Module 3

Art: Subject, Source

and Content
Reporters: Ladaran, Lubaton, Macabangin
Objectives:
1. Students will have deeper understanding on the subject, source, and
content of art.
2. Articulate on how the subject is represented by the artist, factors
affecting his choice of subject, and the kinds of subjects the artists
choose.
3. Connect the various topics discussed on this module on critiquing any
work of art.
 What is Subject,
Source and Content?
The subject of art refers to any person, object, scene or
event described or represented in a work of art

Representational or Non-Representational or
Objective. Non-Objective.
Representational or
Objective.
Arts that have subject
like painting, sculpture,
graphic arts, literature
and theatre arts
Non-Representational or
Non-Objective.
Arts that do not have subject like
music, architecture and many of the
Functional Arts.

Makoto Fujimura’s
Golden Summer
Ways of Representing Subject:
Realism – when things
are depicted in the way
they would normally
appear.

Fernando Amorsolo
A Basket of Mangoes. 1949
Oil in canvas
20x16 (frame 24x20)
Abstraction – it is the process of
simplifying and/or reorganizing
objects and elements according to
the demands of the artistic
expression. The artist selects and
renders the objects with their
shapes, colors and positions
altered.

George Braque
Distortion – is when the figures
have been so arranged that
proportions differ noticeably
from natural measurements. It
could also mean twisting,
stretching or deforming the
natural shape of the object.
Surrealism – it is realism plus
distortion. It is a method where
the artist in giving expression
to what it is in the
subconscious composes
dreamlike scenes that show an
irrational arrangement of
objects.

Joan Miro. Carnival of Harliquin. 1924

The Artist and His Choice of Subject
The Artist and His Choice of Subject
Things that affect an artist’s
choice of subject
1. Medium
2. Time in which he lives and or
the patronage he gets
3. Developments in science and
technology
The Artist and His Choice of Subject

