essay about national artist fernando amorsolo

Life of an artist: Fernando Amorsolo

essay about national artist fernando amorsolo

Fernando Amorsolo, a Filipino painter, painted rural landscapes and portraits between 1892 and 1972. His skill and expertise with light are what are most renowned about him. Throughout his lifetime, Fernando Cueto Amorsolo created more than ten thousand paintings and sketches employing backlighting and natural illumination. His best-known creations are his paintings of the dalagang Filipina, Filipino landscapes, portraits, and WWII battle scenes.

Career- Philosophy & Style of Work | Fernando Amorsolo

On May 30, 1892, Fernando Amorsolo was born in Manila’s Paco neighborhood. At age 13, he began working as an apprentice for his mother’s first cousin, the renowned Filipino artist Fabian de la Rosa. Amorsolo began his education in 1909 at the Liceo de Manila before enrolling in the University of the Philippines ‘ fine arts program, from which he graduated in 1914. Enrique Zobel de Ayala, a businessman, gave Amorsolo a scholarship to attend the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid in 1916 after creating the Ginebra San Miguel emblem. Diego Velasquez, a painter, had a significant impact on his painting style at this time.

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He spent three years working as a commercial artist and adjunct professor at the institution. He experimented with the use of light and color while sketching for seven months in Madrid’s museums and on the city’s streets. In New York, the works of the postwar impressionists and cubists significantly affected him. He opened his studio when he got back to Manila .

Amorsolo’s most significant contribution to Philippine painting at this time was the development of the use of light, or more specifically, backlight. An Amorsolo painting typically has a glow that the figures are delineated against, and at one point in the canvas, there is typically a burst of light that brings out the minute details.

Amorsolo produced an enormous amount of paintings throughout the 1920s and 1930s. At the New York World’s Fair in 1939, his oil painting Afternoon Meal of the Workers took home the top honor. Amorsolo continued to paint during World War II. Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s image was created in absentia at considerable personal danger for the Philippine collector Don Alfonso Ongpin.

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Amorsolo continued to paint from his Manila house after the start of World War II.

He painted paintings that depicted human sorrow and wartime events together with self-portraits and the Japanese occupation soldiers of the period rather than landscapes with sunny sky. In 1948, the Malacanang presidential palace displayed his wartime artwork. Amorsolo served as the University of the Philippines’ college of fine arts director following the war until resigning in 1950. He had 13 children from two marriages, five of whom became painters.

Many landscape paintings by Filipino painters, especially the early landscape works of abstract painter Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, show Amorsolo’s influence. Portraits were Amorsolo’s specialty. He created oils of all the presidents of the Philippines, as well as revolutionary commander Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and other well-known Philippine personalities.

Due to the demand for his paintings, he cataloged them and created a method to paint them more quickly. Before retiring in the early 1950s, Fernando Amorsolo held various positions throughout his career, including the instructor, a draughtsman for the Public Works, chief artist for the Pacific Commercial Company, illustrator for children’s books, and periodicals, and director of the School of Fine Arts.

Additionally, he painted several depictions of combat, such as Bataan, Corner of Hell, and One Casualty. Despite having arthritis in his hands, Amorsolo painted well until his late 70s. Even in his later works, the trademark tropical sunshine of Amorsolo is present. He claimed to detest “sad and gloomy” artwork ; however, he only produced one painting with raindrops.

Recognition after death

Four days after his demise, Amorsolo was honored as the first National Artist of the Philippines at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. More than 10,000 paintings, sketches, and other pieces of art are estimated to have been created by Amorsolo. Amorsolo considerably influenced contemporary Filipino art and artists outside the so-called “Amorsolo school.”

In order to promote Fernando Amorsolo’s aesthetic and vision, preserve a piece of national history, and uphold his legacy, Amorsolo’s children formed the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation in 2003. Amorsolo’s paintings have achieved record prices at auction thanks to the growth of the Philippine art market since the 2000s.

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On April 28, 2002, a Portrait of Fernanda de Jesus from 1915 auctioned out by Christie’s in Hong Kong for PHP19.136 million set a new record. A 1923 Lavanderas piece held by an American collector that sold for PHP20.83 million at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong later eclipsed this milestone, which was first reached on May 30, 2010.

The popularity of local auction houses in the country significantly increased the value of Amorsolo’s works due to the continuous repatriation of Philippine art in the 2010s.

Mango Gatherers, 1931 work is frequently referred to as the Conde de Peracamps Amorsolo because Antonio Méilan Zóbel, the 4th Count of Peracamps, originally owned it; it was sold at a Leon Gallery auction in Manila on June 9 for a record-breaking PHP46.720 million.

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On February 23, another Leon Gallery auction in Manila saw the highest price for a 1946 Amorsolo genre painting titled Cooking beneath the Mango Tree, which had previously been owned by the Compaa General de Tabacos de Filipinas. Since then, other Amorsolo pieces have sold for more than PHP20 million.

The artist’s post-war works recently broke a record when a 1949 genre piece titled Planting Rice sold for PHP 30.368 million at a Salcedo Auctions sale on March 13, 2021. The Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center in Manila are home to a substantial collection of Amorsolo’s artwork.

Reference :

Spellmangallery.com. 2022. Fernando Amorsolo – Artists – Spellman Gallery. [online] Available at: <https://www.spellmangallery.com/artists/fernando-amorsolo> [Accessed 24 June 2022].

Biography.yourdictionary.com. 2022. Fernando Amorsolo. [online] Available at: <https://biography.yourdictionary.com/fernando-amorsolo> [Accessed 23 June 2022].

Fernandoamorsolo.com. 2022. Fernando Amorsolo Biography – We Buy and Sell Fernando Amorsolo Paintings. [online] Available at: <http://www.fernandoamorsolo.com/Fernando_Amorsolo_Biography.html> [Accessed 25 June 2022].

Fernandocamorsolo.com. 2022. Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation. [online] Available at: <http://www.fernandocamorsolo.com/> [Accessed 25 June 2022].

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Sakshi Jain is a fifth-year architecture student at the Mysore School of Architecture in Mysuru. She believes in creating experiences and exploring - big and small - which explains her love of language. With a rekindled love of reading and a desire to travel, she intends to go places and share her experiences.

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Fernando Amorsolo

The Philippine artist Fernando Amorsolo (1892-1972) was a portraitist and painter of rural land scapes. He is best 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.

During this period, Amorsolo developed the use of light—actually, backlight—which is his greatest contribution to Philippine painting. Characteristically, an Amorsolo painting contains a glow against which the figures are outlined, and at one point of the canvas there is generally a burst of light that highlights the smallest detail.

During the 1920s and 1930s Amorsolo's output of paintings was prodigious. In 1939 his oil Afternoon Meal of the Workers won first prize at the New York World's Fair. During World War II Amorsolo continued to paint. The Philippine collector Don Alfonso Ongpin commissioned him to execute a portrait in absentia of Gen. Douglas MacArthur , which he did at great personal risk. He also painted Japanese occupation soldiers and self-portraits. His wartime paintings were exhibited at the Malacanang presidential palace in 1948. After the war Amorsolo served as director of the college of fine arts of the University of the Philippines, retiring in 1950. Married twice, he had 13 children, five of whom became painters.

Amorsolo was noted for his portraits. He made oils of all the Philippine presidents, including the revolutionary leader Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo , and other noted Philippine figures. He also painted many wartime scenes, including Bataan, Corner of Hell, and One Casualty.

Amorsolo, who died in 1972, is said to have painted more than 10,000 pieces. He continued to paint even in his late 70s, despite arthritis in his hands. Even his late works feature the classic Amorsolo tropical sunlight. He said he hated "sad and gloomy" paintings, and he executed only one painting in which rain appears.

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Additional Information

Prism of Difference: Bamboo, Bayanihan and the Secret Society of "ñtcllg Kztzzstzzszllg Kztñpxllzll"
Will Davis (bio)

The nipa and bamboo house—bahay kubo—is often pointed to as an emblem of Filipino national culture, rustic ingenuity and a traditional, mobile architectural type, captured prominently in the mid-century conservative realist paintings of Fernando Amorsolo. Its humble origin story as a trope of pastoral nationalism, however, obscures its relationship to anticolonial resistance and insurrection toward the close of the 19th century. Using Amorsolo's 1959 painting Bayanihan as a starting point, this text looks at the way in which the nipa and bamboo house was framed by another Filipino national hero, José Rizal, and the effect of his writings on the Katipunan secret society in the years leading up to the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

The signature broad, rough-hewn brush strokes of Fernando Amorsolo depict a nipa and bamboo house being held aloft in its totality by some 30 villagers, against the electric shades of a tropical evening sky ( Figure 1 ). To the right of the frame, a man gestures to the crowd, coaxing them forward. Backlit against the sky, the wide brim of his domed salukot identifies him as a farmer. Bayanihan (1959), the process of a village moving a house in unison, is both the title and subject matter of Amorsolo's painting, and is a typical [End Page 119]

Figure 1. Bayanihan Fernando Amorsolo, Oil on Canvas, 59.8 × 85.2cm, 1959. From the Collection of the University of Santo Tomas Museum, Manila Philippines.

