Contemporary Philippines Arts from the Region
Humanities over the period of time which it occurs
- From the latin word “Humanus” which means
human,cultured,refined
- Branches of learning based on the
Philosophy and ethical perspective of
humanism, which emphasizes the value and
agency of human beings, individually and
collectively, and generally prefers individual
thought and evidence over established
doctrine of faith are non-scientific
- The parts of education, of knowledge, that
makes for a more refined sense of
knowing,thinking and finer feelings
- The collective pooling together of the legacy
of a given culture’s values,ambitions and
beliefs:
Painting Sculpture
Architecture Photography
Literature Music
Theater Dance
Film
Visual Arts
- Painting, Sculpture, Architecture &
Photography
- These art forms that we perceive with our
eyes, and which occupies space
Auditory Arts
- Music and Literature
- These are art forms that can be heard and
are expressed in time
- Music is the one art form that is entirely
defined by time
Combined Arts
- Theater, Dance & Film
- These are also known as Performing arts
- These are arts that can be both seen and
heard and theses art forms unfold in both
time and space.
How to Study
 Text – reading the lines – medium, form and
content.
 Context – reading between the lines –
describe historical and cultural background or
environment of artwork.
 Subtext – reading beyond the lines –
emotional or intellectual messages implied
by the art.
Visual Arts: Wood, clay, colored pigments, marble,
granite, steel, plastic, neon film, & computers
- spatial – they operate and are apprehended
in space
Music: medium of sound
- Like literature, music is durational: it unfolds
- The formal elements of music are melody
rhythm, harmony and tone color
- As with visual arts, the formal element of
music are without symbolic content
- almost always non-representational
- it rarely has meaning beyond the sound it self
- It is most difficult of the arts to describe in
words but is the most effective of the arts
Dance: human body
- It resembles music in that it is temporal,
performance-oriented, and exploits rhythm
as a formal tool
- Like paintings and sculpture, it unfolds in
space as well as time
Context
 Historical and cultural background or
environment of the artwork.
1. Time and place
2. Function
3. Purpose ( decorative, propagandistic, political
needs)
4. Serve the religious or political activity.
Prose – narrative (noli) Poetry – poems
Subtext
 Secondary or implied meanings
 Embraces emotional or intellectual messages.
 Helps in determining the values and customs.
Art
Greeks: art is an imitation of reality.
- Art is imitative or representational:
- copies something in the real world
Plato (Idealist): Art is an imitation of an imitation
Aristotle (realist): art is an imitation not if the ideal
world like Plato but the real (physical) world
- The notion of art as mimesis (imitation) has a
long and profound influence
- The difficulty of this kind of understanding is
what it implies
- While some art are representative, the
mimetic understanding alone cannot account
for the nature or the value of art
Romantics: art is primarily the expressions of feelings
or intentions of the artist
- the best way to interpret art is by trying to
understand the original intention if the
maker of the artwork
- 3 Romantics:
 Tolstoy: Art is the contagion of feelings
 Croce: Art is the expression of emotion
  Collingwood: The original intention of the
artist is the actual art
Modern “Hermeneutics” (the art and science of
interpretation):
- Art is the expression of an original intention
or feeling or vision of the artist
- Expressionist, Post-Impressionist, Cubists,
and Fauves: expression is above all
Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis: Many human
intentions are in fact, unconscious.
- These intentions in disguised forms would
leave traces in the artwork itself
Marxists:
- The artist exists in a setting of techno
economic structures. The correct
interpretation of a work involves highlighting
the class structures in which the art is
produced
Feminists: The fundamental and hidden structures
were primarily those of gender
ISMs (racism, sexism, elitism, speciesism,
anthropocentrism, androcentrism, phallocentrism):
- View a particular artwork as
symptomatic/indicative of larger currents or
forces, which the artist is often unaware of
sexual, economic, cultural, political, and
ideological
Impressionist: Sought to capture “the immediate
visual impressions” and render them impersonally.
