Course Reading Visual Arts

Sem/AY Second Semester/2022-2023

Module No. 1
Lesson Title Forms of Visual arts
Week
1
Duration
Date January 24-27
This topic discuss seven different form of arts and their characteristics as well as the
Description development from history.
of the
Lesson

Learning Outcomes
Intended At the end of the lesson the learners are expected to:
Learning  Comprehend and communicate in a form of visual communication by using
Outcomes lines, form, colors and other elements of design.
Targets/ At the end of the lesson, learners are expected to:
Objectives  Identify different forms of arts;
 Assess the differences among the expression of ideas from history and present
time;
 Proposed programs in developing value in different form of arts to young
learners.

Student Learning Strategies

Online Activities
(Synchronous/ Guide questions:
Asynchronous) 1. What are the different forms of arts?
2. How the different forms considered as an art?
3. How this forms are develop through time?
Offline Activities Introduction
(e-Learning/Self- There are different forms of art which affect our emotions and feelings. This
Paced) topic will attempt to discuss the different art forms that make our life more
enriching.

t is through art that we can communicate to the world our inner feelings and
our creativity that only exists within our mind. Art has many forms; from visual
arts to performing arts. Many great civilizations and cultures are perceived to
be great because they were advanced in the arts. The strength and culture of an
entire nation or civilization rests upon how rich the art of that particular
country or civilization is. There are different forms of art like painting,
sculpture, literature, architecture, music, dance, theater, photography and
films.

Whatever form of art we see, its main characteristic is that it is pleasing to the
senses. It expresses the feelings and emotions of the artist and it can be
interpreted in different ways by different people. Any type of art, essentially
tells a story. It is a form of communication with another human being that is
indirect but deeply profound. Art has a tendency to deeply move our souls and
most masterpieces that we see in museums are a silent testimony to that.

Visual Arts
Visual art can be defined as a form of art that uses any medium to represent the
artist’s idea, emotion and imagination. Visual art, like paintings, sculptures and
architecture have evolved with time and different periods saw the emergence
of different art movements. The most famous art movements and styles are
Impressionism, cubism, surrealism, expressionism, favism, art noveu, realism
and relativism.

"Visual Arts" is a modern but imprecise umbrella term for a broad category of
art which includes a number of artistic disciplines from various sub-categories.
Its wide ambit renders meaningless any attempt at definition, so rather than
define or compose some diluted meaning for it, here is a list of its constituent
disciplines.

What Does Visual Art Include?

Definitions of visual art usually encompass the following:

1. Fine Arts
All fine art belongs to the general category of visual arts. These include
activities such as: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture, along with
associated activities like Graphic art, Manuscript Illumination, Book
Illustration, Calligraphy and Architecture.

2. Contemporary Arts
The visual arts also include a number of modern art forms, such as:
Assemblage, Collage, Mixed-media, Conceptual Art, Installation, Happenings
and Performance art, along with film-based disciplines such as Photography,
Video Art and Animation, or any combination thereof. This group of activities
also includes high tech disciplines like computer graphics and giclee prints.
Another modern visual art, is the new environmental or Land art, which also
includes transitory forms like ice/snow sculpture, and (presumably) graffiti
art.

3. Decorative Arts & Crafts

In addition, the general category of visual arts encompasses a number of
decorative art disciplines and crafts, including: ceramics and studio pottery,
mosaic art, mobiles, tapestry, glass art (including stained glass), and others.

4. Other
Wider definitions of visual art sometimes include applied art areas such as
graphic design, fashion design, and interior design. In addition, new types of
Body art may also fall under the general heading of visual arts. These include:
tatto art, face painting, and body painting.