Bayanihan Fernando Amorsolo, Oil on Canvas, 59.8 × 85.2cm, 1959. From the Collection of the University of Santo Tomas Museum, Manila Philippines.

example of the "conservative realist" strain of painting that dominated the Philippine art scene in the period directly following independence from the United States in 1946. 1 From the outside, it would seem that the image is a celebration of pastoral, nationalist pride, with the nipa dwelling—an architecture of community and mobility—as its iconographic centrepiece. Yet the building in question was more mobile and flexible than either nationalism or the painterly traditions that ruminated on it. Indeed, the dwelling has found itself in a swirling sea of contention for over a century, with its iconic triangular silhouette serving as a container for an anti-colonial identity and a resistance movement. Using Amorsolo's Bayanihan as a starting point, this text traces a rough genealogy of the nipa hut through events, writings and observations of the late 19th century that shaped its interpretation, with the Philippine revolution of 1896 as apex. Nipa and bamboo houses were among the meeting places of the Katipunan, a secret society whose leadership came from a mixture of laymen and urban elites, the Ilustrados , who described the dwelling in reverential tones that stirred the sentiments of the anti-colonial insurgency.

Bayanihan was painted the year Amorsolo won the UNESCO National Commission Gold Medal and it was purchased by then-President Diosdado [End Page 120] Macapagal. The international reception of Amorsolo, whose prolific output during his lifetime is estimated at least 10,000 pieces was welded to his status as a poster boy of American-Philippine friendship. However, he might also be identified as a pacifist-survivalist: Amorsolo painted portraits of American generals in the 1930s, then portraits of occupying Japanese soldiers during the Second World War to make a living; his allegiances, like his subjects, were changeable. Amorsolo became famous for his landscape paintings. Despite his detractors (his paintings are not difficult to understand, wrote a critic in 1948, because "there is nothing to understand"), the Filipino landscapes of Amorsolo are hardly empty or apolitical. 2 For architectural historians, landscape paintings are interesting because they reveal a context within which buildings and symbols can be placed. Like their subject matter, the politics of landscapes lie in their innocent ubiquity. The various strands of conservative-, social- and socialist-realism painterly traditions that flourished in the nonaligned world during the 1950s often communicated a romantic pastoral politics in which rural architecture, revealing degrees of craftman-ship and rustic tradition, played a key role. Philippine conservative realism was no different. Casting an eye across thousands of Amorsolo greens, yellows, pastel skies, straw hats and paddy fields, one notices the repeated appearance of the eponymous nipa and bamboo bahay kubo hovering in the background or offered as a shimmering centrepiece.

It would be too straightforward to pin a discussion of Amorsolo's bahay kubo on the increasing mechanization of agriculture, the mood of post-colonial nationalism, or the soothing of politicians who, in the 1950s, were relying on US assistance to quash a rural insurgency in the Central Plain of Luzon. 3 Convincing as this framework may be, it does not adequately explain how embedded the building already was in the landscape, there for Amorsolo and many others' taking. 4 To understand why this architecture is important to pastoral idealism in an imagined national landscape, we must cycle back more than 60 years to 1887, when it existed outside of the American colonial timeframe and was apposite to the Spanish as part of an anticolonial uprising.

Toward the close of the 19th century, Filipinos had become increasingly agitated with their Spanish colonial administrators. News of the various revolutions that rocked Europe in 1848 reached the Philippines through the ilustrados , middle- and upper-class mestizo elite Filipinos, who spent time in Spain studying or conducting business. The splintering of monarchies in Western Europe, with the sole exception of Spain, meant that the gleam of the Enlightenment-era Spanish Empire appeared increasingly dulled beside its reforming European neighbours. 5 France had passed universal suffrage, [End Page 121] Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm had unified Germany, and Italy had declared itself a republic in 1849. For the rest of the world, all of this showed that actions of the citizenry could render results, and the main offshoot was the collapse of traditional monarchies, the key exceptions being the Spanish and the Habsburgs. It could be done, and the reverberations of the Haitian Revolution half a century earlier could still be felt in the islands and archipelagos dominated by extractive colonial regimes. One such ilustrado who travelled in Europe during the decades following these ruptures was José Rizal. A doctor from a middle-class Laguna family, Rizal studied and worked in Madrid, Brussels and Berlin, writing for leftist publications like La Solidaridad whose editorial board consisted of a network of Filipinos studying in European universities. 6 On his return to the Philippines in 1892, Rizal, a polymath who is reputed to have spoken over 22 languages, founded La Liga Filipina , an organization for social reform conceived through his connections among the islands of the archipelago and in Europe. Within months of its founding, La Liga was shut down and Rizal was arrested, to be exiled at Dapitan, a remote province far to the south, on the coast of Mindanao. Among the founders was 19-year-old Andres Bonifacio from Tondo, who went underground, continuing his work for La Liga secretly under the auspices of the "children of the nation" Katipunan revolutionary movement.

The widely accepted version of events during the 1896 "Cry of Balintawak" that heralded the beginning of the Philippine Revolution follows that Bonifacio called to a crowd of assembled katipuneros to theatrically tear up their cédulas personales —their Spanish tax certificates. Thus began the first anticolonial revolution in Asia. 7 As a secret society, the exact location of the events that started the revolution in August 1896 remains obscure, but it is held to have happened in Balintawak, then a farming province on the outskirts of Manila. 8 It took place among nipa and bamboo farm dwellings, according to an eyewitness account, "at the house of Apolonio, reportedly one of the richest men in Balintawak at the time who threw open his barn and butchered his cows, pigs, and chickens for the Katipunan" is significant to the event. 9 The historian Soledad Borromeo notes that this fact is important, since the event is ingrained in the minds of Filipinos as the beginning of a revolution that is on a par with el grito de Dolores in Mexico or the Storming of the Bastille. 10

A Rome of Our Times

To gain access to the mindset of anti-colonialism that helped foment and instigate these events, and to consider how traditional dwellings of nipa and [End Page 122] bamboo were embroiled in the action, we can turn to Noli me Tangere (Touch me Not), perhaps the most famous work of Philippine literature by José Rizal, first published in Berlin in 1887. The Noli is a satire that paints a dismal picture of the Spanish colonial administrators as gluttonous narcissists and follows the tribulations of the protagonist Ibarra, who (like Rizal) returns to the Philippines after studying in Europe for the previous seven years. Returning with new eyes, Ibarra sees his country anew, and the injustices perpetrated by corrupt officials in government and church alike. The novel has been compared to Max Havelaar , the 1860 novel that attacked the activi-ties of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) in Java. 11 Rizal's provides a number of incidences in which we can unpack the role of the built environment for natives and colonial administrators, since the Noli conjures visions and iterations of nipa houses throughout. These serve not only to reify the importance of the dwelling as traditional, but to make it visible as a part of its history.

The neighbourhood of Malate, in Manila is described as a "thatched phoenix rising from its own ashes" where the residents' "thatched-roof houses, somewhat pyramid- or prism-shaped, built, like birds' nests, by the heads of families and hidden among the banana trees". 12 By way of introduction, the dwelling is described as a part of its ecological environment, the plural "heads" of families indicating how they were traditionally built in equal parts by a couple (women weaving nipa palm into panels, men constructing the bamboo framework). 13 It is "hidden away" among the foliage from which it comes, and to which it will return once the life span of the panels expires in a biannual cycle of repair and upkeep. A few pages later, in a description of the small Philippine town of San Diego, Rizal treats the urban context in an energetic exercise in dichotomies:

It was a Rome of our own times with the difference that in place of marble monuments and colosseums it had its monuments of sawali [woven bamboo panels] and its cockpit of nipa. 14 The curate was the Pope in the Vatican; the alferez of the Civil Guard, the King of Italy on the Quirinal: all, it must be understood, on a scale of nipa and bamboo. Here, as there, continual quarreling went on, since each wished to be the master and considered the other an intruder. 15

Outlandish comparisons are drawn up in a purposeful double act. It is both a takedown of corrupt Philippine officials in their comparison with the corruption of the papacy, translated to the urban environment of nipa and sawali . Rizal, ever the translator, renders lightweight materials alongside [End Page 123] marble and masonry while political corruption remains intact across each scenario. Architectural historians have described Rome as an environment scripted by the papacy into a form of sacred urbanis, where the Vatican was not just a physical city but followed pilgrims along the seven axes of the city wherever they went. 16 Rizal conjures the same image "of our own times", in which the translation of scales in spirituality and corruption are passed on to the fraudulent dealings among Spanish guards. Two scripts (urbanism and corruption) that deal with the problems of the administration are held amid humble settings, and he prompts the (Spanish-speaking) reader to notice the key material differences between Rome and the tropics.

As for the corrupt Spanish officials and social climbers, or the "parasites, spongers, and freeloaders that God, in his infinite goodness, has so lovingly multiplied in Manila", the figure of Doña Victorina de los Reyes de Espadaña (Doña Victorina) provides an example of how the colonial Spanish mind encountered native architecture. 17 Victorina, visiting a certain Captain Tiago, shows off all her verbosity,

criticizing the customs of the provincials, their nipa houses, their bamboo bridges; without forgetting to mention to the curate her intimacy with this and that high official and other persons of "quality" who were very fond of her. 18

While Victorina may criticize the places she finds herself in, emphasizing the construction materials of nipa and bamboo, her lack of integrity means that her surroundings are never good enough, that "I wasn't born to live here," as she remarks earlier in the chapter. While Rizal renders Victorina through colonial caricature and her disdain for her living conditions, he indicates a subtle reification of its importance.

