Humanities

- from the Latin word “humanus”; qualities of being human, refined, cultured
- study the expressions of human being that explore and reveal what it means to be human
Seven Major Arts
- Visual Arts – forms perceived by the eyes
o Painting – aims to evoke an emotion from the viewers
o Sculpture – art of representing an imagined or observed objects in hard materials
o Architecture – physical structure we lived; profound expression of human culture
- Performing Arts – artists use their own body, face, and presence as a medium
o Music – helps to express our mood and feel the way through our emotions and ideas
o Dance – expressed through body movement presented in a performance or spiritual setting
o Drama – uses performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live
audience
- Linguistic – centered on creative writing and other composition processes; intended to read
o Literature

Importance of Humanities
- provides man a thorough knowledge of his history and his cultural tradition
- helps man to acquire values and wisdom
- helps man to develop critical thinking
- helps promote man’s intellectual, social, moral, and aesthetic development
- helps us decide what is important in our own lives and what we can do to make them better
KEYPOINTS ON HUMANITIES
- stories, the ideas, and the words that help us make sense of our lives and our world
- introduce us to people we have never met, places we have never visited, and ideas that may have
never crossed our minds
- point the way to answers about what is right or wrong, or what is true to our heritage and history
- embrace literature, languages, music, art, and even history and philosophy
- concerned with thoughts, creations, and actions of man in the past and the present
- impel us to ask basic questions and to seek answers: Who am I? Where have I come from? What is
the meaning of life? What can I do to become and remain an effective, responsible member of
society?
- make man more human/humane; part of what we call an inner space program– to put men into their
own hearts and mind
- human being is the basic subject of the humanities
Art
- from the Latin word “ars”; expression or application of human creative skill and imagination
Aesthetics
- set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty
- branch of philosophy which deals with questions of beauty, artistic taste.
Theories of Aesthetics
- Imitationalism – artworks that look realistic
- Formalism – stresses the visual qualities of an artwork; often distorted or portrayed in an abstract
way
- Emotionalism – stresses the expressive qualities in an artwork; main point is to get the viewer’s
attention in a dramatic way
Elements of Art
- Line – greater length than width
- Shape – closed line
- Form – 3D shapes
- Space – area between and around objects
- Texture – surface quality that can be seen and felt
- Value – degrees of lightness or darkness
- Color – light reflected off of subjects
Principles of Art
- Balance – distribution of visual weight on either side of the vertical axis; symmetrical and
asymmetrical
- Contrast – arrangement of elements; light vs dark, rough vs smooth, small vs large
- Emphasis – used to make certain parts of an artwork stand out
- Movement – how the eye moves through the composition
- Pattern – repetition of specific visual element such as a unit of shape or form
- Rhythm – regular repetition of, or alternation in elements
- Unity – visually pleasing agreement among the elements in a design
Values of Arts
- Aesthetic Value – provides aesthetic experience, beauty
- Didactic Value – art that can improve the moral fiber of society
- Religious Value – increases the awareness of man’s relationship with God
- Historical Value – tells us a significant aspect about the past
- Socio-political Value – used to expose some problems in the society and government
- Scientific Value – informs us about the earth, outer space, psychology, numbers
- Commercial Value – exists if artwork can be sold for a fortune
- Pragmatic Value – not only considered aesthetic but it also has a practical value
- Therapeutic Value – explored by medical science
- Personal Value – art that could lead to self-discovery, self-development, self-expression
Subject in Art
- refers to the main idea that is represented in the artwork
- essence of the piece
- may refer to any person, object, scene, or event
Most Common Subject of Art
- Portraiture – creating images or representations of people
- Landscape – representations of natural scenery
- Still-Life – creating pictures of inanimate objects; can vary from realistic representations to more
abstract interpretations
- Non-Objective – abstract art
Representational Art
- artworks that have subjects that refer to objects or events in the real world; also termed as figurative
art
Non-Representational Art
- focuses on the use of elements to create an emotional response; does not attempt to depict anything
specific from the real
Sources of Art Subject
- sources in art may take any form such as artwork, autobiographies, films, artifacts, photographs, etc.
o Nature
o History
o Roman/Greek Mythology
o Christianity
o Dreams/Fantasies
o Subjects derived from other works of art

Art Movement
- Surrealism – aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself; resulting in the depiction of
illogical or dream-like scenes and ideas
- Futurism – emphasized the dynamism, speed, energy, and the power of the machine and the vitality,
change, and restlessness of modern life
- Impressionism – characterized by small, visible brushstrokes that convey the basic form, unblended
colors, and a focus on depicting natural light accurately
- Expressionism – aimed to express emotional experience, rather than physical quality
o gloomy faces, unrealistic, dark colors, eerie scenes
- Photorealism – also called as hyperrealism; relied on photographs for precise replication
- Automatic Drawing – artistic technique developed by surrealists in which the hand is allowed to
move randomly across the paper
- Pop Art – inspired by popular and commercial culture in the western world; also referred to as art
for the people
- Minimalism – composed of simple lines and forms; all elements of expression, biography, complex
subjects, and social agendas are removed.
- Realism – focused on precisely depicting the world as it actually exists
- Abstraction – taking away characteristics from something in order to reduce it to a set of essential
characteristics
- Elongation – lengthening of an artwork; involves creating stretched and much more extended pieces
than reality
- Cubism – depicts 3D reality through geometrical shapes on 2D dimensional canvas
- Distortion – change of a reality’s depiction; alters in a way that one is able to still recognize the item
itself but change is noticeable
- Mangling – subjects are cut, lacerated, mutilated, or hacked with repeated blows
- Abstract Expressionism – large canvasses are used; lack of refinement in the application of paint
o strong color, heavy impasto, uneven brush strokes, rough textures
- Symbolism – visible sign of something invisible such as an idea or a quality
- Fauvism – innovatively experimented with exaggerated colors, composing their painting based on
wild color contrasts (founded by Henri Matisse)
- Dadaism – characterized by a deliberate irrationality and rejection of the prevailing standards of art;
anti-art
Color Schemes
- Achromatic – black and white
- Monochromatic – uses different tones from the same angle on the color wheel (same hues)
- Analogous – uses colors that are next to each other on the color wheel (magkakatabi)
- Complementary – combines colors from opposite sides of the color wheel (magkatapat)
- Triadic – made up of hues equally spaces around the color wheel (every three colors)
- Split Complementary (Compound) – uses colors on both sides of the opposite hue (katabi sa kanan at
kaliwa ng katapat na kulay)