What is Philippines about Philippine Art - Leo Benesa

What makes Philippine Art Filipino? To what extent is Philippine art derivative of Western art?

Fernando Amorsolo - Pastoral/rural paintings

- Most expressive ethos (Character/spirit) of the race and agricultural countryside

Carlos “Botong” Francisco - Heroic-epic feeling for history and myth. Angono painter.

- Did genre subjects as well - Festivals and other town or poblacion happenings.
- Most at home doing subjects about history of the race, prehistory redolent
(reminiscent/suggestive) with the must of myth and legend.

Hemando R. Ocampo - "The most Filipino" painter ever. But it was hard due to his abstract
language and imagery used.

- Unique Painterly Approach - surrealistic and cubistic beginnings and underpinnings.

Points:

*The issue of national identity is not as hot in the 1950s-60s.

*"Filipino-ness"-- Genre used to be a major consideration. Everyday life and surroundings w/no
idealization was closest in spirit to Filipino soul and native soil.

*Local Magic Realists-Their sense of genre saves them from being completely derivative.

Highlights:

-Amorsolo, Francisco and Ocampo were very Filipino in their art because they felt strongly
about what they were doing and painted well and memorably.

-Cultural identity confusion - Western materials used (Paint, canvas, other materials); influences
(impressionism, expressionism, surrealism, cubism, pop, minimalism, etc.)

-Even though all modern art movements in the ASEAN region were inspired by western models,
they have not lost their Asian, and national identities because of it.

-How about expatriates (people who live outside their native country), can their works be
considered "Filipino"?
Photo Art Galleries

- The awareness of showcasing art in a formal venue in the country, the purpose of art
exhibits, and the vision of giving art its proper liberty of expression, only came into being
in the 1900s.

Pre-Colonial Art is functional:

1. For practicing and evoking their religion or method of worship;

2. For making known their designated or newly acquired social status;

3. For telling stories or legends;

4. For showing off their recent achievements.

Spanish proto art galleries were the churches erected during the spread of Catholicism in the
country. Stone churches were built, and the education of engraving, painting, and sculpture from
the friars followed suit.

Church – 18th century

Centers for Art Patronage:

Art could only exist through religious works, objects, or relics of worship due to the Real Orden
and the Comision de Permanente de Censura, which required that all artistic productions passed
through strict friar supervision.

If one were to find another venue that would be similar to an art gallery during the Spanish times
in Metro Manila, it would be found in workshops. Some were found in the Parian, the so-called
first mall and employment agency in the Philippines, where every kind of craftsman was
available. Together with the sale of silk, furniture, porcelain, etc., anyone could commission a
painting or a monument from certain artisans, a scenario which resurfaced in today’s Art Walk at
the Shoemart (SM) Megamall. With such progression in the Philippine art scene, the need for an
art gallery inevitably followed.

A Changing City

In spite of the economic disruption between the Spanish rule and the beginning of the American
regime, art activity soon became active.

National Museum, the Philippine Vistas Gallery, and the first university gallery in the
Philippines (the Art Gallery in the UST Museum) were established. Philippine art scene under
the American period was largely conservative.
The art patrons became the American officials, teachers, merchants, and tourists who sought
paintings which depicted landscapes, genre, still-lifes, and portraiture. The production of
monuments were also encouraged.

Curio stores and walking galleries

Fernando Amorsolo was gaining ground and soon earned international and local fame,
outshining all the other artists. To add to the artists’ dilemma, with Amorsolo dominating the
limelight, there were not enough art galleries yet except for the Philippine Vistas, a small art
gallery in Intramuros; the National Museum, and the Art Gallery in the UST Museum-the latter
two of which did not exhibit works of unknown artists. Art activity was hence dictated by
Amorsolo and a few other established artists. For the unknown artists, the opportunity for
exposure to the public then became an essential factor for their quest to gain popularity. That
there were also other talents worthy of praise and patronage, was an existent fact.

Art Association of the Philippines (AAP)

-It was instituted to promote the interests of artists, to exhibit their works, and to serve as an
education center.

-This association even offered incentives that challenged the upliftment of artistic standards.

