LECTURE 4

Art and Philosophy:

Imitationism and
Representationism

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
OBJECTIVES
a. Relate the study of art to the field of philosophy.
b. Examine imitation theory by Plato as a philosophy of art and beauty
c. Compare and contrast imitationism and representationism.
d. Identify artworks, styles, artists and philosophers that abide with imitation
or representation theory of art.
e. Evaluate the merit or demerit or artworks based on the principles of
imitationism.
f. Examine the style of romantic realism in Philippine art based on
representation theory.
g. Interpret imitationism as the philosophical basis of ancient Greek art and
of some classical compositions in music.
h. Formulate a philosophical approach to Art Appreciation.
i. Make works of art where the theory of representationism and the style of
romantic realism are applied.

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

READINGS

4.1. Orate, Allan C. (2010). “Lecture Notes on Aesthetics: Theories

of Art and Beauty,” from Blended Learning Modules.

4.2. Shimamura, A. P (2012). “Towards a Science of Aesthetics.” In

A. Shimamura & S. Palmer, Aesthetic Science: Connecting
Minds, Brains and Experiences, Oxford, University Press, 2012.
pp. 3-28.

4.3. Plato, “Allegory of the Cave” in Republic, VII 514 a, 2 to

517 a, 7. Translation by Thomas Sheehan.

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

VIDEOS

4.1. “What is Art? maARTe ako.” In https://www.youtube.

com/results?search_ query=ma arte+ ako.

4.2. “Xiao Time “Fernando Amorsolo: Ang Grand old Man

ng Philippine Art” https://www. youtube.com/watch?
v=nC9hVHbGCSA

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

LECTURES
4.1. Imitation Theory of Art and Beauty

4.2. Philosophical Theory of Music

4.3. Representation Theory of Art

4.4. Romantic Realism in Philippine Art

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 LECTURE 4.1
Imitation Theory
of Art and Beauty

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
Video 4.1.
THEORIES OF ART

Imitationism
Representationism
Formalism
Expressionism
Action Theory
Institutional Theory
 PLATO
348-267 BC

The Dialogue
The Republic

IMITATIONISM
Idealist Theory of Art
Raphael, The School of Athens, 1511
 Raphael,
The School
of Athens
(Detail)

Leonardo
as Plato

Michelangelo
as Aristotle
 Plato’s Circle
Mosaic of Pompeii
1st Century BC

MOSAIC
 IMITATIONISM BY PLATO

PHILOSOPHY
OF BEAUTY
What is beauty?
What is the essence of
beautiful things?

What is art?
What is the essence of art? PHILOSOPHY
OF ART
 TWO WAYS OF
CONSIDERING BEAUTY

RELATIVE ABSOLUTE
“Beauty is in the eye of “Beauty is in the thing
the beholder.” itself.”

SUBJECT OBJECT
AESTHETICS BEAUTY UGLY
is is is
Logic Truth Falsity
Metaphysics Reality Illusion
Epistemology Knowledge Ignorance
Ethics Good Evil
 IMITATIONISM BY PLATO
Ignorance Art Studies Philosophy Knowledge
WORLD OF WORLD OF WORLD OF
ART BECOMING BEING

IMITATION APPEARANCE REALITY

Illusory Changing Unchanging
Temporal Eternal
Illusion Artist Individual Demiurge Universal
COPY THING FORM

Painting of Chair Material Chair Idea of Chair

ARTISTIC PHYSICAL METAPHYSICAL
Beautiful Artworks Beautiful Things Idea of Beauty
 IMITATIONISM
IDEA
Beauty of Forms Metaphysical Contemplated
REALITY Chair: Idea by Philosopher

MATTER
Beauty of Things Physical Made by a
APPEARANCE Chair: Thing Carpenter

ART Copy of Made by a

Beauty of Imitation Physical Painter
ILLUSION Chair: Art
 World of Art World of Becoming World of Being
IMITATION APPEARANCE REALITY

IDEA OF
BEAUTY

ROSE DAWSON KATE WINSLET IDEA

In the Film Titanic In This World In the World of Ideas
“Artistic Beauty” “Physical Beauty” “Real Beauty”
 ID Picture

IMITATION OF THE
APPEARANCE OF
THE REAL MAN
PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE

ART

Inside the Cave Outside the Cave

THIS WORLD REAL WORLD
PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE

ART

Inside the Cave Outside the Cave

THIS WORLD REAL WORLD
PLATO’S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE

ART

Inside the Cave Outside the Cave

THIS WORLD REAL WORLD
Movies Based on the Philosophy by Plato
IMITATIONISM BY PLATO
Things in this world are beautiful as
appearances of the reality or idea of beauty
or the universal form of beauty existing
in the world of being.

