ART APPRECIATION

PHILOSOPHICAL IMPORT OF ART

Plato (429-347 B.C.E.)

 Objects in this world are imitations of ideal forms that are the true reality.
 Therefore, art is twice removed from reality, as it is just an imitation of an imitation.
 In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form.

Aristotle (384- 322 B.C.E)

 Arts do copy nature, but their representations are fuller and more meaningful than nature
gives us in the raw.
 We do not therefore need to insist on some moral purpose for art, which is thus free to
represent all manner of things.

Implication
 Criteria: good when closer imitation of reality; and bad when poor imitation

Criticism
 If we restrict art to presenting an accurate picture of reality, aren’t we wrongly turning the
artist into nothing more than a photocopying machine or a camera?

Art as expression of emotion

 A dominant view in the 19th century and was related to Romanticism. The Romantics felt
that behind the ordinary world we experience another more mysterious reality that is vital,
portentous, and the source of deeper hidden meaning.
 Many of the Romantics came to the conclusion that although reason cannot get at this deeper,
our feelings can.

Leo Tolstoy (1847-1910)

 He defines art as an expression of a feeling or experience in such a way that the audience to
whom the art is directed can share that feeling or experience.
 Art does not belong to any particular class of society.
 Good art is intelligible and comprehensible

Immanuel Kant- Yes We Kant

 Art for art’s sake” as a mode of approaching art
 Declaring content, subject matter, and any other external demands obsolete, Kant argued the
purpose of art is to be “purposeless”.
 It should not have to justify any reason of existing and being valued other than the fact that it
is art

Art as Disinterested Judgement

 Immanuel Kant (Critique of Judgement)
 Judgement of beauty is innately autonomous (independent) from specific interest
 Considered the judgement of beauty, the cornerstone of art, something that can be universal
despite of its subjectivity.
 MARK ROTHKO NO. 1 (ROYAL RED AND BLUE - 1964)
 Sold for $75.1 million at an auction in November 2012
Benedetto Croce
 He defined art as “intuitive knowledge.” According to him, art is the expression of the
feelings of the artist.
 And though the artist may not be in touch with the “noumenal” world, he/she is still in touch
with the deeper significance of life.

Criticism
 We don’t really know what the artist was feeling when he created an art.

Art as form
 Art has no purpose other than to be looked at and be appreciated of its beauty.

 A work of art is an artifact that possesses significant form.

 Art should not be defined in terms of its relationship to something outside the work of art,
such as “reality” or “emotion.”
 Something counts as a work of art simply because of the way that its part and its materials are
arranged and put together.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

 He formulates them three conditions of beauty. Beauty, he defines, is that which pleases
when seen.
 INTEGRITY - an object has everything important to its essence
 PROPORTION - there must be balance and harmony
 RADIANCE - quality of an object that makes us want to continue perceiving it

Criticism
 Many philosophers agree with Bell that it is the form of an artwork that makes it count as a
work of art, and that a good artwork is one that arouses a special “aesthetic emotion” in us.
But most do not feel that only beautiful things can be art.

Art as what the art world say it is

 Art should be defined as whatever people in the “artworld” say is art. The “artworld” consists
of all those people who are engaged in producing art and in deciding whether it is good art or
bad art.
 FUNCTIONS OF ART

Aristotle
 Aristotle claimed that every particular substance in this world has an end or purpose (telos).
 According to Aristotle For a thing to reach its purpose, it has to fulfil its function
 Man, according to Aristotle “Fulfillment and happiness can only be achieved if a man is
rational”
 According to Aristotle “man function is connected to his rationality”

 What makes a human being a human being “his capacity to think” His function
 Without this function Man ceases to be a human being

Functional of Art
 An inquiry on the function of art Is an inquiry on what art is for

Function of Art
 What is art for? The answer to the question is the function of whatever it refers to
 When it comes to function Different art forms come with distinctive functions. Some art
forms are more functional than others.

