Famous Painters and their Works Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo painted and sketched more than ten thousand pieces over his lifetime using natural and backlighting techniques. His most known works are of the dalagang Filipina, landscapes of his Philippino homeland, portraits and WWII war scenes. Born in Calle Herran in Paco, Manila, on May 20, 1892, Fernando Amorsolo began drawing and sketching as a young boy. The family lived lived in Daet until the death of his father. At that time his his mother moved the family to the home of her cousin, cousin, artist Don Fabian dela Rosa in Manila. Manila. Amorsolo was 13 years old at the time and in order to help provide for his family, he sold his drawings and began to study art under dela Rosa.
"Young Girl" In 1909, he began studies at the Liceo de Manila and graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1914. After designing the logo for Ginebra Ginebra San Miguel, Amorsolo received received a grant to attend the Academia de San Fernando Fernando in Madrid from businessman businessman Enrique Zobel de Ayala in 1916. A major influence in his painting style during this period was painter Diego Velasquez.
"Along the Mountain Trail, 1928" Oil on board, 14 x 16 inches Fernando Amorsolo used family members as subjects for many of his sketches and paintings. paintings. When WWII broke out, Amorsolo continued to paint from his home in Manila. Instead of painting landscapes with bright sun filled skies, he did works that portrayed the human suffering and wartime scenes along
with self portraits and the Japanese occupation soldiers of the time. Many of these paintings were exhibited in the Malacanang presidential palace in 1948. Following the war he returned to painting landscape scenes of the countryside and portraits. He painted oil portraits of all of the Philippine presidents, revolutionary leader General Emilio Aguinaldo, and General Douglas MacArthur. Due to the popularity of his works he cataloged them and developed a technique to paint them quicker to meet the demand.
"Rice Harvesting" Throughout his life Fernando Amorsolo worked as an instructor, a draftsman for the Public Works, chief artist for the Pacific Commercial Company, illustrator for children's books and magazines, and served as Director at the School of Fine Arts before he retired in the early 1950s. In the twilight years of his life, Amorsolo continued painting through declining health. He was married twice and had 13 children before a heart attack eventually took his life on April 24, 1972.
Vicente S. Manansala (1910-1981) Honored as National Artist in Painting in 1981, Vicente S. Manansala is considered the country’s pioneer in Cubism. He was one of the Thirteen Moderns led by Victorio C. Edades, and was one of the Big Three in the modernist movement, along with Cesar Legaspi and H. R. Ocampo. In addition, he formed the group of Neo-Realists together with Romeo Tabuena and Anita Magsaysay-Ho. Manansala developed transparent cubism and his works were done mostly in the figurative mode, reflecting the society and the local environment. He favored the styles of Picasso and Cezanne, and believed that the true beauty of art lay in the process of creating it. Manansala was born in Macabebe, Pampanga on January 22, 1910. He was the second of the eight children of Perfecto Q. Manansala and Engracia Silva. At the age of 15, he studied under painter Ramon Peralta while doing work painting movie posters at a shop in Manila. He entered the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts in 1926 and graduated in 1930. He continued his studies under a UNESCO grant at the École de Beaux Arts in Banff and Montreal, Canada in 1949, and under a French government scholarship at the École de Beaux Arts in Paris in 1950. His training did not end there. In 1960, he received a grant from the United States to study stained glass techniques in New York. He also trained at the Otis Art Institute in 1967, and received another grant in 1970, this time from Germany, to study in Zurich.
Manansala worked as an illustrator for the Philippines Herald and Liwayway and as a layout artist for Photonews and Saturday Evening News Magazine in the 1930’s. He held his first one-man show at the Manila Hotel in 1951, and then went on to work as a professor at the University of Santo Tomas School of Fine Arts from 1951 to 1958. Vicente C. Manansala died in Makati in 1981. Paintings:
“Tiange” “Luksong Tinik”
Carlos V. Francisco(1912-1969) Carlos V. Francisco popularly known as "Botong", was a distinguished muralist from and best known for
his historical pieces. Also known as the Poet of Angono, Rizal he single-handedly brought back the art of mural painting in Philippines. He was one of the of the modernist artists together with Galo Ocampo and Victorio Edades known as " The Triumvirate" who broke away from romanticism style of Fernando Amorsolo's Philippine Scenes.
He went to School of Fine Arts in University of the Philippines, although he came from the same school of arts as Amorsolo, he did not follow the traditional style but developed a modernist style. After the 2nd World War, he taught in School of Fine Arts in University of Santo Tomas at the same time working with Manuel Conde for cinema. He worked as scriptwriter for films such as "Ghengis Khan", "Putol na Kampilan", and "Tatlong Labuyo". He make costumes design also for films "Romeo at Julieta", "Prinsipe Tenoso", "Ibong Adarna", "Siete Infantes de Lara and "Juan Tamad" series.
His major works includes Portrait of Purita, The Invasion of Limahong, Serenade, Muslim Betrothal, Blood Compact, First Mass at Limasawa, The Martyrdom of Rizal, Bayanihan, Magpupukot, Fiesta, Bayanihan sa Bukid and Sandugo. His major masterpiece is the mural for Bulwagang Katipunan of the Manila City Hall.
He was the second Filipino who received the title of National Artist in Painting in 1973 after Fernando Amorsolo. Among of his awards are first prize for his work "Kaingin" at t he annual Art Association of the Philippines, "Most Outstanding Alumnus" in 1959, and Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1964.
