CHAPTER 3

WORK OF ART: ITS SUBJECT, FORM and CONTENT

- considered the essential components in the creation of art

- inseparable components

Overview:

Subject

- answers the “what” (topic, image, focus) of the artwork

Form

-answers the “how”, which suggests the artists’ strategies bin terms of development, composition,
and substantiation

Content

- expounds on the “why” of an artist

- seeks to describe the artist’s ability to communicate his conscious and unconscious intentions,
meaning/rootedness and context

SUBJECT
- choices are endless

- artists can choose from the lists of persons, objects, themes, and ideas

-can easily be identified in an art piece

2 TYPES OF SUBJECT

1) Representational Subject

2) Non-representational Subject

1) REPRESENTATIONAL SUBJECT
- those that are appear to be very much like how people see them in the reality

-easily and clearly be identified

- objective and partially abstract (- process of simplification or alteration or rearrangement)

Apples and Grapes by Claude Monet (1880)

Mona Lisa of Leonardo da Vinci

Head of a Woman (Fernande) plaster sculpture (1909) by Pablo Picasso

2. NON-REPRESENTATIONAL SUBJECT

- only lines, colours and shapes can be seen

-out from reality

- non-objective (subjective), totally abstract

Examples:

Landscape by Pluto52 W-out 0064 ‘ Omen Solstitium ‘ by W-out

Promotion by kuuramantoonis (Kira Leigh of USA) Heart and Seat by OneLifeOneArt

(Justin R. Christenbery of USA) Painting.

Brief Exercise: Identification whether it is representational (objective), Non-Representational (non-
objective)

1) Le Primier Disque by Robert Delaunay (1913) 2) Minotaur with Dead Horse In Front of a

Cave Facing a Girl with a Veil (1936)

3) Figures at the Seaside by Pablo Picasso. 4) Still Life with Chair Canning by Pablo Picasso

5) Stairway to Heaven by HelaLe 6) Superacid Lime by pbxn109

(Nicolas T. of France)
 OTHER FORMS OF ART

Music can also be representational and non-representational on their own way.

But how can you say that music is representational and non-representational subject?

SOURCES AND KINDS OF SUBJECTS

Planning what type of subject artists would choose to recreate or represent is an immensely
critical process of the creative pursuit

Artist may require deep connection with these subject to inspire and motivate them.

a) NATURE (and environment)

- have been one of the sources of artistic inspiration

-derive inspiration from the shapes and forms from trees, land, desert, animal etc. (Ragan,
2005)

E.g.

Valley of the Yosemite by Albert Bierstadt (1864)

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (1889)

Fernando Armosolo's Paintings

View of Manila Bay by Fernando Amorsolo

Planting Rice
 b) PEOPLE AND WORLD EVENTS

People
- one of the most common subjects of art
- found in individual and family portraits
- using people as subject can convey much clearer emotions than other subjects

Gamin by Augusta Savage (1929)

The Girl With a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

World Events

- can be found and seen on newspapers, and flip through the editorial page

E.g. Editorial Cartooning

- express satirical versions of world events

Pasay News, October 4, 202

Global inflation (The Manila Times, October 7, 2022)

c) MYTHS and LEGENDS

- artists used myths and legends as a way of visualizing the story found within them

- popularized during the Greek Civilization

E.g.

Hermes and the Infant Dionysos, 4th Century BCE, Archaeological Museum of Olympia, Greece.
Pinterest.

Birth Of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

Winged Victory of Samothrace, 3rd or 2nd Century BCE, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France. Photo by
Marie-Lan Nguyen via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Venus de Milo by Alexandros of Antioch

Centaur, c. 900 B.C.E. (Proto-Geometric period), terracotta, 14 inches high, the head was found in
tomb 1 and the body was found in tomb 3 in the cemetery of Toumba, Lefkandi, Greece (detail of
head photo: Dan Diffendale CC BY-NC-SA 2)

Fragment showing Perseus with the head of Medusa likely from a metope from the Temple of Apollo
at Thermon, c. 630 B.C.E., painted terracotta, 87.8 cm high (National Archaeological Museum,
Athens; photo: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Athena defeats Alkyoneus (detail), The Pergamon Altar, c. 200-150 B.C.E. (Hellenistic Period), 35.64 x
33.4 meters, marble (Pergamon Museum, Berlin)
d) SPIRITUAL and RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

-part of their culture such as in Buddhist and Islamic Nations

-outlets for religion and faith to come to life

E.g. Buddhistic Arts

Fasting Buddha Shakyamuni

Standing Buddha Offering Protection

Buddha, probably Amitabha

E.g. Islamic Arts

Geometric decoration in the Grand Mosque, Kuwait

Arabesque inlays at the Mughal Agra Fort, India

Dome of the Rock: Jerusalem

Mimar Sinan, Süleymaniye Mosque: Built for the Sultan Süleyman the Lawgiver, 1558 (Istanbul)
Arts of Other Religion: (Catholic)

Christ Crucified by Velázquez - Oil on Canvas The Immaculate Conception by Murillo

The Creation of Adam by MichaelAngelo

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci - Mural

e) IDEAS COMMISSIONED by EMPLOYERS

- artist hired by employers

-creates corporate logos, brochures, restaurant menu designs and other print materials

E.g.