f o r M S E UF c oll e ge st u de n ts us e on l y

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I. Module Title

ART APPRECIATION

II. Course Overview

Art appreciation aims to develop your ability to appreciate, analyze, and critique works of art in gen-
eral. Through interdisciplinary and multimodal approaches, this module will equip you with a broad
knowledge of the practical, historical, philosophical, and social relevance of the arts in order to refine
your ability to articulate your understanding of the arts in regardless of what aspects or disciplines
your preference see you. More importantly, this also aims to develop your genuine appreciation for
Philippine arts and provide you with the opportunity to explore the diversity and richness of Filipino
culture.

III. Instruction to the Users

One of the best ways to interpret an art is to use the art work itself as a guide. When you use the art
works as a guide, you are examining the main elements of the art and seeing how they relate to each
other to find the meaning and importance of the masterpiece. The same way particularly when looking
and interpreting paintings, you have to see the motive and the intent of the artist in their perspective.
So being a student of art, you have to find out for the important details of the character of the artist as
much as possible to get yourself in a position so as to be very near to the artist’s intention.

Understanding a particular piece is not always easy but learning the benefits from learning it will give
you enough motivation to love the process. In general, learning through and about the arts enriches
the experience of studying while at school as well as preparing students for life after school. Arts sub-
jects encourage self-expression and creativity and can build confidence as well as a sense of individu-
al identity.

Here are just a few “little” things art can teach us.

1. Arts subjects encourage self-expression and creativity and can build confidence as well as a sense
of individual identity.

2. Creativity can also help with wellbeing and improving health and happiness – most of my arts stu-
dents in my 7 years in the university commented that arts lessons acted as an outlet for releasing
the pressures of studying as well as those of everyday life.

3. Studying arts subjects also help to develop critical thinking and the ability to interpret the world
around us, as in THE WORLD or everything from small details of this life to bigger things that co-
vers this life entirely.

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So the key instruction is simple. Anyone that takes their art education seriously will know the im-
portance of the fundamentals. These fundamental topics are like the foundation of a building: you
need the foundation before you can get more detailed. Here are some important tips:

1. Don't ignore Art Fundamentals. Learning about Elements and Principles of Art, as well as Compo-
sition, Perspective, Anatomy Basics, etc., will enable you to create original, visually pleasing, pow-
erful artwork on your own, without having to depend on other artists' work as inspiration.

Learn them for free, pay for a course, do whatever you'd like, but never underestimate the im-
portance of learning the basics. This will set you up for success and the knowledge you'll gain will
permeate into everything you do and any kind of artwork you choose to create.

2. Embrace exploration and enjoy the journey. Oftentimes, beginners only give importance to the
end-product and make very little time for studies and explorations. They jump straight to the can-
vas and/or judge their worth as an artist by how well the product turned out, ignoring the growth
and self-discovery that can come throughout the creative process.

Successful artists, formally trained or not, understand that getting great at drawing or painting
takes time and dedication, just like any other learned skill. They understand that there are gradual
steps to follow, and that by learning certain skills first, and gaining confidence incrementally, they
will be facilitating more complex tasks for themselves.

3. Stay consistent and stay focused on your goal. It's important to understand that, as with all
learned skills, becoming great requires consistency and patience. Though some artists may have
been incredibly fortunate to have parents or family-members who were artists themselves and
were thus able to develop certain sensibilities and skills at a very young age, none of us are born
knowing how to draw or paint.

Whatever situation you're personally in ("regular" full-time job, kids, etc.), accept it fully, remain
grateful and create practical, realistic goals for yourself. Commit to them. It doesn't matter if you
only have a short amount of time each day to work on your art. What matters is staying consistent
over time and not giving up. Even a few 20-30 minute sketches several times a week will help you
make progress.

4. Realize how far you've come and stay positive. As artists, we're often our own worst critics. It's
easy to forget how far we've come since we started. It's important to acknowledge every-single-
piece as a step in the right direction. Even if the outcome wasn't what you expected it to be,
you're still moving closer to your goal. Imagine the artist you can be a year from now if you com-
mit and push forward. Finally, always believe in yourself and celebrate each and every little victo-
ry. Most importantly, celebrate yourself. Though you may not feel like it right now, you are an art-
ist and you are capable of doing whatever you set your mind to.

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IV. PreTest ( Set A)

I. Modified TRUE or FALSE: Underline the word or group of words that makes the statement FALSE.
If the statement is TRUE, leave the sentence as it is:

1. Humanities has always aimed at making man's life richer.

2. Humanities originated from a Latin word.

3. Man never realized that science and social sciences should go hand in hand.

4. Students should understand the relationship that exists among all fields of knowledge.

5. Humanities is a narrow subject.

6. Philippine art somehow reveals Greek and Roman influence.

7. The meaning of ART refers to Painting nowadays.

8. Art is important only to those who are responsive to what is beautiful.

9. It is art that makes a person highly cultured, dignified, and respectable

10. To realize all the functions of Art is impossible.

II. Enumerate the following.

1—6 The elements of Art

1. _____________________________ 4. _____________________________
2. _____________________________ 5. _____________________________
3. _____________________________ 6. _____________________________

7—11 Five classifications of Art according to purpose:

7. _____________________________ 10. ____________________________
8. _____________________________ 11. ____________________________
9. _____________________________

III. Explain the following statements.

1. How HUMANITIES and ART are related to each other?

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

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IV. PreTest ( Set B)

I. Write TRUE or FALSE:

_______ 1. Painting possesses the elements of Fine Arts only.

_______ 2. It is necessary to understand the representative value of painting in order to appreciate

it.