The Secret Society of "ñtcllg Kztzzstzzszllg Kztñpxllzll"

Penned in a small booklet of 44 pages fashioned from 11 sheets of paper folded together, the founding document of the Katipunan—the secret society of which Rizal, without his knowledge, was made honorary president—appeared in 1892, five years after the Noli 's first printing. The document declared that the Noli invited Filipinos "to observe the reality by our brave and beloved brother Mr. Rizal" 19 ( Figure 2 ). "We should not believe the honeyed words about being guided and tutored," laments the opening of the document, which listed 22 abuses and forms of treachery committed by their colonial oppressors, " E… " (España, the country they do not call by [End Page 124]

"Casaysayan; Pinagcasunduan; Manga daquilang cautosan", January 1892. España. Ministerio de Defensa, Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.37.

name). Written in cipher, the document stated: "Be it declared that from this day forward this archipelago is separated from Spain, and that no leadership is to be recognized other than this Supreme Katipunan." 20 With that, the Katipunan had declared themselves the first republic in Asia, one that would remake the archipelago, "these islands, which in time will be given a proper name" (other than that of a 16th-century Spanish prince understood to be part of the grammar of colonization from which they wish to break free).

Though he never intended for his two novels, the Noli and El Filibusterismo , to incite a revolution, the Spanish administrators had identified Rizal by proxy as one of the key instigators. After his exile in Dapitan, he was convicted of sedition, conspiracy and rebellion. Though he had little direct [End Page 125] contact with Katipuneros at this stage, his implication was entirely through his writings. Only four months after the revolution began with the "Cry of Balintawak", Rizal was executed by firing squad in Manila on 30 December 1896, solidifying his reputation as a martyr. It would be tempting to confuse this spirited organizing with nationalism, and the assumption would not be entirely incorrect (Rizal is remembered as a "national" hero today). But a more persuasive argument against calling it nationalism can be sensed in the Katipunan's predecessor, La Liga Filipina—a league—a network of minds, rather than a nation. If this is true, then it was identity that was at stake, and identity was crucial for autonomy. The frame of nationhood, so often seen retrospectively as necessary for colonial emancipation, was less important than self-determination. The league emphasized being a subject unto oneself, and colonial indifference to such perceptions still frames much of the struggle for independence that was already being sought throughout the 19th century.

Nationhood, others have argued, was a 20th-century framework for understanding sovereignty, territoriality, language and borders. 21 However, it is a powerful enough device that it inflects the way former colonial histories are viewed, making the specificity of resistance movements in the 19th century subject to frameworks of nationhood that would arrive much later. Nineteenth-century internationalism was, as exemplified by La Liga Filipina and the Katipunan, more complex than the kind of nation-based internationalism that would come in the 20th century because it relied on tropes—symbols, signs and in this case buildings—that sat outside of imposed colonial narratives. While Rizal created a caricature of Doña Victorina, providing an example of how Spanish colonists perceived native dwellings, he subverted her disdain into an opportunity to show the built environment as something she could not ever really know. Nipa and bamboo, in Rizal's telling, was an opportunity for self-identity on the urban scale. With this in mind, the nipa and bamboo dwelling offered a fitting shape for the Katipunan's self-identification as communal, flexible and self-sufficient.

Light Materials

A single photograph helps link the twin anti-colonial narratives of Katipunan organizing and Rizal's writing, and it helps to fill the gap of 60 years that lie between the Philippine Revolution and Amorsolo's Bayanihan . It was taken by an administrator of the Bureau of Science, dated 1911, of a "nipa district" in Tondo ( Figure 3 ). Tondo was one of the organizational bases of the Katipunan in the 1890s, a district on the outskirts of Manila. 22 Tondo [End Page 126]

"Nipa district in Tondo, Manila, P.I.", 1911. Bureau of Science, Thurlow & Fournier Collection, Ortigas Library, Manila.

was where Katipunan members were recruited and pamphlets were secretly circulated among a growing network of Katipuneros there and in the outlying provinces of Manila. In the image, we see that the border between road and houses is lined with a perimeter of fencing, concealing the living arrangements beyond from view. In its urban agglomeration, the nipa and bamboo dwelling is thus different from the individual, single house that Amorsolo provides. Here we see what Rizal was talking about as a "nipa phoenix": an accumulation of one building material that makes for an entire urban district that the photographer describes by its use of a single plant material. Providing a convenient camouflage in their ubiquity, nipa and bamboo were the backdrop of this organizing; indeed, their mundanity was the essence of secrecy.

The date, however, reveals a further aspect of American colonial Manila during a time of transformation. A year earlier, the Bureau of Health had begun a campaign to sanitize the city, creating a "sanitary barrio" that involved open sewage systems and the sorting of divisions of the city according to construction materials. Architectural historian Diana Martinez has shown how the Bureau of Health condemned the use of tropical building materials for their alleged spreading of disease, dividing Manila into light materials and heavy materials districts. Such light materials districts, she describes, were to be eventually replaced by heavy material districts of stone, masonry and eventually concrete, ostensibly impervious to cholera and other diseases. 23 It was material difference itself that constituted the deciding factor in hygiene and thus what was allowable, and the restrictions placed on light materials districts meant that they could not be maintained, allowed intentionally to fall into disrepair. What is striking about this division of materiality into heavy and light is the attention that American colonial administrators paid to what they deemed inferior, even hazardous. Indeed, the fact that nipa and [End Page 127] bamboo construction persisted well beyond Amorsolo's time is proof of its obdurate, perennial character, like the plants of nipa palm themselves (they are classified as a weed).

Colonial perspectives on the nipa dwelling, whether Spanish or American, consistently vilified a construction method equated with racial stereotypes. Thus, its use value for anti-colonial literature, revolutionary insurrectionists and nostalgic pastoral-nationalism renders a service in the form of "prism-shaped" thatched houses. For mid-century painters like Amorsolo, the trope of nationalism to which the nipa and bamboo house was attached came not through a nation prescribed from above (in its Spanish or American guises), but relied on an anti-colonial framework formed through, for example, Rizal's writing and the meetings of the Katipunan who were inspired by them. The prism of difference is a house typology whose construction methods, form and interpretation is continually refracted in every time period and every encounter. [End Page 128]

Will Davis is interested in architectural histories of colonialism, hydropolitics and folk narratives of environmentalism. His recently completed dissertation project, "Palm Politics: Warfare, Folklore, and Architecture" investigated dam-building and extractive agribusiness in the Philippines and wider Southeast Asia through the intersections of folklore and warfare in the 20th century. He teaches history, theory and criticism at the Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore.

1. The Amorsolo family gifted Bayanihan to the Museum of the University of Santo Tomas in 1998. R.C. Ladrido, "A Second Look: The Conservative and the Realist Tradition in Philippine Art". Vargas Museum, 2019. https://verafiles.org/articles/second-look-conservative-and-realist-tradition-philippine-ar [accessed 28 May 2020] ; Jorge B. Vargas Museum, "Revisiting the Conservative". Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center (blog), 13 April 2019, https://vargasmuseum.wordpress.com/2019/04/13/revisiting-the-conservative/ .

2. Leo Benesa, "What is Philippine about Philippine Art?", Philippine Sunday Express , 16 November 1975, pp. 24–7 .

3. The Hukbalahap insurgency, which lasted from 1945 to 1955, grew out of the organized resistance of Filipino farmers to the unfair tenant farming system in Central Luzon. Fuelled by anti-communist suspicion, the United States Armed Forces in the Far East provided assistance for crushing the rebellion. Nick Cullather, "America's Boy? Ramon Magsaysay and the Illusion of Influence", Pacific Historical Review 62, 3 (1993): 305–38 .

4. Other conservative realists of the "Mabini Art" circle who relied on the bahay kubo include: Elias Laxa, Romeo Enriquez, Cesar Buenaventura, Crispin Lopez, Serafin Serna, Miguel Galvez, Isidro Ancheta, Antonio Dumlao, Wenceslao Garcia, Gabriel Custodio, Ben Alano, Simon Saulog and Diosdado Lorenzo. R.C. Ladrido, "A Second Look: The Conservative and the Realist Tradition in Philippine Art", Vargas Museum, 2019, https://verafiles.org/articles/second-look-conservative-andrealist-tradition-philippine-ar [accessed 28 May 2020] .

5. Ergasto Ramón Arango, Spain, from Repression to Renewal (Westview Press, 1985), pp. 49–52, 109 . Teresita Miranda-Tchou, "Art as Political Subtext: A Philippine Centennial Perspective on Francisco Goya's Junta de la Réal Compañia de Filipinas (1815)", Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 24, 3/4 (1996): 206 .

6. La Solidaridad has long been recognized as the heart of the "propaganda movement", a project of the Comité de Propaganda of Manila to promote political reforms in the Philippines by appealing to a Spanish government in the peninsula that was more liberal and secular than that in the Philippines. John N. Schumacher, S.J., The making of a nation: Essays on nineteenth-century Filipino nationalism (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1991) . Megan C. Thomas, "Isabelo de Los Reyes and the Philippine Contemporaries of La Solidaridad", Philippine Studies 54, 3 (2006): 398 .

7. Alternately called the "Cry of Pugad Lawin", the controversy is set out by Soledad Masangkay Borromeo in The Cry of Balintawak: A contrived controversy (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1998), pp. 24–5 .

8. The discreet fact of the location in which the occasion took place is the subject of controversy. Today it is engulfed by Metro Manila.

9. The onlooker was Vicente Samson, a 12-year-old boy, whose account is retold in: Borromeo, The Cry of Balintawak , p. 33 .

