Art Appreciation Module # 5

Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Office of the Vice President for Branches & Satellite Campuses
BANSUD BRANCH
Module 5
Formalist Theory of Art
OVERVIEW:
Practicing art theory allows students to learn not only professional art knowledge, but also
daily life values and an understanding of life in general. Painting technique is considered part of
cultural knowledge, while art theory falls into the category of cultural knowledge. The purpose of
the theories of art attempts to describe art as a single concept, such as "expression" or
"representation" that can be understood.
Formalism is the study of art based solely on an analysis of its form – the way it is made
and what it looks like.Formalism describes the critical position that the most important aspect of a
work of art is its form – the way it is made and its purely visual aspects – rather than its narrative
content or its relationship to the visible world. In painting therefore, a formalist critic would focus
exclusively on the qualities of colour, brushwork, form, line and composition.
Formalists disagreed about what specific elements make a literary work "good" or "bad";
but generally, Formalism maintains that a literary work contains certain intrinsic features, and the
theory "...defined and addressed the specifically literary qualities in the text" (Richter 699).
Formalism attempts to treat each work as its own distinct piece, free from its environment,
era, and even author. This point of view developed in reaction to "...forms of 'extrinsic' criticism
that viewed the text as either the product of social and historical forces or a document making an
ethical statement" (699). Formalists assume that the keys to understanding a text exist within "the
text itself" (a common saying among New Critics), and thus focus a great deal on, you guessed it,
form (Tyson 118).
Why is it important to understand the theories of arts? Students will not only be able to gain
professionalism learning art theory, but also gain a broader perspective on life and values, which
is crucial to improving their painting ability.
MODULE OBJECTIVES:
Explain Formalist theory
Evaluate the most famous formalism art pieces
Identify the most famous formalism artists
COURSE MATERIALS:
What Is Formalism?
Formalism art initially emerged as a response to the Post-Impressionism movement during
the late 1800s. It was viewed as a critical approach to the way that art was being viewed and
produced, as different values regarding aesthetic quality began to develop. This shift in
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deciphering what art stood for was attributed to a change in thinking, as artists practicing within
this movement all attempted to answer the basic question of what art was. Thus, Formalistic
theory focused on analyzing and comparing various forms and styles of art.
Throughout art history, art works have traditionally been analyzed by their form and the
structural elements that have been discernible to the naked eye. At certain times, additional
meaning has been attributed to works of art based on their subject matters and overall intention,
as well as their price value. As the concept of what art stood for developed and different
movements emerged, paintings and sculptures began to be evaluated on the distinct
characteristics that informed each movement as opposed to conventional methods.
When Formalism arose in the late 19th century, the movement reiterated the importance of
basing an understanding of art through its conventional elements only, which included form and
style. Formalism in art placed focus on a variety of elements that were seen as important when it
came to appreciating an artwork, such as color, line, shape, and texture.This led to the context of
artworks being diminished and seen as a secondary characteristic, as the physical elements used
to construct the artwork were emphasized.
The road to truly understanding the concept of Formalism art is both philosophical and
extremely revolutionary. The theories of Aristotle, Plato, and Immanuel Kant have worked to
inform the abstract notions behind Formalism, while experimentations within the avant-garde have
led the way for the development of socially engaging and conceptual art.The combination of these
ideals has fundamentally encouraged the formation of the type of art that attempts to answer the
most basic question: what is art?
As the art world has continued to flourish, finding an answer to this question has been
challenging. Through the presence of every new art movement, a universal way to determine the
quality of an artwork has attempted to be created. Formalism’s approach to deciphering artwork
helped introduce the concepts of science and criticism into the art world, which solely focused on
the level of skill present within a work. While many other critiques exist today, the concepts
introduced by Formalism art are still in use today.
Formalism in Art
During the late 1800s, Formalism emerged as a critical approach in response to the Post-
Impressionism movement that was dominating art culture. This shift was mainly informed by
philosophy and the statements of artists at the time, who started to view art as merely a canvas
covered in colors and arranged in specific patterns. This idea helped to build the initial foundation
of what Formalism art stood for, despite it being considered a quite narrow-minded concept to
begin with.
The major focus of Formalism was the visual and aesthetic quality of an artwork. This was
determined by the basic aspects of art making and through assessing the work’s visual and
material aspects. In painting, as well as other art mediums, Formalism referred to the
understanding of basic elements like color, shape, line, and texture. These perceptual aspects
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were deemed to be more important than the actual content, meaning, or context of the work, as its
value lay in the relationships between the different compositional elements.
Formalism essentially proposed the idea that everything needed to comprehend an artwork
was present within the actual work of art itself. Although Formalistic theory mainly indicated a way
of interpreting art rather than actually making art, influential artists like Jackson Pollock and Paul
Cézanne were associated with the approach, which demonstrated its great influence.
As the school of thought that was Formalism began to gain traction, it was viewed as both
an art movement and a facet of art critique and appreciation.
The rise of Formalism was seen as inseparable from the rise of abstracted painting during
the 19th century, as both movements became intertwined due to their similar ideas. Formalism
and Abstraction focused on the significance of compositional elements like shape, texture, and
color relationship, which rose to prominence in the viewer’s recognition of art. The later
emergence of Cubism in the early 20th century helped Formalism go on to reach even higher
levels of fame than it already had.
L ‘Art Pour L ‘Art (Art for Art’s Sake)