Personal Function of Art

 Personal function of Art varies and highly subjective
 Meaning, function depend on the person – the artist who created the art\
 Artist may create an art
 Self expression
 Entertainment
 Communicate idea
 wala lang”
 Art may also help process emotion
Social Function of Art
 Art is considered to have social function
 When it addresses a particular collective interest
 Convey message
Physical Function of Art
 Easiest to spot and understand
 Arts that are crafted in order to serve some physical purpose
 Architecture, jewelry making, interior design
 Have physical function
Does Art Always to be Functional?
 Although most of the arts are functional, Some are not
 A functional object cannot be claimed to be beautiful. Unless it can perform its functions
sufficiently
 Efficiently cannot be mistaken as beautiful

Summary
 Since the dawn of the civilization, art has been at the forefront of giving color to man’s
existence
 The different functions of art may be classified as either personal, social, or physical
 Art’s function is personal if it depends on the artist or sometime still, the audience of the art
 There is a social functions in art if and when it has particular social function, when it address
a collective need of a group of people
 Physical function if it has something to do with direct, tangible uses of art.
 ASSUMPTIONS OF ART

Art is good because it is popular Art is good because it is universal

Art is Universal
 Age is not a factor in determining art
• “art is not good because it is old, it is old because it is good”
• We read it, we sing it, we dance with it because it motivates us and gives us happiness. We
enjoy it.
 Every country and in every generation, there is always art
 Art has been crafted by all people regardless of origin, time, place and that stayed on because
it is liked and enjoyed by people continuously
 A great piece of work will never be obsolete
 Art will always be present because human beings will always express themselves and delight
in these expressions
 Men will continue to use art while art persists. It will not die

Art is not NATURE

 Art is man’s expression of his reception of nature
 Art is man’s way of interpreting nature
 Art is man made, whereas nature is a given around us
 Art is based on an individual’s subjective experience of nature
 Art is based on the perception, reason, motivation of the artist
 who created the art

Art Involves Experience

 When one says that he has an experience of something, he often means that he knows what
that something about
 Unlike fields of knowledge that involve data, art is known by experiencing.
• A painter cannot claim to know how to paint if he has not tried holding a brush
• a sculptor cannot produce a work of art if he doesn’t know what a chisel does
 All art depends on experience, and if one is to know art, he must know it not as fact or
information but as experience (Dudley et al, 1960).
 Every experience with art is accompanied by some emotion
 One either likes or dislikes, agrees or disagrees that a work of art is beautiful
 With experience, come emotions and feelings after all
 Feelings and emotions are concrete proofs that the artwork has been experiences

Summary
 Since the dawn of time, man has always tried to express his innermost thoughts and feelings
about reality through art.
 Humanities and the art have always been part of man’s growth and civilization.
 Three assumptions on art
1) it is universal,
2) it is not nature
3) it needs experience
 Art is present in every part of the globe and in every period. This is what is meant by its
universality.
 Art not being nature, not even attempting to simply mirror nature.
 Art is always a creation of the artist, not nature
 Finally, without experience, there is no art.
 The artist has to be foremost, a perceiver who is directly in touch with art.
 THE WHITE BIRD BY JOHN BERGER

General Synopsis
 In the White Bird, Mr John Berger uses a simply made, yet visually striking , traditional
wooden bird decoration to discuss how form , materials, and construction can create
meaningful impression.
 By their very Simplicity they allow one to categorize the qualities which make them pleasing
and mysterious to everyone who sees them.

What qualities of the white bird can be perceived as “artistic?”

 Artistic- The point of view of the artist or of one who actually produces a work of art, who
thinks in terms of technique, of the relationship of details to the design of the whole, or of the
effects to be gained and who therefore regards beauty as a thing that results from his attention
to these matters and that is his creation
 Aesthetic - the point of view of one who contemplates a finished work of art or beauty that
exists and who thinks in terms of the effect it has upon him and especially of the sensations it
stimulates and the feelings it excites.

White Bird as Pleasing and Mysterious

 Figurative Representation -bone is looking at a bird, more precisely a dove, apparently

hanging in mid air. Thus, there is a reference to the surrounding world of nature.
 Choice of Subject - the context is symbolic- It serve as reminder to the audience
 Respect for the material used - The wood has been fashioned according to its own qualities
of lightness, pliability and texture. Looking at it, one is surprised by how well wood becomes
bird.
 Formal Unity and Economy - Despite the object's apparent complexity, the grammar of its
making is simple, even austere. Its richness is the result of repetitions which are also
variations.
 Provokes kind of astonishment - how on earth was it made?

How is the perception of the artistic related to perception of the aesthetic?

 It is within this bleak natural context that beauty is encountered, and the encounter is by its
nature sudden and unpredictable. However it is encountered, beauty is always an exception,
always in despite of. This is why it moves us.
 The range of what a given community finds beautiful in nature will depend upon its means of
survival, its economy, its geography.
 Origin of the way we are moved by natural beauty was functional.

Is the aesthetic emotion felt while looking at an artistic creation, different from what felt while
looking at nature?
 The aesthetic emotion we feel before a man-made object such as the white bird is a
derivative of the emotion we feel before nature.
 Art supposes that beauty is not an exception- is not in despite of- but is the basis for an order.
Art does not imitate nature, it imitates a creation, sometimes to propose an alternative world,
sometimes simply to amplify, to confirm, to make social the brief hope offered by nature. Art is an
organized response to what nature allows us to glimpse occasionally. Art sets out to transform the
potential recognition into an unceasing one.

Insights
 The emotion we feel when we look at the art objects is part of the emotion we feel when we
observe nature.
 In the task of creating art, the artists enables us to transcend the evils of this world and to
assert our being.
 The beauty perceived in art is a way of approximating the beauty present in nature and of
giving order to the world.
 The painting "Het Straatje" or "The Little Street“ by Johannes Vermee
 ART AND SOCIETY
What is art according to the author?
 Cognitive mode and process of signification and conveying meaning
 Is produced in specific settings (i.e. in societies and historical periods)
 HEGEMONY OF WESTERN ARTISTIC TRADITION
 Viewing art CONTEXTUALLY- social and historical
 FORMALIST VIEW OF ART-separate, self-contained entity or text while blocking its
relationship to the real world.

How did Art develop throughout Philippine history?

 Spanish colonization period
 Feudal economy (encomienda system)
 Church and State as one
 Churches, ornaments, altars, and saints, images of
 Christ and other religious art
 Building of Churches required MATERIALS AND LABOR

 2nd half of 19th century

 International trade based on agriculture
 Illustrados as landlords converting ricelands
 Higher education of landlords and imported ideas, materials from Europe
 Ornaments in their houses (bahay na bato)
 Miniatures of their property
 Secularization of art- portraits, landscapes, still-lifes, genres

 American colonization period

 Trade, commerce and industry (remained feudal)
 School system (public), foundation of UP Fine Arts
 Commercial arts- meeting the needs of corporations
 FERNANDO AMORSOLO- catered American art patrons
 ART IS A COMMODITY (packaged and marketed)

 1928 (MODERNISM)
 Victorio Edades ( Philippine Columbian Club)
 Philippine Art Gallery and Art Association of the PH as support system

 60’s and 70’s

 political consciousness
 SOCIAL REALISTS
How will you describe the mode of production of Art?
 urban arts/fine arts, arts from the regions, indigenous arts
 Traditional arts- local community’s ritual and functional needs
 Issues and challenges in production of folk arts
 Art has been produced within different modes of production or social formations
– Warrior societies- weapons
– Plutocratic societies- status symbols
– Cordilleras-hagabi
– Maranao- lavish and ornamental style

What are the support system of Art?

 Academe, community organizations, museums, galleries, cultural organizations,
religious entities, mass media and the art market.
 Manila- based as an active institutions

How is Art being received by the society?

ARTIST AND PUBLIC
 Work of art is determined by saleability, thus artists
are mere technician who skilfully renders current tastes and fashions or creates them.
 “WORK OF ART IS NOT PURE DECORATION BUT A VEHICLE FOR
CONVEYING IDEAS, VALUES, AND EMOTIONS, IN FACT, A VISION OF LIFE
AND REALITY THAT GOES BEYOND COMMODITY”
MODE OF RECEPTION
 Unevenness of society
 social class and disparity of educational and cultural opportunities
 Differences of Rural and Urban community (occupation and needs) (e.g. Schools in urban &
folk arts in rural)
 Pluralistic character of Philippine society
 Issues and challenges
– Purely formalist appraisal (museums and galleries in urban only)
- Should include problems of indigenous people (militarization, land grabbing, exploitation)
 Business allied to tourism
-Tnalak of the T’bolis
- cultural dancers for tourism
ART AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
 Social class, gender, race, ethnicity, religion and political belief.
 Interests and and aspirations of large majorityGender-sensitive
 Racism in film industry (distortion of national identity)
 POVERTY PORN IS ANY CULTURAL ARTIFACT THAT USES STEREOTYPES
OF THE POOR OR MARGINALIZED TO GENERATE SYMPATHY AND GARNER
ANY FORM OF CAPITAL--ECONOMIC (MONEY), SOCIAL (PUBLIC PRAISE),
POLITICAL.

Art is not an innocent and neutral practice but it contains ideologies which are perspectival and
interest-linked. Does it align with the interests and aspirations- of the large majority or with the self-
perpetuating economic interest of the elite? PARA SAAN? PARA KANINO?

How can Art be an agent of social transformation

ART AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
 Alienation of art from vitality of people’s lives.
 Art is not neutral and derives its energies from dynamism and conflicts of society
 ART IS AN AGENT OF CHANGE
 Challenge for serious artists