UNIVERSITY OF CASTILLA LA MANCHA

Albacetes Faculty of Education

Subject: Contemporary trends in education

Professor: Antonio Cebrin

Academic year 2016-2017

Aesthetic Education:

Manuel Bartolom Cosso

Students:

Rebeca Garca Olivares

Jos Lpez Lpez

Javier del Olmo Muoz

Andrea Trraga Snchez

Sergio Tirado Olivares

Master degree in Primary Education

2 course group B
 CONTENTS

Introduccin. 3

1. Manuel Bartolom Cosso. 4

1.1. The teaching of art. 6
1.2. The Aesthetic in Cosso. 8
1.2.1. The art of Knowing how to see. 11

References 13
Introduccin (29-32) - Jose

For many years, art was only achievable and understood by a minority group, but
today, thanks to the media, it reaches all levels of society.

Art also lives in everyday things of society (like architecture).

Since art exists in everyday life, a need to train people in this field exists. There is
still lots of people who ignore what should be seen when they look at art, it made them
inhibited from knowledge and enjoyment to which it was entitled, restricting their access to
minorities, also when it is massive, we are not sure that the understanding of the works being
contemplated will be achieved.

Hence, if we are interested in a real and fruitful approach to the work of art, we must
start from an initial objective, "to teach to see", to educate and to direct the glance. Since art
is a deep human need and one of the fundamental elements of social life.

Art is a human creation, the creative force of humanity.

It is necessary, not only to cover an important aspect of the people's life, but is an
indispensable means to carry out a fusion between the individual and the environment that
surrounds him, and as such is a basic element to understand our present and our historical
past, to the point of affirming that "art is a visual summary of history"

Precisely, the school must be the first nucleus of artistic and cultural animation. In it
students should be initiated in this type of knowledge, to avoid reproducing the mistakes that
we now see society regarding artistic training, due to lack of adequate preparation, they are
left as something alien, which does not understand, and if they approach to it, it will be seen
at distance, like something to admire, but not to enjoy, to know and to participate, because it
is impenetrable.

Therefore, we distinguish the idea of aesthetic education, resulting from human

contact with art and its effect on the overall personality, so art is involved in various spheres
of life, which has consequences not only for the aesthetic sensibility, but also for the
intellectual, affective and moral life.

We cannot reflect on art and man, according to modern life, without having evoked
the aesthetic education of the past. The preoccupations of aesthetics in the past always
remained within a totally theoretical, philosophical framework, and referred to man in
general. Only the modern age, under conditions that improve man's contact with art,
approaches aesthetics to more concrete and more educational concerns.

Conclusion:

Due to art is linked to so many aspects of our live it should have more presence in our
teaching, developing and encouraging creativity, in my opinion the practical methodology is
the best to make our pupils understand this concept, showing them what humanity have done
(in the past and today) and making them realize what they can do.
Questions.
T/F
- According to the Cossio text, people have always known how to appreciate art. False

Multiple Choice
1. Aesthetic education is about.
a. Human visual preferences.
b. Human contact with art and its effect on the overall personality.
c. Human rules that determine what is valuable.
Answer: B

1. Manuel Bartolom Cosso (32-34) - Javi

Manuel Bartolom Cosso was the main disciple of Giner de los Ros, whose work at the
head of the ILE continued after the latter's death in 1915. But Cosso was not only one of the
great figures of ILE and institutionalism. It is to him, to a great extent, that the history of art
begins to be studied in school.
The pedagogue and historian of art did not conceive the process of knowledge without
aesthetic enjoyment. And this, in turn, was inseparable from the ethical imperative. Hence
his effort to promote and consolidate the work that the ILE began to develop at the end of the
XIX to achieve the category of scientific discipline for the history of art, incorporating this
subject in the academic programs of secondary education as in the university.
The enjoyment of artistic production was essential in the educational work for Cosso.
That is why, since 1870 he promoted school trips to the Prado Museum. The so-called
"instructional visits" with children of different ages, including nursery schools, became a
reference point for European reformers of the time. With them, Cosso tried to change the
concept of museum that prevailed at that time.
But the schoolchildren were not the only ones who benefited this social and pedagogical
facet of museums claimed by Cosso. He was already 74 years old when he embarked on the
"Pedagogical Missions", incorporating within these a traveling painting museum. The
Ambulant Museum or People's Museum made it possible for the inhabitants of remote rural
areas who had never left their villages to know, through manual copies of high quality, some
of the main works of Spanish painting from the end of the XV until the beginning of the XIX.
In addition to school trips to museums, urban visits to the mountains and villages were
increased, methodological reforms were made in the teaching of science or social and
political history, and games and sports were incorporated as elements of child training. In this
way, Giner and Cosso tried to impose an aesthetic environment. Life for them was
aesthetic, then education for life, should also be.

Conclusion.
From my point of view, if the type of education proposed by Giner and Cosso in the ILE
had been maintained, today's society would be different, since values such as the love for
artistic beauty would be strengthened from school. Despite this, the contributions of the ILE
to today's public education are considerable. To stay out of religious influences is an example
of this.

