ART APPRECIATION

Activity 1
Using the table below, list down 5 different artworks with pictures and on the second
column, give the description. Write them down on the corresponding column.

Artwork Description

1. FASHION DESIGN

The pictures show the versatile designs of

Filipino designer Michael Cinco. For the
Spring/Summer 2023 show at Arab Fashion
Week at Dubai Design District on Thursday
night, he brought the mysticism of Ancient
Egypt to the UAE.

Cinco showcased his art in a seemingly lavish

manner yet exhibits great intricacies.

The female model at the upper part wore his

eye-catching creations, a decadent dress.
The male model looks extravagantly pleasant
in a flowing cape with geometric lines.

The model at the bottom portion introduced

herself as one of the Ancient Egypt’s most
famous monarchs, Queen Nefertiti.

Cinco is no doubt a designer of the modern

times. His artworks reveal how passionate he
is as an artist. He proved that Filipinos are
indeed distinct creators of art. Most
https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/luxury/ importantly, along with his designs, he
2022/10/14/michael-cinco-brings-ancient-egypt-to-the- continues to encrypt message, screaming how
runway-at-arab-fashion-week/ fashion design is a form of art.

2. EXPRESSIONISM

Expressionism refers to art in which the image

of reality is distorted in order to make it
expressive of the artist's inner feelings or
ideas. In expressionist art, color in particular
can be highly intense and non-naturalistic,
brushwork is typically free and paint
application tends to be generous and highly
textured. Expressionist art tends to be
emotional and sometimes mystical. It can be
seen as an extension of Romanticism.

Edward Munch’s The Scream (1893) is

autobiographical, an expressionistic
construction based on Munch's actual
experience of a scream piercing through
nature while on a walk, after his two
companions, seen in the background, had left
him. Fitting the fact that the sound must have
been heard at a time when his mind was in an
https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp abnormal state, Munch renders it in a style
which if pushed to extremes can destroy
human integrity. As previously noted, the
flowing curves of art nouveau represent a
subjective linear fusion imposed upon nature,
whereby the multiplicity of particulars is unified
into a totality of organic suggestion with
feminine overtones. But man is part of nature,
and absorption into such a totality liquidates
the individual. Beginning at this time Munch
included art nouveau elements in many
 pictures but usually only in a limited or
modified way. Here, however, in depicting his
own morbid experience, he has let go, and
allowed the foreground figure to become
distorted by the subjectivized flow of nature;
the scream could be interpreted as expressing
the agony of the obliteration of human
personality by this unifying force. Significantly,
although it was Munch himself who underwent
the experience depicted, the protagonist bears
no resemblance to him or anyone else.

3. ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is also one of the most

mesmerizing forms of art. It aims to showcase
craftmanship from the man’s creativity. Some
architectures have gone beyond the typical
building structures and shows the complexity
of seemingly unusual niche. The two pictures
at the left are two of the most unusual and
weird architectures in the world.

The first picture is The Little Crooked House in

Sopot, Poland. Kryzwy Domek, also known as
the Little Crooked House, was built in 2004
that became a “showpiece of Sopot” in Poland.
The building was designed by architects
Szotynscy & Zaleski, who took inspiration from
the children’s book illustrations of Jan Szancer.
The building can be described as warped and
wavy as the façade. It’s a very mind-blowing
artwork that feels like a haunted building in a
horror movie.
 The second picture is the Piano and Violin
Building in Huainan, China. This artwork was
designed by architectural students from the
Hefei University of Technology and serves as a
showroom for exhibiting development plans.
The building was completed in 2007. The violin
portion of the piece contains the vertical
circulation of the project, while the piano
houses the primary function. This building has
become a popular tourist attraction and is
assumed to be “the most romantic building in
China” for newlyweds. It is also a great photo
opportunity for music lovers, posing with a
huge piano and violin as the background.
https://archihacks.com/weird-architecture-10-of-the-
most-unusual-buildings-in-the-world/

4. PAINTING
Painting is one of the most common and
famous form of expression using paint as the
primary medium. Apparently, artists are the
ones who worked predominantly in this
medium. They develop their work by applying
different colored paints onto a solid surface,
usually a canvas, to produce a work of art.
Various painters have succeeded on this art
form. Also, it is a great hobbies for low-key
artists right there.

Benedicto Cabrer is one of the most well-

known National Artists. His artworks are
currently on display inside his museum in
Baguio City including his famous painting
“Sabel”, which is shown at the left column.
According to Cabrera, “Sabel” is a homeless
Filipino woman whom he photographed and
first sketched in 1965. Her disposition became
a symbol of dislocation, despair, and isolation
for the painter — making her a recurring
subject in his figurative paintings.
 Another painting from the left column is
Parisian Life by Juan Luna. It is also called
Interior d’un Cafi (or Inside a Café). This
impressionist painting is another masterpiece
of Juan Luna. Unlike his earlier works, the
“Parisian Life” shy away from his usual intense
and dramatic subjects and instead portrayed a
“fleeting moment of ordinary life” during his
stay in Paris in the 1890s. As we can see at
the center of the artwork, a young woman is
sitting uncomfortably on a sofa while behind
her are three Filipino patriots who would
eventually change the country’s history —
Luna himself, Jose Rizal, and Ariston Bautista
Lin.

Charcoal is one of the oldest drawing

materials, dating back nearly 30,000 years.
The charcoal used by artists is a form of dry art
medium, and is made of ground organic
materials. Using charcoal produces a deep
black mark, brilliant for bold and expressive
studies. Using your finger, charcoal can be
easily smudged and blended, making it a great
medium for creating a sense of depth. There
are a number of great artists who work with
charcoal, as it is such a versatile material to
use. Two of them are shown in the left column.

The first featured painting is from Käthe

Kollwitz, a German artist, who saw much
suffering throughout her life. Kollwitz depicted
her experiences through expressive art, which
included the use of charcoal. Living in Berlin
throughout the first World War, the events of
https://sugbo.ph/2022/most-notable-paintings- the time prompted her to depict her struggles
philippines/ with hunger and poverty through art. Kollwitz
was primarily a graphic artist, confining her
 work to black and white imagery. The world
that she depicts in her art is veiled in shadow,
and rarely touches any sight of color. As such,
5. CHARCOAL it is no wonder that charcoal was a frequently
used medium of hers throughout her work.

Another deep yet intricate painting is from

Leon Kossoff, a British figurative painter, who
was mostly known for his portraits and
cityscapes of London. His charcoal drawings
are dark, with deep shadows and thick lines
depicting the smokey atmosphere of London
throughout 1952. His portraits are also dark,
with bold smudge marks and thick black
outlines. Kossoff uses cross-hatching to build
up tone, which is fairly noticeable in much of
his artwork.
https://www.cowlingandwilcox.com/blog/post/47-top-5-
charcoal-artists

REFERENCES:

1) https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/luxury/2022/10/14/michael-cinco-brings-
ancient-egypt-to-the-runway-at-arab-fashion-week/

2) https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp

3) https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/expressionism

4) https://archihacks.com/weird-architecture-10-of-the-most-unusual-buildings-in-the-
world/

5) https://sugbo.ph/2022/most-notable-paintings-philippines/

6) https://www.cowlingandwilcox.com/blog/post/47-top-5-charcoal-artists