History of Art Classification

New Profession of Artist

Although various forms of art have been practised for hundreds of millennia, it
is only comparatively recently that the role of the "artist" has emerged. During
Classical Antiquity, as well as the era of Byzantium, Carolingian, Ottonian,
Romanesque and Gothic art, painters and sculptors were treated as mere
artisans - paint-applyers or carvers. Then, during the Renaissance, thanks to
individuals such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the profession of
"artist" was raised to a new higher level, reflecting the newly perceived
importance of the "design" element - or "disegno". Suddenly, painters and
sculptors had a new unique status - on a par with architects. For fine artists,
this situation has remained largely unchanged to this day, except that they have
now been joined by visual artists involved in installation, video art, conceptual
works, assemblage and the like. Some crafts are also included under the
umbrella of visual art, although most continue to be funded by "crafts" (rather
than "arts") bodies.

Academic Art

From the Renaissance onwards, this new status was also reflected in an
educational system based around a network of Fine Art Academies, that
promulgated a particular form of "academic art". This contained all sorts of
rules about how (mainly) paintings and sculptures were to be created.
Elements such as subject matter, form, message, composition, colour were
quite strictly regulated. Failure to follow the rules meant exclusion from the
prestigious annual art exhibitions organized by the academies. And since
participation in these art shows was often the only way an artist could gain a
reputation, win commissions, and ultimately secure coveted membership of his
national Academy, exclusion meant financial ruin. It wasn't until the 20th
century that the power of the academies began to wane in any significant sense.
Visual Art Embraces Arts and (Many) Crafts

The 20th century also witnessed a gradual change in attitudes towards the
practice of crafts. Put very simply, up until about 1900, aside from literature
and the "performing arts", the educational and professional establishments
only recognized two basic classes of artistic activity: (1) fine arts - that is,
works created purely for aesthetic reasons, and (2) crafts, that is works with a
utilitarian purpose. (See also Aesthetics.) The former - since Renaissance times
- were created by "artists", the latter by a lower category of "craftspeople".
There was very little justification for this arbitrary distinction between arts and
crafts, as many craftworks were wholly devoid of any functional purpose and
required as much skill as fine art. By encompassing several "crafts", the
category of visual art has helped to remove some of the barriers between arts
and crafts, although many remain.

Visual Art Extended to Include Modern Forms

Another set of changes in our classification and appreciation of art began to

unfold during the early decades of the 20th century. This was due to the
emergence of several new art-forms, such as: collage (from Picasso & Braque's
synthetic Cubism c.1912); assemblage and "found objects" (like the
"readymades" of Marcel Duchamp, 1887-1968); conceptual art (from Marcel
Duchamp's works such as Fountain, 1917, Replica, Tate Collection, London);
Performance art and Happenings (from the Dada antics of Tristan Tzara (1896-
1963) at the Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, c.1916-20); photomontage (from works
by Dadaists like Raoul Hausmann and Kurt Schwitters, which used illustrations
and advertisement clippings, c.1918-20); photography and video art (from
pioneering work by Man Ray (1890–1976) and others); animation art (from
early 20th century works by American animators J. Stuart Blackton, Emile Cohl,
Winsor McCay and Walt Disney). New techniques also appeared in traditional
fine art disciplines, like painting - with the invention of acrylic paints, used by
David Hockney (b.1937) and others - and printmaking - with the introduction
of silkscreen printing, famously used by Andy Warhol (1928-87); and with
giclee prints.

The Visual Arts Industry

Increasing affluence during the second half of the 20th century has led to
significant extra investment in what has become a major visual arts industry. In
many European countries, tertiary level art colleges now teach a huge range of
subjects to hundreds of thousands of art students. Whole government
departments, with multi-million dollar budgets, are now devoted to the
promotion of visual arts, while even local government authorities maintain full-
time "arts officers" to coordinate activities at local level. This structure is
frequently augmented by state-run agencies (eg. Arts Councils), whose role is
to disperse the increasing number of grants, bursaries, residencies, special
stipends and other types of financial support for visual artists. In addition,
governments are becoming major art patrons by buying significant quantities
of paintings, plastic art and other works, for public display. New methods of
fundraising to support public art have been developed, such as the Percent For
Art scheme in Ireland. Recent cutbacks notwithstanding, all this demonstrates
the enormous scale of the visual art industry in the 21st century. And even if
many full-time artists are still poor, this is mainly because their numbers have
shot up significantly over the past few decades.

