HUMANITIES

ART DESCRIPTION
and
APPRECIATION

 It is an 3-unit course where a student

will learn how to value selfexpression through art. This course
will also guide the learners in the
world of painting, music, theater,
dance, literature, architecture, and
interior design. This course will
enlighten the students that art is not
only for the chosen few but also for
every individual, who wants to be
well-rounded, matured and refined.

HUMANITIES

A versatile subject which consists of the seven

arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, music and
dance, literature, theater and cinema. These seven
arts are the branches of learning that will help you
understand the study of humanities.

It comes from the word humanus meaning

humane, cultured and refined. To be human is to
posses the qualities and attributes of man and
have the feelings and dispositions proper to man. It
is also a study of the different cultural aspects
analyzes mans frailties in life and how this can be
improved.

Culture basically includes speech, knowledge,

beliefs, arts, technologies, ideals and rules. To be
cultured means to be refined and well-versed in the
arts, philosophy and languages. It is also a means
of misunderstanding man and his affairs.

ARTS
Art is very vital in our daily existence. The arts
the concrete evidences in the study of
humanities. The body of arts consists of ideas,
beliefs and values of the past, present and even
of the future. It comes from the Aryan root word,
AR which means to join or to put together. The
Latin terms ARS means everything that is
artificially made or composed by man. According
to Leo Tolstoy, art is a means of union among
all men, a means of communication. To
Aristotle, art has no other end but itself. All arts
are patterned on nature. It is also the right
reason for making things.

Scope of Humanities
The humanities is a many-faceted
subject. It consists of the visual arts,
literature, drama and theater, music
and dance.

1. The visual arts are those we perceive

with our eyes. They may be classified into
two groups:

Graphic arts-two-dimensional surface.

This term covers any form of visual
artistic representation especially painting,
drawing, photography, etc.
Plastic arts-three-dimensional surface.
This group includes all fields of visual arts
in which materials are organized into
three-dimensional forms like architecture,
landscape architecture, interior design,
sculpture crafts, industrial design, dress
and costume design, theater design, etc

2. Literature is the art of combining spoken

or written words and their meanings into
forms which have artistic and emotional
appeal.
Drama - a story re-created by actors on
stage in front of an audience.
Prose Fiction includes narratives
created by an author as distinguished from
true accounts.
the use of geometrical shapes and forms.
Ex. Pablo Picasso: The Three Musicians
Nude in a Rocking Chair
George Brake:
Violet and Palette

 Essay a non-fiction expository writing

ranging from informal, personal topics to
closely critical treatments of important
subjects.
Poetry highly expressive nature using
special forms and choice of words and
emotional images. Narratives includes
epics, romance and ballads and lyric
forms includes the sonnets, ode, elegy
and song.
Miscellaneous are history, biography,
letters, journals, diaries, and other works
not formally classed as literature.

3. Music an art of arranging sounds in rhythmic succession

generally in combination. Melody results in this sequence and
harmony from the combinations. It is a creative and
performing art.

Groups

Vocal Music composed primarily

to be sung.
Instrumental Music is written for
instruments of four general types:
1.Keyboard (piano, keyboard, and organ)
2.Stringed (violin, cello, guitar, ukulele,
banjo)
3.Woodwind (flute, clarinet, oboe,
piccolo, English horn, bassoon)
4.Brass winds (saxophone, trumpet,
French horn, trombone)

Music combined with

other arts
Opera - drama set to music. It is mostly or
entirely sung with an orchestral
accompaniment.
Operetta and Musical Comedy a drama
set to music but is light popular romantic often
humorous or comic. It uses spoken dialogues.
Oratorio and Cantata sacred musical
drama in concert form based from biblical
accounts and made of recited parts with
orchestral accompaniment.

4. Drama and Theatre

A drama or play is a story re-created by actors on a
stage in front of an audience.

 Types of Drama
Tragedy serious in nature in which the
central character comes to some sad and
disastrous ending and also portray.
Melodrama the emphasis is on the
action rather on the character. Action is a
happy ending.
Types of Melodrama
Romantic Comedy light amusing tales of lovers
in some dilemma which is finally solved happily.
Farce light humorous play whose emphasis is on
the jokes, humorous physical actions, ludicrous
situations and impossible characters.
Comedy of Manners drawing room comedy is
sophisticated and sometimes satirical. It uses witty
dialogues and characters are usually high society
types and situations are unreal.

5. Dance involves the movement of

the body and the feet in rhythm.