Questions.
T/F
Thanks to Manuel Bartolom Cosso, history of art began to be studied in school. True.
Multiple Choice
2. Manuel Bartolom Cosso wanted the following subject to achieve the category of
scientific discipline:
a. Physical Education.
b. History of Art.
c. Music.
Answer: B
 1.1. The teaching of art (34-36) - Andrea

Cosso conducts a study on the teaching of the fine arts. He proposes that there is no
distinction between fine arts and those that are not, because everything generates beauty
depending on the audience to which it is exposed.
But more than teaching is about artistic education, which implies:
The aesthetic culture.
The development of taste.
The feeling of the beautiful.
The enthusiasm to produce it.
The teaching of art will be educational when, at the same time as it is painted, drawn or
modeled, the critical judgment and the feeling of beauty are awakened. However, art
education is rarely present in general education programs because they think it is a difficult
task to bring it up to children

Cossio tells us about some indications of the program:

As long as they have the object, whether a body, a building, which they are
accustomed to observe, distinguish the fine arts among themselves.
The child should perform classifying exercises to learn to distinguish, to classify.
The first time they are taught a picture must always be in front of the object they
represent, so that they become aware of the relationship and develop the observation
and the blow of sight (golpe de vista).

And then, Cossio, explain the different kinds of monuments:

It is necessary, says Cossio, that the child apply the idea of the history of art, making him
see that it has become art depending on the ideas, needs and means of each historical
moment.
1. In 1892 Cossio wrote a "Program of an elementary course on the History of
Architecture in Spain". Little by little, the history of art is making its way into Spanish
education.
 The methods to be used are excursions, photographs ... because there is
nothing like direct observation of the moment.
2. Make a complete program of the history of architecture, from prehistory to the
present day.

Cossio, faithful to his conception of art, relates the artistic creation with the materials
used, with the spirit that animates the people who create it and with its conception of life and
death.
The history of art is part of the history of humanity:
For instance: the Pantheon can not be understood without the total life in the Athens
of Pericles; A gothic cathedral is incomprehensible without knowing the life of the
guilds and the nascent cities ...
Therefore, it is necessary to look for the occasion to awaken in the child this idea
of total history.

Conclusion: For Cossio the teaching of art is a fundamental part of the integral education
of students, with this teaches us that all subjects are very important and that they must have a
continuous process of teaching and learning. In particular, art in the classroom must be based
on the observation and intuition of the work, awakening in the student the capacity for
reflection and synthesis.

Questions.
T/F
3. Manuel Bartolome Cossio proposes that there is a distinction between fine arts and
those that are not. FALSE: because everything generates beauty depending on the audience
to which it is exposed.
Multiple Choice
3. According to Manuel Bartolom Cossio, artistic education implies:
a. Aesthetic culture.
b. The development of taste.
c. The feeling of beauty
 d. The enthusiasm to produce it.
e. All are correct.
Answer: E

1.2. The Aesthetic in Cosso.- Sergio

It is necessary to take into account that in the aesthetic formation of Cosso there are
two important factors:

1. His particular and natural inclination to art and beauty.

2. His conception of aesthetics of Krausist inspiration.

This author refers to a Course of Aesthetics as an example taught by Giner in 1877,

with special application to the Fine Arts. The course had ten lessons, examining the summary
of the eighth lesson corresponding to this course and that Giner titled "Method and sources of
Aesthetics", it is evident that Giner also collects some points of the Aesthetics of Krause
which, according to an article titled "MANUALES DE ORIGEN KRAUSISTA PARA LA
ENSEANZA DE LA ESTTICA Y LA HISTORIA DEL ARTE Y DE LA MSICA EN
LOS INSTITUTOS DE BACHILLERATO" establishes a strong link between science, ethics
and aesthetics in human life (insist on the need to incorporate them, from a theoretical and
practical dimension, in Spanish curriculum) (Snchez, 2011)
reference:http://arbor.revistas.csic.es/index.php/arbor/article/viewFile/1324/1333

According to Cosso, the main idea of important authors such as Riao, Vischer and
Fernndez collected by Guiner is the beauty, which can be manifested through multitude of
details, during history and its different concretions. This, without a doubt, is the base of the
aesthetic formation of the institutionalists.

So great is the admiration he feels for Riao and Fernndez Jimnez who speaks of
them as two masters of sacred memory who taught him to see Toledo and El Greco. Of
Riao also comes the enormous impulse that was given to the "smaller arts", spreading the
Spanish treasures in London. Therefore we can say that they served as references in his
studies.
 Later, with all this training Cossio went to Italy, as a schoolboy in Bologna, and there
he took all the artistic, theoretical and practical to direct contact with Italian works of art and
with the idealistic Italian aesthetic.

There is no doubt that the weight of all these theories leave a mark on Manuel B.
Cosso and appear at the base of his Concept of Aesthetics, as can be deduced from the
reasoned program he presented to the Barcelona Chair: ctedra

"La esttica es toda la ciencia de la belleza por el arte bello. Nada

resta por haber fuera de la esttica, y an la historia forma parte de ella en este
sentido, a saber: no para averiguar lo que es el arte, sino para saber cmo se
han producido, realizado o entendido los hombres en un momento dado la
obra bella. Tiene, pues, el programa dos partes: Teora e historia. Ahora bien,
cada una de esas dos partes debe tratarse, primero, desde un punto de vista
general; segundo, desde un punto de vista especial".

