Fernando Amorsolo

Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (May 30, 1892 – April 24, 1972) was one of the most important artists in the history of
painting in the Philippines. Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly
known for his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light.

Fernando Amorsolo was born May 30, 1892, in the Paco district of Manila. At 13 he was apprenticed to the
noted Philippine artist Fabian de la Rosa, his mother's first cousin. In 1909 Amorsolo enrolled at the Liceo de
Manila and then attended the fine-arts school at the University of the Philippines, graduating in 1914. After
working three years as a commercial artist and part-time instructor at the university, he studied at the Escuela de
San Fernando in Madrid. For seven months he sketched at the museums and on the streets of Madrid,
experimenting with the use of light and color. That winter he went to New York and discovered the works of
the postwar impressionists and cubists, who became the major influence on his works. On his return to Manila,
he set up his own studio.

MAJOR WORKS:

 Babaeng nagbabasa  Fruit Gatherer (1950)

 Afternoon Meal of the Workers (Noonday Meal of  Fruit Pickers Harvesting Under The Mango
the Rice Workers) (1939) Tree (1939)
 Assassination of Governor Bustamante  Maiden in a Stream (1921)
 Bataan  Making of the Philippine Flag
 The Bombing of the Intendencia (1942)  Marca Demonio (1917)
 The Building of Intramuros  The Mestiza (1943)
 Burning of the Idol  My Wife, Salud (1920)
 The Burning of Manila (1946)  One Casualty
 El Ciego (1928)  Our Lady of Light (1950)
 The Conversion of the Filipinos (1931)  Planting Rice (1946)
 Corner of Hell  Princess Urduja
 Dalagang Bukid (1936)  The Rape of Manila (1942)
 Defense of a Filipina Woman's Honor (1945)  Rice Planting (1922)
 La destruccion de Manila por los salvajes  Sale of Panay
japoneses (The Destruction of Manila by the  Sikatuna
Savage Japanese)  Sunday Morning Going To Town (1958)
 Early Filipino State Wedding  US Senator Warren Magnuson Oil Portrait (1958)
 Early Sulu Wedding  Traders
 The Explosion (1944)  El Violinista (The Violinist)
 The First Baptism in the Philippines
 The First Mass in the Philippines

CONTRBUTION:

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.