Lesson 1: An Introduction to the Arts, Understanding the Arts, Composition of Art and Element of Art

Understanding the Arts

According to Marcus (2006), the word art supplies various meanings, including the ability – human capacity to create
things of beauty and things that stir us; process – art encompasses acts, such as drawing, painting, sculpture, designing
buildings and using the camera to create, and product – completed work or the final product.

To understand better the meaning of art, the book entitled The Arts: An Introduction to the Humanities ( Cerbo et al,
2010) provided the following definition of art:

 Art as a skill or mastery

 The term art is used to simply refer to any skill or mastery that is manifested in the outstanding product
of an endeavor which is am expression of man’s ideas and emotions.
 Art as a process or a product of a creative skill
 Art is a process because it involves arranging the aesthetic elements in an artistically interesting and
appealing manner. It is a product because it includes human creations, different activities and manners
of expression which include sculpture, painting, music, literature, architecture, dance and theater.
 Art is a universal language
 The language of art is diverse. Each art form has its own artistic elements. Literature uses colorful
words, imagery, figurative language and other literary devices; music uses melody, harmony, dynamics
and other elements; dance make use of graceful movements and choreography; theater uses most, if
not all, of the elements of the other art forms; painting, sculpture and architecture share the visual
elements of color, line, shape, form, space and texture.
 Art as representation of reality
 According to Aristotle, art is a reflection or a mirror of reality. The traditional idea of art as imitation of
life had been widely accepted throughout the ages. Thus, fidelity of art to the existing physical reality
had been the aim of creating. However, the notion of reality evolved. Adhering to the idea of Plato that
the essence of a thing is more real than the thing itself, some advocated that reality is not what the
physical make-up of it but what it stands for, its essence, the reality.
 Arts reflects the characteristics of a period
 During the medieval period, the dominance of church initiated the expression of spiritual truths
depicted in all the artworks of the time.
 During the renaissance period, the value ascribed to the material world was shown in the more defined
and realistic rendition of the human body in the visual art.
 The modern period characterizes the idealistic search for truth and the realization that is not attainable;
thus, relativity is accepted as an avoidable truth. This is manifested by the varied experimentations of
artistic expressions.
 Art shows the manner of existence of the people of long ago
 Through art, we gain awareness that the people during the Old Stone Age lived in caves and that they
manifested their artistry by drawing and sketching. People used to hunt animals for food. The drawings
could also be their way of expressing their artistry or their way of showing their goals and aspirations in
life, considering that not all animals depicted in their paintings existed in their vicinity during those
times. Our generation could consider them the earliest visual artist.

Composition of Art

1. Subject Matter. Every creation or work of art has a subject. In fact, the subject or topic can be any person,
animal, thing or issue that is described or depicted in an artwork. It could be anything that could ignite an artist’s
imagination, prompting him to create.
2 Types of Subject Matter
 Representational art or objective art, we can easily see identifiable figures or objects. Even abstract art
depicts recognizable objects. However, in abstract art, the appearance of objects is not easily
realistically presented. Below are the possible subjects of representational art:
 Interesting person/s or animal/s
 The Human Form
 Human Activities
 Commemorative Events
 Common Objects
 Nature
 Deity
  Non-representational art or non-objective art does not depict recognizable objects. Neither it has
stories to tell nor descriptions to give. Art’s power to communicate rests on the language of art itself.

2. Form. It is the surface feature of an artwork that has nothing to do with art’s in-depth meaning.
3. Content. It is what the artwork is about. It contains the message that the artist is trying to express or
communicate. Through the content, the attitude and personality of the artist towards his subject is revealed,
and the artistic value of his artwork can be measured by its originality, its imaginative quality, its sincerity its
truth.
4. Medium. It is the instrument of the artist in translating his feelings and thoughts into form. It could be the
substance the artwork is made from.
5. Technique. It is how well an artist knows and uses his medium in achieving what he wants in his creation. It is
how he selects and arranges his materials to achieve a specific effect.

Elements of Art

1. Line. It is the most fundamental of all elements. It is an identifiable path traced by moving point. A line can be
horizontal- suggests a feeling of rest, infinity and perfect stability because objects parallel to the earth are at
rest; vertical – gives an impression of height and dominance or power as they are pointing or extending towards
the sky; diagonal – convey a feeling of action, movement, unrest or uncertainty. A line can also be curved that
creates a sense of smoothness, softness and continuity.
2. Shape and Form. Shape is a two-dimensional figure (length and width) formed when the ends of a line meet.
Form exist in three dimensions (length, width and height) and can be viewed from more than one side or
perspective. It could be either be geometric (circles, squares, rectangles, cubes and cylinder) or organic (irregular
or asymmetrical and complex. Geometric shapes and forms can commonly be seen in building, chairs, tables and
other common items while organic ones are often found in nature.
3. Value or Tone. It refers to the relative lightness or darkness in anything that is visible.
4. Color. It refers to the product of light of different wavelengths reflected off objects. Color has three properties:
hue refers to the quality by which we distinguished colors. Value refers to lightness and darkness of hue and
intensity, or saturation refers to the brightness or dullness of a hue or the relative purity or strength of a color.
5. Space. It is an element of art that refers to the distance between, around, above, below and within things.
6. Texture. It refers to the surface quality. It refers to the way things feel or look as though they might feel, if
touched. The physical property of objects is called actual texture. This is first known by actually touching objects.
Visual texture influences our perception in viewing an artwork.

Principles of Design

1. Balance. It is concerned with arranging elements so no part of a work overpowers or seems heavier than any
other part.
2. Proportion. It is concerned with the relationship of one part to another and of parts to the whole. It is belief that
a well-proportioned shape is pleasing to the eye.
3. Rhythm. Visual rhythm is characterized by the repetition or alterations of elements in an artwork to create a
sense of movement, unite a composition and establish a pattern or texture.
4. Emphasis and Subordination. Emphasis is the principle that makes a creation stand out by giving more attention
to certain parts and giving importance or dominance to a unit or area. To give less importance, and to purposely
make other areas of the composition less visually interesting is subordination.
5. Unity and Variety. Unity is called harmony, refers to the coherence of the elements of a work to the whole.
Variety refers to the diversity of a work of art.