Lit01- Literatures of the World

MARIANO MARCOS STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Arts and
Sciences
HUMAN 01 ART APPRECIATION

Notes: Three General Assumptions of Art (Part of Overview on Art)

What is Art? The word ART comes from the ancient Latin, ars which means a “craft or specialized
form of skill, like carpentry or smithying or surgery” (Collingwood, 1938). In addition, the word was
referred any special form of book- learning, such as grammar or logic, magic or astrology”
(Collingwood, 1983).

There is no universally accepted definition of art. Although commonly used to describe something of
beauty, or a skill which produces an aesthetic result.

Another thing to be aware of, is the fact that art reflects and belongs to the period and culture from
which it is spawned.

The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate or highlyskilled arts, but “beautiful arts”
(Collingwood, 1983).

“The Humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means of expression developed by
man” (Dudley et al., 1960). Human history has witnessed how man evolved not just physically but
also culturally, from cave painters to men of exquisite paintbrush users of the present.

Three General Assumptions:

1. ART IS UNIVERSAL
 When we recite the Psalms, we feel in communion with King David as we feel one with
him in his conversation with God.
 lliad and the Odyssey are the two Greek Epics that one’s being taught in school.
 The Sanskrit pieces Mahabharata and Ramanaya are also staples in this fields.
 Florante at Laura never fails to teach high school students the beauty of love, one that is
universal and pure.
 When we listen to a Kundiman or perform folk dances, we still enjoy the way our Filipino
ancestors while away their time in the past.

2. ART IS NOT NATURE (Art is man made)

Art that is composed of patterns and aesthetics. Art is relative and does not necessarily appeal to
everyone. The art couldn't get any better than nature it because millions of people tries to copy
the nature. Because nature is what you see and art is what you do.
Lit01- Literatures of the World

3. ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE

For most people, art does not require a full definition. Art is just experience. By experience, we
mean the “actual doing of something”(Dudley et al., 1960) and it also affirmed that art depends
on experience, and if one is to know art, he must know it not as fact or information but as an
experience.
A work of an art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing. In order to know what an artworks,
we have to sense it, see and hear it.

An important aspect of experiencing art is its being highly personal, individual, and subjective. In
philosophical terms, perception of art is always a value judgment. It depends on who perceives it,
his tastes, his biases, and what he has inside.

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