Module 2: Art Appreciation and Human Faculties
OVERVIEW
In this learning module, the students will be introduced into the Philosophical concept
of Analyzing an Art according to four levels: Perceptual elements, representations,
emotional suggestions and intellectual meaning. As a student learning the course, it is
important to understand the correct framework in giving out Interpretation or significant
meaning from a work of Art either in Painting, Sculpture, Music, Dance, Film and other
forms of Art. The Philosophical concept which will be introduced in this module is very
much relevant not only in understanding or giving judgment of a particular art, but also in
real life situation. Thus, judgment requires us to think critically, first by considering the
important role of Human Faculties. One of the most well-versed discussion in Greek
Philosophy is the essence of every Human Person. In the discussions, it is recognized the
substantial nature of Man and its capacity for Reasoning, emotion and perception.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:
1. Relate the study of art to the fields of Philosophy and Psychology;
2. Examine the human faculties as basis for the appreciation of art;
3. Analyze works of art according to four levels: perceptual elements, representations,
emotional suggestions and intellectual meaning;
4. Make an artwork that shows the four levels of analysis; and
5. Apply the concept of art as reality to the artworks based on Renaissance style,
cubism, de stilj, and ready-made art.
LET US EXPLORE
Activity 1.1
Try to think of your favorite movie. Criticize it using the guide questions provided.
1.
What is the title of the movie?
2.
What is it about? What is it for?
3.
What is it made of?
4.
What is its style?
5.
How good it is?
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Module 2: Art Appreciation and Human Faculties
ART AND THE
PERCEPTION OF THE WORLD
BY DR. ALLAN C. ORATE
Department of Humanities and Philosophy
College of Arts and Sciences, University of the East-Manila
(From UE Today, February 2000, Vol. 12, No. 2., pp. 7-8 & 14)
There is of course more wisdom concerning life that one gets out of The Little
Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery than an insight into the theory of art; nevertheless,
it is an insight, and deserves recognition. We are told in this novel that the pilot, as a
little boy, used to show his drawing to the adults, and asked them what it is. “It’s a
hat,” they replied. But for the boy, it was a boa constrictor having shallowed an
elephant!
There are many ways of looking at this. These are just five of them: (1) a
square suspended in a frame, (2) a lampshade seen from above, (3) a lampshade
seen from below, (4) a tunnel, and (5) an aerial view of a truncated pyramid. What
accounts for the changing visual “aspects”? For psychologists, it is a revelation of
personality, like in inkblot experiments. But for the philosophers of art, it is what
constitutes the aesthetic perception!
Most of us see a painting as what it is about—the subject. We see, in Sandro
Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, a beautiful, golden-haired woman coming out of a
shell. We observe bloody, dead gladiators being dragged out of the stadium into the
dungeon, amidst the curious glances of Roman spectators, in the Spoliarium by Juan
Luna. Even in the fragmented, geometrical shapes of Picasso’s Three Musicians, we
notice a man with a flute and another one with an accordion or guitar. And when
looking at Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat, we ask: “Who is that?”
as if being confronted with a real person.
The fact of our experience is that we often fail to see a painting as a design—
shapes and lines of different colors and values stumped upon a canvass. And we
tend to categorize it to the level of things far removed from what it actually is made
of. Yet, the design and the medium visually constitute a painting. If there is more to
painting than being visual, it is because we are talking of a different kind of “seeing,”
that is “seeing through.” We see through the design, so to speak, in the same way as
the boy in The Little Prince saw a huge snake, and as we see a lampshade or a
tunnel in the design above. This is our unique experience of art.
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Module 2: Art Appreciation and Human Faculties
Activity 1.2
LEVEL OF THE SENSES:
1. Perceptual Elements
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
2. Representations
_______________________
_______________________
LEVEL OF THE WILL:
3. Emotional Suggestions
_________________________
Mondrian, Composition with Red, Yellow
and Blue, 1924
LEVEL OF THE MIND:
_________________________
LEVEL OF THE SENSES:
1.
Perceptual Elements
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
2.
Representations
_______________________
_______________________
LEVEL OF THE WILL:
3.
Emotional Suggestions
_________________________
Munch
The Scream 1893
LEVEL OF THE MIND:
A. Philosophy and Psychology of Art
The psychology of art opens the door to another perspective of art full of the
human psyche. The psychology of art is a field of psychology that studies creativity and
artistic appreciation from a psychological standpoint. The goals of the psychology of art
are similar to those pursued by other related disciplines of psychology. Here, we can
include the disciplines that study basic processes such as perception, memory, and
emotion, as well as the higher functions of thought and language.
However, the goal of this discipline isn’t only practical but also theoretical. This
discipline tries to elaborate on theories of both creative and perceptive activity. However,
by doing so, it doesn’t dispense with the fundamental concepts and principles of scientific
psychology.
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Many psychotherapists have wanted to study and test the healing effects of art,
both individually and in groups. We know the area of study that combines psychological
elements with artistic ones as art therapy.
Art therapy emerged decades ago through rehabilitation programs using techniques such
as writing, music, painting, etc. Despite this, the incorporation into the clinical environment
is still slow and difficult.
However, the so-called psychology of art has become popular. It’s based on the
development of creativity and the reduction of stress and anxiety thanks to the learning of
classical artistic techniques (painting, sculpture, and complementary plastic arts).
Philosophy of art, the study of the nature of art, including concepts such as
interpretation, representation and expression, and form. It is closely related to aesthetics,
the philosophical study of beauty and taste.