Types of Dances
Ethnologic include folk dancing associated
with national and cultural groups.
Social or Ballroom Dances popular type of dancing
generally performed by pairs.
Ballet a formalized type of dance which originated in
the royal courts of the middle Ages. They may be either
solo or concerted dances and generally built around a
theme or story.

Modern are sometimes called contemporary

interpretative dances and represents rebellion
against the classical formalism of ballet. It is a
personal communication of moods and themes.
Musical dances dances performed by
soloists, groups, choruses in theatres,
nightclubs, motion pictures, and television. It
combines various forms of ballet, modern, tap,
and acrobatics.

Methods in Presenting
Art Subject
1. Realism presentation of subjects as it
is. It is also the portrayal of objective
reality.
Ex. Audrey Flack:
Queen
Gustace Courbet: The Stone-Breaker
2. Abstraction it means to move away
or to separate. The artist is more
concerned about the presentation of a
part or a portion of a subject.

Types of Abstraction
Elongation subjects are lengthened or stretched
out.
Ex. El Greco: the Resurrection
St Martin and the Beggar
Distortion subjects are in a mishappen condition
Ex. Henry Moore: Recumbent Figure
Cubism the use of geometrical shapes and forms.
Ex. Pablo Picasso: The Three Musicians
Nude in a Rocking Chair
George Brake:
Violet and Palette

3. Fauvism emphasis on pleasure; the

artists are non-conformists. Colors are not
realistic and are mostly bright.

Ex. Henry Matisse: The Joy of Life

The Dance

4. Dadaism from the French word DADA

which means hobby-horse and a movement
meant to shock the public.

Ex. Marcel Duchamp:

Fountain
Idealistic and subscribed to the
ideas of liberty, freedom, justice, and
equality.
Ex. Juan Luna:
Spollarium

5. Romanticism rich and

filled with emotion.
Ex. Eugene Delacroix:
Leading the People

Liberty

6. Impressionism is concentrated on the

artists impression of the moment.

Ex. Claude Monet:

Eduord Manet:
Waitress

Sunrise
The Beat

7. Espressionism based on non-rational

and emotional concepts

Harsh, morbid, brutal, introspective

Free distortion of form color through
which the painter gives visual form to
inner sensations or emotion.

8. Surrealism based from the Freudian Theory

Psychoanalysis; aimed to bring the elements of
subconscious to the surface.

Ex. Salvador Dali:

Memory

Persistence of

Kinds of Subjects

Landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes these are artworks that show the

physical environment.
Still Life groups of inanimate objects arranged in an indoor setting such
as objects as dishes of food on a dining table, pots and pans on a kitchen
table, etc...
Animals the earliest known paintings are representations of animals.
Portrait is a realistic likeness of a person in sculpture, painting, drawing,
or print.
Figures is the traditional chief subject of artists showing the human body,
nude or clothed.
Everyday Life this is the artists observation of people going about their
usual ways, performing their usual tasks.
History and Legend shows a significant scene in the past; legend
pictures the mysteries behind the folk stories.
Religion and Mythology arts are used to instruct, to inspire feelings of
devotion and to convert non-believers; many artists have been inspired by
the beauty and magic of mythological characters.
Dreams and Fantasies a dream may be of lifelike situation; it may be
realistically represented, but if the figure suggests the strange, and the
absurd, we would right away classify it a dream picture.

Painting
The art of applying color or other organic
or synthetic substances to various
surfaces to create a representational,
imaginative or abstract picture or design.
The earliest known paintings were
executed on the walls of caves and rock
shelters some 30,000 years ago during
Paleolithic period. Some may be seen in
Western Europe, Southern and Saharan
Africa and Australia.

Elements of Painting
Line it is a mans own invention; extension of a point.
Vertical lines power, stability, strength
Horizontal lines relaxation, calmness, at peace,
laziness
Diagonal lines movement
Curve lines graceful movements, fluidity, flexibility
Shape it is an area of flat surface enclosed by a line.
Texture it refers to the feel or tactile quality of a
surface of an object; the roughness or smoothness of
an object.
Size it is smallness or largeness of an object.
Color it a series of wave lengths which strike our
retina. Spectrum consists of different colors: red,
orange, blue, indigo and violet.

Physical Property of
Colors
Hue is a quality which gives color its
name. the color of the spectrum are
therefore called hues.
Value is the lightness or darkness of
color.
Intensity is the strength of the
colors hue. Brightness or dullness of
color.

