II.

The Philippines

Jose Honorato Lozano

Felix Resurreceion Hidalgo

Juan Luna
Simon Flores y de la Rosa
Fernando Amorsolo

Victorio Edades

Galo B. Ocampo
Hernando R. Ocampo
Vicente Manansala

Cesar Legaspi
Arturo Luz

Guillermo Tolentino

Napoleon Abueva
Ben Cabrera

Imelda Cajipe-Endaya
Julie Lluch

Roberto Feleo

Charlie Co

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Whispers of a Lost Child: The Heritage of Realism
Mizusawa Tsutomu
Curator, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura

1. the Japanese army which is indicative of the type of place it

A formula of modernization = Westernization in the realm Of is. It is a fact, whether comic or tragic, that this place where
Asian art has been derived from the premise of "the stagna- artists who make the clearest and most radical case for anti-
tion of Asia" stated by Marx and Engels, and examples of the modernism is a typical product of "modernity." This situa-
varied developments of art in Asia are brought up in examin- tion is typical of the conditions that have determined the his-
ing the diverse conditions of modernism. Before beginning my tory of the Philippines as it has been continuously exploited
discussion, it is necessary to point out that this historical view- by Spanish, American, and Japanese colonialism. The sense
point is itself based on a European and American context. of national humiliation is expressed in the word "Philippenis"
While remaining "stagnant" in some areas, Asia today is written on the wall of an installation made in a basement room

absorbing the universally-efficient technology of a high-level of the Baguio Convention Center in 1994 by Alwin Reamillo
industrial society at a rapid rate, even moving ahead of the and Juliet Lea, former Baguio artists who have recently moved
West at times, so its art is referred to as "hybrid" or ' 'tran- their base of operations to Perth, Australia. Originally, the
scultural." It has even been suggested that it contains possi- country was in fact named for a Habsburg king of Spain.
bilities of a postmodernism which stands to transcend the In my part in planning this exhibition, I am dealing with
modernism of the West which has reached a dead end. At this the differences and similarities between the first and last works
point, however, we must admit now with some regret that the in the Philippines section, an anonymous religious painting
uncritical promotion of this "contemporary art" in exhibitions and Roberto Feleo's large Tau Tao [Ancestors). I have left
and the maintenance of an optimistic multiculturist attitude out the development of abstract painting since 1950 almost
actually reinforce, and fail to relativize, the basic framework entirely, not because Philippine abstract painting deserves
described above. It will no longer do to neglect or to exces- neglect but because I deliberately chose to make an overview
Sively praise Asia. Faced with this double-bind situation, we of the realist tendency, defined in a broad sense, in Philip-
cannot return to the purely shining modernist myth of the past. pine modern art within given limitations of space and using
Even if the encounter is impoverished or fragmented, we must a limited number of art works. In my choice of contemporary
pass through the circuit of the Other, all the time ignoring the artists, I gave precedence to artists somehow related to the
fantasy Asia shining dimly beyond. realist heritage rather than the installation artists who have
The concepts of gender, vernacular, and shadow work had comparatively more opportunities to show their work
introduced by Ivan Ilyich are connected to his fierce sense of recently in Japan.
a crisis created by the limits of modern historiography, tools The Crucifixion (cat. no. II-I) on a wooden panel, prob-
honed in his study of the Middle Ages. Europe emerges from ably painted sometime in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth
this analysis as multi-faceted rather than monolithic, suggest- century, is a typical Christian paintings executed by an anony-
ing that the opposition of the postmodern to the modern is mous Chinese artist. It is foreign in a double sense — in iconog-
only a variation on other struggles for hegemony in moder- raphy and in the origin of the artist. The Catholics who
nist historical writing. When we speak of exploring "Asian penetrated the entire territory of the Philippines as a part of
modernism" we must resign ourselves to a journey without the Spanish colonial administrative policy swept away the
a map through actual historical details scattered about like indigenous culture. Most figures of the well-known rice and
islands. fertility god, Bubol, with his large erect phallus, were removed
from the sacred precincts of the villages and destroyed or
11. burned. (The same thing was recently repeated in modern-day
The "vernacular" expression of the artists based in Bagio, a Tokyo. A contemporary Bubol figure made by Villanueva as
town in northern Luzon in the Philippines, represented by part of the FARET Tachikawa project was vandalized many
Roberto Villanueva, has been one of the undoubted highlights times and is now placed behind glass.) In today's Philippines,
of exhibitions Of contemporary Asian art which have been held where the population is over 90 percent Catholic, this sort of
frequently in recent years (fig. 1). That is because they were folk religious imagery has lost any real impact, making it
perceived as an overwhelming, almost-insolent, explosion of difficult for an artist to find his identity along this path. The
ethnicity. Ironically, the mountain village of Baguio is a resort conversion to Catholicism is itself a part Of Philippine history.
area developed at the beginning of this century for the recrea- Roberto Feleo is an important artist who has continued
tion of American müitary officers. Also, legend has it that the imaginatively searching for his identity while facing the com-
body of General Yamashita Tomoyuki of the Japanese army plex facts of Philippine history and refusing to return directly
who was executed there is still lying under the pond in the park. to an older way of life. Skillfully quoting the icons Of the pre-
Just recently there was a big stir about gold bars hidden by and post-colonialist period, he treasts them with what seems

220 The Philippines

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 3.

to be a Pop, comic touch using a variety of materials. His atti- word for this place. While in some of our folktales
tude toward history is thoroughly and cynical. Of his many the underworld is depicted as a place of torment,
works, perhaps the Tau Tao [Ancestors] (cat. no. 11-34)drops according to Isabero de IOSReyes, these are later cor-
a plumb line deepest into the invisible abyss of the past. ruptions of our original myths bought on by Moslem
In the "Exhibition Notes" for a show at the Hiraya of Christian influences."
Gallery, Feleo says Of this work. "Uncorrupted original myths," no matter how thoroughly
S'Tau Tao is a visual retelling of the Bagabo myth of researched, are ultimately fictions, but Feleo is attempting to
the afterlife through a three-dimensional presentation find a lost identity by relentlessly pouring his creative energy
consisting of six life-size pieces and the landscape in into this fiction, proclaiming that "Their tau-taos belong to
which they interact. The figures are Lumabat, Wari, every Filipino."
Mebuyan, Tuglay, Tuglibong and an unnamed spirit.
All are made from pinalakpak, a mixture of sawdust 111.

and glue." In 1884 Juan Luna won the gold medal at the Madrid Exposi-
Tau Tao is a large work requires a space ten meters across. tion for his painting Spoliarium (the name Of a Roman
In spite of its large size, great care is taken in the finish of coliseum). This landmark event showed that Filipino artists
the details, demonstrated the skillful craftsmanship Of the had reached an advanced level in their understanding Of aca-
artist. At the same time, the figures are deliberately given demic painting. The winner of the silver medal, Felix Resur-
archaic forms reminiscent of North American Indian or Inca reccion Hidalgo, was a student at the Academia de San Fer-
art. The artist pointedly uses the word landscape in describ- nando in Madrid. The typical orientalism seen in Luna's
ing this group Of figures, and indeed the figures are situated Odalisca (cat. no. 11-4)of 1886 and the sentimental scene of
in an unreal, mythical, fictional spacewhich can be considered figures in an interior in Hidalgo's La Enferma of 1900are com-
a landscape. In this it may be different from most installa- pletely in conformity with the taste of European salon paint-
tions which tend to make the boundary between fiction and ing of the time. There is no sign of a desire to break away from
reality ambiguous. If the artist were not careful, it could easily or destroy that tradition. That is why thesetwo artists achieved
take on the decorative appearance of a window display, but successin Europe, and it would be futile to try to find any-
Feleo succeedsin giving new life to the inherently powerful thing characteristically Filipino in thesepaintings. On the Other
mythical narrative with a dense accumulation Of details. hand, a work like tha Dead Child (cat. no. 11-5)of 1902 by
Lumabat who holds a large snake in both hands is said Simon Flores y de Ia Rosa, painted with a much less accom-
to be the first son of the first human couple. He stands at the plished technique than that Of Luna or Hidalgo, has primi-
boundary between the skyworld and the underworld, holding tive elements which strongly convey regional features of the
in his hands the snake which is an embodiment of the bound- Philippines.
ary, making it clear that it is not easy for human beings to The polished style Of Fernando Amorsolo was usedto por-
enter the world of the afterlife. Wali has followed his older tray the violenceof the Japanesearmy during the SecondWorld
brother Lumabat to the skyworld but missesthe earthly world. War (cat. no. 11-8)but it was mostly brought into service to
After receiving permission, he returns to earth at the end Of paint idyllic, prettified views of the Philippine landscape (cat.
a rope lowered down from the skyworld. Midway, he breaks nos. II-6,7). The Builders (1928,fig. 2) is a different sort of
the promise he made not to eat until reaching the ground. The painting. A major work by Victorio Edades. the first artist
rope is dropped and he falls, but his fall is cushioned by the to take a firm stand as a modernist against academicism who
branches of a tree. He is unable to get down from the tree and clashed violently with Amorsolo, it presents palpable figures
changes into a bird that cries, "Aruuuy." Mebuyan is a typi- of laborers carrying stone emerging from the thickly applied
cal earth mother goddess with many breasts. brown paint. This painting contains a passionateemotion simi-
Feleo's interest in these mythical imaginings about the lar to the early work of Cézanne.The concept of passively
afterlife native to the Philippines is motivated by a deep-seated reproducingbeautiful things is clearly repudiatedevenby the
aversion to the Christian dualism of good and bad. In the same purely formal elements,the undulating brushwork, thedefor-
"Exhibition Notes," he goes on to say, mation of the figures, and the way the figures are crammed
"In most Filipino myths, all the characters, good or into the shallow space.The grinding physical labor reflects the
evil, are resurrected in the end, because good and struggle of building a nation. This is a significant painting
evil, like yin and yang, are fundamental elements of which declares a clear awakening of a conscious critical.
creation. Modernism begins to show itself asa dynamic entity when
In fact, hell is not a Filipino concept. We have no a critical function, which includes self-criticism, comes into

