Humanities

 The records of man’s quest for answers to the fundamental questions he asks about himself and
about life.
 It is an expressions of man’s feelings and thoughts.
 The term “HUMANITIES” was first applied writings of an ancient Latin authors which were read not
only for their clarity of language and forceful literary style, but also, and more specially for their
moral teaching.

During Medieval Age

 Humanities dealt with the metaphysics of the religious philosopher. The goal was the cultivation of
the spiritual life and the preparation for the hereafter.

During Renaissance
 Humanities refer to the set of disciplines taught in universities, which included grammar, rhetoric,
history, literature, music, philosophy and theology—a body of knowledge aimed to make man
“human, cultured and refined.”
Present Century
 Humanities serve to provide the student with certain skills and values through the arts.

The Humanities and the Sciences

 Humanities are distinct from the sciences, which are studies dealing with the external world of man,
as well as with the facets of man’s being that can be subjected to observation, measurement, and
experimentation.
 Deal with man’s internal world—with his personality and experiences, matters that cannot be exactly
measured, classified, or controlled.
 The humanities’ approach is subjective; it makes much use of perception, feeling, intuition and
insight.
 Humanities focuses on man as an individual while social sciences, the main interest is on types and
groups of human beings, and on the institutions and processes of society.

THE NATURE OF ART

1. Art is Everywhere
*We find art in the….
a. clothes and accessories we wear
b. design of our furniture and furnishings
c. style of the houses we build
d. vehicles we use
* We find art objects in the…
e. home
f. community
g. religion
h. trade
i. industry
Examples of Relief Sculpture
j. coins
k. religious medal
Examples of engraving
l. paper bills
m. postage stamps
 *Art is indeed as old as the human race itself.
* Art exists in all forms of human society and in every generation because it serves some
fundamental human needs.

2. Art as Expression and Communication

*The artist uses symbols which he organizes into some comprehensible equivalent of the
experience that he is trying to convey. If the symbols are understood by his audience then
communication has been established.
*At any rate, art in any given period simultaneously reflects two things---the genius of its creator as
well as the sensibility or the characteristic values and attitudes toward important aspects of life held
by the society in which the work of art was born.

3. Art as Creation
 The word “creation” refers to the act of combining or re-ordering already existing materials
so that a new object is formed.
 The word “art” originated from the Latin ars, which means “skill”. It is equivalent to the Greek
techne, from which our modern word technology is derived.
 Creation involves constant correction and redirection, depending on the demands of the
material and the challenges it poses.
 Each finished product is an expression of order—the artist’s idea of order.

4. Art and Experience

 A varying combination of sensory, emotional, and intellectual responses is involved in
experiencing art.
 Our reaction to art is personal and individual. We tend to respond to works of art according
to the level of our expectation

5. Art and Nature

 Art is not nature.
 Nature is evanescent and always recreating itself; art is non-repeatable and unchanging.
 Nature is the art of God

The Subject of an Art:

1. Person
2. Objects
3. Events
Subject—refers to any person object, scene or event described or represented in a work of art.
Representational or objective--- arts that have subject
Examples: painting, sculpture, graphic arts, literature and theater arts
Non-objective (non-representational)—arts that do not have subject, do not present descriptions, stories
or references to identifiable objects or symbols.
Examples: Music, architecture and many of the functional arts

Kinds of Subject
1. Landscapes, Seascapes and Cityscapes
2. Still life
3. Animals
 4. Portraits- half body, only in human ex. Mona Lisa
5. Figures- whole body, nude or clothed
6. Everyday life—ex. Labandera, street sweeper
7. History and legend
8. Religion and Mythology
9. Dreams and Fantasies

Ways of Presenting
Distortion
 Involves stretching, lengthening, shortening, squeezing, melting and twisting an object from its
original appearance to a new, strange, surreal appearance.

Fragmentation
 Involves cutting or smashing pieces of an image/or creating an effect that appears to segment the
artwork into smaller pieces.

Exaggeration
 Involves enlarging parts of an image to an unreal size creating unbalance, emphasis and/or interest
in parts of the artwork.

Surrealism
 It means super realism, literary means above and beyond reality.
 Sought to be free the imaginative human mind and reveal the unconscious encouraging and
rejection to logic and reasoning.

 Does art always have a function?

 If an artwork did not have a function, can it be called an art? Yes, because art is creation.
 Compared to other activities of man, art is generally impractical
 Not meant to meet the requirements of day-to-day living.

Elements of the Visual Arts

 Artists used in expressing his ideas

1. Line- represents figures and forms. It has direction, always moving, often represents emotions
through definite positions.

 Straight lines--- always associated with the ideas of steadiness and force
 Curved lines--- with flexibility, buoyancy and grace
 Horizontal lines--- lines of repose and serenity, expresses an ideas and calmness and
quiescence (dormant or inactivity)
Examples: reclining persons, landscapes, calm bodies of water, distant meeting of the earth
and sky
 Vertical lines--- poised for action, they are poised, balanced, forceful and dynamic. Arouse
emotion and equietude and impression of dignity.
 Diagonal lines--- suggest action and movement, almost every object in action assumes
diagonal line
Example: running person
  Curved lines--- suggest grace, fluid movement joyousness, never harsh or stern (serious,
unsmiling, unfriendly), formed by a gradual change in direction
Examples: Curve lines of a woman’s body, waves
 Crooked or jagged lines--- expresses violence, energy, conflict and struggle

3 group of lines
(Classification of crooked or jagged lines)

Harmony of line

a. Repetition-- occurs when two or more lines are drawn within a corner following the lines of the
corner.
b. Contrast—lines that are opposition to each other form a contrast
c. Contradiction
d. Transitional—When a curve lines cut across a corner from an opposition line to another, it
forms a transition line. It modify the sharpness of vertical and horizontal lines
giving a harmonizing effect.

