Philippine Art History: Visual Arts : Philippine Art History: Visual Arts BY:
PROF RONNIE ESPERGAL PASIGUI
The Spanish Colonial Period : The Spanish Colonial Period
Spanish Colonial Period : Spanish Colonial Period When the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines in 1521, the colonizers used art as a tool to propagate the Catholic faith through beautiful images. With communication as problem, the friars used images to explain the concepts behind Catholicism, and to tell the stories of Christ’s life and passion.
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Slide 5 : Images of the Holy Family and the saints were introduced to the Filipino psyche through carved santos, the via crucis (Stations of the Cross), engravings on estampitas, and through paintings on church walls.
Spanish Colonial Period : Spanish Colonial Period
Slide 7 : Though the ethnic art forms such as pottery, weaving and metalwork were retained, the Spanish friars and the Chinese, the colony’s primary trading partner, were slowly introducing newer art forms. Icons brought by the friars were used as models for sculpture. Filipino artisans were taught the Chinese brushwork technique in painting. Engraving was also introduced.
Slide 8 : The concept of patronage emerged. Artisans were commissioned and paid to carve, engrave, and paint. They replaced the arts that were once done in a communal spirit and community setting for rituals. The church, particularly the friars, became the new patron of the arts.
Slide 9 : Since most art produced during the first two centuries of Spanish occupation were for the church, the friars enforced strict supervision over their production. Until the 19th century, art was only for the church and religious use.
Slide 10 : Early in the 19th century, with the opening of the Suez canal in 1869 and the development of the agricultural export economy, native indios acquired economic wealth and became what was to be called the "ilustrados," meaning enlightened and educated. These developments paved the way for Filipinos ilustrados to send their children to universities in Europe. The rise of the "ilustrado" (Filipinos with money and education) class was inevitable. The ilustrados became the new patron of the arts. These events paved the way for the secularization of art in the 19th century.
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A. Painting : A. Painting The Spanish friars introduced Western painting in the Philippines to artisans who learned to copy on two-dimensional form from the religious icons that the friars brought from Spain,. For the first centuries of Spanish colonization, painting was limited to religious icons. Portraits of saints and of the Holy Family became a familiar sight in churches. Other subject matters include the passion of Christ, the Via Crucis, the crucifixion, portrayal of heaven, purgatory and hell.
Slide 13 : Painters from the Visayas island of Bohol were noted for their skillful manipulation of the technique. Their paintings of saints and religious scenes show figures in frontal and static positions. For the Boholano painters, the more important persons would be depicted bigger than the rest of the figures. Christ normally dwarfs the Roman soldiers in these paintings. Unfortunately, they did not sign their names on their works and no record of their names exists.
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Slide 15 : In the church in Paete, Laguna are two works by Josef Luciano Dans (1805- ca. 1870), probably one of the earliest recorded painters in Philippine art history. Langit, Lupa at Impierno ca. 1850 (Heaven, Earth and Hell), a three-level painting which shows the Holy Trinity, Mary the Mother of Christ, saints, the Seven Blessed Sacraments and a macabre depiction of Hell.
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Slide 17 : During the early part of the Spanish occupation, painting was exclusively for the churches and for religious purposes. Occasionally, it was also used for propaganda. Esteban Villanueva of Vigan, Ilocos Sur depicted the Ilocos revolt against the basi monopoly in a 1821. The Spanish government commissioned the work. The fourteen panels show the series of events that led to the crushing of the Ilocano basi workers revolt by Spanish forces. It also showed the appearance of Halley’s comet in the Philippines during that time.
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Slide 19 : Tagalog painters Jose Loden, Tomas Nazario and Miguel de los Reyes, did the first still life paintings in the country. They were commissioned in 1786 by a Spanish botanist to paint the flora and fauna found in the country.
Slide 20 : The earliest known historical paintings in the Philippines was a mural at the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) in Intramuros entitled The Conquest of the Batanes done in 1783. Unfortunately, it was destroyed during the 1863 earthquake.
Slide 21 : Secular subject matter in painting only increased during the 19th century. With more tourists, ilustrados and foreigners demanding souvenirs and decorations from the country, tipos del pais developed in painting. These watercolor paintings show the different types of inhabitants in the Philippines in their different native costumes that show their social status and occupation. It also became an album of different native costumes. Damian Domingo y Gabor (ca. 1790-1832) was the most popular artist who worked in this style.
