LECTURE 1

Art as a Humanistic
Discipline
Prepared by
Dr. Allan C. Orate

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
OBJECTIVES
a. Distinguish the humanities and the sciences as fields of
learning.
b. Survey the place of the humanities in the history of Western
civilization.
c. Relate the Western concept of humanities with the Filipino
notion of personhood or pagkatao.
d. Examine the history of art as a humanistic discipline.
e. Compare and contrast the concepts of art according to
Western thought and Filipino thought.
f. Discover the Filipino identity through the arts.
g. Apply the Filipino sense of art in the process of appreciating
art. DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
READINGS

1.1. Panofsky, Erwin (1955). “The History of Art as a

Humanistic Discipline ” in Meaning in the Visual
Arts. Australia: Penguin Books, 1955. pp. 1-25.

1.2. Covar, Prospero (1992). Kaalamang Bayang Dalumat

ng Pagkataong Pilipino”, in http://www.journals.
upd.edu. ph/index. php/djwf/article/viewFile/ 49
50/4459.

1.2. De Leon, Felipe (2015). “Defining the Filipino

Through the Arts,” in journals.upd.edu.ph/index.
php/phr/ article/ download/4737/4273.
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
VIDEOS

1.1. “Laura Morelli (2014). “Is there a difference between

art and craft?” In https://www.you
tube.com/watch? v=tVdw60eCnJI

1.2 “Xiao Time: Damian Domingo, Ama ng PHL Painting

at unang pormal na gurong Filipino ng sining sa Pinas”
(2014) in https://www.you
tube.com/watch?v=3i8muLe9vss.

1.3. ANC-NCCA (2015). “Dayaw: Inukit, Hinulma, Nilikha

(Iconic Symbols of the Indigenous)” Episodes 3. In
https://www.you tube.com/wat ch?v=8KlO 6_Jpd-4.
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
LECTURES
1.1. Art as a Humanistic Discipline

1.2. The Humanities in Western

Civilization

1.3. The Humanities and the

Filipino Personhood (Pagkatao)

1.4. The Filipino Concept of Art DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 LECTURE 1.1
Art as a Humanistic
Discipline

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
FRAMEWORKS AND PERSPECTIVES

FIELDS OF LEARNING

Sciences HUMANITIES

Language History ART Philosophy

Art ART
Creation APPRECIATION
Artist DR.Spectator
ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
Practice Theory
 THE TWO GENERAL
FIELDS OF LEARNING

THE THE
SCIENCES HUMANITIES
Deals with Deals with
natural, physical human
phenomena phenomena

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 PARADIGM FOR LEARNING
IN THE SCIENCES
SUBJECT-KNOWER OBJECT-KNOWN

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

“The scientist learns about things in the world.”

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 PARADIGM FOR LEARNING
IN THE HUMANITIES
SUBJECT-KNOWER = OBJECT-KNOWN

REFLEXIVE
METHOD

“The humanist learns about the self.”

 THE BASIC
QUESTION IN
THE HUMANITIES

“Who am I?”
THINKERS WHOSE THOUGHTS WERE THE BASIS
OF METHOD IN THE HUMANITIES

SOCRATES
469-399 BC
“Know thyself.”

WISDOM
“Withdraw into yourself
truth dwells in the inner man.”
AUGUSTINE, 354-430 AD

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 THE THE
SCIENCES HUMANITIES
KNOWLEDGE WISDOM

The scientist The humanist

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
becomes a becomes a
LEARNED MAN. WISE MAN.
THALES OF MILETUS
(620-546 BC)
A scientist tends to know everything about the world
that he forgets to know anything about himself.
 CONFUCIUS
(555-479 BC)

至聖
“The Great Sage”
Wise Man
 Who am I?
What is the basic answer
to this question?
 Who am I?
“I am a human being.”
“HUMANITIES”
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 LECTURE 1.2
The Humanities in
Western Civilization

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
Panofsky, “Art as a Humanistic Discipline”

“HUMANITIES”
LATIN ENGLISH
humanitas “humanity”

Gods in the state of

divinitas perfection in heaven
People in the state of
humanitas culture in civilized society
Savages in the state of
barbaritas nature for survival
 THE PLACE OF HUMANITIES IN
THE HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

ANCIENT COSMOCENTRIC VIEW HUMA

PROTAGORAS: Man is the measure of all things.
800 BC NITIES
GEOCENTRISM: Man is at the center of the universe.

