Humanities  Utilitarian- can be used in real life

(practical)
Chapter 1
- People always aspire to attain beauty.
There are times that people encounter
Etymology:
certain dilemma regarding the use of
Humanities came from the Latin word
the concept “art” that pertains to
“HUMANUS” which means to be truly human.
beauty, with the concept “craft”, that
refers to anything that is being useful.
 To be truly human, is to be culturally
enhanced and refined.
“Beautiful things can be useful and useful
things can be beautiful.”
Culture comes from the Latin terms “CULTUS-
COLERE”, which means to cultivate, to
According to Aristotle, “Art is the reason
develop.
of making things”, therefore, any kind of
 Culture is the general way of life of a
human activity that is directed to change
society, including ways of thinking,
or transform things under the patterns of
beliefs, customs, language, art and
right reason can be considered as an art.
traditions.
 It is cumulative creation of man, the
 Art is very important in our lives and is
totality of human heritage.
considered as a “language of feeling”
It is also considered as one of the
HISTORY:
oldest and most important means of
Medieval Period: “cultivation of
expression developed by man.
spirituality”
 Related to love, there is a need for a
Renaissance Period: set of disciplines
clear and proper communication of
being taught in colleges and universities
sensuous medium/media of
Modern Period: it is referred to as
expression to fully express our
ARTS. Humanities is art itself.
thoughts and feelings towards others.
 Art is a formal expression of human
Etymology and Evolution of Art:
existence which focuses on two
 Aryan Root “AR” meaning “join” or
distinct ideas:
“put together”
- FORM: pertains to expression
 Greek Verbs:
- SUBSTANCE: refers to man’s
a. Artizein- to prepare
experiences in life
b. Arkiskein- to put together
 Latin ARS, ARTIS meaning everything
FUNCTIONS of ART:
that is artificially made or composed of
 PHYSICAL
by man.
- Utility
Importance/Impact of Art Human
- Instructional
Existence:
- Historical
 Transformed Aesthetically
- Representational
  SOCIAL
- Influential Media
- Interaction (communication)
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
- Inspirational
- Relaxation
- Gratification
Other Functions of Art to Human
Existence:
1. AESTHETIC FUNCTION – man must be
aware and conscious about the beauty
of his environment through arts in
attaining perfection.
2. CULTURAL FUNCTION- through art,
man has the ability to know more
about his own self, becomes more
educated, civilized and refined that
makes his life more meaningful.
3. SOCIAL FUNCTION- the new learning
and experiences of man and the
creation of civic and graphic arts
stimulate inner feelings and emotions
conveying positive values where man
learns to participate empathize and
cooperate as an active member of the
society.
4. UTILITARIAN FUNCTION- art plays a
significant role in man’s daily life.
Through this, man can acquire his
basic needs such as food, shelter,
clothing, and other necessities and
conveniences.
Areas of the Arts
The following areas or branches of
learning that are concerned to human
thoughts, feelings, and relations will help us to
have a full and better understanding about
each topic, their complexity, differences and
the primary/sensuous medium or media of
expression or in other words “Symbolic
Languages” with beauty of design and
coherence of form.
1. Visual Arts
 Type of arts that can be perceived by
the sense of sight and can be
projected onto 3-dimensional
graphical forms.
 May vary on types depending on
different fields and occasions.
o Water color/acrylic in painting;
ricks and concrete for
architecture; wood, stones
and metal for sculpture; plants
and trees for landscaping;
textiles and furnishings for
interior designing)
2. Literature
 Etymology: Latin word “litterae”
which means letters.
 As an art, the combination of letters
into words then words are used to
form a complete sentence, and
sentences into paragraphs as another
means of artist’s expression of
personal ideas, feelings, values, beliefs
etc.
 It is also related to a French phrase
“belles lettres” as a part of classical
humanities which means “beautiful
writing”.
3. Drama and Theater
 As a distinct type of art, refers to an
action played by a number of
characters in a particular type of story
giving emphasis on a plot.
PLOT- a brief sequence of incidents or events
of which a story is composed wherein the
basis is the conflict, struggle or problem
within.
 The distinction between drama,
theatre, and opera vary in terms of the
numbers of characters portraying
certain role endowed with physical,
emotional, and intellectual qualities
given by the writer or the director.
OPERA- a form of theatre wherein a story is
mostly expressed not only by a script but also
through the use of either one or two distinct
types of musical instruments or the
application of the whole ensemble orchestra.
4. Music
 This is the combination of various
sounds at varying pitch in order to
produce certain composition as an
expression of the artist’s feelings and
experiences.
 It can also be considered as an
example of Pure Art pertaining to the
use of only one kind of medium of
expression which is the use of musical
sounds.
 As a Pure Art, a typical type of music
has its own INTENSITY that can affect
people directly since we are very
receptive to the numerous stimulus
that need certain responses.
 It is one of the reasons why a “great
music specially radiates infectious
joy”.
5. Dance
 It is considered as the “first art
cultivated by man and the origin of all
his aesthetic beauty”.
 Dancing has a great role for early
people.
 It is a part of many rituals and
ceremonies and even burial practices
as well as during the time of courtship,
planting and season of harvesting
wherein people, liberated with their
feelings are easily shared to others
through distinct body movements.
 As the “origin of Arts”, dance served
as the inspiration in conducting
different kinds of arts like painting,
music and literature.
Purposes of Arts
1. Arts have moral, educational, social,
