Elements of Art colors are yellow green, blue green, and blue

violet.
The elements of art are the building blocks used • Complementary colors are located directly
by artists to create a work of art. across from each other on the
color wheel (an arrangement of colors along a
Line is a mark with greater length than width. circular diagram to show
Lines can be horizontal, vertical, how they are related to one another).
or diagonal; straight or curved; thick or thin. Complementary pairs contrast
because they share no common colors. For
Shape is a closed line. Shapes can be geometric, example, red and green are
like squares and circles; or complements, because green is made of blue and
organic, like free-form or natural shapes. Shapes yellow. When complementary
are flat and can express length colors are mixed together, they neutralize each
and width. other to make
Forms are three-dimensional shapes expressing brown.
length, width, and depth. Balls,
cylinders, boxes, and pyramids are forms. Texture is the surface quality that can be seen
and felt. Textures can be rough or
Space is the area between and around objects. smooth, soft or hard. Textures do not always feel
The space around objects is often the way they look; for example,
called negative space; negative space has shape. a drawing of a porcupine may look prickly, but if
Space can also refer to the you touch the drawing, the
feeling of depth. Real space is three-dimensional; paper is still smooth.
in visual art, when we create
the feeling or illusion of depth, we call it space. Value is the the lightness or darkness of tones or
colors. White is the
Color is light reflected off of objects. Color has lightest value; black is the darkest. The value
three main characteristics: halfway
hue(the name of the color, such as red, green, between these extremes is called middle gray.
blue, etc.),
value (how light or dark itis), and
intensity (how bright or dull it is).
• White is pure light; black is the absence of light.
• Primary colors are the only true colors (red,
blue, and yellow). All other
colors are mixes of primary colors.
• Secondary colors are two primary colors mixed
together (green, orange,
violet).
• Intermediate colors, sometimes called tertiary
colors, are made by mixing
a primary and secondary color together. Some
examples of intermediate
FUNCTIONS OF ART people see can be considered as a product of
art.
In general, the arts can truly bring beauty to
life. However, there are still other functions
which can be taken into account.

Appreciative Function- It is with no doubt

that the arts give amusement and joy to
most people. Musical and dance concerts as
well as theatrical performances truly give
entertainment and joy to its audience.

Imaginative and Creative Function- The arts

challenges the creative mind and spirit of
man. It is truly an avenue to showcase
potentials in creating things which exhibit
core attributes such as universality,
timelessness, and peculiarity.

Communicative and Expressive Function-

The artist can express his inner thoughts and
feelings as reflected in the masterpiece. As it
was said, any work of art illumines the
human mind and heart. The elements of arts
can be compared to language which can be a
tool to convey messages that contain
genuine ideas.

Therapeutic Function- The arts can truly

relieve and release tension and stress. Such
can be a tool for emotional healing and also
to gain deliverance from emotional pangs. As
an example, people listen to music to relax
and to have peace of mind.