Forms of arts
As the art world changes, so do the different forms of art. In fact, with the
arrival of different types of art throughout the ages, the notion of the seven
significant forms of art has been altered several times with the arrival of new
media. Furthermore, today when we speak of ‘art’ we all think of ‘visual art’ to
be more specific. However, this was not the case.

The seven different art forms are Painting, Sculpture, Literature, Architecture,
Theater, Film, and Music. However, back in the day, the seven different art
forms were called the Liberal Arts, consisting of Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric,
Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, and Music.

It is clear to say there has been a substantial development within the seven art
forms, from the liberal arts to the art forms we know today. In fact, from a
historical perspective, only music and arguably literature was seen as art forms
with the Liberal Arts, also known as the Artes Liberales.
It is clear to say there has been a substantial development within the seven art
forms, from the liberal arts to the art forms we know today. In fact, from a
historical perspective, only music and arguably literature was seen as art forms
with the Liberal Arts, also known as the Artes Liberales.[1]

During the Middle Ages, visual arts such as painting or sculpture were, in fact,
seen as crafts and not ‘art’ as we know it today. The paintings were not signed,
and the artist did not have any fame as he was merely a tool to realize a
commissioned artwork. However, at a certain point in history, around 1300-
1400, the craftsman became aware of their extraordinary talent and personal
innovations and contribution to the history of their practice. A landmark was
the Arnolfini portrait by Jan Van Eyck, who signed ‘Van Eyck was here’ above
the mirror in the background, making a statement as an artist.[2]

The tone was set. With the Renaissance in Italy, the masters became true artists
instead of mere craftsmen as the designo interno (the artist’s idea, the image in
his mind) became increasingly important. At this point, they argued visual art
should be the eighth form of art.
However, with the development of the educational system, the Liberal Arts
faded in history. With new technologies and new media appearing, the idea of 7
primary art forms was redesigned entirely. Therefore, this article discusses
every art form individually to present you with a complete overview.

1.Painting
Painting is one of the oldest kinds of art, dating back tens of thousands of years,
and is evident on caves at various sites across the world, such as the
Drakensberg in South Africa, the Northern Territory in Australia, and the
Lascaux paintings in France to name only three of many sacred sites that are
scattered across the globe. Some of these sites have become designated world
heritage sites to preserve cultural history associated with those areas, and to
preserve them.

With painting, the artist works on a two-dimensional surface. This surface is

mostly a stretched linen, cotton canvas, or wooden panel. Some artists also
paint on other surfaces, such as metal or plastic. Think of copper or linoleum, to
name a few.

Paint consists of a pigment, combined with a binding agent such as oil, egg, or
water and possibly a filler, to make the quantity more substantial. In ancient
times, people relied on natural materials such as plant matter, bones, and soft
stones and rocks to make their pigments but today artificial coloring is mostly
used. In modern times, various other additives are included in the ingredients,
which make the paint more user-friendly and convenient.

The substance or medium the artist uses is, of course, paint, mostly acrylic,
tempera, or oil paint. In order to paint, there is also a medium to manipulate
the paint. With tempera, the artist uses egg and water. This technique was
prevalent in Italy before oil painting, and its possibilities were introduced by
Northern artists. With acrylic paint, the artist only needs water. With oil paint,
the artist uses a painting medium of oil, such as linseed oil, walnut oil, or
turpentine. Oil painting was invented – or rather perfectionized – by the
aforementioned Jan Van Eyck in the 14th century, resulting in a breakthrough
in painting, enabling artists to achieve a very high sense of naturalism due to
this technique.