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Damian Domingo : Damian Domingo Among his subjects were the governors-general, beautiful girls, prominent persons, and panoramic landscapes. He excelled in miniature painting because he possessed a- photographic eye. According to his great grand-son Don Alfonso T. Ongpin, he was often commissioned by Manila gallants to paint miniature portraits (they were then in Vogue) of their sweethearts. Since custom did not allow the suitors and painters to make formal visits, they had to be content with deliberately walking up and down the street fronting the house where the young belle would show herself at the window behind fluttering lace fan. After two or three of such promenades, Domingo would surprise his clients with a perfect likeness of the lady in question.
Damian Domingo : Damian Domingo It was, in fact, his skill in miniature painting that enabled him marry a rich and pretty girl of Manila. His miniature painting of señorita Lucia Casas so fascinated her father, Don Ambrocio Casas (colonel in the militia) that he invited the young painter to his house. A beautiful romance bloomed between the painter and the señorita. Out of their marriage came eight children: Celedonia, Severo (who became a painter like him), Anastacio, Feliciana, Agapita, (who became a nun), Mariano, Jose (also a painter), and Nicolasa. By 1825, the fame of Damian Domingo as a painter was well-established.
Damian Domingo : Damian Domingo Many prominent citizens of Manila visited his studio to have their portraits made or simply to admire his paintings. One of his frequent visitors was Governor-General Mariano Ricafort (1825-30), who was a patron of the arts and an admirer of the painter. On June 13, 1826, Domingo was appointed professor of painting at the Academia de Dibujo y Puntura, the first Philippine Academy of Drawing, an institution established by the Economic Society in 1821 for the development of arts in the country. Presumably, he became the school director Although the diploma awarded to him by the society on March 5, 1827, did not specify that he was the academy director, nevertheless the duties he discharged were those of a school head.
Damian Domingo : Damian Domingo The diploma was a public recognition of the highly satisfactory services he rendered to the Academy as well as for "his conduct, knowledge, talent and assiduousness in the art of painting." Under the new set-up, he required that there be no racial discrimination in his school - that the Spaniard, the mestizo, and native have equal privileges.
Damian Domingo : Damian Domingo The students were taught how to draw still life and the human form, the art of perspective, painting in oil and aquarelle, and the preparation of colors and surfaces. Painters of that epoch painted not only on canvas, but on wood and ivory, of copper, iron, silver, and sometimes gold.
Damian Domingo : Damian Domingo He died about 1834, before reaching the age of 40. His death was a great loss not only to art but to the Filipino movement for racial equality that was to reach its apogee later in that century. To his family and motherland, he left a lasting legacy – the greatness of the Filipinos in painting.
Slide 29 : In the early 19th century, the rise of the ilustrados saw a rise in the art of portraiture. The need to adorn their newly constructed bahay-na-bato and the want to document their new found wealth and social status, the ilustrados commissioned painters to make portraits of themselves. The works of painters like Simon Flores, Antonio Malantic and Justiniano Asuncion captured the intricately designed jewelry and fashion accessories, the minuet details of the embroidered clothes, and ornately designed domestic furniture of the patrons. The painstaking attention to minuet details characterized miniaturismo.
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Antonio Malantic : Antonio Malantic
Simon Flores : Simon Flores
Slide 34 : Governor General Narciso Claveria in 1849 issued a decree that all Philippine natives should assume Spanish names. Letras y figuras (letters and figures), a style developed by Jose Honorato Lozano, combines both tipos del pais and genre paintings by forming the letters of the patron’s name from figures of people in local costumes doing everyday activities. It also utilized landscape scenes as background
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Slide 38 : Several Filipino painters had the chance to study and work abroad. Among them were Juan Novicio Luna and Felix Resureccion Hidalgo who became the first international Filipino artists when they won the gold and silver medals in the 1884 Madrid Exposition.
Juan Luna y Novicio : Juan Luna y Novicio
Slide 40 : Luna’s academic painting Spoliarium won gold medal. It showed the dead and dying Roman Gladiators being dragged into the basement of the Coliseum. It is often interpreted as an allusion to Imperial Spain’s oppression of the natives. Though winning the gold medal, Luna was not awarded the Medal of Excellence, the top award for the competition, because he was a Filipino
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Slide 43 : The King of Spain, commissioned luna to paint The Battle at Lepanto.