_______ 3. There are seven forms of realism.

_______ 4. Visual painting depends on five elements.

_______ 5. Curved lines are better than straight lines in painting.

_______ 6. Allusive properties of color appeal more to the aesthetic sense.

_______ 7. Lyricism and exuberance reflect best the native quality of painting.

_______ 8. The beauty of painting depends on the medium or materials used.

_______ 9. Tempera is the heaviest of painting media.

_______ 10. The impressionists are more concerned with light than color.

II. Enumeration.

A. The nine (9) elements of painting:

1. _______________________________ 6. _______________________________

2. _______________________________ 7. _______________________________

3. _______________________________ 8. _______________________________

4. _______________________________ 9. _______________________________

5. _______________________________

B. The five (5) medium in painting:

1. _______________________________ 4. _______________________________

2. _______________________________ 5. _______________________________

3. _______________________________

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 C. The seven (7) forms of realism:

1. _______________________________ 5. _______________________________

2. _______________________________ 6. _______________________________

3. _______________________________ 7. _______________________________

4. _______________________________

D. Four (4) renowned painters:

1. _______________________________ 3. _______________________________

2. _______________________________ 4. _______________________________

III. Bring to a google class a painting by a Filipino and say as many thing as you can about the painting.

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V. Objectives

By the completion of this course, the students should be able to:

1. Explain the meaning, nature, and importance of art in our lives;

2. Determine the subject of art and its function, the meaning conveyed by the art and how an art-
work makes life more meaningful;

3. Reflect on the function of art with regard to their personal contributions to the development of
art;

4. Familiarize oneself on how artwork is made, put together or organized;

5. Appreciate the vase of self-trust in producing art:

6. Compare and contrast the different media in art production:

7. Contribute a simple to professional-looking art production.

VI . Learning Activities

This module is divided to four chapters. Each chapter will represent one academic periods. Each chap-

ter or period will discuss a certain subject. Each chapter begins with the contents, followed by the

introduction, topics, then the thought questions and some personalized test activities.

1. Prelim: HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS OF ARTS AND OTHER FORM OF ARTS

 Origin and Development of Arts
 Music and Literature

2. Midterm: THE MEANING, IMPORTANCE OF ARTS, VISUAL ARTS AND APPLICATIONS

 The Artist’s Media
 Watercolor Painting

2. Semifinal: PHOTOGRAPHY
 The Rule of Thirds
 Photo shooting

3. Final: CALLIGRAPHY AND GRAPHOLOGY

 Taming the Strokes
 Handwriting Analysis

4. HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS OF ARTS AND OTHER FORM OF ARTS

 Origin and Development of Arts
 Music and Literature

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1. Prelim: THE MEANING, IMPORTANCE OF ARTS, VISUAL ARTS AND APPLICATIONS

Contents

A. Lecure: COURSE INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUD and SCOPE

a. Art and Humanities
b. Origin of Art
c. Importance of Art
d. Function of Art
e. Classification of Art
f. Elements of Art
g. Psychology and Meaning of Colors
h. Painting
i. Elements in Painting
j. Medium in Painting
k. How to Appreciate Painting
l. Historical Background of Painting in the Philippines
m. Filipino Famous Painters and their Masterpieces

B. Practical: WATERCOLOR PAINTING

a. Output #1: Color Wheel
b. Output #2: Trees
c. Output #3: Flowers
d. Output #4: Clouds
e. Output #5: Landscapes
f. Output #6: Structures
g. Output #7: (your) Masterpiece

Note:
The activities will include both the research assignments, and the watercolor painting
outputs. They will continuously be accomplished throughout the semester and each
activity or output will be submitted at any given specified time.

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ART and HUMANITIES

The arts are usually considered as part of the humanities. These include visual arts such as painting
and sculpture, as well as performing arts such as theatre and dance, and literature. Other humanities
such as language are sometimes considered to be part of the arts, for example as the language arts.

The humanities are a group of academic subjects united by a commitment to studying aspects of
the human condition and a qualitative approach that generally prevents a single paradigm from coming
to define any discipline. The humanities are usually distinguished from the social sciences and
the natural sciences and include subjects such as
the classics, languages, literature, music, philosophy, the performing arts, religion and the visual arts.
Other subjects at times included as humanities in some parts of the world include archaeology, area
studies, communications, cultural studies and history, although these are often regarded as social sci-
ences elsewhere.

Humanities is of Latin origin, coming from the word HUMANUS, the meaning of which is human, cul-
tured, refined. Humanities aimed at making man’s life richer and more meaningful and this was done
through the disciplines such as Greek and Roman fine arts, music, and philosophy.

It is the aim of Humanities to reveal the importance of the human being and his feelings. According to
Tomas Andres, the best spiritual nourishment comes from humanities, because if man is to live like a
human being, man’s heart and mind must be nourished. Humanities develops the complete social be-
ing, prepared to answer his responsibilities in the fast changing universe so that he may yake the best
of his life.

Humanities is a very broad subject; it covers two big areas of GRAPHIC ARTS and PLASTIC ARTS.
However, each area encompasses forms of artistic representation. The Graphic arts include, painting,
drawing, graphic processes, commercial art, mechanical processes, and photography. While Plastic
arts envelope architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, interior design, sculpture, crafts, in-
dustrial design, dress, and costume design, and theater design.

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ORIGIN OF ART

Art had its beginnings in Greece, in Rome and other European countries long before the Philippines
was placed under Spanish and American regimes. It cannot be denied that Philippine art bears influ-
ences of these two countries. Although there, too, are traces of Philippine art being enriched by Greek
and Roman artistic power, specially in architecture and sculpture. It cannot, however, be denied that
the base form of Philippine art remains distinctly Filipino.

Foreign influences which are diversified have blended wonderfully with the wealth of Philippine herit-
age.

The word ART is of Latin derivation, coming from "ARS, ARTIS" signifying the capacity or facility to do
anything that is man-made. Nowadays, art is used to show fine arts including classic art. Most of the
time it has been used to refer only to PAINTING. All activities that are done artistically are considered
involvement in art work.

The field of art work is as broad as involving: composing a melody, singing a song beautifully, dancing
gracefully, planning, designing and constructing houses, painting houses and decorating them beauti-
fully, landscaping a garden artistically, painting a poster as well as writing poems, essays, biographies,
short stories, and plays.

IMPORTANCE OF ART

Those who are appreciative or responsive to beauty highly appraise the forceful expressions of arts,
its intense communication, its sufficiency in medium, its liveliness in rhythm and its abundance in de-
tails. For art is important for the following reasons:

1. Pleasure and gratification is produced by the music we hear, and the books we read.
2. Enjoyment is provided for by masterpieces of painting or first rate plays.
3. Stimulation is gotten from modern architectural designs.
4. Beautiful things are valued, as is often said "a thing of beauty is a joy forever."
5. Art can change ways in life.
6. Creation is stimulated by art.
7. Artistic works are sources of inspiration and aesthetic experiences.
8. A person becomes highly cultured, dignified, and respectable because of art.
9. The changing image of man is known through art as he journeys across historical times, as he
searches for realities and strives to achieve the ideals that create meaning for life.
10. Art comes into play in almost all activities.

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FUNCTION OF ART

To best realize the worth of art, there is a need to know the role it plays in one's life. Art is supposed
to perform the following functions in the life of every individual:
1. To express beauty; as a philosopher puts it, "Art for arts sake" meaning that beauty is the reason
for any work of art. Seeing art's beauty should not be accompanied by pervasive connotation ex-
cept for its own sake.
2. To become a powerful vehicle in mass communication, comprising moral, educational, social, cul-
tural, and religious facets.
3. To afford man moments of relaxation and spiritual happiness which are a reflection of eternal joy.
4. To serve as a channel of man's sleeping passion when brought to the surface under the orderly
control of arts, such as the fictitious representation of art, the passions of the drama, the emotions
of poetry, the moods of music, the fancies of painting, and the sordid life Of novels. All these have
a sober Of calmness, meaning, and beauty.
5. To reform man, or to deviate his perversive conduct into social order.
6. To overcome man's feelings of loneliness, uncertainty, and restlessness.
7. To make life more comfortable with its physical function.

CLASSIFICATION OF ART
Art may be classified into various groupings:
1. According to purpose
A. Practical or useful arts — include art that is produced to satisfy human needs. For example,
basket weaving, agriculture, mechanical arts, industrial, or commercial arts.
B. Liberal arts — the studies in which intellectual efforts are involved. Such subjects as mathemat-
ics, grammar, philosophy, and sciences are examples of liberal arts in our present day curricu-
lum.
C. Fine arts — refers to the offshoots of a human creative activity so long as they express beauty
in various ways and various media for the enjoyment of the mind and the relaxation of the spirit.
D. Major arts — the expression of a hidden talent marked by a purely disinterested intent such as
poetry, music, and sculpture.
E. Minor arts — deal with art that is connected with practical need and purposes, such as interior
decoration and porcelain art.
2. According to media and form
A. Plastic arts — produced through space and seen by the eye, such as painting, architecture, and
sculpture.
B. Phonetic arts — have as bases sounds and words as means of production such as music, dra-
ma, and literature.
C. Kinetic arts — use rhythmic movement. An example is the dance.

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 D. Pure arts — use only one means of expression, such as sound in music and color in painting.
E. Mixed arts — use two or more media, such as the opera combining music, poetry, and drama.

Art may also be classified as:

1. Representational or Objective Arts — arts have SUBJECTS:
Examples are:
1. Painting
2. Sculpture
3. Graphic arts
4. Literature
5. Theater arts
2. Nonrepresentational or Nonobjective Arts — these arts appeal to the senses because of the sat-
isfying organization of the sensuous and expressive elements.
Examples are:
1. Music
2. Architecture
3. Functional Arts

Another way of classifying art is:

1. Visual Arts — seen by the eyes and are subdivided into graphic and plastic arts. The graphic arts
have two dimensional surfaces such as painting, drawing, and photography. While
the plastic arts have three-dimensional form. Examples of these are architectural
designs and construction of buildings and other structures; landscape of gardens,
parks, playgrounds, etc. The beauty factor here lies in the "styling."
2. Performing Arts — include the theater, play, dance, and music. This art involves movement,
speaking, and gestures.
3. Literary Arts — have to do with short stories, novels, poetry, and dramas.
4. Popular Arts — include films, newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. This kind is marked
by vivacity.
5. Gustatory Art of the Cuisine — this has to do with cooking or skill in food preparation.

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 5. Gustatory Art of the Cuisine — this has to do with cooking or skill in food preparation.
6. Decorative Art — can also be called applied art: it involves visual objects made for beautifying
houses, offices, cars, and other structures.

ELEMENTS OF ART
Art as distinguished from FINE ARTS has six elements which are:
I. COLOR — is the quality of an object with respect to light reflected by it, determined by the hue, sat-
uration, and brightness of the reflected light.
The colors are labelled as:
1. Basic or Primary Colors which are red, yellow, and blue; this is so called because all other col-
ors are produced by the combination of any of two colors mentioned above.
2. The Secondary colors are green, violet, and orange. By mixing any of the primary colors, the
above colors can be produced.
3. The Intermediate colors are yellow-orange, red-orange, red- violet, blue-violet, blue-green, and
yellow-green. These colors are produced by mixing in equal amounts primary and secondary col-
ors.
4. The Tertiary colors are yellow-orange, violet-green, and orange- green which can be produced
by blending in equal mixture any two secondary colors. The above tertiary color examples are
only some of the possible combinations of two secondary colors.

Students will develop correct concept of color interpretation after doing a study of the symbolism of
colors. This will lead to the correct use of colors in everyday life.
1. Despair, gloom, death, and mourning is suggested by the color BLACK, being the darkest and
dullest of the colors.
2. The color that gives the impression of vastness and of the infinity is BLUE which is the color of
the sky.
3. The color GRAY which is the blending of black and white or the primary colors, gives the im-
pression of weight, solidity, and neutrality.
4. The color GREEN is a symbol of growth, freshness, and hope. It is the color of still water and
vegetation.
5. The color that symbolizes deliciousness and sweetness is ORANGE, which is n combination of
red and yellow.
6. The color that symbolizes love is PINK which is a combination of red and white.
7. Red which is a basic color cxpreggcs fire, blood, danger, festivity, bravery, war, passion, energy,
and warmth.
8. The color that suggests shadows, mourning, penance, royalty, and power is VIOLET which is a
mixture of red and blue.
9. The color that suggests humility and confidence is BROWN which is a blending of red and a little
green.

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 10. The color which symbolizes life, joy, sunshine, cheerfulness, warmth, splendor, and hospitality
is YELLOW which also is a symbol of jealousy and hatred.

WHITE, alone, is not considered a color. It is the lightest of all colors. It symbolizes simplicity, clarity,
purity, and peace.

IL. LINE — is the simplest, oldest, and most universal element. It is the prolongation of a point which
may be straight or curved according to direction. There are three kinds of lines:

HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL, and DIAGONAL; consciously or unconsciously, our eyes must follow
these lines. Both horizontal and vertical lines are at rest.

