the revelation of emotions alone. The personal and social values of the
artist and his penetrating psychological insight into human reality are also conveyed
through arts.
The artist uses symbols which he organizes into some comprehensible
equivalent of the experience that he is trying to convey. If the symbols are
understood by his audience, then communication has been established.

Art and Experience

Three major kinds of experience are involved in the artistic activity.
1. It starts as an experience which the artist wants to communicate.
2. The act of expressing this experience –that of creating that art object
or form.
3. When the work is done, there is the artist’s gratifying experience of
having accomplished something significant.
On the part of the onlooker or listener, he may kindle an experience which
is similar or related to that which the artist tried to express. These include sensory,
emotional, and intellectual responses.
Art and Beauty
A thing of beauty is one which gives us pleasure when we perceive it. The
delight that we experience is called aesthetic pleasure.
Beauty in terms of art refers to an interaction between line, color, texture,
sound, shape, motion, and size that is pleasing to the senses.
Sometimes beauty is not the artist’s ultimate goal. Art is often intended to
appeal to and connect with human emotion. Artists may express something so their
audience is stimulated in some way-creating feelings, religious faith, curiosity,
interest, identification with a group, thoughts, or creativity. For example,
performance art often does not aim to please the audience but instead evokes
feelings, reactions, conversations, or questions for the viewer. In these cases,
aesthetics may be an irrelevant measure of “beautiful” art.
(https://courses.lumenting.com/boundeless-arthistory/chapter/what-is-art/)

Topic 2: Classifying the Arts

. Writers and philosophers have their own classification of art. To

clearly comprehend the relationship of these arts, let’s us study the
categorization
made by the different experts
According to Webster(1987), the major arts involve man’s skills to create
works of art that are in form, content, and execution, aesthetically pleasing and
meaning as in music, painting, architecture, and sculpture. They are called
major
arts because they appeal to the senses of sight, hearing, and feeling. They are
more
notable and conspicuous in effect.
On the other hand, the aesthetic factor in the minor arts lies in the “styling”.
They are addressed primarily to the sense of sight and their usefulness. The
minor
arts are inferior in degree, especially in the extent of aesthetic quality.
According to Manaois, there are two (2) general dimensions of arts, namely,
(1) fine arts or independent arts made principally for aesthetic enjoyment
through
the senses, especially visual and auditory such as painting, sculpture,
architecture,
literature, theater, performing arts, and (2) practical arts or utilitarian arts
intended
for practical use or the development of raw materials for functional purposes
such
as industrial art, civic art, commercial art, graphic art, agricultural and fishery
art.
Estolas (1995) also grouped arts into:

1. Visual Arts. These artworks are perceived by our eyes which may be
classified into graphic arts and plastic arts. Graphic arts have flat two
dimensional surface such as painting industry. It covers the commercial arts
like the design of books, advertisements, signs, posters and other displays
for advertisements. Plastic arts are visual arts which have three
dimensional forms. Under this grouping are: architectural designs and
construction of buildings and other structures; landscape of gardens, parks,
playgrounds, and golf courses with plants ,trees, vines and ground cover;
2. Performing Arts. These include the theater, play, dance, and music. They
involve movement, speaking and gestures.

3. Literary Arts. These include the short stories, novels, poetry and dramas.

4. Popular Arts. These include the film, newspaper, magazine, radio and
television. This group is characterized as gay and lively.

5. Gustatory Art of the Cuisine. This involves skills in food preparation.

6. Decorative Arts. They are visual objects produced for beautifying houses,
offices, cars and other structures. They are also called applied arts.
Sanchez, Abad, and Jao (2001) grouped arts into:

1. Visual arts. These include graphic arts (which include drawing, painting,
photography, etc. or in which portrayals of forms and symbols are recorded
on a two-dimensional surface) and plastic arts (which comprise all fields of
visual arts for which materials are arranged in three-dimensional forms
namely, structural architecture, interior arranging, crafts, sculpture,
industrial design, dress and costume design and theatre design.

2. Literature. These include drama, essay, prose fiction, poetry, and

miscellaneous (history, biography, journals, diaries, and other works not
formally classed as literature).

3. Music. These include vocal music; instrumental music; music combined

with other music like opera, operatta and musical comedy, oratorio and
cantata; and other forms like ballet music and background music for motion
pictures.

4. Drama and Theater. These include tragedy, melodrama, comedy,

miscellaneous

5. Dance. These include ethnologic, social or ballroom dances, ballet,

modern, musical comedy .
Barrios (_______) classified arts into two: according to purpose and
according to media and forms.

1. According to Purpose
A. Practical or useful arts are those human activities directed to
produce artifacts, tools and utensils used in doing households and
everyday chores.
Examples: basket weaving agriculture, etc.

B. Liberal Arts involve the development of man’ intellectual

reasoning.
Examples: Mathematics, Astronomy, Grammar

C. Fine Arts are the products of the human creative activity as they
express beauty in different ways and media for the satisfaction and
relaxation of man’s mind and spirit.
Examples: painting, sculpture, architecture

D. Major Arts are characterized by their actual and potential

expressiveness and by a purely disinterested purpose.
Examples: music, poetry, sculpture
E. Minor Arts are works connected with practical uses and purposes.
Examples: interior decoration, porcelain

2. According to Media and Forms

A. Plastic Arts are developed through space and perceived by the sense
of sight.
Examples: painting, sculpture, architecture

B. Phonetic Arts are based on sounds and words as media of

expression.
Examples: music, drama, literature

C. Kinetic Arts make use of the rhythmic movement as the elements of

expression.
Example: dance

D. Pure Arts utilize only one medium of expression.

Examples: sound in music, color in painting

E. Mixed Arts use two or more media.

Example: The opera(which is a combination of music, poetry, and
drama)

