METHODS OF PRESENTING ART ABSTRACT

SUBJECT
Abstract art is an art that does not attempt to
represent an accurate depiction of a visual
reality but instead use shapes, colors, forms
REALISM and gestural marks to achieve its effect.
Realism, in the arts, is the accurate, detailed, Abstraction indicates a departure from reality
unembellished depiction of nature or of in depiction of imagery in art. Abstraction
contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative exists along a continuum; abstract art can
idealization in favour of a close observation of formally refer to compositions that are derived
outward appearances. (or abstracted) from a figurative or other natural
source. Picasso is a well-known artist who
Fernando Amorsolo was a Filipino painter
used abstraction in many of his paintings and
active in the early half of the 20th century whose
sculptures: figures are often simplified,
masterful handling of light made him one of
distorted, exaggerated, or geometric.
Asia’s most prominent portraitists and
landscape artists. His compositions often depict
the traditional culture, customs and celebrations
of the Filipino community. Popularly known for
his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light,
he was regarded as the Father of Philippine
Realism for his numerous realistic paintings.

Girl Before A Mirror by Pablo Picasso

Girl Before Mirror was painted in March 1932.

After returning to Manila, Amorsolo set up a It was produced in the style Picasso was using at
studio and began an enormously productive the time and evoked an image of Vanity such as
period. Using subject matter that he had had been utilized in art in earlier eras, though
borrowed from Fabian de la Rosa – scenes of Picasso shifts the emphasis and creates a very
rice planting and harvesting — he created a different view of the image. The work is
series of paintings that captured the popular considered in terms of the erotic in Picasso's
imagination. His 1922 painting Rice Planting art, and critics in different periods have
soon appeared on calendars, posters, and travel offered their assessments of the work to show
brochures. a wide range of reactions.
The young girl was named Marie Therese
Walter and was painted multiple times during
the 1930's by Picasso.
 DIFF TYPES OF ABSTRACT Ernie Barnes and Italian Renaissance
artist Parmigianino, who is noted for
A. DISTORTION the painting "Madonna of the Long
- A distortion is a change, twist, or Neck”.
exaggeration that makes something
appear different from the way it really
is. You can distort an image, a
thought, or even an idea.
- Distortion is the alteration of the
original shape of something, be it a
person or an object. While this is
normally not the desired outcome in
most instances, it is exactly what artists
who use the technique want.
Henry Moore sculptures are tangled
representations of the human figure stretched
and distorted. Considering Moore was a war
artist, how could this link to the concept of Maddona of the Long Neck by Parmigianino
'disorder'.
Madonna with the Long Neck is typical of
Parmigianino's later work, which was defined by
unusual spatial compositions and elongated
figures. The painting is also known as Madonna
and Child with Angels and St Jerome but
earned the name Madonna with the Long Neck
because of the curious length of the Madonna's
swan-like neck.
Looking more like a creation
from the twenty-first century
than the sixteenth, The
Resurrection by El Greco
B. ELONGATION
stands out as a work ahead of
- "Elongation art" refers to paintings
its time. The dramatically
that feature figures that are painted
elongated figures, bold colors
with their forms elongated much
and loose brush strokes were
more than they are in reality.
considered somewhat odd in
Elongation is a form of abstract art
the Baroque period in which it
that often depicts the stretched forms
was painted. But El Greco
of people or objects in nature.
considered spiritual expression to be more
- Among the artists who created
important than public opinion and it was in this
elongation art was early 20th-century
way that he developed a unique style that has
artist Amedeo Modigliani, who is
allowed him to be regarded as one of the great
renowned for his use of elongation in
geniuses of Western art.
portraits as well as more abstract
paintings. Some other artists known for
using elongation in their paintings are
modern African-American painter
C. MANGLING plane. They reduced and fractured
- This may not be a commonly used way objects into geometric forms, and then
of presenting an abstract subject, but realigned these within a shallow,
there are few artists who show subject or relief-like space.
objects which are cut, lacerated,
mutilated, torn, hacked or disfigured.
This painting, Les
Demoiselles
d'Avignon, was
painted in 1907 and
is the most famous
example of cubism
painting. In this
painting, Picasso
abandoned all
known form and
representation of
traditional art. When it first exhibited in 1916,
the painting was regarded as immoral.
D. CUBISM
- One of the most influential art TYPES OF CUBISM
movements of the early twentieth
century and one that remains a major a. Analytical Cubism
source of inspiration for many artists This form of Cubism analyzed the use of
today is Cubism. Cubism marked a rudimentary shapes and overlapping planes to
major turning point in the whole depict the separate forms of the subjects in a
evolution of modernist art. painting. It refers to real objects in terms of
- In the field of literature, its influence identifiable details that become—through
was most notably in the writings of repetitive use—signs or clues that indicate the
Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and idea of the object. It is considered to be a more
William Faulkner, who applied the structured and monochromatic approach than that
principles of abstract language, of Synthetic Cubism.
repetition and use of multiple narrators.
And, in music, the composer Igor The portrait of Henry
Stravinsky credited Cubism for Kahnweiler is
having an impact on his work. considered to be one of
- This movement was pioneered by the best examples of
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) this stage of cubism.
and Georges Braque (French, 1882-
1963. The Cubist painters rejected the
inherited concept that art should copy
nature, or that artists should adopt the
traditional techniques of perspective,
modeling, and foreshortening. They
dismantled traditional perspective and
modeling in the round in order to
emphasize the two-dimensional picture
b. Synthetic Cubism Abstract Expressionism movement encompassed
two broad groupings. These included: (1) the so-
It became a popular style of artwork that includes
called “action painters” such as Jackson
characteristics like simple shapes, bright colors,
Pollock and Willem De Kooning who focused
and little to no depth. It was also the birth of
on an intensely expressive style of gestural
collage art in which real objects were
painting; and (2) the more passive, notably Mark
incorporated into the paintings.
Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still,
In 1912, Picasso who were concerned with reflection and mood.
creates the work
Action painting, is characterized by a loose,
called “Still-Life
rapid, dynamic, or forceful handling of paint
with Chair Caning”.
in sweeping or slashing brushstrokes and in
He inserts an oilcloth
techniques partially dictated by chance, such as
with a pattern that
dripping or spilling the paint directly onto the
simulates bars of the
canvas.
chair in the oval
composition of the Pollock had
painting, the oval itself being bordered by a thick created his
twine – it’s a “frame” of the picture. The first "drip"
prototype of all ready-made experiments of the painting in
20th century was created. 1947, the
product of a
radical new
E. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM approach to
paint handling. With Autumn Rhythm, made in
Leo Tolstoy could be called a father of October of 1950, the artist is at the height of his
abstract expressionism and the expressionist powers.
movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. His
“Expression Theory” centered on the idea that Color Field Painting marks a major development
art elicits and provokes emotion in the viewer. in abstract painting, since it was the first style to
Tolstoy believed that the role of the artist was to resolutely avoid the suggestion of a form or mass
provide the viewer with something that would standing out against a background. Instead, figure
bring out these effects. Abstract Expressionism and ground are one, and the space of the picture,
achieves this by letting the medium and conceived as a field, seems to spread out beyond
composition communicate for itself. Artists like the edges of the canvas.
Pollock believed that it was the viewer (and not
Although Rothko never
the artist) who defines and interpret the
considered himself a Color
meaning of the abstract expressionist artwork
Field painter, his
thus, there is no relevance on what artist thinks or
signature approach -
conveys while producing the work.
balancing large portions
Abstract Expressionism is an artistic of washed colors -
movement of the mid-20th century comprising matches up to critics'
diverse styles and techniques and emphasizing understanding of the
especially an artist’s liberty to convey attitudes style. Rothko considered
and emotions through nontraditional and color to be a mere
usually nonrepresentational means. instrument that served a
greater purpose. He
believed his fields of color
were spiritual planes that could tap into our most the mystery of women. In Khnopff’s case, the
basic human emotions. For Rothko, color evoked woman was variously angel, muse, and a
emotion. Therefore, each of Rothko's works was companion rushing to recue the man, yet she
intended to evoke different meanings depending also appears as a tempress, femme fatale with
on the viewer. more than a cash of the perverse-the very
symbol of the Supreme Vice.

SYMBOLISM
FAUVISM
Symbolism is really an intellectual form of
expression. Not content using color and shape to Fauvism was a style of painting developed in
communicate their feelings, symbolist artists France at the beginning of the 20th century by
inject their compositions with messages and Henri Matisse and André Derain. The artists
esoteric references. It is this narrative content who painted in this style were known as 'Les
which turns a work of art into a symbolist work Fauves'. The title 'Les Fauves' (the wild beasts)
of art. came from a sarcastic remark by the art critic
Louis Vauxcelles. Les Fauves believed that color
Symbolist painters and sculptors were inspired
should be used to express the artist's feelings
by literature and poetry of the day, as well as the
about a subject, rather than simply to describe
history, legends, myths, Biblical stories and
what it looks like.
fables of the past. In expressing themselves,
symbolist artists endowed their subjects (eg. In 1905, Matisse
women, heroic males, flowers, landscapes, and Derain went
animals), with mythological or other esoteric to stay in the port
meanings. Many artists turned to stimulants like of Collioure in
alcohol and drugs to fuel their imagination. the south of
Favourite symbolist subjects included: sensual France and the
issues, religious feelings, occultism, love, death, Fauvist pictures
disease and sin, while decadence was a common that they painted
feature. there
revolutionized
attitudes towards
color in art. The
sheer joy of
expression that
they achieved through their liberated approach to
color was a shot in the arm for the art of painting.
In Matisse's painting, 'The Open Window,
Collioure', color is used at its maximum intensity
André Derain
(1880-1954)
'The Pool of
London', 1906.
Women play a major role in Belgium This organized
Symbolism, as they embody all the duality and arrangement of
ambiguity of the world. Khnoff and Rops were tones in a
Belgian Symbolists who captures and expressed landscape is called Aerial Perspective.
 EXPRESSIONISM DADAISM
Expressionism is art that is more associated Dadaism or Dada was a form of artistic anarchy
with emotion or feeling than with literal born out of disgust for the social, political and
interpretation of a subject. Expressionistic art cultural values of the time. It embraced
uses vivid colors, distortion, two-dimensional elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance and
subjects that lack perspective. It's created to politics. Dada was not so much a style of art like
express the emotions of the artists as well as Cubism or Fauvism; it was more a protest
produce an emotional response of the viewer. movement with an anti-establishment
One of the most famous expressionists is the manifesto.
Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890).
Dada was an art movement formed during the
His paintings seem to vibrate with emotion.
First World War in Zurich in negative reaction
Starry Night by to the horrors and folly of the war. The art,
Van Gogh is one poetry and performance produced by dada artists
famous piece of art. is often satirical and nonsensical in nature.
The story of Van
For Dada artists, the aesthetic of their work was
Gogh cutting off
considered secondary to the ideas it conveyed.
his ear after a fight
“For us, art is not an end in itself,” wrote Dada
with his friend, the
poet Hugo Ball, “but it is an opportunity for
French artist Paul
the true perception and criticism of the times
Gauguin, is one of the most popular anecdotes in
we live in.” Dadaists both embraced and
art history, and supposedly occurred in winter
critiqued modernity, imbuing their works with
1888, the year before the painting of Starry
references to the technologies, newspapers,
Night and not long before Van Gogh's death in
films, and advertisements that increasingly
1890. Keeping with his reputation as a crazy
defined contemporary life.
artist, Van Gogh was committed to a mental
health asylum in Arles after the ear incident Dada artists felt the war called into question
with Gauguin. History has it that Van Gogh every aspect of a society capable of starting and
painted Starry Night while in the mental then prolonging it – including its art. Their aim
hospital, and that the landscape in the painting is was to destroy traditional values in art and to
the view Van Gogh had from his window create a new art to replace the old.
Edvard Munch's Marcel Duchamp's
painting The Scream scandalous L.H.O.O.Q is an
(1893) is one of the most altered postcard reproduction
famous paintings of all of Leonardo Da Vinci's
time. Sometimes also Mona Lisa.
referred to as The Cry,
Munch's painting The
Scream is known for its
expressionistic colors,
bright swirling sky, and of course its mysterious
subject: a person clasping her face, screaming in
anguish alone on a dock.
 SURREALISM FUTURISM
The term surrealism indicates a specific Futurism was an Italian art movement of the
thought and movement in literature, the arts, early twentieth century that aimed to capture in
and theatre, which tries to integrate the art the dynamism and energy of the modern
confused realms of imagination and reality. world. This was launched by the Italian poet
The proponents of surrealism endeavor to mix Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909.
up the differences of conscious and unconscious
Among modernist movements futurism was
thought through writing and painting by using
exceptionally vehement in its denunciation of
irrational juxtaposition of images.
the past. This was because in Italy the weight of
Initiated by André Breton (1896-1966), past culture was felt as particularly oppressive.
surrealism is a kind of artistic movement In the Manifesto, Marinetti asserted that ‘we will
started in the French capital, Paris, during free Italy from her innumerable museums
the 1920s. This movement lasted until the which cover her like countless cemeteries’.
1940s. Breton, a famous writer as well as a
Entranced by the idea
philosopher, boosted this movement further by
of the “dynamic,” the
publishing his manifesto, “The Manifesto of
Futurists sought to
Surrealism.”
represent an object’s
The most formative intellectual influence on the sensations, rhythms and
philosophy of Surrealism were the theories of movements in their
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the Viennese images, poems and
neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. manifestos. Such
Breton and other surrealists were highly characteristics are
impressed with Freud's insights into the beautifully expressed in
unconscious, which they thought would be a Boccioni’s most iconic
major source of untapped pictures and imagery. masterpiece, Unique Forms of Continuity in
They used his theories to clear away boundaries Space.
between fantasy and reality, and to address a
number of disquieting drives as fear, desire and
eroticization IMPRESSIONISM
Impressionism was an art movement in France
at the end of the 19th century. The
Impressionists were a group of artists renowned
for their innovative painting techniques and
approach to using color in art.
Impressionist art is a style of painting that
emerged in the mid-to-late 1800s and
emphasizes an artist's immediate impression of
a moment or scene, usually communicated
The 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus' was the first through the use of light and its reflection, short
painting that Dali based on his 'paranoiac- brushstrokes, and separation of colors.
critical' method. It was inspired by the
various myths of Narcissus which explore an Impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet in
abnormal preoccupation with the self, something his "Impression: Sunrise" and Edgar Degas in
that Dali was no stranger to. "Ballet Class," often used modern life as their
subject matter and painted quickly and freely, SUBJECT
capturing light and movement in a way that had
not been tried before. Subject in art is any person, object, scene, or
event represented in a work. In narrative media
story, poem, music) the subject is the main idea
character, or theme. Subject matter is the visible,
literal image (e g. portrait, landscape).

