ART APPRECIATION,

HUMANITIES &
AESTHETICS

John Jay L. Morido

Instructor
Agraryong Planting Rice by
Rebolusyon by Fernando
Leonilo Doloricon, Amorsolo, 1922
1990
Spokes of Art appreciation
1. Art EDUCATION (Art
Studies/Humanities)
2. Art management (Cultural
Workers)
3. Art production (Creators)
4. Art criticism (Critics)
Art Appreciation, Humanities and
Aesthetics
Art is everywhere as they say. It can be the song or a
musical composition of your favorite singer, a painting or
sculpture of a great artists or the steps and choreography
of the dancer you follow.

Art Appreciation
The National Commission for Culture and Arts is devoted to
develop the seven arts by putting national committees in:
1. Architecture and Allied Arts
2. Cinema (Film, Television and Broadcast Arts)
3. Dance
4. Dramatic Arts
5. Literary Arts (Fiction, Poetry, Essay, Play)
6. Music
7. Visual Arts (Painting and Sculpture)

Art Appreciation
Humanities comes from the Latin humanus, which means
human, cultured, refined. They are the branches of learning
based on the philosophy and ethical perspective of
humanism, which emphasizes the value of agency of
human beings individually and
collectively.

On Humanities
To elaborate it more, Humanities is:
1. not scientific
2. at least, not directly to business or economics
3. a set of tangible expressions of the human quest for the good
life
4. an ocean of all humanity’s deeper, inward awareness,
knowledge and sensitivity
5. a collective pooling together of the legacy of a given culture’s
values, ambitions and beliefs.

On Humanities
Functions of Humanities
a. to make all persons become better human beings
b. to value and appreciate beautiful things
c. to expand our perspective
d. to know the changing image of mankind as it
journeys across time, across realities and ideals

On Humanities
Aesthetics is technically the study of beauty. It comes from a
Greek word “aesthesis” which means “sense of perception.”
Since we were young, we were taught to practice our senses
– sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch, movement – and the
other two – balance and beauty. All these eight senses are
particularly anchoring on the judgment of subjectivity.

On Aesthetics
According to Denis Dutton(2003), art has distinct
signatures to be considered beautiful.
Throughout his study on art, he identified six
universal signatures in human aesthetics:

On Aesthetics
1. Expertise or virtuosity. Humans cultivate, recognize, and
admire technical artistic skills
2. Nonutilitarian pleasure. People enjoy art for art’s sake, and
do not demand that it keeps them warm or put food on the
table.
3. Style. Artistic objects and performances satisfy rules of
composition that place them in a recognizable style.

On Aesthetics
4. Criticism. People make a point of judging, appreciating,
and interpreting works of art.
5. Imitation. With a few important exceptions like abstract
painting, works of art simulate experiences of the world.
6. Special focus. Art is set aside from ordinary life and
made a dramatic focus of experience

On Aesthetics
“ART SPEAKS THE
INCOMPREHENSIBLE SELF
IN US.”
(Morido, 2020)
INTERPRETING ART: THE FOUR
COORDINATES OF ART
CRITICISM
Prepared by:
JOHN JAY L. MORIDO
 Arts tell stories, share meanings and open
discussions. Arts are measured by criticism. This
module is written to provoke your minds so that
you will have perspective in interpreting arts. In this
lesson, the students will understand the purpose of
art criticism and apply those steps into practice.
FOUR COORDINATES OF ART CRITICISM
AND THE APPROACHES
Palencia et al (2017) offered that before criticizing an art,
one should be knowledgeable first of its coordinates. Every
work of art, such as a poem, a drama, a musical piece,
painting and sculpture, etc., has four basic coordinates:
a. the subject matter
b. the artist
c. the audience
d. the form
FOUR COORDINATES OF ART CRITICISM
AND THE APPROACHES
From these four coordinates of art are the bases for the
four principal approaches to art appreciation and art
criticism. These four approaches are shown in the table:
1. SUBJECT MATTER AND THE MIMETIC
APPROACH