THEOCENTRIC VIEW
MEDIEVAL SCHOLASTICISM: Man is created in the image of God
300 AD Man is at the center of creation.

RENAISSANCE ANTHROPOCENTRIC VIEW HUMA

HUMANISM: Nothing is more wonderful than man. NITIES
1400

MODERN SCIENTIFIC-TECHNOCENTRIC VIEW

1600 Man is a part of nature.

ECLECTIC VIEW HUMA

POSTMODERN Man is a piece of everything. NITIES
1960 DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 ANCIENT
IMAGE OF
COSMOCENTRIC
MAN:

GEOCENTRIC
THEORY
Earth (Man) is
the center of
the universe.

Ptolemy
(100-170 AD)
Almagest
MEDIEVAL IMAGE
OF THEOCENTRIC MAN
Man is created by God.

Escorial Beatus,
Illuminated Manuscript,
10th Century
 RENAISSANCE
IMAGE OF MAN:
ANTROPOCENTRIC
MAN:
Measure of all
things

Leonardo da Vinci
Vitruvian Man, 1490
 RENAISSANCE IMAGE OF ANTHROPOCENTRIC MAN
The image of man is the image of God. Man is the measure of God.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Man (Sistine Chapel Painting, 1512)

 HELIOCENTRIC
THEORY: Removed
man from the center
of the universe and
suggested the view
man was special in
the universe.

Copernicus,
On the Revolution
of Celestial Bodies,
1542
MODERN IMAGE OF SCIENTIFIC-TECHNOCENTRIC MAN
Man is a part of nature.

The Evolution of Man

 MODERN IMAGE OF SCIENTIFIC-TECHNOCENTRIC MAN
The scientist is detached observer of the objectified man.

Rembrandt, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Turf, 1642

MODERN IMAGE OF SCIENTIFIC-
TECHNOCENTRIC MAN

Man is dehumanized during

the industrial age.

Legaspi
Gadgets
1947
Medio Cruz, Poleteismo, from Kulo Exhibit 2011 INSTALLATION ART

POSTMODERN IMAGE OF ECLECTIC MAN

Man is a piece of everything.
 HUMANISTIC
DISCIPLINES

HISTORY
Human events happening in the world
LANGUAGE
Written and oral forms of human communication
PHILOSOPHY
Human reason concerning reality
ART
Admiration (ART APPRECIATION) of human-made objects
and the human creativity (ART CREATION) by which these
objects are made
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 ETYMOLOGY
Professional &
Academic Artist
LATIN ENGLISH
FINE ART
ars “art”
Architect
Skillful production Sculptor
or performance MAJOR ART
LIBERAL ART ARTIST ART
SERVILE ART ARTISAN CRAFT
MINOR ART
Stone Cutter
Carpenter
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
WESTERN CONCEPT ART

ACADEMIC Only schooled people are artists

ELITIST Meant for the higher social class

HIERARCHICAL Liberal art and servile art, high and

low art, major art and minor art or
craft, fine art and practical art, folk
art, indigenous art, popular art

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

WESTERN CLASSIFICATION
OF THE ARTS

MAJOR ART
Made by artists and
primarily concerned with
the form of beauty

MINOR ART OR CRAFT

Made by artisans and
concerned with functionality
and usefulness of
human-made objects
(artifacts)
 THE SEVEN MAJOR ARTS
IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Visual PAINTING
SCULPTURE
ARCHITECTURE

Performing MUSIC
DANCE
DRAMA
Linguistic LITERATURE
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 MINOR ARTS: CRAFT