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play,andafterEdades,
Filipinoartistsbegantoactivelyinclude
socialcommentaryin their works, oftenin relation to thebitter
experiences of the war.
The chaotic conditions Of the postwar period cast had a
substantial effect on artists of the postwar generation. An
exampleis BenCabrerawhoseImaginaryPortraitof Sabel
(cat.no. 11-21)
ispart of a seriesof imaginaryportrayalsof
a madwoman namedSabel. Cabrera spent a long period in
Londonduringthe1970sa wasableto experience
BritishPop
at closehand. There he got the idea Of using photographsin
makinghis art asa way Of looking directlyat the realityOf
thePhilippines.Migrantsof Europe(cat.no.11-23)isanimpor-
tantapplicationof thismethod.Photographic
images
can,of
course,bedirectlyappliedto graphicwork,Cabrerausedthem
to make a number of remarkable intaglio prints, which he
broughttogetherin a limited-edition,handmadebook (cat.
no. 11-28c).
His TheTemptationof JuandeIa Cruz(cat.no.
11-25),painted in acrylic on Philippine handmadepaper,
appearsto be a calm pastoralwork, but it alsoreflectsan
awareness of Philippinereality, emergingin the form of a
tender and melancholy love for the common people.
Charlie Co, a member of Black Artists in Asia (BAA),
a groupbasedon NegrosIslandandformerdirectorof the
VisayanIslandsVisualArt ExhibitionandConference(VIVA
EXCM), beganhis careermakingangryneo-expressionistic
socialprotestpaintings.Hiscurrentpaintingscontainimagery
from his living environmentin Bacolod(theoutdoor band
standin the park, sugarcanefields,etc.)aswell aspersonal,
confessionalelementsand socialsatire. He also makeshybrid
works combining painting and sculpture using terra cotta. In
a recentlargework, On theFifth Year(cat. no. 11-35),the
richly colorful appearanceOfpeople(the figurestandingon
the left seemsto be a self-portrait) scatteredagainst a deep
blueskydirectlycapturestheeffectOfthe brightsunlightof
Negros.However,theodd waft in whichthefiguresseemto
float and the placementof scatteredimageslike the folded
paperboatandskullintheforeground
makeit clearthatthese
imagesarenotrealbutoccupyanambiguous territorybetween
realityandunreality.co, a Filipino artist of Chineseextrac-
tion, feels strongly attached to the land, but one sensesan
unconscious uncertainty in this feeling. His paintings express
complexemotionalstates
somewhere
betweenecstasy
andanxi-
ety,celebrating
thecommunitiywhereheliveswith a touch
of melancholy.
In recentyearsmanywomenartistshavebeenworkingactively
in thePhilippines.Someoutstandingexamples includeAgnes
Arellano,PazAbadSantos,BrendaFajardo,ImeldaCajipe-
Endaya,and JulieLluch. Their work is variedfeaturesharp
222 The Philippines
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observationsOf eros, sensitiveuse of the aestheticpossibili-
ties of material strong narrative qualities, and lucid analyses
of feminineself-consciousness,
and occupiesand extremely
importantpositionintheartisticexpression
of thePhilippines
today.
For example,the colouredterracottasculptureof Julie
Lluchis especiallymemorablefor its lucidviewof the social
positionof women.Philippine
Gothic(cat.no.11-31)
isarather
maliciousparody Of the Americanpainter Grant Wood's
AmericanGothic (1930).The stubbornseverityOfthis seri-
ous,puritanicalcoupleunderthestrainof theGreatDepres-
Sionin theUnited Statesis brokendown by evidenceof sloven-
linessand boredom in their everydaylife. The dog spreading
its legsandscratching
itselfis a sharpcommentontherela-
tionshipof thecouple.A HouseonFire(cat.no. 11-32)shows
a dramatic situation removedfrom the banality of everyday
life. On closer examination, one finds a woman asleepinside
the houseand it becomesclearthat thecrisis is only occurring
in her dreams.The woman screamingfor help is the same
womanwhois sleeping,heralter ego.This disruptionin the
depthsof theselfisshownmorevividlyinamorerecentwork
calledDoxology (cat. no. 11-33).The contrastbetweenthe
standingfigure which praisesGod and the recliningfigure
whichinevitablysuggestsdeathrecallstheChristiandualisms
Oflife and death,world and the other world. However, these
two figures,whichseemto havebeenmodeledontheartist
herself,do not suggestanythingof theologicalmysterybut
againhavemoreto dowith portrayingtheself,a unitythat
is deeplydivided.Theelusiveintuitionthatthesefiguresdo
not refer to somethingoutside themselves(that is, a concep-
tual conflict)isconfirmedbytheartist'ssensitivehandlingof
gesture.
Theprecise
depiction
of bodilymovement
makesone
understandhow the figures are united asactual, living physi-
cal bodies.
Cajipe-Endaya's
workclearlyreflects
thesharpened
social
consciousness of women.SaLupangGolgota(cat.no. 11-29)
isa directprotestagainstthearmedoppressionof theUnited
States.Whatmakethiswork impressive,however,is thedense
physical
presence
Ofthecollage
elements
ratherthanthesocial
message.Cajipe-EndayaOftenusesobjectsin her collages
which shehasusedin daily life andare infused with personal
memories.For example,the shawlusedto cover the dead
belonged
to hergrandmother. Herfundamental approach to
makingartisto consier,analyze,andcriticizeeventsinterms
of their connection with her own life.
TheWifeisaDH (cat.no.11-30) isaportraitof thesuffer-
ingsof all women,includingtheartist.It showstheintense
feelingof theartistwhohashadgreatdifficultycontinuing
to express herselfthroughart. Objectsrelatedto housework
are made of curtains or scrapsof cloth which shehassewn
or mended in her own life and is now using in her art. They
are arranged on the wall and given human features. This is
a self-conscious declaration by a sober (therefore realistic)
woman with no angry histrionics or self-deprecation. It does
not contain references to long hair, full breasts, or genitals.
The silently required "shadow work" is presented objectively
by the artist without concern for aestheticillusion. Sheexplains
the work as follows.
Woman must have her own fulfillment — economic,
intellectual, spiritual, and creative. I had a friend,
middle class and highly educated, who lived for thirty
years as devoted wife, mother and housekeeper to a
tyrant husband. She decided to pack up for overseas
to gain freedom, to tragically discover that the only
employment she could get was to be a domestic
helper. That's what this installation is all about.
The idea of the linear development of modern art and the myth
of the avant-garde have left the impulse to realism in the posi-
tion of a lost child. The rigid ideal Of realism produced in the
1930s is a distorted one and it seems that we are not yet com-
pletely free of it. The intelligent spirit of realisminjected into
The Wife is a DH whispersaudibly, informing us of one of
the solid achievements of Philippine modernism.
(Translated by Stanley N. Anderson)