The subject matter can be representational or non-

presentational. With respect to subject matter, art is an
imitation, depiction or representation of some aspect of
nature or life.
The approach to art criticism through subject matter is
called mimetic (derived from the Greek ‘mimesis,’
meaning imitation). The mimetic approach stresses the
importance of subject matter or content in the art.
2. ARTIST (WRITER/CREATOR) AND THE
EXPRESSIVE APPROACH

From the point of view of the artist, art is a means of

expression, a medium for communicating an idea, an
emotion or some other human experience, an impression
of life, a vision of beauty.
The expressive approach of art criticism stresses the
relationship of the artwork to its creator. In this approach,
the artist himself becomes the major element generating
both the artistic product and the norms by which the work
is to be judged.
3. AUDIENCE/READERS AND THE
PRAGMATIC APPROACH

One aspect of art, which is of importance to the audience,

is its value, function or significance. Aside from its aesthetic
value, art can have other values: religious, philosophical,
moral, historical, political, social, scientific, commercial,
sentimental, practical, etc.
Pragmatic approach emphasizes the value and
importance of art and its audience. This attach little
importance to the aesthetic value and instead judge art
according to how useful it is to the audience.
4. FORM AND THE
FORMALIST/AESTHETIC APPROACH
With respect to form, the art is a composition, a whole
consisting of various parts or elements; the selection,
organization, and integration of these elements according
to certain formal principles and employing certain
techniques constitute that which we call the form of art.

“Art for art’s sake,” coined by English playwright, Oscar

Wilde. This view seeks to liberate art from the chains of
morality, religion, political propaganda and social reform,
and sets up art as something worthy of appreciation for its
own sake.
HOW TO CRITIQUE ARTWORKS
STEP 1. DESCRIPTION (DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SEE/EXPERIENCE)
This is the objective portion of the art critique. It involves a technical
description, basic form and elements of the art; this includes:
a.Artist’s name
b.Title of the artwork
c.Type of the artwork
d.Subject (central figure and other objects you see)
e.Elements (review the elements of art because this depends on the
form)
f.First impression (outstanding and/or disagreeable qualities of the art)
HOW TO CRITIQUE ARTWORKS

STEP 2. ANALYSIS (ANALYZE THE ARTWORK)

This is the in-depth examination of how the technical
elements were utilized by the artist to create the overall
impression conveyed the artwork.
a. Qualify and study carefully the quality of the elements in
the art
b. Assess how each basic element contribute to the mood,
meaning and overall beauty of the artwork
HOW TO CRITIQUE ARTWORKS

STEP 3. INTERPRETATION (INTERPRET THE MEANING OF THE ART)

This is a more subjective part of the critique. It is expected that
to use technical aspects of the art in applying supposition to the
artist’s intended purpose for the artwork. Try to accomplish the
following things when formulating your interpretation:
a.Communicate the artist’s statement. Describe what you think
the artist is trying to say through the work of art (or the meaning
and/or your interpretation)
b.Expound on the mood or the feeling that is conveyed by the
artwork. Describe what the artwork means to you and why.
HOW TO CRITIQUE ARTWORKS

c.Explain what you feel is the artist’s intended purpose for

creating that particular work of art.
d.Examine why the artist made the choices in technique,
materials, and subject matter and how they relate to the
intended purpose.
e.Identify the symbols in the artwork and describe how
they relate to the artist’s execution and the artwork itself
HOW TO CRITIQUE ARTWORKS

STEP 4. JUDGMENT (EVALUATE THE ARTWORK)

This is the summation of the art criticism process. After your
analysis and interpretation, this is the part where the critic needs
to draw conclusions and decide for the quality/value of that
artwork.
a.Review your analysis and interpretation.
b.State what is the value of the artwork.
c.Describe the artwork’s relevance to the art community and to
the humanity
d.Explain where you feel the artwork has a strong value and
where you think it falls short.
ART CRITICISM AND
APPLICATION OF CRITICAL
THEORIES
FRANKFURT SCHOOL: CHALLENGING
IDEOLOGIES

 The Frankfurt School is the name given to a group of German

intellectuals associated with the Institute for Social Research at the
University of Frankfurt. The Institute was established in 1923.

