Understanding Art: Assumptions and Pointillism

• Art comes from the Latin word "ARS," signifying "craft or specialized skill."
• Art serves as the expression of ideas and emotions.
• Art embodies knowledge and understanding of universal and timeless qualities.

Assumptions of Art

• Art is universal, present in every country and generation.
• Art is a human creation, reflecting interpretations of nature, while nature is created by a divine power.
• Art requires experience, emphasizing personal engagement over mere factual knowledge.

Visual Artworks - Pointillism

• Pointillism arose in the late 19th century within Impressionism.
• Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed Pointillism.
• The technique involves applying small, distinct dots of color to create images.
• From a distance, the dots optically blend to form a cohesive image.
• It departs from traditional brushstrokes, emphasizing color theory and optical effects.
• Art critic Félix Fénéon coined the term "Pointillism."
• Seurat preferred terms like "Divisionism" or "Chromoluminarism."

Stippling

• Stippling employs numerous small dots to create a desired image or pattern.
• Dots are applied using pen and ink, typically in a single color.
• Giulio Campagnola invented stippling in 1510.

Ukir/Ukkir: Distinctly Mindanaon Art

• Ukir is a trademark artistic and cultural motif of the Maranao people of Lanao, Philippines.
• It dates back to the early 6th century C.E., predating Islamization.
• The motif includes designs and patterns carved or depicted in hardwood, brass, silver, and wall paintings.
• It features curvilinear lines and Arabic geometric figures.

Coffee Painting (Coffee Art)

• It uses coffee as paint to create artworks, often on watercolor paper.
• The technique involves mixing instant coffee with water to create a wash.
• Different shades of brown are achieved by varying the coffee solution's strength.
• Layering, blending, and stencils produce more complex effects.

Scribbling Soul

• Scribble art uses scribbles/abstract lines to create a drawing or figure.
• Scribbling is writing or drawing hastily or carelessly.
• It serves as an early mode of expression for young children.
• Scribbles consist of random lines made without lifting the pencil from the paper.

Hatching

• Hatching, also known as hachure, uses patterns of roughly parallel curves or lines to achieve artistic goals.
• It's a fundamental drawing technique, typically defined as 2D art composed of curves or lines.
• Hatching is done with a pencil, pen, paintbrush, engraving burin, or digital methods.

Types of Hatching

• Linear Hatching: Parallel lines drawn closely together create shades, tones, and textures.
• Cross-Hatching: Intersecting sets of parallel lines add complexity and depth to shading.
• Contour Hatching: Lines following the object's contours convey its form and shape.
• Random Hatching: Irregular and spontaneous lines create a less structured appearance.

Smudging

• It creates soft, blended areas of shading or smoothes transitions between light and dark tones.
• It involves blurring or spreading mediums like charcoal, graphite, pastels, or ink across the paper.
• Tools such as fingers, blending stumps, tissues, or soft cloths can be used.

Uses of Smudging

• Shading: Creates realistic shadows and lighting for a three-dimensional effect.
• Smooth Transitions: Blends skin tones smoothly, especially in portraiture.
• Atmospheric Effects: Creates mist, fog, or distance effects in landscape drawings.

Art Analysis: Semiotic and Iconic

• Semiotic Plane: Studies art signs and symbols individually or in groups to gain insights into the work's source and meaning.
• Semiotics is the study of "signs."
• A sign consists of a "signifier" (material/physical aspect) and a "signified" (non-material aspect as a concept and value).
• The basic semiotic plane covers elements and technical/physical aspects with their semantic potential.
• The application of the visual elements: line, value, color, texture, shape, composition in space, movement.
• The choice of medium and technique refers to an artist's decision on materials and methods to achieve a desired effect.
• The iconic plane focuses on the image itself, including the subject matter and its presentation.
• It considers the visual elements of the painting, like figures, objects, and composition.
• Choice of the Subject reflects social, political, or cultural implications.