- The emotions of the artist become secondary
Formalism: the meaning of the artwork is found in
the formal relationship between elements of the
work itself
- It places the nature of art in the formal or
structural relationship of the elements in the
artwork itself
VALUES OF ART
1. Aesthetic Value – “work of art”. Sense of
beauty.
2. Intellectual Value – stimulates thoughts
3. Suggestiveness - emotional power of art
4. Spiritual Value – art elevates the spirit by
bringing out moral values which makes us a
better person. The capacity to inspire is part
of the spiritual value of art (inspirational
quote)
5. Permanence - art endures. It’s appeal is
lasting (SONNET XVII)
6. Universality – art is timeless and timely. It is
forever relevant because it deals with
elemental feelings, fundamental truths and
universal conditions.
7. Style –particular wat in which an artist sees
his subject, forms his ideas, and expresses
them. Great artworks are marked as much by
their memorable substance as well as by
their distinctive style, Style should suit
content.
8. Form – Artistic forms are skeletal structures
or conceptual frameworks designed to
support or enclose parts of the works of art.
Every artistic form is the orderly method of
arrangement and presentation of an
artwork’s parts or ideas.
FOUR PRINCIPAL APPROACHES TO ART CRITICISM
AND APPRECIATION
- Mimetic (based on the subject matter)
- Expressive (based on the artist)
- Pragmatic (based on the audience)
- Aesthetic or Formal (based on the form)
1. The Subject Matter
A. Representational or Figurative Art – portrays or
depicts something other than its own form. Literature
is principally representational. (The little Prince)
B. Non- representational or Non-objective art -
represents nothing except its own form
- Subject matter and form are one: the form is the
subject
- Mimetic – approaches art criticism. According to
this approach, the merit of a work of art lies in its
subject; the beauty of the subject the beauty of the
subject and its significance are the bases for aesthetic
judges.
- This approach has been discredited by modern
critics who assert that the aesthetic quality of a work
of art depends not so much on what is depicted (the
subject) as on how it is depicted (the form)
2. The Artist, Writer, or Creator
- Art is means of expression
- The artist puts something of himself into his art; it
becomes an extension of himself, an objectification
of some aspect of his personality
- The expressive approach to art criticism, stresses
the relationship of the artwork to its creator
- The artist himself becomes the major element
generating both artistic product and the norms by
which the work is to be judged
3. Audience or Readers
- Art is experience
- aside from its essential value (aesthetic)
- art may have secondary values:
Religious Philosophical Moral Historical Political
Social Scientific
Commercial Sentimental Practical
- The approach to art criticism, which emphasizes the supposition to the artist’s intended purpose
value and importance of art to its audience, is known of the artwork
as the pragmatic approach a. Communicate the artist’s statements
- Pragmatic Critics attach little importance to the b. Expound on the feeling conveyed by the
aesthetic value and instead judge art according to artwork
how useful it is to the audience c. Explain what you feel is the artist’s intended
- Pragmatist attack the “elitist” view because it purpose for creating that particular work of
confines art to the enjoyment of the favored few and art
shuts out the great masses of people who are not d. Identify symbols in the artwork and describe
“enlightened” how they relate to the artist’s technical
Leo Tolstoy: a work of art attains more greatness the choices and contribute to the artist’s
more it gives moral upliftment and pleasure to the execution of the intended purpose
greatest numbered of people 4. Evaluate the artwork
4. Form - draw conclusions and reach judgements
- With the respect to form (the manner of imitation, about the artwork
how the subject matter is handled and presented) 5. Use art vocabulary in you art critique
- Art is a composition, a whole consisting of various - There are no incorrect descriptions when you
parts or elements critique artwork.
- The selection, organizing, and integration of these - The goal is not to say whether the art is good,
elements according to certain formal principles and but rather to impart as best you can the
employing certain techniques constitute that which visceral response the artwork incites
we call the form of art
- Modern Critics: “Art for art’s sake.”