The philosophy of art is distinguished from art criticism, which is concerned with the
analysis and evaluation of particular works of art. It may be primarily analytical, as when a
certain passage of poetry is separated into its elements and its meaning or import
explained in relation to other passages and other poems in the tradition. Or it may be
primarily evaluative, as when reasons are given for saying that the work of art in question
is good or bad, or better or worse than another one. Sometimes it is not a single work of
art but an entire class of works in a certain style or genre (such as pastoral poems or
Baroque music) that is being elucidated, and sometimes it is the art of an entire period
(such as Romantic). But in every case, the aim of art criticism is to achieve an increased
understanding or enjoyment of the work (or classes of works) of art, and its statements
are designed to achieve this end.
The task of the philosopher of art is not to heighten understanding and appreciation
of works of art but to provide conceptual foundations for the critic by (1) examining the
basic concepts that underlie the activities of critics and enable them to speak and write
more intelligibly about the arts and by (2) arriving at true conclusions about art, aesthetic
value, expression, and the other concepts that critics employ.
B. Human Faculties
How do our minds work? When asked the question about how many faculties we
have in our mind, many people respond by naming our senses, seeing, hearing etc.
What sets us apart from the animals on our earth? Humans are the most evolved on
our beautiful planet called Earth.
Mind. Two people can be looking at the same object and they can both have
different ideas of it. In other words, they perceive things differently. In this instance,
there is no right or wrong. They are merely different points of view.
One definition of Perception from the dictionary is: the act or faculty of
apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind. Expressed another way, we
form a conclusion about a subject or object, either via the information gained via the
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physical senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch), or via the ideas we formulate
regarding said subject or object. Yet another of the faculties of the mind.
Will. The ability to focus only on an idea and exclude everything else only exists if
the mind which set it in motion maintains it. The proper use of the mental faculty of
Will, is, so-to-say, to keep a mental image “fixed” in the mind. It may surprise you to
know that this is far simpler than it may first appear, once you properly understand
what the Will is, as well as what it is not.
Senses. Exploring art through the five senses a natural fit for installation art. The
artist’s goal is to create an experience for the “viewer,” and artists usually always
address most of the five senses to do this.
C. The Process of Art Appreciation
Works of art present problems of both interpretation and evaluation. Evaluation is
not the concern of this article (see aesthetics), but one problem about interpretation
deserves to be mentioned. Works of art are often difficult, and how to interpret them
properly is far from obvious. The question then arises as to what factors should guide
efforts at interpretation.
At one extreme lies the view known as isolationism, according to which a
knowledge of the artist’s biography, historical background, and other factors is
irrelevant to an appreciation of the work of art and usually is harmful in that it gets in
the way, tending to substitute a recital of these facts for the more difficult attempt to
come to grips with the work of art itself. If the work of art is not understood on first
acquaintance, it should be read (or heard, or viewed) again and yet again. Constant
re-exposure to it, so that the recipient is totally absorbed in and permeated by it, is the
way to maximum appreciation.
D. Art and the Perception of Reality
Perception is how we see the world. Reality is how the world is.
What is Perception? In the simplest terms, perception is how an individual
perceives reality. It is how he/she perceives the world. Perception differs from
person to person. It is an individual phenomenon and as such, no two
perceptions are the same. Life perception is as unique as an individual and is as
unique as the experiences an individual has. It is the processing of reality by an
individual. Perception is not reality. It rarely is.
That’s the case as perception is the final state of reality after it gets influenced
by many factors. These factors being:
 Emotions
 Past experiences
 Knowledge
 And cognitive distortions of an individual
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Even if our perception is not the reality it has great importance. So much so
that it can determine if a person will lead an unhappy or happy life.
What is Reality? There are many philosophers around the world who will tell
you there is no reality. There is only perception. You see, they describe reality as
a collection of everyone’s perceptions. Again, whichever perception is held by
most, is popularly deemed as the reality. We are not going to go by philosophy
here. For us, ‘reality’ is what the name suggests. It is REALITY!
 Reality is the truth.
 Reality is the actual state of things.
 Reality is the opposite of all things imaginary.
 Reality is the opposite of all things non-existent.
Reality is how things actually are before our emotions and preconceived
notions have a chance to corrupt it.
The absolute nature of truth gets destroyed in the battle between perception
vs reality. These concepts of perception vs reality give birth to three types of
truth.
1) The truth which is actually the truth
2) The truth that you think is the truth
3) And the truth that is considered to be the truth by another person
In the above-mentioned points, only the 1st option is the truth and hence is
the reality. While the 2nd and 3rd options are two perceptions of the same truth
(reality).
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Module 2: Art Appreciation and Human Faculties
Activity 1.3
This evaluation will be posted as a quiz in the classroom and will be checked by
using the rubrics.
1. Individual Activity: Make an artwork using Bond paper, Pencil, Water
Color, Pastel, Acrylic, or any mediums available;
2. An Artwork or Drawing depends in your own concept;
3. Analyze the visual elements, the representation, the emotional
suggestions and the intellectual meanings of the artwork.
4. Compose your analysis of the Artwork (Essay) in the Microsoft Word,
then send your output in the classwork of Google Classroom.
LET US WRAP UP
Activity 1.4
Relate the two fields in Art Appreciation.
Art in Philosophy
Art in Psychology
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LET US ASSESS
Analyze and Appreciate the following artwork using the three human faculties.
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ANSWER KEY
REFERENCES
Orate, Allan (2000). “Art and Perception of the World,” in UE Today, Vol. 12, No. 2.,
pp. 7-8 & 14.
Gombrich, Ernest (1960). “Pygmalion’s Power,” excerpt
from Art and Illusion: A
Study on the Psychology of Pictorial
Representation, pp. 80-83.
Caslib, Bernardo Jr. et. Al ART APPRECIATION
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