III. MEDIUM — denotes the means by which an artist communicates his idea. It is the stuff or materi-
als out of which he creates a work of art. On the basis of medium, arts are classified as VISUAL and
AUDITORY (hearing).

IV. RHYTHM — refers to the connection path along which the eye may travel in any arrangement of
lines, forms, or colors. It is a related movement which suggests something graceful.

V. STRUCTURE — refers to the surface treatment of an artistic work in order to give variety and beau-
ty to any work of art.

VI. STYLE — deals with the typical mode ofexpressing the temperament or outlook of an artist's life
and training.

EXPRESSIONS or STYLE is best depicted in painting and sculpture in which natural forms and col-
ors are distorted. Artists tend to repeat certain style which he has found to bo effective because
of its elegant nature.

FINE ARTS have additional elements aside from the above which are the following:
1. Subject — tells what the painting or piece of work is about.
2. Texture — refers to the manner by which an object feels to touch.
3. Marble, metal, wood, brick, and glass feel different as we touch them.
4. Volume — has to do with solidity or thickness and is the primary concern of the architect as well
as the sculptor for their figures occupy space.
5. Perspective — deals with getting depth or distance both linear and serial.

FORM — refers to the overall design of a work of art. Favorite designs are the triangle and the rectan-
gle seen in many paintings.

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PAINTING

Painting is among the fine arts, which creates meaningful effects, depicting different intrinsic human
values, by the use of clustered imagination of lines and color. Painting is placed on a flat surfaced by
the use of pigments. Painting expresses the artist's perceptions and feelings on a particular selected
subject. Usually, the artist's selection of a subject comes from his understanding and interpretation of
his feelings and emotions. Some artists may love country scenes, like landscapes, the chores in the
countryside, faces, figures and forms; others like to do these in their natural form, and still others in
their distorted forms. What emerges is a beautiful expression of the artist's inner feeling—sadness,
happiness, fear, anger, anxiety, stillness or peacefulness, turbulence or chaos. It reveals through his
brush or pen what he thinks and feels, giving the subject its meaning for the art lover to enjoy and
draw meaning, as well.

Elements in Painting

Painting being a Fine Arts includes all elements of Fine Arts plus the elements of art with the exception
of rhythm and structure. These elements are color, form, Iino, medium, perspective, style, subject,
texture, and volume.

More detailed explanation of the subject

The artist makes sure he knows whom the subject of his painting is before he starts his work. He
would ask such questions as: Is it a field of flowers moving with the wind? Is it a daily task of fisher-
men, farmers, the industry workers, or the firemen? Is it an elderly man, a child or an adolescent in
activity?

Processions are religious activities done on several occasions during the year to celebrate days or im-
portant religious saints; the Flores de Mayo, Sacred Heart, Christo Rey, and Patron Saint processions
to name a few. The Philippines, with predominantly Roman Catholic population venerate many of these
saints through such celebrations, the most colorful of which is the procession to honor the Virgin
Mary. Filipino Catholics highly exalt and venerate the Blessed Virgin as the Mother of Jesus Christ and
mankind.

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Medium in Painting

The success of a work of art greatly depends on the materials used in painting. Physical materials
make certain demands upon aesthetic medium. For instance, paper or crayon or canvas has certain
capacities for sensuous effects in terms of the aesthetic materials they evoke of line, color, mass, and
volume, as well as the organization of these into patterns and designs. A spectator who understands
these can derive a great enjoyment in the recognition of their fulfillment.

Some of the most common media are:

1. Pencil. There are hard pencils which, when used on smooth paper, can make the most of the
wire line; there are soft pencils which when used on a granular surface, can invite ef-
fects of mass and a texture of gray.

2. Oriental Sumi. The flow and ease of this medium cannot be achieved by pencil. No technique
can rival sumi or India ink for suggesting movement along a line or for grada-
tions of gray and accents of black and white. The chief weakness of this medi-
um, however, is the fact that it is monochromatic and does not achieve the vari-
ety of emotional responses which color does.

3. Water color. Although it resembles Oriental Sumi, it invites brilliance and a variety of hues. Wa-
tercolor is a lyric type Of painting—it is normally done in a single sitting. Swift and
clear spontaneity is its principal essence. Each stroke is left as it was put on;
therefore, in watercolor, there can be no corrections.

4. Oil is the heaviest of painting media. It is slow to dry and invites continuous painting. It admits a
great deal of corrections and working over. There is a wide range in the use of this medium
but they all have the heavy, viscous pigment even when painted rather thin. Oil can be ap-
plied in thin layer or glazes, as the Venetians did, with a resultant transparency of hue pro-
ducing a resonant quality, as if the color comes from within. It can also be applied in the
impasto method, where the paint is applied in lumps with the aid of a palette knife or oven
with the thumb.

5. Tempera are more deliberate in technique than oil, it docs not possess the flexibility of oil. Tem-
pera is ordinarily applied to a carefully prepared white gesso ground (chalk and gum).
The pigment is mixed with the white or yolk of egg; it dries quickly and corrections
are difficult to make. It requires the complete planning of the picture ahead. While in
oil, the picture can grow under the brush; tempera invites simple areas of color and
simplicity in modelling.

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The point here is the fitness of the medium for the aesthetic organization that develops out of it. The
choice of medium is the result of an inner felt need for stylistic fulfillment. This is highly intuitional,
both for the artist who envisions it and for the critic, who analyzes the fitness of the medium to the
content.

How to Appreciate Painting

Appraisal of painting can best be enhanced through an understanding of the values that the piece of
work depicts. Most paintings are representational or objective and the basic points to bear in mind are:

1. through-the-window realism — Van Eyck paints in this manner. Every detail is represented with
care. The danger here is too many different objects may ren-
der the picture confused and disunited. If the artist does what
Van Eyck did — arranging the objects within the strongest or-
ganizing patterns available to vision— it may result in a stiff
arrangement.

2. selective realism — functions on the principle that nobody can see every object in front of him
but sees only what he is interested in. Here, the painter paints only what
comes into visual attention and leaves out all the rest. He is thus not bur-
dened by organizational problems and can present his subject in unbal-
anced composition, achieving a freshness denied the first. A good exam-
ple of this is Oriental painting.

3. Light-and-shadow realism — works on the principle that the right way to depict what the eye
sees is to paint the way that light falls on objects and is reflected
to the eye. Here, the painter paints the exact color values of the
objects. Vermeer and his school belong to this mode. The source
of beauty here is the art of illumination.

4. fringe realism — what is known, as Impressionism is a painting of the fringe without the focus.
The painter paints only what stimulates the eye. As far as possible, all influ-
ences of the mind should be kept out.' The Impressionists — Renoir, Monet,
Seurat, etc., made a careful study of light, not color. They painted in small
brushstrokes of different colors. (Pointillism) The surface of the object was
thus broken up into a lot of little color areas.

5. focus-and-fringe realism — operates on the principle that the actual image perceived on the
retina consists of a clear image of the objects focused upon in the
middle of the visual field and a fringe of increased blurriness

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 towards the edges. Unity is achieved by this means. Diego Ve-
lasquez was the first painter to compose pictures deliberately by
this manner.

6. dynamic realism — in contrast to the flatness that sometimes results from the last, this brings
back line movement, things resting upon each other or leaning away from
each other. Cezanne was the chief exponent of this mode. Dynamic realism
is primarily the perception of the linear forms, tensions, and masses of
things.

7. dream-world realism — any survey of pictorial realism would be incomplete without calling at-
tention to the world of phantasy. In the psychology of our times, dream
is now recognized as truthful and as realistic as the representation of a
landscape. This is painting the object as it appears in the artist's mind,
enveloped by the emotion, which he feels at the sight of the object.
Here, realism leaves the outer world and depicts that world that exists
behind the eye.

Another type of painting that also depicts values is the Plastic arts (one of the classifications based on
media and form), which depends on the five elements of art structure. These are:

1. In art, lines assume significant power with their mental suggestions. The straight line is neces-
sary as the basic framework of many forms, but it is not beautiful. It lacks softness and flexibil-
ity although it can suggest efficiency, simplicity, strength. There are a number of types: the
vertical line which suggests aspirations' poise, exaltation; the horizontal line which gives an
idea of calm and repose; the diagonal line which portrays movement, action, life; and the jag-
ged line which conveys the sense of violence and conflict.

Curved lines are subtle, because they do not convey fixed ideas of direction, but they also convey
the sense of instability. Here, the varieties are: the restrained curve, exemplified in the female
form; the simple curve which has a more pronounced curve, the full curve which possesses
force, and the compound curve which, according to the painter Hogarth is the most beautiful of
all curves.

Like lines, forms direct the movement of the eyes. Because they also have size and volume, they
convey the impression of visual weight. Every kind of form has its own effect upon our aes-
thetic sense. Here we have the square, the circle, the rectangle, the ellipse, the triangle, and
the lunette. In general, the higher the form is, the more spiritual elevation it can suggest; the
more width and base, the more stability; and the more depth, the more the mystery.

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 2. Color, of all the elements of art, has the most appeal to the aesthetic sense. Each color has its
own properties, and even in the most abstract of paintings, the painter employs both the tradi-
tional as well as the allusive properties of color. For instance, red is a warm color and stands
for passion, fire, energy; yellow is the color of light and can suggest cheerfulness, magnifi-
cence, life, splendor; blue is the color of the sky and can arouse the feelings of peace and the
infinite. It is a cool color; therefore, it serves to balance the warm colors like red, orange, and
yellow. Green is the color of still waters and of vegetation. It symbolizes life, freshness. Violet
suggests shadows and mystery; black, despair, death, pain; orange deliciousness, warmth, etc.
There is a whole gamut of meaning in colors, and painters use one color to balance and enrich
the other and by so doing, awaken a whole range of emotional responses in the spectator.

3. Values, sometimes called chiaroscuro, deal with the treatment of light and dark in design. They
give the impression of depth and solidity and lend form to paintings.

4. Texture in painting deals with the tactile values and is merely suggested. It means the surface
treatment of an artistic work.

Further elaboration on the above elements will facilitate the appreciation of the beauty of a piece of
artwork as painting.

1. Color and size are vital significance in dealing with the aesthetics of painting, for these are the
media of pictorial expression. They have two functions: the representational and the symbolic.
The first function deals with tho direct appeal ag expressive of some feeling or mood. Through
color and line, the painting must move the spectacular.

The symbolic function operates on the law of association through an appeal to the senses. Here,
the traditional meanings of colors play an important part; for example, the reticence of blue
may be partly explained by the fact that blue is traditionally associated with the sky. In this as-
pect of association, affinities between temperaments may also play a part. For instance, a
choice of blues and grays indicates a temperament different from that indicated by a consistent
choice of yellows and greens. The symbolic function takes into consideration the affinity of
temperament between the artist and the spectator.

These two functions should always act simultaneously so that the beholder is impressed by the
rhythmic quality of the color and the line at the same time that he is impressed by the emotive
quality of the things represented.

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 2. Color and line should not evoke an emotion as much as express it. The mere evocation of emo-
tion is the greatest weakness of sentimental paintings. The painting must express the emotion
intended by the artist. Unless the spectator is made aware of this emotion as truly there in the
canvas, the painting is not aesthetic at all.

3. The purpose of any art is to express concrete states of the soul, not to represent mere things.
Therefore, fidelity in the representation of objects is not necessary to a good painting. A con-
siderable amount of freedom should be given to the artists; otherwise, they lose all their own
expressive powers. Whenever the painter wishes to express a feeling for a scene, he may do
so through the use of color and line. This may require a distortion of the objects involved. All
that is necessary is that the beholder understands what the artist is trying to do and that he
finds this real and convincing enough.

On the other hand, any distortion of objections to a degree that these objects are rendered completely
unrecognizable is inexcusable, The values, which belong to the objects, should be given a chance
to appear.

Historical Background of Painting in the Philippines

Of all the art forms of the country, it is painting which reflects most the native quality of lyricism and
exuberance. Although it is relatively a young art, it shows a diversity of trends, which is phenomenal. It
is generally assumed that painting was introduced by the Spanish friars in the 17th century. Such be-
ing the case, the earliest Filipino Paintings were almost exclusively religious in themes and imitative of
Dutch and Flemish models which were then current in Europe.

