ART APPRE: Subject and content

• Subject refers to the “what” of an artwork
• It denotes the topic, focus or image of the work of art
• It can be a person, an object, a theme or an idea
• Content is the “why” of an artwork which indicates the artist’s intention or the meaning behind the work
• It can be the intellectual message of an artwork, a statement, an expression, or mood developed by the artist and interpreted by the observer
• Form signifies the “how” of the work, describing how the artwork has been developed or put together
• Representational art:

  • Images in painting and sculpture that are clearly recognizable
  • Must represent something we might see in the real world
• Non-representational art:

  • Consists of images that have no clear identity and must be interpreted by the viewer
  • Does not look like things we find in the real world or include recognizable images or shapes of objects
• Kinds of subject:

  • Still life
  • Figures
  • Animals
  • Nature
  • Landscape
  • Seascape/Cityscape
  • Myth
  • Fantasies
• Content in art:

  • Factual meaning: literal statement or narrative content in the work, easily captured because of identifiable forms in the artwork
  • Conventional meaning: special meaning that a certain object or color has for a particular culture or group of people
  • Subjective meaning: personal meaning consciously or unconsciously conveyed by the artist using private symbolism
• Worksheet task:

  • Analyze famous artworks created by Filipino artists
  • Determine the source that the artist used in their masterpiece
  • Describe the content and subject used by the artist for visual understanding in the artwork
• Solomon Saprid’s sculpture of “Tikbalang”