ARTA111

• Even before written records of man’s civilization appeared, there were cases of man’s attempts at expressing feelings and thoughts
• The Galloping Wild Boar found in the cave of Altamira, Spain belongs to the Upper Paleolithic Age, several thousands of years before the current era
• The humanities have existed even before the term was coined, bearing witness to the phenomenon of human expression
• Basic Assumptions of Art

  • Art has been created by all people at all times, in all countries and it lives because it's well-liked and enjoyed
  • Art involves experience; there can never be appreciation of art without experience
  • Art is not nature; Nature is not art
  • Art is made by man; Art is everywhere
  • Art is man’s oldest means of expression; Art as a means of expression & communication; HIEROGLYPHICS
• Humanities: '“The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means of expression developed by man”'
• Human persons have long been exercising what it means to be human, participating in the tradition of humanizing themselves
• Human history has witnessed how man evolved not just physically but also culturally, from cave painters to men of exquisite paintbrush users of the present
• Pre-historic men, with their crude instruments, showcased the earliest attempts at recording man’s innermost interests, preoccupations, and thoughts
• The Galloping Wild Boar found in the cave of Altamira, Spain is an example of early human expression through art
• Performance Art


  • Live art using the human body as the main medium, may also employ visual art, props, or sound
• Architecture


  • Designing and constructing buildings and other structures, often referred to as the "mother of the arts", materials used include stone, concrete, brick, wood, steel, glass, and plaster
• Visual Arts


  • Art form that the population is most likely more exposed to, diverse variations include sculptures, paintings, drawings, lettering, printing, sculptures, digital imaging, and more
• Personal functions of art are varied and highly subjective, depending on the artist who created the art
• Applied Arts


  • Incorporates style and design into everyday items to increase their aesthetical value, brings beauty, charm, and comfort into useful everyday items
• Literary Art


  • Focuses on writing using a unique style, includes fiction and non-fiction such as novels, biographies, and poems
• Physical functions of art are found in artworks crafted to serve some physical purpose
• Art can be and is used as therapy for individuals with a variety of illnesses, both physical and mental
• Dance


  • Series of movements following the rhythm of music accompaniment
• Film


  • Putting together successions of still images to create an illusion of movement, focuses on aesthetic, cultural, and social value, considered as both an art and an industry
• Poetry Performance


  • Expresses emotions through words
• Functions of Art

  1. AS A THERAPY

  2. ART AS ARTIFACT

  3. PERSONAL FUNCTION OF ART

  4. SOCIAL FUNCTION OF ART

  5. PHYSICAL FUNCTION OF ART

  6. Other Functions of Art
• Theater


  • Uses live performers to present accounts or imaginary events before a live audience, usually follows a script
• Art functions as an artifact representing the ideas and technology of a specific time and place, providing tangible records of peoples and enhancing insights into cultures
• Art has a social function when it addresses a particular collective interest, such as political art conveying messages of protest or contestation
• Music is an art with other functions
• Other Functions of Art

  • Art as a Representation
  • Art as a Disinterested Judgment
  • Art as a Communication of Emotion
• Physical function of art

  • Artworks crafted to serve some physical purpose
• Types of Subject

  • Representational art
  • Non-Representational art
• Sources of Subject

  • Judeo-Christian Tradition
  • Sacred Oriental Texts
  • “Sistine Chapel” – Michelangelo
  • “Interior of Westminster
  • "Shah Jahan Receiving Dara Shikoh"
• Content


  Meaning communicated by the artist or the artwork
• Conventional


  Pertains to the acknowledged interpretation of the artwork using motifs, signs, symbols, and other cyphers as bases of its meaning
• Sources of Subject

  • NATURE
  • HISTORY
  • Greek and Roman Mythology
  • Judeo-Christian Tradition
  • Sacred Oriental Texts
  • Other works of art
• Levels of meaning in art

  • FACTUAL
  • CONVENTIONAL
  • SUBJECTIVE
• Art


  • May convey message of protest, contestation, or whatever message the artist intends his work to carry
• Kinds of Subject

  • History
  • STILL LIFE
  • ANIMALS
  • Myth
  • Landscape
  • Seascape
  • Figures
  • Nature
  • CITYSCAPE
  • Mythology
  • Dreams
  • FANTASIES
• Sources of Subject

  • NATURE
  • HISTORY
  • Greek and Roman Mythology
  • Vincent van Gogh "Die Ebene von Auvers"
  • “Discobolus” – Greek original by the sculptor Myron of 450-440 BC
  • Battle of Waterloo
• Subject


  Visual focus or the image extracted from examining the artwork
• Other Functions of Art

  • Music in its original form was principally functional, used for dance and religion
• Types of Subject

  • Representational art
  • Non-Representational art
• Subjective


  Variety of meaning arising from the viewer’s or audience’s circumstances when engaging with art