Submitted by: Jhon Dick M.Veloria
Fernando C. Amorsolo (1972)
The country had its first National Artist in Fernando C. Amorsolo. The official title "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art" was bestowed on Amorsolo when the Manila Hilton inaugurated its art center on January 23, 1969 with an exhibit of a selection of his works. Returning from his studies abroad in the 1920s, Amorsolo developed the backlighting technique that became his trademark where figures, a cluster of leaves, spill of hair, the swell of breast, are seen aglow on canvas. This light, Nick Joaquin opines, is the rapture of a sensualist utterly in love with the earth, with the Philippine sun, and is an accurate expression of Amorsolo's own exuberance. His citation underscores all his years of creative activity which have "defined and perpetuated a distinct element of the nation's artistic and cultural heritage". Among others, his major works include the following: Maiden in a Stream(1921)-GSIS collection; El Ciego (1928)-Central Bank of the Philippines collection; Dalagang Bukid (1936) - Club Filipino collection; The Mestiza (1943) - National Museum of the Philippines collection; Planting Rice (1946)-UCPB collection; Sunday Morning Going to Town (1958)Ayala Museum Collection.
Vicente Silva Manansala (1910 - 1981) Vicente Silva Manansala was a Philippine cubist painter and illustrator.
Manansala was born in Macabebe, Pampanga. From 1926 to 1930, he studied at the U.P. School of Fine Arts. In 1949, Manansala received a sixmonth grant by UNESCO to study at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Banff and Montreal, Canada. In 1950, he received a nine-month scholarship to study at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris by the French government. Marker (Macabebe, PampangaTown hall. Manansala's canvases were described as masterpieces that brought the cultures of the barrio and the city together. His Madonna of the Slums is a portrayal of a mother and child from the countryside who became urban shanty residents once in the city. In his Jeepneys, Manansala combined the elements of provincial folk culture with the congestion issues of the city. Manansala developed transparent cubism, wherein the "delicate tones, shapes, and patterns of figure and environment are masterfully superimposed". A fine example of Manansala using this "transparent and translucent" technique is his composition, Kalabaw (Carabao). Vicente Manansala, a National Artist of the Philippines in Visual Arts, was a direct influence to his fellow Filipino neo-realists: Malang, Angelito Antonio, Norma Belleza and Baldemor. The Honolulu Museum of Art, the Lopez Memorial Museum (Manila), the Philippine Center (New York City), the Singapore Art Museum and Holy Angel University (Angeles City, Philippines) are among the public collections holding work by Vicente Manansala. Holy Angel University recently opened a section of its museum called The Vicente Manansala Collection, holding most of the estate left by the artist. He died on August 22, 1981 in Manila, Philippines due to cancer.
Carlos Modesto Villaluz Francisco (1912 – 1969)
Francisco was a most distinguished practitioner of mural painting for many decades and best known for his historical pieces. He was one of the first Filipino modernists along with Galo Ocampo and Victorio C. Edades who broke away from Fernando Amorsolo's romanticism of Philippine scenes. According to restorer Helmuth Josef Zotter, Francisco's art "is a prime example of linear painting where lines and contours appear like cutouts." His great works include Blood Compact, First Mass at Limasawa, The Martyrdom of Rizal, Bayanihan, Magpupukot, Fiesta, Bayanihan sa Bukid, Sandugo, Portrait of Purita, The Invasion of Limahong, Serenade, and Muslim Betrothal. Some of his murals have suffered damage over the years. The "Pageant of Commerce" emerged from several years of restoration in 2000. His murals in the lobby of the Philippine General Hospital were restored for the 3rd time in 2007. He was also responsible for the discovery of the now famous Angono Petroglyphs in 1965. He was also involved in Costume Design in Philippinecinema.
Juan Luna (1857 –1899) Juan Luna y Novicio (October 23, 1857 – December 7, 1899) was
a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists. His winning the gold medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, along with the silver win of fellow Filipino painter Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, prompted a celebration which was a major highlight in the memoirs of members of the Propaganda Movement, with the fellow Ilustrados toasting to the two painters' good health and to the brotherhood between Spain and the Philippines. 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.
Hernando Ruiz Ocampo (1911 – 1978)
Hernando Ruiz Ocampo was a leading radical modernist artist in the Philippines. He was a member of the Saturday Group of artists (also known as the Taza de Oro Group), and was one of the pre-war Thirteen Moderns, a group of modernist artists founded by Victorio C. Edades in 1938. Famously known for his triumvirate of with neo-realists Vicente S. Manansala and Cesar Legaspi, his works reflected the harsh realities of his country after the Second World War. However, many of his works depicted lush sceneries and the beautiful Philippine landscapes through his skillful use of fierce and bold colors. Ocampo was born in Santa Cruz, Manila, but later transferred to Maypajo, Caloocan. His parents were Emilio Ocampo y Saltiero and Delfina Ruiz y Santo. He originally studied law, commerce and creative writing, and worked as a writer before he taught himself the visual arts. During his career as a writer, he was one of the organizers of Veronicans, a young group of progressive and prolific writers. He worked in various periodicals such as Taliba newspaper and Manila Sunday Chronicle magazine. He also worked as a scriptwriter and director for television, and produced and directed for the Filipino Players Guild. His works as a writer includes “Don’t Cry, Don’t Fret” in poetry; “Ikalawang Pagdalaw,” “Unang Pamumulaklak,” “Rice and Bullets,” and “Bakia” in fiction; and “Buntot Page,” a screenplay written with Mario David.
