Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES

Objectives:
In this chapter you will learn to:
 Define humanities;
 Identify the branches of humanities;
 Differentiate the recognition of art; and
 Construct essay showing the relationship of humanities and art.

INTRODUCTION
Art comprises one of the oldest and significant means of expressions cultivated by a man.
The general background of art goes back to the prehistoric times. An art has been created by
people at all times; it existed because it was a reminiscent of the past and has benefits of
satisfaction. Art involves personal experience of an individual accompanied by increasing of
emotion.
Art is made by man, no matter how close it is to nature. Although each work of art is
obviously an expression of an artist's personal thoughts and feelings, it may be conclude that,
like other individual, he belong to an environment and he cannot released himself from the
influence of his communal, financial, political ethnicity, topography, methodical, and expertise.
Our task in this subject Arts and Society is a venture into man's exquisiteness and enormity. It is
a challenge to unearth the man's success in his work of transforming human practice into art.
The world of art is infinite and immeasurable; the learning can be boundless in pursuit for
improvement. Our lecture can only serve as an input to open up the world of art that must
encountered in order to be valued. A student of Humanities must touch, see, feel, and hear if he
is to find again the experience that has motivated the artist to design his art.
All the way in this lecture, we therefore persuade the student to get a concrete disclosure
to the work of art accessible in this work book and other form of arts to get in touch with.
1-1 Scope of Humanities
Humanities come from the Latin word humanus, which connotes human, cultured, and
refined. To be human is to have or show qualities like rationality, kindness, and tenderness.
Presently, we know that Humanities has loosely defined group cultural of subject areas.
The term humanities refers to the visual arts such as architecture, painting, sculpture;
music, dance; and theater or drama. They are the branches of learning concerned with human
thought, feelings, and emotions. The importance of human being and their feelings and how they
expressed is the ultimate principle of humanities.
According to White (1997), humanities are the stories, the ideas, and the words that help
us make sense of our lives and our world. The humanities introduce people we have never met,
we never visited, and the ideas that we have never crossed our minds. By showing how others
have lived and thought about life, the humanities help uses decide what is important in our own
lives and what we can do to make them better. The humanities help us to address the challenges
we face together in our families, our communities and as a nation.
History, Anthropology, and Archeology is a study of human social, political, and cultural
development.
Literature, Languages, and Linguistics explores how we communicate with each other,
and how our ideas and thoughts on the human experience are expressed and interpreted.
Philosophy, Ethics, and Comparative Religion considers ideas about meaning of life and
the reasons for our thoughts and actions.
Jurisprudence examines the values and principles which inform our laws.
Historical, Critical, and Theoretical Approaches to the Arts reflect upon and analyze the
creative process.
Humanities are branch of learning stems from Humanism, a movement that was
widespread in the western world during the 13th century. It was originated in vigorous protest
against the teaching of the Medieval Church which held that man's life was significant only in so
far as it contributed to his eternal life after death and to his relationship to God. In their search
for lasting values which were "human", the scholars of this time turned to the literatures of
ancient Greece and Rome which incorporated the belief that man's nobility arose from the
cultivation of his faculties and powers and was determined not by his destiny but by his activities
during his lifetime.
Cultivating this attitude, a group of scholars, among them Petrarch, Boccaccio, Lorenzo
de Medici, Erasmus, etc. developed a philosophy which centered primarily on the study of man
and all aspects of his life and his activities rather than the mysteries of languages, literature and
the arts which they discovered to be wondrous sources of wisdom and beauty. Although it was a
human movement it was not considered as pagan. This movement aimed its effects to
distinguished the history and doctrines of the classical age from those of the Christian and
barbarian middle ages, it balance and coordinated classical and Christian doctrines without
subordinating either one to another.
1-2 Recognizing Art
Art derived from the Latin word ars, which means a skill or craft, is the expression of
man's idea, the representation of moving experiences set in the medium of his choice.