Ceramics
Weaving
Sewing
Handicraft
Carpentry
Masonry
Stone Cutting
Gardening
Cooking
Video 1.1.
Michelangelo,
Painting in the
Ceiling of Sistine
Chapel
1508-1512

Made by the
artist and the
artisans, but
only the artist
took the credit
 LECTURE 1.3
The Humanities and the
Filipino Personhood
(Pagkatao)

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
“HUMANITIES”

LATIN
humanitas
ENGLISH
“humanities”
FILIPINO
?
“pagpapakatao”
Mula sa
“pagkatao”
“tao”
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 COVAR’S FILIPINO ANTHROPOLOGY
KATAUHAN PAGKATAO
Biological: Kultural:
Born as a human being Becoming a human being
Act of being human Process of becoming human
“personality” “personhood”
“Madaling maging tao; mahirap magpakatao.”

“PAGPAPAKATAO”
The process by which one
becomes a human being
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 FILIPINO
PERSONHOOD How does a human being
become a Filipino?

Manunggul Jar,
890-710 BC,
Tabon Cave,
Palawan

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

Both came
from clay
THE JAR AND THE
FILIPINO PERSONHOOD

LABAS LOOB
ulo isip
dibdib damdamin

LALIM
kaluluwa budhi
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 LABAS NG PAGKATAO
Katawan (Physical)
kulay ng balat (maputi, maitim)
tindig (matangkad, andak)
ilong (matangos, pango)
LOOB NG PAGKATAO
dibdib (malapad, malaki)
Kalooban (Intellectual,
Emotional and Moral)
isip (matalino)
ugali, asal (mabuti)

LALIM NG PAGKATAO
Kaluluwa (Espiritual)
anito (banal)

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 NON-DUALISTIC RELATION OF TERMS

LABAS LOOB
malapad ng noo matalino
salubong ang kilay matapang o galit
malagkit ang tingin umiibig
maduming bibig masamang magsalita

LALIM DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

malinis ang kaluluwa matuwid ang budhi
NON-DUALISTIC RELATION IN
FILIPINO PSYCHOLOGY
LABAS LOOB
hipo dama
pigil timpi
dinig ulinig
tawa tuwa
saya ligaya
sarap ginhawa
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 THE “HUMANITIES”
IN FILIPINO CONCEPT

“PAGPAPAKATAO”
The process how a
human being becomes
a Filipino
FILIPINO
ART
In the study of Humanities, as Pagpapakatao,
the students would discover and realize their
own identity as a Filipino.
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 Filipe del Leon Jr. (2011)
“Defining the Filipino through the Arts”
CULTURAL IDENTITY
“The worldview and values, beliefs systems,
knowledge, skills and practices, core principles
and ideas shared by a society”
.

FILIPINO
“Cultural identity is a sine qua non for
becoming active in the world… a source of social
empowerment. Rob a people of their identity
and they become passive, lost, indolent,
uncreative and unproductive.”
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 “The first objective of a colonizing power is to erase
the cultural memory of the conquered people, to
induce a collective amnesia about their past and
supplant it with the culture of the colonizers. In this
lie the roots of Filipino derivativeness and inferiority
complex vis-a-vis the West.”

Pre-Colonial Period
Had our own cultural identity
(Before 1500’s)
Our identity destroyed by colonizers:
Colonial Period
Westernization of Filipino Culture
(1500-1950) making us alienated from our own