The initial formation of Formalism art was advised by the philosophy of l’art pour l‘art,
which translated to “art for art’s sake”. While this phrase was first used by the French philosopher
Victor Cousin during the early 1800s, French novelist Théopile Gautier’s 1835 novel captured the
earliest declaration of the idea that art was valuable as art.
By the middle of the 19th century, several literary and visual artists were influenced by the
idea that art existed only for its own sake and attempted to pursue this notion in their works.
As Formalistic theory viewed the value of art through specific aspects, this doctrine of
artistic principles at the time believed artworks should not serve any social or moral purpose. Art
adhering to this ideal needed no purpose other than its inherent beauty, as the value of an artwork
was thought to be found mainly in its structural elements.
As this idea was closely related to the Formalistic view of art, all of the elements seen
outside of the primary aspects were viewed as having no integral purpose to the meaning of the
work.
Seen as possibly one of the most well-known lines in all of art history, “art for art’s sake”
truly epitomized the Formalist way of thinking within art. As all artworks make use of the same
basic elements, Formalistic theory emphasized the creation of a basis for understanding art in
general, no matter its style or context. This theory of understanding allowed art to be seen as an
independent domain of human creation, which took the pressure off of artists to come up with an
explanation to their works based on any set standards.
The Bloomsbury Group
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Clive Bell and Roger Fry, who were both members of the groundbreaking Bloomsbury
group, established and expanded the concept of Formalism in the early 20th century. As an artist,
Fry was most notable for his involvement with developing Formalistic theory. One of his pioneering
artworks, Art (1914), demonstrated the theory of “significant form”, as Fry went on to ask what
common qualities were shared by all types of artworks that provoked one’s aesthetic emotions.
When considering the ideals of Formalism, the Bloomsbury group stated that the only
elements in an artwork that was capable of stirring our emotions were related to form. Artists, no
matter the movement they came from, were all thought to produce an artwork that related to the
concept of Formalism at one time or another, as their creative use of lines and colors helped build
onto Formalistic theory.
Clement Greenberg’s Advocacy of Formalism

During the middle of the 20th century, iconic American critic Clement Greenberg defined
the Formalism art approach through its unequaled levels of detail and rigor. This led to him being
seen as one of the most well-known supporters of Formalism in the modern era, with the term
generally being associated with him as time went on. Additionally, the artists that Greenberg
praised, such as the Abstract Expressionists, were also associated with the concepts of
Formalism due to the elements seen in the artworks that they produced.
According to Greenberg, Formalism encompassed everything that was intellectually

refined and progressive within art, as opposed to what was seen as ostentatious, tasteless, or
vulgar.
Greenberg believed that the purpose of avant-garde art, the likes of those that were produced
during the Formalism movement, was to provide secret analyses of the formal limits of artistic
expression itself. This understated form of self-reflexivity was said to only be made possible
through the daring compositional elements made popular by Formalism in art.
Describing Formalism in his 1960 essay, “Modernist Painting”, Greenberg advocated for
the detachment of context and subject matter from the form of art, as he believed that abstracted
artworks exemplified the truest expressions of art.
His opinion on Formalism remained resolute for some time, with his influence only
beginning to fade during the early 1970s. This was led by his followers who started to rebel
against the concepts of Formalism, which led to Greenberg’s theories being criticized for being too
dogmatic in the modern world of art.
An Appropriate Formalism Definition

Formalism existed as an artistic concept that attempted to find out what art as an idea
essentially stood for. Formalism in art sought to understand how one could determine an ordinary
work of art from a masterpiece, which led to a great focus being placed on the primary elements
within artmaking. Thus, the term “Formalism” has been used to describe a technique of art critique
to examine works of art, with this method being seen as one of the oldest methods ever used to
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evaluate art.
The approach that made up Formalism helped form the basis of what is known as art
criticism today and has been seen as one of the reasons that artists aspired to learn more about
and improve upon their natural abilities. Further emphasized by its name, Formalism placed its
sole focus on the compositional elements of an artwork.
As no attention was given to the content and context of the work, as well as the artist’s intended
meaning, the Formalism definition branded it as a movement that only valued the formal aspects
of an art piece.
Key Elements and Characteristics of Formalism

Based on the Formalism definition, the movement’s approach stated that art could only be
truly analyzed after considering the elements of form and style within a work. As the content and
context of artworks were made into secondary characteristics in terms of their importance, Formal
art focused on the level of skill that was displayed by an artist.
Thus, the key characteristics of Formalism that proved to be essential in evaluating an

artwork were the veracity of the materials used, as well as its medium specificity and flatness.
The Most Famous Formalism Art Pieces and Their Artists