- The formal approach considers the form as the basis
of aesthetic judgement and other considerations are
secondary WHAT IS PHILIPPINE ABOUT PHILIPPINE ART
- Genre used to be a major consideration in
determining the “Filipino-ness” of a work of
How to Critique Artworks art at least in painting
1. Describe what you see - depiction of scenes of everyday life and the
- Objective portion surroundings without idealizing them was
- Technical description closest in spirit to the Filipino soul and native
a. Artist’s name soil
b. b. The tile of work - The pastorals or rural paintings of Amorsolo
c. Type of work for a long time were considered to be most
d. d. subject expressive of the ethos of the race and the
e. First impression. predominantly agricultural countryside (the
f. Colors used planting rice)
g. Objects - The “Filipino-ness” of Francisco’s paintings
h. light saturation inheres in his heroic-epic feelings for history
i. Shapes, lines, and texture and myth.
j. sensory qualities - It is not as easy pinpointing the reason why
2. Analyze the artwork some critics have described Ocampo as “the
- in-depth examination of how the technical most Filipino” painter ever because of the
elements were utilized by the artists abstract language or imagery used.
- overall impression conveyed by the artwork - A great deal of the confusion in cultural
a. Color identity stems from the fact that Philippine
b. Shapes, forms, lines art belongs to the western tradition in its use
c. Texture of paint and canvas and other materials, as
d. Light and shadow well as in such impressionism, expressionism,
3. Interpret the artwork surrealism, cubism, pop, minimalism and so
- subjective than the others, as you are on
expected to use your analysis of the technical
aspects of the piece of art to apply your own
 - The fact is that all the modern art
movements in the ASEAN region were
inspired by western models
LOOKING BACK AT THE PHILIPPINE ART
Painting and Sculpture
- The purpose of most paintings from the 16th
– 19th centuries was to aid the Catholic
Church
- Damian Domingo – established the first art
school in 1820
During the WW2, some painters focused their
artwork on the effects of war, including battle scenes
destruction, and the suffering of the Filipino people.
Weaving
- involves many threads being measured, cut
and mounted on a wooden platform.
- the threads are dyed and weaved on a loom
- Before Spanish colonization: Filipinos used a
fabric called nipis to weave white clothing.
These were weaved with decorative, flower
design
- During Spanish colonization: Filipinos used a
fabric called nipis to weave white clothing.
These were weaved with decorative, flower
design
Architecture
- Before the Spanish came was governed by
the building’s functional uses as shelter and
by the materials available (Ifugao and
Maranao Torogan architectures)
- bahay kubo, or nipa hut has a style that has
lasted through the years. In the 1500s the
Spaniards introduced masonry yet the nipa
hut’s basic form of structure, the high roof
and rectangular plan, were retained
Archeology
- Asian pottery and porcelain.
- Calatagan excavations represent a milestone
in the history of the Philippine archeology.
- Oriental ceramics and earthenware were dug
primarily in Mindoro, Bicol, Iloilo, Sta. Ana
Manila and in towns of Laguna.
- Primary, secondary, and tertiary burial jars,
along with gold coins, jewelry, incense jarlets,
celadon bowls and plates.
- Some of the outstanding discoveries were
those found in the caves of Lipoon Point, also
known as Albion head, in Quezon, Palawan.
- Dr. Robert Fox, a senior archeologist of the
National Museum, discovered a fossilized
skull cap at the Tabon Cave.
- Other stone tools, pottery and various
artifacts estimated to be between 15,000-
25,000 years old were discovered.