Art is beautiful as
imitations of things in this world.

Art is the imitation

of the appearance of reality
Van Gogh,
Chair with
a Pipe

IMITATION OF THE
APPEARANCE OF
THE REAL CHAIR
 Leonardo,
Portrait of
Ginebra
d’Benci

IMITATION OF
A PHYSICAL
WOMAN
Van Gogh,
Sunflower
Cezanne,
Still Life
with
Apples
 CLASSICAL
GREEK SCULPTURE
Imitation of the
Idea of Beauty

Polycritus,
Doryphorus
(Spear Bearer)
450 BC
Kouros
Ancient
Greek
Sculpture
600 BC
Praxiteles
Hermis
340 BC
Praxiteles
Aphrodite
of Cnidos
Venus
de Milo,
150 BC
 Myron
Discobolus
(Disk Thrower)
340 BC

PERFECT POSITION OF
THE HUMAN BODY
Position of rest
between two
movements
 LECTURE 4.2
Philosophical Theory
of Music

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
 PHILOSOPHICAL
THEORY OF MUSIC

Concerns the structure

COSMOLOGICAL of the Physical Universe
PYTHAGORAS

Concerns the Nature

EPISTEMOLOGICAL of Human Knowledge
PLATO
PHYSICAL What does it
UNIVERSE come from?

Where does KNOWLEDGE

it lead to? OF REALITY
 COSMOLOGICAL
THEORY OF MUSIC
PYTHAGORAS
570-490 BC
Mathematician
Astronomer
Philosopher

THE SOUND OF THE SOUND

THE UNIVERSE OF MUSIC
“There is geometry in the humming
of the strings; there is music in
the spacing of the spheres.”
Music is the imitation of cosmic sound.
Music Human
of the Music
Spheres Corelli,
Sonata XII,
Music of the
Spheres

"The eyes are made for astronomy, the ears for harmony,
and these are sister sciences." PYTHAGORAS
EPISTEMOLOGICAL THEORY
OF MUSIC BY PLATO

“Gymnastics is for the body,

as music is for the soul.”

PHYSICAL BODY SPIRITUAL SOUL

GYMNASTICS MUSIC
Strong Body Intelligent Soul/Mind
Health Knowledge
LADDER OF KNOWLEDGE TRUTH
REALITY
PHILOSOPHY Ideas or Forms
Realm of Knowledge
MATHEMATICS Numbers

MUSIC Harmony of Spheres

Bach, Toccata and
Fugue in D Minor
ASTRONOMY Heavenly Bodies

PHYSICS Earthly Bodies APPEARANCES

Realm of Opinion
BIOLOGY Animals & Plants and Error
HISTORY Societies
LITERATURE Biographies & Stories

Painting & Sculpture IMITATION

MIMETIC ART
Realm of Ignorance
 Theological Theory of Music
AUGUSTINE

“Singing is praying Sing a new song

unto the Lord. Let
twice over.”
your song be sung
from mountains
high. Sing a new
song unto the Lord,
singing alleluiah.
Palestrina,
Credo
GREGORIAN CHANT

Glory to God in the

highest, and peace to his
people on earth. Lord
God, heavenly king,
almighty God and
Father, we worship you,
we give you thanks, we
praise you for your glory.
THEOLOGY ON THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS

HEAVEN
CHURCH
God, Mary,
TRIUMPHANT Saints, Angels
Prayer=Music

CHURCH EARTH
MILITANT People Alive

PURGATORY
Prayer = Music
Venial Sinners

CHURCH HELL
SUFFERING Moral Sinners
DEFINITION OF ART BASED ON IMITATIONISM

PAINTING Imitation of the appearances of people,

SCULPTURE things or events

MUSIC Imitation of the sound of the universe

Imitation of movements of animals, Four

DANCE nature or things Little
Swans

LITERATURE Imitation of life through language

Imitation of life through action and

DRAMA
dialogue
 LECTURE 4.3
Representation
Theory of Art

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
Representationism

is
an image
an appearance
a copy
a reproduction
of things, people, objects or event.