 ‘Critical Theory’ is the name given to the Institute’s critical mix of

Marxism and psychoanalysis.
FRANKFURT SCHOOL: CHALLENGING
IDEOLOGIES

 The academic influence of the critical method is far reaching.

Some of the key issues and philosophical preoccupations of
the School involve the critique of modernity and capitalist
society, the definition of social emancipation, as well as the
detection of the pathologies of society. Critical Theory
provides a specific interpretation of Marxist philosophy with
regards to some of its central economic and political notions
like commodification, reification, fetishization and critique of
mass culture (Corradetti, 2020).
FRANKFURT SCHOOL: CHALLENGING
IDEOLOGIES

One good example of challenging ideologies is of Coco Chanel’s

breakthrough in fashion industry:
MARXISM: INQUIRY TO THE CLASH OF
SOCIAL CLASS

Marxism is a difficult and contentious body of work. But it is

also more than this: it is a body of revolutionary theory with
the purpose of changing the world. As Marx (1976b)
famously said: ‘The philosophers have only interpreted the
world, in various ways; the point is to change it’ (Storey,
2009).
MARXISM: INQUIRY TO THE CLASH OF
SOCIAL CLASS
 The Marxist approach to culture insists that texts and
practices must be analyzed in relation to their historical
conditions of production (and in some versions, the
changing conditions of their consumption and
reception).
MARXISM: INQUIRY TO THE CLASH OF
SOCIAL CLASS
For example, Sugar cane (painting) by Jose Diego Maria Rivera where
it portrays the class struggle among the people of Mexico:
DECONSTRUCTION: REVERSING SIDES

 Deconstruction involves close reading/ examining the

text or the work of art in order to demonstrate that any
given art has irreconcilably contradictory meaning,
rather than being a unified, logical whole. . It was both
created and has been profoundly influenced by the
French philosopher Jacques Derrida.
 Through deconstruction, Derrida aims to erase the
boundary between binary oppositions – and to do so in
such a way that the hierarchy implied by the oppositions
is thrown into question (Mambrol, 2015).
DECONSTRUCTION: REVERSING SIDES