The value of a work of art does not

depend on the artist’s choice of subject. It
does not mean that the more profound the
subject, the greater the work of art.
Rather, the worth of any representational
work of art depends upon the way the
subject has been presented.
How to Look at Art and Understand it
How to Look at Art and Understand it
1. Point of View and Focal Point
How to Look at Art and Understand it
1. Point of View and Focal Point
Explore how point of view-the artist’s positioning of the viewer
with respect to the image-works in painting and sculpture, paying
particular attention to differences in angle and spatial relation.
Then, continue with focal point, or the artist’s centering of
attention on a key area of the work.
How to Look at Art and Understand it
2. Color-Description, Symbol, and More
How to Look at Art and Understand it
2. Color-Description, Symbol, and More
Consider the core principles of color in painting, including the
distinctions of value and saturation and the relationship of colors
as analogous or complementary.
How to Look at Art and Understand it
3. Line-Description and Expression
How to Look at Art and Understand it
3. Line-Description and Expression
See the properties of line, another essential element of art, as
“descriptive” (describing reality) or “expressional” (conveying
feeling). Notice the use of geometric lines, implied lines, and
directional lines within a composition.
How to Look at Art and Understand it
4. Space, Shape, Shade, and Shadow
How to Look at Art and Understand it
4. Space, Shape, Shade, and Shadow
Examine geometric and “organic” shapes in painting and
sculpture and the crucial relationship of figure to ground and
mass to space.
Religion and Mythology
Art has always been a handmaiden of Religion. Most of the world’s religions have
used the arts to aid in worship, to instruct, to inspire feelings of devotion and to
impress and convert nonbelievers. An example of this are Christian churches
which they usually tell the stories about Christ and the Saints in pictures. It also
resorted to the presentation of tableaux and plays to preach and teach.
How to Look at Art and Understand it
5.Understanding Composition
How to Look at Art and Understand it
5.Understanding Composition
Look at the symmetry and asymmetry in painting and
sculpture, and the key effects on the viewer of each. Study the
scale and proportion of figures, and the distinction between
“open” and “closed” composition, reflecting the artist’s approach
to visually framing the image.
How to Look at Art and Understand it
6. Getting the Right Perspective
How to Look at Art and Understand it
6. Getting the Right Perspective
Grasp the principles of linear perspective, foreshortening, and
atmospheric perspective as they replicate how the human eye
perceives.
How to Look at Art and Understand it
7. Time and Motion
How to Look at Art and Understand it
7. Time and Motion
Explore how artists evoke motion and the passage of time,
including implying motion through strong directional lines and
time through narrative devices.
Sources of Art
Sources of Art
1. Landscapes, Seascapes, and Cityscapes
Artists have always been fascinated with their physical
environment. These are favorite subjects of Chinese and Japanese
painters. Fernando Amorsolo, is well known for having romanticized
Philippine landscapes. In Europe, the paintings of pure landscapes
without human figures was almost unheard of until the Renaissance.
Sources of Art
2. Still Life
These are groups of inanimate objects arranged in an indoor setting
(flower and fruit arrangements, dishes food, pots and pans, musical
instruments and music sheets). The arrangement is like that to show
particular human interests and activities.
Sources of Art
3. Animals
They have been represented by artists from almost every age and place. In fact, the earliest
known paintings are representations of animals on the walls of caves. The carabao has been a
favorite subject of Filipino artists. The Maranaws have an animal form of sarimanok as their
proudest prestige symbol. Animals have been used as symbols in conventional religious art.
● The dove stands for the Holy Spirit in representations of the Trinity
● The fish and lamb are symbols of Christ
● The phoenix is the symbol of Resurrection
● The peacock is the symbol of Immortality through Christ
Sources of Art
4. Portraits
People have always been intrigued by the human face as an index of the
owner’s character. As an instrument of expression, it is capable of
showing a variety of moods and feelings. It is a realistic likeness of a
person in sculpture, painting, drawing or print but it need to be a
photographic likeness. A great portrait is a product of a selective process,
the artist highlighting certain features and de- emphasizing others.
Sources of Art
5. Figures
The sculptor’s chief subject has traditionally been the human body, nude
or clothed. The body’s form, structure and flexibility offer the artist a big
challenge to depict it in a variety of ways, ranging from the idealistic as in
the classical Greek sculptures to the most abstract. The grace and ideal
proportions of the human form were captured in religious sculpture by
the ancient Greeks. To them, physical beauty was the symbol of moral
and spiritual perfection; thus they portrayed their gods and goddesses as
possessing perfect human shapes.
Sources of Art
6. Everyday Life
Artists have always shown a deep concern about life around them. Many
of them have recorded in paintings their observation of people going
about their usual ways and performing their usual tasks. Genre paintings
are representations of rice threshers, cockfighters, candle vendors, street
musicians and children at play.
Sources of Art
7. History and Legend
History consists of verifiable facts, legends of unverifiable ones, although many of
them are often accepted as true because tradition has held them so far. Insofar as
ancient past is concerned, it is difficult to tell how much of what we know now is
history and how much is legend. History and Legend are popular subjects of art. While
many works may not be consciously done historical records, certain information
about history can be pieced from them. The costumes and accessories, the status
symbols, the kinds of dwellings or the means of transportation. Malakas and Maganda
and Mariang Makiling are among the legendary subjects which have been rendered in
painting and sculpture by not a few Filipino artists.
Sources of Art
8. Religion and Mythology
Art has always been a handmaiden of Religion. Most of the world’s religions
have used the arts to aid in worship, to instruct, to inspire feelings of devotion
and to impress and convert nonbelievers. The Christian Church commissioned
craftsmen to tell the stories about Christ and the saints in pictures, usually in
mosaics, murals and stained glass windows in churches. It also resorted to the
presentation of tableaux and plays to preach and teach. The Four Evangelists
were represented by animal forms - St. Luke by an Ox, St. John by an Eagle, St.
Mark by a Lion, St. Matthew by a Winged Man.
Sources of Art
9. Dreams and Fantasies
Dreams are usually vague and illogical. Artists especially the surrealists have tried
to depict dreams as well as the grotesque terrors and apprehensions that lurk in
the depths of the subconscious. A dream may be lifelike situation while
imagination suggests the strange, the irrational, and the absurd in the picture.
ART: A SOURCE OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION
Subject and Content
Subject and Content
-Subject refers to the objects depicted by the artist.

-Content refers to what the artist expresses or communicates on the whole of his
work.
Subject Vs. Content: The Differences
Basis of Comparison Subject Content

Definition The main object in an The meaning of the work of

artwork. art.

Determination Very recognizable. Must be analyzed.

In the Work of Art Is one of the parts in a work Involves and unifies all
of art. parts of the artwork.
Subject Matters’ Different Levels of Meaning
1. Factual Meaning - the literal statement or the narrative content in the work
which can be directly apprehended because the objects presented are easily
recognized.
Subject Matters’ Different Levels of Meaning
2. Conventional Meaning - refers to the special meaning that a certain object or
color has a particular culture or group of people.
Subject Matters’ Different Levels of Meaning
3.Subjective Meaning - any personal meaning consciously or unconsciously
conveyed by the artist (to the viewer).
References
https://www.academia.edu/14874159/THE_SUBJECT_OF_ART_Meanings_Kinds_
and_Functions_of_Subject_Meanings_Kinds_and_Functions_of_Subject
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42742054
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/content/#:~:te
xt=Content%20in%20a%20work%20of,in%20deriving%20a%20basic%20meaning.
&text=A%20still%2Dlife%20is%20a,either%20natural%20or%20man%2Dmade.
https://personal.utdallas.edu/~mel024000/pages/2D_Design/Components_of_Ar
t/Components_of_Art.html
https://sites.google.com/site/yr10visualarts/subject-matter