Art Appreciation
PRINCIPLES OF ART
APPRECIATION
Prof. Shin Kashiwagi
OUTLINE
I. Principles of Art III. Principles of Arts
Appreciation IV. Art Genres
II. Art V. Divisions of Arts
Study
I. PRINCIPLES OF ART APPRECIATION
• Appreciation of the arts goes beyond staring at a painting
hanging on the wall of a museum - art is in everything and
everywhere.
• Opening your eyes to the world of art is essential in
understanding the world around you.
• Art is more than pretentious museums; only a few enter and
comprehend. Instead, art appreciation is:
→ Gaining the knowledge to understand the art.
→ Acquire the art methods and materials to discuss art
verbally or by the written word.
→ Ability to identify the movements from ancient cultures
to today's contemporary art.
→ Art is conveyed by the simple act of creating art for art's
sake.
→ Every person is born with the innate desire to create art,
and similar to other professions, training is essential in
honing skills to produce art.
→ Art Education
o Broadens a person's comprehension,
development, and visions of art.
→ Art brings an understanding of diversity, how people
lived in the past, and connects the issues concerning
contemporary life and art today.
II. ART
• Art
→ According to Webster: art is “human ingenuity in
adapting natural things to man’s use.”
→ Art came from the word “ars” which means skill.
→ All visual art is imitation―Aristotle’s word for imitation
is “mimesis”; what the actor sought to do; to reveal the
truth of human beings.
→ Two ways: art as likeness and art as alteration.
• Functions of Art
→ Typically, the purpose of an art piece. It answers that
question, “what is the art work for?”
→ The functions of art apply not only to the artist that
created a piece but to you as the viewer.
→ Your whole experience and understanding of a piece
should contribute to the function you assign it, as well
as everything you know about its context.
→ Personal Function
Art Appreciation Ramos, F. & Claudel, C.
03/07/23
Prelims
Trans 1
o Personal functions of art are not likely to be the
same from person to person. There are many
types of personal functions, and these are highly
subjective
o An artist may create a piece out of a need for self-
expression or gratification.
→ Social Function
o Art has a social function when it addresses
aspects of collective life, as opposed to one
person's point of view or experience.
o Art performs a social function when it influences a
human group. It describes aspects of life shared
by all as opposed to personal kinds of experience.
→ Political Function
o The political function of arts are used to help the
public understand a particular political issue. The
art is used as a tool to elucidate current political
and public concerns.
o Art can address certain political issues or
reinterpret different political ideologies.
o For example, it can reveal different power
balances in the society, offering alternative
understandings of certain events, etc.
→ Cultural Function
o Cultural function of arts serves as tools that help
develop the mind and body, refine feelings, and
thoughts and reflect and represent our customs
and values as a society.
o Cultural arts help to explain the world in which we
live through an exploration of creativity.
→ Historical Function
o The historical function of arts is all about knowing
where we come from and where we’ve been, from
the perspective of works of art.
o It is also about knowing how art has changed over
time.
→ Physical Function
o The physical functions of art are often the easiest
to understand. Works of art that are created to
perform some service have physical functions.
▪ A Japanese raku bowl is art that performs a
physical function in the tea ceremony.
▪ Conversely, a fur-covered teacup from the
Dada movement has no physical function.
→ Aesthetic Function
o Aesthetics is the study of beauty.
o An artistic aesthetic is the collection of stylistic
choices an artist uses to make a work beautiful, or
to communicate meaning, value, or emotion to the
observer.
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 A. ART STYLE AND FACTORS AFFECTING STYLE
• Geographical Factors
→ place where the artist stays influences his works.
• Historical Factors
→ historical events exert a great influence on artists,
particularly writers.
• Social Factors
→ social relationships affect artists too.
• Ideational Factors
→ ideas coming from various people also influence artists.
• Psychological Factors
→ at times, the works produced by the artists are affected
by their psychological make-up or frame of mind.
• Technical Factors
→ technics matter as far as artistic styles are concerned.
Different brushes make different strokes.
• Political Factors
→ politicians and government officials sometimes exert an
influence on the artists.
• Economic Factors
→ availability of financial and other resources plays an
important role in the life of an artist.
III. PRINCIPLES OF ART
• Harmony
→ Also called unity. Achieved when all the elements of a
thing are put together to come up with a coherent
whole.
• Balance
→ Brings visual stability to a work of art.
o Formal Balance
▪ Or symmetrical balance. Bilateral symmetry
is present.
o Informal Balance
▪ Is present when the left and the right sides of
the thing, though not identical in appearance,
still displays an even distribution of weight.
• Rhythm
→ Conveys a sense of orderly progression among the
parts of the work. Predictable rhythm can have a
calming effect while sudden changes can be
disconcerting.
• Proportion
→ The comparative relationship of the different parts in
relation to the whole.
• Emphasis and focal point
→ Giving proper importance to one or more parts of the
thing or the whole thing itself. Draws and holds the
viewer’s eye on certain parts of a work.
→ Achieved through size or proportion, shape, color, line,
position and variety.
“Christina’s World,” 1948 (Maine was one of two places of
inspiration to him).
Art Appreciation Principles of Art Appreciation
IV. ART GENRES
• Visual Arts
→ also called spatial arts because they occupy space are
perceived by the eyes
→ further divided into graphics arts and plastic arts
→ Graphic Arts
o have length and width; thus, they are also called
two-dimensional arts. They are described as flat
arts because they are seen on flat surfaces
▪ painting, printing, drawing, sketching,
commercial art, mechanical processes,
computer graphics, and photography
→ Plastic Arts
o have length, width, and volume; thus, they are also
called three-dimensional arts
▪ sculpture, architecture, landscape
architecture, city planning, interior design,
costume design, set design, theater design,
industrial design, crafts like handicrafts, and
allied arts
A. GENRES OF ART
• Audio-Visual Art
→ those that are performed by both ears (audio) and eyes
(video). They are called performing arts inasmuch as
the artists render a performance in front of an audience.
→ Examples of these are:
o music (vocal, instrumental, and mixed)
o dance (ethnological, social, and theatrical)
o drama (tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, farce,
melodrama, etc.)
o theatrical Arts
o film
• Literary Arts
→ those presented in the written mode and intended to be
read
→ two forms: prose, and poetry
o Prose are in paragraphs form (composed of
sentences)
▪ short stories, novels, essays, and plays
o Poetry poems are in stanza form (composed of
lines)
▪ narrative poems, lyric poems, and dramatic
poems
V. DIVISIONS OF ARTS STUDY
• Aesthetics or Art Appreciation
→ aesthetics, the science of beauty, is that division of art
study in which the student learns to admire the artists.
• Art History
→ student acquires knowledge of the artists, their
backgrounds, their, masterpieces, and their significant
contributions in various fields of art.
• Art Production
→ student learns to use his creativity and apply his artistic
knowledge and skills in producing his own works of art.
• Art Criticism
→ student learns to use his judgment in evaluating
different artworks based on the criteria set.
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