MODULE 1

ASSUMPTIONS OF ARTS

I. Topic: Assumptions and Nature of Arts

II. Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, the student should be able to:
a) Define and identify assumptions and nature of arts
b) Give the significance of assumptions and nature of arts in real life situation. c) Cite
Filipino artwork

III. Introduction

There are instances in when one reflects and asks himself these questions: what I
am? Why I am in this world? Where do I go from here? What can I do to become and
remain an effective, responsible member of the society? Indeed, a man tends to search the
meaning and the purpose of his/her existence. To quench these queries, one needs to be
more human to put man into his/her heart and mind, thus, the primordial purpose of this
course. This topic is designed to intensively immerse you to the different art forms. In
this way, you come to understand better the significance of arts in our daily living.

IV. Presentation of the 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:
Its size is 77cm x 53cm
The woman in the painting is Lisa Gherardini.
Its Italian name is La Gioconda which
means happy. It is 516 years old.
What is Art?

• Art is something that is perennially around us.

• Some people may deny having to do with arts but it is indisputable that life presents us
with many forms of and opportunities for communion with the arts.
• 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” (Collingwood, 1983).
• The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate or highly skilled arts, but “beautiful
arts” (Collingwood, 1983).
• “The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means of expression
developed by man” (Dudley et al., 1960). Human history has witnessed how man
evolved not just physically but also culturally, from cave painters to men of exquisite
paintbrush users of the present.

Assumptions of 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.

1. Art Is Universal
➢ Timeless, spanning generations and continents through and through.
➢ Misconception: Artistic made long time ago.
➢ Age is not a factor in determining art.
➢ Literature has provided key words of art.
➢ lliad and the Odyssey are the two Greek Epics that one’s being taught in school.
➢ The Sanskrit pieces Mahabharata and Ramanaya are also staples in this fields.
➢ In every country and in every generation, there is always art. Often times, people feel that
what is considered artistic are only those which have been made long time ago. This is a
misconception. Age is not a factor in determining art. “An art is not good because it is
old, but old because it is good” (Dudley et al., 1960)

➢ In the Philippines, the works of Jose Rizal and Francisco Balagtas are not being read
because they are old.
 ➢ 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 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 ancestors while away their time in the past.

2. Art Is Not Nature

➢ Art, not directed by representation of reality, is a perception of reality.

➢ In the Philippines, it is not entirely novel to hear some consumers of local movies remark
that these movies produced locally are unrealistic. They contend that local movies work
around certain formula to the detriment of substance and faithfulness to reality of movies.

➢ Paul Cezanne, a french painted a scene from reality entitled Well and Grinding Wheel in
the Forest of the Chateau Noir .

3.Art Involves Experience

➢ It does not full detail but just an experience. Actual doing of something.
 ➢ Getting this far without a satisfactory definition of art can be quite weird for some. For
most people, art does not require a full definition. Art is just experience. By experience,
we mean the “actual doing of something” (Dudley et al., 1960) and it also affirmed that
art depends on experience, and if one is to know art, he must know it not as fact or
information but as an experience.

➢ A work of an art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing. In order to know what an
artwork, we have to sense it, see and 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 judgment. It
depends on who the perceive is, his tastes, his biases, and what he has inside.

IV. Activity

Choose one artwork under each category that you are familiar with. Cite a Filipino artwork related
to the category you chose and answer the question provided.

Movie, Novel, Poem, Music, Architectural structure, Clothing

Why you chose it? Relate it to the topic has been discussed. Elaborate your answer.

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 Module 2:
Classifying the Arts

Introduction
When an individual participates in empirical studies involving the visual arts, they most often are presented
with a stream of images, shown on a computer, depicting reproductions of artworks by respected artists but which are
often known to the viewer. While art can of course be shown in presentia actuale – e.g., in the museum –this
laboratory paradigm has become our go-to basis for assessing interaction, and often in conjunction with some means
of rating, assessing evaluative, emotional, cognitive, and even neurophysiological response.

In this module you will learn about the different classification of arts.

OBJECTIVES
• Enumerate the differences of the following classification of arts
• Classifying arts by citing personal experiences

Presentation of Content
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 usefularts 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: Functions of Art and Philosophy

II. Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, the student should be able to:

a) Identify the functions of art;

b) Explain and discuss the basic philosophical perspective on the art;
c) Apply philosophical perspective real life scenarios;

III. Content:
 FUNCTIONS OF ART

Functions of art is an inquiry on what art is for. When it comes to functions, different art form come with
distinctive functions, some may be functional more than others
.
The value of the art lies in the practical benefits from it. One may look at the value based on its specific purpose or
for personal.

Personal Functions of Art

Personal functions of art is highly subjective and depends on the artist who created the art.
An art may be created for expressing self, for entertainment or for other purposes.

Social Functions of Art

If an art is opposed to personal interest and for collective interest it is considered to have a social function.
Art may convey, message such as to support, to protest, contestation and other messages an artist intends to
carry at his work.

Political Art is a very common example of an art with a social function. Art can depict social conditions such as
photography of industrialization and poverty.
Performance art like plays serves social functions as it rouses emotions for a common situation a society has.

Physical functions of Art

This are artworks that are crafted in order to serve physical purpose such as jars, plates, and jewelries.
Architecture, jewelry-making, interior design all serves physical functions
Other functions of art may serve culture, history and religion. Music is an artwork used for different purposes such events
for culture, historical and religious gatherings. Sculpture, poems, spoken poetry, movies and other form of arts are used
for its specific functions.

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ART

Art as an imitation
In Plato’s The Republic, paints a picture of artists as imitators and art is mere imitations. In his
metaphysics or view of reality, the things in this world are only copies of the original, the eternal, and the
true entities can be found in the World of Forms.
Art is just an imitation of imitation. A painting is just an imitation of nature, which is also an imitation of
realty in the World of Forms.

Art as a representation
Aristotle, agreed with Plato, however he considered art as an aid to philosophy in revealing the truth.

Art represents version of reality. In Arestotelian worldview, art serves two particular purposes: art allows
for the experience of pleasure and art has an ability to be instructive and teach its audience things about
life.

Art as a disinterested judgment

Emmanuel Kant, in his Critique of Judgement, considered the judgement of beauty, the cornerstone of
art, as something universal despite its subjectivity. He recognized that judgement of beauty is subjective.

Art as a communication of Emotion

According to Leo Tolstoy, art plays a huge role in communication to its audience’s emotions that the
artist previously experienced
Art communicates emotions