LECTURE 5

Art and Philosophy:

Formalism, Functionalism
and Hedonism

Prepared by
Dr. Allan C. Orate

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
OBJECTIVES
a. Relate the study of art to the field of philosophy.
b. Compare and contrast formalism, expressionism,
hedonism and other theories of art.
c. Identify artworks, styles and artists that abide with
the formalist, functionalist and hedonistic theories.
d. Apply the theories to the analysis of art.
e. Interpret formalism as the foundation of modern
non-objective art.
f. Formulate a philosophical approach to the study of
Art Appreciation.
g. Evaluate the merit or demerit of artworks using the
formalist, expressionist and hedonistic principles.
h. Make works of art that show the application of the
theories. DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
READINGS
5.1. Kandinsky, Wassily (1911). “Theory” excerpt from
Concerning the Spiritual in the Arts, pp. 46-52. In
http://www.semantikon.com/art/kandinskyspiritualin
art.pdf
5.2. Tolstoy, Leo (1897). Excerpt from What is Art. In
https://www.google.com.ph/webhp?sourceid=chrom
einstant&rlz=1C1RLNS_enPH670PH670&ion=&espv=2
&ie=UTF 8#q =what+is+art+leo+tolstoy+pdf.

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

VIDEOS
5.1. “Kandinsky and Schonberg” in https://www.you
tube.com/watch?v=I0DX YTN0OAM

5.2. “ArtSleuth VAN GOGH, The Starry Night (final

version).” In https:// www.youtube.com/results?
search_query=Artsleuth+Van+Gogh+Starry+Night
+MOMA.

LECTURES
5.1. Formalist Theory of Art
5.2. Expressionist Theory of Art
5.3. Aesthetic Hedonism

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 LECTURE 5.1
Formalist Theory
of Art

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 Is this art according
to representationism?
 FORMALISM
Art is the combination
of perceptual elements.

AUDITORY VISUAL
Rhythm Line
Pitch Shape
FORM = ART
Melody Value
Harmony Texture
Dynamics Color
Art is NON-FIGURATIVE
because does not contain
any representation.
NON-FIGURATIVE ART
has no representation

The way of
presenting
the subject is
NON-OBJECTIVE
 CLIVE BELL
(1881-1964)

ART
=
“To appreciate art, we Significant
bring with us nothing Form
from life.” What is
essential in art is only
the “significant form”.

“Art for art’s sake.”

THEOPHILE GAUTIER
 PAUL CEZANNE
1839-1906
“Artists need to look at
nature and things only as
forms made up of spheres,
cylinders, cones.”
Cezanne, Mount
Sainte-Victoire,
1902
 Cezanne
Apples and
Oranges
REPRESENTATION FORM

Green
Isosceles
Pine Tree Triangle
Brown
Vertical
Rectangle
THIN AND
THICK BLACK
SLANTING
LINES AND
SHAPES
 REDUCTION OF
REPRESENTATION
INTO FORM
 You see only
shapes and sizes,
not genitals nor
the sex act.

There is no
pornography in formalism!
 WASSILY KANDINSKY
(1881-1964)
Concerning the Spiritual
in the Arts, 1923

REPRESENTATIONAL ART: PURELY FORMAL ART:

Sign of Materialism in Would bring about
the Society Spiritual Life

“Art is born from the inner necessity of the

artist in an enigmatic, mystical way through
which it acquires an autonomous life; it
becomes an independent subject, animated
by a spiritual breath.”
 CATEGORIES OF KANDINSKY’S PAINTINGS

Paintings which retain some

IMPRESSIONS naturalistic representation.

Paintings which convey deep

IMPROVISATIONS emotions inspired by events
of a spiritual type.