Personal and Social Function- People benefit

from the arts. The personal function refers to
the utilization of arts by individuals. Each
individual has a unique sense and taste in
fashion. People differ in terms of their
preferences. Social function is more general
as seen in various structures like houses,
schools, churches, government halls, and all
other social establishments and structures.
Music and dances may not only be for
entertainment but they also have cultural
and religious significance. All these utilized
all the elements of arts. Everything that
Four Basic Relationships of a Work of Art
(Approaches)
1. mimetic (based on the subject matter)
2. expressive (based on the artist)
3. pragmatic (based on the audience)
4. aesthetic or formal (based on the
form) succeed in conveying the meaning
of the work?
1. SUBJECT MATTER/MIMETIC
“Art is an imitation of an imitation of
reality…”
Plato, Greek philosopher
“Art is a reflection or a mirror of reality.”
Aristotle, Greek philosopher
With respect to subject matter, art is an
imitation, depiction or representation of
some aspect of nature or life. That which
is imitated, depicted or represented in
art is its subject matter.
Anything in the universe may serve as
the subject of art: aspects of nature such
as the sea, the sky, fields, forests,
mountains, animals, etc., (often depicted
in paintings), human concerns in the
realm of the experience, action and deed
(as recounted in fiction, narrative poetry
and the drama), and emotions and
moods (lyric poetry) and ideas (the
essay), spatial forms (sculpture and
architecture), tonal forms (music) and
plastic forms in motion in space and time
(dance).
According to subject matter, art may be
classified into two types:
1) Representational or Objective Art
portrays or depicts something other than
its own form. Examples are Venus de
Milo, Da Vinci’s Monalisa, Prokofiev’s
Peter and the Wolf, Tchaikovsky’s ballet
Swan Lake. Literature is principally
representational.
2) Non-representational or Non-objective
Art represents nothing except its own
form. Examples: the Pyramids of Egypt,
Mondrian’s non-figurative paintings, the
symphonies of Mozart. Among the major
arts, architecture is most nearly always
non-objective. In non-objective art,
subject matter and form are one: the
form is the subject.
The concept of art as imitation may be
traced back to two Greek philosophers,
Plato and Aristotle. Plato, the idealist,
believes that art is far removed from
reality which exists in the realm of Ideals
or Universals, of which our world is but
an imperfect imitation, and art is, in turn,
only an imitation of our world. He places
art on the same level as shadows and
reflections of things on water – all these
being mere illusions of illusions of reality.
Aristotle, an empiricist, rejected the
belief in the realm of Ideals. He taught
that reality exists right in our own world,
around us and within us as perceived by
our senses. Art is “a mirror of reality”
and therefore brings us in contact with it.
The approach to art criticism through the
subject matter is called mimetic (derived
from the Greek word mimesis, meaning
imitation.) The mimetic approach
stresses the importance of subject
matter or content in art. According to
this approach, the merit of a work of art
lies in its subject; the beauty of the
subject and its significance are the basis
for aesthetic judgment. This approach
has been discredited by modern critics
who assert that the aesthetic quality of a
work of art depends not so much on
what is depicted (the subject) as on how
it is depicted (the form).
To modern critics, therefore, a poem in
praise of the splendor of God is not
necessarily beautiful than another poem
expressing a lover’s complaint about the
horrible smell coming from his lady’s
armpits, and a painting depicting a lovely
woman by the sea does not necessarily
have greater aesthetic merit than
another painting depicting a drunken old
man sprawled beside a huge pile of
garbage. What we should appreciate is
not the subject but the manner of
presentation of the subject.
2. THE ARTIST, WRITER, OR CREATOR
“He who touches this book, touches the
man.”
Walt Whitman, an American poet
“Leaves of Grass”
From the point of view of the artist
(poet, essayist, fiction writer, dramatist,
composer, painter, sculptor or architect),
art is a means of expression, a medium
for communicating an idea, an emotion
or some other human experience, an
impression of life, a vision of beauty. And
because the artist puts something of
himself into his art, it becomes an
extension of himself, an objectification of
some aspect of his personality. Our
experience of a work of art, therefore,
brings us in contact with the personality
of the artist. The individuality of the
creator is revealed to us through his
creation. However, the degree to which
the artist has revealed himself varies
from one form of art to another, from
one particular work of art to another.
The expressive approach to art criticism