2. Color
 It is a property of light

Color Harmonies

2 kinds of color harmonies:

1. Related color harmonies—these may either be monochromatic or adjacent. Monochromatic

harmonies are the simplest and easiest to use. In adjacent or neighboring harmony, two or three
neighboring hues on the color circle are used.
2. Contrasted color harmonies--- colors which lie directly opposite each other in the color circle
are called complementary colors.

3 dimensions or attributes of color

1. Hue—is the dimension of color that gives color its name. Examples: yellow, green, blue

*The value of a hue can be changed.

*We raised it by adding more light to it so that it reflects more light and lower it by reducing the
light it can reflect

2. Value—refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. It depends on the amount of light and dark
in color.

*TINTS (light) are values above the normal and SHADES are values below the normal.

Example: Pink is a tint of red while maroon is the shade of red.

3. Intensity----the brightness and the darkness of a color. Colors differ in intensity, it is described
full intensity, two-thirds neutral etc.

*When a hue is in its vivid form=Full Intensity

*When it is dulled=Partly Neutralized

 *The more black or white is added=The weaker the intensity

Psychology of Colors

Black--- associated with death and gloom

White--- stands for purity and innocence

Blue--- color of heaven

Red--- for blood, signifies anger and provokes fear. Impels people to action.

Orange— helps a person to be assertive.

Green--- color of nature, promotes the feeling of well-being. It implies happy and restful association and
natural abundance.

Meanings of Colors Conveyed by the Rose

Rose— is the flower worthy of mention for its varied psychological and emotional connotations. It is the
universal flora.

*Flowers and roses bear the most sincere words and meanings in the expression of feelings.

*Considered the most beautiful and delicate gifts exchanged.

*Flowers give happiness (sunflower), calm, intimacy (rose), and well-being.

“Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions, nor conflicts”. –Sigmund Freud

*There are some studies that advise people who suffer from the psychological and practical pressure to
acquire roses and flower promotes mood and renewal of positive energy, one of those roses that have
strong effectiveness, is the aromatic lavender roses.

The Language of Rose says by Sarian J….

Red—is for “I Love You”, refer in psychology to romance, love and adoration, if the roses are dark red
color; it shows the adoration of madness, but if the rose is purple, it refers to deception in love.
Psychologist also indicated that the red color is strong diplomatic color.

*love, respect, courage, passion, well done, congratulations

Pink—is for “Thank You”. It represents the most delicate meanings of roses in psychology, it means high
ethics, purity and tenderness which is similar to red roses in romance and love.

*happiness, elegance, romance, admiration, sweetness, thank you

White—says you are heavenly coral speaks of desire, denotes secrecy and several other meanings. This
color reflects all the meanings of sincerity, loyalty, purity, serenity and goodwill.

*purity, secrecy, innocence, reverence, worthiness

Yellow—often symbolizes strong jealousy, but it has other connotations as explained by psychology as
self-confidence, so it’s advised to gift it; to renew the self-confidence between the two partners.
 *friendship, caring, welcome, welcome back, joy

Purple---one of the strong color, it refers to the attribute and it’s opposite. It also refers to clarity and
ambiguity at the same time. It combines the meanings of power and tenderness, it is also a color that
inspires self-confidence and calm.

Green---Indicate the love of life and the desire to enjoy every moment in it. Partners giving green roses to
each other is evidence of the continuity of their relationship whether love or friendship or
otherwise, the meaning of green symbolizes the activity, vitality and happiness also.

Orange--- It means energy, vitality and attraction. It refers also to pride and self-honor. A light color of
appetite it is preferable to put orange roses on the dining table.

*desire, enthusiasm, pride

Pink and yellow roses can be placed in elegant vases in the corners of the house; they can be spread all
over the place, their effect is powerful to get rid of stress and feeling comfortable and relaxed.

Peach--- appreciation, sincerity, gratitude, modesty

Lavender—probably the most mystical and fairy tale perfect color of rose is lavender. It is said if someone
gives you a purple rose it means they fell in love with you at first sight, just like
Cinderella’s Prince Charming.

3. Texture
 It is the element that deals more directly with the sense of touch. It has to do with the characteristics
of surfaces which can be smooth, fine or coarse, shiny or dull, plain or irregular.

4. Perspective
 It deals with the effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye
judges spatial relationships.
 It enables us to perceive distance and to see the position of objects in space.

2 kinds of perspective

a. Linear perspective--- it is the representation of an appearance of distance by means of

converging lines.
*Foreshortening is the representation of objects or parts of the body as smaller from the point of
view of the observer.

b. Aerial perspective--- it is the representation of relative distances of objects by graduations of

tone and color.

5. Space
 In painting as in architecture, space is of great importance. The exterior of a building is seen as
it appears in space while interior is seen by one who is inside as enclosing space.

6. Form
 It applies to the overall design of a work of art. It describes the structure or shape of an object.
  “form follows function” This means that the inner content of purpose or function governs the
outer appearance.
7. Volume
 It is refer to the amount of space occupied in three dimensions. It is therefore refers to solidity
or thickness.

*We perceive volume in two ways: by contour lines or outlines or shapes of objects, and by surface lights
and shadows.