10. Ibid., p. 3.

11. Though the novels have been compared, their similarities lie mainly in terms of their anti-colonial narrative and geographical setting. Multatuli was the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker, a white Dutchman who spent time in the Dutch East Indies, while Rizal was Filipino, and while Multatuli criticized the workings of a capitalist extractive system, which was the case of the VOC, Rizal concentrated on the overlapping of church and state in creating an unjust society. Max Havelaar was published by Jakob van Lennep, who changed many of the names and disguised various aspects of the book, circulating it only to close friends. The book came out in 1875 and caused a sensation, sending "shudder" through the Dutch nation. Rizal read it in 1888, and in a letter to his friend and publisher Blumentritt, wrote, "Multatuli's book, which I shall send you as soon as I receive it, is extraordinarily interesting. Without doubt it is much superior to mine. But, as the author himself is Dutch, his attacks are not as violent as mine are." [ The Rizal-Blumentritt Correspondence , Vol. 2: 1890–1896, trans. Encarnacion Alzona (Manila: Jose Rizal National Centennial Commission), p. 219.] Peter Schreurs, "Multatuli, A Soul-Brother of Rizal", Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 14, 3 (1986): 189–95 ; Multatuli, Max Havelaar, of De Koffij-Veilingen Der Nederlandsche Handelsmaatschappij , 3. druk (Amsterdam: K.H. Schadd, 1871) .

12. Jose Rizal, Noli Me Tangere: Touch Me Not , trans. Harold Augenbraum (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), p. 55 .

13. Donn V. Hart, The Cebuan Filipino Dwelling in Caticugan: Its Construction and Cultural Aspects . Yale University, Southeast Asia Studies, Cultural Report Series (New Haven: Yale University, Southeast Asia Studies, 1959) .

14. A traditional "cockpit" is here a space for cockfighting.

15. Rizal's original text reads "era como la Roma contemporánea con la diferencia de que en vez de monumentos de mármol y coliseos, tenía monumentos de saualî y gallera de nipa […] se entiende, todo en proporción con el saualî y la gallera de nipa" (p. 73). I have used the 2014 Augenbraum translation in this case since it remains most faithful to the original Spanish. Rizal, Noli (Augenbraum 2014), p. 66 .

16. Robin Evans, Translations from Drawing to Building (MIT Press, 1997) .

17. From the introduction, "los parásutism moscas ó colados". Rizal, Noli , p. 5 .

18. "Se habló del viaje; doña Victorina lució su verbosidad criticando las costumbres de los provincianos, sus casas de nipa, los puentes de caña, sin olvidarse de decir al cura sus amistades con el segundo cabo, con el alcalde tal, con el oidor cual, con el intendente, etc." (p. 226 Spanish; p. 285 Eng. trans).

19. "Casaysayan; Pinagcasundoan; Manga daquilang cautosan", January 1892. Archivo General Militar de Madrid: Caja 5677, leg.1.37 .

20. The original text reads: "Ysñllzszyszy vzg bxfzt sz zrzc llz ñtc llz zllg vzllgz Kzpxjczllg ñtc zy fxvllfllwzjzy sz Qspzllñz zt wzlzllg kñllñkñjzjz zt kñkñjzlljñllg Pzvxvxllc kxllg dñ ñtcllg Kztzzstzzszllg Kztñpxllzll." Deciphered, this becomes: Ysinasaysay mag buhat sa arao na ito na ang manga Kapuloang ito ay humihiwalay sa Espania at walang kinikilala at kikilanling Pamumuno kung di itong Kataastaasang Katipunan . "Casaysayan; Pinagcasundoan; Manga daquilang cautosan", January 1892 .

21. While Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities delivered a powerful demand for reinterpreting nationalism, in this context it is his later work, Under Three Flags , that is useful for interpreting proto-nationalism and its alternatives: Benedict R. O'G Anderson, Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination (London; New York: Verso, 2005) .

22. Jim Richardson, "Notes on the Katipunan in Manila, 1892–96", Katipunan: Documents and Studies , http://www.kasaysayan-kkk.info/ [accessed January 2021] .

23. Martinez notes that "despite claims that it was a more enlightened and democratic ruler than its colonial predecessors, the American colonial regime's policies of segregation were no less real than those of the Spanish […] articulated in the banal technocratic language of building code." Diana Jean Sandoval Martinez, "Concrete Colonialism: Architecture, Urbanism, Infrastructure, and the American Colonial Project in the Philippines". PhD dissertation, 2017, p. 193.

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHILIPPINE ART

Planting Rice [Fernando Amorsolo]

1921 / Oil on canvas / 95.5 x 131 cm / Artist: Fernando Amorsolo / Felisa Valenzuela Hocson collection

This 1921 oil painting by Fernando Amorsolo (Roa 1992, 97) is the earliest known version of a series of works, also titled Planting Rice , done by Amorsolo from 1921 to 1944. Another larger version, also titled Planting Rice and dated 1924, is in the Paulino and Hetty Que collection (Cruz 2008, 96-7). Both paintings share almost the same composition. The scene is set in a wet rice field with shallow pilapil (rice paddy) hedges forming orthogonal patterns rising toward the left horizon line. The field is populated by three groups of farmers. Three women in the left foreground are centered around a woman standing with her back to the viewer, a red tapis (outer skirt layer) covering her checkered saya (dress), and her right sleeve undone to show her bare shoulder. A second group is in the middle ground composed of nine figures positioned around another woman wearing a flaming orange saya and conical hat. A third group is in the right background, broken into a left grouping of two farmers with carabaos, and another seven farmers planting rice on the right. The horizon is dominated by a slight rise at upper-middle left, surmounted by a church with a single bell tower at its center pediment surrounded by trees. The sky is heavy with gray rain clouds, indicating that this is monsoon planting season, and casts a slight overcast light over the scene. An openwork basket filled with rice shoots ready for planting is at the center foreground, counterbalancing both the church at the upper-left background and the figures distributed from left foreground to right background. The 1924 version varies via the use of a slightly more intense sunlight, throwing most of the human figures under stronger shadows, and lighting up the rice shoots in the foreground, as well as the planted rice field in the left background.

Amorsolo’s Planting Rice is a recapitulation of Fabian de la Rosa ’s 1904 prizewinning entry at the Saint Louis World’s Exposition, but situates it in a more suburban milieu. The highly sensualized depictions of women farmers (Roa 1992, 96-97) also change Amorsolo’s narration of the rice planting scene from a depiction of agrarian economic production to a more nuanced association of agriculture with female fertility and reproductive sexuality. The use of more vigorous brushwork, particularly on the clothing and bare shoulder of the woman at left foreground, also indicates Amorsolo’s adaptation of Spanish Impressionist models like that of Joaquin Sorolla, albeit still modulated with a leaden gray lighting in tune with the academic classicism of Fabian de la Rosa. The various versions of Planting Rice also confirm Amorsolo’s habit of making multiples of the same title with slight variations, a trait also taken from de la Rosa. In no small part due to Amorsolo, the subsequent patronage from art collectors, and repeated appearances in educational publications, “planting rice” as a subject matter in painting became an iconic image in Philippine art history.

Written by Reuben R. Cañete

Castañeda, Dominador. 1964. Art in the Philippines . Quezon City: Office of Research Coordination, University of the Philippines.

Cruz, May Lyn. 2008. “Philippine Staple: The Land, The Harvest, and the Maestro.” In Fernando Amorsolo: Seven-Museum Exhibition , 89-113. Manila: ArtPostAsia.

Roa, Lourdes R. 1992. “The Leap to Modernism.” In Art Philippines, A History: 1521-Present , edited by Juan T. Gatbonton, 65-115. Mandaluyong City: The Crucible Workshop.

Roces, Alfredo R. 1975. Amorsolo (1892-1972) . Makati: Filipinas Foundation.

This article is from the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art Digital Edition.

Title: Planting Rice [Fernando Amorsolo]

Author/s: Written by Reuben R. Cañete

Publication Date: November 18, 2020

Access Date: May 31, 2024

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Inspiration from the outdoors and lessons from a National Artist

PAINTINGS by National Artists Arturo Luz, Fernando Amorsolo, and Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera hang on the walls along the entrance hallway of Ivan Acuña’s apartment in Mandaluyong. In his living room, more of his painting collection is stacked on the floor. Across them are pieces of Chinese porcelain displayed above cabinets against the window. The collection of paintings and cityscape view from his apartment are where he draws inspiration for his own abstract paintings.

WEEKENDS WITH JOYA Mr. Acuña’s exposure to the visual arts began as a child when he made friends with his neighbor, Alex Baldovino, who happened to be a nephew of National Artist for Visual Arts Jose Joya.

From the first grade onwards, he and Alex would visit Mr. Joya in his studio on weekends to observe the late painter while he worked.

Mr. Acuña recalled that Mr. Joya would order 3M Pizza along with Fress Gusto root beer soda for them as they sat quietly to watch him work. “That’s where I started to accumulate the techniques and styles. Eventually, I grew to like abstract,” Mr. Acuña told BusinessWorld in an interview on June 14 in Mandaluyong city.

ON ABSTRACTS As an abstract expressionist who took note of the techniques of a National Artist, he adapted Joya’s impasto painting style or the application of thick paste to create texture.

“There no plan. From a white blank canvas to a heavy impasto colored canvas,” he said of his creative process.

He draws most of his inspiration from the outdoors, citing walls of old buildings, and old cities as scenes with “a lot of character.”