Purely formal paintings done

COMPOSITIONS carefully, over a period of time,
after preliminary studies. These
are his most complicated works.
 Kandinsky,
Impression III
(Concert)
1911

He painted this
after attending
a concert by
Schonberg.
 Kandinsky,
Improvisation
No. 30 (Canons)
1913

He painted this
because of the
constant talk
about the
incoming war.
 Kandinsky,
Composition
No. 3, 1923

He painted
this after a lot
of preliminary
sketches.
 VISUAL MUSIC
PAINTING
Color REPRESENTATION Sound

“Yellow is the color of middle C on a brassy trumpet; black is the

color of closure, and the end of things; and that combinations of
colors produce vibrational frequencies, akin to chords played on
a piano.” KANDINSKY
SYNAESTHESIA: The ability to perceive color Kandinsky and
or sound simultaneously by two senses. Schonberg
FORMAL MUSIC
There are no
lyrics, only
sounds of ARNOLD Developed
musical SCHONBERG ATONAL MUSIC
instruments. based on the
(1874-1951) 12-tone method
String Quartet of composition
(dodecaphonic).
No. 1 in D Minor
TONAL MUSIC C Dm Em F G Am Bdim7
Bach
7-Tone Scale (7 Chords in Triad Notes) Excerpt

TONAL MUSIC
C Cm Caug5 Cdim7 C# C#m C#aug5 C#dim7
D Dm Daug5 Ddim7 D# D#m D#aug5 D#dim7
12-Tone Scale
E Em Eaug5 (56 Chords in Triad Notes)

Schonberg
Excerpt
 PURELY
FORMAL
PAINTINGS
Kandinsky, Color Composition
Kandinsky, Transversed Lines, 1923
 Mondrian
Composition with
Red, Yellow and
Blue, 1924

STYLE
De Stijl
Neoplasticism
Concretism
 Malevich
White on
White

STYLE
Suprematism
 Malevich
Black Square
 Malevich
Red Square
 Malevich
Black Rectangle,
Blue Triangle
 Malevich
Eight Red
Rectangles
 Malevich
Suprematist
Painting
 Malevich
Suprematist
Painting
 Current
Riley

OP ART
Shows
optical
illusion
 OP ART
Vassarely
FORMAL PATTERNS IN THE DESIGN OF THE TINALAK
ARABESQUE
The formal
geometrical
design in
Islamic Art

32-Arabesque
Islamic Art
52-Arabesque
Islamic Art
ARABESQUE
WINDOW
DESIGN

Alhambra
Palace
Granada
Spain
 ARABESQUE
WALL DESIGN

Royal Palace
Museum
Istanbul
Turkey
 ARABESQUE
WALL AND
DOOR DESIGN

Royal Palace
Museum
Istanbul
Turkey
 ARABESQUE
DOOR DESIGN

Taj Mahal
Agra,India
 LECTURE 6.2
Expressionist Theory
of Art

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
EXPRESSIONISM

EXPRESSION Emotion
Ideas

Artist Art
SUSANNE LANGER
“Art is the creation
of symbolic forms
expressive of
human feelings.”

LEO TOLSTOY
“Art is the
objectification
of emotion.”
 ARISTOTLE
Art is the expression of
the artist’s overflowing
emotion (catharsis).

BENEDETTO CROCE
Like language, art is the
expression of idea by the
artist (Intuitionism).
 EMOTIONAL LINES

Happy Sad Insensitive

 Van Gogh
Self Portrait

STYLE
Expressionism
 BORN
March 30, 1853
Zunbert, Netherlands

SCHOOL
Royal Academy of
Arts, Brussel
Van Gogh at 9 Years Old
Vincent Van Gogh Kee Vos Stricker
28 Years Old His Second Cousin
 Van Gogh
At Eternity’s
Gate 1885
Van Gogh, Miners, 1885
Van Gogh, Women Carrying Sacks, 1885
Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885
 Van Gogh
View of Paris
from the
Window
1886

LIVED IN PARIS
FROM 1886
TO 1888
 Van Gogh
Café Terrace
at Night
1888

Van Gogh met

famous Parisian
artist like, Seurat,
Pissaro, De Lautrec
Tanguy and Gauguin
Van Gogh, Restaurant
de la Sirene, 1887
Van Gogh, Summer
in Paris, 1887
Van Gogh, Starry Night
Over the Rhone, 1886
Van Gogh, View of Arles, 1888
Van Gogh, View of Arles with Irises, 1888
Van Gogh, Sunset in the Wheatfiel, 1888
Van Gogh, The Yellow House, 1888
 Van Gogh
Bedroom at Arles,
October 1888
 LETTER OF VAN GOGH
TO HIS BROTHER THEO
OCTOBER 16, 1888
Description of the
Bedroom at Arles

This time it's just

simply my bedroom .
The walls are pale
violet, and the floor is
of red tiles.
 The wood of the bed
and chairs is the
yellow of fresh butter,
the sheets and pillows
greenish citron.