As the Formalism movement proved to be a notable time within art history, several artists
experimented with its ideals in their artworks. This led to some incredibly well-known artworks
being produced, by equally important artists. Below, we will be taking a look at some of the iconic
Formalism art pieces to come from the movement.
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875) by James McNeill Whistler
Painted by British artist James McNeill Whistler in 1875, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The
Falling Rocket is widely considered to be a significant artwork from the Formalism era. Whistler
believed that all art should be independent of any nonsensical aspects and should stand alone, so
as to truly emphasize the important elements.
Seen as a leading figure within Formalism, the Aesthetic movement, and Tonalism, his
“nocturne” artworks became influential examples of a Formalist approach.
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket depicted a night-time firework display that
was taking place at the Cremorne Gardens in London. Existing as the last artwork in his
“nocturne” series, this painting presented a lively explosion as opposed to a concrete image. By
conveying the effects of the fireworks over the river, Whistler captured the great sense of
excitement and celebration that could be felt as the rocket burst into a myriad of colors. As the
darkness was lit up, a few figures along the shore could be seen in the foreground.
Whistler painted Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket in a very loose style with
sweeping brushstrokes. The gloomy blues and greens, which made up the predominant color
palette, were interrupted by tiny bursts of bright color. Whistler described his colors as adding to
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the idealistic and pensive mood of the painting, as no clear narrative was made known.
As this artwork embraced ideals of art for art’s sake, it was ill-received when it was first
exhibited, as it was thought to be an incredibly reckless and careless painting.
The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows (1916) by Man Ray
An extremely famous artist who emerged during the Modernism era was American
sculptor, painter, and photographer, Man Ray. As an artist who was well-known in both America
and Europe, he was considered to be a significant figure in representing the interaction between
the artists of these countries, especially when the Formalism movement entered America.
Ray stated that the creative force and expressiveness of a painting resided in the material,
color, and texture in a work, all of which were able to come together on the flat plane of the
canvas.
A photograph of Man Ray, 1934; Carl Van Vechten, Public domain, via Wikimedia
Commons Within The Rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows, a vaudeville
tightrope dancer can be seen. Portrayed with a petite gray and white figure, the dancer can be
seen at the top of the painting on top of the large abstracted planes of bright colors. These colors
were said to indicate the shadows of her graceful movements, but they went on to resemble a type
of collage instead as they overlapped one another. This painting came to be through several initial
experiments and by Ray’s chance finding of the designs his cutouts made.
Exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York today, The Rope Dancer
Accompanies Herself with Her Shadows demonstrated the abstract representations of the
dancer’s movements. These went on to control the entire canvas, which placed the emphasis on
the primary elements.
In doing so, Ray was able to make his formal effects the main focus within this work, which was
what the Formalism movement stood for.
Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Gray, and Blue (1921) by Piet
Mondrian Dutch artist Piet Mondrian was an important member of the European art scene, as he
was one of the founders of the iconic De Stijl movement. He was known for his portrayals of the
world through vertical and horizontal lines, with this singular vision demonstrating his preference
for abstraction. Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Gray, and Blue, painted in
1921, exists as an important example of Formalism art.
The entire focus of the work is placed on the lines used to create the various boxes of
primary colors.
Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Gray, and Blue (1921) by Piet
Mondrian; Piet Mondrian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By offsetting the multiple boxes of color against a backdrop of black and white, Mondrian
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went on to create what soon became known as his signature style. The level of abstraction seen
within this work is noticeable, as Mondrian simply created a canvas full of lines and colors. The
thick, black horizontal and vertical lines worked to mark out the outlines of the various boxes,
which effectively kept the colors separate from one another.
This composition demonstrated a type of abstract art that differed greatly from Cubism and
Futurism.
The simplification of the pictorial elements that can be seen within Composition with Large
Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Gray, and Blue became essential aspects in Mondrian’s other artworks.
Greenberg acknowledged Mondrian’s work as an important example of Formalism, as the strict
geometry present in his paintings helped imitate the varied rhythm of modern life. This painting of
Mondrian, along with several others of his, went on to influence subsequent generations of
Formalist artists and artworks.
Flag (1954 – 1955) by Jasper Johns

American painter, sculptor, and printmaker Jasper Johns went on to affect nearly all artistic
movements from the 1950s up until the present day. His playful and mysterious artworks were
known for the way in which they questioned how the world was viewed and interpreted. Flag,
which was painted on three panels between 1954 and 1955, exists as Johns’ first major artwork
that broke away from the Abstract Expressionist style of the time. Portraying the American flag, his
painting was a representation of an instantly recognizable object.
Made up of a collage of newspaper pieces, Flag was created over three plywood panels
that were combined. The method of creation for this artwork added to its uniqueness, as the
scraps of newspaper were painted over with pigment and melted wax to stay together. Johns’
style, along with this specific artwork, has often been thought to have paved the way for the
emergence of Pop Art through re-introducing immediately identifiable subject matter into modern
art.
Despite the simple elements of line and color being present in this work, Flag presented a
dilemma for Formalist critics like Greenberg. While the artwork itself maintained the aspects of
Formalism, Johns’ made it virtually impossible to deny the presence of an obvious subject matter.
The American flag jumps out at audiences the moment they view this work, as this symbol was
designed to stand out through its Formalist terms.
Although Greenberg and other critics rejected this work, Johns’ followers did not, which led
to its fame.
Soft Spoken (1969) by Josef Albers