His major works in the visual arts include Ina ng Balon, Calvary, Slum Dwellers, Nude with Candle and Flower, Man and Carabao, Angel's Kiss, Palayok at Kalan, Ancestors, Isda at Mangga, The Resurrection, Fifty-three "Q,” Back drop, Fiesta, Mother and Child, Easter Sunday, and his most acknowledged work Genesis, which served as the basis of curtain design in
the Cultural Center of the Philippines Main Theater. His works were exhibited in Washington, New York, London, and Tokyo, among others. Awards received include: Republic Cultural Award in 1965; Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award in 1969; Diwa ng Lahi Award in 1976; and Gawad CCP para sa Sining Award in 1979. Famous for his work "We or They"
Cesar Legaspi (1917–1994)
Legaspi was born to Manuel Legaspi and Rosario Torrente in Tondo, Manila. He took up painting for one term at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts before he decided to take commercial art courses instead. There he received medals for perspective and illustration projects. He earned his Certificate of Proficiency in 1936, after which he continued his education in art under Pablo Amorsolo. He went to Madrid in 1953 and pursued Art Studies under a scholarship at the Cultura Hispanic until 1954. He also went to Paris to study at the Academie Ranson for one month under Henri Goetz. Back in the Philippines, he had his first one-man show at the Luz Gallery in 1963. While this led to an active phase with his major pieces, he also worked as a magazine illustrator and artistic director at an advertising agency. He finally left the agency in 1968 to focus on his painting[2] During his career as an artist, he had the opportunity to be part of several exhibits abroad, including the First Plastic Arts Conference in Rome in 1953, the São Paulo Biennial in Graphic Arts in 1967 and 1969, and the Wraxall Gallery in London with Filipino artists Malang and Bencab in 1982. Apart from this, he holds the record of five retrospective exhibitions at different venues: the Museum of Philippine Art in 1978, the National Museum and the Metropolitan Museum in 1988, and the Luz Gallery and the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1990. He was an active member of the Art Association of the Philippines and was part of the Neo-Realists. He was also the head of the Saturday Group artists from 1978 until his death on April 7, 1994. Legaspi’s major works include:
1945 – Man and Woman 1947 – Gadgets
Pacita Abad (1946–2004)
Her early paintings were primarily figurative socio-political works of people and primitive masks. Another series was large scale paintings of underwater scenes, tropical flowers and animal wildlife. Pacita’s most extensive body of
work, however, is her vibrant, colorful abstract work - many very large scale canvases, but also a number of small collages - on a range of materials from canvas and paper to bark cloth, metal, ceramics and glass. Abad created over 5,000 artworks and painted a 55-meter long Alkaff Bridge in Singapore and covered it with 2,350 multicolored circles. During the last five years of her life, she lived and worked in a studio house on 28 Temenggong Road in Singapore, which currently houses the Visual Arts @ Temenggong. Abad developed a technique of trapunto painting (named after a quilting technique), which entailed stitching and stuffing her painted canvases to give them a three-dimensional, sculptural effect. She then began incorporating into the surface of her paintings materials such as traditional cloth, mirrors, beads, shells, plastic buttons and other objects.
Victorio C. Edades (1895 – 1985)
Victorio Edades was born on December 13, 1895 to Hilario and Cecilia Edades. He was the youngest of ten children (six of whom died of smallpox). He grew up in Barrio Bolosan in Dagupan, Pangasinan. His artistic ability surfaced during his early years. By seventh grade, his teachers were so impressed with him that he was dubbed “apprentice teacher” in his art class.
He was also an achiever from the very beginning, having won awards in school debates and writing competitions. After high school, Edades and his friends traveled to the United States. Before enrolling in Seattle, Edades incidentally made a detour to Alaska and experienced working in a couple of factories. Nonetheless, he moved on to Seattle and enrolled at the University of Washington where he took up architecture and later earned a Master of Fine Arts in Painting. The significant event that stirred Edades, and made him as what he is known now, was his encounter with the traveling exhibition from the New York Armory Hall. This art show presented modern European artists such as Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso and the Surrealists. His growing appreciation to what he saw veered him away from the conservative academic art and Realistic schools and thus he began to paint in the modern manner. The two former schools of thought were inclined more towards idyllic subject matter, and require a mastery of refined detailing. What attracted Edades to the modernist movement was its principle to go beyond the idealistic exteriors propagated by Impressionism and Realism. Modernist thought encourages experimentation in artistic expression and allows the artist to present reality as he sees it in his own way.
Francisco "Paco" Gorospe (1939 – 2002) Francisco "Paco" Gorospe was a Filipino painter, called the "Picasso of the
Philippines". Paco Gorospe is one of the famous painters of the Philippines. He was born in Binondo, Manila. He was inspired by the simple and colourful lifestyle of native tribes from the south of the country such as the Yakans, the Bogobos and the Tausugs He joined a local group of artists in Ermita, Manila and sold his paintings locally, gradually gaining recognition. Paco started with crayons, later using water colours but finally shifted to oil paintings. Gorospe's first major exhibition took place in 1962 at the Washington State Fair. US sales increased and in 1964 his works were chosen to represent the Philippines at the 1964 New York World's Fair Other foreign exhibitions followed including Okinawa, Japan (1972), BadenBaden, Germany (1989), Switzerland and Denmark In 1990, his work Sabungeros ("cockfighting") was chosen by Philippine Airlines for the cover of their playing cards given to passengers.
Arturo Rogerio Luz (1926) Arturo Rogerio is a Philippine National Artist awardee in visual arts. He is
also a known printmaker, sculptor, designer, and art administrator. A founding member of the modern Neo-realist school in Philippine art, he received the National Artist Award, the country's highest accolade in the arts, in 1997. Luz has produced art pieces through a disciplined economy of means. His early drawings were described as "playful linear works" influenced by Paul Klee. His best masterpieces are minimalist, geometric abstracts, alluding to the modernist "virtues" of competence, order and elegance; and were further described as evoking universal reality and mirrors an aspiration for anacme of true Asian modernity.