The cover scarlet,

the window green.

The table orange,

the basin blue,
the doors lilac.
LETTER OF VAN GOGH TO GAUGUIN OCTOBER 17, 1888

Thanks for your letter, and thanks most of all for your
promise to come.

I did a painting of my bedroom with the whitewood

furniture. It amused me greatly doing this bare interior.
 Van Gogh
Bedroom at Arles,
October 1888
 GAUGUIN LEFT VAN GOGH IN ARLES

After nine weeks, Gauguin left Arles because of his quarrel

with Van Gogh.
Van Gogh’s dream of an artist colony was shattered, and he
suffered a terrible emotional depression.
Van Gogh,
Self-Portrait with
Bandaged Ear,
December 1888
DESCRIPTION OF EVENT THAT
LED TO VAN GOGH CUTTING
HIS EAR

In a fit of madness, Van Gogh

picked up his razor, pulled on
his left earlobe and cut it off.

Then he walked to a nearby

brothel, and asked to see
Gauguin’s favorite prostitute.
Van Gogh presented the
prostitute with his ear and
said, “Guard this object very
carefully.”

The woman fainted after

seeing the ear. Then Van
Gogh ran home.
Alerted by the brothel, the
police the following morning
discovered Van Gogh in bed
unconscious.

He was admitted to a hospital,

where he repeatedly asked to
see Gauguin. But his friend
never came.
Van Gogh
In Front of
the Assylum
in Saint Remy
Arles, France
1889

PERIOD OF
CONFINEMENT
From May 1889
To May 1890

DIAGNOSIS
Manic Depression
Epilepsy
Van Gogh
Dr. Paul
Gauchet
1889
 Van Gogh,
Ward in the
Hospital at
Arles, 1889
Van Gogh, Assylum Garden, 1889
Van Gogh, Wheatfield with Cypresses, 1889
 Van Gogh
Starry Night
June 1889
Video 5.2
 DOMINANCE OF BLUE COLOR IN THE PAINTING
Due to Van Gogh’s bipolar disorder or manic depression:
Sadness, social anxiety, isolation, hopelessness, loss of meaning
DOMINANCE OF CURVE LINES IN THE PAINTING
Due to physical movements during
moments of epileptic seizures
 VAN GOGH USED YELLOW IN THE PAINTING
Due to overmedication of digitalis pupurea to cure epilepsy
Due to excessive consumption of liquor Absinthe containing thujone
 Van Gogh
View of
Auvers
1890

Lived in an Inn
Auvers, France
May to July
1890
 Van Gogh
The Church
in Auvers
1890
 Van Gogh
View of Vassenots
Near Auvers, 1890
 Van Gogh,
Plain Near
Auvers, 1890
Van Gogh, Wheatfield at Auvers, 1890
Van GoghGreen Wheatfield
with Cypress, 1890
Van Gogh, Wheatfield
with Cornflowers
1890
 Van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows, 1890
He shot himself in the stomach, in the wheatfield.
After 29 hours, he died.
 DIED
July 29, 1890
Auvers, France

ARTWORKS
860 oil paintings
1,300 watercolors,
drawings, sketches
Munch
The Scream
1893

STYLE
Expressionism
EDVARD MUNCH
(1863-1944)

He experienced miseries
and pain in life, which he
expressed through his art.
Munch
Anxiety
1894

