ART APPRECIATION P1 NOTES TO REVIEWER

LESSON 1: BASIC CONCEPTS OF ART

What is Art?
 derived from the Latin word "ars" (meaning "skill" or "craft”)
 is a useful starting point. This broad approach leads to art being defined as: "the product of a body of
knowledge, most often using a set of skills."
 is something we DO, a verb.
 is an expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more personal than that: it’s
about sharing the way we experience the world, which for many is an extension of personality.
 It is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be faithfully portrayed by words alone.
 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.
 is a creative activity that expresses imaginative or technical skills. It produces a product, an object. The product
of art is called a work of art. It includes drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, dance, music, poetry, prose,
theatre, etc.

TYPES OF ART
1. Visual Art
 arts that meet the eye and evoke an emotion through an expression of skill and imagination.
 They include the most ancient/oldest documented forms, such as painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking,
photography, and installation art and other visual arts
2. Literary Art
 something in the form of writing or stories that have artistic and cultural value that displays the beauty of speech
and language to convey certain meanings.
3. Performance Art
 time-based art form that typically features a live presentation to an audience and draws on such arts as acting,
poetry, music, dance, and painting.

LESSON 2: NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF ARTS

CLASSIFICATION OF ARTS ACCORDING TO FUNCTIONS
1) Motivated (Functional)
 Examples: Architecture, weaving, furniture-making
2) Non-Motivated (Non-Functional)
 Examples: Painting, sculpture, literature, music, and the theater arts

THE COMMON FUNCTIONS OF ART

I. Personal Function
 Arts are vehicles for the artists’ expression of their feelings and ideas.
II. Social Function
 It influences social behavior.
 It seeks or tends to influence the collective behavior of a people.
 When it addresses aspects of (collective) life as opposed to one person's point of view or experience.
III. Spiritual Function
 The designs of religious structures tells so many things about the culture of the faithful.
IV. Educational Function
 Art comes to be regarded as 'time off for good behavior' or as 'therapy'" and how the ease and carefreeness of
the arts are supposed to bring joy and a sense of calmness."
V. Political Function
  The statues of national heroes that grace our parks and plazas are commemorative works as are the
commissioned paintings of leaders or rulers. Often they serve to record important historical events, or reveal the
ideals of heroism and leadership that the community would want the young to emulate.
VI. Physical Function
 Works of art that are created to perform some service such as tools and containers are objects which make our
lives physically comfortable. Works of art that are created to perform some service have physical functions like
vases, benches, chairs, etc.