Pottery
- Native Filipinos created pottery since 3,500
years ago. They used the ceramic jars to hold
the decreased decorated with
anthropomorphic designs
- Anthropomorphic earthenware pots date
back to 5 B.C – 225 A.D and had pot covers
shaped like human heads
- Ceramic vessels of Kalinga are divided into 3
types:
a. Rice cooking (ittoyom) – usually larger, thinner and
have a smaller opening than vegetable/meat pots
b. Vegetable/meat cooking (oppaya) – the rice
cooking & vegetable/meat pots come in three
different sizes: small,medium,large
c. Water storage (immosso) pots – this pot have an
average and uniform size and a smaller neck size
- In kalinga, ceramic vessels can be used for two
situations: daily life use and ceremonial use
- Three major complexes in Philippine iron age:
a. Kalanay pottery – pertains to bayer’s early iron age
pottery of the Visayan Islands found in Negros and
Mindoro
b. Novaliches pottery – pottery from Rizal rovince
c. Bau pottery – does not fit into the two previous
complexes and could correspond instead to the late
Iron Age pottery
MUSIC
- Philippine tribal music antedates the first
Filipino musicians trained in western music,
most probably in the 17th century
- Marcelo Adonay – trained by the Augustinian
Order and composer of full orchestral
accompaniments to the Grand Mass, Te
Deum, Benedictus, etc.
- Jose Estrella – composed of stage music at
the turn of the century and wrote several
operas and the first complete symPhony,
aside from waltzes and musical plays
- Rondalla – a native string band which again
best typifies and blending of many influences
that go into the cultivation of an indigenous
art form
- Great Philippine Classics – a collection of
Philippine classical music published by the
National Philharmonic Society of the
Philippines through the initiative of its
founder, Redentor L.Romero
- Redentor L.Romero - country’s first
international conductor whose appearances
span five continents. He is also one of the
few Asian conductors hailed worldwide by
critics

Literature and Theater
- The Philippine literature includes the legends
of prehistory and the colonial legacy of the
Philippines
- Pre-Hispanic Philippine literature were
actually epics passed on generation to
generation originally through oral tradition
- Darangen – epic of the Mindanao of Lake
Lanao
- wealthy families, were able to keep
transcribed copies of epics as a family
heirloom
- Doctrina Cristiana – first printed book
- Francisco Balagtas – wrote Florante at Laura
a metrical romance which earned him the
title of Prince of Philippine Poets
- December 1, 1846 - the first daily newspaper,
La Ezeperanza, was published
- La Estrella (1847), Diario de Manila (1848),
Boletin Oficial de Filipinas (1852)
- El Eco de Vigan (1884) – the first provincial
newspaper was issued in Ilocos
- El Boleatin de Cebu – was published in 1890
- Ilustrado (well-informed)– on 1863, the
Spanish government introduced a system of
free public education that increased the
population’s ability to read Spanish and
thereby furthered the rise of an educated
class
- Spanish became the social language of urban
places and the true lingua franca of the
archipelago
- El Renacimiento – the most influencial of the
Spanish newspapers published until the end
of the 1940s printed in Manila by members
of the Guerrrero de Ermita family
- Pedro Alejandro Paterno - author of Ninay
and Jose Rizal
- started a Spanish publication with the aim of
promoting the autonomy and independence
Poetry and Metrical Romances
- Tanaga – short poem consisting of 4 lines and
7 syllables each that rhyme at the end of
each line
- Ladino Poems – were natives of first tagalog
versifies who saw print; highly literate in
both Spanish and the vernacular
- Corridos – widely read during the spanish
period that filled the populance need for
entertainment as well as edifying reading
matter in their leisure moments
- Awit - widely read during the Spanish period
as entertaining, edifying, reading manner in
their leisure time. It is fabrication of the
writer’s imagination although the characters
and the setting may be European. The
structure is rendered dodecasyllabic
quatrains
- Edad de Oro del Castellano en Filipinas – the
period of Spanish literature production
between the independence of Spain in 1898
and well ahead into decade of the 1940s
- Prominent writers:
Drama and essay: Wenceslao Retana & Claro M.