STYLE
Expressionism
Munch
Despair
1892

STYLE
Expressionism
Munch
Despair
1892

STYLE
Expressionism
Munch
Jelousy
1895
 Munch
Melancholy
1895
Munch
Ashes
1895
 Munch
Death in
the Sicked
Room
1895
Munch
The Sicked
Child, 1886

Based on
the artist’s
experience of
the death of
his sister
Leonardo
The Mona Lisa
1503

STYLE
High
Renaissance
Art
 SMILE OF
MONA LISA
Cheerful
Powerful
Seductive
Sinful
Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1486 EARLY RENAISSANCE ART
SUPRESSION
OF EMOTION
Floating Eyes
Not smiling
Leonardo, The Mona Lisa Botticelli, Venus
CHEERFUL WOMAN SERIOUS WOMAN
Raphael
Madonna of
the Meadows
1505

STYLE
High
Renaissance
Art
SUPRESSION
OF EMOTION
Facial expression
is contemplative
prayerful, solemn
and serious
Leonardo, The Mona Lisa Raphael, Madonna
POWERFUL WOMAN MEEK WOMAN
Lucas Cranach
Adam and Eve
1526

STYLE EVE
High Woman
Renaissance Tempest
Art Sinful
Leonardo, The Mona Lisa SINFUL WOMEN Cranach, Eve
Leonardo, The Mona Lisa SEDUCTIVE WOMAN Picture of Nikki Zering
Amosolo
Woman with
Basket of
Mango
1949

THE SMILING
DALAGANG
FILIPINA
Innocent
and Fresh

STYLE
Romantic
Realism
El Greco
Christ
Carrying
the Cross
1580

STYLE
Mannerism
Christ Carrying
the Cross (Detail)
El Greco, 1580

NO EMOTION
The facial
expression is
solemn, it and
does not show
appearance of
suffering.
Christ Carrying the
Cross, From the
Movie The Passion
of the Christ, 2004

Director: Mel Gibson

Actor: Jan Caviezel

VERY EMOTIONAL
Shows suffering
and pain
 LECTURE 6.1
Aesthetic Hedonism

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 AESTHETIC
HEDONISM

ARISTIPPUS
EPICURUS

BEAUTY = PLEASURE
UGLY = PAIN
“Eat, drink and be merry
for tomorrow you die.”
B PLEASURE
Bodily
E Sensual
Personal
A Subjective
Relative
U Temporal

T
Momentary
Limited

Y
Gratifying
EXPERIENCE
Duchamp
The Fountain
1917
CULINARY ART
 FASTFOODS
Delicious foods for the pleasure of eating
but no nutritive value
Sotein Woman in Pink 1924 Leonardo, The Mona Lisa, 1501
SEXUAL PLEASURE
EROTIC DANCE

Antonio Banderas and

Catherine Zeta-Jones
Dancing the Tango
Mask of Sorro, 1998
ACTIVITY AND
ASSESMENT

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
ACTIVITY AND ASSESMENT

a. Assign members of the group to make a formal work of

art. The art should contain only colors, shape, lines and
other visual elements, without any recognizable
representations of things.

b. Assign other members of the group to make an

expressionist work of art. The art should contain
human emotions expressed in either representational
or symbolic way.

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 RUBRICS FOR ACTIVITY 5
Needs
Excellent Good Fair
CRITERIA Improvement
(10-12 points) (7-9 points) (4-6 points)
(1-3)

All members
Group All members actively Some members did
participated in the The group does
participation and participated in the not participate in
activity, but the not show any
collaboration activity, and the the activity, and the
group does not collaboration and
during the group collaborated group collaboration
show a unified participation at all
activity. harmoniously. is not harmonious
collaboration.

The composition The formalist theory

The formalist theory The composition
correctly applies the is incorrectly
Formal of art is correctly does not apply
formalist theory applied to many
Artwork applied in the whole the formalist
except to some parts of the
composition. theory at all.
parts of it. composition.

The artwork shows The artwork shows The artwork

The artwork
very deep human both symbolic and shows shallow
Expressionist does show any
emotion both representational emotions both
Artwork human emotions
symbolically and emotions but not representationally
at all.
representationally very deep and symbolically
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE