Prepared by: JINEDETH T. CEMINI, LPT, MAEd

- The word “art” comes from the
ancient Latin ars which means a
“craft or specialized form of skill, like
c a r p e n t r y o r s m i t h y i n g o r
surgery” (Collingwood, 1938).

Arts in Medieval Latin came to
mean something different. It meant
“any special form of book-learning,
such as grammar or logic, magic
or astrology” (Collingwood, 1938).

ASSUMPTIONS OF ART:
v Art is universal – Art has always been
timeless and universal, spanning generations
and continents through and through.
v Art is not nature – Art is man’s expression of
his reception of nature. Art is man’s way of
interpreting nature.
v Art involves experience – Unlike fields of
knowledge that involve data, art is known by
experiencing. A work of art then cannot be
abstracted from actual doing. In order to know
what an artwork is, we have to sense it, see or
hear it, and see AND hear it.

UNDERSTANDING THE ARTS
The Arts: An Introduction to the
Humanities (Cerbo et al, 2010)
provided the following definitions of
art:

a. ART AS A SKILL
OR MASTERY
• The term art is used to
simply refer to bay skill
or mastery that is
manifested in the
outstanding product of
an endeavor.

b. ART AS A PROCESS
OR A PRODUCT OF
A CREATIVE SKILL
• Art is a process because it involves
arranging the aesthetic elements in an
artistically interesting and appealing manner.

b. ART AS A PROCESS
OR A PRODUCT OF
A CREATIVE SKILL
• Art is a product because it
includes human creations,
different activities and manners of
expression.

c. ART AS A UNIVERSAL
LANGUAGE
• The language of art is diverse. Each art form has its
own artistic elements.
ü Literature
ü Music
ü Theatre
• Art expresses feelings and ideas
shared by all individuals
regardless of culture.

d. ART AS A REPRESENTATION
OF REALITY
• Art is a reflection or a mirror of reality.

e. ART REFLECTS THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF A
PERIOD
• In the visual arts,
f i g u r e s w e r e
p r e s e n t e d i n
idealized ‘flat’ forms
to signify a lack of
f o c u s o n t h e
material world.
• Medieval period – the dominance of the
church initiated the expression of spiritual
truths.

e. ART REFLECTS THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF A
PERIOD
• The focus on the material world is
shown in the ‘three-dimensional’
reality of landscapes.
• Renaissance Period – the value ascribed to the material
world was shown in more defined and realistic rendition of
the human body in the visual arts.

e. ART REFLECTS THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF A
PERIOD
• This is manifested by the varied
experimentations of artistic
expressions.
• Modern Period – characterizes the idealistic search for truth
and the realization that it is not attainable; thus, relativity is
accepted as an unavoidable truth.

f. ART SHOWS THE MANNER
OF EXISTENCE OF THE
PEOPLE OF LONG AGO
• We gain awareness that the people during
the Old Stone Age lived in caves and that
they manifested their artistry by drawings
and sketching.

• Humanities and the art have always been
part of man’s growth and civilization.
• Since the dawn of time, man has always
tried to express his innermost thoughts
and feelings about reality through
creating art.
• Three assumptions on art are its
universality, its not being nature, and its
need for experience.
• Without experience, there is no art. The
artist has to be foremost, a perceiver who
is directly in touch with art.