LESSON 3: HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ART

A. STONE AGE (30,000 BC – 2,500 BC)

 The era of cave painting.
 Lascaux Cave, a cave system covered in cave paintings of animals, humans, and symbols, rendered in mineral
pigment.
 Venus (or Woman) of Willendorf, a very small statuette of a feminine figure, thought to represent fertility.
B. MESOPOTAMIAN (3,500 BC – 539 BC)
 This era included many stone sculptures and narrative reliefs, including the stele upon which Hammurabi’s Code
is carved, and the Standard of Ur.
 The early art spans the Sumerian, Assyrian, Akkadian, and Babylonian cultures that existed in a large region
known this day as Iraq, Kuwait, and parts of Syria and Turkey.
 Writing was invented around this time, by the Sumerians.
C. EGYPTIAN (3,100 BC – 30 BC)
 Awe-inspiring architecture of the ancient Egyptians, including the Great Pyramids.
 Busts and statues of royal figures were a major part of Egyptian art.
 “Egyptian Art” is a pretty huge umbrella term for an entire culture.
D. GREEK AND HELLENISTIC (850 BC – 31 BC)
 Hellenistic Greek Art was one of idealism and perfection, which reflected greatly in architecture and sculptures.
 Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare. It also exists as a symbol of
Athenian democracy.
 The famous styles of Greek column were: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
E. ROMAN (500 BC – 476 AD)
 There’s a vast history of Roman architecture, which we can learn in the history of Roman art course.
 Pantheon, a temple dedicated to all Roman Gods
 Colosseum
F. BYZANTINE AND ISLAMIC (476 AD – 1453 AD)
 This period saw the birth of the Islamic religion, and structures like the Hagia Sophia and the Alhambra.
G. MIDDLE AGES (500 – 1400)
 This was the era of Celtic and Gothic art, which saw the rise of intricate gothic cathedrals and structures like
Notre Dame
 A dark era, home to the Black Death and the crusades, which was all reflected in the dark, looming, and religious
nature of its art.
H. EARLY AND HIGH RENAISSANCE (1400 – 1550)
 The word “Renaissance” a French term meaning rebirth
 It was a cultural rebirth of art, literature, and intellect after a vast period of darkness, disease, and war.
 Music, art, science, philosophy, and other schools thrived during this era
 This era also gave birth to such greats as Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, and more.
 MICHAEL ANGELO di LODOVICO BOUNARROTI SIMONI ---- WAS CONSIDERED THE BEST ARTIST IN HIS LIFETIME,
AND EVER SINCE THEN HE HAS BEEN HELD AS GREATEST ARTIST OF ALL TIME.
 LEONARDO di ser PIERO da VINCI ---- KNOWN FOR HIS DRAMATIC AND EXPRESSIVE WORK. HIS KEEN EYE AND
QUICK MIND LED HIM TO MAKE IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES YET HE NEVER PUBLISHED HIS IDEAS.
 DONATO di NICCOLO di BETTO BARDI ---- WAS A FLORENTINE SCULPTOR OF THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD. HE
STUDIED CLASSICAL SCULPTURE AND USED THIS DEVELOP A COMPLETE RENAISSANCE STYLE IN SCULPTURE
I. VENETIAN AND NORTHERN RENAISSANCE (1430 – 1550)
 During this era, the Renaissance movement spread from Italy to France, Germany, Poland and other northern
European countries.
 Bellini, Jan van Eyck, Bosch, and other artists reigned during this time.
J. BAROQUE (1600 – 1750)
 Was a highly religious era that overlapped the 30 years war between the Protestants and the Catholics.
 Baroque artists like Rembrandt and Caravaggio were well known during this time for the tense, moody, and
extremely dramatic style of their work, reflected in lighting techniques and subject matter.
 Palace of Versailles, was known for its ornate intensity.
K. NEO-CLASSICAL (1750 – 1850)
 This era toned down the extremity of Baroque while still capturing the grace and aesthetic perfection of Greco-
Roman art periods.
 It was likely the overlapping Age of Enlightenment, which saw another turn towards the scientific over the
religious. That set the tone for this era, as well as the concurrent Industrial Revolution.
 Jacques-Louis David, and Jean-Auguste-Dominic Ingres were well known painters during this time.
L. ROMANTICISM (1780 – 1850)
 This period saw an Emphasis on the self, as well as a rejection of the kind of order that the Enlightenment had
imposed in favor of a more chaotic approach to life.
 Took place during the American Revolution and the French Revolution, and saw its crowning artists across a host
of different countries.
 Delacroix, Turner, and Gericault, among others, defined the landscape with their dark and moody works.
M. REALISM (1848 – 1900)
 The first movement to finally reject all drama, intensely exaggerated emotion, and grandeur of art styles for a
more grounded approach to human nature.
 Common folks’ lives were pictured there, and all the mundane experiences and struggles that characterize life.
 Famous artists include Courbet and Millet.
N. IMPRESSIONISM (1865 – 1885)
 Might have been one of the first purely aesthetic art periods, a style focused on capturing a visual phenomenon
rather than an intensely political or religious one.
 Their works were like impressions of scenes and people
 Painters like Monet, Manet, and Cassatt were known during this time
 Watercolors were also popular during this time
O. POST-IMPRESSIONISM (1885 – 1910)
 An art style that maintained its philosophy – a rejection of traditional art rules and its focus on perfection – but
also rejected its supposed limitations.
 Carried on impressionism’s free style and unrestricted brush techniques, but applied it to more common scenes,
and also painted forms rather than just impressions.
 Notable artists during this time were Rousseau, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh
P. FAUVISM AND EXPRESSIONISM (1900 – 1935)
 It flourished during and after the first World War with its harsh colors, bold shapes, and often its disturbing
emotional content.
 Matisse, a Fauvist painter, usually kept things very light. Then there was German expressionism, influenced
highly by the disturbing works of Edward Munch (who was Norwegian) and Egon Schiele.
 Consider a course on oil or acrylic painting to learn the techniques used by the expressionists
Q. CUBISM, FUTURISM, SUPREMATIVISM, CONTRUCTIVISM, DE STIJL (1905 – 1920)
  No longer were artists forced to capture realistic images of people or beautiful scenery.
 This era saw shapes, abstract objects, and highly deconstructed renders of landscapes and other things used as a
means of expression, rather than traditional techniques seen before.
 This was a bold period for art, and saw talents like Picasso leading the way.
R. DADA AND SURREALISM (1917 – 1950)
 Dada and surrealism rejected so much of traditional art that it dived into absurdism. Elements of dreams and the
subconscious were explored with this style, as well as wartime horrors (it overlapped World War II and the
atomic bombings of Japan)
 This is captured perfectly in Marcel Duchamp’s piece, Fountain, which was just a porcelain urinal he found,
signed, and entered into an art exhibition.
 Notable surrealists include Dali and Magritte
S. POP ART (c. 1950s CE – 1960s CE)
 Artists used contemporary images, such as food product labels and celebrity photographs, and mass-production
techniques to voice political and social commentary.
 They were interested in advertising, consumer products, television, magazines, and comics.
T. POSTMODERNISM AND DECONSTRUCTIVISM (1970 CE)
 Much of postmodern art is deconstructing styles of the past and reinterpreting them.
U. NEO-EXPRESSIONISM (c. 1980s CE)
 By the end of the 1970s a movement emerged that threw out the cool ideas of Minimalism and embraced the
impassioned emotions of Expressionism (a German art movement of the early 1900s)