Although being vigorously contested in the 1960s and 1970s when painting
was proclaimed dead, painting remains one of the most important art forms.
When we look at auction results, the paintings break the auction records when
it comes to art objects. Think of the recently auctioned Salvator Mundi by
Leonardo Da Vinci, which was sold for a whopping 450 million dollars in 2017
at Christie’s (see image above). Furthermore, if one thinks of the most famous
artworks, paintings pop into our minds, such as Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa,
Rembrandt’s Night Watch, Manet’s Déjeuner sur L’Herbe, or Picasso’s Guernica.
2. Sculpture

The second central pillar of visual arts is, without any doubt, sculpture. With
sculpture, visual art is no longer limited to the dimensional surface of a
painting, drawing, or photograph, as it consists of all three-dimensional
artworks. A sculpture is most often produced using materials such as marble,
wood, copper, or bronze.

Sculpture is another ancient art form, dating back to some of the earliest
civilizations. Unlike painting though, this form of art involves the creation of art
in the three dimensions. The type of material used can be anything natural or
artificial – from clay, metal, and wood to objects that artists come across in
their everyday lives. Sculptures can be free-standing, independent forms, or
they can be made in relief, where the form emerges from a background. An
example of a free-standing sculpture is Christ the Redeemer (1931) in Rio de
Janeiro by Paul Landowski

Mount Rushmore which was constructed between 1927 and 1941 is a colossal
demonstration of a sculpture done in relief, as well as the elaborate forms
carved into the temple complex at Khajuraho in India. Sculptures can also
include other forms of art, especially painting. he ancient Greeks and Romans
were also known for their exceptional sculptures, such as The Orator and Head
of a Roman Patrician, both of which were created in the 1st century BCE. The
Statue of Liberty is a more modern example of sculpture (1886) that has
become famous around the world.

Even today, these materials are most frequently used. However, with the
arrival of new technologies, think of 3D printing, plexiglass, fiberglass, steel,
epoxy, or electronic devices, sculpture takes on various materials used by
contemporary sculptors.

Not only did the technological developments affect the materials used, but so
did the development of art history. One of the critical moments in recent art
history is, without any doubt, Marcel Duchamp’s fountain, which introduced
the ready-made into the three-dimensional world of sculpture. Ever since, daily
objects, which can be pretty much everything, can be implemented in
sculpture. Further, with the arrival of Installation Art, three-dimensional
artworks are no longer fixed objects but can also be decors or assemblages of
objects in a room.

3. Architecture
Architecture has always had an obvious and strong connection with art.
Architecture is not only a practice of constructing buildings or other structures.
It also has a powerful cultural, aesthetic, and even ideological purpose.

Architectural monuments are cultural symbols that define not only a location,
such as a city but also an era. They are a historical witness of a particular
period as we have always strived towards grand achievements with our
architecture. Architecture is a form of communication. It can tell a story,
intimidate its visitors, convince someone of a specific belief or contribute to a
spiritual experience.

People often identify architecture as going back to the very first structures that
people built as dwellings. If we are to define architecture in this way, we can
think of the teepee in America or the yurt in Mongolia. Some architecture has a
distinct aesthetic quality though – indeed, the relationship between utility and
beauty is sometimes central in architectural design as it is in other forms of art.

Think of the Pyramids in Egypt which are thousands of years old, the
Colosseum (70 A.D.) in ancient Rome, and the magnificent Taj Mahal (1648) in
India – each of these marvels has its own story that continues to capture our
hearts and remind us of earlier times in our collective history that reflect the
beautiful, heart-wrenching and sometimes darker aspects of what it means to
be human.

Some of the extraordinary modern-day architectural marvels include the

Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, the Eiffel Tower (1887) in France, and the
Sydney Opera House (1973) in Sydney, Australia. Other contemporary
buildings that have been dreamt into existence that changed the way we see
buildings include the Louvre (1793), the Guggenheim Museum (1959), and the
Glass House (1949-1995).