Post-Colonial Period Reclamation, affirmation and definition

(1950 onwards) of our identify in our own terms
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 FILIPINO WESTERN
CULTURE CULTURE
(Subordinated) (Standard)
FORMS OF ALIENATION CAUSED BY
WESTERNIZATION OF FILIPINO CULTURE
1. Alienation from Community
2. Alienation from Our Sources of Cultural Energy: Thinking
in Borrowed Forms and the Economics of Dependency
3. Alienation from Our Race: The Doña Victorina Syndrome:
4. Alienation from the Indigenous: Denigrating the Local
5. Alienation from the Land
6. Alienation from Being Filipino
7. Alienation from Sustainable Living DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 FILIPINO OTHER
CULTURE CULTURES
(Standard)
Some Recommendations for Developing
a Filipino and Humanistic Perspective
1. Heightening social consciousness and sense of responsibility to the
nation.
2. Promoting people participation, local genius, and cultural diversity.
3. Promoting the local but thinking national or global: human
communities, not the state, are the ultimate actors in the
development process
4. Integrating the arts to social and cultural phenomena as lucid
mirrors of social consciousness.
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 THE COMMUNAL CHARACTER OF PHILIPPINE
TRADITIONAL CULTURES AS REFLECTED IN THE ARTS
1. Integration of the arts with other values and functions
2. Unity of the arts
3. Art is integrated with everyday life and not regarded
as a separate activity.
4. Equality of opportunity for participation in the artistic
and creative process.
5. Flexibility of material, technical, and formal
requirements
6. Use of available resources for artistic creation
7. Emphasis on the creative process rather than the
finished product
8. Simultaneity of conception and realization
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 FILIPINO
ARTS
BECOMING FILIPINO THROUGH THE ARTS:
The Process of Pagpapakatao
“The arts can provide us the most vivid
images of social relations and cultural
values. They are perhaps the most lucid
symbols of a people’s quality of being or
consciousness. Contemplating the arts is
like reflecting on the psychic template of
an artist or a cultural community.”
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 LECTURE 1.4
The Filipino
Concept of Art

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 Western
Concept
ART
Academic Only schooled people are artists
Elitist Meant for the higher social class
Hierarchical High and low art, major art and craft
fine and practical art, folk, indigenous

Filipino
Concept
ART Has no such Western distinctions
 DAMIAN Son of Chinese immigrants converted to
Christianity, but thought to be a noble
DOMINGO Spanish descent by the Spaniards so
that they commissioned him to paint
(1796-1834)
Engaged by a merchant to paint, in
miniaturismo style, albums of people
wearing their daily costumes
Had a vision of making art more
accessible to the Filipinos (Indios)
Founded the first Art School in the
Philippines Escuela Dibujo y Pintura
in Tondo Manila in 1821
His patron was Sociedad Economica
de los Amigos del Pais
FATHER OF Professor and Director of the Philippine Video
PHILIPPINE Art Academy. The academy was closed 1.2.
after his death producing Filipino artists
PAINTING trained in Western artistic tradition
Domingo, Tipos del Pais, Water color of Filipinos in native costumes
 JUAN LUNA (1857-1899)
Bachelor of Arts Degree, Ateneo Municipal de Manila.
Enrolled in Academy of Fine Arts, Manila

Went to Europe in 1877, and studied in Escuela de

ACADEMIC Bellas Artes de San Fernando
WESTERNIZED
Won gold medal in Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes
FILIPINO in 1884 for Spoliarium
PAINTER
Commissioned by Spanish government to do paintings
like La Batalla de Lepanto and El Pacto de Sangre

Arrested for murdering his wife and mother-in-law, but

was acquitted on grounds of crime of passion.
Juan Luna, Spoliarium, 1884, Gold Medal, Exposicion Nacional

NEOCLASSICAL STYLE
Felix R. Hidalgo, Las
Virgines Cristiana
espuestas al population,
1884, Silver Medal,
Exposicion Nacional
 “…. In the history of mankind there are names which
in themselves signify an achievement…. To such
RIZAL’S belong the names of Luna and Hidalgo: their
splendor illuminates two extremes of the globe-the
SPEECH Orient and the Occident, Spain and the Philippines.
As I utter them, I seem to see two luminous arches
that rise from either region to blend there on
high…to unite two peoples with eternal bonds; two
peoples whom the seas and space vainly separate;
two peoples among whom do not germinate the
seeds of disunion blindly sown by men and their
despotism. Luna and Hidalgo are the pride of Spain
as of the Philippines-though born in the Philippines,
they might have been born in Spain, for genius has
no country; genius bursts forth everywhere….”