To explain further, like in the Frozen (2013 film), Elsa became the
protagonist despite its character basis from the Danish fairytale, “The
Snow Queen”. Based on the original story, the queen is the evil making
every people in their place suffer:
FEMINISM: CHALLENGING VIEWS ON
GENDER
 Feminism, like Marxism, is always more than a body of
academic texts and practices. It is also, and perhaps
more fundamentally so, a political movement
concerned with women’s oppression and the ways and
means to empower women – what the African-
American critic bell hooks (Gloria Jean Watkins) (1989)
described as ‘finding a voice’.
 Feminism as an approach examines the social, cultural,
political and psychosexual aspect of a particular work of
art such as literary text, painting, dance and etc.
FEMINISM: CHALLENGING VIEWS ON
GENDER
For example, Beyonce Knowles in music industry where she made her
image as a strong independent woman presenting in her songs like
“Run the World (Girls)”, that women are capable of ruling the world
like what men do:
QUEER THEORY: LOCATING THE
LIMITATIONS OF GENDER
 Queer theory, as Paul Burston and Colin Richardson (1995) explain,
‘provides a discipline for exploring the relationships between
lesbians, gay men and the culture which surrounds and (for the
large part) continues to seek to exclude us’ (1).
 Queer Theory seeks to locate Queerness in places that had
previously been thought of as strictly for the straights’ (ibid.). In this
way, they contend, ‘Queer Theory is no more “about” lesbians and
gay men than women’s studies is “about” women. Indeed, part of
the project of Queer is to attack the very “naturalness” of gender
and, by extension, the fictions supporting compulsory
heterosexuality’ (Storey, 2009).
QUEER THEORY: LOCATING THE
LIMITATIONS OF GENDER
For instance, the novel, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda written
by Becki Albertalli where the main character, Simon is blackmailed to
reveal his true gender identity:
CRITICAL RACE THEORY: EXAMINATION
OF THE RACE AND COLOR
 Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a movement that
challenges the ability of conventional legal strategies to
deliver social and economic justice and specifically calls
for legal approaches that take into consideration race
as a nexus of American life.
 . The movement champions many of the same concerns
as the civil rights movement but places those concerns
within a broader economic and historical context.
CRITICAL RACE THEORY: EXAMINATION
OF THE RACE AND COLOR
To elaborate, The Color Purple, a play written by Marsha Norman
based from Alice Walker’s novel of the same title, the main character,
Georgia,
Celie lives in a cyclical world of pain and violence from the people
around her:
POSTCOLONIALISM: THE ART AFTER
COLONIAL POWER
 The semantic basis of the term ‘postcolonial’ might seem to suggest
a concern only with the national culture after the departure of the
imperial power.
 We use the term ‘post-colonial’, however, to cover all the culture
affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonization
to the present day. This is because there is a continuity of
preoccupations throughout the historical process initiated by
European imperial aggression. We also suggest that it is most
appropriate as the term for the new crosscultural criticism which has
emerged in recent years and for the discourse through which this is
constituted (Storey, 2009).
POSTCOLONIALISM: THE ART AFTER
COLONIAL POWER
To deepen, influences of European architecture in Southeast Asia,
specifically in the Northern region of the Philippines where the houses
are commonly designed based on the Spanish aesthetics:
ARTS ROAD
TO CLASSICS
 The concept of
“aesthetic value”
refers to that value
which causes an
object to be a “work
of art.” This is a
AESTHETIC quality which appeals
to our sense of
VALUE beauty.
 An artwork stimulates
thought. It enriches
our mental life by
making us realize
fundamental truths
and ourselves, about

INTELLECTUAL other human beings,

and about the world

VALUE around us
 This is the quality
associated with the
emotional power of art.
Great works of art move us
deeply and stir our feeling
and imagination, giving
and evoking visions
above and beyond the
SUGGESTIVENESS plain of ordinary life and
experience.
 Art elevates the spirit
by bringing out moral
values which make
us a better person.
The capacity to

SPIRITUAL
inspire is part of the
spiritual value of art.

VALUE
 This is the peculiar way
in which an artist sees his
subject, forms his ideas,
and expresses them.
Great artworks are
marked as much by their
memorable substance
as well as by their

STYLE distinctive style. Style

should suit content.
 A great work of art
endures. It can be
viewed again and again
as each encounter gives
fresh delight and new
insights and opens new
worlds of meaning and

PERMANENCE
experience.
Its appeal is lasting.
 Great art is timeless and
timely. It is forever
relevant and appeals to
one and all, anytime,
anywhere because it
deals with the elemental
feelings, fundamental
truths, and universal
UNIVERSALITY conditions.
 Artistic forms are skeletal
structures or conceptual
frameworks designed to support
or enclose parts of the works of
art. It is the organization,
arrangement, or framework of an
artwork; the manner or style of
constructing, arranging, and
coordinating the parts of a

FORM composition for a pleasing or

effective result.
AESTHETIC VALUE
INTELLECTUAL VALUE
SUGGESTIVENESS
SPIRITUAL VALUE
STYLE FORM
PERMANENCE UNIVERSALITY
Lecture on
Cultural
Appropriation
Cultural appropriation refers to
the use of objects or elements
of a non-dominant culture in a
way that does not respect their
original meaning, give credit to
their source, or
reinforces stereotypes or
Cultural
contributes to oppression. Appropriation
(Cuncic, 2020).

