Humanities

Discussion day one; part one

Objectives:
 For the students to understand what is the nature of
art, art as an expression, art as creation, art and
experience, art and nature, beauty and art and what
is the subject of art.
 To be able to expand the horizons and prejudices
of students on art.
 To understand the difference between Filipino arts
and Western concept of art.
Flow of discussion
 Discuss the following:
 Humanities
 The Nature of art
 Subjects of art
 Functions of art
 Western and Filipino concept of art
Humanities
Frameworks and Perspectives
Fields of learning

Science Humanities

Physical Science Life Science Philosophy Religion

Applied Science Literature Art

Art making Art Appreciation

The Two General Fields of Learning
The Sciences The Humanities
 Dealswith natural,  Deals
with human
physical phenomena phenomena
Paradigm for Learning in the Sciences

Subject- Object-
knower known

Scientific
method
“The scientist learns about things in the world.”
Science
 Science deals with the external world of humans,
as well as the with the facets of human being that
can be subjected to:
 Observation
 Measurement
 Experimentation
 Science enable man to understand and control
nature and to harness its energy to make his life
more comfortable and convenient.
Paradigm for learning in the
humanities

Subject- Object-
knower known

“The humanist learns about the self.”

Humanities
 Humanities is the study to learn what is it to be
human.
 Studying humanities is that we have to depend
heavily on vicarious experience of difference people
and cultures of different times and places.
 Humanities are expressions of human’s feelings and
thoughts.
 Humanities serve to provide the student with certain
skills and values learned through the arts.
Humanities
 The humanities deals with human’s
internal world – with his personality
and experiences, matters that cannot be
exactly measured, classified or
controlled.
 The study of humanities cannot be as
precise nor as well-structured and
uniform as the study of biology or
physics.
Humanities and the Applied Sciences
 IfHumanities studies human as individual and able to
present their experiences through art.
 applied Sciences like Psychology, Sociology and so on,
focus on the types and groups of humans beings and on
the institutions and process of these individual in society.
 Psychology – humans (individually) compared to other
human behaviour and whether or not these behaviours will
be accepted.
 Sociology – focused on humans (universally) on how they
act in society that influenced their behaviour.
Science

• Far
• Humans are objects for study.

Applied Science

• Mid range
• Humans are studied under a certain circumstance.

Humanities

• Close
• Humans beings study themselves.
Branches of Humanities
Philosophy

Literature

Humanities

Theology

Art making

Art
Art appreciation
(Aesthetics)
Importance of Humanities
 Humans need an image of themselves, an
understanding of their own nature. Through words,
tones, mass, line, color, or design the arts provide
humans with a measure of their own passions and
desires, his relation with other human and their
environment as well as their potentials.
 Who am I
 Socrates – “Know thyself”
 St. Augustine – “Withdraw into yourself truth
dwells in the inner man.”
Humanities, Sciences, and Social
Sciences are important
 Social sciences, Science and humanities are
necessary for the development of the complete,
social human being, ready to take on their
responsibilities in this rapidly changing world and
to enjoy life as they live it.
 Science
KNOWLEDG
E

Human
Being
Social Science
Humanities
SOCIAL
WISDOM
ANIMAL
“Who am I?”
What is the basic answer to this question?
 Ancient • Precolonial Philippines
• Birth of Christ
Cosmocentric
Spoken Literature

• Roman Catholic Church

Medieval Theocentric • Spanish Colonization
Spoken and Written
Literature

Modern • Industrial Revolution

• World War I
Anthropocentric • American & Japanese Colonization
• World War II
Spoken, Written and Print

• Postmodernism
Contemporary • Technological Revolution
Spoken, Written, Print and • Globalization
Multi-media • Ecletic human
I. Arts: Its
Meaning and
Importance
Discussion day one; part two
Nature of Art
 Art is everywhere – on your clothes, the chair you are sitting, the
building your are standing and so on.
 Art as an expression and form of communication – art is used as
a tool of expressing human emotions. We play music when we
are sad, we sometimes write poetry to the person we love.
 Art as Creation – art is the act of combining or re-ordering
already existing materials so that a new object is formed.
 Art from the Latin word ars which means skill. Equivalent to
techne.
 the word not only applies to craftsmanship but also for proficiency.
Nature of Art
 Art and experience – we express our experience
through art. Art is varying combination of sensory,
emotional and intellectual responses in which they
express in art. Art is well-planned.
 Art and nature – Art is not nature. A work of art is
human-made and although it may closely resemble
nature it can never duplicate nature because it is
presented in how the artist interpret reality.
Nature of Art
 Art and beauty – Art is not beauty, beauty is the
appreciation of art and it might not be the same
with others.
The subjects of
Art
Discussion day one; part three
What subject is?
 The subject of art – refers to any person, object, scene
or event described or represented in a work of art.
 Representational art or objective– arts that have subjects.
 Painting, sculpture, the graphic arts, literature and the
theater arts
 Non-presentational art or non-objective art- arts that have
no subject.
 Some paintings, prints, and sculpture
 Music, architecture and many functional arts
 Girl with a Pearl
Earring by
Johannes Vermeer

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da

Vinci
Whistler’s Mother (1871) by
James Abbot McNeil
Whistler
Non-objective art
 Non-objective arts do not present descriptions,
stories or references to identifiable objects or
symbols, rather they appeal directly to the senses
primarily because of the satisfying organization of
their sensuous and expressive elements.
 Most musical pieces are not imitations of natural
sounds, but we enjoy listening to them because the
sounds have been pleasingly arranged and they
evoke certain emotional responses in us.
Ways of representing subjects
 Realism
 Abstraction
 Distortion
 Surrealism
Realism
 When things are depicted in
the way they would normally
appear in nature.
 No work of art is truly
realistic, since no work of art Rice Painting by
is an accurate copy of what Fernando Amorsolo
exists in the natural world.

