art appreciation
Humanities- study of how people process and document the human experience.
what way do we process and document the human experience? - We used philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history and language to understand and record our world
humanities matter - Through exploration of the humanities we learn how to think creatively and critically, to reason, and to ask questions
Humanistics subjects have been at the heart of liberal arts education since the Greeks first used them to educate their citizens
Values of different cultures, about what goes into making a work of art, about how history is made.
Humanistic knowledge continues to provide the ideal foundation for exploring and understanding the human experience.
Philosophy – thinking about ethical questions
Learning another language – gain an appreciation for the similarities in different culture
Contemplating a sculpture – how an artist’s life affected her creative decisions
Reading a book from another region of the world – think about the meaning of democracy
Listening to a history course – understand the past, and the future.
The humanities are the stories, the ideas, and the words that help us make sense of our lives and our world
We are surrounded by images on billboards, paintings, sculptures, drawings, illustrations, prints, cartoons, posters, murals, photographs, films and computer graphics
Basic documentary information about the work
•Title of the work
ü Can be significant or immaterial to the meaning of the work
ü Relation of the title of the work?
•Artist’s name
ü Biographical data
ü To what generation the artist belong? Who are his/her peers? Personal background and training?
•Medium and Techniques
ü 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional work
ü Materials and techniques- Indigenous materials evokes the natural and familiar environment
S•Dimensions or measurements
ü Length and width and volume
ü Large scale or miniature size
ü Symbolism in square/circular format
•Date of the work
ü Provides a historical context of the work
ü Predominant issues, concerns and trends of the period
•Provenance
ü Name of the present owner or collector of the work
ü Record of provenance from the present to former owners and to the artist
Interrelated aspects to the study of art
1. Art has its specificity - language or vocabulary that has to do with the media, techniques and visual elements of art
2. Art is historically situated - shaped by social, economic and political forces
4 planes of analysis
basic semiotic plane - •Semiotics- study of “signs”
•Iconic or pictorial sign
•A sign consists of:
ü Signifier- material/physical aspect
ü Signified- nonmaterial aspect, concept/value
ü Referent- object as it exists in the real world
• Covers the elements and the general technical and physical aspects of the work with their semantic meaning-conveying potential.
• It includes:
1. Visual elements - line, value, color, texture, shape, composition in space, movement and how they are used.
2. Choice of medium and technique
• Technique- spontaneity and accident or order and control
3. Format of the work
• In contemporary art, format is no longer conventional but becomes laden with meaning
• Square canvas- mathematical order and precision
4. Other physical properties and marks of the work
• Notations, traces, textural features, marks are part of the significance of the work (intentional or random)
Line
• Horizontal- at rest/sleep
• Vertical- readiness
• Diagonal- in action
• Curved lines- in dance
• Quality- thickness, thinness
Tonal values from light through shades of gray to dark
• Experience of the cycle of night and day
• Dawn- optimism
• Dark- mystery, melancholy
• Texture- experiences of pleasure, pain- sensations of hard and soft
iconic plane -• Still part of the semiotic approach- based on the signifier-signified relationship
•It is not the material elements of the work that are dealt with as in the semiotic plane
•Includes the choice of the subject- social and political implications
• Presentation of the image and its relationship to the viewer
• Positioning of the figure
ü Strong central focusing with the principal figure occupying the center space
ü Poised, relaxed, indifferent?
ü Costume, accessories
contextual plane - •Basic semiotic and Iconic planes + Social and historical context of the work art.
•Resituating the work in its context will bring out the full meaning of the work in terms of its human and social implications.
•Broad knowledge of a society’s history, and its economic, political and cultural conditions, past and present.
evaluative plane - • After the understanding of the work is the difficult task of evaluating it.
• Material basis of the work- reckons with the standards of excellence in the use of medium and techniques
• To what degree the material basis of the work conveys meaning or particular intellectual/emotional contents.
• Is the medium (surface, instruments, tools) used with a high degree of artistic skill, creativity and insight?
• Devote time to researching and observing art making
• The viewer of the art needs to have thought out fully his own values
Subject of art- refers to any person, object, scene or event described or represented in a work of art.
Representational or objective art- arts that have subject
Nonrepresentational or non-objective arts- arts that do not have subject.
WAYS OF REPRESENTING THE SUBJECT
▪The manner of representing subject matter varies according to the inventiveness and purposes of each artist.
a. Realism
▪When things are depicted in the way they would naturally appear in nature.
b. Abstraction
▪Abstraction- process of simplifying and/or reorganizing objects and elements according to the demands of artistic expression.
▪The artist selects and renders the object with their shapes, colors and positions altered.
c. Distortion
▪Distortion- figures have been so arranged that proportions differ noticeable from natural measurements
▪Twisting, stretching, or deforming the natural shape of the object
▪Relief sculptures and paintings of ancient Egypt were distorted.
▪Usually done to dramatize the shape of a figure to create an emotional effect.
El Greco elongated the bodies of Christ and the saints in his paintings to enhance the illusion of spirituality.
Caricatures employ distortions so that their targets of ridicule would appear grotesque and hateful.
Subject- objects depicted by the artist
Content- refers to what the artist expresses or communicates on the whole in his work.
meaning of the work in literature- theme
Medium- refers to the materials which an artist uses
According to medium, the arts are classified into:
1. Visual/Space arts- mediums can be seen and which occupy space.
▪2 categories:
a. 2-dimensional arts- painting, drawing, printmaking, and photography
b. 3-dimensional arts- sculpture, architecture, landscaping, crafts like ceramics and furniture-making.
2. Auditory or time arts- those whose mediums can be heard and which are expressed in time. These are music and literature.
3. Combined arts- those whose mediums can be both seen and heard and which exist in both space and time. Ex. Dance, drama, opera, movies
Technique- artist’s knowledge of his medium and his skill in making it achieve what he wants it to
THE MEDIUMS OF THE VISUAL ARTS
1. Fresco- in which pigment is mixed with water and applied to wet plaster.
2. Tempera- pigment is mixed with egg and applied to a very hard smooth surface, usually several layers of rubbed plaster
▪ A method of painting with pigments dispersed in an emulsion miscible with water, typically egg yolk. The method was used in Europe for fine painting, mainly on wood panels, from the 12th or early 13th century until the 15th, when it began to give way to oils.
3. Oil- on canvas or prepared wood panel
4. Watercolor- pigment mixed with water and applied to smooth or rough white paper
LINE
▪The shape of a work of art may be defined by line.
▪Short, or long, fine or thick, heavy or light, wavy or jagged, straight or curved
▪Series of heavy lines drawn close to each other creates an impression of roughness
▪Few strokes- sensation of softness and delicacy
▪Horizontal lines- serenity, stability
▪Forms in nature- sleeping person
▪Vertical line- poised and stable
▪Straight tree is a strong one
▪Person who stands tall is one who has confidence
▪Diagonal line- implies action
▪Tree that is about to fall
▪Movement, instability
▪Curved line- gradual change of direction
▪Fluidity
▪Rounded petals of a flower
▪Feeling of grace and movement
COLOR
▪Color- series of wavelengths which strike our retina.
▪Neutrals: Black, White, Gray
▪Physical properties of color- every color we see may be described in terms of its physical properties- hue, value and intensity
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COLOR
▪Hue- refers to the origin of the colors we can see.
▪Colors of spectrum are called hues
▪Value- lightness/darkness of a color
▪Color combined with black will reflect less light ▪Intensity- strength of the color’s hue, quality of light in a color.
▪Primary colors: Red, Blue, Yellow
▪Secondary color- color formed out of the combination of 2 primaries
▪Intermediate colors- mixing the primary and secondary colors
USES OF COLOR
▪Color may be used to give the pictorial field a 3-dimensional quality or to create interest through the counter-balance of backward and forward movements
▪Red spot on a flat surface appears to take position in front of that surface
▪Blue spot on the same surface on the other hand seems to sink back
▪Color may create a mood and symbolize ideas and express personal emotions.
▪Light, bright colors make us feel happy and angry.
▪Cool, somber ones – depress us
▪Red- intense and exciting
▪Blue- serene, dignified, or sad
▪Color has the ability to arouse sensations of pleasure because of a well-ordered system of tonality
▪Color provokes physical sensations such as exhilaration and euphoria
TEXTURE
▪Texture- refers to the way 2 objects feel to the touch
▪Smooth, rough, furry, silky
▪To the painter, texture is an illusion
▪He must make an object look the way it would feel if we could touch it.
VOLUME
▪Volume- refers to the solidarity and thickness
▪Architect’s primary concern because a building encloses space.
▪The sculptor- figures occupy space and are observed from any direction
▪The painter- volume is an illusion because the surface of the canvas is flat.
▪The use of light for expressive effects resulted in the development of 2 styles
▪Chiaroscuro- technique which concentrates on the effects of blending light and shade on objects to create an illusion of space and atmosphere
▪Tenebrism- style of painting which exaggerates the effects of chiaroscuro.
PERSPECTIVE
▪To get the depth or the distance, an artist uses perspective
▪Both linear and aerial.
▪By linear perspective- objects become smaller as they recede into the distance
▪By aerial perspective- we mean that objects become fainter in the distance due to the effects of the atmosphere.
FORM
▪Form applies to the over-all design of a work of art
▪Favorite designs are the triangle by Raphael
▪Circle by Michelangelo’s Holy Family
▪Rectangle in numerous paintings
▪Closed form- elements of a painting are contained within the frame and lead the eye into the painting
▪Open form- parts of the figure are cut off by the frame and we feel that the action extends out of the picture
NAPOLEON ABUEVA- Father of Modern Filipino Sculpture and one of the National Artist of the Philippines
Sculpture
•Comes from a Latin word “sculpere” which means to carve
Work of sculpture
•A work of sculpture is a three dimensional form constructed to represent a natural or imaginary shape.
a. Free-standing
•Free-standing sculpture or sculpture in the round- one which can be seen from more than one position. (Statues of saints in our churches)
b. Carved in relief
• Relief sculpture - project a flat background
• Bas relief - when the forms are slightly raised (Coins and medals)
•High relief sculptures - those whose figures project to the extent of one-half their thickness or more, so that they are almost round.
c. Kinetic sculpture
•Mobiles- kind of kinetic sculpture are made of strips of metal, glass, wood or plastic arranged with wires and hung where they can move.
•Associated with Alexander Calder who first created them in 1930s
Assemblage Sculpture
• A modern form of sculpture which is pieced together from found or scavenged items that have little or no relationship with another.
Traditional methods employed in making sculpture are
1. Carving
• Subtractive process
•Removing unwanted portions of the raw material to reveal the form that the artist has visualized.
•Wood, stone, and ivory
•Most difficult of the sculptural process
•He cannot afford a trial-and-error method-once the material has been chiseled off, it can no longer be restored.
2. Modeling
•Additive process
•Building the form, using highly plastic material such as clay or wax.
3. Casting
•Is a complex process
•A method of obtaining the permanence of the modeled work by making a mold and casting in a durable material such as bronze, copper, and metals.
4. Fabrication
• Method developed in the 20th century
• This method came out because of the rising cost of traditional materials and the difficulty in getting them.
• Stone and Wood
• Additive process – it employs any method of joining or fastening such as nailing, stapling, soldering and welding.
• In this process, the artist builds his form piece by piece.
• He may combine different materials together.
Philippine Sculpture and Society
Alice Guillermo
Okir, Ukkil – Ukit
•In the Muslim South, traditional woodcarving design is called
•Okir- by the Maranaos
•Ukkil- by the Tausog
•Related to the Tagalog word ukit meaning to carve
Sari-manok
•Principal okir design
•Distinguished by its form of bird and fish
•Stands for Maranao life culture which flourishes by the waters of Lake Lanao
Naga
•Naga is the serpent characterized by a dynamic S-curve
•Naga means snake or serpent in Sanskrit
Pako rabong or growing fern
•Flourishing plant with floral and curvilinear motifs
•Characterized by a broad upcurving base from which the plantlike form develops in numerous curling leaves and tendrils (stems)