Slide 44 : In the same competition, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo won the silver medal for his Virgenes christianas expuestas al populacho.
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Hidalgo, The Assassination of Governor General Bustamante : Hidalgo, The Assassination of Governor General Bustamante
Slide 47 : The feat of Luna and Hidalgo caught the attention of Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippine’s National Hero, that in a gathering of Filipinos in Madrid, he gave a speech praising Luna and Hidalgo for their mastery and nationalism.
Turn of the Century : Turn of the Century In-demand portraitists during the American period (1900-45) included Fabian de la Rosa, Miguel Zaragoza, Teodoro Buenaventura, Jorge Pineda and above all, Fernando Amorsolo, whose style would dominate the period.
Fernando Amorsolo (1892-1972) : Fernando Amorsolo (1892-1972)
Amorsolo : Amorsolo Fernando Amorsolo was the son of Pedro Amorsolo -- a bookkeeper -- and Bonifacia Cueto. He spent his youthful days in Daet, Camarines Norte. When his father died in 1903, Bonifacia moved the entire family to Manila to live with a first
cousin, painter Fabian de la Rosa.
Amorsolo : Amorsolo To raise money, young Amorsolo sold watercolor postcards to a bookstore which paid him 10 centavos a piece,
while his mother did embroidery work. Somehow, he managed to complete his schooling at the Liceo de Manila,
where he earned honorable mention in drawing and painting.
Slide 52 : At 17 he enrolled at the University of the Philippines (UP) School where his uncle Fabian De La Rosa taught. While a student, Amorsolo lived in a rented accesoria and, in order to survive, joined competitions and did illustrations for publications, including Severino Reyes' first novel, Parusa ng Diyos (God's Punishment). He also designed chairs for
the Bureau of Public Works
Amorsolo and de la Rosa : Amorsolo and de la Rosa
Slide 54 : During college he was influenced by the works of the Spanish painter Diego de Velasquez as well as other European painters including John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida and Ignacio Zuluaga
He was one of the first graduates of the University of the Philippines in 1919, receiving several medals for excellence.
Slide 55 : Upon graduation, he became an instructor at the UP School of Fine Arts, while at the same time working for the Bureau of Public Works. For the next 38 years, he was with UP.
In 1922, he made his first important painting, Rice Planting which became one of the most popular images of the Commonwealth Period.
Slide 56 : Amorsolo designed the logo for Ginebra San Miguel (Markang Demonyo) depicting St. Michael vanquishing the devil. The log is still in use in its original form today. The owner of the beverage company, Don Enrique Zobel, who is an ardent patron of the arts, was so impressed by his work that he offered to send Amorsolo to the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid for further studies with a generous stipend for himself and his family.
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Slide 58 : Despite his exposure to Western influences, Amorsolo retained his Filipino consciousness. He was drawn more towards the gentle rolling hills and rice fields of the Philippines rather than the cosmopolitan world of Europe’s proud cities. Even his illustrations of Spanish women were drawn with slender physiques, narrower hips, and smaller breasts more typical of Filipinas rather than full bodied Caucasian women.
Slide 59 : After his stint in Madrid, Amorsolo came home to the Philippines ready to apply what he learned. American servicemen, officials, and businessmen sought out his paintings to bring home to the States as a token of remembrance for their stay in the Philippines. One of Amorsolo’s client was Capt. Robert Kennedy who brought home to the U.S. a few of Amorsolo’s pieces and had them framed at the Art Center Gallery in New York. The gallery owners inquired about the artist which led to Amorsolo’s first one-man show in New York in 1925. Of the 40 pieces, 24 were immediately purchased. Amorsolo often uses his family members to pose for his paintings. At one time, he made his house helpers pose for him and paid them for posing for him. His daughter asked why he had to pay them additional on top of their regular salary. He replied, "We have hired them to do housework and not to pose for me. Therefore, they should be compensated for posing for my painting".
