Chapter 1 (Assumptions About Art)

ART

P R E PA R E D B Y : M I C H A E L F. R E T O L L A
WHAT IS ART?
WHAT IS ART?

• Is something that is perennially around us.

• Comes from the ancient Latin, ars which means a “craft or
specialized form of skill, like carpentry or smithying or surgery”
(Collingwood, 1938).
• The capacity to produce an intended result from carefully planned
steps or method.
ART: ANCIENT
• To them, art only meant using bare hands to produce something
that will be useful to one’s day-to-day life.
ART: MEDIEVAL
• It meant “any special form of book-learning, such as grammar or
logic, magic or astrology” (Collingwood, 1938).
ART: RENAISSANCE
• Ancient form of craft.
ART: 17 TH CENTURY
• When the problem and idea of aesthetics, the study of beauty,
began to unfold distinctly from the notion of technical
workmanship, which was the original conception of the word “art”.
ART: 18 TH CENTURY
• When the word has evolved to distinguish between the fine arts
and the useful arts.
HUMANITIES
• “The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important

means of expression developed by man” (Dudley et al., 1960).
• 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.
HUMANITIES
• Even if one goes back to the time before written records of man’s
civilization has appeared, he can find cases of man’s attempts of not
just crafting tools to live and survive but also expressing his feelings
and thoughts.
ASSUMPTIONS
ART IS UNIVERSAL
• Art has always been timeless and universal, spanning generations
and continents through and through.
• Literature has provided key works of art.
• Two Greek epics and

Sanskrit pieces.
• Man’s attempt at recording
stories and tales that have
been passed on, known, and
sung throughout the years.
ART IS UNIVERSAL
• In every country and in every generation, there is always art.
• Oftentimes, people feel that what is considered artistic are only
those which have been made long time ago. This is a misconception.
Age is not a factor in determining art. An “…art is not good
because it is old, but old because it is good” (Dudley et al., 1960).
ART IS UNIVERSAL
• Art has been crafted by all people regardless of origin, time, place,
and that is stayed on because it is liked and enjoyed by people
continuously.
• A great piece of work will never be obsolete.
• Art will always be present because human beings will always
express themselves and delight in these expressions.
• Men will continue to use art while art persists and never gets
depleted.
ART IS NOT NATURE
• One important characteristic of art is that it is not nature.
• Art is man’s way of interpreting nature.
• Art is made by man, whereas nature is a given around us.
• What we find in nature should not be expected to be present in art
too.
• Movies are not meant
to be direct
representation of
reality
ART IS NOT NATURE
• A student of humanities can ask further questions such as: What
reasons might the artist have in creating something? Why did
Bonifacio write “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa”? What motivation did
Juan Luna have in creating his masterpiece, the Spoliarium?
• In whatever work of art, one should always ask why the artist made
it. What is it that he wants to show?
ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE
• Art does not require a full definition.
• Art is just experience. By experience, we mean the “actual doing of
something” (Dudley et al., 1960).
• When one says that he has an experience of something, he often
means that he knows what that something is about.
• Art is known by experiencing. A painter cannot claim to know how
to paint if he has not tried holding a brush. A sculptor cannot
produce a work of art if a chisel is foreign to him.
ART INVOLVES EXPERIENCE
• Dudley et al. (1960) affirmed that “all art depends on experience,
and if one is to know art, he must know it not as a fact or
information but as esperience”.
• In order to know what an artwork is, we have to sense it, see or
hear it.
• To fully appreciate our national hero’s
monument, one must go to Rizal Park
and see the actual sculpture.
• In order to know Beyonce’s music, one
must listen to it to actually experience
them.
1. Humanities and the art have always been part of man’s growth
and civilization.
2. Since the dawn of time, man has always tried to express his
innermost thoughts and feelings about reality through creating
art.
3. Three assumptions on art are its universality, its not being nature,
and its need for experience.
4. The artist has to be foremost, a perceiver who is directly in touch
with art.
5. Literature has provided key works of art. Among the most
popular ones being taught in school are the two Greek epics,
Mahabharata and Ramayana.
6. In every country and in every generation, there is always art.
7. Age is a factor in determining art.
8. The word “art” comes from the Medieval Latin, ars which means a
“craft or specialized form of skill”.
9. Art is something that is perennially around us.
10. A great piece of work will never be obsolete.

LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN
Choose one artwork under each given category that you are familiar
with. This can be the last artwork that you have come across with or
the one that made the most impact to you. Criticize each using the
guide questions provided.
Categories:
1. Movie • What is it about?
2. Novel • What is it for?
3. Poem • How good is it?
4. Music

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ART

• Is something that is perennially around us.

• “The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important

• Two Greek epics and

7. Age is a factor in determining art.

9. Art is something that is perennially around us.

10. A great piece of work will never be obsolete.

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