FIGURATIVE ART
Art that contains representation.
Van Eyck,
The Arnolfini
Marriage

REPRESENTATION
OF PEOPLE
REPRESENTATION OF THINGS OR OBJECTS

Van Gogh, Bedroom at Arles, 1888

 REPRESENTATION OF EVENT

Francisco, Mural on the History of the Philippines, 1963

 WAYS OF REPRESENTING NATURE

PHYSICAL CHANGING the physical appearance of nature, like

a natural marble that turn into a sculpture by
ALTERATION carving and cutting.

ENHANCING the appearance of nature, like a forest

SELECTIVE that becomes a garden by arranging and trimming
MODIFICATION the plants, or a woman beautifying herself by
putting cosmetics on her face.

Copying nature according to the CHOICE of the

PERCEPTUAL artist, but the resulting image is still recognizable,
INTERPRETATION like in the style of representation in cubist and
fauvist art.
 PHYSICAL ALTERATION
OF NATURE

Block of Natural Marble Michaelangelo, Pieta

 SELECTIVE
MODIFICATION
OF NATURE
Forest
Garden

LANDSCAPING Art of environmental design

 COSMETOLOGY
Art of Facial
Beautification

Natural Beautified
Face Face
PERCEPTUAL INTERPRETATION OF NATURE

Dora
Maar

Real Woman
(Natural Appearance)

The way of presenting the

subject is ABSTRACTIVE Painting of a Woman
(Cubist Style)
 REPRESENTATION
IN FAUVIST STYLE

Photo of Mrs. Matisse Matisse, Portrait of

Mrs. Matisse, 1913
 DEFINITION OF
ART ACCORDING TO
representationism

made by the artists

is the
recreation of

NATURE created by God

 EXACT REPRESENTATION

Natural Tree Painting of a Tree

The more the art resembles nature,
the more it becomes beautiful.

The way of presenting the

subject is REALISTIC
Who was the better painter?

Zeuxis Parrhasius
Who was the better painter?

Zeuxis Parrhasius
Who was the better painter?

Zeuxis Parrhasius
 TROMPE
L’OEIL
“trick the eye”

Painting that
looks so realistic
that it fools the
eye as if it sees
the real thing.
 Magritte
The Human
Condition
1930
 Magritte
The Human
Condition
1933
 WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE

“Art is putting mirror

up to nature.”

“All the world is a stage,

and men and women are
merely players.”
 LEONARDO DA VINCI
“Art is a window to nature.”
CHINESE ART
The drawing of forms
which answer to
natural form.

Drawing of a
Humanities
Student
 CHINESE ART WU TAO TZU
The drawing of forms “Sage in Chinese Painting”
which answer to
natural form.

Form of Form
Nature
= of Art

Art reaches
perfection and
become divine

CHIEH TZU YUAN

“When painting has STORY: He entered his own
reached divinity (shen), painting and lost there
there is an end of inside forever.
the matter.”
NATURE IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE PAINTING
Zhang Daqian Scenery
TAOISM ART
Constable
Hay Wain
Monet, Field
of Poppies
 Michelangelo,
God the Creator,
Sistine Chapel
Painting Detail
1512

CHRISTIAN ART
Representational

ICON
Religious
Images
 Masaccio
The Trinity
1425

STYLE
High
Renaissance
Art
Leonardo, The Last Supper, 1498
 Pieta
Michelangelo
1499

STYLE
High
Renaissance
Art
 LECTURE 4.4
Romantic Realism
in Philippine Art

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
ROMANTIC REALISM
(In Philippine Art)

Showing only aspect of beauty

Idyllic and exotic rural sceneries
Forms of light and shadow
For tourism purposes

Fabian de la Rosa
Fernando Amorsolo
“Master of Genre” in Philippine Art

Born in Paco, Manila

Studied in Escuela de Bellas Artes
and Academie Julian, Paris France
Director, School of Fine Arts UP
Won Gold and Bronze Award
in St. Louis Exposition, 1904
Awarded Patnubay ng Sining
at Kalinangan, 1968

