Philippine Arts during American Colonial Period

A. Painting

Classicism:

Fabian dela Rosa (1869 – 1937) was the first painter of note for the 20th century.
He was noted for his realistic portraits, genre, and landscapes in subdued colors. He was
enrolled at the Escuela de Bellas Artes y Dibujo and took lessons from Lorenzo
Guerrero.

But it would be his nephew, Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (1892 – 1972), who would
capture the attention of the public and the buyers. His paintings, bursting with yellow-
orange and golden sunlight, captured the Philippine landscape in all its glory. If de la
Rosa’s work were of subdued, cool colors, then Amorsolo’s landscapes are bathe in the
glorious Philippine sunlight. He is the first and among the few Filipino painters who have
captured the different striking colors and character of the country’s magnificent sunlight.
Besides his landscapes, Amorsolo also idealized the rural life of the working men and
women. He depicted farmers and fisherfolks doing their work without much effort,
seemingly enjoying themselves in their arduous tasks. His depiction of the ever-smiling
dalagang bukid is another trademark. Amorsolo was able to show the ideal beauty of the
Philippine landscape, the Philippine rural life and the Filipinas.

Painters during that time also dabbled into advertising and book design, new forms
brought by the Americans. Amorsolo made several book and magazine cover designs.
He also designed for commercial products, the most famous of which is the “Markang
Demonyo” for Ginebra San Miguel, a local alcoholic drink.

The Americans established the University of the Philippines, the country’s State
University, in 1908. The School of Fine Arts was established in 1909 with Fabian dela
Rosa as its first Dean. It would function as the local academy for art. Amorsolo, being a
faculty member and subsequently as the Dean of the U.P. School of Fine Arts from 1952
to 1955, it was inevitable for students to emulate the works and style of Amorsolo. Hence,
the “Amorsolo School”, was born. Followers included Jorge Pineda, Ireneo Miranda, and
Toribio Herrera.

Amorsolo had a long artistic career. Spanning for more than half a century, his
influence is still evident in some of today’s painters. He was named as the country’s first
National Artist in 1972.

Modernism:

Modernism would have its seeds planted in the 1890’s with Miguel Zaragosa’s two
pointillist works. Emilio Alvero later produced several Impressionist still life paintings. But
it would take an architect to give modernism its needed boost in the country. Juan
Arellano would be known as an architect but his Impressionist landscapes are as
impressive as his buildings.

In the 1920’s, several young painters were starting to question the Amorsolo school
style that became the standard for painting. Wanting to veer away from the aesthetic
standards, they strove to develop new idioms in expressing themselves.

In 1928, Victorio C. Edades (1895 – 1985), fresh from a trip to the United States
opened a show at the Philippine Columbian Club in Ermita, Manila. Edades would be
influenced by the 1913 Armory Show, an exhibition of modern art at the United States.
Included in this exhibition was Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending the Staircase,
which created quite a stir in the U.S. The Ash Can School, a modernist group in the U.S.,
who chose to depict people covered with sweat and grime, would also influence him.
Edades’ work, The Builders, caused quite a controversy in 1928. Instead of the smiling
farmers and fisherfolks of Amorsolo, it depicted distorted, naked working men covered in
sweat and grime. With obvious disregard for linear perspective, the painting will be known
as the first ever Modernist painting in the country. Contrary to Amorsolo’s ever-smiling
dalagang Pilipina, Edades showed the hardship of life for the working class.

In 1934, Edades recruited two young dropouts of the U.P. School of Fine Arts, Carlos
“Botong” V. Francisco and Galo B. Ocampo, to help him execute a mural. Together,
they formed the Triumvirate of Modern Art in the country. They produced several
collaborative murals such as Interaction. In 1938, Edades, Ocampo, and foreign-trained
Diosdado Lorenzo established the Atelier of Modern Art in Malate, Manila.

In 1935, modernist Diosdado Lorenzo (1906 – 1984), had an exhibition of works

with “moderate distortions” at the Philippine Columbian Club. His choice of subject matter
was conservative – landscapes, nipa huts, and women. But Lorenzo discarded the
idealized style of Amorsolo. Surprisingly, some of his works were sold. The public now
was slowly starting to accept modernism. Lorenzo, a graduate of the U.P. School of Fine
Arts, would continue to paint traditional subjects done in the modernist style of strong,
vigorous brushstrokes, using bright oranges and greens.

Galo B. Ocampo (1913 – 1985), with his Brown Madonna, Filipinized Western
canonical iconography with his Brown Madonna done in 1938. The painting has a
distinctly Philippine landscape with a bahay kubo in the background, an earth colored skin
Madonna wearing a patadyong, with anahaw leaves as a halo, and a brown-skinned child
– a reinterpretation of the typical European-Western looking mother and child portrayals.
His Flagellants series depict scenes of Lent, juxtaposing images of war and penitence.
Ocampo studied at the U.P. School of Fine Arts. He commissioned to design the coat-of-
arms of the Republic of the Philippines. He also served as Director of the National
Museum.
B. Music/Dance

Musical Characteristics:

When the Americans came, they brought blues, folk, R&B, and rock and roll.

This developed the skills of Filipinos in music and so they used this skill to imitate Western
music to create local versions of Western music.

Eventually, the Philippines catered its own talents like Lea Salonga at a much later date.

Songs became a hybrid of other forms of music that were popular then, such as
kundiman.

The less “formalized and institutionalized” forms of music were heard and made popular
in concert halls called kabaret.

During the colonization of America, the dance has created a great impact to us.

American rhythm is frenzy and cheerful

Disco dancing is widely known to us. It is a free for all dance disco.

Filipinos increasingly experienced the ballet

C. Education

Education became a very important issue for the United States colonial government,
since it allowed it to spread their cultural values, particularly the English language, to the
Filipino people. By 1901, public education was institutionalized in the Philippines, with
English serving the medium of instruction

With the Americans providing free education, many were given the chance to study and
English was used as the language of instruction. Unlike the Spanish, the foreigners were
willing to teach their language to the Filipinos. Free education served as the stepping
stone for others to improve their social status.

 Writers during the American Period drew ideas from the Propaganda
Movement and the Revolutionary Movement to encourage the Filipinos to
continue to fight against the U.S. Colonialism.
  The demand for independence was supported by a campaign to make the
Americans aware of the Filipino culture.
 Some writers who use the Spanish language began to shift to the American
language for the fact that a larger population can now comprehend the said
language. It is a fact that Filipinos during the Spanish period were not
given the chance to learn the language, resulting in a very small population
of people capable of understanding the literary works.

POETS

 Maximo Kalaw
 Carlos P. Romulo
 Maria Agoncillo
 Paz Marquez Benitez
 Salvador P. Lopez
 Jose Garcia Villa
 Carlos Bulosan

The latter stages of the American period continued to produce great poets
like

 Julian Cruz Blamaceda

 Florentino Collantes
 Pedro Gatmaitan
 Jose Corazon de Jesus- “Huseng Batute”
 Lope K. Santos- "Father of the National language Grammar"
 Alejandro Abadilla
 Teodoro Agoncillo
 Inigo Ed. Regalado

They used a modern style of poetry that is made up of free verse.