The Filipinos who made history in painting are:

The year 1884 was particularly important in Philippine history because that was the year two Indios
won the attention of the Spanish art establishment for their two entries in the Madrigal Exposition of
Fine Arts. Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo of Manila won a silver medal for his large canvas, Christian Vir-
gins Exposed to the Populace (Las Virgenes Christianas Expuestas al Populacho). A greater glory
shown on his compatriot Juan Luna from Badoc, Ilocos Norte, who received the first gold medal for
his epic blockbuster, the Spoliarium. This was only the beginning of acclamations both artists would
reap from the art capitals of the West. The Filipino liberals in Spain working for the Propaganda Move-
ment — Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, and other nationalists — had cause for
wild rejoicing. They saw political significance in Luna and Hidalgo's triumph at a prestigious European
salon competition; the Indio, as his white colonial master called him with disdain — was the equal of
any foreigner in intellectual accomplishment and spiritual vision and deserved justice and humane
treatment from the colonial authorities.

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Hidalgo found an inexhaustible source of inspiration in landscapes and seascapes — he painted so
many of them, some no larger than the size of one's hand — in a style strongly reminiscent of Corot
and the Barbizon School. The romantic allure of woodlands, secret coves and rivers, Arcadian scenes
where a misty solitary sylph may be glimpsed reclining or gliding away, and open seas appealed to his
sensibility, which was more inclined to Buddhist contemplation than revolutionary passion. This lyri-
cism in his landscape is immediately apparent when compared to almost any of Luna's works which
exude dramatic tension, Following his sensational triumph in the 1884 Madrid Exposition, Juan Luna
moved to Paris, taking an apartment at Boulevard Arago, No. 65, close to Hidalgo's. That same year
shortly before his marriage to Paz Pardo de Tavera, he visited the Hague and the seacoast of Scheve-
ningen.

It would take the compassionate eye of a Van Gogh to see in Luna's vision of lowly humanity trudging
on a bleak, autumnal "a beautiful thing." When ho painted The Beach of Scheveningen, Luna had al-
ready started to question the relevance of the heroic painting exalting scenes and figures from ancient
history and allegory (gladiatorial combats, deaths of queens, Pygmalion and Galatea, and the rest of it)
done in the Grand Manner to Academicians who ran salon competitions — in short, the sort of war-
horse that Luna and Hidalgo had to climb to show international juries what they could do.

Working-class men and women suffering here and now — were these not also capable of heroic ac-
tion? The bent figures lugging nets, almost indistinct in rain dark shadows and indistinguishable from
the loaded cart and horse behind them, walking exactly like the dark fantastic ghosts Van Gogh de-
scribed to Theo — were they not worthy subjects crying out to be painted?

Interesting to note, too, is Luna's favorite compositional device, a long diagonal line slashing dramati-
cally across the canvas, as if to measure and underscore, as here, the harshness and desolation. Upon
his return to the Philippines in 1894 after an absence of 17 years, Luna painted Houses by a Narrow
Road, one of the several views of Marikina. Unlike his other landscapes, this one has a vertical format,
which shows as much sky as landscape. The colors are low- key, even sullen. A morning sky of purple
-gray clouds, typical purple- gray houses with capiz window frames, brown dirt road, and the cold-
green of grass and trees add up to a brooding still picture. But its stillness is far from static. Little
quirky clots of white, black, red pigment in the foreground suggest chickens strutting about. Palette-
knife scratches against the painted surface and brisk, rugged brushstrokes create an agitated texture
and an impression of heaving, surging grass and earth. Two broken diagonal white streaks above and
below the dirt road cutting horizontally across the foreground adds to the restless impression.

Luna's death in Hong Kong at the age of 41 years was felt by his contemporaries as a great loss to
Philippine art. At the peak of his creative career, Fernando Amorsolo was the most celebrated name in
Philippine art, appealing to all social classes' a truly National Artist. Almost a decade after his death, his
is still a name to reckon with. Consider the following:

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Luna's death in Hong Kong at the age of 41 years was felt by his contemporaries as a great loss to
Philippine art. At the peak of his creative career, Fernando Amorsolo was the most celebrated name in
Philippine art, appealing to all social classes' a truly National Artist. Almost a decade after his death, his
is still a name to reckon with. Consider the following:

1. He raised genre art to a new height, which has never been equaled, much less surpassed. Gen-
re has never been the same since he developed his own approach to it.

2. By critical consensus, he is the most eminent Filipino painter since Juan Luna. More than Luna,
he has influenced legions who have imitated his brush technique and genre approach — at
their own peril. For an artist, nothing damns with faint praise more than being called Amorso-
loesque or Amorsolo School. And none know this better than members of his own family, sons
and nephews who have taken up painting as a profession, not least of all, his gifted brother
Pablo, whose works might have won greater claim if he did not suffer in comparison with big
brother's.

3. Unquestionably the most popular Filipino painter the Philippines has yet produced, he developed
a distinctive style recognizable to ordinary people who profess not to know much about art but
know what they like.

4. His celebration of the Filipino rustic way oflife has been, for better or worse, identified with Phil-
ippine art to most foreigners, tourists, transients, and old-timers as well as Filipinos who have
settled abroad. For them, Amorsolo's people and landscapes are the Philippines.

5. In his heyday, to hear his admirers talk of him was to receive the distinct impression that their
hero was not just another painter nonpareil but one of the countrys natural resources.

6. Unwittingly, as the best known exemplar of representational art, he provided the modernist of
the 1950s a prime target to shoot at, and this at a time when his numerous imitators were de-
basing his style (most of all the hacks on A. Mabini St.) and when the works of the master him-
self, beset by the aches and pains of advancing age, were losing their luster.

7. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery to an artist, forgery is the final proof of his bankabil-
ity. Investment in an Amorsolo's art is perceived by many as better than money in the bank and
the bluest chip of all. And his stock, as they say in the investment market, continues to shoot
through the roof.

In his Golden Period, from about 1920 to 1945, Amorsolo reaped various honors. He went to Madrid
in 1917 on a scholarship from a rich Manila businessman, Enrique Zobel, There he studied the muse-
um classics, particularly Velasquez, as well as contemporaries like Joaquin Sorolla and Ignacio Zulua-
ga. The first portrait he did upon his return to Manila was that of his wife Salud, which proclaimed...

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..the style, he had started to develop in Madrid and would refine, for the next quarter. People feasted
their eyes on it whenever they dropped in at his rented Soler Street house and studio.