Classification of Colors
The Primary Colors are the original colors which
cannot be derived from any color combination. They
are red, blue and yellow.
The Secondary Colors are the combination of two
primary colors. They are green, orange, and violet.
The Tertiary Colors are the combination of both the
primary and secondary colors. They are yellow green,
yellow orange, blue green, blue violet, red orange, and
red violet.
The Complementary Color scheme is composed of
one of the primary colors and the combination of two
others. For example, the complementary color of red is
green, made by mixing yellow and blue.
Analogous colors are three neighboring colors in the
color wheel one distinct color among them.

Color interpretation

Cold colors winter, spring, not aggressive in hue

Warm colors summer. Fall, friendly in character
Red excitement, danger, war, heat, anger, aggressive
Orange autumn, warmth, movement, can be disagreeably hot
in effect
Green spring, summer foliage, safety, coolness, restful and
pleasant
Yellow sun, warmth without heat
Blue coolness, happiness, pleasure, popular with men
Purple coolness, royalty
Cool colors dignity, formality
Warm colors informality, excitement
Pink femininity
Black mourning, sorrow, death
White purity, innocence
Brown humbleness, nobility

Mediums of Painting
Pigment is that part of the paint which supplies the color, is fine
powder ground from some clay, stone, or mineral extracted from
vegetable matter.
Encaustic a medium that combines dry pigments with the heatsoftened wax and in modern times. Resin
Tempera earth or mineral pigments mixed with egg yolk and egg
white. Since the paint dries quickly, corrections are difficult to make.
Fresco is the application of earth pigments with water on a plaster
wall while the plaster is still damp. Color then sinks into the surface
and becomes an integral part of the wall.
Watercolor is tempered paint made of pure ground pigment bound
with gum Arabic. It gives a delicate luminous texture to the painting.
Oil the pigment is mixed with linseed oil applied to primed canvas.
It is flexible. Oil paints are slow to dry and the painting can be
changed and worked over a long period of time.
Acrylic synthetic paint using acrylic polymer emulsions as binder
are the newest mediums and the ones that are widely used by todays
painters. They dry quickly like the watercolor and also flexible like the
oil. They do not tend to crack, turn yellow or darken with age.

Art Related to Painting

Mosaic it is related to painting only because it
creates pictures on flat surfaces. They are wall or
floor decorations made of small cubes of
irregularly cut pieces of colored stones or glass
called tesserae.
Stained Glass a translucent glass colored by
mixing metallic oxides into the molten glass or by
fixing them onto the surface of the clear glass. The
glass is then cut into shapes and assembled into
the desired image and held together by strips of
lead.
Tapestry are fabrics into which colored designs
have been woven.

Paintings in Lascaux Cave

Hieroglyphics idea of
Frontalism

SCULPTURE
it is a three-dimensional artwork, an art of
producing objects in relief or in the round out
of hard materials by means of chisel, carved
work, art of molding In clay or other paste
materials, figures or objects to be later cast
in bronze or other metals or plaster of Paris.
Sculpture (Latin sculpere, to curve), threedimensional art concerned with the
organization of masses and volumes. The art
or practice of shaping figures or designs in
the round or relief

Mediums of Sculpture
Clay a very fine-grained soil that is plastic when
moist but hard when fired.
Ice is the name given to one of the 14 known solid
phases of water. It is a crystalline solid which can
appear transparent or opaque bluish white color.
Marble a metamorphic rock resulting from regional
or rarely contact metamorphism of sedimentary
carbonate rocks, either limestone or dolostone.
Ivory is ideal for decorative art because it is hard,
close grained, and takes carving and dyes well. its
durable, many specimen survive and provides clues
into the art.
Wood can make many forms, from a tree to a house,
from a piece of furniture to a door, from something
functional to something sculptural.

ICE

CLAY

MARBLE

IVORY

WOOD

Kinds of Sculpture

Relief these are the sculptures which are identifies as embossed sculptures in
which images are set against a flat background.
Alto relievo (Italian for high relief) the figures are sculptured partly or wholly
in the round, that is, they project entirely, or almost entirely, from the surfacr of the
block in which they are cut.
Basso-relievo(Italian for low-relief; French, bas-relief) is a form of surfaceornamentation in which the projection is very slight.
Free-Standing this is the kind of sculpture in the round such as statues and
monuments which are either scaled or done in life size.
Kinetic or Mobile Sculptures these are identified as moving sculptures which in
some cases are suspended in air to move.
Processes in Sculpture
Molding this is the additive wherein the building up of form is done to complete the
artwork.
Carving this is the subtracting method wherein the removal of the unnecessary
portions of the material used is done.
Fabrication this is the putting-together-process wherein welding is an example.
Casting this is setting up the negative mold in order to produce the positive mold.

