HUMANITIES
ART DESCRIPTION
and
APPRECIATION
• It is an 3-unit course where a student will
learn how to value self-expression 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 wellrounded, matured and refined.
HUMANITIES
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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.
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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 man’s frailties in life and how this
can be improved.
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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 threedimensional 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
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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 nonconformists. 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:
People”
“Liberty Leading the
6. Impressionism is concentrated on the artist’s
impression of the moment.
• Ex. Claude Monet: “Sunrise”
Eduord Manet:
“The Beat Waitress”
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:
“Persistence of Memory”
Kinds of Subjects
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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
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Line – it is a man’s 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 color’s 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
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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 heat-softened 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 today’s 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
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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 surface-ornamentation 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 women’s 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
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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
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A restless, dynamic style with its diagonals
and floating curved lines, its striking
chiaroscuro, and it’s 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
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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. Peter’s 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 Stonehenge’s 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. Khufu’s 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 egg-anddart 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.
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