FLIX RESURRECCIN

HIDALGO
Filipino Artist

Born

Flix Resurreccin
Hidalgo y Padilla
February 21, 1855
Binondo, Manila,
Spanish East Indies

Died

March 13, 1913

(aged 58)
Barcelona,, Spain

Nationality

Filipino

Known for

Painting, drawing

Notable work(s)
1884
Las virgenes Cristianas
expuestas al populach
1887
La barca de Aqueronte
in museums:
Metropolitan Museum
of Manila
Lopez Museum
Movement

Impressionism

Felix Resurreccion Hidalgos place in

Philippine Art was secured in the last
quarter of the nineteenth century through
his large Neoclassical canvases which
harvested Gold and Silver Medals in
prestigious International Exhibitions. At a
time when merely to have ones painting
accepted and hung in the highly competitive
International Exhibits was a mark of
having arrived as a painter, Hidalgos
entries stood out among thousands of
paintings (representing in these Exhibits
the best Europe and America had to offer)
to win distinction: a Gold Medal for his
major work, La Barca de Aqueronte and
Silver Medals for two others (Jovenes
Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho and
Adios del Sol). It is therefore through these
two historical paintings in the grand
manner (a seascape with figure, Adios del
Sol is a departure from the traditional
manner) that Hidalgos reputation as a
painter is assured in both Philippine Art
history and the popular mind.

Submitted by: Evalle, Krizia Mae O.

Pineda, Patricia Mae Z.
Umpad, Lynette Joselle C.
Yasis, Loralie Mae S.

HUMANITIES 1

Sat 12pm 3pm

Early Life & Education

Felix R. Hidalgo was the third of seven children of Eduardo Resurreccion
Hidalgo, landed proprietor and lawyer, and Maria Barbara Padilla, entrepreneur. He
studied in the University of Santo Tomas where his artistry was encouraged by Fr.
Sabater. He studied law, which he never finished, received a bacheller en filosifia in
March 1871. He was simultaneously enrolled at the Escuela de Dibujo y Pintura
under, Spanish painter, Agustin Saez. In 1876, he previewed his "La Barca" (The
Native Boat), "Vendadora de Lanzones" (Lanzones Vendor) and other paintings at the
Teatro Circo de Bilibid before they were sent to the Philadelphia Universal Exposition
of that year. In 1878, he painted the poignant and well-crafted "Los Mendigos" (The
Beggars).
He was sent to Spain in 1879 as a pensionado and studied in the School of Fine
Arts in Madrid. He attended the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de
Madrid, whose courses he described in a letter to lose Rizal as obsolete and boring.
During this period he exhibited "La Siesta" (Nap in the Afternoon), 1881, a piece which
was favorably reviewed in La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana in that year.
Upon termination of his studies, instead of returning to the Philippines, he went
to Paris and put up a gallery at 43 Blvd. Arago. Hidalgo was then on his own. For a
while he suffered and starved in the best artistic tradition. Later, however his family
came upon some measure of prosperity and was able to maintain him. An uncle, P.
Jose Sabido Padilla, helped him when the business of his mother suffered reverses. His
studio became one of the centers of Filipino activities. There, Filipino exiles and
revolutionaries found a sanctuary.
In 1879, he went to Rome, still as a pensionado, where he finished a portrait,
"Senador Romano" (Roman Senator), and others. In 1883, he toured Spain rejoining
his patron and close friend, Francisco de Yriarte in Galicia. There, he pitched a tent to
study nature more closely. He then moved to Paris for further studies with the partial
support of de Yriarte.

Artistic Career
In 1877, Resurreccin Hidalgo was awarded second place in the contest for best
cover design for the de luxe edition of Fr Manuel Blanco's "Flora de Filipinas" (Plants
of the Philippines). In 1879 he left for Spain as a pensionado in fine arts of the
Ayuntamiento of Manila.

His Las virgenes Cristianas expuestas al populacho (The Christian virgins

Exposed to the Populace), was awarded the ninth silver medal at the 1884 Exposicin
General de Bellas ArtesE in Madrid.This showed a group of boorish looking males
mocking semi-naked female Christians, one of whom is seated in the foreground, with
head bowed in misery. In the same exposition, Luna's Spoliarium was awarded a gold
medal.
In the Exposicin General de las Islas Filipinas in Madrid in 1887, Hidalgo
presented La barca de Aqueronte (The Boat of Charon) 1887, and Laguna
estigia ("The Styx"), 1887, for which he received a gold medal. La barca was again
shown at the Exposition Universelle in Paris and was awarded a silver medal by an
international jury. In 1891 it was accorded a diploma of honor at the Exposicin
General de Bellas Artes of Barcelona. This painting also received a gold medal in the
International Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid during the commemoration of the
400th anniversary of the discovery of America.
He exhibited Adios al sol ("Farewell to, the Sun"), 1891 at the Exposicin
Internacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid in that year and El crepusculo ("The Dawn"),
1893, at the Universal exposition in Chicago, also in that year. He showed both
paintings again at the Exposicin Artistica de Bilbao in August 1894. In the
Exposicin Regional de Filipinas in Manila in January 1895, Hidalgo was represented
by his paintings done in the grand romantic manner. In April of the same year he
exhibited Oedipus y Antigone("Oedipus and Antigone"), El violinista ("The
Violinist"), Cabeza napolitana("Head of a Neapolitan"), Cabeza del viejo ("Head of an
Old Man"), Un religioso ("A Religious"), and others at the Salon at Champs-lyses,
Paris.
Hidalgo produced over a thousand works which include oil paintings, watercolor, pastels and charcoal drawings. His subjects range from the mythological and
historical to landscapes, seascapes, portraits and figures of the genre. He received
awards in Paris in 1889, in Chicago in 1892 and in the Panama-Pacific Exposition in
1915. Hidalgo received a gold medal for his overall participation at the Universal
Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904. His El violinista was individually accorded a
gold medal. Eventually, he became a great prize winner and his paintings were
exhibited at the French Academy and marked H.C. (Hors Concours). However, he kept
to himself and continued in his romantic studies despite the artistic revolution going
on in his time. Thus while some of his later paintings showed some impressionist
influence, he was never in the center of the movement and the impressionist school
pass him by.

Notable Works

Las Virgenes Cristianas

Expuestas al Populace (The
Christian Virgins Exposed to
the Populace), 1884
Oil on canvas

La barca de Aqueronte (The

Boat of Charon/Charoons
Boat), 1887
Oil on canvas

Other Artworks

La Laguna Estigia (The

River Styx/ The Styx),
1887
Portrait of Rizal,
1883

A Lady in the
Moonlight

Study of
Governor
Bustamante

Seascape with
Boat

References

Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. Lopez Museum & Library. Retrieved from:

http://lopez-museum.com/collections/felix-resurreccion-hidalgo/
Felix hidalgo. Geringer Art Ltd. Retrieved from:
http://www.geringerart.com/bios/hidalgo.html
Flix Resurreccin Hidalgo. Wikipedia Retrieved from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flix_Resurreccin_Hidalgo
Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. WikiFilipino Para sa Filipino. Retrieved
from: http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Felix_Resurreccion_Hidalgo
Portrait of Rizal Painted in Oil by Hidalgo in 1883 Retrieved from:
http://tagaloglang.com/The-Philippines/Filipino-Art/portrait-of-rizal-painted-inoil-by-hidalgo-in-1883.html