2
In short,
It is when someone
takes elements from a
culture not their own
and remakes and
Cultural
reduces it into a
Appropriation
meaningless pop
cultural item.
3
Let’s understand the following terms:

Culture
Appropriation
Cultural Denigration
Cultural Appreciation

4
CULTURE
- refers to anything associated with a group
of people based on their ethnicity, religion,
geography, or social environment. This might
include beliefs, traditions, language, objects,
ideas, behaviors, customs, values, or
institutions. Most often, culture is thought of
as belonging to particular ethnic groups.

5
 APPROPRIATION
- refers to taking something that does not belong to
you and most often refers to an exchange that
happens when a dominant group takes or borrows
something from a minority group that has
historically been exploited or oppressed.
In this sense, appropriation involves a lack of
understanding of or appreciation for the historical
context that influences the act of what is being
taken.
6
CULTURAL DENIGRATION
- refers to when someone adopts an
element of a culture with the sole purpose
of humiliating or putting down people of
that culture.

7
CULTURAL APPRECIATION
Cultural appreciation is the respectful
borrowing of elements from another
culture with an interest in sharing
ideas and diversifying oneself.

8
Further,
It is when one truly
honors our nations’ arts
and cultures; taking time
to learn and interact, to
gain understanding of a Cultural
culture or cultures Appreciation
different from one’s
own.

9
Cultural appropriation covers all
items:
Intellectual property
Artifacts
Dance
Clothing and fashion
Language
Music
Food
Religious symbols
Decorations
Medicine
Makeup
Hairstyle
Tattoos
Wellness practices
10
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ISSUES
SAMPLE 1

NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS

JUST COSTUMES?
11
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ISSUES
SAMPLE 2

VOGUING from NY Ballroom Gay MADONNA’S VOGUE SONG

Black Community
12
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ISSUES
SAMPLE 3

NAS DAILY
APO WHANG-OD
13
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION ISSUES
SAMPLE 4

T’NALAK CLOTH by T’BOLI

AFFORDABLE FASHION?
People
14
HOW TO BE CULTURALLY APPRECIATIVE?

Cultural Exchange
Mutual Respect
Consent
Participation
Inclusion
15
 “The “
world is us. All
cultures are us,
therefore, if it is about
us then it must include
us.”

16
Bong Salamat!

17
 REMINDER

A good critic knows the “what,” but they must

also know why they appreciate.

Here, we will be familiarizing ourselves with the

qualities of art. The set of criteria that a
Humanities/Art Appreciation student must find
and defend why an art deserved a spot in the
“The Arts.”
 QUALITIES OF ART
Qualities or Criteria for an Art to be in
the “The Arts”
1. Movement
2. Unity and Harmony
3. Balance
4. Variety
5. Hierarchy and Pattern
 MOVEMENT

It shows actions, or alternatively, the path the

viewer's eye follows throughout an artwork.
Movement is caused by using elements under
the rules of the principles in picture to give the
feeling of motion and to guide the viewer's
eyes throughout the artwork.
 MOVEMENT

Movement is the path the viewer’s eye takes

through the artwork, often to focal areas. Such
movement can be directed along lines edges,
shape and color within the artwork.
GOOD MOVEMENT SHOWS MORE DRAMA

Using the relative size of elements against each other can

attract attention to a focal point. When elements are
designed larger than life, scale is being used to show
drama.
 HOW TO CREATE MOVEMENT
Scale and proportion can be used to create an
effect of movement in a visual artwork.
Scale - an element that is further into the background
is smaller in scale and lighter in value.
Proportion - the same element repeated in different
places within the same image can also demonstrate
the passing of time or movement
 UNITY AND HARMONY
UNITY is the concept behind the artwork. An analogy would
be the way in which a conductor directs a wide variety of
instruments in an orchestra to produce symphony that is
recognized as a single comprehensible piece. Unity is how
well different parts of an artwork build on each other.
“Oneness of all elements”

HARMONY is achieved in a body of work by using similar

elements throughout the work, and gives an uncomplicated
look to a piece of artwork or sculpture.
“Pleasing combination of all elements”
 IN DRAMATIC ARTS…

• UNITY

• ACTION
• TIME
• PLACE
 BALANCE
Balance is arranging elements so that no one part of a
work overpowers, or seems heavier than any other part. It
is also a principle that deals with the visual weight of an
artwork.