Like other kinds of art, architecture also has various styles that have emerged
that reflect certain characteristics or design principles and to which various
buildings can be classified. Some of the most well-known include:
 Classical
 Renaissance
 Gothic
 Baroque
 Neoclassical
 Bauhaus
 Victorian
 Modern
 Post-modern

4. Literature
The word “literature” is derived from the Latin word that is translated as
“letters” and refers to the written word in particular. Language is a powerful
and symbolic way of communicating, and writing is no exception. The earliest
texts date back thousands of years to Mesopotamia, although it is thought that
writing developed independently on different continents.

At different times and in different cultures, societies used the unique

technology and resources they found in their unique, immediate natural
environment to write. For example, hieroglyphics were written on rock and
papyrus (handmade paper made from plants that grew in water). In Sumeria,
where evidence of the first writer was found, the writing that emerged within
this culture was done predominantly with wet clay and to communicate across
long distances when cities began flourishing and trade became easier.

Literature includes poetry, articles, novels, plays, folklore, myths, and legends
as well as other forms of writing. It is most often divided into fiction and non-
fiction, but this distinction can sometimes be inappropriate as some stories
contain elements of both, especially in folklore and myth.

Literature as an art form consists of the art of words or written work. Think of
poetry, prose, drama fiction, or non-fiction. The most common non-fiction
genres are essays, letters, diaries, and biographies.

Literature has been considered a form of art for centuries. Think of ancient
poetry or Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (see image above). Throughout
history, one can identify the same art movements of visual arts in literature.
Think of realism, romanticism, surrealism, or Minimalism.

The history of literature is teeming with literary giants and their works of art,
and it is therefore impossible to pinpoint the most influential or the best
without resorting to subjective opinion. Libraries have kept millions of books
around the world since ancient times – today there is a growing industry in
electronic text, books, and the storage of data.

5. Music
Music is created when there is an organization of sounds, as vibrations, that are
put together to form an audible composition. Elements of a musical
composition include harmony, timbre, melody, and rhythm. Although the
presence of music in ancient civilization is harder to trace than visual art,
remains of musical instruments have been found that are thousands of years
old.

Art is not an object, nor can it be visually experienced with music. The art itself
is the arrangement of sound in time. As with theatre, music needs a
performance. As a result, it is only temporary and volatile. Music is one of the
most expressive forms of art and has a very direct impact.
Music has a very extensive history, from Ancient pan flutes to 21st-century pop
music. As discussed in our introduction, music was already an art form during
the Liberal Arts and has always had a very high social status.

Like paint, early instruments were made from a variety of natural resources
that communities found within their vicinity, while today a vast selection of
ready-made instruments are available for musicians to choose from that are
classified into three groups: string (such as the violin and guitar), percussion
(such as cymbals and the drums) and wind (such as the flute and saxophone).

While, originally, music was confined to their communities, thanks to modern

developments in technology, today music from different places in the world is
becoming more and more accessible to people in faraway places. In addition to
folk music, there is a huge variety of genres in music that includes funk, blues,
hip-hop, pop, rock, electronic, gospel, country, and indie to name a few.

6. Cinema
Relative to the other art types discussed in this article, cinema is a fairly recent
form of art. Instead of attributing the development of cinema to one inventor,
many great minds contributed to the entrance of cinema into people’s lives as
is the case with many great inventions and discoveries of our time.

Early films were not as we know them today, and nor was the atmosphere in
which they were broadcast. Visuals lasted only a few minutes and some of the
content included comedy skits, news, and pictures of lands beyond the borders.
Unlike cinema today, there was often much participation from the audience.

Film was invented by the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century. With the
invention and experimentation of motion pictures, an entirely new art form
was introduced. At first, people were intensely occupied with the so-called
cinema of attractions, in which the film’s central idea was simply the wonder of
moving pictures.

