LESSON 2: FUNCTION OF ARTS

Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Identify the function, content, and philosophical import of art

2. Determine the type, kind, and source of subject of art

3. Develop the skill in analyzing various elements of art

4. Appreciate the significance of art based on its function, content, kind and source

Introduction

Philosophy, science and art differ principally according to their subject-matter and
also the means by which they reflect, transform and express it. In a certain sense, art,
like philosophy, reflects reality in its relation to man, and depicts man, his spiritual world,
and the relations between individuals in their interaction with the world.
We live not in a primevally pure world, but in a world that is known and has been
transformed, a world where everything has, as it were, been given a "human angle", a
world permeated with our attitudes towards it, our needs, ideas, aims, ideals, joys and
sufferings, a world that is part of the vortex of our existence. If we were to remove this
"human factor" from the world, its sometimes inexpressible, profoundly intimate
relationship with man, we should be confronted by a desert of grey infinity, where
everything was indifferent to everything else. Nature, considered in isolation from man,
is for man simply nothing, an empty abstraction existing in the shadowy world of
dehumanised thought. The whole infinite range of our relationships to the world stems
from the sum-total of our interactions with it. We are able to consider our environment
rationally through the gigantic historical prism of science, philosophy and art, which are
capable of expressing life as a tempestuous flood of contradictions that come into
being, develop, are resolved and negated in order to generate new contradictions.

Reflective Questions:
 Does art always have a function
 If artwork did not have any function, will it remain art?
 Which is more important, the artist or the artwork?
 What is communicated by a vase, a furniture, a church?
Review
Let us go back to the traditional categories within the arts. You may click the links
below:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-arts
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/art-types.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art

Traditional categories within the arts include literature (including poetry, drama,
story, and so on), the visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.), the graphic arts
(painting, drawing, design, and other forms expressed on flat surfaces), the plastic arts
(sculpture, modeling), the decorative arts (enamelwork, furniture design, mosaic, etc.),
the performing arts (theatre, dance, music), music (as composition), and architecture
(often including interior design).
Technical and historical discussions of decorative arts and furnishings can be
found in basketry, enamelwork, floral decoration, furniture, glassware, interior design,
lacquerwork, metalwork, mosaic, pottery, rug and carpet, stained glass, and tapestry.

Input

Within art, there exist purposes referred to as functions for which a piece of art
may be designed, but no art can be "assigned" a function—either in scholarly studies or
casual conversation—outside of the proper context. Art forms exist within very specific
contexts that must be considered when classifying them. Whether a particular piece of
art has existed for centuries or has yet to be created, it is functional in some way—all art
exists for a reason and these reasons make up the functions of art.

Ideally, one can look at a piece of art and guess with some accuracy where it
came from and when. This best-case scenario also includes identifying the artist
because they are in no small way part of the contextual equation. You might wonder,
"What was the artist thinking when they created this?" when you see a piece of art. You,
the viewer, are the other half of this equation; you might ask yourself how that same
piece of art makes you feel as you look at it.

These—in addition to the time period, location of creation, cultural influences,

etc.—are all factors that should be considered before trying to assign functions to art.
Taking anything out of context can lead to misunderstanding art and misinterpreting an
artist's intentions, which is never something you want to do.

Functions of Art
 The functions of art normally fall into three categories: physical, social, and
personal. These categories can and often do overlap in any given piece of art. When
you're ready to start thinking about these functions, here's how.

1. Physical
The physical functions of art are often the easiest to understand. Works of art
that are created to perform some service have physical functions. If you see a Fijian
war club, you may assume that, however wonderful the craftsmanship may be, it
was created to perform the physical function of smashing skulls.

A Japanese raku bowl is a piece of art that performs a physical function in a

tea ceremony. Conversely, a fur-covered teacup from the Dada movement has no
physical function. Architecture, crafts such as welding and woodworking, interior
design, and industrial design are all types of art that serve physical functions.

Source:https://www.google.com/search?
q=raku+bowl&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjDkc7r4tjqAhU2zYsBHf8WC4AQ2-
cCegQIABAA&oq=raku+bowl&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAAyBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAIEB4y
BggAEAgQHjIECAAQGDoFCAAQsQM6BAgAEEM6BwgAELEDEENQ3gtY_iZgyipoAHAAeACAAa4CiAHhC
5IBBzAuNi4yLjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ7ABAMABAQ&sclient=img&ei=cvMTX8OQFbaar7w
P_62sgAg&bih=625&biw=1366#imgrc=xFgzNtX-tGaX9M

2. Social

Art has a social function when it addresses aspects of (collective) life as

opposed to one person's point of view or experience. Viewers can often relate in
some way to social art and are sometimes even influenced by it.
 For example, public art in 1930s Germany had an overwhelming symbolic
theme. Did this art exert influence on the German population? Decidedly so, as did
political and patriotic posters in Allied countries during the same time. Political art,
often designed to deliver a certain message, always carries a social function. The
fur-covered Dada teacup, useless for holding tea, carried a social function in that it
protested World War I (and nearly everything else in life).

