TOPIC 1: What is Art?

Art

-is something that is perennially around us. Some people may deny having anything to do
with the arts, but it is indisputable that life presents us with many forms of and opportunities
for communion with the arts.

-The word “Art” comes from the ancient Latin, ars which means a “craft or specialized forms
of skill, like carpentry or smithing or surgery” (Collingwood 1938).

-Early Renaissance artists saw their activities merely as craftmanship, devoid of the whole
intonation that is attached to the word now.

Art History

-It was during the seventeenth century when the problem and idea of aesthetics, the study of
beauty, began to unfold distinctly from the notion of technical workmanship, which was the
original conception of the word “art”.

-It was finally in the eighteenth century when the word evolved to distinguish between the fine
arts and the useful arts. The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate or highly skilled arts,
but ‘beautiful’ arts” (Collingwood, 1938).

Art Appreciation

-is the knowledge and understanding of the universal and timeless qualities that identify all
great art. The more you appreciate and understand the art of different eras, movements,
styles, and techniques, the better you can develop, evaluate and improve your artwork.

-refers to the exploration and analysis of the art forms that we are exposed to. It can be highly
subjective, depending on an individual's tastes and preferences, or can be done based on
several grounds such as elements of design and mastery displayed in the piece.

Assumptions of Art

Art is everywhere.
Art is not nature.
Art is imitating and creating.
Art perfects nature.
Art message is universal.
Art involves experience

TOPIC 2: Creativity, Imagination, and Expression

It takes an artist to make art. One may perceive beauty daily. However, not every
beautiful thing that can be seen or experienced may truly be called a work of art. Art is a
product of man’s creativity, imagination, and expression.

The Role of Creativity in Art Making

Creativity requires thinking outside the box. It is often used to solve problems that have
never occurred before, conflate function and style, and simply make life a more unique
and enjoyable experience.

In art, creativity is what sets apart one artwork from another. We say something is done
creatively when we have not yet seen anything like it or when it is out of the ordinary.
 A creative artist does not simply copy or imitate another artist’s work. He does not
imitate the lines, flaws, colors, and patterns in re-creating nature. He embraces originality,
puts his flavor into his work, and calls it his creative piece.

Art as a Product of Imagination, Imagination as a product of art

German physicist Albert Einstein who had made significant and major contributions to
Science and humanity demonstrated that knowledge is derived from imagination. He
emphasized this idea through his words: “ Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand while imagination embraces the
entire world and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Imagination is not constrained by the walls of the norm but goes beyond that. That is why
people rely on curiosity and imagination for advancement. Through imagination, one can
craft something bold, something new, and something better in the hopes of creating
something that will stimulate change. Imagination allows endless possibilities.

Art as an Expression

Robin George Collingwood, an English philosopher who is best known for his work in
aesthetics, explicated in his publication The Principles of Art (1938) that what an artist
does to emotion is not to induce it, but express it. Through expression, he can explore
his own emotions and at the same time, create something beautiful out of them.

Collingwood further illustrated that expressing emotions is something different from

describing emotions. In his example, explicitly saying “I am angry” is not an expression of
emotion, but a mere description. There is no need in relating or referring to a specific
emotion, such as anger, in expressing one’s emotion.

The description destroys the idea of expression, as it classifies the emotion, making it
ordinary and predictable.

Expression on the other hand, individualizes. An artist has the freedom to express
himself the way he wants to. Hence, there is no specific technique for expression. This
makes people’s art not a reflection of what is outside or external to them but a reflection
of their inner selves.

TOPIC 3: Function and Philosophical Perspectives of Art

FUNCTION OF ART

When one speaks of function one is practically talking about the use of the object whose
function is in question. An inquiry into the function of art is an inquiry into what art is for.
Alternatively, the answer to the question “ What is it for?” is the function of whatever “it”
in the question refers to.

Suppose one asks, what is the Rizal Monument for? Why is it erected in Rizal’s Park or
what then was called Luneta or Bagumbayan? Is it for pure sentimental value? Is it for its
aesthetic value? Or does it send a message to those who witness it? In this string of
questions, the inquirer is hoping to get the function of the piece of art in Rizal’s park.

When it comes to function, different art forms come with distinctive functions. There is no
one-to-one correspondence between art and its function. Some art forms are more
functional than others.
 Architecture, for example, as art is highly functional just like most applied arts.

Other examples are paintings, poems, and statues. The name of the art points toward
the direction of the product or its function.

Three Classification of Function of Art

Personal Functions of Art – are varied and highly subjective. This means that its
functions depend on the person – the artist who created the art. An artist may create
art out of the need for self-expression. This is the case for an artist who needs to
communicate an idea to his audience. It can also be mere entertainment for his
intended audience.