As a result, the first films did not have an actual storyline. For instance, one of
the most iconic early films is simply the arrival of a train at a railway station.
However, as we entered the first few decades of the 20th century, the narrative
became much more important as montage techniques became essential
methods to produce films. Artists were very interested in film from the start.
Some of the most influential films are made by visual artists, such as the
surrealist Luis Bunuel and his iconic picture Un Chien Andalou from 1929

The progression of cinema into the immensely popular and accessible format
we know today occurred within the space of a little over 100 years. Below are
the major events that took place that made cinema more attractive to the
public:
1891: Prototype of kinetoscope by the Edison Company
1893: The kinetoscope made its first public appearance
1895: Public audience by the Lumière brothers using their Cinématographe
1909: Color was introduced

At the turn of the century, much was afoot in the industry of cinema, with many
new film industries emerging, especially in Europe and Russia. When they were
first created they did not have sound but by the 1930s, most movies had sound.

7. Theater
Theater is a performance art that usually includes a visual element that has
been used for entertainment purposes for thousands of years. One of the most
famous locations central to bringing Romans together for entertainment was
the Colosseum which, although now in ruins, remains a testimony to the
flourishing culture of the Roman Empire. Indeed, Rome in the 6th century BCE
is seen as the earliest example of theater in the “western world”.

Think of dance or drama that must be performed in front of an audience.

Although very different in many ways compared to other visual arts, theatre or
the performing arts are intensely expressive, marked by emotions and feelings,
on stage and in the theatre hall.

With this form of art, there is no object. The art itself is in the execution, making
it temporary and volatile. As a result, every execution of a specific work is
different than before, as it is impossible to reproduce the same performance
exactly. In recent years, it has become possible to capture the performance or
allow it to be experienced in private through film due to the arrival of
photography and video. However, the intensity or the so-called on-stage magic
is at its best during the live version of the work.

In theatre or dance, there is more than just one artist, as many different actors
influence the artwork. The choreographer or writer is often seen as the leading
artist of the work in question. However, the stage designers, performers, light
technicians, the composer of the music, the costume designers, and many more
contribute to the final product and have a significant influence.

However, long before this oral storytelling, voice, sounds, and gestures were
used to transmit important information from one generation to another before
written language was invented. Evidence for visual story-telling goes back tens
of thousands of years, but it is widely accepted that story-telling through
sounds, song, dance, and charts formed an integral medium through which
traditions were passed down and retained.

Theater is a unique form of art in the sense that it can combine several different
forms of art in one theater production. A variety of artists can be involved in
the range of complex elements that may be involved in a theater production,
including costume and stage designers, musicians, actors, and writers.

The history of theater is rich and alive with the spectrum of human emotion
that we have all experienced when witnessing the stories that are embodied in
performance, whether in cinema, theater, or even spoken word. Genres include
tragedy, comedy, and drama.

Although cinema has taken the world by storm within its relatively short
lifespan, theater remains alive and well. Some famous modern-day theater
productions include Lord of the Dance and The Lion King which were started in
1996 and 1997 respectively.

Activities

Independent Practice 1
Upon knowledge in the development and characteristics of different form of
arts, compare the old way of expression in different form of arts from previous
up to present. Use the table to effectively communicate your idea.

Forms of arts Old way of Expressing Innovation happened

Idea through this art through time
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Independent Practice 2
Complete the table below. Write the type of art, your personal description and
interpretation and examples from your province.

Forms of arts Meaning Example from your

Province
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Independent Assessment 1
 Observe your Community and state the current status of the art integration in
their daily lives. Propose a program that will enhance their value of
appreciation on the said form of art.
Form of Art Current Integration in Proposed program to
daily lives of strengthen their
community appreciation and use
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Learning Resources
https://artincontext.org/types-of-art/
https://www.contemporaryartissue.com/what-are-the-7-forms-of-art-a-complete-overview/
#:~:text=The%20seven%20different%20art%20forms,Theater%2C%20Film%2C
%20and%20Music.
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/definitions/visual-art.htm
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/definitions/visual-art.htm
https://artincontext.org/types-of-visual-art/
https://www.english-online.at/art-architecture/visual-arts/visual-art-forms.htm