FABIAN DE LA ROSA
1869-1937
De la Rosa, View of Santa Ana
De la Rosa
Pasay Beach
1927
De la Rosa, A Remembrance of Villa Borghese, 1909
De la Rosa, Women Working in Rice Field, 1902
De la Rosa, Transplanting Rice, 1904 Won Gold Medal, St. Louis Exposition, 1904
De la Rosa, El Kundiman, 1930
 De la Rosa,
Aurora Aragon
Quezon
FERNANDO AMORSOLO
1892-1972
Enrolled in Art School, Liceo de Manila
Studied in UP School of Fine Arts
and Academia de San Fernando, Spain
Made more than 10,000 paintings
Won First Prize, New York Fair, 1939
Dean, UP College of Fine Arts
First Philippine National Artist

Most popular painter in the country

“Grand old man of Filipino painters”
Video 4.2. “Master of tropical scenery”
“First Filipino impressionist”
 Amorsolo, Leyendo el Periodico, 1908
Won Second Place, Bazar Escolta sponsored
by Asociacion Internacional de Artistas
Amorsolo, Afternoon Meal of Rice Workers, 1929
Won First Prize, New York Fair 1929
Amorsolo
Winnowing
Rice
 Amorsolo
Rice Plating
Shows only
aspects of
beauty
Amorsolo,
Tinikling
Amorsolo, Fruit Pickers Under the Mango Tree
Amorsolo, The
Market Scene
 Amorsolo,
The Making of
Philippine Flag
Amorsolo, The
Celebration of
the First Mass
 Written by
CAMILO OSIAS
in 1917

Illustrated by
FERNANDO
AMORSOLO

Textbook for elementary

students during the
American period
 Amorsolo,
Patriotic Pledge

ILLUSTRATION
IN PHILIPPINE
READER
Amorsolo,
A Woman
Reading
a Letter,
1917

ILLUSTRATION
IN PHILIPPINE
READER
Amorsolo,
A Woman
Reading
a Letter,
1917

ILLUSTRATION
IN PHILIPPINE
READER
Amorsolo,
Roasting
Pig, 1917

ILLUSTRATION
IN PHILIPPINE
READER
Amorsolo,
Husband and
Wife Harvesting
Banana, 1917

ILLUSTRATION
IN PHILIPPINE
READER
Isidro Ancheta
(1882-1946)
Batis

AMORSOLO’S
FRIEND
 Dominador
Castaneda
(1904-1967)
Women
Washing by
the Stream

AMORSOLO’S
FRIEND
Cesar
Buenaventura
(1922-1983),
Bahay Kubo

AMORSOLO’S
INFLUENCE
Cesar
Buenaventura
Bahay Kubo
Cesar
Buenaventura
Landscape
1975
PRAISE FOR AMORSOLO’S
REPRESENTATIONAL STYLE
OF ROMANTIC REALISM
The paintings by Amorsolo
are “true reflection of
the Filipino soul.”

CRITIQUE
It is highly commercialized,
and is meant for political
propaganda by hiding
the social reality under
the appearance of
order and beauty.
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
MMDA Art
Beauty sa Harap, Pero sa Likod
Industrial Valley, Marikina
 Marikina
Industrial
Valley
Metro Gwapo Project, MMDA Bayani Fernando
Manasala,
Madonna of
the Slums,
1950

PHILIPPINE ART
From Romantic Realism
Through Modernism
To Social Realism
ACTIVITY AND
ASSESMENT

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE
ACTIVITY AND ASSESMENT

a. Assign members of the group to make a representational

work of art. One member is the artist, and another one is
the model. The artist must copy the appearance of the
model exactly as he or she looks like.

b. Assign other members of the group to make landscape

painting based on the style of Romantic Realism in
Philippine art.

DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE

 RUBRICS FOR ACTIVITY 3
Needs
Excellent Good Fair
CRITERIA Improvement
(10-12 points) (7-9 points) (4-6 points)
(1-3)

All members
Group All members actively Some members did
participated in the The group does
participation and participated in the not participate in
activity, but the not show any
collaboration activity, and the the activity, and the
group does not collaboration and
during the group collaborated group collaboration
show a unified participation at all
activity. harmoniously. is not harmonious
collaboration.

The artwork does

The artworks
The artwork not look like the The artwork
Representational looks like the model
looks exactly like model in many does not look like
Artwork except for some
the model. parts of the the model at all.
parts.
composition

The composition
Romantic realism is Romantic realism is The composition
correctly applies
Application of correctly applied incorrectly applied does not apply
romantic realism
Romantic Realism to the whole to many parts of the romantic realism
except to some
composition. composition. at all.
parts of it. DR. ALLAN C. ORATE, UE