TWO TYPES OF ART

1. Representational/Objective Arts
- Depicts recognizable objects or
events.
- Recognition is key even if colors/forms
are stylized.
Ex: painting of a cat or Marcia Baldwin’s
Thunder Magic (recognizable as a horse)
2. Non – Representational/Abstract
- Shows shapes, colors, lines or forms
without a clear aims to evoke emotion
or ideas; require viewer interpretation.
Ex: Picasso Cubist works and Dali’s surreal
images that express dream logic.

CONTENT
It is what the artist expresses – the reason for
making the work. Gerald Brommer
describes content as “the communication as
ideas, feelings and reactions connected
with the subject.” While subject is the literal
image, content is the emotional or thematic
meaning sensed by the viewer.

Three Levels of Meaning (Ortiz et al.,

1976)
Factual Meaning
- The literal, narrative content- what is
directly recognizable in the work.
 Conventional Meaning
- Shared cultural symbols flags, crosses, Everyday Life
wheels -objects. Whose meanings are
- Scenes of daily activity-rice threshers,
agreed upon within a culture.
street vendors, children at play artists
Subjective Meaning document lived experience and culture.
- The artist's private symbolism tied to History and Legend
personal experiences, full
- History consists of verifiable facts,
understanding may require the artist's
legends - consist of unverifiable ones
explanation.
Religious and Myth
- Most of the world's religions have
COMMON SUBJECTS DEPICTED IN ARTS
used/arts to aid worship, to instruct, to
inspire feelings of devotion and to
impress and convert non-believers.
Landscapes, Seascapes, Cityscapes Some Filipino artists attempted to render
- Artists capture countryside, seaports, in art not only traditional religious
skylines-Amorsolo romanticized themes but folk beliefs in creatures of
Philippine rural life, modern painters lower mythology
focus increasingly on urban scenes. Dreams and Fantasies
Still Life - Surrealists explore the unconscious-
- Arranged inanimate objects-flowers, Dali's works reference Freud, dreams
fruits, instruments-often tied to cultural desire, and symbolic self-portraiture
practices and aesthetics.
Animals
- From prehistoric cave art to Filipino
favorites like the carabao, animals als
carry religious and cultural symbolism.
Portraits
- Realistic likenesses revealing
personality, attire, and social context-
used to mark milestones like baptisms,
graduations, weddings.
Human Figures
- The sculpture’s chief subject has
traditionally been the human body, nude
or clothed.