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Amorsolo, Palay Maiden (1920) : Amorsolo, Palay Maiden (1920)
Amorsolo, Making of the Philippine Flag : Amorsolo, Making of the Philippine Flag
Slide 64 : Amorsolo’s first wife passed away in 1931 leaving him with six children. He had six more children by a common-law wife. In 1935, he married Maria del Carmen who gave him eight more children. Fortunately, his reputation was growing as fast as his brood and his work was more than enough to provide for his large family.
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Amorsolo, Lavandera (1936) : Amorsolo, Lavandera (1936)
Amorsolo, Girl by a Stream (1937) : Amorsolo, Girl by a Stream (1937)
Slide 68 : Amorsolo is credited with having captured the elusive quality of Philippine light. In his landscapes and genre
paintings, he used the technique of backlighting in which the figures are situated against the light, thus
outlining them with a golden glow. He preferred to paint in natural light, learning to be quick and decisive in
his work since "light changes rapidly and you have to be fast in order to catch the mood with which you
started out."
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Amorsolo, Fruit Gatherer (1950) : Amorsolo, Fruit Gatherer (1950)
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Amorsolo, Princess Urduja : Amorsolo, Princess Urduja
Amorsolo, Ina at Anak : Amorsolo, Ina at Anak
Slide 75 : When World War II broke out in 1941 and the Japanese occupied Manila, Amorsolo lived in the city along with his family. Amorsolo rented a house near Raon street for his wife and children. He and some male relatives lived at their Azcarraga (now Claro M. Recto Ave) residence which was near a Japanese garrison. During the war, Amorsolo witnessed Filipino civilians, soldiers brought to Far Eastern University (FEU) to be jailed. According to some witnesses, when American forces attacked Manila, all of the prisoners at FEU were slaughtered by the Japanese soldiers.
Slide 76 : Some of the subjects of Amorsolo’s paintings during World War II were about suffering and destruction. A few of these paintings are: “The rape of Manila” (1942), “Bombing of Intendencia” (1942) and “The Explosion” (1944). One of his famous war era painting is the “Defense of a Filipina Woman’s Honor” where it showed a Filipino man holding a bolo about to defend his wife and daughter from being raped by an unseen Japanese soldier. His wartime paintings are considered among his finest work and were exhibited at Malacanang Palace in 1948.
Amorsolo, Bombing of Intendencia (1942) : Amorsolo, Bombing of Intendencia (1942)
Amorsolo, Defense of a Filipina Woman’s Honor (1945) : Amorsolo, Defense of a Filipina Woman’s Honor (1945)
Slide 79 : After the war, Amorsolo went back to painting the bright sun-drenched countryside scenes for which he was most well-known. He reached the peak of his popularity in the late 1940’s and 1950’s garnering numerous awards.Amorsolo’s paintings were in such high demand that he photographed his art works and placed them in an album. Prospective patrons could then choose from his art catalogue and Amorsolo would paint them. Amorsolo did not create exact replicas of his trademark themes but instead recreated the paintings by varying some elements.
Amorsolo, Antipolo Fiesta (1947) : Amorsolo, Antipolo Fiesta (1947)
Slide 81 : Amorsolo by then was so sure of his strokes when he painted that he is able to finish painting a picture in a very short period of time. At one point, he was able to finish ten paintings a month. It is believed that part of his motivation to finish a high number of paintings was to support his large family.Some group of artists criticized Amorsolo’s machine-like efficiency in producing paintings. In the midst of a swarm of criticism, Amorsolo never raised his voice and put up a defense. There was no shortage of people who stood up to defend the artist. Among Amorsolo’s staunchest supporter was his best friend, Guillermo Tolentino, the finest sculptor in the Philippines. When Amorsolo was asked why he never spoke up in his own defense, the artist responded that he had already matured as an artist. He had nothing left to prove and was comfortable painting what he wished in the form of expression that he chose.
Slide 82 : Amorsolo worked until the last year of his life. Age was starting to catch up with him. He was afflicted with diabetes and arthritis in addition to his heart condition. His eyesight was also beginning to fail him and he had to undergo a cataract operation. In his later works, his failing vision led to wayward brush strokes of red and blue lines where a mound of earth should be. Despite these challenges, the quality of his output remained high and his popularity never waned.
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Slide 84 : Four days after the artist died, then President Ferdinand Marcos posthumously conferred on Amorsolo the title National Artist for Painting.
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