stresses the relationship of the artwork
to its creator. In this approach, the artist
himself becomes the major element
generating both the artistic product and
the norms by which the work is to be
judged. Interpreting art in the light of the
knowledge that we have about the artist
has some degree of validity: it is an
admitted fact that something about the
artist, his life-history, his philosophy and
beliefs, his character, certain
circumstances in his life which may have
influenced the creation of the artwork in
question, his background, the era during
which he lived, and other pertinent
information places us in a better position
to interpret and evaluate his work. While
the possession of such knowledge
certainly enhances our appreciation,
modern critics assert that it is
unnecessary. They question the validity
of the expressive approach and insist
that an artwork be judged according to
its intrinsic qualities and merits and in
judging its aesthetic value, we must not
take into account its relationship to its
creator.
Moreover, in passing judgment on the
aesthetic merit of an artwork, we must
not be influenced by our personal regard
for its creator or his reputation. Hence,
we should appreciate a symphony by
Mozart, not because this composer is
one of the most delightful and admirable
personalities in the world of music, but
because that symphony has certain
aesthetic qualities which make it worthy
of appreciation for its own sake,
regardless of who composed it or what
sort of man he was. Richard Wagner,
another composer, was an extremely
disagreeable person – selfish, conceited,
arrogant – but the fact remains that his
music is glorious!
3. AUDIENCE OR READERS
“Literature, to be of importance, must be
simple and direct and must have a clear
moral purpose…”
Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist and short
story writer
“The purpose of literature is to teach, to
moralize, to instruct…”
George Bernard Shaw, Anglo-Irish wit
and playwright
From the viewpoint of the audience
(readers in the case of literature, viewers
in the case of the visual arts, and
listeners in the case of music), art is
experience; for what is a poem unless
one can read it; what is a painting unless
one can see it, and what is a sonata
unless one can hear it? Art always has an
audience, even if this audience is none
other than the artist himself.
One aspect of art, which is of importance
to the audience, is its value, function or
significance. Aside from its essential
value (aesthetic), art may have
secondary values: religious,
philosophical, moral, historical, political,
social, scientific, commercial,
sentimental, practical, etc.
The approach to art criticism, which
emphasizes the value and importance of
art to its audience, is known as the
pragmatic approach.
Pragmatic critics attach little importance
to the aesthetic value and instead judge
art according to how useful it is to the
audience. For instance, they are partial
to artworks that have moral value – that
aim to teach, to instruct, to ennoble, or
to mold the moral character of the
audience (this view may be traced back
to the Romans, Horace, and Cicero), or
else they have preference for those for
those objects of art that are useful or
have practical value. Marxist-Leninist-
Maoist critics are classified as pragmatic
because they assert that the role of art in
the socialist order is to contribute to the
fulfillment of the objectives of the state,
to serve as a vehicle for propaganda in
the people’s struggle against
imperialism, etc. Again, modern critics
reject the pragmatic approach because
they consider all the values of art, aside
from the aesthetic value, as merely
secondary, therefore incidental, non-
essential.
It is the prevailing view in the field of art
criticism that the merits of art are found
in its own form and that these merits are
there regardless of whether they are
grasped and appreciated as such by the
audience or not; only an enlightened
audience can appreciate great art.
Pragmatists attack this view on the
ground that it is “elitist”—that it confines
art to the enjoyment of the favored few
and shuts out the great masses of people
who are not “enlightened”. The Russian
novelist Leo Tolstoy, a pragmatist
maintains that a work of art attains more
greatness the more it gives moral
upliftment and pleasure to the greatest
number of people.
Modern critics assert that the aesthetic
judgment of the masses is far from
reliable, the masses being for the most
part uneducated, ignorant; that the
greatness of a work of art does not
depend on, and cannot be measured by,
its popularity with the people; that a
gaudy painting of Mayon Volcano from a
shop on Mabini Street is not necessarily
greater than an abstraction by Picasso
simply because it is understood and
appreciated by a greater number of
people, or that My Way by Frank Sinatra
is superior to Mozart’s Symphony No. 40
for the same reason.
4. FORM
“There are no moral or immoral books;
