PAINTING

DEFINITION
- Painting is one of the fine arts that depict various experience of man through imaginative aggression of lines
and color.
- The practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface (support base). In art, the term
describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting.
- Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or
concrete.
- Paintings may be decorated with gold leaf, and some modern paintings incorporate other materials including
sand, clay, and scraps of paper.

HISTORY OF PAINTING
- It originated in France and was introduced in the Philippines by the Spaniards during 17th century.
- The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts from pre-historic humans, and spans all cultures, that
represent a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from Antiquity.
- Across cultures, and spanning continents and millennia, the history of painting is an ongoing river of creativity
that continues into the 21st century. Until the early 20th century it relied primarily on representational, religious and
classical motifs, after which time more purely abstract and conceptual approaches gained favor.
- Developments in Eastern painting historically parallel those in Western painting, in general, a few centuries
earlier.
- The oldest known paintings are at the Grotte Chauvet in France, claimed by some historians to be about
32,000 years old. They are engraved and painted using red ochre and black pigment and show horses, rhinoceros, lions,
buffalo, mammoth or humans often hunting.
- However the earliest evidence of painting has been discovered in two rock-shelters in Arnhem Land, in
northern Australia. In the lowest layer of material at these sites there are used pieces of ochre estimated to be 60,000
years old.
- Archaeologists have also found a fragment of rock painting preserved in a limestone rock-shelter in the
Kimberley region of North-Western Australia that is dated 40 000 years old.
- In Western cultures oil painting and watercolor painting are the best known media, with rich and complex
traditions in style and subject matter. In the East, ink and color ink historically pre-dominated the choice of media with
equally rich and complex traditions.

FILIPINO PAINTERS
 Juan Luna – “The Death of Cleopatra”, made him won the a silver medal at the National Exposition of Fine Arts
(1881)
- “The Spolarium”, his greatest masterpiece that made him won a gold medal at the National Exposition of Fine
Arts held in Madrid in 1184
- “Battle of Lepanto”, made him won another gold medal at the Barcelona Exposition in 1888
- “El pacto de Sangre”, made him won first prize in Paris and at the St. Louis Exposition, USA 1904.
 Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo – “La Barca de Aqueronte” (gold medal)
-“Jovenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho” (silver medal)
- “Adios del Sol” (silver medal)
- he is also the painter of “Assassination of Gov. Gen. Fernando Bustamante”

Purposes of Painting
1. Painting commemorates historical events.
2. For recognition of religious activities.

PAINTING MEDIA AND TECHNIQUES

A. FRESCO
- The word fresco has its origin from the Italian ford “fresco” which means fresh.
There are two types of fresco:
 Buon fresco- watercolor paints
 Fresco Secco – dry plaster
B. TEMPERA - Tempera painting involves the application of powered pigments mixed with egg yolk to a panel, usually
wood (often covered with linen), on which several coats of gesso (plaster of paris mixed with glue) have been carefully
rubbed down to create a glassy- smooth surface
C. OIL - This refers to art of applying oil based colors to surface to create a picture or a design.
D. ACRYLICS - Acrylics are water- based paints from acrylic resins
E. WATER COLOR - In art, it is a type of painting with pigments dissolve in water.“ The distinguishing characteristic of
water color painting is its translucency.”

ELEMENTS OF PAINTING
A. SUBJECT - Answers the question “what is the painting all about?”
B. MEDIUM - Refers to the materials used by the artist in his painting
C. LINE - The pattern made by the outlines of the painting
D. COLOR – The complexion of the painting
E. TEXTURE – The quality produced by the arrangement, treatment or handling of a medium or material.
F. VOLUME – The loudness or fullness of the painting
G. PERSPECTIVE – The art of representing three-dimensional objects on a flat surface
H. FORM – The relationship of the parts of a work of art in the organization of the whole
I. STYLE - The distinguishing way of the painter and his paintings

MAJOR PAINTING TECHNIQUES AND STYLES

A. REALISM - introduced by a French man named Gustave Courbet in 19th century. Adopted to describe things
represent figures and exactly how they look like in real life.
B. SUREALISM - invented from the word super naturalism. It is used to emphasize the unconscious creative activity of
the mind.
C. ABSTRACTION - Abstraction is the process by which subject matter in art is pared down or simplified in order to
capture the intrinsic or essential qualities there in.
D. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM - A school of art that developed expressionism, which applied the principles of
expressionism to abstract art.
E. BAROQUE - The style of European art from the late 16th to early 18th century characterized by extensive
ornamentation.
F. Cloisonism - A style of European art where an object is outlined, then “coloured in” using one, flat color.
G. Cubism - A French school of art most prominent between 1907 and 1914.
- initiated by Cezanne, the father of cubism. It shows the flatness of the picture and rejects traditional
perspectives.

Types of cubism:
--Analytic cubism - a style where municipality of viewpoints replace one point perspective.
--Synthetic cubism- grew out of experiments with collage.
H. EXPRESSIONISM - Expressionism is a term used to describe a movement of the early 20 th century that was most
prominent in Germany and Austria.
- tries to express subjective feelings and emotions of the artists. It is how the artist feels about the subject
I. FAUVISM - It is a style of painting that flourished round the turn of the 20 th century.
- the painter tries to paint picture by using bright and extreme colors in order to assume positive characters.
J. IMPRESSIONISM - Impressionism in painting was the result of the dissatisfaction with the classical and sentimental
subjects and dry, precise techniques of paintings.
- the artist depicts what stimulates the eye. What we see is important in an impressionist. When they create an
art they are more concerned with the effects of lights that would get the attention of the audience.
K. SYMBOLISM - the visible sign of something invisible such as ideas or quality. Something that you can create in the
mind such as ideas that can be depicted through painting.
L. POINTILLISM - a style of painting in which the artists use small distinct dots of color forming a figure and it has an
item of “luminosity” and create the impression of a wide selection of other colors and blending.
M. FUTURISM - an art movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. Machine and motions is the main
subject of this technique which tries to show movement and speed. Rejected the traditional perspectives and
attempted to glorify a new life.
N. MINIMALISM - the form is reduced to outmost simplicity geometrical shape which emphasizes space.
O. DADAISM - a post-World War I cultural movement in visual art as well as literature (mainly poetry), theatre and
graphic design. It shows a movement that shock and provokes the viewers.
P. CONSTRUCTIVISM - derived from the word “construction.” Construction of abstract pictures such as metal and wire.

Realism Surrealism
 Cloisonism Cubism Cubism, Demoiselles d’ Avignon
in 1907 by Pablo Picasso

Expressionism, The Scream by Fauvism

Impressionism
Edvard Munch in 1892

Symbolism, La mort du fossoyeur

Pointillism, La Parade de Cirqu by Futurism, The City Rises by
("The death of the gravedigger")
Seurat (1889) Umberto Boccioni (1910)
by Carlos Schwabe
Minimalism, The reconstruction of German Dadaism, Hitler in Hell by George Grosz
Pavillion in Barcelona Spain

Constructivism, Model of the Monument to

the Third International by Tatlin Tower.