Module 1

Art Appreciation & History

Welcome to our class for this semester in Art Appreciation! This subject will
introduce you to the different concepts of the arts and humanities. This will broaden and
enhance your ability to appreciation, analyze and critique of works of arts. It will equip
you as a student to be use different disciplines involved and the multimodal approaches.
I hope you will be interested in the various topics that we will discuss with the entire
semester. Let us together discover the treasure embedded in the history of arts and
appreciate the beauty of it.

“Art is higher type of knowledge than experience.” (Aristotle)

Desired Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this unit, the student will be able to:

1. Determine student’s expectations of the course;
2. Characterize artistic expression based on personal experiences with art;
3. Differentiate art history from art appreciation and;
4. Discuss the nature of art’s preliminary expressions.

Learning Activities:
Before you start reading and learning the lesson proper, kindly answer first the
questions below.
1. How do you determine whether a particular art is an original work of an artist?
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2. How can you utilize arts to express yourself and to others? Give concrete
example.
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3. If you were given a chance to be an artist, what type of artist will you be and the
reasons why you explored that field of art? Justify your answer.
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4. What artistic talents you want to discover and develop? Justify.

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Introduction

What is an art?

Art is a Latin word which means skilful, systematic arrangement or adaptations of

means for the attainment of some end especially human endeavour. Art is found
everywhere at all very much a part of our lives. We cannot ignore its presence even if
we try to. Appreciation of the arts cannot be taught but the “enjoyment” of the art is
something that every individual must pursue on its own.
Humanities came from a Latin word “humanus” which means humane, cultured
and refined. It is a body of knowledge aimed to make man human, cultured and refined.
Humanities enable the students to develop one’s person’s capacity to perceive,
understand, and appreciate works of arts through a study of organization of the various
elements, medium and techniques
Artist is a person who exhibits exceptional skills in designing, drawing, and
painting. Artist works in one of the performing arts like musicians, dramatists or
playwright and choreographers. An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to
creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art.
The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a
practitioner in the visual arts only. The term is often used in the entertainment business,
especially in a business context, for musicians and other performers (less often for
actors). "Artiste" (the French for artist) is a variant used in English only in this context;
this use has become rare. Use of the term to describe writers, for example, is valid, but
less common, and mostly restricted to contexts like criticism.
Subject of the person refers to any person, object, scene or event described or
represents the works of the arts.

What is Art History?

Art History is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and
stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing,
sculpture, architecture, ceramics, and decorative arts, yet today, art history examines
broader aspects of visual culture, including the various visual and conceptual outcomes
related to an ever-evolving definition of art (Khan Academy, 2020). Art history
encompasses the study of objects created by different cultures around the world and
throughout history that convey meaning, importance, or serve usefulness primarily
through visual means.

Description of Art Appreciation

When we look around, we see a lot of things that relate to art. Art can come in
the form of many items such as posters, paintings, portraits, covers, and more. People
look at art in different ideas that they want to know more about or may be studying. Art

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can shows ideas about the past, what is currently happening and what may happen in
the future. It can also show meaning, love, boredom, and creativity (Ramos, 2012). Art
can be meaningful because of the colours, shapes, and depictions it can create.

Art Appreciation is a way to motivate ideas and allows individuals to illustrate their
feelings when they viewed an artwork. It helps develops critical and innovative skills in
thinking and teaches essential qualities in listening, observing, and responding to
multiple viewpoints It also requires an ability to differentiate what is apparent and what
is not (Gargaro & Jilg, 2016 and Sanger, 2012).

What is a creator and its relationship to creativity?

A creator is a person who invents, produces, or makes things. If you are an author,
you are the creator of the characters in your books. Creator is also a performer is a
person who acts, sings, or does other entertainment in front of audiences.
On the other hand, creativity is the ability to create items that inspire and inform
others, often in aesthetically pleasing ways (Sarellano, n.d). Creativity is thinking
outside of society's norm. It is being able to express oneself in different varieties of arts -
painting, poetry, sculpture, style, fashion, etc. (Mezquita, n.d.)

1. Artist – the prime mover communicating his ideas through the performers.
2. Performers – interpret to the audience
3. Audience – includes the reader, observer and the listener.

What is the process of creation of arts?