they are either well-written or badly
written.”
Oscar Wilde, Anglo-Irish wit and
playwright
Preface to his book, Picture of Dorian
Gray
With respect to form (the manner of
imitation, how the subject matter is
handled and presented), art is a
composition, a whole consisting of
various parts or elements; the selection,
organization, and integration of these
elements according to certain formal
principles and employing certain
techniques constitute that which we call
the form of art. Hence, in poetry, the
organization of such expressive elements
as imagery, figures of speech, tone,
movement, symbols, sound values of
words, meter, rhyme, etc., using
language as medium, creates poetic
form. In music, the integration of such
expressive elements as rhythm, melody
harmony, tempo, dynamics, and timbre,
using tone as medium and following the
basic principles of organization –
repetition, variation and contrast –
results in the creation of musical form. A
film in achieving its objective to tell a
story (the subject matter), employs and
combines many elements: screenplay,
acting, direction, cinematography,
pacing, editing, set design, background
music, costuming, make-up, casting, etc.
How the story is presented in terms of
these elements constitutes cinematic
form.
Modern critics, advocating the formal
and aesthetic approach to art criticism,
stress the importance of form in a work
or art. They uphold the motto, “Art for
art’s sake,” which is attributed to the
English playwright, Oscar Wilde. This
view seeks to liberate art from the chains
of morality, religion, political
propaganda, social, reform, etc., and sets
up art as something worthy of
appreciation for its own sake. The formal
approach considers the form as the basis
of aesthetic judgment and other
considerations are secondary. This
approach requires that the audience be
knowledgeable, which is the reason why
pragmatists charge that it encourages
snobbery and elitism. Analyzing the form
of a painting (or any work of art for that
matter) is an intellectual undertaking
that employs a systematic method to
arrive at aesthetic judgment. The
following may serve as a guide in the
analysis of a painting:
Every work of art involves an element of
choice; certain possibilities have been
employed, others have been rejected. It
is absolutely essential to consider
alternatives to see what these choices
are and why they occur. One may begin
by considering the physical properties –
size, shape and medium – of the work of
art. How do these affect its immediate
personality as an object? One can then
explore the more complex qualities of
the work. For the sake of convenience,
try to isolate factors, but keep in mind
that they have an organic or functional
relation to other aspects and to the
whole. Consider what is depicted (the
subject matter). What is it? Why is it
there? What can be said of the groupings
of objects or figures that the artist
makes? What personality traits are given
to these objects or figures? How are
these accomplished? How are these
objects of figures depicted, what mode
of presentation employed: realism,
idealization, distortion, abstraction, or
surrealism? What are the choices of
posture, position, gestures, expression,
in other words the physiognomic
qualities of the figures? Balance: formal
or informal? How achieved – by masses,
tones or colors? What preference as to
shapes in objects, areas, colors? What
lines are employed? Straight, curved,
vertical, diagonal, horizontal? How do
they behave? Static, full of movement,
restless? Rhythm: regular or irregular?
Quality of lines: thick, delicate, fine,
erratic, precise, nervous, awkward,
graceful, firm, etc.? What about the role
of the tone (shading) in the painting? The
relations of light and dark areas? Their
distribution and concentration? What is
the source of light in the painting? The
sun, fire, candlelight? What is the quality
of this light? Intense, glaring, mellow,
dim? Is the transition from light to dark
gradual or sudden? To what effect? What
qualities characterize the colors of the
painting? How are they brought into
contact with one another? How are
transitions managed? Functions of color:
natural, harmonic, symbolic, decorative,
affective? Is there a pervasive feeling to
the use of color? Gay exuberant, solemn,
somber? How are spatial conceptions
handled? How is the sense of depth
achieved? Linear or aerial perspective or
both? Single perspective or multiple?
Tempo and mood? Affective character of
the work? Any textual interest? How
handled? What about the actual painting
materials? How treated? Qualities of
surface. Brush technique? To what
effect? Shape and nature of frame and
relations of objects to it? Scale of
figures? Values attached to the different
elements? Economics of statement:
direct, plain, austere, or lavish,
extravagant, elaborate? Variety and
consistency of expression? Spontaneity?
Organizing principles employed:
repetition, variation, contrast? Sense of
