Philippine Art

The Limitations of Classification by Genres

WILLIAM JR R. RANARA
culture
is everything we think and do. Our way of Life

The manner we respond to changes in our environment

It is constructed, nurtured, learned, negotiated, and

is not natural.

While it is steadfast, it changes and is dynamic

suiting itself to external changes, therefore Culture
can never be preserved.

Culture is the means that allow us to

survive. You preserve it, we all die.
CONCEPTS
Philippine ?
 Territory?
 Place of birth? Residence?
 Embodied behavior? Lifestyle? Culture?

Art ?
 Craft ? Technical proficiency
 Process?
 Embodied forms of similar characteristics
Philosophy? System of knowledge? Expression of
a worldview?
 ART
Cultural Expressions
Palpable: it is experienced through a medium or mediums
Functional: it fulfills some social role in the community
Expresses a reality, a lifestyle
A people’s way of understanding their world
Forms are loaded with values
Art is living,
interactive, and
evolving. Traditional
Art is always
CONTEMPORARY
 Approaches to the study
• SYNCHRONIC • DIACHRONIC
Studies structure of Studies Art within the
forms independent context of a milieu
from culture (formal)
CONCEPTS
CONCEPTS
culture, history,
medium, subject, function, values,
elements, technique, worldview, myth &
form, expressive religion, semiotics
content
 CLASSIFICATION
GENRE (MEDIUM-BASED)
HISTORICAL PERIODS
CULTURE-CONTEXT
FORM AND FUNCTION
GENRE (7 ARTS)
Space/visual, aural/time, and combined
• Architecture
• Visual Arts: Painting and
Sculpture
• Music
• Literature
• Theatre (Dramatic Arts)
• Dance
• Cinema
Historical Periods
• Pre-historic
• Pre-colonial
• Spanish Colonial
• American colonial
• Post colonial
Pre-historic
Islamized
Spanish Colonial
Spanish Colonial
American Colonial
Culture-Context
• Indigenous
• Hispanic
• Islamized
• Afro-American
• Cosmopolitan
indigenous

• Cordilleras and Mindanao

• Pre-colonial, ethnic
• Links with SEAsian migrants
• Functional, linked with peoples’
communal activities, shared
• Bound to religion and ritual
• Literature: oral
• Forms connect to nature
• Learned in non-formal ways
Islamized

Form & Function
Traditional Art
Learned in non-formal means, in
apprenticeships, or handed down
Ownership of art form and creation is
communal
There is generally little distinction between
performer/creator and audience
Multi-functional, meets communal needs
Emphasis is on the creative process rather
than on the end product
Integrated arts where the genres merge
(e.g. music-dance-visuals-literature in one
form)
 
Always contemporary, dynamic. Changes
to meet present needs
 
Improvisatory and spontaneous. Effective
if basic socio-cultural intentions are met
Fine Arts
Learned in formal academies, as specialized
courses
The individual talent, a “superstar, owns the
creation”
Performer/artist is separate from the
audience
Function is entertainment
Emphasis is on the end product: the art wor
Each genre is generally distinct from the
other (e.g., music, dance, literature)
 
Certain permanence (in museum displays,
music scores, film)
 
Structured, with bases for execution and
quality
1. Art is a consequence of synthesis of various elements in Culture.
What you see as “form” reflects the culture that shapes this. There is
intent in the creation of Art. The complete appreciation of these
expressions is when engagement and intent are completed. This is
where Aesthetics operate.

2. Understand how Classifications are determined by how cultures

order their realities and make sense of their world

3. Appreciate Creative Expressions within the terms of the cultures

producing these (Cultural Relativity)
 Philippine Art

a
The Limitations of Classification by Genres

Q&