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The History of Modern Art in the Philippines
Alice G. Guillermo
Associate Professor, University of the Philippines
Art before Modernism
Modernism in the Philippines was a reaction against several
art paradigms,namely,medievalreligiousart, thenineteenth
century European, particularly Spanish,beauxarts academy
or conservative salon and its local counterpart, the Academia
deDibujo y Pintura(Academyof Designand Painting),the
miniaturist school Of painting which also flourished in the late
nineteenth century, and the new Academy which was the Amor-
solo School which gained ground in the American period. As
such, modernism wasup against an array of formidable foes
and its introduction spurred heated debatesthat revolved
around the nature Of art.
Thesevarious paradigmsinvariably reflectedtheshifts in
art patronagefrom the eighteenthcenturyto the 1940s.Oil
painting, whenit wasintroducedin thePhilippinesin theeight-
eenthcentury, was harnessedto the serviceof the Church as
was engraving which was practiced earlier. Needlessto say,
the modelsfor painting, as for engraving,wereEuropeanreli-
giousworks. The first religiouspaintingsin the Philippines
showedstylistic affinities with the medievalGothic stylein its
stylized,attenuatedfigures.Thiscanbeseen,for instance,in
the paintings of the Bohol School in the Visayas which was
a center of religious painting in the nineteenth century. Clas-
sicalinfluenceappearedlate in the nineteenthcenturywith the
work of the first known painters.
The influence Of the classical European
manifested itself in the late nineteenth century with the secular-
ization of art, freeing artists from the grip of ecclesiastical
supervisionandopeningthespacefor newthemesandexpres-
sions. This new art situation coincided with the emergence of
the local bourgeoisie, the ilustrado or lettered, enlightenedclass
which engagedin cash crop agriculture with the opening Of
the country to international trade. The unprecedentedwealth
of the landlords and merchant middlemen became evident in
thehecticactivity of constructingmansionsof wood andstone.
These were furnished with art works and the latest status sym-
bols imported from Europe. But more than this, it also
providedthe opportunityfor traveland study,facilitatedby
the openingof the SuezCanal in 1859,considerablyshorten-
ing travel time betweenAsia andEurope. Thus, paintersfrom
the local Academia de Dibujo y Pintura proceeded to the Real
Academia de San Fernando in Madrid which was the prime
Spanishart institution.Amongthemweretheexpatriateartists
Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo who would later
win top awardsin Europeansalonexpositions.Academicart
replacedtheearlierreligiousimageswith figuresderivedfrom
ancient Greek and Roman antiquity regarded as the origins
of human civilization to which the West had primary access.
While the religious artist was obliged to observeorthodox
iconography, the academicartist wasbound by conventions
224 The Philippines
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Of subject matter, medium and style.
Thus, in thespaceof half acentury, art patronageshifted
from the exclusivecenturies-oldcontrol by the CatholicChurch
to an emergent economic classthat seemingly sprang up over-
night. Seekingsymbolsandimagesto celebratetheir prosperity,
thesesoughtoutpaintersto executetheir portraitsthat would
serve as models for the edification of succeedinggenerations.
This social demand gaverise to the miniaturist style which grew
out of the.tastes
of theilustrados.For onlytheminiaturiststyle,
so calledbecauseof its exquisiteattention to detail asin minia-
turepaintings,coulddojusticeto thematerialrefinementsof
the class as exhibited in their daintily embroidered-costumes
and gold accessories.It wasthus a style,admirable in its con-
summateskill, while primarily motivated by material interest
and vanity of display.
The turn-of-the century art form, ' 'Letras y Figuras" (Let-
ters and Figures), of which Jose Honorato Lozano was the
artist parexcellence,
wasanoffshoot of the miniaturiststyle
and wasgreatlyfavored by menof consequence.Theseart not
"mainstream" works, but tracing their ancestry as far back
to medieval illuminations and as late as the contemporaneous
illustrations in the popular EnglishPunch magazine,they spell
out the patron's namein letters constituted by genre figures
and native scenespainstakingly executed in watercolour on
manila paper.
Academy The newacademythat themodernistswereup againstwas
the Amorsolo School headed by the painter Fernando Amor-
solo andthe sculptorGuillermo Tolentino. Both occupied-posi-
tions of leadershipat the School of Fine Arts, a unit of the
University of thePhilippinesfoundedin 1908.For at leasttwo
decades,it wasFernendo Amorsolo who dominated Philip-
pinepaintingwith his portraits andgenrescenesthat ideal-
ized the countrysidein colourful rice planting and harvesting
scenes, and other typical rural activities.
It also has to be mentioned that the 1920sand 1930salso
marked the Golden Age of Illustration becauseof the great
demand for illustrations for the textbooks and educational pub-
lications of theperiod. The best known illustrators were also
connected with the School of Fine Arts. Fernando Amorsolo,
who also illustrated for the new colonial textbooks prepared
for the public schoolsystem,alsoshowedthe causticanti-
clerical side of his art in editorial cartoons for popular maga-
zines,suchasTheIndependent.His colleagues,
JorgePineda
and Irineo Miranda, both primarily known aspainters of land-
scapesand genre,werealsoactivein doing illustrationsfor
variouspublications.But the mostconsistentartist-illustrator
who wasonly occasionallya painter wasJoseV. Pereirawho
left hispermanent
markin hiseditorialcartoonsfor thePhilip-
pinesFreePressby his vigorousand distinctivestylein the
pen-and-inkmediumwith whichhecommented onthecolonial
situation of his time.
In the visual arts, the decade of the thirties was a critical
period becauseit marked the high point of the Amorsolo
School, which was the dominant beauxarts academy,at the
same time that it witnessed the vigorous campaign for moder-
nism initiated by Victorio Edades. When Victorio Edadescame
back from the United States and held his historic one-man show
at the Philippine Columbian Club in 1928, he set the process
in motion in which the dominance Of the Amorsolo
would eventually give way to modernism. However, it would
Edades was of an entirely different artistic experience, having
nothing in commonin termsof subjector stylewith thefamiliar
Amorsologenre.Of largeboldfiguresin theforeground.The
Sketch is Cezannesquein its strong structure and multiple per-
spective.Its very subjectis quintessentiallymodernist:that Of
the self-conscious artist reflecting upon the creative process
arid his ever-changing relationship to his subject. Discarding
the traditional myth Of painting as an invisible window to the
School outside world, the modern artist affirmed the nature of painting
as a construct of his own invention.

not be quite accurateto say that Edades' 1928exhibit con-
,stituted
acomplete
breakwiththepast.
Yor,indeed,
theseeds
of modernism were planted even earlier. Juan Luna, who was
awarded the First Gold Medal for the painting Spoliarium in
theMadrid Boosition of 1884,manifestedanincipientmoder-
nism in his informal, more personal works. During his stay
in Paris he visited impressionist exhibitions, as he commented
in his correspondence to the novelist and national hero, Jose
Riaal. In contrast to the more academic Felix Resurreccion
Hidalgo, Luna described himself asbelonging to the dissident
salon with his more spontaneous and painterly brushwork.
During the first decadeof the Americanperiod, anotherartist,
Juan Arellano, showed a strong affinity for modernism in
works which were startlingly fresh in their colours applied
directly on the canvas,aswell asa penchantfor impressionist
atmosphere. As for the Amorsolo style, this, too bore an
incipient modernismin its valorization of light and its effects
on the figures, as well as its departure from the heavy tones
and chiaroscuro of the Academy. For Amorsolo, while he was
influenced by Velåzquez and the classical masters, was also
as much influenced by later Spanish artists such as Zorn and
It did not take long before Edades' lessons in modernism
drew artists Of talent. He was soon able to form a nucleus with
Carlos 'Botong" Francisco and Galo B. Ocampo who formed
the pioneering Triumvirate of modern art in the country. Soon,
they expanded into the Thirteen Moderns: to the original three
were added Diosdado Lorenzo, Vicente Manansala, Cesar
Legaspi,Anita Magsaysay-Ho,HernandoR. Ocampo,Ricarte
Puruganan, Demetrio Diego, Bonifacio Cristobal, Jose Pardo,
and Arsenio Capili. A second modernist group was constituted
by the Neo-ReaIists, including Manansala, Legaspi, and
Tabuena who developed the style of transparent cubism.
During this prewar period, genre themes of folk life con-
tinued to be popular, but impressionism gradually replace the
Amorsolo style. Another development was the shift from rural
to urban subjects portraying city life with the expansion Of
genrethemes,asin the work of Manansalaand Legaspi. But
thesedevelopments in art were interrupted by the SecondWorld
War and the JapaneseOccupation of the Philippines in 1941.
(see figs.5, 6, p. 70)
1942-49

Sorolla. (see figs. 1-4, pp. 68, 69) In general,the JapaneseOccupation of the Philippines saw
a general suspension of artistic activity. However, the
1930-39 Kempeitai tried to stimulate artistic production by organizing
The Amorsolo School which was settling into academic com- a number of competitions in painting and music which drew
placencyat the end of the seconddecadewas jolted by the active participation in 1945.The painful events of the war
challenge of modernism posed by Victorio Edades. To the found cathartic release in art. And while-the first groups of
imagesof beautyandharmonyon which theAmorsolo School modernists had made their strong presence felt in the thirties,
thrived, Edades counterpoised the modernist value of expres- the conservatives Of the Amorsolo School remained generally
siveness which allowed for the terrible and ugly and vastly dominant in the forties.

expandedthe subjectmatter of art. Likewise, hestressedthe While independence,which had been frustrated by Ameri-
need for a heightened consciousnessof formal design. An can intervention at the turn-of-the-century, was formally
enlightenedpioneer,Edadesalso brought out the issueof the declared in 1946, the country still lay in ruins after the war.
questfor national identity in art, particularly significantin the But the scenebrightened up in the early post-war years when
case of a colonized people. Another important theme that he the first dynamic art institutions were founded, paving the way
introduced was that of the indigenous tribal Filipino. This for a broad support system for the arts. From the ruins of the
theme which valorized non-Western cultures reflected the war arose new creative forces, as evidenced by the founding
influence Of Gauguin who left the Old World for the South of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) in 1948 by
Pacific where he celebrated the beauty and mystery of the Purita Kalaw-l„edesma and the Philippine Art Gallery (PAG)
Tahitian natives away from Eurocentric models. The work of in 1951 by Lydia Villanueva-Arguilla. These were followed by