unity achieved? Appropriateness or
coherence of choices for their meanings
conveyed by the picture? Degree of
success of the painting (judgment). The
considerations listed above may be hard
to differentiate at times. This is because
in a work of art, all factors and elements
exists simultaneously and interact with
one another. One does not have to
follow the sequence given above and
may proceed according to convenience
and necessity. This brief discussion of the
four relationship of a work of art and the
four principal schools of art criticism may
be concluded thus: We can appreciate a
work of art only when we grasp or
comprehend what it is the artist is trying
to say (theme, subject) and realize how
well, how effectively, how beautifully he
says it (the form).
Art, Man and Society
Qualities of Art
Artistic crafts, as one of the fields of
humanities, can be judged based on
one’s personal and subjective way of
thinking. The arts require personal,
reflective, and interpretative level of
thinking as oppose to the sciences which
heavily require objectivity, facts, and
evidences. In this regard, there are
various aspects to consider in critiquing
and judging any work of art.
– SPCRUZML and Jun Pedrena
Art…
Has aesthetic sense and value.
Is Universal
Is Timeless
Is Unique
Impacts the mind and soul
Has human intervention
Has creative intention
Art should…
Be appreciated
Challenge the creative mind and spirit of
man
Convey and express
Heal
See Functions of Art
Art and Man
The qualities and functions of art
contribute to the inconceivable influence
it has in human behavior, belief and
lifestyle. It’s as good as saying that if
water comprises sixty percent of the
human body, art occupies more than fifty
percent of our mind.
Art and Society
ART BEGETS LIFE,
LIFE BEGETS ART
Traditionally, we have believed that art
imitates life. The painter translates what
he or she sees by producing a scene on
a canvas. The sculptor does the same
with bronze or stone. A photographer or
film maker does it even more directly. A
writer describes life in his or her books.
This simple concept is known as
mimesis.
But some have questioned the one-way
nature of mimesis by arguing that art also
changes the way we view the world, and
in fact, life sometimes imitates art rather
than the other way around. The person
who first articulated this belief effectively
was Oscar Wilde, best known for his
work The Picture of Dorian Grey (See
Ugly Writers). Speaking about the foggy
conditions in London in the late 19th
century, he wrote that the way we
perceive them changed because of art.
Referring to the “wonderful brown fogs
that come creeping down our streets,
blurring the gas lamps and turning
houses into shadows” he argued that
“poets and painters have taught [people]
the loveliness of such effects”. According
to Wilde, “They did not exist till Art had
invented them.”
And you don’t have to look too far to see
anti-mimesis in our lives. To what extent
is our outlook on life altered by ideas we
read in books? The portrayal of people in
films? The styles we see in fashion
photography? One great example of this
is the TV series The Sopranos, and how
it affected both the Mafia in the USA and
the FBI.
In Stalinist Russia, there was also a keen
understanding of the power of art. Art
portrayed contented peasants,
industrious workers, and Stalin himself.
In fact, Stalin was shown god-like in
many paintings, a phenomenon known
as the Cult of Stalin. Just as in Germany,
gigantic architectural projects expressed
the power of the state.

Art’s influence on society: However, there is no doubt that in Russia

propaganda and censorship there were greater artistic achievements
than in Nazi Germany. Composers
worked with fewer hindrances – as seen
Throughout history, it has always been in the works by Prokoviev and
the case that art has the power to change Shostakovich, and film-makers such as
society, especially when new media are Eisenstein emerged.
used to express an idea. During the First
World War, for example, movie cameras
were used for the first time to record
trench warfare – when the film was
shown in cinemas in Britain, audiences
ran out screaming. This led to the
government censoring further such use
of such a powerful medium. And in
government censorship, and use of art as
propaganda, we see how seriously
governments take the effect of art.

All of the major dictators of the C20th

understood the power of art to influence
the population. In Nazi Germany, Hitler
set up the Ministry of Propaganda and
National Enlightenment. It was headed
by Goebbels, who made sure that
nothing was published, performed, or
exhibited without his approval.

And what Goebbels approved, of course,

only fit in with Nazi ideology and ideas. In
terms of art, this meant no modern and
abstract art, certainly nothing hostile to
the regime, and nothing that featured
images other than the stereotypical
blonde-haired, blue eyed set in idyllic
pastoral scenes of blissful happiness.