Creativity is a characteristic of an artist that progressed in the extent of his/her life to

express feelings. These are all processed in three significant phases namely: Creation
of Forms; Creation of Ideas; and Creation of the Materials (Sanchez, 2011).

a. The Creations of ideas. Artists are usually impressionable persons. They used
their experiences as their basis in the making of dance, picture, a poem, or a play
or a song. For example, a composer may write a song on the developing
romance between a man and a woman, or on the pains of a broken-hearted.

b. The Creations of the Materials. The artist uses different materials or mediums to
give form to an idea. For example, a painter uses pigments; a sculptor uses
wood, metal or stone; an author uses words; and a composer who uses musical
sounds to determine the notes.

c. The Creations of Forms. There are diverse forms used by the artists in
expressing their ideas. It is a medium of artistic expression recognized as fine

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art. This form is used to explain the physical nature of the artwork like in metal
sculpture, an oil painting, etc.

7 Areas of the Arts

1. Visual arts

The visual arts are art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature,
such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts,
photography, video, film making and architecture. For example, industrial design,
graphic design, fashion design, interior design and decorative art.

2. Music

According to Nettl (1995), is considered to be of high aesthetic value. It typically

implies advanced structural and theoretical considerations or a written musical
tradition. In this context, the terms "serious" or "cultivated" are frequently used to
present a contrast with ordinary, everyday music (i.e. popular and folk music, also called
"vernacular music") (Eisentraut, 2013).
Music is a protean art; it lends itself easily to alliances with words, as in song,
and with physical movement, as in dance. Throughout history, music has been an
important adjunct to ritual and drama and has been credited with the capacity to reflect
and influence human emotion.

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3. Dance

Dance is a fully-fledged art form, belonging to the 'performing arts', a goal in itself

and a means of allowing a human being to express his inner feelings, thoughts and
experiences. Dance is a natural form of self-expression: the body expresses itself
naturally and so therefore does the spirit (Brinson and Dick, 1995).

4. Literature

Literature is a form of human expression. However, not everything expressed in

words, even when organized and written down, is also counted as literature. Those
writings those are primarily informative — technical, scholarly, journalistic. The purest
(or, at least, the most intense) literary form is the lyric poem, and after it comes elegiac,
epic, dramatic, narrative, and expository verse and could be example of kinds of
literature.

5. Sculpture

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Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is
one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal
of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone, metal, ceramics,
wood and other materials. For example, a wide variety of materials may be worked by
removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded or cast.

6. Dramatic Arts
The dramatic arts are a form of narrative performed on a stage in front of an
audience. These stories and the way they are portrayed manifest in a wide variety of
styles, also known as genres. Two common examples of dramatic arts include tragedy
and comedy. Tragedy involves a story where the protagonist fails or dies. In
contrast, comedy has a happy ending and the protagonist wins (Dramatic Arts, 2020). 

7. Architecture
Architecture is an art form that reflects how we present ourselves across the
earth’s landscape, and, like other expressive mediums, it changes with styles,
technologies and cultural adaptations. Architecture not only provides worldly needs of
shelter, workspace and storage but also represents human ideals in buildings like
courthouses and government buildings and manifestations of the spirit in churches and
temples. 

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ASSESSMENT

Direction: Please answer the following questions in a piece of paper. Copy and
answer.

PART I

1. Select at least five artworks (can be considered as music, drama, sculpture, etc.)
which you consider important to you, then explain why it is important. 5 pts. each

Artworks Explanation
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

2. Give a situation where an artist could make use of nature in producing an

artwork.(5points)
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Part II.
Direction: Answer TRUE if the statement is correct and FALSE if otherwise. Do not copy
the questions, write the answers only.

1. In any society, art has served a particular purpose. ______________

2. Art can serve as a vehicle for propaganda. ______________
3. The function of art varies from person to person. ______________
4. Art communicates anything. ______________
5. A book illustrator is an artist. ______________
6. Where there is life, there is art. ______________
7. Art has nothing to do with religion and morality. ______________
8. Art can be used to control the thinking or behavior of people in society. _____
9. Artists reveal themselves through their art. ______________
10. Art is a nonverbal form of communication. ______________

Part III. Essay. Answer the following questions briefly. 5 points for each number.
Rubrics for scoring, content (3 points) and grammar and organization (2 points). Copy
and answer.

1. In what way art uses personal experience?

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2. Why the message of art can be understood universally?

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Suggested Readings

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1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwBoP-zw17A

2. https://www.iesa.edu/paris/news-events/art-history#:~:text=Art%20history%20is
%20the%20study,the%20time%20they%20were%20created.

3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/the-arts

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