Mr. Acuña pursued a degree in Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines. In the 1990s, he attended art workshops in Brisbane, Australia. His notable exhibits include one at Prestige Motors BMW in Makati in 2004.

Since then, Mr. Acuña has specialized on beautification of spaces.

As an artist, he prefers to collaborate with designers, architects, and real estate developers rather than hold exhibits in galleries. His paintings are often collaborations with interior designers Budgi Layug and Anton Mendoza, and architect Gil Cosculuela.

“It has something to do with my photography,” he said, stating that he began his career as an interior photographer before trading the camera for the canvas and paint brush.

ACCIDENTAL PAINTING One of his memorable works with which he noted the use of an “accidental technique” was his a canvas in his Metalscape series of 2006.

Sometime in the 2000s, he had to travel from Baguio (where he was based at the time) to Manila to show a sample painting for a hotel. He was driving a pickup and placed the painting at the back of the vehicle. The artwork only needed a final layer which he planned to finish in Manila. “But what happened was, the canvas fell on the road in Pangasinan. After more than a kilometer, somebody noticed that the canvas fell [off],” he recalled.

“ Pag kita ko , napunit (when I saw it, there was a tear on the canvas). But I had no time. When I reached Manila, I had to present it.” He had to quickly cover the torn portion with thick impasto.

Mr. Acuña showed this writer a photo of the artwork on his phone. The gold canvas had a straight cut off on one side. When his client saw the work he said, “Fantastic!”

The canvas is on view on a wall above the escalators at the lobby of New World Manila Bay Hotel.

“Basically with abstract, wala naman figure ’yun eh (There is no figure in it). So you have to let your audience feel [it] and call their attention,” he said.

Mr. Acuña’s ongoing series — titled Metalscape and Hamilo Coast — are distinguished by the use of gold paint and a combination of bold color accents.

Falling off a pick-up truck is not part of their creation. For more information on the artist and his works, visit https://www.facebook.com/ivanacunapaintings/ . — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

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“Flag Of Our Mothers”: Little-Known Facts About The Trio Who Made The Philippine Flag

Editor’s note: This work was republished with permission by the Manila Bulletin. This is the original article.

Fernando Amorsolo’s “The Making of the Philippine Flag” and Napoleon Abueva’s sculpture with the same subjects have something in common.

Both works of art, although revered for their outstanding craftsmanship, have perpetuated the misleading idea that our first flag was made by three grown-up women.

It doesn’t help that our history books are rife with information that put more emphasis on the flag itself than on the three women who turned Aguinaldo’s sketch into a tangible reality.

No mention of their struggles to polish the flag’s minute details, nor of the fact that one of them was a child who could have spent her time playing patintero , and that their roles as flagmakers were more important than we give them credit for.

History In a Thimble

Sitting inside a glass case somewhere at Malacañang Museum is an antique thimble supposedly used by Marcela Agoncillo to sew the original Philippine flag. It is said that it only took her five days with the help of her daughter and a family friend to complete the flag.

But the story of how she became the principal seamstress of our first flag started all the way back in her childhood.

Born in the embroidery capital of Taal, Batangas, Doña Marcela learned the basics of needlework from the Beaterio de Santa Catalina , a convent school for girls in Intramuros. She married another Batangueño, Felipe Agoncillo, who would later become the first Filipino diplomat.

The Agoncillos was an illustrious but patriotic family. They involved themselves in several causes concerning their countrymen. Don Felipe even once put a sign on his door that says “To the poor: Open at all hours, free services.”

Soon, the Spanish colonial officials accused him of being a filibustero or enemy of the State and Church, prompting him to escape to Yokohama via a Japanese vessel, later transferring to Hong Kong, then a British colony.

Doña Marcela, along with their three daughters, followed Don Felipe after 22 months. To support her family, she had to sell the jewelry that was once part of their family heirlooms. She also sewed and sold children’s pinafores in Hong Kong to bolster her income.

Their residence at 535 Morrison Hill Road in Wan Chai eventually welcomed other Filipino revolutionary exiles like General Antonio Luna who, as Doña Marcela recalled, was fond of cooking European dishes.

Another notable figure who took refuge in the Agoncillo residence was Emilio Aguinaldo , who was exiled to Hong Kong following the signing of Pact of Biak-na-Bato in 1897.

While in the British colony, the general founded the Hong Kong Junta with Felipe Agoncillo. The movement served as their eyes and ears that followed the political developments in their home country.

Having been told of Doña Marcela’s knack for embroidery, Aguinaldo asked the Agoncillo matriarch to do a pivotal project—the making of the first Philippine flag.

Flag of Our Mothers

During the Philippine Revolution, what was once considered a useless art spawned creations that boosted the morale of men in the battlefields. The fine skill of embroidery was used by women to create revolutionary flags and banners, which in turn inspired the men, so much so that they became a source of protection or anting-anting.

Women took pride in lending their skills for the Revolution, so did Doña Marcela when she accepted the responsibility given by Aguinaldo. With the help of her seven-year-old daughter Lorenza Agoncillo and Rizal’s niece, Josefina (or Delfina in other sources) Herbosa Natividad, Doña Marcela meticulously cut, sewed and embroidered the silk cloth she bought from a nearby store.

The painstaking process took a little bit of trial and error. Doña Marcela recounted that she and Natividad “unstitched what was already sewn simply because a ray was crooked, or because the stars were not… equidistant.” After five laborious days, the flag was finally complete.

The 1898 flag is slightly different from the Philippine flag we know today. It features an anthropomorphic sun as well as open and closed laurel wreaths surrounding an inscription in the center.

The text in the obverse reads Fuerzas Expeditionarias del Norte de Luzon (Expeditionary Forces of Northern Luzon) while the reverse shows the words Libertad Justicia e Ygualdad (Liberty, Justice, and Equality).

Doña Marcela personally delivered the flag to Aguinaldo on May 17, 1898 shortly before he set sail for Manila on board the ship McCulloch. Several days later, the same flag was unfurled from the window of Aguinaldo’s house in Kawit, Cavite , during which Philippine independence as we know it today was officially proclaimed.

Three Women, One Flag

Although most of us are familiar with what became of the first Philippine flag, the same cannot be said for the trio who breathed life into Aguinaldo’s design.

Doña Marcela, or Lola Celay as she was fondly called later in life, gave birth to two more daughters. They all grew up to become accomplished women in the society, with Gregoria (or Goring) becoming the first Filipina to graduate from the prestigious Oxford University.

Lola Celay continued to support her husband Felipe when he became the country’s first diplomat who fought hard to make other countries recognize our independence. After returning to the Philippines, Don Felipe became engaged in public service while Doña Marcela spent most of her time in charitable activities.

Lorenza or Enchang, the child who assisted her mother in sewing the Filipino flag, dedicated her life to teaching. She taught at the Malate Catholic School for 50 years, a feat duly recognized by the institution through a plaque of merit. Lorenza died at the ripe old age of 81 in 1972.

Delfina Herbosa-Natividad’s life, although short, was equally meaningful. Before she cemented her place in Philippine history as a flagmaker, she was a Katipunera. She joined the revolutionary group at the tender age of 13, fueled by the injustices of the Spaniards against her uncle, the martyr Jose Rizal, and her own father who was denied of a Christian burial simply because he had not gone to confession.

As a young Katipunera, she fought several battles along with her husband Jose Salvador Natividad, one of the revolutionary leaders at Biak-na-Bato who were exiled in Hong Kong. Little is known about her final years but the tragic death of her daughter reportedly sent her into a downward spiral leading to her untimely death in 1900 at the age of 21.

A housewife, a seven-year-old child, and a young Katipunera. One fateful day in 1898, these three women had their paths converge in Hong Kong to create a flag that symbolized the rebirth of a nation.

A flag that brings with it stories of patriotism, heartbreaks, and struggles of the trio who represented all the unsung heroines of the Revolution, young and old. Stories that will continue to inspire the heroes in us—if only we open our ears.

Written by FilipiKnow

in History and Politics , Today I Learned

Last Updated April 1, 2022 04:03 PM

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Morning in the Rice Field

Brought to you by, more from asian 20th century art (day sale).

B.L.A.S.T. – Live Life to the Fullest ……… Don't Stay Put

Gallery viii (national museum of fine arts, manila).

Gallery VIII

Gallery VIII, a permanent exhibit at the second floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts , features 20 paintings by Filipino artists who want to show the painful and hard life during the Imperial Japanese Occupation during 1941 to 1945, liberation of the Philippines by American and Filipino forces and the damage that happened in Manila during the war. Unofficially dubbed as the “War Gallery,” it contains images that may be disturbing to some viewers due to its disturbing, violent and graphic scenes.

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Gallery entrance

National Artist for the Visual Arts (1972) Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (1882 – 1972), a known portraitist and a painter of rural Filipino life, also witnessed and experienced the stark reality and ravages of World War II , choosing city-dwellers coping with the Japanese Occupation as one his subjects. Amorsolo spent his days at his home near the Japanese garrison and he documented the destruction of many landmarks in Manila and the pain, tragedy and death experienced by Filipino people, with his subjects including “women mourning their dead husbands, files of people with pushcarts and makeshift bags leaving a dark burning city tinged with red from fire and blood.