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the ContemporaryArt Gallery which was openedby the
pioneeringprintmakerManuelRodriguezSr. in 1954.
The main contribution of the AAP to artistic develop-
ment consistedin its annualexhibit competitionsthat continue
upto thepresent.Drawingmanyyoungartists,theseannual
eventshave discoveredoutstanding talents and launchedthe
careersOf promisingartists.They havestimulatedcreativity
by encouraginga widerangeOf productionswhichreflected
the exciting challengeOfmodernismin all.aspectsof art prac-
tice. From the founding Of theAAP to 1955,the entrieswere
divided into the conservative and modern categories, with the
result Of spurring an intenserivalry betweenthe two camps.
The PAG, in turn, provided a welcomingvenuefor the young
modernistswho wantedto exhibit their highly original works,
aswell ascreatedtheopportunity for a livelyexchangeof ideas.
TheContemporary Art Galleryencouraged printmakingin the
Philippinesandbroughtoutsignificanttalents,manyof them
women artists.
The yearsfrom 1945to 1955turned out to bedecisivein
thestrugglebetweentheconservatives
OftheAmorsoloSchool
and the modernists of the Edadescamp. The works in the years
before and after the Second World War reflect the gradual
shift from conservatismto modernismasthe dominant force
in Philippine art. (see fig. 7, p. 71)
1950-59
In theyearsafterLiberation,theshadowof theWar stillcon-
tinued to haunt the paintings of the artists. The dark, brood-
ing paintingsof Manansala,H. R. Ocampo,andLegaspiwere
onlymirroringthestarkrealityof a countryin ruins.Thebuild-
ings of the premiercity, Manila, werereducedto pilesof
rubble,whilehomeless
beggars
roamedthestreets
bydayand
holedup in the skeletalstructuresby night. In thepost-war
debatebetween"proletarianart" and"art-for-art'ssake"that
originallyarosefrom theDepression followingthe 1928crash
of Wall Street in the United States,the deplorableeconomic
conditions in the early fifties were in themselvesa potent argu-
ment for an art of social relevance.
Thus, becauseof thepovertyanddislocationof themasses
that the war hadwrought, many artists in the post-warperiod
took the sideOf proletarianart. HernandoR. Ocampodid
paintingsconveying
socialinequalities
andtheoppression
of
industrial workers. One painting of his showedChrist cruci-
fied in the midst if chimneysspewingforth polluting smoke;
another showeda slum dweller in a hovel against the back-
groundof high-risebuildingwhilepartakingOfa meager
repast.
Vicente Manansala's Madonna of the Slums is also an exam-
pleof theproletarian
artOftheperiod.Cesar Gadgets as 1953,oneOfthe first art critics,MagtanggolAsa, curated
Legaspi's
II took up the themeOf man dehumanized
by the machine,
while Carlos Franciscopainted The Camote-Eaters,showing
226 The Philippines
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a poor couplediggingfor rootsin the ground.
In 1955,the strugglebetweenthe conservatives
and the
modernists cameto a headat the AAP exhibit Of that year.
Thecategories Of"conservative"and' 'modernist" weredis-
solvedto givewayto anopencompetition.Theconservatives,
perceiving
thismoveasdisadvantageous
for them,withdrew
their worksandexhibitedthemin theMabini area,from which
theylaterderivedtheirlabelas"Mabini art." Winningall the
major awards,the modernistsbecamerecognizedas the
dominant force, with the help of writers sympatheticto their
cause,suchasI.P. Soliongco,CarmenGuerrero-Nakpil,and
Emilio Aguilar Cruz.
It is to the credit of the early moderniststhat they seri-
ouslydealtwiththechallenge
Ofartthatwasat oncemoder-
nistand Filipino. Carlos"Botong" Francisco,whoalsodid
workin popularformssuchasthecomics,scenographic paint-
ingsfor thetheater,andcostumedesigns
for thecinema,placed
much importanceon historical researchfor defining the
national identity. Preferring to stay in his native town of
Angono,he madea lastingcontributionto Philippinegenre
in paintingswhichreflectedthelife of thepeasants
andfisher-
folk of the lakeshoretowns of Rizal andLaguna.To thesense
of national identity, he addedthe dimension of the people's
historicalexperiencefrom precolonialtimes,aswell asthat
Of ethnic and folk expressionsin our national culture.
At the same time, another modernist, Galo B. Ocampo,
oughtto indigenizePhilippinereligiousimagerythat had
hitherto been of a Caucasian mold. His well-known painting
which exemplifiesthis direction is Brown Madonna, portray-
ingtheVirginMaryandtheChildJesus
asidentifiably
Filipino
in a localsetting.He alsoconveyedhisstrongreactionto the
warthroughimagesof Christ'sPassionreinterpretedthrough
folk religious customs.
It is also worthy Of note that like the artists Ofthe thirtis
who createdthe Golden Age of Illustration, the first moder-
nistsalsoengagedin popularforms, suchasmagazineillus-
trations and comics. Manansala, Legaspi, and Francisco
produced
masterpieces
of theseformsandraisedthestandards
of magazines
in theFilipinolanguage.Hisexperience
in illus-
trations and comicslent CarlosFrancisco'sart a fluid, narra-
tivequalitywhichwasputto gooduseinhishistoricalmurals.
Franciscoalso worked assetdesignerfor the cinemaand col-
laboratedin theproductionof severalfilms.Asidefrom being
importantmodernist
painters,theseartistsalsocontinued
the
vital tradition in popular forms beganby membersOf the
Amorsolo School.
Experiments
in modernism
ledto abstractart. As early
a showwhichhecalledtheFirstExhibition of Non-Objective
Art in Tagalaheldat thePhilippineArt Gallery.Elevenartists,
including Hernando R. Ocampo, Fernando Zobel, Lee
Aguinaldo, and Nena Saguil, participated. Abstract art found
its foremost proponents with the return of artists Constancio
Bernardo from Yale and Jose Joya from Cranbrook. Bernardo
worked in geometric abstraction in the manner Of Joseph
Albers and Joya worked in the abstract expressionism Of the
New York School.
The pioneering modernist in sculpture was Napoleon
Abueva who emerged as a leading talent in the fifties. For the
following decades, he became the major sculptor, after the
classical-trained Guillermo Tolentino. Abueva has worked in
almost all sculptural media, in wood, stone, and metal, and
in stylesranging from figurative to abstract. Some well-known
works of his are Kagampan, Planting Rice and ASEAN Boat.
He has also brought out a functional side to his sculpture in
handcarved benches and chairs, room dividers, even a chariot.
Even as the fledgling modernists were occupied with firm-
ing up their position, the avant garde made its appearance as
early as the mid-fifties in the startling work of a precocious
talent, David Cortez Medalla. He burst into the postwar scene
as a poet, strongly influenced by the French Symbolists, a
kinetic sculptor and performance artist. He is best known for
his Bubble Machine which emitted soapy froth when activated.
It was also during the post-war period when writers were
bewailing the continuing colonial culture that hitherto sup-
pressed areas of Philippine art and culture were brought to
the fore, such as traditional or indigenous art, including folk
and ethnic art, the art Of the Cordillera highlands and the
Muslim areas of Mindanao.
1960-69
The decade of the sixties marked the halcyon years Of modern
art in the Philippines. Influences from Europe and the United
Stateswere gradually assimilated and indigenized. Moreover,
modern art in the sixties flourished with the emergence of a
number of dynamic and vital artistic personalities who
enthusiastically explored and experimented in order to heighten
and enhance the expressivenessOf the visual language. In only
a little over a decade, modern art in the country had realized
its potential in a dazzling array of paintings, prints, and
sculptures.
Of utmost significance is the fact that the sixties were years
of social and political turmoil which wasinevitably reflected
in a dynamic art. For one, the period saw a rise in nationalist
consciousness which reassessed the relationship Of the Philip-
pines vis-a-vis the United States and debunked the traditional
political myth of the "special relationship" between the two
countries, given their conflicting interests. At the same time,
there arose a democratizing movement towards popular polit-
ical expression and the recognition of the rights of the majority,
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namely, the massesOf peasants and workers.
By the seventies, the early moderns had become
lished artists enjoying an expanding public. Carlos Francisco's
knowledge Of Philippine history enriched the murals depict-
ing the history of Manila which he painted for Manila City
Hall in 1966. Edades was doing portraits: H.R. Ocampo shed
his social themes Of the fifties and shifted to abstract works,
such as Genesis later executed as a tapestry for the theater Of
the Cultural Center of the Philippines. It was also during this
period that Manansala did a seriesof genre paintings in his
style of transparent cubism. Cesar Legaspi was moving from
his textured abstracts allusive of stone structures to more
dynamic and rhythmic forms. This wasalso an activeperiod
for Anita Magsaysay-Ho working in her distinct genre of
female peasantsin various folk activities. In subsequentseries,
Arturo Luz' Carnival Forms acquired greater texture and den-
sity but retained their linear character. Later, Luz would do
burlap collagesand calligraphic works, with a minimalism der-
ived from zen aesthetics. Aside from his paintings, he was
known for his sculptures ranging from large outdoor stabiles
to small exquisite silver pieces.
At the heels of the first generation of pioneering moder-
nists, there eagerly followed a younger breed, even more auda-
cious and impatient Of academic conventions. Ang Kiukok,
Jaime de Guzman, and Danilo Dalena worked in expressionist
styles of high visual impact and compelling meaning. In con-
trast, Ben Cabrera worked in a highly original idiom which
combined realism with experimental devices for expanding the
semantics of the work.
Ang Kiukok crystallized in vivid, cubistic figures the terror
and angst Of the times. The figures of Ang were strongly struc-
tured and concentrated in composition, often symbolic in con-
tent, with warm contrasting huesthat intensified the emotional
climate. Jaime de Guzman painted powerful historical murals
on the nineteenth century Propaganda and Revolution against
Spain in a painterly, expressionistic style. Gifted with a sense
Of locale, he also celebrated Mount Banahaw, home to
indigenouscults,in anumberof paintingsrich with indigenous
symbols. Another strong artistic personality who lent brilli-
ance to the sixties was Danilo Dalena. A first-rate political car-
toonist, he is known for his paintings of large crowds Of people
in quest of luck or miracles and of unflinchingly realist charac-
ter studies and drawings of the seamy side of the city. In the
sixties, it was primarily Dalena who carried on the tradition
in popular forms beganin thethirties andresumedin thefiftiö
by the modernists. BenCab, in his low-key but intellectually
experimental style, explored imagesof the Filipino in prints
and watercolours inspired by old turn-of-the-century photo-
graphs which he analyzed and dissected, drawing out a rich
semiotic vocabulary with which he made subtle, ironic com-
ments on the colonial relationship and the enigma Of the
national identity.
This decade also saw the flourishing Of genre paintings
with highly original approaches in the work of Norma Belleza,
AngelitoAntonio, Antonio Austria, Mario Parial, andManuel
Baldemor. Their paintings that also represent the fruition of
modernism also convey a sense of genuine feeling for the folk
with their small trades and •modest pastimes, as in the subject
of vendors and cockfighters. There is an evident self-confidence
and zest on the part Of the artists in breaking away from the
earlier academic conventions, as of the Amorsolo School, and
creating new idioms suitable to their folk subjects.
A particular group represented the trend in "vanishing
scene" paintings which rendered old churches, landmarks, and
ancestral houses in meticulous detail. This kind of painting
with an underlying documentary impulse is pursued by A1 Perez
and Elmer Gernale. While Lino Severino was one Of the first
painters of this type Of work, his works do not only render
physical appearance but capture the mood and atmosphere Of
old crumbling structures, especiallyturn-of-the-century houses,
by means of fine tonal gradations in monochromatic style.
Abstract art developed under the leadership of Jose Joya.
He had caused a stir with his bold abstract expressionist works
driven by kinetic energy, as in his abstract landscape Hills of
Nikko inspired by a visit to Japan. Later he moved towards
a more harmonious style in acrylic and rice paper collages that
played on transparent and overlapping coloured forms in space.
Later abstractionists were Roberto Chabet, Lee
Aguinaldo, and Alfredo Roces. Chabet initiated and main-
tained an experimental and conceptual approach, with a valori-
zation of materials and their semiotic potentials. Aguinaldo
kept in close touch with art trends in the United States, as in
works that recalled the "zip" paintings of Barnett Newman.
Alfredo Roces maintained a highly personal -and original
approach to his art.
Younger artists, such as Lao Lianben, Augusto Albor,
Mars Galang, Glenn Bautista, Justin Nuyda and Phillip Victor
worked in developing their own idioms. Albor opted for a
minimalist abstraction in black and white. Lao Lianben, work-
ing in wood with relief elements,found objects and sgrafitti,
also limited himself to achromatic black and white. Mars
Galang cameup with abstractexpressionistworks with a bold
art brut quality in his useof sandaudburlap. Justin Nuyda's
abstraction played on the contrast between soft modulating
tones and hard-edge forms. Glenn Bautista created metaphysi-
cal landscapesallusive of interplanetary structures. Phillip
Victor created a new medium of white embossed paintings with
nature symbols.
A number of artists took up the ethnic theme following
the example of Muslim painter and sculptor Abdulmari Imao
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who studied art in the United States. His themes have been
inspired by the life and culture Of the fishing villages of Sulu
and Lanao. He is best known for his series on the Sari-manok,
a principal cultural symbol derived from the ancient legends
of Mindanao and Sulu. The central image of the sari-manok
in painting and in sculpture is a water-bird, possibly a king-
fisher, with a fish dangling from its beak.
Also in the sixties, Manuel Rodriguez Sr. 's printmaking
workshopsencouragedthe graphicartsin thf country. Another
senior printmaker was Rodolfo Paras-Perez who produced an
outstanding seriesOf expressionist woodcuts. Soon, members
of the Philippine Association of Printmakers were producing
works in etching and aquatint, collographs, embossments,and
woodcuts. Among the artists who trained in the workshops
were Virgilio Aviado. Imelda Cajipe-Endaya, Brenda Fajardo,
Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi, and Fil de Ia Cruz. Aviado's style
ranged from highly detailed surrealist compositions to minimal
constructions of paper collage. Cajipe-Endaya has explored
the problem of national identity in etching, collography, and
serigraphy. Brenda Fajardo's prints at first showed the
influence of classicalfiguration before sheshifted to folk forms
Ofrepresentation,suchasthetarot cards.Basedin Paris,Ofelia
Gelvezon-Tequi worked in the viscosity printing technique
which makes possible simultaneous printing in several colours.
She has also dealt with the question of identity and the threat
of nuclear war. A printmaker who revived the mezzotint tech-
nique is Fil deIa Cruz who did works inspired by his sojourn
among the tribal Filipino groups in Mindanao. He favored
mezzotint for its wider and finer range of black-and-white tones
that convey mood and atmosphere. These printmakers deve-
loped Philippine themes, drawing inspiration from indigenous
and folk culture, as well as making comment on contemporary
realities.
A number of notable sculptors also emerged in the same
period. Lamberto Hechanova innovated in the use of metal
and plastics. Abdulmari Imao transposed the sari-manok theme
into bronze and brass relief and freestanding works. Virginia
Ty-Navarro worked in new techniquesin wood with an in-
carved intaglio method, and metal, with a pointllist using beads
Of molten metal to shape figurative pieces. J. Elizalde Navarro
pioneered in highly expressive wood and metal assemblages.
Eduardo Castrillo produced a sizeable body of work, includ-
ing monumental works Of religious theme for memorial parks,
large outdoor abstractsof weldedmetal, mobiles and modu-
lar piecein chrome and plexiglass,metal relief sculpturesof
social themes, and sculptured body jewelry. Solomon Saprid
created metal sculptures around the mythological theme of the
tikbalang, a creature half man and half horse. Sculptor/
architect Ramon Orlina pioneered in the medium Of glass in
sculpturein freestandingworksor aselementsof architectural
 design. (see fig. 8, p. 73)
1970-79
The Marcos government responded to the highly charged polit-
ical climate by declaring martial law in 1972. There seemed
to be a slowdown in artistic production for a while before it
took Off again, boosted by the new patrons associated with
the elite martial law bureaucracy.
Most of the artists who emerged in the sixties continued
to produceimportant work in the seventies.In assessingthe
social and political situation, a number of artists maintained
the importance of an art responsible to society and respon-
Sive to the issues and concerns of the times. The social realists
emerged
inthemid-seventies,
althoughtheywerenotanentirelyv/
new force since they firmed up the post-war direction in
$'proletarian art" and expanded the nationalist themes Of the
older artists. To the Kaisahan (Solidarity) social realist group
belonged Pablo BaensSantos, Edgar Fernandez, Papo de Asis,
Orlando Castillo, Antipas Delotavo, Renato Habulan, Neil
Doloricon, A1 Manrique, and Jose Tence Ruiz. Aside from
them, there were other serious artists who produced or con-
tinued to produce significant works of social consciousness.
At the same time, numerous painters were caught up in
..Åheactivestatepatronageof theartsandin thestate-sponsored the prevailing social and economic conditions, there were large
building boom which resulted in a lucrative partnership between
interior designers and artists. For one, the martial law years
were marked by a high degree of tourist-consciousness, with
an eye to promoting the country through art, as well as its
natural attractions.
Regional painting, such asthat of the Rizal-Laguna towns
bordering Laguna de Bay received much encouragement.
Among artists active in Angono, the hometown of Carlos Fran-
Cisco,were Jose Blanco, Vicente Reyes,Nemesio Miranda Jr.,
and many younger artists. The town of Tanay in Rizal is
represented by Tam Austria and Martin Catolos. Cebuano
artists in the Visayas, many of whom trained under the teacher-
artist Martino Abellana, were represented by the Mendoza
brothers, Godofredo, Teofilo and Sofronio, as well as by
Gamaliel Subang.
Some senior artists reestablished their presence in the art
scene. Foremost Of these was Ricarte Puruganan, one of the
members of the Thirteen Moderns, who came up with new
genre works. Another senior artist, Hernando R. Ocampo,
became one Of the foremost proponents Of abstraction. Mauro
Malang Santos shifted from the comics form to the painting
of folk subjects in a richly-hued style with affinities to the Neo-
Realists, using distortion with a childlike, decorative approach.
Writer and artist Emilio Aguilar Cruz did a great part of his
work in this period, mainly scenesof Manila and its environs,
as well as portraits and genre.
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The Seventies were characterized by a diversity of highly
original styles. Imelda Cajipe-Endaya dealt with the theme of
identity in her serigraphs on ancestor images. With her shift
to painting, she did striking mural-size collages dealing with
current issues, such as foreign economic domination and the
subservient status of women in general. Abstract art was given
a boost by Romulo Olazo in his painstakingly executed
Diaphanous Series, consisting of transparent layers Of thin
material fused together. Impy Pilapil worked in serigraphy with
her evocative colour-saturated images. There were likewise
highly original abstractions allusive of landscapes by Nestor
Vinluan whose densely textured works call to mind submerged
marine forests. The abstract works Of Norberto Carating bear
affinities to abstract expressionism in their gestural energy. Roy
Veneracion alternated between abstract and figurative works.
His abstractions play on coloured textures, while his figura-
tive works, a number of them mural-size, are surrealist evo-
cations of the last days of the Marcos regime (see fig. 9, p. 75).
1980-90
The conjuncture marking the transition from Marcos rule to
the Aquino government was marked by a significant produc-
v'/tionofpolitical
art.Aside
fromthepaintings
inprotest
against
numbers of paintings on Benigno ' 'Ninoy" Aquino Jr., the
main opposition figure, who was assassinatedupon his arrival
at the Manila airport. After the EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos
Avenue) uprising in February 1986 which removed Marcos
from power and installed Mrs. Corazon Aquino as president,
artists celebrated the restoration of democracy and freedom
in two huge exhibits, one at the Cultural Center of the Philip-
pinesandthe other at thenow defunct Museumof Philippine
Art. But this proved to be only a brief spurt; with the right-
wing direction taken by the Aquino government, the critical
.temper of the social realists once more took over.
The trends of the seventies continue into the decade of
the eighties.Working in different stylesand constructing an
iconography Of symbols, the social realists dealt with such
themes as feudal conditions in the countryside, foreign eco-
nomic domination, export labor, exploitation Of women and
children and ecological damage. Furthermore, they have
worked in a variety of forms, such as comics, editorial car-
toons, illustrations, posters, and portable murals to be able
to reach a larger public. In fact, they have brought out the
valueof thesepopular forms andcreatedhigherstandardsfor
them. Moreover, they have experimented in various forms and
opened the way to new approaches. Aside from occasional
wood reliefs and sculptures, Edgar Fernandez did a three
dimensional works in which a large sheettightly covered figures
in struggle. Jose Tence Ruiz took up the subject of the jeep-
 ney in the form of colourful assemblagesthat probe the sur-
Vival mentality of the folk. Likewise, Tence Ruiz was the lead-
ing illustrator and editorial cartoonist of the seventies who
resumed the high tradition of illustration in the country with
the standards set earlier by the generations of Jose Pereira in
the thirties, Carlos Francisco in the fifties, and Danilo Dalena
in the sixties. These artists have made popular forms a vital
and significant trend in Philippine art hisory.
their closeness to the earth, as well as their strength in produc-
tion. He also usessymbols to convey the inimical forces that
surround them. He has done large mural-installations to convey
social forces in struggle. Roldan has made ingenious use of
a wide range of found objects, such as bottle caps, newspaper
clippings, crocheted doilies, striped patadyong fabric, scapu-
lars, reeds, and grasses and brought out their semiotic sig-
nifications.