cultural and religious purposes.
2. Arts for art’s sake.
3. Afford man’s moments of relaxation.
4. Imagination is satisfied.
5. Arts as outlet of our slumbering
passion. We find meaning in the
fictitious representation of arts, the
passions of drama, emotions of
poetry, moods of music, fancies of
painting and sordid life of novels.
6. Powerful means to reform or change
man.
Division of Arts
A. With Respect to Purpose
a. Practical Arts- directed to
produce artifacts and utensils
which cope with human needs.
b. Liberal arts- intellectual efforts
are considered; take for the
cases of AB courses like
Philosophy, Psychology, Social
Sciences and Journalism.
c. Fine Arts- products of the
human creativity in so far as
they express beauty in
different ways and different
like drawing, painting.
 d. Major Arts- characterized by
their actual and potential
expressiveness like music,
poetry, sculpture.
e. Minor Arts- connected with
practical uses and purposes
like interior design, landscape,
porcelain making.
B. With Respect to Media and Forms
a. Plastic Arts- perceived by the
sense of sight like painting,
sculpture, architecture
b. Phonetic Arts- based on
sounds and words like music,
poetry, drama, literature
c. Kinetic Arts- rhythmic
movements like the different
kinds of dances
d. Pure Arts- which only take one
medium of expression as in
sound in music and color in
painting
e. Mixed Arts- which use two or
more media like opera as in
combination of music, poetry
and drama.
Classification of Arts
1. Space Arts- visual arts
 2-dimensional (seen only in one angle)
o Painting
o Printing
o Photography
o Drawing/ Sketching
 3-dimensional (seen in several angles)
o Sculpture
o Architecture
 Time Arts- auditory arts
o Music
o Dance
o Combination: Musical Theater/
Opera
Hierarchy of Arts
1. Immanuel Kant: Music is the lowest of
all arts because it only gives sensible
pleasures.
2. Arthur Schopenhauer: Music is the
greatest because it is capable of
freeing man from his fears and desires,
from his anger and despair, and from
other passions and anxieties.
3. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:
Poetry has the best qualities like
immediate perception, creative
imagination, development of thoughts
and events.
4. Gottfried Leibnitz- The fusion of
poetry and music is the highest art.
***There is no final manner by which a
hierarchy of the arts may be established. Each
art has its own value and each person has
his/her own preferences or opinions.
Arts according to:
 PLATO: Art imitates nature. Art
imitates life.
 ARISTOTLE: Art imitates men and
nature in action.
 OSCAR WILDE: It is life that imitates
art.
 HENRI-LOUIS BERGSON: it is not
reason that enables us to imitate. Art
is not imitation. Art is made from
intuition. (immediate sensation and
intense feeling)
 G.E. MOORE: Art is both imitation and
intuition.
  SIGMUND FREUD: Art is a wish
fulfilment, an excellent work of art
results from frustration.
 JOSE ORTEGA Y GASSET: Art is a form
of escape, escape from human
negative elements.
 LEO TOLSTOY: Art is communication;
it infects our feelings.
 BENEDETTO CROCE: Art is merely an
expression regardless if it is
understood or not.
 ALBERT CAMUS: Art is rebellion.
 JOHN DEWEY: Art is not limited in the
gallery and museum.
 DANTE LEONCINI: When man
beautifies himself, he becomes a
human art.
 MARGARETTE MACDONALD: Art is
esoteric. It is mysterious. It is
undefinable. It is transintelligible. It is
describable.
Where does beauty lie?
 Beauty is out there; it is objective. It is
primary quality that resides in the
object.
 Beauty is not there; it is secondary
quality that resides in the perceiver.
(John Locke)
 Beauty is neither primary nor
secondary; it is tertiary in nature. It
depends on the appropriate
situational perspective.
Categories of Beautiful
1. The Sublime- enjoyment is aroused by
astonishment and awe like looking at
the starry heavens, the majesty of
mountain ranges, the heroic act of
heroes and saints
2. The Nice- enjoyment is aroused by
sympathy, love, benevolence,
tenderness and modesty like children,
flowers, flower arrangement, artifacts.
3. The Comic- enjoyment is aroused
because it makes us laugh like satire
and irony, the exaggerated, the
repetitious, the ridiculous and the
playful.
Ways of Presenting Art Subjects
 Realism
o Object depicted in the way
they normally appear. What
you see is what you get.
 Abstractionism
o In painting and sculpture, it
magnifies one phase of reality
without representational
intentions having little or no
resemblance to natural
appearance. It does not show
the subject as a whole but only
his idea or his feeling about it.
- Kinds of Abstraction
a. Elongation- it refers to that
which is being lengthened.
b. Shortening- it refers to that
which is being shortened.
c. Distortion- dramatization of
figure to create emotional
effects.
d. Mangling- showing of subjects
or objects that are cut,
mutilated or hacked.
e. Cubism- originated in Picasso,
which transposed natural
forms into overlapping
transparent planes.
 Surrealism (super-realism, beneath
the real)  Impressionism
o Is the combination of realism o It is a method in painting with
and distortion. It emphasized small vibrant dots of color.
the omnipotence of the dream This gave rise to the later
and the sub-conscious mind. It method called pointillism.
was founded by poet-painter
Andre Breton in 1924 in Paris,
France.  Symbolism
o It uses something invisible
 Dadaism such as an idea or a quality to
o In literature and painting, it represent another thing.
literally means “the killing of
the arts”. Originated by
Maricel Duchamp in 1916 in
Zurich, Switzerland. It is
characterized to be “non-
sensical”

 Expressionism
o The emphasis is on “the inner
world” of subjective feeling
rather than on the outer
world.

 Fauvism
o In painting, led by Henri
Matisse
In 1903-1907 in France, this
school showed distorted form
and employed vivid
spontaneous color effects,
characterized by the use of
extremely bright colors in
order to express joy, pleasure
and comfort.

 Futurism
o It attempts to capture the
movement and the dynamism
of the modern world.