Recto
Narrative: Antonio M. Abad & Guillermo Gomez
Wyndham
Poetry: Fernando Maria Guerrero & Manuel Bernabe
- Modernismo – Predominant literary style
and is a mixture of elements from the French
Parnassien and symbolist schools, promoted
by some latin American and Peninsular
Spanish writers
DRAMA
 Moriones - refers to the helmets of the
participants dressed as Roman soldiers, their
identities hidden behind colorful, sometimes
grostesque, wooden masks.
- found only in Marinduque.
- it is down during holy week, culminating in a
passion play that adds the scene of Saint
Longinus’ conversion and martyrdom.
 Panunuluyan – the tagalog version of the
Mexican Las Posadas and means “seeking
passage”.
- Depicts Joseph and Mary’s search for a room at
the inn. In Bethlehem
- the actors playing the Holy Couple chants
their pleas for lodging in slow, mournful
tones, while the innkeepers and
householders would drive them away with
haughty verses sang in the dance-like meter
 Pangangaluwa – practice formerly
widespread during All Saint’s Day which
means “for the souls”, it is analogous to the
English custom of Souling
 Salubong – a ritual performed in the early
morning of Easter Sunday a few hours after
the Easter Vigil and before the Easter Mass.
Dramatizing the meeting between the
resurrected Jesus and his mother
 Senakulo – a passion play, which depicts the
passion and death of Jesus Christ. Performed
during Holy Week
  Santacruzan – Reenacts Saints Helena’s
finding the True cross and serves as an
expression of devotion to the virgin Mary.
-Its May observance is due to the pre-1962
date for the feast of Roodmas
 Comedia – a courtly love between a prince
and princess of different religions. Highlights
concepts of colonial attitudes to Christian-
Muslim relations
 Duplo- forerunner of the balagtasan consist
of 2 teams:
-Dupleras or Belyakas (young women)
-Dupleros or Belyakos (young men)
 Karagatan – comes from the legendary
practice of testing the mettle of young men
vying for a maiden’s ring would be dropped
to the sea and shoever retrieves it would
have the girl’s hand in marriage
DANCE
There are many types of Filipino dances varying in
influence and region.
 Cordillera Dances:
Banga,Bendayan,Lumagen/Tachok,
Manmanok, Ragragsakan,Salisid, Talip,
Tarektek, Uyaoy/Uyauy
 Banga Dance – illustrates the grace and
strength of women in the Kalinga tribe.
Women balance heavy pots on their heads
while dancing to the beat of wind chimes.
This mimics Kalinga women collecting and
transporting water.
 Lumagen/Tachok Dance – performed to
celebrate happy occasion.
- Symbolizes flying birds and is musically paired
to the beat of gongs
 Salisid Dance – the dance to show courtship.
- Male and female performer to represent a
rooseter attempting to attract a hen
 Tribal Dances:
Malakas at Maganda – national folklore
- Tells the story of the origin of the Filipino
people on the islands
Belah
Kadal Tahaw
Binaylan – tells the story of a hen, the hen’s
baby, and a hawk
Bagobo Rice Cycle
Dugso
 Tinkling – two long bamboo sticks rapidly and
in rhythm.