Social Functions of Art – art is considered to have a social function if and when it
addresses a particular collective interest as opposed to a personal interest. Political
art is a very common example of art with a social function. Photography as an art
form delivers this kind of function by taking photos of subjects in conditions that
people do not normally take a look at or give attention to. Pictures of poverty may
carry emotional overtones that may solicit action or awareness from their audience.

Physical Functions of Art – are the easiest to spot and understand. The physical
functions of art can be found in artworks that are crafted to serve some physical
purpose.

Philosophical Perspectives of Art

Art as an imitation

In Plato's metaphysics or view of reality, the things in this world are only copies of the
original, the eternal, and the true eternities that can only be found in the world of forms.

Plato was deeply suspicious of arts and artists for two reasons: they appeal to emotion
rather than to the rational faculty of man and they imitate rather than lead one to reality.
Poetry and painting, the art forms that Plato was particular concern with, do not have any
place in the ideal state that Socrates (as the protagonist) in Plato's dialogue envisions.
First, Plato is critical of the effects of art, specifically, poetry on the people of the ideal
state.

Poetry arouses emotions and feelings and thus, clouds the rationality of people. Poetry
can sway minds without taking into consideration the use of proper reason.

As such, it leads one further away from the cultivation of the intellect that Plato
campaigned for. Likewise, Socrates is worried that art objects represent only the things
in this world, copying themselves of reality. As such in the dialogue, Socrates claimed
that art is just an imitation of an imitation. A painting is just an imitation of nature, which is
also just an imitation of reality in the world of forms.

Art as a representation

Aristotle, Plato's most important student in philosophy, agreed with his teacher that art is
a form of imitation. However, in contrast to the disgust that his master held for art,
Aristotle considered art as an aid to philosophy in revealing the truth. The kind of
imitation that art does is not antithetical to the teaching of fundamental truths in the world.
Talking about tragedies for example, Aristotle (1902) in poetics claimed that poetry is a
 literary representation in general. Akin to other art forms, poetry only admits to an
attempt to represent what things might be. For Aristotle, all kinds of art including poetry,
music, dance, painting, and sculpture do not aim to represent reality as it is.

What art endeavors to do is to provide a vision of what might be or the myriad

possibilities in reality. Unlike Plato who thought that art is an imitation of another imitation,
Aristotle conceived of art as representing possible versions of reality.

In the Aristotelian worldview, art serves two particular purposes: first, art allows for the
experience of pleasure. Experiences that are otherwise repugnant can become
entertaining in art. For example, a horrible experience can be made an object of humor in
a comedy. Secondly, art also has the ability to be instructive and teach its audience
things about life; thus, it is cognitive as well.

Art as a disinterested judgment

In the third critique that Immanuel Kant wrote, the “critique of judgement”, Kant
considered the judgement of beauty, the cornerstone of art, as something that can be
universal despite its subjectivity.

Kant mentioned that judgment of beauty and therefore, art is innately autonomous from
specific interests. It is the form of art that is adjudged by one who perceives art to be
beautiful or more so sublime. Therefore, even aesthetic judgment for Kant is a cognitive
activity.

Kant recognized that the judgement of beauty is subjective. However, Kant advanced the
proposition that even subjective judgements are based on some universal criterion for
the said judgement.

Art as a communication of emotion

The author of war and peace and anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, provided another
perspective on what art is. In his book, what is art? (2016), Tolstoy defended the
production of sometimes truly extravagant art, like operas despite extreme poverty in the
world. For him, art plays a huge role in communicating to its audience’s emotions that the
artist previously experienced.

Art then serves as a language, a communication device that articulates feelings and
emotions that are otherwise unavailable to the audience. In the same way that language
communicates information to other people, art communicates emotions. In listening to
music, watching an opera, and reading poems the audience is at the receiving end of the
artist communicating his feelings and emotions.

TOPIC 5: ARTIST & ARTISAN

Artist - A person who practices any of the various creative arts

Examples: sculptor, novelist, poet, and filmmaker.

Artisan – It is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely
by hand. They practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude reach the expressive
levels of an artist.

Examples: Blacksmith, Pottery, Embroidery, Weaving, Wood carving, Ceramic art, calligraphy,
and Origami.
Famous Artist and Artisan

MICHAELANGELO

Significance of The Pieta

This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of His mother Mary after the
Crucifixion. The theme is of Northern origin. It is an important work as it balances the
Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism.

The message of The Pieta

The message conveyed in Michaelangelo’s Pieta is one of Peace and Hope. By

choosing to show Christ’s death as one of peace and quietude.

Michaelangelo is sending the message that death is not the end. Death does not need to
be a heart-rending experience for us or for the people we love.

Michaelangelo did not want his version of The Pieta to represent death, but rather to
show the “religious vision of abandonment and a serene face of the Son”, thus the
representation of the communion between man and God by the sanctification through
Christ.