Towards the late eighties and early nineties, new issues came Folk genre portraying rural life will always be a mainstay
to the forefront and were reflected in the production of polit- in contemporary Philippine art. This is still being produced
J ical artists. These included women's liberation, gender issues, in traditional artistic communities all over the country, primar-
and ecology. These themes are found in the work of leading ily in the Laguna Lakeshore area and in Cebu province.
artists, a number Of them women, such as Imelda Cajipe- Inspired by the master painters Carlos Francisco of Angono
Endaya, Brenda Fajardo, and Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi whose and Martino Abellana of Cebu, these are the artists of rural
work have been marked by a high degree of social conscious- landscapes and genre portraying folk traditions and the daily
ness. Imelda Cajipe-Endaya has made use Of indigenous activities of fishermen and farmers, thus bringing to the fore
materials in compelling works, collages,assemblagesand instal- the different sectors of Philippine society, the traditional and
lations on the theme of women's struggle for liberation. Brenda the modern, the rural and the urban. The other tradition in
Fajardo has made innovations on the form of the tarot cards genre, the folk urban, continues from the postwar paintings
with their various characters to make statements on history of Manansala and is furthered in the individual styles of Mario
and contemporary issues.Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi has combined Parial, Angelito Antonio, Norma Bellezaand Antonio Austria.
medieval iconography with pop elements, such as the pinball Likewise, a new direction in genre painting was opened by
machine to allude to social and political forces. Recently, young Lazaro Soriano in colourful paintings inspired by folk songs,
artists Of the ' 'Salingpusa" group, including Emmanuel Gar- sayings, and riddles. Focusing on the same genre themes, he
ibay, Antonio Leano, Noel Manalo and Ferdinand Mon- has also done terracotta sculptures of folk subjects during his
temayor developed new styles and approaches to the issuesof immersion in rural communities engaged in pottery production.
the day. In 1994, some artists from this group formed the Of an entirely different artistic orientation, abstraction
"Sanggawa" group which specializesin socio-political murals. continued to be pursued by leading artists such as Jose Joya
Their large masterpiece, The Second Coming, was a critical and Arturo Luz. Raul Isidro worked in an abstract expressionist
reaction to the visit Of the Pope and to the conservative insti- style given a decorative impulse. Romeo Gutierrez developed
tution of the Catholic Church in general. Members of the group his own abstract technique of embossed figures and symbols
are Elmer Borlongan, Federico Sievert, Mark Justiniani, Karen on a monochrome textured ground. Charito Bitanga painted
Flores, and Joy Mallari. They collaborated in doing a mural rhythmic abstract compositions. Inspired by indigenous
series entitled Vox Populi Vox Dei which has reaped critical designs, Hilario Francia created colourful designs inspired by
acclaim both locally and abroad. the Maranao okir designs in woodcarving. Phillip Victor con-
In Bacolod in the Visayas, regionalist artists who have tinued his long series entitled Parik-parik, Palikpik, Pikpik,
grouped themselves into the "Black Artists in Asia" manifest a highly original Filipino abstraction evocative Of the tides and
a strong political orientation. To this group belongs Charlie open spaces Of his fishing town of Hagonoy.
co, Nunelucio Alvarado and Norberto Roldan. In order to Much optimism in sculpture wasgeneratedwith the revival
bring art to the grassroots,they haveworked in more accessi-• of the Society Of Philippine Sculptors. This was made possi-
ble forms and media, including cloth, terracotta, and collages ble with the emergence of young sculptors, such as Rey Paz
with found objects, asidefrom painting in oil and canvas.Their Contreras, Jerry Araos, Agnes Arellano, and Dan Raralio.
subjects are drawn from the people's contemporary They have engaged in a more audacious and inventive use Of
experiences,the grim realities Of workers' exploitation, hunger, materials combined with fresh concepts. Both Contreras and
and militarization. Co has done protest paintings showing the Araos have worked in Philippine ironwood, particularly the
influence of the German expressionists in their distortions and wood from discarded turn-of-the-century railroad ties. Con-
emotional intensity. He has also done low-fired terracotta treras, however, has consistently drawn inspiration from
pieces accented with soot on the same subjects. Alvarado has indigenous sources as sources Of primitive power. Araos,• in
developed a style suitable to his folk subjects, the peasantsand contrast, alludes to contemporary issuesin his work. Known
farm laborers, which he depicts as squat and angular to show for her striking, evenshocking, imagery, Agnes Arellano draws