 Art is a product of expressing oneself and not limited to the revelation of emotions alone.
The personal and social values of the artist are revealed through the arts.
Art, like love, is not easy to define. It concerns itself with the communication of certain
ideas and feelings by means of a sensuous medium -color, sound, bronze, marble, words and
films. This medium is fashioned into a symbolic language marked by beauty of design and
coherence of form. It appeals to our mind, arouses our emotions, kindles our imagination, and
enchants our senses.
Music is another important art. This is the art of combining and regulating sounds of
varying pitch to produce positions, expressing various ideas and emotions. Music is one of the
great arts of our civilization, along with literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, and dance.
As an art, it bases its appeal on the sensuous beauty of musical sounds.
Dance is another form of art that is common to man even during the earliest times. It is
the most direct of the arts for it makes use of the human body as its medium. It springs from our
love for expressing gestures, release of tension through rhythmic movement. Dance heightens the
pleasure of being, and at the same time mirrors the life of society.
Theater or drama is another important art. The play may be a comedy, tragedy, mystery,
musical or melodrama. A group of people act out the plot to get across to the audience the idea
the author is trying to express.
The film is a popular addition to the various forms of the theater. A great number of
people are able to see dramatic performances everyday. The radio makes available drama for the
auditory sense and the imagination. The television brings the art of drama to many people.
Theatrical productions, including motion pictures and television, combine art forms.
1-3 Branches of Humanities
Art
The arts are usually considered as part of the humanities. These include visual arts such
as painting and sculpture, as well as performing arts such as theater, dance, and literature.
1.1 Visual Arts
The great traditions in art have a foundation in the art of one of the ancient civilizations
from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, China, India, Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica.
Ancient Greek saw a respect of the human physical form and the development of
equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, and beauty and anatomically correct proportions.
Ancient Roman art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing
features.
1.1.2 Media types
 Drawing is a means of making an image, using any of a wide variety of tools and
techniques. It involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving
tool across a surface.
Common tools in drawing are: graphite, pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color
pencils, crayons, pastels and markers.
1.1.3 Painting
It is a practice of applying pigment suspended in a medium and a binding agent (glue) to
a surface (support) such as paper, canvass or wall. Painting is also used to express spiritual
motifs and ideas; sites of this kind of painting range from artwork depicting mythological figures
on potter to The Sistine Chapel to the human body itself.
Color is the essence of painting as sound is of music. Color is subjective but observable
psychological effects. Black is associated with mourning in the West, but elsewhere white may
be. Some modern painters incorporate different materials such as sand, cement, straw or wood
for their texture.
1.1.4 Performing Arts
Performing arts differ from the plastic arts as its uses the artist's own body, face, presence
as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded to
create some art object.
Performing arts include acrobatics, basking, comedy, dance, magic, music, opera, film,
juggling, marching arts such as theater and brass bands.
Artists who participate in these arts in front of an audience are called performers,
including actors, comedians, dancers, musicians and singers. Performing arts are also supported
by workers in related fields such as songwriting and stagecraft.
Music
Music is an academic discipline focuses on music performance (orchestra and concert
hall) and music education (training music teachers). Music is also a broaden skills of non-
musicians by teaching skills such as concentration and listening.
3. Theater
Theatre comes from Greek word theatron which is a branch of the performing arts
concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture,
music, dance, sound and spectacle. A narrative dialogue in theater has its forms such as: opera,
ballet, mime, kabuki, classical Indian dance, Chinese opera, mummers' plays, and pantomime.
4. Dance
Dance was derived from Old French dancier which refers to human movement used as a
form of expression.
 Dance is also used to describe methods of non-verbal communication between humans or
animals (bee dance, mating dance), motion in inanimate objects (the leaves danced in the wind),
and certain musical genres.
Choreography is the art of making dances and the person who does this is called
choreographer.
5. Languages
Languages is the study of individual modern and classical languages form the backbone
of modern study of the humanities, while the scientific study of language is called linguistics.
6. Literature
Literature is covering a variety of uses of language including prose forms such as novel,
poetry and drama.
7. Classics
In the Western academic tradition, classic refer to cultures of classical antiquity namely
the Ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Classics refer to the Vedas and Upanishads India, the
writings of Lao-Tse and Chuang-tzu in China, Hammurabi Code and Gilgamesh Epic from
Mesopotamia and Book of the Dead from Egypt.
8. Religion and Philosophy
Religions like Hinduism and Buddhism in India; Zoroastrianism in Iran; Taoism,
Legalism, and Confucianism in China, and Abrahamic religions from ancient Semitic tradition
(Abraham 1900 BCE) who became a prophet in the Quran were some of the earliest variety of
major faiths arose in both east and west in the 6th century B.C.
1-4 10 Reasons Why Studying Humanities is Imperative
1. It provides us the opportunity to examine what it takes and what it means to be human. It
reminds us how inadequate it is to understand ourselves as autonomous beings and
subjects separate and independent from all others;
2. It helps us recognize fundamental values and principles such as beauty, truth, love,
justice, and faith;
3. It develops our capacity for critical thinking and appreciation for cultural heritage as
reflected in different Filipino works of art;
4. It fosters understanding across barriers of race, class, gender, or ethnicity. The vision of
an artist, a philosopher, or a historian is a special one that helps us to better understand
who we are and what sort of life might be a good life to lead;
5. It helps us see the interconnectedness of all areas of knowledge - how they affect and
complement one another;
6. It introduces us to people we have never met places we have never visited, and ideas that
never crossed our minds, thus, inspiring us to outline our goals and values for a better
world;
 7. It helps us conceptualize a global perspective by studying cultures and traditions mirrored
by artworks throughout the world;
8. It supports and strengthens local arts community by learning to appraise the value of
creativity:
9. It helps us address the challenges we face together in our families, our communities, and
our nation; and
10. It emphasizes the dignity and worthiness of every human-being.
1-5 The Artist
The artist are those people who manifest creativity in different works of art.
Types of Artist
Artist
A. The Visual Artists B. The Performing Artists C. The Literary Artists
1. An architect design and 1. An actor or actress acts in 1. An essayist writes
constructs buildings and other a dramatic production and compositions which can be
physical structures primarily who works in a film, about any particular subject.
to provide shelter. television, theatre, or radio in
that capacity. S/he interprets a
dramatic character.
2. A designer studies fashion 2. A composer writes an 2. A novelist writes a long
trends, sketches design of original composition for work of written fiction that
clothing accessories, and theatre, tv, radio, film, basically involves many
select colors and fabrics. He computer games and other characters in a number of
creates dresses, suits, shoes, areas where music is needed. different situations.
and other accessories.
3. A painter applies paints, 3. A dancer expresses ideas, 3. A poet displays
pigment, color, sand, clay, stories, rhythm, and sound imaginative power of beauty
scraps of paper and other with his body. He works in of thought and language, as
mediums to surfaces such as musical shows, opera, well as eloquence of
wall, paper, canvas, wood, or musical comedy, television, expression through poetry.
glass to form an art. movies, and music videos.
4. A photographer controls 4. An instrumentalist plays 4. A playwright, also known
the camera and lens to musical instrument as as a dramatist writes
“expose” the light recording distinguished from a vocalist. dramatic literature or drama.
material (such as film) to the It may be written specifically
required amount of light to to be performed by actors or
form a “latent image” (on it may be a closet drama or a
film) or “raw file” (in digital literary work written using
cameras) which, after dramatic forms but not meant
appropriate processing, is for performance.
converted to a usable image.
5. A sculptor shapes and re- 5. A singer uses voice to 5. A scriptwriter prepares
shapes various mediums such produce music. He is often scripts for commercials, soap
as woods, stone, metal, glass accompanied by musicians operas, comedies, and dramas
 to form his masterpiece. and instruments. that appear on television, in
films, and on stage.