LESSON 4: ART APPRECIATION, CREATIVITY, IMAGINATION, AND EXPRESSION

 ART APPRECIATION
 The knowledge and understanding of the universal and timeless qualities that identify all great art.
 The exploration and analysis of the art forms that we are exposed to.
 Art appreciation involves a deeper look into the setting and historical implication and background of the piece, a
study of its origins.

WHY ART APPRECIATION IS IMPORTANT?

 It is a good way to understand the history behind the work, and the period from which the piece originated.
Artists often reflect the problems that they face, and the issues of the society in their work.
 By reflecting on a piece of art, we delve into our own experiences and nostalgia, thus a piece of art means
something different to every person that comes across it.

 EXPRESSION
 It is the ability to convey meaning.
 Artists are painting ideas that many choose to ignore, using their art as their voice to react to the injustices they
see in this world.
 Within its nature, art has no rules. There are no guidelines to express yourself. Art is meant to be the way the
artist wants it to be.
 Art is controversial yet peaceful, simple yet bold.

 IMAGINATION
 It is the ability to produce and simulate novel objects, peoples and ideas in the mind.
 It is the ability of the mind to build mental scenes, objects or events that do not exist, are not present, or have
happened in the past.
 It is also described as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations of past experiences
such as vivid memories with imagined changes, or they can be completely invented and possibly fantastic
scenes.
  CREATIVITY
 It is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be
intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an
invention, a printed literary work, or a painting).
 Creativity can be matched with imagination: for finding solutions and choosing between options.
 Innovation in its modern meaning is "a new idea, creative thoughts, and new imaginations in form of device or
method".

LESSON 5: VISUAL ELEMENTS OF ARTS AND DESIGNS

 The visual elements are the building blocks of composition in art. These are:
1. LINE
 The foundation of all drawing.
 The first and most versatile of the visual elements of art.
 Can be used to suggest shape, pattern, form, structure, growth, depth, distance, rhythm, movement and a range
of emotions.
 There is a psychological response to different types of lines such as:
a) Curved Lines – suggest comfort and ease
b) Horizontal Lines – suggest distance and calm
c) Vertical Lines – suggest height and strength
d) Jagged Lines – suggest turmoil and anxiety
 The way we draw a line can convey different expressive qualities:
a) Freehand Lines – can express the personal energy and mood of the artist
b) Mechanical Lines – can express a rigid control
c) Continuous Lines – can lead the eye in certain directions
d) Broken Lines – can express the ephemeral or the insubstantial
e) Thick Lines – can express strength
f) Thin Lines – can express delicacy

2. SHAPES
 Can be natural or man-made, regular or irregular, flat(2D) or solid(3D), representational or abstract, geometric or
organic, transparent or opaque, positive or negative, decorative or symbolic, colored, patterned or textured.
 The Perspective of Shapes: The angles or curves of shapes appear to change depending on our viewpoint. This
technique is called perspective drawing.
 The Behavior of Shapes are as follows:
a) Shapes can be used to control your feelings in the composition of an artwork.
b) Squares and rectangles can portray strength and stability.
c) Circles and Ellipses can represent continuous movement.
d) Triangles can lead the eye in an upward movement.
e) Inverted triangles can create a sense of imbalance and tension.