- Try to avoid getting their feet caught
between bamboo
 Singkil – a dance showing of lavish Muslim
Royalty
- The dance used umbrella and silk clothing
DARANGEN EPIC
 “Darangen” means “to narrate in song”
 An ancient epic song that encompasses a
wealth of knowledge about the Maranao
 Maranao – people who live in the Lake Lanao
in Mindanao (one of the country’s 3 main
Muslim groups)
 Comprised of 17 Cycles and a total of 72,000
lines
 Explore the underlying themes of life and
death,courtship,politics,love and aesthetics
through symbol,metaphor,irony and satire
 Encodes customary law standards
 Elders refer to this time-honored text in the
adminidtration of customary law
 Parts of the epics have been recorded in
manuscripts using an ancient Arabic-based
writing system
JUAN LUNA’S “SPOLIARIUM”
 SPOLIARIUM is a latin words referring to ‘the
basement of the Roman Colosseum’
 It features a glimpse of Roman History
centered on the bloody carnage brought by
gladiatorial matches
 Largest Painting in the Philippines
4.22 meters x 7.675 meters
 Made in 1884 as an entry to the prestigious
Exposicion de Bellas Artes (Madrid Art
Exposition,May 1884) & won the first gold
medal
AMORSOLO’S ANTIPOLO FIESTA 1947
 Oil painting on canvas
 It’s a rural scene where a group of people is
shown celebrating a fiesta in Antipolo
 TOLENTINO’S U.P OBLATION PHILIPPINE MUSEUM

 Masterpiece of the first National Artist for  A government institution in the Philippines
Sculpture Guillermo Tolentino serves as an educational,scientific and
 Guillermo was commissioned by Rafael Palma cultural institution in preserving the various
(University President) to craft a monument permanent national collections
that would express in visual form the 2nd
stanza of Jose Rizal’s “Mi Ultimo Adios” Examples:
(1935)  Vigan City
 A concrete statue painted in bronze  National Museum of Fine Arts
 3.5 meters high – represents the 350 years of  National Museum of Anthropology
Spanish colonization of the Philippines  National Museum of Natural History
 Pile of rocks – symbolizing the islands of the  National Planetarium
Philippines
 Anastacio Caedo – the real model of the
statue (Tolentino’s student apprentice) Place Museum Description
 The original Oblation was unveiled in 1939
in Ermita, Manila by: Gregoria de Jesus de Manila Bahay Tsinoy A typical Chinse
Nakpil on the u=university’s 40TH anniversary house in the
 Gregoria de Jesus de Nakpil – widow of philippines
Andres Bonifacio Casa Manila A Spanish
 The original Oblation located at the 3rd floor colonial house in
of UP DILIMAN Main Library the Philippines
San Agustin A church
 The Oblation shows a man with arms
Museum museum with
outstretched, head tilted upwards, Eyes wide collections
closed as if offering himself of catholic
 Each of the 4 sides of the monument’s base is religious items
inscribed with quotes that speak of a National A national
willingness to serve and give one’s life for Museum of the museum that
one’s country Philippines showcases
 Front of the pedestal holds – a passage from Philippine Arts
El Filibusterismo Malacanang Museum inside
Museum the Presidential
 Back of Pedestal – the 2nd stanza of “Mi
Palace complex
Ultimo Adios”
Metropolitan Museum of
 Right Side – another stanza from the same Museum of contemporary
poem Manila arts
 Left Side – a poem by Andres Bonifacio “Pag- Museum of Museum of
ibig sa tinubuang Lupa” Contemporary contemporary
Arts and Design Filipino arts
THE MANUNGGUL JAR OF PALAWAN Oldest existing
UST Museum museum in the
 National Treasure of the Philippines Philippines
Museo Pambata Museum for
 Burial Jar
children
 Found in Chamber A of the Tabon Cave CCP Museo ng A museum of
 Its about 2,800 yrs before the present and Kalinangang Filipino Arts
discovered by Robert Fox and Miguel Pilipino and
Pasay
Santiago Asian Traditional
 Leta –Leta Cave – excavated in 1965 by Musical
Dr. Robert Fox Instruments
 Cave is an important burial site belonging to Makati Ayala Museum
the Late Neolitic Period Makati Yuchecngco Art Museum
Museum
Lopez Memorial
Museum
 Ateneo Art
Galleryt
Mind Museum
Jorge B. Vargas
Museum and
Filipiniana
Research Center
Mind Museum
Paulina A museum of
Constancia native art,poetry,
Cebu Museum of &sustainability
Native Art
(MoNA)
A museum of
Aurora Baler Museum Native Art and
Culture
Provincial Capitol A museum of
Nueva Ecija Museum Novo Esijano’s
Arts and culture
Fred’s Art Gallery
Ben Cab Museum