First Mass in the Philippines
Fiesta by Carlos "Botong" Francisco
Muslim Wedding, 1958
Juan Luna y Novicio (October 23, 1857 — December 7, 1899) was an Filipino painter
, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. Regarded for work done in the manner of the Spanish, Italian and French academies of his time, Luna painted literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses. B orn in the town of
Badoc, Ilocos Norte in the northern Philippines, Juan Luna was the third among the seven children of Don Joaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas and Doña Laureana Novicio y Ancheta. He took drawing lessons under the illustrious painting teacher Lorenzo Guerrero of Ermita, Manila. He also enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts (Academia de Dibujo y Pintura) in Manila where he was influenced and taught how to draw by the Spanish artist Agustin Saez. The Death of Cleopatra ( La Muerte de Cleopatra ),
also known simply as Cleopatra, is an 1881 painting made by the Filipino painter Juan Luna. The famous painting was asilver medalist or second prize winner during the 1881 National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid (Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes). The 1881 Madrid painting contest was Luna’s first art exposition. Because of the exposure, Luna received a pension scholarship at the Ayuntamiento de Manila. After the painting competition, Luna sold it for 5,000 Spanish pesetas, the highest price for a painting at the time. As Luna’s “graduation work”, The Death of Cleopatra was acquired by the Spanish government for one.
The Spoliarium (often misspelled Spolarium) is a painting by Filipino artist Juan Luna. The painting was submitted by Luna to the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes
in 1884 in Madrid, where it garnered the first gold medal (out of t hree). In 1886, it was sold to the Diputación Provincial de Barcelona for 20,000 pesetas. It currently hangs in the main gallery at the ground floor of the National Museum of the Philippines, and is the first work of art that greets visitors upon entry into the museum.duros. Juan Luna spent eight months to finish this award winning masterpiece on a greatly huge canvas depicting dying gladiators. (Leon Ma. Guerrero, “The First Filipino” 2007) Ambeth Ocampo wrote, “…the fact remains that when Luna and Felix Resurrection Hidalgo won
the top awards in the Madrid Exposition of 1884, they proved to the world t hat indios could, despite their supposed barbarian race, paint better than the Spaniards who colonized them.
España y Filipinas, meaning “Spain and the Philippines” in translation, is an 1886 oil on wood[ by Filipino painter, ilustrado,propagandist, and paladin, Juan Luna. It is an allegorical depiction of two women together, one a representation of Spain and the other of the Philippines. The painting, also known as España Guiando a Filipinas (“Spain Leading the Philippines”), is regarded as one of the “enduring pieces of legacy” that t he Filipinos inherited from Luna. The painting is a centerpiece art at the Luna Hall[1] of the Lopez Memorial Museum. Although an olol on canvas masterpiece[1][2] that projected a close bond between Spain and the Philippines through feminine figures, it is a propaganda painting that revealed the true hope and desire of Filipino propagandists during the 19thmillenia: assimilation with Spain, reform, equality, modernization, and economic improvement. Contrary to Jose,wally’s estimation that Luna was a “Hispanophile”, or a person who could never go against Spain, the España y Filipinas portrait is a “less combative posture” of Luna for showing to Spain and the viewers of the painting the needs of the Philippines at the time. The Spaniard woman or “Mother Spain” was drawn with “wide strong shoulders” while the Filipino woman was illustrated as “graceful” and brownskinned. Both were wearing female dresses known as traje de mestizas or “dress of the mestiza“. The dressing of the women in traje de mestizas shows the cultural character, class consciousness, and social transformations resulting from 19th century Hispanization. Both women have their backs to the viewer, heading towards a far-away horizon, while embarking on the steps of a staircase.The taller and maternal white figure of a woman is Spain, a representation of the “benevolent image of colonialism”, is pointing ahead and guiding the “humbly dressed” Filipina to the “right way”. The painting appeared in the book
entitled El legado de España a Filipinas or “the Spanish legacy in the Philippines” with the accompanying caption stating:España guiando a Filipinas por la senda del progreso, or “Spain leads the Philippines on their way to progress”. It is further described as a painting that once linked the colonized with its
former colonists, a”bucolic allegory” of the master and the servant “walking hand in hand”.
Las Damas Romanas (literally, “The Roman Dames“), also known as The Roman Maidens, The Roman Women,[1] or The Roman Ladies,[2][3] is an oil on canvas painting by Juan Luna, one of the most important Filipino painters of the Spanish period in the Philippines.[4] It was painted by Luna when he
was a student of the school of painting in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando) in Madrid, Spain in 1877. Alejo Valera, aSpanish painting teacher, took Luna as an apprentice and brought him to Rome where Luna createdLas Damas Romanas in 1882. Luna spent six years in Rome from 1878 to 1884. Las Damas Romanas is one of the early works of Luna as a painter that resurfaced in the past quarter of a century after being thought lost or missing. Before its reappearance in Paris many years before 2008, it had been documented only as a title and as a listed work of Luna in the 1957 biography of Luna written by Carlos E. Da Silva. The painting had also been documented through a black and w hite photograph from the files of Alfonso T. Ongpin, a historian and pre-war art dealer. In 1980, the image from Ongpin was reprinted by Santiago Pilar in the book “Juan Luna: The Filipino As Painter”
The Blood Compact ( El Pacto de Sangre) is an award-winning 1886 “historic and historical‘painting by Filipino painter Juan Luna. Juan Luna completed The Blood Compact in 1886, a year after he moved to Paris to open a studio. It was also the year after Luna became a friend of Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, another known Filipino painter. In 1904, the painting won the first prize in Paris, France and at the St. Louis Exposition in the United States. The masterpiece was painted by Luna during his fouryear pensionadoship from the Ayuntamiento de Manila, enabling him t o continue studying painting in Rome. It is one of the three paintings Luna gave the Government of Spain, even though he was only obligated to paint just one canvas during the pensionadoship. The other paintings are Don Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a painting that was burned during the Philippine-Spanish war, and Governor Ramon Blanco, a work that became a part of the Lopez Museum collection.This is one of the last paintings created by Luna.