1-6 What is Art?

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to
the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes
of expression including music and literature.
-Wikipedia
Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious idea of beauty
or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, a game in which man lets off his excess of
stored-up energy; it is not the expression of man's emotions by external signs; it is not the
production of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of union among
men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress
toward well-being of individuals and of humanity.
-Leo Tolstoy
Art is an expression of thought through a visible medium. It is about looks and
appearance. It is about pleasing or displeasing the eye
-Anne Airaudi
Art is form and content. Form means (1) the elements of art, (2) the principles of design
and (3) the actual, physical materials that the artist has used. Form, in this context, is concrete
and fairly easily described - no matter which piece of art is under scrutiny. "Content" is idea-
based and means (1) what the artist meant to portray, (2) what the artist actually did
portray and (3) how we react, as individuals, to both the intended and actual messages. It also
includes ways in which a work was influenced - by religion, or politics, or society in general,
or even the artist's use of hallucinogenic substances - at the time it was created.
-Shelley Esaak
Art is a cognitive process of realizing a "true idea" in an external form and is generated
out of the natural pleasure humans take in their innate ability to imitate and imagine as well as
the pleasure humans feel in recognizing likenesses.
-Aristotle

Art is essentially an imitation of nature, therefore, it is at best (1) useless and (2) potentially
dangerous.
-Plato
1-7 Types of Art
A. Major Arts B. Minor Arts
1. Architecture is the art or science of 1. Decorative Art is concerned with the
building; the art of practice of designing and design and decoration of object that is chiefly
building structures and especially habitable prized for its utility, rather than for its purely
ones. aesthetics qualities like ceramics, glassware,
basketry, jewelry, metalware, furniture,
textiles, clothing, and others.
2. Dance is a sport and art form generally 2. Graphic Art refers to the art of drawing or
refers to movement of the body, usually painting or printmaking which focuses on
rhythmic, and used as a form of expression, visual communication and presentation.
social interaction or presented in a spiritual or
performance setting.
3. Fashion Designer is the applied art 3. Industrial Art is a tantamount to practical
dedicated to clothing and lifestyle accessories arts, such as engineering, metalworking or
created within the cultural and social capacity.
influences of a specific time.
4. Literature comes from the Latin word 4. Plastic Art includes those visual arts that
littera which means letter. In a broad sense, it involve the use of materials that can be
means any written work. molded or modulated in some way, often in
three dimensions. Examples are clay, paint
and plaster.
5. Music is an art form whose medium is 5. Popular Arts refers to any dance,
sound organized in time. Common elements literature, music, theatre, or other art form
of music are pitch (which governs melody and intended to be received and appreciated by
harmony), rhythm (and its associated ordinary people in a literate and
concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), technologically-advanced society dominated
dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre by urban culture.
and texture.
6. Painting is the practice of applying paint,
pigment, color or other medium to a surface
like wall, paper, canvas, wood, and glass.
7. Sculpture comes from the Latin word
sculpere, which means “to carve”. It can be
defined as the art or practice of creating three-
dimensional forms or figures through carving,
modeling, and casting.

1-8 The Importance of Art

 10 Reasons Why Art is Indispensable
1. Art communicates feelings and emotions expressively and forcefully:
2. It connects people around the world:
3. It stimulates our thoughts when recreating the message of the artist
4. It is a great tool for learning:
5. It reminds us of people's selfless actions and nationalism
6. It serves as a source of inspiration and aesthetic pleasure;
7. It makes the surrounding look better and complete;
8. It commemorates certain occasions;
9. It transforms us into highly cultured and respectable human beings; and
10. It makes us human.
1-9 The Process of Creation
Great artworks don't just happen by accident. They take planning, patience, and
knowledge of carefully selecting, combining or contrasting all the visual elements that would
carry the artist's intended meaning. With that in mind, here are the 9 steps to begin an artwork.