3. TONE
 The lightness and darkness of a color.
 The tonal values of an artwork can be adjusted to alter its expressive character and can be used to create:
a) A contrast of light and dark
b) The illusion of form
c) A dramatic or tranquil atmosphere
d) A sense of depth and distance
e) A rhythm or pattern within a composition
 4. COLOR
 the visual element that has the strongest effect on our emotions.
 Used to create the mood or atmosphere of an artwork
 There are various approaches to use color, such as light, tone, pattern, form, symbol, movement, harmony,
contrast and mood.

5. PATTERN
 made by repeating or echoing the elements of an artwork to communicate a sense of balance, harmony,
contrast, rhythm or movement.
 There are two basic types of pattern in art:
a) Natural Pattern – often based on the inspiration we get from observing the natural patterns that occur in
nature. Examples are: Shapes of a leaf and branches of a tree, the structure of a crystal, the spiral of a shell,
the symmetry of a snowflake, and the camouflage and signaling patterns on animals, fish and insects.
b) Man-made Pattern – used for both structural and decorative purposes. An artist may create compositional
patterns of lines and shapes , within that composition, he/she may develop its visual elements to create a
more decorative pattern of color, tone and texture across the work.

6. TEXTURE
 The surface quality of an artwork – the roughness or smoothness of the materials from which it is made.
 We experience texture in different ways:
a) Optical Texture – an artist may use his/her painting technique to create the illusion of texture. This texture
can be observed using our sense of sight.
b) Physical Texture – an artist may paint with expressive brushstrokes whose texture conveys the physical and
emotional energy of both the artist and his/her subject. This texture can be observed by using our sense of
touch. Examples are: grain of wood, the grittiness of sand, flaking of rust, coarseness of cloth, and the smear
of paint.
c) Ephemeral Texture – Third category of textures whose fleeting forms are subject to change like clouds,
smoke, flames, bubbles and liquids.

7. FORM
 The physical volume of a shape and the space that it occupies. It can be representational or abstract.
 There are two types of form:
a) Three-dimensional Form – can be modelled (added form), carved (substracted form) and constructed (built
form). It can be created from sculptural materials like clay, wax, plaster, wood, stone, concrete, cast and
constructed metal, plastics, resins, glass and mixed media. It may also be kinetic, involving light and
movement generated by natural, mechanical and electronic means.
b) Two-Dimensional Form – constructs the illusion of 3D in 2D media by a skillful manipulation of the visual
elements. Examples are: Perspective drawing, trompe l’oeil, 3D computer graphics program, and holograms.

LESSON 6: PRINCIPLES OF ART

 The principles of art (or the principles of design) are essentially a set of criteria which are used to explain how
the visual elements are arranged in a work of art. These principles are possibly the closest thing we have to a set
of objective criteria for analyzing and judging art.

1. BALANCE
 Visual weight of the elements of the composition.
 It is a sense that the painting feels stable and "feels right."
 Imbalance causes a feeling of discomfort in the viewer.
 Can be achieved in 3 different ways:
 a) Symmetry - both sides of a composition have
the same elements in the same position, as in a
mirror-image, or the two sides of a face.

b) Asymmetry - the composition is balanced due to the

contrast of any of the elements of art.

c) Radial symmetry - elements are equally spaced around a central point, as in the
spokes coming out of the hub of a bicycle tire.

2. CONTRAST
 The difference between elements of art in a composition, such that each
element is made stronger in relation to the other.
 When placed next to each other, contrasting elements command the viewer's
attention.

3. EMPHASIS
 when the artist creates an area of the composition that is visually dominant
and commands the viewer's attention. This is often achieved by contrast.

4. MOVEMENT
 the result of using the elements of art such that they move the viewer's eye around and
within the image.

5. PATTERN
 the uniform repetition of any of the elements of art or any combination
thereof.
 Zentangles- which an abstract or representational outline is divided into
different areas, each of which contains a unique pattern.
6. RHYTHM
 is created by movement implied through the repetition of elements of art in a non-uniform but organized way. It
is related to rhythm in music.
 Unlike pattern, which demands consistency, rhythm relies on variety.

7. UNITY/VARIETY
 Too much unity creates monotony, too much variety
creates chaos. You need both.

8. HARMONY
 it refers to how well all the visual elements work
together in a work of art.