230 The Philippines

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-4

her themes from tantric philosophies in which eroticism and predominant idyllic image. Villanueva has done site installa-
death are intertwined. Dan Raralio's work is clearly influenced tions of bambo walls to evoke holy grounds inhabited by the
by classical figuration to which he adds a surreal twist. anitos or ancestral spirits. Feleo, who, as a teacher in the Makil-
In recent years, mounting interest in the traditional arts, ing High School for the Arts, has influenced many young
such as weaving and basketry, produced by indigenous com- artists, brings together a wide variety of natural and cultural
munities, and a growing awareness of environmental issues, elements drawn from familiar artifacts and has revived an
have given rise to the use of indigenous materials in art. This indigenous cosmology that is also highly sensitive to external
trend first appeared with the appreciation Of bamboo as a interventions.

medium, not only for traditional, but also for contemporary The trend in indigenous materials has also considerably
artistic expressions, as in the sculptures of Francisco Verano. enriched installation art in the country. Most installation artists,
At the same time, indigenous handwoven textiles also came such as Junyee, Bose, Villanueva, and Alan Rivera, have used
to the fore in the fabric works of Manuel Rodriguez Jr., while organic materials from the environment, especially since these
handmade paper drew the attention of artists with the innova- materials in themselves are evocative of natural and cultural

tive work of Mario Parial, Brenda Fajardo, and Glenn significations. Likewise, a number Of installation artists have
Bautista. Work in the indigenous and organic materials has explored the resources of photography, instant theater, and
resultedin a keenersensitivityto thesemioticpotential of these sculpture-as-structure, as in the works of Cesare and
newly valorized media. Thus, some of the most exciting art Jeanmaries Syjuco. After Ray Albano, former artistic direc-
today, in both two- and three-dimensional forms, have been tor of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Syjucos, along
in mixed media, including plaited bamboo, woven rattan with Sid Hildawa and a few others, have also been proponents
panels, carved hardwoods, coconut bark and husk, burlap, of conceptural art marked by a dry, ironic wit.
shells, forest vines, driftwood, and seeds. These have been strik- Installation art, which breaks down the distinction between
ingly used or integrated into assemblages, tapestries, and two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms, has brought out
installations. new insights on the concepts of space, time, and process.
Foremost among artists working in indigenous materials Because of the multimedia challenge of installations and
are Junyee (Luis Yee Jr.), Santiago Bose and Roberto because of the widely expanded resources and possibilities that
Villanueva. Junyee has made ephemeral constructions from it makes possible, many artists, who used to work exclusively
organic elements culled from his setting in the wooded Mount in painting, sculpture, and printmaking, such as Imelda Cajipe-
Makiling area in Ios Baios, Laguna. Aside from mobiles Of Endaya and Nunelucio Alvarado, have taken up installation
hanging vines, he has done installations which bring out the art to which they have contributed new approaches. TO the
vitality of organic life. Santiago Boseand Roberto Villanueva. original indigenous and organic materials, they have made
Bose and Villanueva have been leaders of the large Baguio art extensive use of found Objects and cultural artifacts. And, while
community in the Cordillera highlands of Northern Luzon. previously, installation art was bound up with the ecological
The cool air and high altitude of the mountain setting have theme and the celebration of the indigenous world view, the
inspired artists to learn from nature and to preserveand respect use of organic and vernacular materials, found objects, and
its resources. cultural has resulted in a wider range of social themes and
Other artists who lead in this trend are Imelda Cajipe- issues, including feminism, migrant labor, and children's
Endaya, Paz Abad Santos, Roberto Feleo and Edson Armenta. welfare.