La Parisienne by Felix
Resurreccion
 Abstraction
 Isthe process of simplifying
and/or reorganizing objects
and elements according to
the demands of artistic
expression.
 Some abstract works has
been retained to represent
real things, in others the
original objects have been
Still life by Vicente Silva Manansala
reduced to simple geometric
shapes
Distortion
 It means twisting, stretching
or deforming the natural
shape of the object.
 It is usually done to
dramatize the shape of a
figure or to create an
emotional effect.

Christ as Savior by El Greco

Surrealism
 Is realism plus distortion
 Surrealist compose dreamlike
scenes that show an irrational
arrangement of objects.
 Surrealist painting are
recognizable sometimes drawn
from nature, but they are
combined in utterly fantastic
and unnatural relationship.
I and the Village y Marc
Chagall
The Artist and His Choice of Subject
 The visual arts are representations of what the artists
thought and felt about the world they lived in, or they are
representations of things the artists imagined or dreamed
about.
 Whatever subject an artist chooses, his choice involves
some personal statement.
 The choice of subjects also depends largely upon the
time in which he lives and on the patronage he gets.
 The value of the work of art does not depend on the
artists choice of subject.
Kinds of subject
 Landscapes, seascapes and citescape
 Still lifes – flower vase
 Animals
 Portraits
 Figures – human body, nude or clothes
 Everyday life
 History and legends
 Religion and mythology
 Dreams and fantasies
The ugly and the
Tragic in Art
 There is nothing that may
be considered an improper
subject for a work of art.
 The grotesque, the ugly
and the tragic are all
legitimate subjects as much La Pieta
as the pleasurable and the
beautiful are.

Cruxificion by Matthias Grunewald

Subject and Content
 Subject refers to the objects depicted by the artist, content refers to what
the artist expresses or communicates on the whole of their work.
 Content is the theme in literature
 Levels of meanings
 Factual meaning – is the literal statement or the narrative content in the
work. Painting of an apple is an apple.
 Conventional meaning – refer to the special meaning that a certain object or
color has for a particular culture or group of people. Cross for Christians,
but not for Jews.
 Subjective meaning – is any personal meaning consciously or
unconsciously conveyed by the artist using a private symbolism which
stems from his own association of certain objects, actions or color with past
experience. Painting of a blue rose on a pot symbolize the life of an artist.
Functions of Art
Discussion day one part four
Functional art and non-functional art
 Art is generally regarded as impractical, not meant
to meet the requirements of day-to-day living.
 Function – practical usefulness
 Architecture, weaving, furniture-making and craft-
making are functional art
 Painting, sculpture, literature, music and theatre
arts are non-functional art because it serve no other
end than to amuse or provide a pleasant escape
from life’s daily problems.
Personal Function of art
 Art serve as means of expression for us.
 Music and literature
 Art help us educate our senses and sharpen our
perception of environment.
 Can lead us to intensified awareness
 Work of art make us aware of other ways of
thinking, feeling and imagining that have never
occurred to us before.
 Expands our horizon
Social Function of art
 Influencing Social Behaviour
 Paintings, photographs, posters and
cartoons have been used to express
humanitarian concern as well as
ideological or political comment.
 Display and Celebration
 Social Description – represent what
happened during the artists time
Physical Function of Art
 Form and Function
 Chair for sitting
 Knives for cutting
 Architecture
 Community planning
 Residential districts
 Industrial and commercial areas
 Civic centers (government buildings)
 Parks, plazas and malls
 Streets and roads
 Art is an important element in our life, we might
not aware that even books written for science is art
as well.
 Do not disregard art, art is everything.
Western and
Filipino concept
of Art
Discussion day Part five
Western concept of Art
Academic

• Only schooled people are artists

Elitist

• Meant for the higher social class

Hierarchical

• Difference between arts and crafts, liberal arts and servile art, high
and low art, major art and minor art, indigenous art and popular art.
 Western Classification of the Arts

• Made by artists and • Made by artisans

Minor art or craft

Major art

primarily concern and concerned with

with the form of functionality and
beauty usefulness of
human-made
products.
The seven major arts in western
civilization
 Visual art
 Painting
 Sculpture
 Architecture
 Drawing
 Performing
 Music
 Drama
 Dance
 Linguistic
 literature
Minor arts: Crafts
 Ceramics
 Weaving
 Sewing
 Handicraft
 Carpentry
 Masonry
 Stone cutting
 Gardening
 cooking
Filipino concept of Art

Arts Crafts

Filipino identity
Basey, Art of Colorful Mats from
Samar-Leyte
Vinta Badjao Art
Burnay Jars of Ilocos