“Equilibrium of the elements and designs being used”

 VARIETY
Variety is the quality or state of having different
forms or types, notable use of contrast, emphasis,
difference in size and color. We cannot demand variety
in all types of art but it could be a help in designing.

To achieve variety, an artist may use the ff.

1. Dominance
2. Emphasis
3. Similarity
4. Contrast
• Dominance/emphasis
Dominance is created by contrasting size, positioning,
color, style, or shape. The focal point should dominate the
design with scale and contrast without sacrificing the unity
of the whole. Make it dominant so it would be emphasize.

• Similarity and contrast

Planning a consistent and similar design is an important
aspect of a designers work to make their focal point visible.
Too much similarity is boring; but without similarity, important
elements will not exist. And, an image without contrast is
uneventful so the key is to similarity and contrast
appropriately depending on artist’s perspective.
 STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY
EVENING
BY ROBERT FROST
…. An excerpt

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
 HIERARCHY AND PATTERN
A good design contains elements that lead the reader through each
element in order of its significance. The type and images should be
expressed starting from most important to the least.
Pattern is showing consistency with colors or lines. Putting a red spiral at
the bottom left and top right, for example, will cause the eye to move
from one spiral, to the other, and everything in between. It is indicating
movement by the repetition of elements. Rhythm can make an artwork
seem active.
Hierarchy is the ‘ranking’ of the elements being emphasized,
while
Pattern is the ‘consistent’ effort to put rhythm or harmony in the artwork
But above all else…

Quality in art is an ultimate truth expressed

through an individual's unique experience of
existence. Its success in expression and
transmission lies in its potential to communicate
more than its surface values.
MANHATTAN ARTS
SUBJECTS OR SOURCES OF ART
Subject as in concept/topic

1. NATURE (mimesis)
2. REAL LIFE / EVENTS / HISTORY
3. PEOPLE
4. ABSTRACT / IMAGINATION
5. RELIGION / MYTHOLOGY

ELEMENTS of ART

VISUAL ARTS

L – LINE
S – SHAPE
Sp – SPACE
F – FORM (shadow, light, middleground, background)

C – COLOR (Hue (name), Value (vividness), Tint, Shade

T – TEXTURE (visual & tactile)
V – VALUE (quality/definition)
P – PERSPECTIVE
MUSIC / AUDITORY ARTS

B – BEAT
D - DYNAMICS (Loudness & Softness)
F – FORM (Coda, verse, chorus, bridge)
H – HARMONY (1 or 2 tones)
M – MELODY (add one more tones/ LSS)

P – PITCH (highness or lowness)

R – RHYTHM (flow or pattern)
T – TEMPO (speed)
Ti – TIMBRE (tone color)

LITERARY ARTS

POETRY

R & M – RHYME & METER

F – FORM (song, haiku, elegy, ode, sonnet, etc.)
R – RHYTHM
L – LANGUAGE (style)
T – TONE (attitude of the poet)
P / V – PERSONA /VOICE
Th – THEME
 FICTION / DRAMA

P – PLOT
C – CHARACTER
S – SETTING
T – TONE (attitude of the author)
P of V – POINT OF VIEW
L – LANGUAGE / STYLE
Co – CONFLICT
Th – THEME

DANCE

F – FORCE (energy/grace)
T – TIME
Sp – SPACE

THEATER ARTS

S – Script / Text
P – Production
P – Process (Page to Stage)
A – Audience
FILM / CINEMA ARTS

Th – THEME
P – PLOT
S – STORY OR SCREENPLAY
A – ACTING
C & M – COSTUME & MAKE-UP
S – SOUND
M – MUSIC
C – CINEMATOGRAPHY
D – DIRECTING

ARCHITECTURE

D – DURABILITY (Firmness)
F – FUNCTIONALITY
B – BEAUTY (Design)