The image of the Philippine countryside in these vintage Amorsolos at the Central Bank is a Pastoral
Symphony without the storm scene, a bucolic Utopia where agrarian problems do not exist. But if this
image is vulnerable to criticism from activists because it seems to falsify the reality of the countryside,
then, as now, the criticism must be measured against the character of the man who created that im-
age; serene, kind, without a mean bone in his body, and with all goodwill toward his fellowman, at
ease with himself and the world.

Once voted as the most popular of the progressive artists in the country, Vicente Manansala became a
classic long before his death. He was given a posthumous recognition as National Artist. "Romantic,"
"volatile," "exuberant" are standard epithets to describe the tone and spirit of his works. For a great
man gallery-goer, he is simply the Filipino modern painter with subject matter. And this subject matter
accounts for his tremendous popular appeal: folksy, pastoral, provincial, full of wonder at the sights
and serenades, gaudy cockpits, galumphing jeepneys, shimmering baroque altars, idealized brown ma-
donnas surrounded by tropical huts, raucous street musicians, and still lifes offish and fruits that are
glowing expressions and homely comforts and parochial attitudes.

Many have sung praises for his ebullient colors, his sensuous shapes bursting with baroque curves
and contours, his brisk lively strokes. Manansala can compress much of the festive spirit and love of
fiestas and serenade into the shape of a yellow (on green, depending on high mood) guitar or mando-
lin better than anyone else. The evidence of his best-known works is that of a man whose cup runneth
over.

Painted a few months before his death, Give Us This Day provides a glimpse of his kind of Cubism,
where some sides of objects hidden from the eye are slightly seen through and where figures and ob-
jects are sharply cut into curved or angular facets which catch the light vibrantly. The light diffusely
gleams over a complex arrangement of curved shapes of the man and woman saying grace before
their meal and the household objects around them. In this final synthesis of Western and Oriental, and
Apollonian and Dionysian elements in his art, the love of life never flowed more generously from his
brush.

The one outstanding mural painter the country has ever produced is Carlos Francisco, popularly
known throughout the town of Angono, Rizal and to art lovers all over the country as "Botong." He cel-
ebrated on yards of canvas the features of Filipinos living in provincial towns and barrios. He showed
them working on the field going about their daily chores, eating, relaxing, worshipping, and best of all,
enjoying fiesta. The theme of his celebrations was the Spirit of the Community and his hero the Com-
munal Man rooted in the soil...

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..He celebrated not only country scenes but also vital events in Philippine history. He researched avidly
on traditional Filipinos, not only Christian lowlanders but the Muslims and the cultural communities as
well. If filmed end to end, the murals he did in the short span of two decades (not counting his collab-
orations with Victor Edades and Galo Ocampo on two Art Nouveau-ish projects to grace the lobbies of
the prewar State and Capitol Theatres) would be tantamount to an epic visual account of Philippine
political, social, and cultural history: the creation of the first man and the first woman stepping out of
their bamboo hollows, pre-Magellan tribesmen, Lapu- Lapu, The Blood compact, The Manila Galleon,
The British Occupation, the Illustrado leaders of the Propaganda Movement, Francisco Balagtas writing
his epic poem, Bonifacio and the Katipuneros, and much, much more. In an art scene notorious for a
dearth of documentation on an artist's creative productions, Botong’s complete easel paintings may
elude documentation, but it is hoped that all his murals, being too big to hide for long, may someday
be completely recorded.

Serenade is quintessential Botong. It is folk-baroque in its emphasis on curvilinear sensuous shapes:

there is hardly a straight line in the whole picture. Bamboo bends, the mainpost is gnarled, twisting
pillar, the round objects on the floor display uneven, hand-molded shapes. The arrangement of man's
arms, hands, and feet forms a rhythmic movement, which culminates in the hand strumming the yel-
low guitar. The long curvilinear gesture characteristic of a Botong manifests itself in the gently sweep-
ing bamboo rafters, repeated in an arc formed by the basket at left foreground, the huddle of figures at
the center, and the earthen pot at the right foreground, and further repeated in a lesser, broken arc
formed by the bent, slatted floor. Further back is another broken arc formed by a gently rolling hill lit
by a full moon. The whole design is a series of round, curvilinear motifs echoing each other in a multi-
tude of ways, As in Botong's other paintings, the woman being serenaded here is an idealized robust,
plumpish beauty and the men are idealized, stocky peasants.

Mauro Malang Santos started his career as plain Malang, illustrator-cartoonist for the Manila Chroni-
cles and creator of two comic strip character, Kosme the cop (Retired) and Chain Gang Charlie. The
leap from illustrational art to lightweight genre painting was fictitious one in his case. The temperas he
exhibited at the Philippine Art Gallery in the late 1950s were miniatures blithely illustrating the urban
folk caught up in the hazzle of the big city. Quiapo traffic, Chinatown, corner sari-sari stores, calesas,
jeepneys, an old tirn-of-the-country house— all these and more he did with a miniaturist’s delight in
the telling detail and eye for the amusing and cute.

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Gradually in the 1950s, he emerged as a serious artist with a knack for abstract figuration, shedding
off his earliest illustrational manner by as much as 90%.

The laid-back atmosphere of rural life is typified in Pastoral, a far-advance stage of abstraction in
Malang’s metamorphosis. Again, the seated vendor and the man with gamecock make their appear-
ance. Not one but several churches (one with a rose window yet) are accounted for. Once more, a
stack of house makes its picturesque point. The cornucopia baroque compulsion to crowd every
square inch with decorative detail characteristic of folk-art-inspired Philippine paintings is, in this fairly
recent confection, nicely reined-in. Taking his cue from the spaciousness of contemporary layout de-
signs in posters and magazines, he allows for breathing spaces for the eye to rest. Such spatial provi-
sions manage to give his filled-in spaces a compact appearance, trim and square at the edges, and to
avoid the congested lock of wretched excess that leads to instant glut.

From the mid-1950s through the most of the 19608, abstract expressionism found an able exponent in
Jose Joya (magna cum laude, University of the Philippines, 1953, and Smith-Mundt/Fulbright Scholar,
Cranbrook Academy of Art, 1957). The whole point of his aesthetic intuitive, improvisational approach
in expressing subjective states, feelings, moods, through purely plastic moans and none representa-
tional, freewheeling forms.