Winning the exposition had proven that Filipinos were equal with the
Spaniards, so that the Filipinos deserve the recognition of other people
in the world with equal dignity and respect.
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 Luna,
España y
Filipinas
1886

Philippine Western
Art Art
One positive way of looking at Filipino
identity in the arts is to see Philippine
Art as integrated in Western Art, and
these two traditions are uniting and
harmonizing with one another.
 Tolentino
Bonifacio
Monument
1933

NEOCLASSICISM
Amorsolo, Planting Rice
ROMANTIC REALISM

RENAISSANCE ART
IMPRESSIONISM
 Manansala,
Marketscene

TRANSPARENT
CUBISM
 Lamaroza
Ecology Series
1978

SURREALISM
Joya
Karate

ACTION
PAINTING

ABSTRACT
EXPRESSIONISM
 Albor,
Upward
Duality

COLOR
FIELD
PAINTING
Tinalak, Tiboli Art
Basey, Art of Colorful Mats from Samar-Leyte
Pastillas Wrapper Art of Pampanga and Bulacan
Vinta
Badjao
Art
Sarimanok Design
Maranao Art
Okir, Maranao Art
Torogan, Maranao Art
Maranao Brassware Art
Burnay
Jars of
Ilocos
PASIKING
Ifugao
Native
Backpack
Ling Ling O, Art of
the Cordillera Group
Bulul, Igorot Art
COLORFUL
ART OF THE
PAROL

Lanterns
made of
capiz shells
with twikling
light design
PAHIYAS, ART OF LUCBAN QUEZON
Taka Art of Paete, Laguna
JEEPNEY
ART
THE COLORFUL ART OF THE PHILIPPINE KALESA
THE COLORFUL ART OF TRICYCLE DESIGN
COLORFUL PHILIPPINE ICE CREAM CART
Laji of the Ivatan is literature and music.
Pasyon is literature, and pabasa is music.
Senakulo is a theater art.
“dayaw”
Binisaya word
that means
good, valuable,
superior or
beautiful

Video 1.3.
 “The principle of cultural identity does not mean
that cultures cannot be criticized. If all cultures
on earth are to survive, most of them have to
change some of their beliefs and practices in
order to become compatible with one another”
(Felipe, 2011).

FILIPINO IDENTITY WESTERN

The Philippine culture has to be dynamic in its
relation with other cultures in the world. By
harmonizing the Western and the Filipino
concepts of art and its practice, a truly
Philippine identity in the arts would emerge out
of the shared cultural universe, not only of our
own people, but of the humanity as a whole.
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
ACTIVITY AND
ASSESMENT

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
ACTIVITY AND ASSESMENT
a. Individual activity: Along the sidewalks or local shops
of Metro Manila, find a native Philippine product
(work of art) such as basket, bracelet, hut, rags,
textile, sandals, etc.

b. Make a documentation of the artifact: Where did you

buy it? How much? What is its local name? What is it
made of? Its color, size? Other information?

c. Write a one-paragraph essay answering the question:

How does the product or artifact express the Filipino
concept of art?

d. Use the paper provided for this activity.

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 RUBRICS FOR ACTIVITY 1
Needs
Excellent Good Fair
CRITERIA Improvement
(10-12 points) (7-9 points) (4-6 points)
(1-3)

Documentation Some elements Many elements There is no

Documentation of the artifact is are lacking in the are lacking in the documentation
complete. documentation. documentation at all

The essay answers The essay A large part of the The essay
Content and the question partially answers essay incorrectly does not answer
Substance completely and the question answer the the question
correctly. correctly. question. at all.

The essay The essay is There are many The essay has
abides with all the understood mistakes in many mistakes
Language and
rules of language, although there are language, and the in language, and
Comprehension
and it is easily some mistakes in essay is hard to it is totally not
understood. language DR. ALLAN C. ORATE,
understand. UE
understood.