Art that depicts social conditions performs social functions and often this art
comes in the form of photography. The Realists figured this out early in the 19th
century. American photographer Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) along with many
others often took pictures of people in conditions that are difficult to see and think
about.

Additionally, satire performs social functions. Spanish painter Francisco Goya

(1746–1828) and English portrait artist William Hogarth (1697–1764) both went this
route with varying degrees of success at motivating social change with their art.
Sometimes the possession of specific pieces of art in a community can elevate that
community's status. A stabile by American kinetic artist Alexander Calder (1898–
1976), for example, can be a community treasure and point of pride.

Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=physical+functions+of+art&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj4zMbm4tjqAhW
OtJ4KHapaDYsQ_AUoAXoECA4QAw&biw=1366&bih=625#imgrc=5ZiGI3VwGmUNrM

3. Personal
 The personal functions of art are often the most difficult to explain. There are
many types of personal functions and these are highly subjective. Personal functions
of art are not likely to be the same from person to person.

An artist may create a piece out of a need for self-expression or gratification.

They might also or instead want to communicate a thought or point to the viewer.
Sometimes an artist is only trying to provide an aesthetic experience, both for self
and viewers. A piece might be meant to entertain, provoke thought, or even have no
particular effect at all.

Personal function is vague for a reason. From artist to artist and viewer to
viewer, one's experience with art is different. Knowing the background and behaviors
of an artist helps when interpreting the personal function of their pieces.

Art may also serve the personal function of controlling its viewers, much like
social art. It can also perform religious service or acknowledgment. Art has been
used to attempt to exert magical control, change the seasons, and even acquire
food. Some art brings order and peace, some creates chaos. There is virtually no
limit to how art can be used.

Finally, sometimes art is used to maintain a species. This can be seen in

rituals of the animal kingdom and in humans themselves. Biological functions
obviously include fertility symbols (in any culture), but there are many ways humans
adorn their bodies with art in order to be attractive to others and eventually mate.
 Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=personal+functions+of+art&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCpc-
E5NjqAhUJHXAKHe9yDeoQ_AUoAXoECBEQAw&biw=1366&bih=576#imgrc=PmMqcfu4E4_9JM

Determining the Function of Art

The functions of art apply not only to the artist that created a piece but to you as
the viewer. Your whole experience and understanding of a piece should contribute to
the function you assign it, as well as everything you know about its context. Next time
you are trying to understand a piece of art, try to remember these four points: (1)
context and (2) personal, (3) social, and (4) physical functions. Remember that some art
serves only one function and some all three (perhaps even more).

You may click on this link for more details:

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/aSGuest136810-1438662-art-appreciation-
module-3-functions-of/

You may also watch this videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tWjB_mB_Jo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMU0RbMS3LQ

For other functions of arts, you may watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh2hTXycunU

Philosophical Importance of Art

1. Integrity or Artistic integrity is generally defined as the ability to omit an
acceptable level of opposing, disrupting, and corrupting values that would
otherwise alter an artist's or entities’ original vision in a manner that violates their
own preconceived aesthetic standards and personal values. This does not
necessitate that an artist needs to ignore external influences in the creation
process.
 Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) located at the Philadelphia
Museum of Art

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_Construction_with_Boiled_Beans_(Premonition_of_Civil_Wa
r)

What is artistic integrity:

 Always painting with passion

 Never copying but taking ideas and tweaking them to make them our
own

 Being original….not normal

 Having the courage to take a chance

 Always remembering your artistic vision comes from your life, your
thoughts…..your courage

 Creating a painting because it comes from your soul and not for
recognition or prizes

 Being willing to be scared….to create on the edge

 To continue creating when doubt in yourself appears

 Doing your very best each and every day

2. Proportion

Proportion refers to a the relative size of objects, a ratio between parts or

entities in some visual representation (most often visual, but proportion also
applies in music and other arts). Visually, proportion is most immediately relevant
to so-called “representational art” — say, painting — where it is important in
rendering a realistic or believable image of some object or scene with which we
have some familiarity - for example a portrait of human being, or a cityscape in
Paris.

