Arturo Luz Luz Painter, sculptor, and designer for more than 40 years
Arturo R. Luz, painter, sculptor and designer, received the title of National Artist in Visual Arts in 1997. Member of the Neo-Realists and the Thirteen Moderns, a group of modern artists established in 1938 and led by Victorio C. Edades, he described himself as “semi-representational, semi-abstracted.” He is best known for his linear art and his series on street musicians, vendors, cyclists and carnival performers, but also sculpted using wood, concrete and metal. His works are characterized by sophisticated simplicity and exemplify sublime austerity in their expression and form. He created masterpieces that exemplify an ideal of sublime austerity in expression and form. From the Carnival series of the late 1950s to the recent Cyclist paintings, Luz produced works that elevated Filipino aesthetic vision to new heights of sophisticated simplicity. By establishing the Luz Gallery that professionalized the art gallery as an institution and set a prestigious influence over generations of Filipino artists, Luz inspired and developed a Filipino artistic community that nurtures impeccable designs. Arturo R. Luz, painter, sculptor and designer, became part of the Order of National Artist for the Visual Arts in 1997. Critics wrote him as a member of the Neo-Realists and the Thirteen Moderns, a group of modern artists established in 1938 and led by Victorio C. Edades. Alluding to this fact he described himself and his works once as “semi-representational, semi-abstracted.”
Luz was born in Manila on November 20, 1926. He began his lessons in painting under painter Pablo Amorsolo, brother of National Artist Fernando Amorsolo. He went to the University of Santo Tomas School of Fine Arts, then received a scholarship at the California College of Arts and Craft in Oakland for a 3-year diploma in art program. He continued his education at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York in 1950, and at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris in 1951.
He began with figurative artworks, but went on to develop abstraction. It was in Paris that he had his first one-man exhibit of drawings at the Galerie Raymond Duncan in 1951. He held his second solo exhibition at the Manila Hotel when he returned to the
Philippines in the same year. In 1960, he put up the Luz Gallery, wherein many contemporary works were showcased. He had the following objectives when he founded the gallery: to display paintings that deserve to be exhibited, to give approval and recognition to genuine talent, and to develop taste with a degree of critical judgment.
Among his achievements are three first prize awards at the Art Association of the Philippines Annual Competition from the 1950’s to the 1960’s. In addition, he received several foreign scholarship grants, including those from Spain in 1953, Italy in 1963, and the United States in 1963. He also joined various exhibitions abroad, including the Philippine Cultural Exhibition held in New York in 1953, Arte de America y España in 1963, the 11th Sao Paolo Biennale in 1971, the Tokyo International Print Biennale in 1974, and the 8th British International Print Biennale in 1984. Another distinction is a one-man exhibit he held at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City in 1981.
Luz’s major works include: •
1946 - Lavandera
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1953 - Awit
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1959 - City
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1960 – Anito Sculpture
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1979 – Painted Steel
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1997 – Bagong Taon
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1997 – Man with Guitar
Among his awards are: •
1962 – 1st Prize, First International Art Salon in Saigon, Vietnam
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1966 – Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Painting
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1978 – Order of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, by the French government (title was promoted to “Officiel” in 1987)
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1981 – Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award, from the City of Manila
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1989 – Gawad CCP para sa Sining, from the Cultural Center of the Philippines
Arturo Luz, Traveling Musician, ca. 1950's, 45.5 x 32 in., Christie's (sold for $85,191 in 2006)
Arturo Luz, Trio Performance, 35.5 x 47.5 in., Sotheby's (sold in 2006)
Arturo Luz, Bagong Taon, 1952, 27.5 x 19.25 in., Ateneo Art Gallery, Philippines