Another well-known American painter and sculptor was Josef Albers, who was
instrumental in bringing the notions of European Modernism over to the United States. Located at
the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York is his artwork, Soft Spoken, which he painted
in 1969. Committing to abstraction in his early works, Albers went on to experiment with a variety
of color juxtapositions in a scientific way, which created distinctly inflected forms of pictorial space.
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In Soft Spoken, four squares are depicted in teal blue, light green, dark green, and dark purple.
Based on the order of the above colors, the squares have been arranged in diminishing sizes and
have been placed quite low down on the canvas in an obviously asymmetrical way.
This painting formed part of Albers’ Homage to the Square series which he began in 1949,
with Soft Spoken demonstrating his continued dedication to the formal investigation of color
through the addition of a fourth square. The four variations of blue seen within Soft Spoken implied
Albers’ consistent repetition of form and delicate color juxtaposition, which adhered to the notions
of Formalism.
One of the most striking aspects of his work, which existed as an experimental variation of
true Formalism, was the idea that his formal experimentation with color and shape could have a
moral and culturally liberal value.
Two Sides of the Same Coin (2012) by Lucien Smith
An artist to come out of the Zombie Formalism era was Lucien Smith, who created Two
Sides of the Same Coin in 2012. This artwork exemplified the trend of contemporary Formalism
that was known as the Zombie period, as it was an artwork whose value catapulted in price
between art collectors and bidders. Resembling rain or mist from a distance, Smith spray-painted
black paint onto a blank canvas to create this work. Up close, the dots appear to be splattered and
are viewed as small and individual explosions on the canvas.
As the painting process for Two Sides of the Same Coin was thought to be incredibly
modern, it was emphasized as a truly abstracted work when Smith exhibited it. Forming part of his
Rain Paintings (2011) series, this artwork was made by using fire extinguishers to spray the paint.
Smith said that his process of creation was heavily inspired by the various graffiti artists in New
York who also made use of old fire extinguishers, which sprayed water as opposed to powder, to
make compositions.
Smith created Two Sides of the Same Coin, along with the series, while he was studying
art at the Cooper Union School of Art. After he graduated, his works became prominent examples
in the new type of art investment that had appeared onto the scene, which was Zombie
Formalism. Smith’s experimental artworks transfixed audiences but unfortunately, the intrigue was
short- lived.
After two years of producing works in line with Zombie Formalism, the auction prices for his
works plummeted just as quickly as they rose.
Formalism in Other Arts

As it was such an influential movement, it is understandable that Formalism was not just
confined to evaluating artworks. The aspects of Formalism could easily be applied to different
forms of art, which led to creatives expressing these notions in a variety of artistic genres. The
concepts of Formalism were also used quite freely in both literature and photography, which were
seen as additional forms of art.
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The Decline and Legacy of Formalism

By the 1960s, the influence of Formalism began to diminish. Other movements that proved
to be damaging to the methods of Formalism emerged as commanding forces, such as Pop Art,
Minimalism, Neo-Dada, and Performance Art. Some artists felt that the ideals so heavily endorsed
by Greenberg were limiting in the modern era, which led to the introduction of various artistic
practices and methods that rejected the concepts of Formalism completely.
Despite its decline, it is important to remember that Formalism continued to permeate

almost all of the critical approaches to Modern Art in the 20th century. This has led to a type of
survival of Formalism in the 21st century, as the movement taps into such a fundamental aspect of
all artistic interpretation that has started to be seen as notable again. The recognition of formal
qualities, such as the way lines and color work together, as well as the different textures and
patterns of a surface, have proven to be important in understanding art again.
Today, most art historians and critics make use of formal analyses when attempting to
examine and understand artworks, with this type of thinking originating in the Formalism era.
However, the awareness of culture, history, and context that frames artworks today make the
analyses distinctly different from those done in the traditional Formalism era. This has led to the
development of a stricter type of Formalism, which has started to spark interest in the different art
periods of 21st-century art.
Formalism proved to be an incredibly powerful and significant movement within art history.
By emphasis on the formal and traditional elements that made up art, this style re-focused critics
and viewers on the primary aspects that had been momentarily forgotten when it came to
examining and understanding art. Many more artists contributed to this movement.
ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENT:
1. Give at least three most Famous Formalism Art Pieces and their Artists.
2. In your own understanding what is Formalist theory of art?
3. It is the study of art based solely on an analysis of its form – the way it is made and what it
looks like.
Expression Theory of Art
OVERVIEW:
Expressionism is a style of art in which the image of reality is twisted to convey the artist's
inner thoughts or feelings. According to expression theories, art is primarily concerned with
bringing sentiments to the surface, where they may be seen by artists and audiences alike. Art
externalizes an interior emotional state as it brings it out into the open and transmits it to viewers,
readers, and listeners. It is generally applied to art of the twentieth century. Notable painters who
used this are Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Raphael,
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Fernando Amorsolo, and El Greco. In music, the most prominent person was Arnold Schoenberg.
MODULE OBJECTIVES:
Evaluate the beginnings of expressionism in relation to artistic representations.
Identify artworks, styles and artists that abide with the Expressionism Theory.
Apply the theory to the analysis of art.
COURSE MATERIALS:
“Expression” comes from a Latin word which means “pressing outward” –as one squeezes
the juice out of a grape. Expressionist art tried to convey emotions and meaning rather than
reality. Each artist had their own unique way of “expressing” their emotions in their art. In order to
express emotion, the subjects are often distorted or exaggerated. At the same time colors are
often vivid and shocking. Its emotional lines include happy, sad, and insensitive.
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern

Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from
a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or
ideas. Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but
rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a fantasy and
through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements. In a broader sense
Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the later 19th and the 20th centuries, and its
qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are typical of wide range of
modern artists and art movements. Expressionism can also be seen as a permanent tendency in
Germanic and Nordic art from at least the European Middle Ages, particularly in times of social
change or spiritual crisis, and in this sense it forms the converse of the rationalist and classicizing
tendencies of Italy and later of France.
Various definitions of Art according to the Expression Theory:

o “Art is the creation of symbolic forms expressive of human feelings.” – Susanne Langer
(1895-1985)
o “Art is the objectification of emotion.” – Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
o Art is the expression of the artist’s overflowing emotions (catharsis).” – Aristotle (384 BC-
322 BC)
o “Like language, art is the expression of ideas by the artist (Intuitionism).” – Benedetto Croce
(1866-1952)
Birth and Development