1. Conceptualize a good subject
The first step in making a good art is to conceptualize what you want to communicate
with your intended audience. This would serve as your starting point.
2. Choose the size you want
How big do you want to portray your subject? The scale of an art can change its entire
feel, so it's essential to have a purpose for making an artwork larger or smaller than life.
Remember, size matters.
3. Create your own crop
Often the most powerful lines in a work of art are the four that most artists don't even
think to control. The edges of your canvas or paper are responsible for containing and shaping
your final work of art. Why settle for drawing inside somebody else's lines? Make your own! If
you're planning on drawing a skyscraper, cut your paper to the height and width necessary for
your subject. Painting a landscape? Why not make your canvas wider, for a panoramic view?
This can be used to enhance practically every work of art, so make sure to think about it before
choosing to use a standard canvas or paper.
4. Think about placement
The way you place shapes on a 2-dimensional surface lend levels of importance,
meaning, and balance to a piece. Centering your subject vertically, horizontally, or both will
always give a greater sense of stability to your work, but might end up feeling a little boring or
typical as well.
Letting part of your subject get cropped off by the sides, top, or bottom will usually add
more visual interest, as will making a single object fill the entire space. Do watch out for objects
that barely touch edges, or for objects that just barely brush the borders of your artwork. This
type of placement is awkward and should be avoided.
5. Control your lines
Any subject you choose will have at least an outline as well as other lines to give it depth,
texture and detail. Our eyes naturally follow lines, so use that to your advantage in capturing the
viewer's gaze. Let your lines flow to the center of your work, or to the spots that you want the
viewer to look at. Angled or curved lines generally add more visual interest and movement, but
too much can be chaotic. Horizontals and verticals lend strength, solidity, and impressiveness but
can be boring.
Avoid letting lines divide your art exactly in half; like with a horizontal line running
through the middle, or vertically with a tree. This pulls the viewer out of the space you've created
and will distract from the image.
6. Balance positive and negative space
Positive space is any object or shape that stands out from the background and registers to
the eye as "something." Negative space is the background, or space around objects. Usually, it's
suggested that you keep approximately equal amounts of positive and negative space to make a
work feel more balanced. If you don't have enough negative space, your art may feel busy and
crowded, but too much negative space can cause the work to feel empty and subdued.
On the other hand, a busy, crowded painting may be your intent, and using a lot of
negative space often works well at focusing attention on the positive space that is there. You get
to choose how you want your art to feel, so pick a balance that's right for your subject matter and
style.

7. Add contrast
Visual art should have a full range of values from dark to light. Without bright highlights
and dark shadows, an image will often feel gray or washed out, and will be less interesting.
Darker areas in a predominantly light section will stand out and draw the eye, and the same is
true for the reverse. Use this to focus attention but watch out for unintentionally doing so. Make
sure you're not adding emphasis to a corner or edge of a painting if your focus is meant to be in
the center.
8. Simplify distracting elements
Too many shapes, lines or colors can distract or confuse viewers. If you want the viewer
to notice or return consistently to one part of the painting, simplify the rest of it. Decide what the
focus should be and if YOUR eye gets distracted, change it! Another way to simplifying your art
is to get closer to a single object. Leaving out the peripherals and zooming in until the whole
frame is filled with only one thing always brings attention where you want it. Of course, doing so
will change your positive/negative balance drastically.
9. Choose your colors deliberately
Bold color will catch attention so use them purposefully where you want people to look.
Any color that's all alone surrounded by another color will also stand out. Just like with contrast,
this can happen unintentionally, so check for it in your composition.
Also be aware that warm colors (yellow, orange, and red) will make objects appear closer
to the viewer, so use them to create depth and space. Cold colors (blue, purple, and some green)
will cause objects to recede into the distance. When an object in the "back" of your painting is
too warm, it'll distract from your overall composition and pull attention where you don't