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man

3. Radiance

Radiance signifies the luminosity that emanates from a beautiful object,

which initially seizes the attention of the beholder. This trait is closely related to
the medieval notions concerning light. For example, in terms of natural light,
there is a sense in which the paintings in a gallery lose some of their beauty
when the lights are turned off because they are no longer being perceived.
 St. Thomas Aquinas

Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=St.
+Thomas+Aquinas&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjOs42T5djqAhX3yIsBHVzDCFoQ2-
cCegQIABAA&oq=St.
+Thomas+Aquinas&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAM
gIIADICCAA6BAgAEENQhNUCWLHnAmCq8QJoAHAAeAOAAZEBiAGrGJIBBDMuMjWYAQCgAQGq
AQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ7ABAMABAQ&sclient=img&ei=3vUTX87MAveRr7wP3Iaj0AU&bih=576&biw
=1366#imgrc=EVBc_P4JRgf0oM

The Subject of Art

What is a Subject?
 To a majority of people, the appeal of most works of art lies in the representation of
familiar objects.
 Their enjoyment of painting, sculpture and literature comes not from their perception
of the meaning but from the satisfaction they get out of recognizing the subject or
understanding the narrative content.

The subject of art refers to any person, object, scene or event described or
represented in a work of art.

1. Representational or Objective
  Arts that have subject (eg Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Arts, Literature and
Theatre Arts)

Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=representational+art&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwin1LKq5djqAhWnx4sBHaMMDUcQ2-
cCegQIABAA&oq=representational+art&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAM
gIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAA6BAgAEEM6BQgAELEDUISMEVixxBFg9s0RaABwAHgDgAGiAYgBy
R-
SAQQwLjM1mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWewAQDAAQE&sclient=img&ei=DvYTX6eVNqePr7w
Po5m0uAQ&bih=576&biw=1366#imgrc=HpK___gg37KH_M

2. Non-Representational or Non-Objective
 Arts that do not have subject.
 Music, Architecture and many of the Functional Arts
– Program Music – musical compositions which have subject
 They do not present descriptions, stories, or references to identifiable objects or
symbols. Rather they, appeal directly to the senses primarily because of the
satisfying organization of their sensuous and expressive elements.
 Many contemporary painters have turned away from representational to non-
objective painting. They have shifted their attention to the work of art as an object
 in itself, an exciting combination of shapes and colors that fulfills an aesthetic
need without having to represent images or tell a story.
 Many modern paintings are like this making them more difficult to comprehend.

Source: https://www.google.com/search?
q=non+representational+art&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwin1LKq5djqAhWnx4sBHaMMDUcQ2-
cCegQIABAA&oq=non+re&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAA
yAggAMgIIADoECAAQQzoFCAAQsQM6CAgAELEDEIMBUPgeWMxCYLNRaABwAHgCgAGNAogB4xKSAQY0
LjE2LjGYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ7ABAMABAQ&sclient=img&ei=DvYTX6eVNqePr7wPo5m0uAQ&
bih=576&biw=1366#imgrc=8EP_lgWWD3gEOM

Sources of Subject

1. Nature
2. History
3. Greek and Roman Mythology
4. Judeo-Christian Tradition
5. Sacred Oriental Texts
6. Other Works of Art
Kinds of Subject

1. 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

2. Still Life
 These are groups of inanimate objects arranged in an indoor setting (flower and
fruit arrangements, dishes food, pots and pans, 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.

3. 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 favorite subject of Filipino artists.
 The Maranaws have an animal form of have an animal form of sarimanok as their
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
 The peacock is the symbol of Immortality through Christ

4. 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.
 Many artists did self-portraits. Their own faces provided them unlimited
opportunities for character study.

5. 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.
 A favorite subject among painters is the female figure in the nude.

6. 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, cockfighters, candle
vendors, street musicians and children at play

7. 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.

8. 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 non - believers.
 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
 Other religions have taught that a god may sometimes assume human or
other visible forms.
o Thus he is distinguished from human beings by a halo, wing, or a darker
complexion, or by the use of some attributes
o 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 go d
» Buddha, is symbolized by his footprints, a wheel or a true
 In the early Christian world, representation of divinity were also symbolic. There
were precise conventions in rendering them. – The serpent has been used to
mean evil
 The Four Evangelists were represented by animal forms:
• St Luke by an Ox
• St John by an Eagle
• St Mark by a Lion
• St Matthew by a Winged Man

9. 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 subsconscious.
 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.

Content in Art (Levels of Meaning)

1. Factual Meaning
- the literal statement or the narrative content in the work which can be directly
apprehended because the objects presented are easily recognized
- 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

2. Conventional Meaning
– refers to the special meaning that a certain object or color has a particular culture
or group of people. Examples: Flag- symbol of a nation, cross for Christianity,
crescent moon – Islam
-pertains to the acknowledged interpretation of the artwork using motifs, signs, and
symbols and other cyphers as bases of its meaning
-this conventions are established through time, strengthened by recurrent use and
wide acceptance by its viewers or audience and scholars who study them

3. Subjective Meaning
- any personal meaning consciously or unconsciously conveyed by the artist using a
private symbolism which stems from his own association of certain objects, actions
or colors with past experiences.
-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 learn, what we experience;
what values we stand for)
- meaning may not be singular, rather, multiple and varied