Burning of Manila (Fernando C. Amorsolo, 1942)

Due to this time of war, from his light and peaceful creations, he shifted to scenes of destruction. The 9.8 x 12.5 in. Burning of Manila (1942) depicts Manila ravaged and almost engulfed in flames. Upon closer inspection, you can also see Filipinos fleeing from the scene, carrying their meager possessions.

Ruins of the Legislative Building (Fernando C. Amorsolo, 1945, oil on canas)

The 31.4 x 39 cm. Ruins of the Legislative Building (1945, oil on masonite) is a study of stark contrast where destruction is set against the nonchalant beauty of the sky, a silent yet poignant testament to the human folly and the transitory nature of reality.

Burning of Sto. Domingo Church (Fernando C. Amorsolo, 1942, oil on canvas)

The Burning of Sto. Domingo Church (1942) captures, on canvas, the magnitude and intensity of the fire through his trademark application of hues, texture and perspective, as well as the concerted effort of the firemen and the Dominican clergy to save the sanctuary.

Ruined Gate of Fort Santiago (Nena L. Saguil, 1949, oil on canvas) (1)

Simplicia “Nena L. Saguil (1914 – 1994), a pioneering female abstract painter, has two oil on canvas paintings on display, both painted in 1949 – Ruined Gate of Fort Santiago (a small but quite powerful reminder of the importance of preserving our built heritage from the vagaries of war) and Ruins of Quiapo Street .

Ruins of Quiapo Street (Nena L. Saguil, 1949, oil on canvas)

Right after the Liberation of Manila in 1945, when the country was still reeling from the shock of over 100,000 men, women and children slaughtered, bayoneted and senselessly butchered in Manila, Nueva-Ecija born Diosdado Magno Lorenzo (1906 – 1984), well known for his expressionist landscapes rendered in cool, bright and striking tones of white and blue, did his 200 x 173 cm. Rape and Massacre in Ermita (1947, oil on canvas), one of his largest artworks.

Rape and Massacre in Ermita (Diosdado M. Lorenzo, 1947, oil on canvas)

A particularly haunting image of violence, it depicts a typical scenario during World War II where Imperial Japanese soldiers attack a Filipino family’s home in Ermita . Lorenzo showed, with harrowing clarity, how Filipino men were slain, women were raped, stabbed and shot, and helpless children were orphaned when Japanese soldiers attacked. In the background, a woman with long hair is naked and hurt.

Ruins of Escolta (Diosdado Lorenzo, 1946)

Lorenzo also portrayed the destruction wrought on the city’s business district in his Ruins of Escolta (1946) and Ruins of Sales Street, Quiapo .

Ruins of Sales Street, Quiapo (Diosdado M. Lorenzo, 1946, oil on wood)

Dominador Hilario Castaneda (1904 – 1976), a contemporary of Fernando Amorsolo , diverged from the characteristic style of the Amorsolo School and a different direction, especially in terms of color. On display in this gallery are four of his paintings that depict the horrors of war as a personal one in this dark era – Doomed Family (1945), Death March (1948, oil on canvas), Ravaged Manila (1945, oil on canvas) and Fugitive from the Japanese (1944, oil on board).

Doomed Family (Dominador Castaneda, 1945, oil on lawanit)

His Doomed Family is a harrowing piece showing a dead Filipina lying exposed while the rest of the family are bound and bruised.

Death March (Dominador Castaneda, 1948, oil on canvas)

The eye-catching Death March shows dead Filipino soldiers lying on the road while other soldiers help each other get through the Death March .

Ravaged Manila (Dominador Castaneda, 1945, oil on canvas)

Ravaged Manila , looking dull, lifeless and full of negative emotions from the scene, shows children slaughtered on the ground.

A Tragic Lesson (The Fall of Bataan) (Gene Cabrera,1957, oil on canvas)

A Tragic Lesson ( The Fall of Bataan , 1957, oil on canvas) by Gene Cabrera (1919 – 1988) features skulls that stare out into the audience as a reminder of the devastation that can occur when people are at war. The title “A Tragic Lesson” gives it newfound relevance in these tumultuous times, reminding those who view it that we’ve been here before and this is what happened.

Japanese Atrocities (Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, Sr., 1945, oil on canvas)

Japanese Atrocities (1945, oil on canvas) of Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, Sr. (1912 -2017) shows a Japanese soldier about to behead a father, while the mother and child beg for his life.

Evacuation (Oscar Espiritu, 1949, oil on canvas)

Evacuation (1949), an oil on canvas of Oscar R. Espiritu (1895 – 1960), shows the savagery of war that left many people homeless, forcing to flee the war-torn city.

Capas (Demetrio Diego, 1948, oil on canvas)

Capas (1948, oil on canvas), of Demetrio Diego (1909 – 1988), the former chief artist of the Sunday Times Magazine , depicts the slow and agonizing deaths of Filipino prisoners-of-war in a Tarlac internment camp. The prisoner in the center, in a noble but futile act, seems to check on the condition of the companion beside him while a malnourished man, seated at a bamboo bed, seems ready to die.

Graveyard Scene (Carlos Valino, Jr., undated, oil on canvas)

Other artists and paintings featured include Graveyard Scene (undated, oil on canvas) of Carlos P. Valino (1926 – 2008); and Mealtime at the Prison Camp (1945, oil on canvas) of Wenceslao S. Garcia (1915 – 1979).

Mealtime at the Prison Camp (Wenceslao Garcia, 1945,oil on canvas)

The joys of liberation from the Japanese are portrayed by the Landing of Liberation Forces in Lingayen (1940, oil on wood) of Eduardo Perrenoud, Jr. (1913 – 1995) and Leyte Landing (1948, oil on board) of Romeo V. Tabuena (1921 – 2015)

Landing of Liberation Forces in Lingayen (Eduardo Perrenoud, 1940, oil on wood)

Aside from paintings, also on display are sculptural pieces such as Bataan Death Marcher , undated, metal and wood) of Gene Cabrera and Homage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt , 1946, wood) by Graciano T. Nepomuceno (1881 – 1974).

Bataan Death Marcher (Gene Cabrera, undated, metal and wood)

Homage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Graciano T. Nepomuceno, 1946, wood)

A Plea for Freedom from Fear (1949, plaster of paris ), by Fermin Gomez, is a reflection of the anguish of an entire generation that lived through the horrors of war. It depicts a destitute mother, holding her sleeping baby with two of her children crouching on her skirt in fear (with another lifeless child on the ground), standing and shouting, pleading with tearful, defiant eyes.

A Plea for Freedom From Fear (Fermin Gomez, 1949, plaster of paris)

Gallery VIII : Silvina & Juan C. Laya Hall, North Wing Galleries, House Floor, 2/F National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA), Padre Burgos Avenue , Ermita, Manila 1000, Metro Manila. Tel: (632) 8527-1215 and (632) 8298-1100. Email: [email protected] . Website: nationalmuseum.gov.ph . Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 9 AM – 4PM. Admission is free. Coordinates: 14°35′13″N 120°58′52″E .

Visitors shall be limited to 100 per museum per session. Visitors are required to pre-book online at https://reservation.nationalmuseum.gov at least a day before the visit. Confirmation of booking will be sent through email. Group reservations are limited to five (5) persons only. Walk-in visitors will NOT be accommodated.

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Recognitions of Fernando Amorsolo

Held a one-man exhibit at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York, exhibiting 40 paintings (1925)
First Prize for General Painting at the Manila Carnival Commercial and Industrial Fair (1927)
First Prize for his painting “Afternoon Meal of Rice Workers” at the New York World’s Fair competing with other paintings from over 79 countries (1939)
Exhibited at the Missionary Art Exhibit in Rome with two of his historical paintings entitled “Faith Among the Ruins” and Baptism of Rajah Humabon” (1950)
Exhibited at the International Exposition at the Civetas Des Vatican Pavilion in Brussels, Belgium (1958)
Gold Medal of Recognition from the UNESCO National Commission (1959)
Rizal-Pro Patria Award and Doctor of Humanities (Honoris Causa) from the Far Eastern University (1961)
Diploma of Merit from the University of the Philippines (1962)
Araw ng Maynila Award for Painting (1963)
Cultural Heritage Award from Independence Day National Committee (1963)
First National Artist of the Republic of the Philippines (1972)
Amorsolo Retrospective Exhibit at the National Museum at the Department of Tourism in May (1975)
Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, Manila, “Lupang Hinirang, Alay ni Amorsolo” in June (1989)
Celebration of his Centennial year: The Presidential Commission on Culture and Arts sponsored the “Launching of The Amorsolo Centennial” on May 27 at Galleria de las Islas, El Amancer, Intramuros, Manila (1992)
Exhibition at the Lopez Museum, “Amorsolo Drawings” (1992)
Exhibition at the National Museum, “Larawan” (1992)
Exhibition at the Ayala Museum, “The Corporate Amorsolo” (1992)
Conferment of the Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa, by the University of the Philippines on September 30 (1992)
The PICC Art Gallery exhibit, “The Amorsolo Legacy”, an exhibit of works by Amorsolo and of his children and grandchildren (1993)
“Fernando, Fernando” exhibit at the Ayala Museum, Makati (2000) “Brush with History” exhibit at the Ayala Museum, Makati (2002)
“Pioneer of Philippine Art [Luna, Amorsolo, Zobel]” exhibit at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, USA (2006)
Received “Parangal Sentenyal” at University of the Philipppines” June 16 (2008)
“His Art, Our Heart” the Fernando Amorsolo seven-museum retrospective exhibit participated in by Ayala Museum, GSIS Museum of Art, Lopez Memorial Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, National Museum of the Philippines, UP Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, and Yuchengco Museum (2008)

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A rare collection: A bundle of giclee fine art prints from three national artists

Features the distinct art styles of each master artist and is a noteworthy representation of the diversity of filipino art.