Abad Santos, one of a growing number of women artists, has
fashioned large-scaletapestries of burlap richly encrusted with
coconut bark, husks, leaves, and various seeds, She contrasts
natural tones and hues with dyed, stitched passages for a strik-
ing effect. Junyee brings out the full potential of organic
materials in sculptures and installations which subtly comment
on space,ecology, and, occasionally, on social themes. Always
the experimentalist, Bose creates installations of indigenous
altars that allude to the folk-millenarist strain in revolution
and of folk markets that suggest the dominance Of monopoly
capital over local entrepreneurial efforts. Armenta has con-
structed structures of bamboo to bring out the predatory death-
dealing aspect of life in the countryside in contrast to the
Theserecent developments haveaugured well for the coun-
try's art as it draws its vitality from the people's life and con-
temporary issuesthat affect Filipinos asa whole. Since the early
period of modernism, several generations of artists have
emerged that have led to an independent Philippine art that
breaks with static art discourses and continues the dynamic
and liberative thrust Of art of vital human significations. (see
fig. 10, p. 77)

231 The Philippines

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 Jose Honorato Lozano salon: the subject drawn from classical antiquity, the dramatic por-
c.1821-c.1885 trayal, the large dimensions, and the modelling of the figures. A
born in Manila
number Of works showed the influence of impressionism, though
limited in their concernwith the effectsof light on the subject and
As son of the lighthouse keeper, Lozano used the lighthouse as in their more spontaneous painterly style. A later development of
the vantage point with which to observe the life of Manila Bay his art showed the influence of the social realism of the Courbet
and its environs and paint the Letras y Figuras, a visual art form school. This was manifested in his paintings of the underclass, the
that enjoyed patronage in the nineteenth century and of which factory workers Europe during the Industrial Revolution.
Lozano was the foremost practitioner. Done in dry brush water-
colour on manila paper, it mainly consisted Of the capital letters
Of the patron's name cleverly formed by trimmed foliage to pro-
vide support for the human figures in various activities. Each letter Simon Flores y de Ia Rosa
was a genre scenein miniature, portraying men and women in var- 1834-1904
ious activities against a landscapebackground, such as the busy graduated from Academia de Dibujo y Pintura, Manila
port, the plaza of Intramuros, and varied scenesalong the Pasig
River. Apart from their artistic value, they are a good visual One of the well-known painters of the nineteenth century, Simon
documentation of Manila in the late Spanish period which saw Flores was known primarily for his portraits, although he also did
the emergence of a local middle class. many religious paintings for churches and was one Of the first to
introduce genre subjects in the Philippines. He was also one of
the artists who flourished with the secularization of art, only then
being freed from the monopoly of Church patronage. His por-
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo traits primarily established his fame; these were done in the
1855-1913 miniaturist style which rendered details Of costume and personal
born in Binondo, Manila
accesories in meticulous detail. Thus, his portraits became status
graduated from Academia de San Fernando, Madrid
symbols among the local elites who benefited from the opening
A contemporary of Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo also of the country to world trade. In 1876,he was awarded silver medal
studied at the local Academia before he went to Europe. From for his painting The Music of the Town at the Philadelphia Univer-
his early bucolic landscapes, he shifted to large academic paint- sal Exposition.
ings with classical subject matter. One of these, the Christian Vir-
gins Exposed to the Populace won a silver medal at the Madrid
Exposition Of 1884. Another academic work, Charon 's Boat, won
a silver medal at the Exposicion Universelle in Paris. These works Fernando Amorsolo
were characterized by dramatic compositions, heavy chiaroscuro, 1892-1972
and classical modelling of forms. Outside the academy, Hidalgo born in Daet, Camarines Norte
graduated from Academia de San Fernando, Madrid
painted lighter and more reflective works, such as character por-
traits, quiet domestic interiors, outdoor scenes,and solitary roman- Amorsolo's peak years were in the 1930sto the 1940sand the post-
tic landscapes. war 1950s. As painter and head of the School of Fine Arts, he
exercised considerable influence due to his inexhaustible produc-
tivity and the wide range of his work which included portraits,
landscapes, genre, as well as illustrations and cartoons. His paint-
Juan Luna ings of idealized rural scenes,particularly Planting Rice were unong
1857-1899 the most popular images of the Commonwealth Period; he also
born in Badoc, Iliocos Norte
codified the image of the dalagang Filipina or model Filipina
graduated from Academia de San Fernando, Madrid
woman as prewar Philippine society conceived her to be. He used
After a stint in the local Academia, Luna left for Europe around the technique of backlighting in which the figures were situated
1877 to continue his studies at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes against the light to outline them with a golden glow. His works
de San Fernando in Madrid. It was, however, in Rome that Luna were popularized by being reproduced in calendars, posters and
imbibed the grandeur and drama of classical art and his ambi- tourist brochures. In 1973, he became the first to be proclaimed
tions were fired by the masterpieces that he saw. It was in Rome National Artist.
that he began work on the Spoliarium which won the First Gold
Medal in the Madrid Exposition of 1884.This prizewinning painting
followed all the requirementsof the nineteenthcentury European

232 The Philippines

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Victorio Edades
1895-1985
born in Dagupan, Pangasinan
graduated from University of Washington, Seattle
Edades found the breakthrough that would changethe courseof
his art and give him his historic role in the travelling the Armory
Show in 1922 which opened his eyes to the artistic ferment in
Europe.Whenhecamebackto thePhilippinesin 1928,hetook
-uponhimselfthemissionof changingthecourseof Philippineart.
As a first step,heputup hishistoricone-manshowat thePhilip-
pineColumbianClub. Departingfrom the academic
styleand
Amorsolo School, Edadesreflectedmodernistconcernsin his paint-
ings.But it wasprimarilythroughteachingandpublicpressdebates
that he concluded his campaign. Edadesdid not only promote
modernism in the Philippines but he also gave it his enlightened
andprogressive
guidance.He is to becreditedfor relatingmoder-
nism with the issue of national identity as he envisioned an art
in which the artist wasto pursuehis original visionwhile discovering
hisidentifyasFilipino.He wasproclaimedNationalArtist in paint-
ing in 1976.
Galo B. Ocampo
1913-1985
born in Santa Rita, Pampanga
graduatedfrom Universityof the Philippines
As member of the first "Triumvirate" of modern art, Galo B.
Ocampo first did someinteraction works with Edadesand Carlos
V. Francisco as a demonstration of their new artistic credo allied
with nationalistic themes during the Commonwealth Period in the
mid-thirties. A key painting of the period Filipinized the image
of the Virgin Mary. Other works showed his celebration of
indigenousculture in lively coloursand designs.In thesepaint-
ings, themodernistsenseof designandthe dispositionOf forms
andspacespredominatesover realistconcerns.In his paintings,
the war continued to haunt him through the 1950sand beyond.
In his Flagellants Series,the imagesof Christ's Passionwererein-
terpretedby theartist through the imagesof war in a surrealist
technique, bringing together events from different periods.
Hernando R. Ocampo
1911-1978
born in Santa Cruz, Manila
H. R. Ocampohimselfidentifiedtheseveralstagesin thedevelop-
ment of his art: 1929-1934, the Amorsolo Period; 1934-1945, the
Proletarian Period; 1945-1963,the Transitional Period; 1963-1968,
the Mutants Period, and 1968-1978,the Visual Melody Period.
His Proletarian Period reflected the debatein the 1930sbetween
233 The Philippines
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"proletarianart" and"art for art'ssake"whichwasalsoanissue
in the United Statesduring the depressionyearsfollowing theCrash
of Wall Street. His early works showedthe stark realities of the
time,suchasthepaintingof anemaciated
manstaringatanempty
platewith highrisebuildingsin the background.
From1945to
1963,his worksmovedtowardsabstractionin their primarycon-
cernfor design,colourandtexture,with morecomplexandhighly
texturedpaintings.He wasproclaimedNationalArtist in thevisual
arts in 1991.
Vicente Manansala
1910-1981
born in Macabebe, Pampanga
graduatedfrom EcoledeBeauxArts, Montreal,Canada
Manansala came out strongly in the 1950swith such works as
Madonnaof theSlumsandpaintingsof Jeepenys.As memberof
"the Thirteen Moderns" and "the Neo-Realists," he was at the
forefront of the modernist movement in the country. With the
posingof thequestionsof nationalcultureandidentityin thepost-
warperiod,hisworksandthoseof theotherearlymodernists
reflected the social environment and expressedthe native sensi-
bility.Manansala
consistently
workedinthefigurative
mode.Shun-
ning Amorsolo'srural idyls, he developeda newimagerybased
on thepostwarurbanexperience.For him, thecity of Manilahad
a strongfolk characterin its streetvendorsand Quiapochurch
devotees.He developedthe styleof transparentcubismtermed Neo-
Realismwhich wasgenerallysharedby CesarLegaspi and Romeo
Tabuena. On the whole, Manansala reinterpreted or indigenized
cubism ashe drew his themesfrom the familiar environment. He
wasproclaimedNational Artist in painting in 1982.
Cesar Legaspi
1917-1994
born in Tondo, Manila
graduatedfrom AcademieRanson,Paris
Legaspiespoused
thecauseof modernart from its earlyyearsand
nurtured it with his fellow pioneering moderniststo full maturity-
His work shows the cubist facetting of the figures into ovalap-
ping planeswhich cut acrossspacein transparentcurvilinæ.r
rhythms and which achievea richly textured orchestration
and tones. His early paintings of the period surrounding
were done in cubist-expressioniststyle with human suffaizg
the ruins of war assubjects.A number of his works re&eczed
increasing importance of machines in the postwar
period, as well as what he perceivedwasthe insidio.æ zo
man metamorphosing into machine. Through
Legaspi worked on paintings that dealt *ith
experience.Theselarge heroic canvass— tbe
 14,

