Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Arts and Humanities Module No.1
Arts and Humanities Module No.1
I. Learning Outcomes:
After reading this module, you are expected to:
1. understand the role of humanities and arts in man’s attempt at fully realizing his end;
2. clarify misconceptions of the art
3. give the importance of personal experience in art.
II. Topics:
Lesson I. What is Art? Introduction and Assumptions
Lesson II. Art Appreciation: Creativity, Imagination and Expression
III. References: Collingwood, RG.(1938) The Principles of Art Worsetershire Read Books,
Ltd. Bernardo Nicolas Caslib, Jr., Dorothea C, Garing, Jesreel Anne R.
Casaul. Art Appreciation, Rex Book Store, October 26, 2017.
ACTIVITY 1
Let’s Get Started
In the first column of the table below, list down your most striking encounters with arts. On the second
column, explain why you thank each encounter is an experience with arts. Give at least three (3) encounters.
1
1.
2.
3.
For as long as man existed in this planet, he has cultivated the land, altered the conditions of the fauna and the
flora, in order to survive. Alongside these necessities, man also marked his place in the world through his works.
Through his bare hands, man constructed infrastructures that tended to his need, like his house. He sharpened swords
and spears. He employed fire in order to melt gold. The initial meaning of art word “art” has something to do with
all the crafts.
The word “art” comes from the Latin “ars ” which means a “craft “or specialized form of skills carpentry or
smithing or surgery. Art then suggested the capacity to produce an intended result from carefully planned steps or
method. When a man wants to build a house, he plans meticulously to get what the prototype promises and he
executes the steps to produce the said structure, then he is engaged in art. The Ancient world did not have any
conceived notion of the art in the same way that we do now. To them, art only meant using the bare hands to produce
something that will be useful to one’s day –to-day life.
Ars in medieval Latin came to mean something different. It meant any special form of book-learning, such as
grammar or logic, magic or astronomy .It was only during the Renaissance Period that the word reacquired a
meaning that was inherent in its ancient form of craft .Early Renaissance artists saw their activities merely as
craftsmanship, devoid of whole lot of intonations that are attached to the word now. it was during the 17th century
when the problem and idea of aesthetics, the study of beauty began to unfold distinctly from notion of technical
workmanship, which was the original conception of the word of “art. It was finally in the 18th century, when the word
has evolved to distinguish between the fine arts and the useful arts. The fine arts would come to mean “not delicate or
highly skilled arts, ”but” beautiful arts.”This is something more akin to what is now considered art.
The humanities constitute one of the oldest and most important means of expression developed by man.
Human history has interested how man evolved not just physically but also culturally, from cave painters to men of
exquisite paintbrush users of the present. Even if one goes back to the time before written records of man’s
civilization has appeared, he can find cases of
mans attempts of not just crafting tools to live and survive but also expressing his feelings and thoughts.
Pre-historic men with their crude instruments already showcased and manifested earliest attempts at recording
man’s innermost interest, preoccupation and thoughts. The humanities then ironically, have started even before the
term has been coined. Human persons have long been exercising what it means to be a human long before he was
aware of his being one. The humanities stand tall in bearing witness to their magnificent phenomenon. Any human
persons, then, is tasked to participate, if not, totally partake in this long tradition of humanizing himself.
Assumptions of Art
A . Art is Universal
Literature has provided key words of Art. Among the most popular ones being taught in
school are the two Greek epics the Iliad and the Odyssey . The Sanskrit pieces Mahabharata and Ramayana are also
staples in the field. These works purportedly written before the beginning of recorded history ,are believed to be
Man’s attempt at recoding stories and tales that have been passed on, known and sung throughout the year. Arts has
always been timeless and universal, spanning generation and continents through and through. In every country and
in every generation, there is always Art. Often times people feel that what is considered artistic are only those which
have been made long time ago. Age is not a factor in determining art .An “art is not good because it is old ,but old
because it is good.
For most people, art does not require a full definition .Art is just experience. By experience
we mean the actual doing of something .When one says that he has an experience of something, he often means that
he knows what that something is about . When one claims that he knows the endless cycle of loving .When one
asserts having experienced preparing a particular recipe, he in fact asserts knowing how the recipe is made . Knowing
a thing is different from having from others what the said thing is . A choreographer who cannot execute a dance step
himself is a bogus. Art is always an experience . A painter cannot claim to know how to paint if he has not tried
holding a brush. 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 experience .” A work of art then cannot be abstracted from actual doing. In
order to know what an artwork is, we have to sense it, see or heart it and see and heart it. An important aspect of
experiencing art is its being highly personal, individual and subjective . It depends on who the perceiver is, his takes,
perceptions of art is always a value of judgment .one cannot argue with another person’s evaluation of art because
one’s experience can never be known by another. The saying says ,Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.”
Activity II
Answer the following questions as precisely yet as thoroughly as possible .Answer the questions in 2 to 3
sentences only and use the space provided.
1. If you were the artist, what kind of artist would you be?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
3
2. Why is art not nature?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
Avtivity III
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 4. Music
2. Novel 5. An Architectural structure
3. Poem 6. A piece of clothing
Category:____________________________
Artwork:_____________________________
V. Evaluation
Answer the following questions briefly , 3 pts. Each.