3 Categories of

Functions of Art:
1.Physical
2.Personal
3.Social
1. Physical Function
 Works of art that are created to perform
some service have physical functions.
 Types of art that have physical function:
 Architecture
 Crafts
 Industrial Design
Saltcellar of Francis I
by Italian sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto
Cellini, 1554
However
wonderful the
craftsmanship of
a Fijian war club
may be, it was
created to
perform the
physical function
of smashing
skulls.
This Fijian war club was designed
to drive or peck a neat hole
through the enemy's skull, the
weight of the bulky head being
concentrated in the point of the
beak.  These clubs were also
used in open battle, to kill
wounded enemies, to execute
offenders, and sometimes to
A Japanese raku bowl is art that performs a
physical function in the tea ceremony.
 2. Personal Function
The personal functions of art vary from person to person.

COMMON PERSONAL FUNCTIONS:

 for self-expression, or gratification.
 for communicating a thought or point to the
viewer.
 for providing an aesthetic experience, both for
self and viewers.
 for "merely" entertaining others.
 for adorning one’s self
3. Social Function

Art has social functions when it

addresses aspects of life, as opposed
to one person's point of view or
experience.
 Family
 Socio-cultural
 Economic
 Political
 Religious
Holocaust Memorial
George Segal, 1984
Novels of Dr. Jose Rizal that ignited the flame of
patriotism in the hearts of the Filipinos during the
Spanish Colonization.
Aesthetic function – through art, man becomes
conscious of the beauty of nature. He benefits from his
own work and from those done by his fellowmen. He
learns to use, love, and preserve them for his enjoyment
and appreciation.
Utilitarian function – with the creation of the
various forms of art, man now lives in comfort and
happiness. Through art, man is provided with shelter,
clothing, food, light, medicine, beautiful surroundings,
personal ornamentals, entertainment, language,
transportation, and other necessities and conveniences
of life. Art not only enriches man’s life but also improves
nature through landscape gardening, creation of super-
highways and through propagation of natural resources.
Cultural function –
through the printed
matter, art transmits
and preserves skills
and knowledge from
one generation to
another. It burdens
one’s cultural
background and
makes man more
civilized and his life
more enduring and
satisfying.
 THE FUNCTION OF
ART
An address by His Holiness Pope
Pius XII to a group of Italian artists
received in audience on April 8,
1952.
The function of all art lies in fact in breaking
through the narrow and tortuous enclosure of the
finite, in which man is immerged while living here
below, and in providing a window to the infinite for
his hungry soul.

The
Christian
Vocation
of the
Artist
The artist is of himself a privileged person
among men, but the Christian artist is, in a
certain sense, a chosen one, because it is
proper to those chosen to contemplate, to
enjoy and to express God's perfections.
Seek God here below in nature and in
man, but above all within yourselves.
Do not vainly try to give the human without the
divine, nor nature without its Creator. Harmonize
instead the finite with the infinite, the temporal with
the eternal, man with God, and thus you will give
the truth of art and the true art.