Topic 3: Knowing the Functions of Arts

Presentation of Content

MORE THAN YOU SEE: THE MANY FUNCTIONS OF ART

By Frederick A. Horowitz
Art has many different functions in human history. Each society
defined its own purposes for art, and produced an art suited to those
purposes. For ancient Romans, art served as a vehicle of propaganda: their
sculptures proclaimed victories, and their buildings highly praised the
power of the State. In modern societies like our own, art serves different
and sometimes contradictory purposes. One artist paints in order to
communicate a message to his audience, while across the street another
paints in order to please himself. A third artist explores shapes and colors;
a fourth illustrates books.
Art functions as:
1. An agent of magic (to ensure a successful hunt, perpetuate the soul
after death, triumph over an enemy, cure diseases, etc.)
2. An aid to meditation
3. An agent to ritual
4. A record of events, objects, situations
5. A substitute for real thing, or a symbol
6. A souvenir
7. Propaganda to impress, persuade or change thinking or behavior
8. Communication of stories, ideas, events
9. An agent of social control
10. Amusement or entertainment
11. A mean of moral improvement
12. education
13. A means of self-expression
14. Self-revelation
15. Release of emotions
16. Exploration of vision
17. A reflection and interpretation of life
18. An expression of beauty
19. Decoration or embellishment
20. Monetary investment
21. A status symbol
The functions of arts are wide ranging. Art is as broad as human experience. All of
art comes out of life and is bound up with life. Art is meaningful, but meaningful in
ways that differ from society to society, from time to time, and from person to
person.
Adapted from More Than You See: A Guide to Art
New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 198
With the numerous listed functions of arts, they may normally fall into three
categories as mentioned by Esaak (2019). These are personal, social, and
physical
functions.
1. Personal Function
There are many types of personal function, and they are subjective and
will, therefore, vary from person to person.
An artist may create out of a need for self-expression, or gratification. S/he
might have wanted to communicate a thought or point to the viewer. Perhaps
the
artist was trying to provide an aesthetic experience, both for self and viewers. A
piece might have been meant to "merely" entertain others. Sometimes a piece
isn't
meant to have any meaning at all.
Further, art may serve the personal functions of control. Art has been used
to attempt to exert magical control over time, or the seasons or even the
acquisition
of food. Art is used to bring order to a messy and disorderly world. Conversely,
art
can be used to create chaos when an artist feels life is too staid and ordinary. Art
can also be therapeutic - for both the artist and the viewer.
2. Social Function

According to Ortiz et al. (1976), art performs a social function when:

a. It seeks or tends to influence the collective behavior of a people.
b. It is created to be seen or used primarily in public situations.
c. It expresses or describes social or collective aspects of existence as
opposed to individual and personal kinds of experiences.
Influencing Social Behavior
 Pictorial form is very powerful means of putting across a message.
 Paintings, photographs, posters, cartoons have been used to express
humanitarian concern as well as ideological or political comment.
 Satire- which puts up people and institutions to ridicule so that they will
change- is effectively communicated in various cartoons and
caricatures.
 Editorial cartoons convey the message more directly and clearly than
the printed word does. Cartoonists comment on the
foibles(weaknesses) of society and of its leaders, with the hope that
something is done to correct these faults and improve the human
condition.
 Literature has served just as well for political and ideological
expression. It is a powerful tool in shaping society and its manners.
Urbana at Felisa by Modesto de Castro- an epistolary novel of the 19
th
century, became the Filipino code of ethics of the time, guiding the
youth on how to conduct themselves in church, in social gatherings, in
school, and at home.
 Propaganda Literature has swayed people’s minds and feelings toward
certain ends.
 Religion has especially capitalized on the arts to spread beliefs and
reinforce and sustain faith. It plays noble functions as enlightening us in
our spiritual beliefs and elevating our moral character.
 Advertising art aims to affect the buying behavior of people. These
include posters, billboards, magazine and newspapers adds, catalogs,
handbills, package design, radio, television.
Display and Celebration
 Commemoration of important personages in society serves to record
important historical events, or reveals the ideals of heroism and
leadership that the community would want the young to emulate.Unit 1: Embracing
the Humanities
 Rituals have played an important role in people’s lives and have
influenced the growth of certain arts as well.
 Public celebrations, such as festivals and other activities, unite
people in a shared experience, just as the celebration of important
phase of life do.
Social Description
 Art works are vital historical documents.
 Tools, weapons furniture, paintings, statues, stories and songs and
buildings reflect the feelings, struggles and achievements of people.
They reveal how people thought, felt, and lived in a certain historical
period.
 Temples, sculptures, epics, plays and even the pottery of ancient
Greece tell us so much about the age when man first regarded himself
as the measure of all things.
 Portraits are informative.
3. Physical Function
The physical functions of art are often the easiest to understand. Works of
art that are created to perform some service have physical functions.
Tools and containers are objects which function to make our lives physically
comfortable. Functional works of art may be classified as either tools or
containers.
Take a look at the given terms below. Reflect why these are categorized
this way.
1. A spoon- tool
2. A car- tool
3. A building- container
4. A Community- container
5. A ceramic vase- container
6. A chair-container
Note that architecture, any of the crafts, and industrial design are all types of art
that have physical functions.

An example of the physical function of art

Art that has a physical function usually
relates to items that can be used for a
practical purpose because of their physical
structure, despite their artistic appeal.
Examples include architecture, which can be
breathtaking, but still primarily serves a
physical function. This chair is a good
example of physical art. Its design means that
it is immediately aesthetically interesting to
the eye, but its main function is to be a
comfortable chair to sit on.