Art Analysis: Contextual and Evaluative

• Context involves the circumstances and background that form the setting for communication, including art.
• Contextual Plane examines historical, cultural, societal, and biographical influences on art interpretation.
• It serves as a lens to explore social values and foster self-expression and fulfillment.
• It facilitates communication across linguistic and cultural barriers.
• Research indicates that exposure to visual art can enhance life quality and academic achievement.
• Economic, Political, and Cultural Conditions reflect the culture and society of artists.
• Symbolic System conveys meaning or represents abstract concepts through visual elements, colors, or objects.

Milieu

• Milieu refers to the social, cultural, and historical environment in which art is created.
• Understanding the milieu involves considering the time period, societal norms, and cultural influences.
• Evaluating art within its milieu helps viewers appreciate the relevance of the artwork.

Evaluative Plane

• This provides insights by examining signifiers and signifies.
• The axiological plane delves into the interaction between art and its viewers.
• It evaluates the material basis of the work, technical skills, medium choices, and principles of organization.

Art Movements - Naturalism

• Naturalism seeks to represent the world accurately.
• It not only depicts the external world but also explores the psychological and emotional aspects of human experience.

Plein Air

• Plein air mean painting outdoors.

Realism

• Realism refers to mid-19th-century art characterized by subjects painted from everyday life in a naturalistic manner
• It is also used to describe artworks painted in a realistic almost photographic way.

Humanism

• Humanism emphasizes the value and dignity of human beings.

Fresco Painting

• It's a technique applying pigments to wet plaster to bind with the wall as it dries.

Tempera Painting

• Tempera painting uses pigments mixed with egg yolk as a binder.

Oil Painting

• Oil painting uses pigments mixed with drying oils.

Modern Art Movements

• Modern art movements emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Impressionism

• Impressionism developed in France during the mid-to-late 19th century.
• It uses small, visible brushstrokes and an emphasis on depicting natural light.
• Claude Monet, known as the "father of Impressionism," captured light and atmosphere in series like "Water Lilies."

Post Impressionism

• It rejected Impressionism's concern with light and color.
• Instead it favored more symbolic content, formal order and structure.
• Post-Impressionism was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat.

Cubism

• Cubism developed in Paris between 1907 and 1914 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
• It emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane.
• Analytic Cubism: seems to ‘analyze' and is fragmented, monochromatic with tones of black and grey.
• Synthetic Cubism: collages the surface of a canvas with materials.

Fauvism

• Fauvism comes from the french word "les fauves" means "wild beasts".
• It diverges from the representation of impressionism in favor of abstract painting techniques

Expressionism

• Expressionism artist seeks to depict emotions and responses rather than objective reality.
• It accomplishes it with distortion, and fantasy.

Dadaism

• Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915.

Surrealism

• Surrealism is an art and cultural movement developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I
• Artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself

Pop Art

• Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States during the mid- to late-1950s.
• Pop Art's unique style features vivid colors, consumerist imagery, playful techniques, repetition, and social critique

Art History Timeline

• Prehistoric refers to the period of human history before written records were kept.

3 Types of Pre - Historic

• Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age), 3. Neolithic (New Stone Age)

Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age

• Art connected to daily life in hunting and spirituality.
• Cave Paintings

Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)

• Transition to settled communities.
• Development of pottery and megalithic structures

Neolithic (New Stone Age)

• Radically transformed their relationship to nature.
• Advancements in pottery, agriculture, and architecture.

Egyptian Art

• Egypt is a country located at the northern part of Africa. -Their arts were considered as “Art of Eternity” or “Funeral Art".

Greek

• Ancient Greek art spans a period between about 900 and 30 BCE

Roman

• Roman art is a broad term that refers to the visual arts produced in ancient Rome

Baroque and Rococo

• The Baroque is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting sculpture and other arts that flourished in Europe

• Rococo art is a style of art that emerged in 18th-century Europe