Galerie Francesca Emporium, in collaboration with the estates of National Artists Fernando Amorsolo, Abdulmari Imao, and Juvenal Sansó, launched a limited-release bundled collection of 3 Giclee Fine Art Prints.

The limited collection, curated by Ricky Francisco, Director of Fundacion Sansó, features the distinct art styles of each master artist and is a noteworthy representation of the diversity of Filipino Art. This collection features the “Alegra La Sombra” by Juvenal Sanso, “Man and Woman on Carabao” by Fernando Amorsolo, and “Sarimanok Series 2014” by Abdulmari Imao.

Art for a cause

This collection gives art connoisseurs the unique chance to have these beautiful works of art as part of their private collection while at the same time contributing to the worthwhile projects of the beneficiaries chosen by each estate.

The beneficiary for Juvenal Sansó is I CAre: Initiative for the Continuation of Artist’s Estate. The program will help the Artist's Estate to develop through merchandising, skill transfer, and copyright resources. The beneficiaries of Fernando Amorsolo’s Estate are the literacy programs Rising Sunday Foundation and the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation Inc. while the beneficiary of Abdulmari Asia Imao is the Angat Buhay Foundation’s Arts and Culture Pillar.

The masters and their art

“Alegra La Sombra” by Juvenal Sansó

Juvenal Sansó is an internationally renowned artist that has been recognized and received several awards across different countries including membership into the Order of Chevalier for Arts and Letters from the the Ministry of Culture and Communications of France, The Presidential Merit Award from the Philippines, and a King’s Cross of Isabella knighthood from the King of Spain. His earlier work has been heavily influenced by his early experience of war and its perils with his paintings depicting gruesome imagery. In his later years, his grotesque black and white paintings were replaced with vivid depictions of landscapes and orals using striking shades of red, green, orange, and blue. “Alegra La Sombra” is a brilliant and showstopping piece of art created by one of the most innovative and respected artists today.

Artwork_JFernando Amorsolo_Man and Woman on Carabao 1959.jpg

“Man and Woman on Carabao” by Fernando Amorsolo

Fernando Amorsolo, born on May 30, 1892, was the First National Artist of the Philippines and renowned as the Master Painter of the Philippine Sunlight. He earned his degree in painting with honors at the University of the Philippines Manila and was sent to Spain by Don Enrique Zobel to further his studies where he was able to learn from the works of European masters Sorolla and Velasquez. While known for his masterpieces such as ‘Defensa de Honor’ and the countless portraits of prominent figures in society, he is most famous for his works depicting the idyllic provincial life. “Man and Woman on Carabao” is yet another beautiful rendition of the peaceful life of Filipinos set against a picturesque landscape.

Artwork_JAbdulmari Asia Imao_Sarimanok Series 2014.jpg

“Sarimanok Series 2014” by Abdulmari Asia Imao

Abdulmari Asia Imao, the son of Tausüg stone crushers, is the Philippines’ first Moro National Artist. Receiving art scholarships from the University of the Philippines and distinguished fine art universities overseas, this master artist held on deeply to his roots and came back home to promote the art and culture of Mindanao. He is known for painting and sculpting sari-fish, sari-ukkir, and sari-mosques as well as sarimanoks. “Sarimanok Series 2014” is a vibrant piece of art that represents the history and artistry of Abdulmari Asia Imao.

Discover and own rare pieces of art

Galerie Francesca Emporium; in collaboration with Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation, Fundacion Sansó, Rising Sunday Foundation and Imao Family, allows art collectors to own these carefully curated works of art while giving back to the community.

Galerie Francesca Emporium offers a wide range of collectible items that they carefully curate to make sure every piece is visually appealing and valuable. This exclusive collection is one of the inspired collections that Emporium has launched that caters to seasoned art collectors and connoisseurs looking to add depth and meaning to their collections.

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The beneficiary for Juvenal Sansó is I CAre: Initiative for the Continuation of Artist’s Estate. The program will help the Artist’s Estate to develop through merchandising, skill transfer, and copyright resources. The beneficiaries of Fernando Amorsolo’s Estate are the literacy programs Rising Sunday Foundation and the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation Inc. while the beneficiary of Abdulmari Asia Imao is the Angat Buhay Foundation’s Arts and Culture Pillar.

Masters and their art

Juvenal Sansó is an internationally renowned artist that has been recognized and received several awards across different countries including membership into the Order of Chevalier for Arts and Letters from the Ministry of Culture and Communications of France, The Presidential Merit Award from the Philippines, and a King’s Cross of Isabella knighthood from the King of Spain. His earlier work has been heavily influenced by his early experience of war and its perils with his paintings depicting gruesome imagery. In his later years, his grotesque black and white paintings were replaced with vivid depictions of landscapes and orals using striking shades of red, green, orange, and blue. “Alegra La Sombra” is a brilliant and showstopping piece of art created by one of the most innovative and respected artists today.

Fernando Amorsolo, born on May 30, 1892, was the First National Artist of the Philippines and renowned as the Master Painter of the Philippine Sunlight. He earned his degree in painting with honors at the University of the Philippines Manila and was sent to Spain by Don Enrique Zobel to further his studies where he was able to learn from the works of European masters Corolla and Velasquez. While known for his masterpieces such as ‘Defensa de Honor’ and the countless portraits of prominent figures in society, he is most famous for his works depicting the idyllic provincial life. “Man and Woman on Carabao” is yet another beautiful rendition of the peaceful life of Filipinos set against a picturesque landscape.

Abdul Mari Asia Imao, the son of Tausüg stone crushers, is the Philippines’ first Moro National Artist. Receiving art scholarships from the University of the Philippines and distinguished fine art universities overseas, this master artist held on deeply to his roots and came back home to promote the art and culture of Mindanao. He is known for painting and sculpting sari-fish, sari-ukkir, and sari-mosques as well as sarimanoks. “Sarimanok Series 2014” is a vibrant piece of art that represents the history and artistry of Abdulmari Asia Imao.

While Emporium aims to bring distinct and exquisite collections to art collectors, Emporium also believes that art should be accessible and integrated into all aspects of life. In addition to their wide range of collectibles, they also feature select functional items to bring art and inspiration to everyday life. From home decor to personal stationery to fashion accessories, Emporium helps bring beauty and creativity beyond the walls of a museum and into your home and lifestyle.

Integrate art into all aspects of your life with Galerie Francesca Emporium through these Limited Release giclee fine art prints from these renowned national artists as well as through their curated functional pieces.

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Limited Sansó, Amorsolo, Imao giclée collection benefit foundations

May 28, 2024
2 minute read

OWN special, emblematic works of National Artists; help advance the cause of art-focused organizations. Galerie Francesca Emporium sends the call with the recent release of its limited bundled giclée collection, featuring the artworks of Juvenal Sansó, Fernando Amorsolo and Abdulmari Imao.

Titled Masterstroke , the special project was launched in collaboration with the estates of the featured artists, each with a handpicked beneficiary set to receive part of the collection’s proceeds. Listed as the beneficiary of Juvenal Sansó, for one, is I CAre: Initiative for the Continuation of Artist’s Estate, a program designed to help develop the artist’s estate through merchandising, skill transfer, and copyright resources.

According to the collection’s curator and Fundacion Sansó director Ricky Francisco, such income streams fund their various programs, including their scholarship fund and grants for artists, curators and schools.

“Given that, we realized there are a lot of other estates that need this kind of skills,” Francisco said during the recent unveiling of the giclée collection at Galerie Francesca-Megamall. “We reached out to other [estates] so that they will also learn from our experience and be able to come up with funding for their own projects, such as books, museums, or other things that could promote the legacy of the artist.”

The beneficiaries of Fernando Amorsolo’s Estate are the literacy programs Rising Sunday Foundation and the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation Inc., while the beneficiary of Abdulmari Asia Imao is the newly formed Arts and Culture Pillar of the Angat Buhay Foundation.

The Rising Sunday Foundation was created to promote art awareness, literacy and appreciation. Maria Louisa Marquez Shwartz, the foundation’s representative at the launch and niece of acclaimed art collector Teyet Pascual, said that she learned from her uncle the value of generosity in promoting the arts.

“[Through collaborative efforts like Masterstroke ], we hope to come up with something that will help promote and bring more art more accessible,” Shwartz said, as the Rising Sunday Foundation currently works on publishing a book on art history.

Meanwhile, Angat Buhay Foundation’s Arts and Culture Pillar program coordinator Dada Bordado believes that the project will help their fellowship program.

“Our goal is for the organization to provide a platform for mutual dialogue between young and established artists in the country,” she said. “Through this project, we hope to keep the ball rolling for our program, as we also look to support other forms of art in the future like architecture and dance.”

Giclée is French for “to spray,” referring to how an inkjet printer works and the production process of giclée prints. Masterstroke presents Sansó’s Alegra La Sombra (36 x 28 cm, edition of 50), Amorsolo’s Man and Woman on Carabao (37.8 x 47.52 cm, edition of 50), and Imao’s Sarimanok Series 2014 (35.56 x 48.26 cm, edition of 300).