The roots of the German Expressionist School lay in the works of Vincent van Gogh,
Edvard Munich, and James Ensor, each of whom in the period 1885-1900 evolved a highly
personal painting style. These artists used the expressive possibilities of colour and line to explore
dramatic and emotion-laden themes, to convey the qualities of fear, horror, and the grotesque, or
simply to celebrate nature with hallucinatory intensity. They broke away from the literal
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representation of nature in order to express more subjective outlooks or states of mind.
The decline of Expressionism was hastened by the vagueness of its longing for a better
world, by its use of highly poetic language, and in general the intensely personal and inaccessible
nature of its mode of presentation. The partial reestablishment of stability in Germany after 1924
and the growth of more overtly political styles of social realism hastened the movement’s decline
in the late 1920s. Expressionism was definitively killed by the advent of the Nazis to power in
1933. They branded the work of almost all Expressionists as degenerate and forbade them to
exhibit or publish and eventually even to work. Many Expressionists went into exile in the United
States and other countries.
Styles
1. Expressionism
There are two most notable artists who used this style. The first one is Vincent Willem
van, popularly known as Vincent van Gogh, was born March 30, 1853, at Zundert
Netherlands, and died July 29, 2890, at Auvers-Oise, France where he shot himself in the
stomach due to his mental health degradation and mental illness.
He was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most
famous and influential figures in Western art history. He painted a lot of self-portraits,
experimenting with various techniques and approaches (and saving money on a model).
Many, including this one, are not finished to the same level of detail throughout but are
psychologically powerful nonetheless. Van Gogh’s style of self-portrait (the poses, the intense
brushwork, the introspective expression) influenced the portraits. In a decade, he created
about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two
years of his life.
Van Gogh’s influence is evident in many Expressionist works as painters emulated his
use of pure, bright colors, his emphatic brushwork, and his contrasting color combinations in
their own paintings. Museum directors and private collectors in both Germany and Austria
were among the first to start buying Van Gogh’s paintings and by 1914 there was more than
160 of his works in German and Austrian collections. Traveling exhibitions helped to expose a
generation of young artists to Van Gogh’s expressive works. His paintings are inspired by his
experiences, for example, is when he lived in Paris, France from 1886 to 1888. Vincent van
Gogh met famous Parisian artists like George Seurat, Camille Pissarro, Henri de Toulouse-
Lautrec, Yves Tanguy, and Paul Gauguin. In his use of colors and lines, he uses the
dominance of blue colors in the painting due to Van Gogh’s bipolar disorder or manic
depression: Sadness, social anxiety, isolation, hopelessness, loss of meaning. Another
example is the Dominance of curve lines in the painting lines in the painting due to physical
movements during moments of an epileptic seizure. Van Gogh used yellow in the painting due
to overmedication of digitals purpurea to cure epilepsy. Due to excessive consumption of
liquor Absinthe containing thujone.
Edvard Munch was the other one. He was a Norwegian painter. His best known work,
The Scream, has become an iconic image of the art world. His childhood was overshadowed
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by illness, bereavement and the dread of inheriting a mental condition that ran in the family.
He was born into a middle-class family that was plagued with ill health. His mother dies when
he was five, his elder sister when he was 14, both of tuberculosis; these miseries were
expressed through his art.
Munich’s painting of “The Scream” (1893) provides us with a psychological blueprint for
alienation. Expressionist art distorted shapes and exaggerated colors that amplify a sense of
anxiety. He painted The Scream as a portrayal of his soul. Munich noted that he portrayed an
existential crisis in this artwork.
Anxiety (1894) was certainly a reflection of Munich’s mental state at the time. It has the
same jetty that has the same people on it, being displayed as aliens. The lake, the boats, the
church, and other structures all appear in a similar way and other structures all appear in a
similar way as they do in The Scream painting. It is similar to Munich’s more well-known piece,
The Scream (1893). The dark colors and gloomy features on the faces imply a sad situation.
Many commentators believe it is also designed to depict heartbreak and sorrow.
Munich’s Despair (1894) is about a man, foreground, who may be experiencing