suchasmolave,narra,kamagong;
ipilandbamboo.Furthermore,
ingmovemen
ts of human
beings
in aspiration,
struggle,
andtri- hehasoftencombineddifferentmaterialsandhasworkedin a
umphdoneinhisdynamic
style.Hewasproclaimed
National
Artist widevarietyof techniques.
Thoughheidentifieshis original
in painting in 1990.
influenceasBrancusi,Abuevahasconstantlysearched
for new
formsandmodesof expression.As hisworkprogressed
in com-
plexity
andmaturity,
it hasbecome
moreandmore
characterized
byarichblendof witandimagination—qualities
thatstemfrom
Arturo Luz
anartisticindividualism
thatconstantly
pursues
hisartwithafresh
1926-
born in Manila vigorof expression.
A numberof aspects
emerge
fromhiswork:
d
graduate
fromAcademie
deIaGrande
Chaumiére,
Paris thepurely
figurative,
thefantastic,
theconstructional,
thehighly
Painterandsculptor,theartof ArturoLuzismarkedbyelegance stylized,
theabstract,
andthefunctional.
Hewas proclaimed
National Artist in sculpture in 1977.
of lineandlinearrhythmsdeveloped
fromhisdisciplinein draw-
ing.Hisearlyfigurative
paintings
werecharacterized
bytheattenu-
ationof forms.PaulKlee'sinfluencebecame
moreevidentin his
worksbetween1957and1964,of whichthemostwell knownwere
Ben Cabrera
theCarnivalandCyclistseriesin whicha predominant element,
1942-
linein rhythmicmovement,wassupported by textureandtone. born in Manila
In 1969,
hemade
theshifttoabstraction
anddidburlapcollages, graduatedfrom Universityof thePhilippines
aswellaspaintingsandsculptures
inspiredby Chinese
calligra-
BenCabrera's
printsandpaintingsof thelate1960s
andtheearly
phyandZen Insculputre,
hehasdone
large
planar
works 1970s
provided anexcellentmodelof socialcommentary
for the
in metal,smallersculptures
in marble,andexquisiteminiature
younger
politicized
artists
oftheperiod.
Hisinterest
insocial
themes
pieces,includingjewelrymadeof silver.
derivedfrom theacknowledged
influenceof theGermanartist
KätheKollwitzonhiswork, especially
thosedealingwiththemasses
andtheirstruggles.A newdimensionwasaddedto hisworkwhen
hecameuponold Philippinephotographs duringhislongstayin
Guillermo Tolentino
London.Thesehistoricalimagesspurredhim to rediscover the
1890-1976
born in Malolos, Bulacan Philippinecolonialpast.Basedonoldphotographs, hisworkpro-
d
graduatefromRegioIstitutodi BelieArti deRome vokedcriticalreflectiononthecolonialrelationswith Spainand
theUnitedStates.Hispaintingsandprintswerealsoamongthe
Tolentinohad a solidtrainingin theclassicaltraditionin the
yacademin Romeandhebecame its staunch
proponent in the first to probe the issueof national identity.
Philippines
asdirectorof theSchool
of FineArts.Hisprincipal
workin sculpture
isthelargeBonifaciomonument situatedin the
rotondaof Caloocan.
Thisisa groupsculpture
withAndresBonifa-
cio,therevolutionary
heroof theanti-colonial
waragainst
Spain, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya
astheprincipal
figure.Clustered
ingroups
arefigures
oftherevolu- born in Manila
tionariesin attitudesof struggleandpain,with mothersandtheir graduated
fromUniversity of thePhilippines
children.Whilethemainprotagonisthimselfis calmandalert,
ImeldaCajipefirstwoncriticalattentionthroughherprints.In
thefigures
around himaremarkedbyromanticemotionalism.
The
s
group areunifiedbythetowering
obelisk
risingfromthemidst 1981,sheshiftedfromprintmaking to paintingmarkedby an
of thefigures.
Hewasdeclared
National in1973. innovativeuseof indigenous
Artistinsculpture materials.Herstrongsense
of his-
toryprovided
thebridge
forhertransition
andledtoherinvolve-
mentasanartistwith theissuesandproblemsof our time.She
hasfocusedon the plight of the Filipina in her variouscontem-
poraryrolesin a feminism
thatisarticulated
withthequest
for
Napoleon Abueva nationalliberation.Herworkwhichoftenalludesto eventsand
1930-
born in Bohol
socialconditions,suchasmilitarization,conveys
theturmoiland
graduatedfromUniversityof Kansas,USA passion
thatattend
thedynamics
Ofsocial
change.
Mostremark-
Abueva's versatility
inbothmediumandexpression
eludesfacile ableisheruseof indigenous
materials
andfolk symbolicelements
typingandcategorization.Hehasdonesculpture
inawiderange to convey
localtextures
andcolours,alongtheirrichsocialand
historical connotations.
of media:inmetal,suchasiron,bronze,
brass
andstainlesssteel;
in stone,suchasadobe,marble,alabaster,
andcoral;in wood,

234 The Philippines

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Julie Lluch
1946-
born in Iligan City, Misamis Oriental
graduatedfrom Universityof SantoTomas,Manila
JulieLluch doessculpturein terracotta,stoneware,ceramicsand
plasterof parisandhasheldseveralsoloexhibitionssince1977.
Her first works consistedof variations of cactusforms, heartsand
derrieres which made witty comment on the relationship of the
sexes.From thesesheproceededto do life-sizeportrait-bustsof
whichPhilippine Gothic(cat. no. 11-31),a group sculpturecon-
sistingof the half-figuresof a husbandand wife with their dog,
stimulatingart activityin his hometown.A foundingmemberof
severalartistorganizations,hehasworkedin differentmediaand
in both painting andsculptureto conveythe experiencesof his
community.With his protestpaintingsdealingwith suchissu—
as militarization and the national debt, his affinities have been
with social realists. But rather than realist, his style in painting
can be better described as figurative expressionismbordering on
surrealism,makinguseof distortionandclashingcoloursin order
to conveystrongemotions,bothsocialandpersonal.He hasalso
donesculpturesin terracottaof figuresandsituationsdrawnfrom
the life of his community.

was one of the most expressivein its ironic comment on the con-
jugalstate.Otherautobiographical
workshowsJulieashouse-
wife in distressover the burnt fish on the frying pan or as in the
teary-eyeddrudgeryof slicingonions.Fromtheseworksshehas
proceeded
to sculptureof moreclearlyfeministtheme,suchas
the woman contemplating herself before a mirror and constitut-
inghersubjectivity,aswellasmythico-symbolic
figuressuchas
the woman shouting from within a burning house and the mer-
maid breastingthe strongcurrents.Julie Lluch has also done
numerous terracotta busts of men and women in a highly realistic
style.

Roberto Feleo
1954-
born in Manila
graduatedfromthe PhilippineWomen'sUniversity,Manila
Feleois oneof the mostinnovativeandinfluential youngartists
who haveassiduouslyexperimented with different materialsand
developeda Filipino imagery.Most of his worksareassemblages
creatingseveralinteractinglevels,threedimensionalworksin ter-
racotta,andinstallations.Hehasdrawninspirationprimarilyfrom
ancientprecolonial
Philippinemythsandculturalexpressions,
but
his work is also enriched by various sources, including contem-
porarypopculture,traditionalfolk icons,indigenous
religious
imageryandtribal art. Hebecamewellknownfor hisPintado
series,usingthe imageof the heavilytattooedmenandwomen
of precolonialtimes. Concernedwith the recuperationof the
precolonialpastandits vital encounterwith thepresent,hehas
dealt with various themessuchas anti-nuclearprotestand national
identity.

Charlie co
1960-
born in Bacolod, Oriental Negros
graduatedfrom the PhilippineWomen'sUniversity,Manila
Basedin Bacolod,a big sugar-producingcenterin the Visayas,
Charlie Co is one of the artists who have contributed greatly to Text by Alice G. GuillennO

235 The Philippines

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