Art Appreciation
Mr. Randdie P. Cuelo
"A picture is worth a thousand words." - Fred R.
Barnard
What is Art?
Art is a highly diverse range of human
activities engaged in creating visual, auditory, or
performed artifacts -- artworks -- that express the
author’s imaginative or technical skill, and are
intended to be appreciated for their beauty or
emotional power.
The Equestrian statue of
Bartolomeo Colleoni in
Venice, Italy by Andrea del
Verrochio
We can observe how the artist exhibited his
imaginative and technical skill in producing the statue
from the aforesaid sculptural masterpiece. After all,
the work of art will not withstand the elements (heat,
rain, snow, wind, etc.) if it was created without
concern for technical needs such as balance, harmony,
motion, material use, and so on.
The oldest documented forms of art are
visual arts, which include images or objects in fields
like painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography,
and other visual media.
Architecture is often included as one of the
visual arts; however, like the decorative arts, it
involves the creation of objects where the practical
considerations of use are essential, in a way that they
usually are not in another visual art, like a painting.
Temple of Artemis
(Photo is artist's
rendition at
Ephesus, now
in western
Turkey, built by
Croesus, king of
Lydia, about 550
BCE (Source: https://www.britannica.com/)
We don't need to go back in time to learn how
people lived their lives, how they conduct politics,
how they run their economy, livelihood, and social
interactions. We are transported back in time to
learn about life and civilization in the past through
artifacts (pieces of art) such as the remains of The
Temple of Artemis. That being said, art has the
ability to relive the past and the potential to
immortalize human experiences; thus, it must be
preserved.
Art may be characterized in terms
of mimesis (its representation of reality), expression,
communication of emotion, or other qualities. Though
the definition of what constitutes art is disputed and
has changed over time, general descriptions center on
the idea of imaginative or technical skill stemming
from human agency and creation. When it comes to
visually identifying a work of art, there is no single
set of values or aesthetic traits. A Baroque painting
will not necessarily share much with a contemporary
performance piece, but they are both considered art.
The Parisian
Life aka
Interior d’un
Cafi, is an 1892
oil on canvas
impressionist
painting by
Filipino painter
and
revolutionary activist Juan Luna.
The painting Parisian Life by Juan Luna is an example
of a representational or symbolic work of art
(painting) because the various elements and principles
Frances Pearl B Gelera BSN3A
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Art Appreciation
Mr. Randdie P. Cuelo
of visual arts present in the artwork all contributed
to the creation of a more profound meaning
(representation) than what a viewer can clearly see
from the painting.
Despite the seemingly indefinable nature of art,
there have always existed certain formal guidelines
for its aesthetic judgment and analysis.
Formalism is a concept in art theory in which an
artwork’s artistic value is determined solely by its
form, or how it is made. Formalism evaluates works on
a purely visual level, considering medium and
compositional elements as opposed to any reference
to realism, context, or content.
The following photographs show the same subject of
the sculptural artwork, David, but rendered and
created by the artists using different media and
composition techniques.
David by Michaelangelo David by del
Verrochio
David by Donatello
Art is often examined through the interaction
of the principles and elements of art. The principles
of art include movement, unity, harmony, variety,
balance, contrast, proportion, and pattern. The
elements include texture, form, space, shape, color,
value, and line.
The various interactions between the
elements and principles of art help artists to organize
sensorially pleasing works of art while also giving
viewers a framework within which to analyze and
discuss aesthetic ideas.
Ecce Homo, Caravaggio,
1605: This is an example of a
Baroque painting.
Caravaggio’s painting Ecce Homo (Behold the
man) depicts a scene taken from the New Testament.
This painting combines the crowning of Christ’s head
with thorns, and the mocking of Christ, with Pontius
Pilate displaying Christ to the crowds, shouting Ecce
Homo, or “behold the man.” The characters are
painted in a mature and characteristic Roman period
style. The forms are close-up, and he uses dramatic
light to emphasize the Christ figure. There is a lack
of depth and background, and the dark colors are
evidence of the Baroque art movement of which
Caravaggio was instrumental in
developing (TotalHistory.com, 2020).
Frances Pearl B Gelera BSN3A
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