Only after his exposure to the Now York School of De Kooning, Pollock, Eline, et al. in the mid-1950s
did Joya begin to evoke the style by which he has been identified as a serious painter. The works of
his post-Detroit years were bold statement eliminating subject matter altogether in favor of purely
plastic moans to create large, loose forms whose "meaning" wag arrived at by psychological associa-
tion. They emphasized the materiality of the oil medium through skeins of paint dribbled over the can-
vas surface and gobs of pigment slashed across it. The loose gestural brushstroke underscored the
kinetic act of painting. Above all, Joya introduced a new concept of space to Manila gallery-goers: he
enlarged the scale of his paintings until they engulfed the viewer's field of vision in an effort to in-
volved him in the painting itself through a heightened awareness off its kinetic/ tactile qualities. A
prime example of Joya's expressionism is his Granadian Arabesque of 1961 (Ateneo Art Museum col-
lection), his visceral evocation of a brilliant, gun-drenched desert executed in impasto with sand mixed
into his pigments. This and eight other paintings by Joya were chosen as entries to represent the Phil-
ippines at the 32nd Venice Biennial in 1964.

In the late 1960s, the visual tensions in Joya's works relaxed enormously as the lyric and decorative
elements took over. He started to apply paint more thinly on canvas; the form grew increasingly geo-
metric, self-contained, with circles as the main motifs. He tried his hand collages, using straw paper
with its rich, grainy textures and mellow translucencies, cutting into round shapes which he formed
into a Japanese temple garden. He liked this venture into collage- work so much that he has been at-
tractive ever since. By the early 1970s, Joya's art had become placid, much of it reflecting facile ma-
nipulation of decorative elements and little else.

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Cadmium Red Square and Binhi both done in 1971, represent Joya's shift to the decorative. Some
improvisatory qualities of his earlier and more dramatic styles are visible, but they have become coy
mannerisms. Visual tensions in Cadmium Red Square are minimal. The thin application of paint and
the wide spaces set off the clustered shapes at the bottom right section of the picture, but no genuine
surprises are sprung. The creative spirit at work here is not a particularly generous one. In Binhi, the
incised cryptic scrawls on the vivid shapes and the movement of these shapes suggesting some slow
ceremonial dance contained within the unequal halves of Joya's split disc-emblem offer more textural
and visual pleasures. The colors are subdued and serene. Expressionist vitality has been totally re-
placed by suburban-Oriental decorum.

Summary of the Evolution of Painting

Many factors have influenced the history of painting— geography, religion, national characteristics,
historic events the development of new material. Throughout history, painting has mirrored the chang-
ing world and man's idea about it. In turn, artists have provided some of the best record of the devel-
opment of civilization, sometimes revealing more than the written word.

The authors confine attention to the Realistic and Naturalistic, Impressionistic, expressionistic and
Modern periods.

Realistic artist portray objects, sceneries, activities, figures as they have been seen and experienced.
It is a first hand replica of what they actually see and feel. Filipino Artists were very good in realistic
painting, that they turn to landscape painting.

There are naturalistic and realistic painters whose portrayal of human freedom could vividly be seen
in their paintings.

In the Philippines, one of the realistic-naturalistic painters is Fernando Amorsolo. Known as the Father
of Philippine Painting. Amorsolo’s works depicted Philippine scenes and way of life especially in the
countryside.

Impressionism portrays the effect of experience upon the consciousness ofthe artist and the audi-
ence. The artist is characterized as one concerned more with the technique of suggesting light and
color to the picture than with the subject matter.

On the whole the Impressionist show features of vagueness, fleeting, and transitory. Impressionism in
painting is a theory and a school of art, developed in the third quarter of the 19th century, which at-
tempted to produce, with the vividness and immediacy of nature and particularly of life itself, the im-
pression made by the subject on the art.

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In expressionism, the artist uses free distortion of form and color through which he gives visual form
to inner sensations or emotions. The emotional expressions in these paintings could be described as
involving pathos, morbidity, violence or chaos and tragedy. It sometimes portrays defeat. These strong
emotions seem to be pathways through which their counterparts, joy and happiness will come to pass.

In the Philippines, Juan Luna, of the many Filipino heroes and E. Aguilar Cruz are considered as ex-
pressionists, translated into canvass his deplorable thoughts and feelings about 'tvar and destruction
in Spolarium. E. Aguilar Cruz, a modern Filipino expressionist, was a Philippine Ambassador to
UNESCO in Paris in 1979. He was able to produce a number of paintings which he did in between in-
ternational conferences. His early works tended to lean on impressionism but later in life, he painted
more and more in the Expressionist style.

Exciting modern art leaves this perceptive eye alive, dynamic and forceful. Some viewers do not pos-
sess that keen perception, hence, they become cold, confused, and baffled as to what the modern art
piece is all about. Some savor these pieces of modern artwork with gusto because they can discern
and interpret what is being portrayed. Whatever one feels about it, modern painting has a place in the
world of art.

Abstraction must be clearly understood because modern art is anchored on abstracts. It may be
proper at this point to look into the two meanings of the verb abstract. One meaning of the term is to
take away and the other is to synthesize. The first mentioned meaning could be better explained in the
work of Raphael, the Sistine Madonna. In this painting, the sky seems to be filled with angels. Howev-
er, only the heads of the angels could be seen while their bodies are abstracted but they are perceived
to be really in the sky. In the painting titled, Birth of Venus, the water ripples near the shore are as-
sumed to be affected by the gentle breeze. The view cannot see the ripples further away but this is
assumed and the artist has summarized the effect of the breeze. On a similar vein, the artist who uses
abstract art can represent leaves and branches of trees with lines and strokes. It is not necessary to
paint every branch or every object as one sees it. Piet Mondarin, a Dutch painter who used abstrac-
tion, draw a tree with just an assemblage of lines and planes without any similarity to the real tree. His
stroke represent only the sense of order, harmony and balance in nature. These features of abstract or
modern painting expresses the feeling that man is becoming increasingly depersonalized, a phenome-
na created by man's loss of identity in the burgeoning population, in social confusion and chaos and in
the receding horizon of oblivion. The message is for man to rediscover himself in the midst of the
maelstrom of life.

Next: MIDTERM

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