Careful consideration was put into the selection of the featured artworks, according to Francisco. For instance, Imao’s Sarimanok Series 2014 utilizes a subtle yet strong shade of pink on the mother bird’s face—a branding color of the Angat Buhay Foundation, the artwork’s beneficiary—as nestlings look on and represent the next generation.

Masterstroke ’s limited-release giclée collection is exclusively available at Galerie Francesca Emporium ( www.gfemporium.com ) until June 12.

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IMAGES

Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo: Illuminating the Filipino Soul Through Art Free
Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo (Portraitist And Painter) ~ Bio Wiki
Fernando Amorsolo

COMMENTS

The Life and Career of National Artist Fernando Amorsolo
IMAGE PHOTO: MARIO LIMOS, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Fernando Amorsolo, the first National Artist of the Philippines for painting, grew up during a time of transition for the country. Amorsolo and his mother moved to Manila and lived with his uncle, Fabian de la Rosa, a painter. Under his uncle's watch, he learned artistry which set the tone for his ...
Fernando Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (May 30, 1892 - April 24, 1972) was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. Nicknamed the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art," he was the first-ever to be recognized as a National Artist of the Philippines. He was recognized as such for his "pioneering use of impressionistic technique" as well as his skill in the use of lighting and backlighting in ...
Order of National Artists: Fernando Amorsolo
FERNANDO AMORSOLONational Artist for Visual Arts(May 30, 1892 - April 24, 1972) 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 ...
Life of an artist: Fernando Amorsolo
On May 30, 1892, Fernando Amorsolo was born in Manila's Paco neighborhood. At age 13, he began working as an apprentice for his mother's first cousin, the renowned Filipino artist Fabian de la Rosa. Amorsolo began his education in 1909 at the Liceo de Manila before enrolling in the University of the Philippines' fine arts program, from ...
Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation
Biography by Edwin A. Martinez : Fernando Amorsolo was born on May 30, 1892 in Calle Herran in Paco, Manila to Pedro Amorsolo and Bonifacia Cueto.Although born in the nation's capital, Amorsolo would spend most of his childhood in the small town setting of Daet in Camarines Norte where his love for the simple rural life would become the foundation for his artistic output for which he is most ...
Fernando Amorsolo
The Philippine artist Fernando Amorsolo (1892-1972) was a portraitist and painter of rural land scapes. He is best 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.
Biography
Biography. Fernando Amorsolo: Reflection of a Filipino Soul. On May 30, 1892, one of the most celebrated artists in the Philippines was born in Manila. Fernando Amorsolo would eventually be named "The Grand Old Man of Philippine Art" and would sell his abundant paintings to collectors around the globe. His art would be marked by a celebration ...
Writing Philippine History of Ideas and Fernando Amorsolo's Modern Art
In 2008, the Philippines honored one of its most beloved artists, Fernando Amorsolo with an impressive seven-museum exhibit, "His Art, Our Heart" (Pilar).4 Filipinos owe a debt to the curators whose marvelous essays that accompanied the exhibits have ascertained the continued significance of Amorsolo to the twenty-first century global Filipino.
Fernando Amorsolo Biography
Filipino. , 1892. -. 1972. ) Filipino painter Fernando Amorsolo was known for his vivid depictions of landscapes, rural life, and portraits. Born on May 30, 1892, in Manila, Amorsolo was the eldest of five children. His parents, Pedro Amorsolo and Bonifacia Cueto, were both talented musicians who encouraged their son's artistic talents from ...
Essay about national artist of the Philippines
Fernando Amorsolo stands as an indomitable pillar in the annals of Philippine art, his brush strokes immortalizing the essence of Filipino identity and heritage. With a keen eye for detail and a profound connection to his homeland, Amorsolo's works radiate warmth, nostalgia, and authenticity. ... Essay about national artist of the ...
Project MUSE
Bayanihan was painted the year Amorsolo won the UNESCO National Commission Gold Medal and it was purchased by then-President Diosdado [End Page 120] Macapagal. The international reception of Amorsolo, whose prolific output during his lifetime is estimated at least 10,000 pieces was welded to his status as a poster boy of American-Philippine ...
PDF The Masterpieces of Fernando Amorsolo: Socio- Cultural Image of The
Fernando C. Amorsolo was named National Artist in Painting in 1972 and was the first Filipino ever to be given such distinction. He was also called the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art" during the inauguration of the Manila Hilton's Art Center (where his paintings were exhibited) on January 23, 1969.
Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation
Gold Medal of Recognition from the UNESCO National Commission (1959). Rizal-Pro Patria Award and Doctor of Humanities (Honoris Causa) from the Far Eastern University (1961). ... "His Art, Our Heart" the Fernando Amorsolo seven-museum retrospective exhibit participated in by Ayala Museum, GSIS Museum of Art, Lopez Memorial Museum, Metropolitan ...
Planting Rice [Fernando Amorsolo]
CCP Encylopedia of Philippine Art. This 1921 oil painting by Fernando Amorsolo (Roa 1992, 97) is the earliest known version of a series of works, also titled Planting Rice, done by Amorsolo from 1921 to 1944.Another larger version, also titled Planting Rice and dated 1924, is in the Paulino and Hetty Que collection (Cruz 2008, 96-7). Both paintings share almost the same composition.
How Well Do You Know Filipino Painter and National Artist Fernando
Nobody has captured the Philippine rural scene like portraitist and painter Fernando Amorsolo. His craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light have given many Filipinos a glimpse of the country's most precious provinces and farmlands
Inspiration from the outdoors and lessons from a National Artist
PAINTINGS by National Artists Arturo Luz, Fernando Amorsolo, and Benedicto "BenCab" Cabrera hang on the walls along the entrance hallway of Ivan Acuña's apartment in Mandaluyong. In his living room, more of his painting collection is stacked on the floor. Across them are pieces of Chinese porcelain displayed above cabinets against the window. The collection of paintings and cityscape ...
"Flag Of Our Mothers": Little-Known Facts About The ...
Editor's note: This work was republished with permission by the Manila Bulletin. This is the original article. Fernando Amorsolo's "The Making of the Philippine Flag" and Napoleon Abueva's sculpture with the same subjects have something in common.. Both works of art, although revered for their outstanding craftsmanship, have perpetuated the misleading idea that our first flag was ...
FERNANDO CUETO AMORSOLO (Filipino, 1892-1972), Morning in the Rice
Lot Essay. Fernando Amorsolo is widely recognized as the foremost artist of 20th Century painting within the Philippines. Recognised as a National Artist, he studied under lauded painter, Fabian de la Rosa, from whom he acquired the rudiments of Spanish style painting. He also spent time in Madrid in 1919, financed by by art connoisseur and ...
Gallery VIII (National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila)
National Artist for the Visual Arts (1972) Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (1882 - 1972), a known portraitist and a painter of rural Filipino life, also witnessed and experienced the stark reality and ravages of World War II, choosing city-dwellers coping with the Japanese Occupation as one his subjects. Amorsolo spent his days at his home near the Japanese garrison and he documented the destruction ...
Recognitions of Fernando Amorsolo
Recognitions of Fernando Amorsolo Held a one-man exhibit at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York, exhibiting 40 paintings (1925)First Prize for General Painting at the Manila Carnival Commercial and Industrial Fair (1927)First Prize for his painting "Afternoon Meal of Rice Workers" at the New York World's Fair competing with other paintings from over
A rare collection: A bundle of giclee fine art prints from three
"Alegra La Sombra" is a brilliant and showstopping piece of art created by one of the most innovative and respected artists today. "Man and Woman on Carabao" by Fernando Amorsolo. Fernando Amorsolo, born on May 30, 1892, was the First National Artist of the Philippines and renowned as the Master Painter of the Philippine Sunlight.
Giclee Fine Art Prints from three National Artists
May 31, 2024. Man and Woman on Carabao by Fernando Amorsolo. Galerie Francesca Emporium, in collaboration with the estates of National Artists Fernando Amorsolo, Abdulmari Imao, and Juvenal Sansó, launched a limited-release bundled collection of 3 Giclee Fine Art Prints. The limited collection, curated by Ricky Francisco, Director of Fundacion ...
Galerie Francesca Emporium launches limited series from National Artists
Galerie Francesca Emporium, in collaboration with the estates of National Artists Fernando Amorsolo, Abdulmari Imao, and Juvenal Sansó, launched a limited-release bundled collection of 3 Giclee Fine Art Prints. ... The beneficiaries of Fernando Amorsolo's Estate are the literacy programs Rising Sunday Foundation and the Fernando C. Amorsolo ...
Galerie Francesca Emporium launches limited series from National Artists
Galerie Francesca Emporium, in collaboration with the estates of National Artists Fernando Amorsolo, Abdulmari Imao, and Juvenal Sansó, launched a limited-release bundled collection of 3 Giclee ...
Limited Sansó, Amorsolo, Imao giclée collection benefit foundations
From left: Alegra La Sombra, Juvenal Sansó; Man and Woman on Carabao, Fernando Amorsolo; and Sarimanok Series 2014, Abdulmari Asia Imao OWN special, emblematic works of National Artists; help ...
Galerie Francesca Emporium unveils limited edition prints from ...
Meanwhile, Fernando Amorsolo, born on May 30, 1892, was the First National Artist of the Philippines and renowned as the Master Painter of the Philippine Sunlight.

Life of an artist: Fernando Amorsolo

Career- Philosophy & Style of Work | Fernando Amorsolo

Recognition after death

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Recognitions of Fernando Amorsolo

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