isolation. This is suggested by the two men in the back together, while the man is by himself.
This can suggest that the man feels alone in a situation. The man is also looking down with a
blank face. It illustrates a guy bending over a railing over a red Heaven and is said to be a
sketch for the renowned painting The Scream. Munich illustrated his own experience of having
an anxiety attack while walking at sunset in this painting.
2. In the High Renaissance
In the High Renaissance, there are three prominent artists. One of them is Leonardo
diser Piero da Vinci, commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian polymath of the
High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist,
sculptor, and architect.
He painted the famed Mona Lisa (1503). Mona Lisa’s cheerful, powerful, seductive,
and sinful smile, deviated from the way women were painted in Italy. In the Early Renaissance,
emotions were suppressed and eyes were floating. It was still in his studio when he died in
1519. He most likely worked on it over the course of several years, putting multiple layers of
thin oil glazes at various times. Small paint cracks, known as craquelure, may be found
throughout the painting, but they are finer on the hands, where the thinner glazes correlate to
Leonardo’s late phase.
The other prominent painter in this era is Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi,
known as Sandro Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's
posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, when he was rediscovered by the
Pre-Raphaelites who stimulated a reappraisal of his work.
His composition known as the “Birth of Venus” portrays the goddess of love and beauty
descending on land, on the island of Cyprus, born of sea spray and driven there by the winds
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of Zephyr and, maybe, Aura. The goddess is perched atop a massive scallop shell, as pure
and flawless as a pearl. She is greeted by a young woman who holds out a flower-covered
cloak and is frequently referred to as one of the Graces or the Hora of Spring. Venus’ modest
post in which she covers her nakedness with long, blond hair that reflects light due to its
gliding, is based on an ancient work, a gem from the Hellenistic period owned by Lorenzo the
Magnificent; even the Winds, the pair flying out of each other’s embrace, is based on an
ancient work, a gem from the Hellenistic period owned by Lorenzo the Magnificent.
The last one is Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. He was known mononymously as Raphael,
who was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its
clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human
grandeur.
His Madonna del Prato or Madonna of the Meador has pronounced contemplative
prayerful, solemnb and serious expressions. The scene represents the figures of the Virgin
Mary, the infant Jesus, and an infant John the Baptist shown in a calm grassy meadow, in a
pyramidal arrangement linked by their gazes. Mary is wearing a gold-bordered blue mantle set
against a red dress, extending her right leg along a diagonal. The blue symbolizes the church
and the red Christ’s death, with the Madonna touching hands with Jesus the uniting of Mother
Church with Christ’s sacrifice.
3. Romantic Realism
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine
landscapes. He was a major player in the Philippines’ visual arts in the decades leading up to
World War II and into the postwar period.
His painting ‘Cultivation Rice with Mayon Volcano’ depicts contentment despite the
challenges of rice planting. In their vibrant outfits and straw hats, the Filipino villagers grow
alongside a lush and verdant terrain. The tranquil stream flume is hidden behind the Filipino
peasants.
4. Mannerism
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco, was a Greek painter,
sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, and the artist
normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος
Θεοτοκόπουλος, often adding the word Κρής, which means Cretan.
He painted The Burial of the Count of Orgaz in 1586. It depicts popular local folklore of
the time and is widely regarded as one of his best works. The picture is separated into two
pieces, heavenly above and terrestrial below, yet the upper and bottom sections are blended
together compositionally, so there is no sense of duality.
Music
The 20th century was an exciting period in music. One of the first new styles to appear was
Expressionism. The term Expressionism was originally borrowed from visual art and literature.
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Artists created vivid pictures, distorting columns and shapes to make unrealistic images that
suggested strong criticisms. Expressionist composers poured intense emotional expressions into
their music and explored the subconscious mind.
Expressionist music often features:

 a high level of dissonance
 extreme contrasts of dynamics
 constantly changing textures
 ‘distorted’ melodies and harmonies
 angular melodies with wide leaps
 extremes of pitch
 no cadences
Arnold was born in Vienna in 1874. He was a Professor of Composition in Berlin and later
Los Angeles. He was a gifted composer, teacher, and painter. Schoenberg, together with two of
his pupils, Berg and Webern are known as the Second Viennese School, wherein ‘school’ refers to
a group of people whose work shares a common style. Schoenberg’s first compositions were
Romantic in style like the Transfigured Night. His style of composition later changed. His music
became increasingly dissonant and chromatic in the style of Expressionism. The sense of key
became less and less obvious eventually, resulting in atonality.
Audiences and critics found Schoenberg’s atonal music difficult to understand. There was
so much unrest at one concert that the police were called. Some years after the composition of
Five Pieces for Orchestra, Schoenberg evolved a new system to replace tonality in his music. This
was called serialism.
‘Peripetie’ is the fourth movement of Schoenberg’s ‘Five Orchestral Pieces’. It was written
in 1909, but revised in 1922 and 1949. Schoenberg was reluctant to give each movement a title as
this was a distraction from the music. The title is from a Greek word meaning ‘sudden changes’. It
is written for a very large orchestra including quadruple woodwind – three flutes and a piccolo,
three oboes and a cor anglais, three clarinets and a bass clarinet, three bassoons and a contra
bassoon. Its parts are difficult to play as it had very high or low notes with big leaps in pitch.
Structure
At first listen, the piece is dissonant and makes little sense but there are a lot of composing
techniques you need to understand. There is no obvious melody but there are melodic fragments
which are based on a hexachord (a group of six notes from the available 12 semitones). The
remaining six semitones are called the complement. It is atonal. There is no central key but the
notes are based on the hexachord played at the start. It is in free rondo. It is called ‘free’ as the
sections are of varying lengths and the tempo changes each time. This movement is marked Sehr
rasch (very fast). Other instructions include heftig (passionate) and ruhiger (calmer). It is an
example of Klangfarbenmelodie (literally ‘tone-colour-melody’). The melody is passed between
different parts to exploit the different timbres within the orchestra. On a later version of the score
the melody is marked with an H (Haupstimme), as it is passed between the instruments allowing
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the score reader to follow the principal voice. There is also a secondary voice which is marked N
(Nebenstimme).
Contrasts
This is a short but dramatic piece with lots of contrasts. There is a wide range of dynamics,
from pp to fff. There are also sudden changes in texture. There may be lots of instruments
weaving in and out of each other. At other times the music features a solo flute or clarinet. Its
timbre changes quickly between different families of instruments. It features a wide variety of note
lengths from demi-semiquavers to semibreves.
Resources
Espinar, N. (2021). Art and Philosophy - Formalism, Expressionism, and Hedonism. StuDocu.
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/university-of-the-east-philippines/art
appreciation/art-and
-philosophy-formalism-expressionism-and-hedonism/18764652
Nada, M. G. B. (2021). Formalism, Expressionism, and Hedonism. StuDocu.
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/university-of-the-east-philippines/art-
appreciation/gec-07-module- lec-5-formalism-expressionism-and-hedonism/18764678
Reinz, J. (n.d.). Art Philosophy: Formalism, Expression And Hedonism - PDFCOFFEE.COM.
Pdfcoffee.Com; pdfcoffee.com. Retrieved May 9, 2022, from
https://pdfcoffee.com/art-philosophy-formalism-expression- and-hedonism-pdf-
free.html
Tana, M. (2022, April 17). Lecture for Module 5: Art and Philosophy - Formalism, Expressionism,
and Hedonism. YouTube; www.youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LXDUj7HDyDM
Aesthetic Hedonism
OVERVIEW:
Aesthetic Hedonism is a theory which states that a thing is beautiful if it gives pleasure to
the person experiencing it, otherwise it's ugly if it gives you pain. Aesthetic pleasure is the
facilitating pleasure of mentally engaging with an object. The form of mental engagement can be
purely perceptual (looking at a sunset), completely intellectual (reading a book), or partly each. In
each case, the pleasure of mentally engaging with the object in question releases a mental routine
that eases, facilitates, and motivates the mental engagement and thus reinforces it.
MODULE OBJECTIVES:
Analyze what is Aesthetic Hedonism
Find out who are the people behind Aesthetic Hedonism
Identify the functions of Aesthetic Hedonism
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COURSE MATERIAL:
AESTHETIC HEDONISM
Hedonism, in ethics, a general term for all theories of conduct in which the criterion is
pleasure of one kind or another. The word is derived from the Greek HEDONE (“pleasure”), from
HEDYS (“sweet” or “pleasant”).
Aesthetic Hedonism is the influential view in the field of aesthetics that beauty or aesthetic
value can be defined in terms of pleasure, e.g., that for an object to be beautiful is for it to cause
pleasure or that the experience of beauty is always accompanied by pleasure.
Aesthetic Hedonism is a theory which states that a thing is beautiful if it gives pleasure to
the person experiencing it, otherwise it's ugly if it gives you pain. Aesthetic pleasure is the
facilitating pleasure of mentally engaging with an object. The form of mental engagement can be
purely perceptual (looking at a sunset), completely intellectual (reading a book), or partly each. In
each case, the pleasure of mentally engaging with the object in question releases a mental routine
that eases, facilitates, and motivates the mental engagement and thus reinforces it.
Hedonism is the view that pleasure is the only thing that has final, or non-derivative, value:
other things are valuable only to the extent that they produce pleasure. In this context, pleasure
may be narrowly conceived as an agreeable sensation, or functionally as a psychological
response that reinforces a subject’s propensity to perform the action that evokes the response.
Hedonism’s goal is to attain pleasure to gain happiness and avoid pain. They consider
pleasure as their basis and standard for morals and ethics. Hedonist believes that you will live a
better life when you experience greater pleasures. In hedonism, pleasure and happiness goes
hand in hand in order for a person to become ethical. To them, you are morally right when you
give in to your desires and experience pleasure. This belief of hedonists is for them to avoid pain
in their life. Happiness is the on the one side of a coin while the other side is pain. In order to
obliterate evil, extreme happiness and pleasure should be in one’s life.
For hedonists, a good action brings about absolute pleasure while a wrongdoing only
causes pain. This is why hedonism believes that in order to measure the goodness a person had
done, maximum pleasure must be attained by that person. Anything that is considered as positive
feeling like euphoria, elation, and happiness are considered as pleasure. Pain, on the other hand
is the negative things like sadness, gloom, and desolation.
“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die.”

This is the formula of hedonists for a happy life. (Ethics by Florentino Timbreza)
In the late 18th century Jeremy Bentham revived hedonism both as a psychological and as
a moral theory under the umbrella of utilitarianism. Individuals have no goal other than the
greatest pleasure, thus each person ought to pursue the greatest pleasure. It would seem to follow
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that each person inevitably always does what he or she ought. Bentham sought the solution to this
paradox on different occasions in two incompatible directions. Sometimes he says that the act
which one does is the act which one thinks will give the most pleasure, whereas the act which one
ought to do is the act which really will provide the most pleasure. In short, calculation is salvation,
while sin is shortsightedness. Alternatively he suggests that the act which one does is that which
will give one the most pleasure, whereas the act one ought to do is that which will give all those
affected by it the most pleasure
Who is the Father of Hedonism?

Aristippus of Cyrene (l. c. 435-356 BCE) was a hedonistic Greek philosopher who was one
of Socrates' students and founder of the Cyrenaic School of philosophy which taught that pleasure
and the pursuit of pleasure was the highest good and noblest path one could dedicate one's self
to.
He studied under Socrates (l. c. 470/469 - 399 BCE) along with other pupils such as Plato
(l. c. 428/427 - 348/347 BCE), Xenophon (l. 430 - c. 354 BCE), Antisthenes of Athens (l. c. 445 -
365 BCE), and Phaedo of Elis (l. c. 4th century BCE). Aristippus was the first of Socrates' student
to charge a fee for teaching and, since Socrates had charged nothing, this, and the accusation he
had betrayed Socrates' philosophy, created a life-long friction between Aristippus and Socrates'
other disciples.
Since he believed and taught that the meaning of life was pleasure, and this was at odds
with the focus of the other schools (especially Plato's) he appears to have been something of an
outcast among them. It is hard to understand, at first, how Aristippus could have been a student of
Socrates, so different seem their philosophies. However, Aristippus' most famous phrase, “I
possess, I am not possessed”, is quite in line with Socrates' own view of life as presented by Plato
and Xenophon, the two primary sources on Socrates' life.
Even so, Aristippus, like Socrates, focused his attention on practical ethics; the question
"What is the Good?" was in the forefront of his belief system. The values humans term "good" or
"evil" are reducible to pleasure and pain; self-gratification, then, is a great good while self-restraint,
in the face of certain pleasure, would be bad. Still, Aristippus maintained that one should not allow
oneself to be possessed by those things which bring pleasure.
According to Diogenes Laertius, when Aristippus was criticized for keeping a very
expensive mistress named Lais, he replied, “I have Lais, not she me.” There was nothing at all
wrong, then, with enjoying whatever it was one wanted to enjoy, as long as one knew the ultimate
value of that thing or person and did not confuse that value with one's own personal freedom. In
Aristippus' view, one should never trade one's freedom for anything. Self-restraint and self-
gratification, then, were of equal value in maintaining one's personal liberty while pursuing the
Good in life: pleasure.
Other known Hedonist

Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus and Leucippus.
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His materialism led him to a general stance against superstition or the idea of divine intervention.
Following Aristippus—about whom very little is known—Epicurus believed that the greatest good
was to seek modest, sustainable "pleasure" in the form of a state of tranquility and freedom from
fear (ataraxia) and absence of bodily pain (aponia) through knowledge of the workings of the world
and the limits of our desires. The combination of these two states is supposed to constitute
happiness in its highest form. Although Epicureanism is a form of hedonism, insofar as it declares
pleasure as the sole intrinsic good, its conception of absence of pain as the greatest pleasure and
its advocacy of a simple life make it different from "hedonism" as it is commonly understood.
In the Epicurean view, the highest pleasure (tranquility and freedom from fear) was
obtained by knowledge, friendship and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the
enjoyment of simple pleasures, by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex
and appetites, verging on asceticism. He argued that when eating, one should not eat too richly,
for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as the grim realization that one could not afford such
delicacies in the future.
Functions of Aesthetic Hedonism

AESTHETIC HEDONISM ART THEORY - The function of art is to produce just one kind of effect
upon its audience: pleasure. It may also inform or instruct, represent or express, but first and
foremost it must please. The more pleasure it gives, the better the art.
The BEAUTY which brings PLEASURE. Bodily, Sensual, Personal, Subjective, Relative,
Temporal, Momentary, Limited, Gratifying, EXPERIENCE.
BEAUTY = PLEASURE
UGLY = PAIN
For Hedonists, the most ethical thing to do is to enjoy life and experience pleasure in any
way possible. An example of Hedonism is manifested when a certain person does something for
the sake of pleasure. For instance, when a person finds pleasure with money, he will try to get a
job that will give him a sufficient amount of income. But when the time comes that he would find
pleasure in going to a trip, he would try to pursue it in spite of the fact that he has to go to work on
that day. This is because of his belief that the ethic of pleasure is higher than the ethic of
responsibility. He does what gives him pleasure because it is what makes him happy.
ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENTS:
A. Choose the letter of the correct answer.
1. What characteristic was typical of Expressionist art?
a. Art that conveyed emotion rather than reality
b. Distorted and exaggerated subjects
c. Vivid and shocking colors
d. All of the above
2. In what country did the Expressionist art movement begin?
a. Germany
b. France
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c. Russia
d. Netherlands
3. When did the Expressionism art movement take place?
a. 1200s
b. Late 1400s to early 1500s
c. Mid 1600s
d. Early 1900s
4. Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the later
a. 19th and the 20th centuries
b. 18th century
c. Late 1400s to early 1500s
d. 1200s
5. According to them, “Art is the objectification of emotion.”
a. Aristotle
b. Benedetto Croce
c. Leo Tolstoy
d. Susanne Langer
B. Aside from paintings and music, Expressionism was also used in literature, particularly in
poems. Create your own poem by choosing any painting that uses the Expression Theory
of Art. The poem will have a minimum of two stanzas. Please include the painting you
chose. Apart from that, the poem can be free verse. Be as creative as you can be.
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Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Lambot St., Poblacion, Bansud, Oriental, Mindoro

THE COUNTRY’S 1st POLYTECHNICU

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L ‘Art Pour L ‘Art (Art for Art’s Sake)

The Bloomsbury Group

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Clement Greenberg’s Advocacy of Formalism

According to Greenberg, Formalism encompassed everything that was intellectually

An Appropriate Formalism Definition

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Key Elements and Characteristics of Formalism

Thus, the key characteristics of Formalism that proved to be essential in evaluating an

The Most Famous Formalism Art Pieces and Their Artists

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Flag (1954 – 1955) by Jasper Johns

Soft Spoken (1969) by Josef Albers

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Formalism in Other Arts

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The Decline and Legacy of Formalism

Despite its decline, it is important to remember that Formalism continued to permeate

Expression Theory of Art

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Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern

Various definitions of Art according to the Expression Theory:

Birth and Development

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representation of nature in order to express more subjective outlooks or states of mind.

Lambot St., Poblacion, Bansud, Oriental, Mindoro

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Munich’s Despair (1894) is about a man, foreground, who may be experiencing

Lambot St., Poblacion, Bansud, Oriental, Mindoro

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Lambot St., Poblacion, Bansud, Oriental, Mindoro

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Expressionist music often features:

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“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die.”

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Who is the Father of Hedonism?

Other known Hedonist

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Functions of Aesthetic Hedonism

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