Historical Background of
Sculpture
Pre-Historic Sculpture
the primitive people produced the so
called fertility statues. It has been
described as giving emphasis on the
female sexual attributes. It
emphasizes the womens wide hips
and opulent breasts. Primitive men
made this for fear of extinction and it
will remind them to go on and on to
produce more offspring.

Egyptian Sculpture
the sphinx is the most popular piece
in Egypt. It is a huge sculpture which
is described as the human head with a
body of a croaching lion. The head of
the Sphinx is symbolic of the pharaoh,
the mighty reler of Egypt, and the
body of the croaching lion is symbolic
of the mighty country Egypt.
Therefore it symbolizes the mighty
strengths and protective power of
Egypt.

Greek Sculpture
the Golden Age of Athens was the
complete fulfillment of the term classic
for it was the culmination of the ideals of
the time and of the ancient world as well.
It falls into four classes:
Sculptures created without regard to their
ultimate location or method of display.
Free standing.
Statues identified as kore otherwise
known as female standing sculpture.
Statues identified as kouros otherwise
known a male standing sculpture.
Sculptures designed as ornaments for
specific positions.

Roman Sculpture

Given the Etruscan descendant of

naturalism, Roman portraiture set an
early standard of excellence that
became the model for the whole
Western tradition. It falls into two
classes: portraits and historical relief.
Both reflect the highly developed
Roman taste of realism.

Baroque Sculpture

A restless, dynamic style with its

diagonals and floating curved lines,
its striking chiaroscuro, and its
sensuous textural effects. Gian
Lorenzo Bernini was the Baroque
artist par excellence. His known
sculpture is the Ecstasy of St.
Therese.

Ecstasy of St. Therese

Byzantine Sculpture

Sculptured relief during the

Byzantine was used to adorn
magnificent palaces and churches. It
is the richest expression of Christian
dogma.

Renaissance Sculpture
It showed some traces of classical
influence in the pulpits of the
Cathedrals of Pisa and Sienna. The
great master of this period is
Michaelangelo. His masterpiece was
the Pieta today a treasure of St.
Peters in Rome.

Pieta

ARCHITECTURE
The art and science of building and
erecting buildings.

History of Architecture
When did man start building houses?
From caves, to branches, to
wigwarms, huts, concrete houses,
etc.

The Stonehenge
Stonehenge, a circular arrangement of
large stones located near Salisbury,
England, was a ritual monument for
prehistoric peoples. It was built between
3000 and 1000 BC. Little is known about
Stonehenges function, but many
scholars believe that its structure allowed
its builders to predict solstices,
equinoxes, eclipses, and other events of
the solar calendar.

The Roman Colosseum

Colosseum, largest and most famous ancient
Roman amphitheater. The structure was
originally called Flavian Amphitheater.
Modifications and restorations necessitated by
fires and earthquakes were made to the
Colosseum until the early 6th century. In
succeeding centuries the Colosseum suffered
from neglect, earthquakes, and damage done
by builders. Still, slightly more than one-third
of the outer arcades, comprising a number of
the arches on the north side, remain standing.
The seating capacity of the Colosseum is
believed by modern scholars to have been
about 50,000.

The Pyramids of Giza

The ancient Egyptians built more than 90 royal pyramids,
from about 2630BC until about 1530 BC. During that time,
the pyramid form evolved from a series of stepped terraces
that resembled the layers of a wedding cake to the better
known, sloped pyramidal shaped. The first pyramid, the
Step Pyramid at Saqqarah, was constructed during the reign
of King Djoser (2630 BC-2611 BC). The largest pyramid is
the one built for King Khufu, at the site of modern Giza.
Khufus pyramid, known as the Great Pyramid, is the only
one of the Seven Wonders of the World that still survives.
Egyptian pyramids served as tombs for king and queens,
but they were also places of ongoing religious activity. After
a ruler died, his or her body was carefully treated and
wrapped to preserve it as a mummy. According to ancient
Egyptian belief, the pyramid, where the mummy was
placed, provided a place for the monarch to pass into the
afterlife. Encarta

The Parthenon

Stands at the very heart of the

Acropolis of Athens, Greece. It was
built in honor of the Goddess of
Wisdom, Athena.

The Greek Architecture

The Greek
Orders

The Doric order

The Doric order originated on the mainland and
western Greece. It is the simplest of the orders,
characterized by short, faceted, heavy columns with
plain, round capitals (tops) and no base. With only four
to eight diameters in height, the columns are the most
squat of all orders. The shaft of the Doric order is
channeled with 20 flutes. The Ionic order came from
eastern Greece, where its origins are entwined with the
similar but little known Aeolic order. It is distinguished
by slender, fluted pillars with a large base and two
opposed volutes (also called scrolls) in the echinus of
the capital. The echinus itself is decorated with an eggand-dart motif. The Ionic shaft comes with four more
flutes than the Doric counterpart (totaling 24). The
Ionic base has two convex moldings called tori which
are separated by a scotia.

The Corinthian order

Is the most ornate of the Greek orders,
characterized by a slender fluted column
having an ornate capital decorated with
acanthus leaves. It is commonly
regarded as the most elegant of the five
orders. The most distinct characteristics
is the striking capital. The capital of the
Corinthian order is carved with two rows
of leaves and four scrolls.

The Composite order

Is a mixed order, combining the
volutes of the Ionic order with the
leaves of the Corinthian order.

The Architecture Design

Byzantine
The Golden Age of Byzantine Architecture was under
the rule of Justian in 527-565. It was during the
period that the most famous examples of all
Byzantine Architecture was built, the Hagia Sophia.
The Hagia Sophia was rebuilt from 532 to 537 after
the previous church was destroyed by riots. This
church has some unique features which became the
patterns for Byzantine Architecture for years after.
The style of the Hagia Sophia or Church of Divine
Wisdom was to have a large dome in the middle of
the structure. The dome has a unique form in that it
rest on 4 massive pillars which are arranged in a
square. The dome remained the main focus of the
Byzantine.

The Romanesque
Romanesque Art and Architecture,
arts and architecture of western
Europe from about AD 1000 to the
rise of the Gothic style, in most
regions by the latter half of the 12th
century, in certain regions somewhat
later.

Gothic
Gothic Architecture is a style of architecture, particularly
associated with cathedrals and other churches, which
flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period.
Beginning in twelfth century France, it was known as the
French Style (Opus Francigenum) during the period, with the
term Gothic first appearing in the Reformation era as a stylistic
insult.
The Gothic style emphasizes verticality and features almost
skeletal stone structures with great expanses of glass, ribbed
vaults, clustered columns, sharply pointed spires, flying
buttresses. In Gothic Architecture the pointed arch is utilized in
every location where a vaulted shape is called for, both
structural and decorative. Gothic openings such as doorways,
windows, arcades and galleries have pointed arches.
Another distinctive feature of Gothic Architecture especially in
churches and cathedrals is the Rose Window (Notre dame). The
North Rose Window of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
(1240-1250) was built by Jean de Chelles. It is designed in the
Rayonnant style, named for the radiating spokes in this type of
window. The center circle depicts the Virgin and Child,
surrounded by the figures of prophets. The second circle shows
32 Old Testament kings, and the outer circle depicts 32 high
priests and patriarchs.

Baroque
Baroque churches were larger in scale that
their predecessors and their interiors more
richly decorated with sculpture and paintings.
Long narrow naves are replaced by broader,
occasionally circular forms. Dramatic use of
light, either strong light-and-shade contrasts,
chiaroscuro effects or uniform lighting by
means of several windows.
Opulent use of ornaments (puttos made of
wood (often glided), plaster or stucco, marble
of faux finishing).
Large-scale ceiling frescoes the interior is
often no more than a shell for painting and
sculpture (especially in the late baroque).

Rococo Style
Rococo Style, style of 18th-century painting and
decoration characterized by lightness, delicacy,
and elaborate ornamentation.
The word rococo is derived from rocaille,
meaning rock work or shell work, a favorite
motif of the time. It stresses purely ornamental,
light, casual, irregular design.
The Rococo style is characterized by pastel colors,
gracefully delicate curving forms, fanciful figures,
and a lighthearted mood (visually and physically).
The essence of Rococo art is light. Extreme
highlights are placed on the subject matter and the
overall work is light in color, effect, and emotion.
Artists paid special attention to fine detail. Form is
characterized by delicacy of color, dynamic
compositions, and atmospheric effects.