After this great formation, as his fundamental works we can emphasize:

The practical embodiment of these concepts and this methodology is found in the
Approximation to Spanish Painting/ Aproximacin a la pintura espaola (1884): It
can be considered as the first study on Spanish painting with a didactic purpose and
with a new methodology.
It is assimilated into itself the German and British elements, which were also basic to
the understanding of aesthetics in Cossio, but delving (ahondando) into the national
and highlighting what is specifically Spanish.

The Art of Toledo, (1905). Where Cossio values monuments according to the place
they occupy within the general scheme of art. Where he tries to motivate the reader.
Toledo appears as a synthesis of cultures and symbols of Spain. The account and
description of the architectural monuments, sculptures ... with distinction of styles and
times.
 This methodology is going to mature in his summit work: El Greco (1908). It is a
meticulous investigation of the direct written sources, discarding the traditional
sources that are not very objective (I suppose that of historians and legends), and is
working in the archives, documents and manuscripts.

In addition, the most notable is the investigation of the individual and concrete,
through direct observation. And to the realization of the commented catalog of the works of
each artist. Method that took effect in his work El Greco due to revise more than one
thousand times the works of the artist and visiting to museums and collections both foreign
and Spanish.

Conclusion:

Cosso is considered one of the parents of Spanish pedagogy, especially in the field of
the arts, his meticulous research and his works of clear pedagogical intention are still
references in our education.

Besides its motivating spirit and, as he said, learning thanks to the practice are closely
linked to the new methodologies, more focused on the student where he is the center of his
learning.

Questions.
T/F
-Cosso studied in different countries such as Germany or Italy.
TRUE
Multiple Choice
4. Which of this factors are important in the aesthetic formation of Cosso?:
a. His particular and natural inclination to art and beauty.
b. His conception of aesthetics of Krausist inspiration.
c. Both are correct
Answer: C
The art of Knowing how to see.- Rebeca
Manuel Cosso highlights that in education field, the child has to learn in different ways such
as playing. In that way, memory has to stop being as the only instrument for learning.

The child has all the necessary skills and capacities to see, which is the first knowledge
condition. The child only waits to be taught to see, that a hand with art enables him to do it. It
is very important that the child knows the world where he lives. He also needs to taught to
think and know to see the things which happen around him because that is the way for the
true knowledge that later will be necessary for life.
According to Cosso, of what men know is learnt seeing the things, knowing how to see
them, that is what distinguished educated men from illiterate men. Only those who are able to
see, they get to know and to understand. It is useless to accumulate knowledge without
having them any sense or meaning for us.
For that reason since the first moment of children life we have to teach them to know how to
see things, that their minds get into direct contact with the things observing and analyzing
them. For example, before starting reading and writing children have to learn to observe and
analyze. Knowing how to see enables us to acquire infinitude of knowledge. Thus, the main
aim is that education teaches us to know how to see, making us an artwork, the art of
knowing how to see.

Conclusion:
Children education doesnt only consists in memorizing contents. Moreover, according to
Cosso memorizing is not the best to learn and it should disappear because the best way to be
an educated and wise men is having the capacity to analyze and observe things. When you
know how to see things, you get to know and understand the things which surrounds you.
Education has to promote the art of knowing how to see.

Questions.
T/F
-The important thing to Manuel Bartolom Cosso is to accumulate knowledge,
although it doesn't have any sense or meaning. FALSE.
Multiple Choice
 - According to Manuel Bartolom Cosso, Education has the responsibility to
teach children:
a. How to memorize contents, because the important thing is to accumulate as
much information as you can to be a wise men.
b. How to see things, to get to know and understand the things which surround
us.
c. It doesn't have any responsibility because children are able to learn in their
own.
Answer: B

Conclusion
For Cosso art teaching is an essential part for the integral education of students. So he
included it in the educational curriculums at school. For Giner and Cosso, life was aesthetic,
then education for life, should also be. Nowadays, as we can see art is taught at schools and
we consider that it is really good to develop different skills such as observing, analyzing and
expressing, because art is a way to express feelings and emotions. Through art we can
analyze and understand how was the life of our ancestors and how it has changed with the
pass of time. It has be done depending on the ideas, needs and means of every historical
moment. Children has to do exercises to learn to classify and distinguish objects. So,
Education has to teach them how to analyze things, how to know to see things, because
learning is not just memorizing contents, it is learning for life, so we have to teach children to
analyze how the life is or has been.

References

Cosso, M. B. (1998). La educacin esttica.

"Sncehz, L. (2011).MANUALES DE ORIGEN KRAUSISTA PARA LA
ENSEANZA DE LA ESTTICA Y LA HISTORIA DEL ARTE Y DE LA
MSICA EN LOS INSTITUTOS DE BACHILLERATO"