-There were annual competitions, exhibitions, scholarships, and even free art lessons for
hobbyists and art enthusiasts

-In 1995, AAP held an exhibit, which was marked by a walkout of the conservatives. This group
formed themselves into the Academy of Filipino Artists (AFA), and eventually held sidewalk
exhibitions and annual outdoor shows at the Luneta Park. Many of these artists since then have
put up galleries along Manila’s tourist belt.

-One of the prominent remembered venues for struggling Young Modern Artists was the
Philippine Art Gallery (PAG). It functioned not only as an art gallery but also as a venue for
artists, leading literary men, and intellectuals who frequented the place to exchange ideas about
the art scene, art-making, art trends, etc.

Post-Liberation Years

THE ART SCENE IMPROVED DURING THE POST-LIBERATION YEARS. AS THE

NUMBER OF BUSINESSES INCREASED, SO DID THE MIDDLE-CLASS GROW IN
NUMBER, IN ECONOMIC AND INTELLECTUAL STATUS. IN FACT, HIGH SOCIETY
WAS ADDED TO A LIST OF TRADERS, BUSINESSMEN AND INDUSTRIALISTS. WHAT
FOLLOWED FROM THIS WAS THE PUBLIC’S RISING AWARENESS AND
CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE TALENT AND PROFICIENCY OF THE FILIPINO ARTIST.
THUS, ART PATRONAGE AND ITS PROMOTION INCREASED ALTOGETHER.
COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS DECADES, THE COMMUNITY DURING THE 1960S
HAVE BEEN VERY SUPPORTIVE OF THE ARTS. ONE EXAMPLE WAS THE INCREASE
INVOLVEMENT OF PRIVATE FIRMS LIKE SAN MIGUEL BREWERY, INSULAR LIFE,
FGU, ETC. WHO PROVIDED CASH AWARDS FOR ART COMPETITIONS. ANOTHER
WAS THE CREATION OF A COMMISSION ON CULTURE, AND THE ALAY AT
PAMANA CEREMONY WHICH FORMALLY LAUNCHED THE CULTURAL PROJECT
OF THEN FIRST LADY IMELDA MARCOS. MALACAÑANG PARK ITSELF BECAME A
VENUE FOR ONE-MAN SHOWS. EVEN THE AAP ALSO CAME UP WITH NEW
PROJECTS FOR ART AWARENESS AND APPRECIATION.

In the year 1960 alone, the Luz Gallery, the Ateneo Art Gallery, and the Lopez Museum were
inaugurated. About nine more galleries and one museum opened by the time the decade ended
including: Lawrence D’ Art Gallery; Avans Art Galler; Gallery 7; Gallery Indigo; Solidaridad
Galleries; Print (also known as the Joy-Dayritt Gallery) and the galleries inside the Cultural
Center of the Philippines.

Arturo Luz, owner of the Luz Gallery, had three objectives when he opened his gallery:

1. To properly show paintings that deserved to be shown;

2. To seek genuine talent and give it the needed approval and recognition that it needs; and

3. To mold taste and exercise a certain degree of critical judgment.

When Mrs. Marcos stepped into the Malacañang Palace in 1966, she launched her own program
that was focused on the wider acceptance of the artist and his role in the nation’s cultural and
social development. She sponsored art shows in the palace, graced art openings, bought
artworks, and in turn influenced many of her friends to do the same. Art acquisition through her
example drove the social elite to ardent, frenzied-buying in the 1970s. Hence, the patronage of
art was in no time associated with prestige, status symbols, and making a suitable investment. (1)

Mrs. Marcos’ decision to actually push her program into providing a home for the arts. The
decade’s innovative artists who practice conceptual, environmental, kinetic, and other new forms
of expression eventually found a refuge in the Cultural Center of the Philippines that became the
weather vane of the winds of modern Philippine Art. (2)

Art awareness among the public was intensified with the government’s issuance of Proclamation
No. 1001 (pertaining to the National Artist Award). Amid the declaration of Martial Law in
1972, the art scene managed to flourish and was even helped by certain events that grew out
from this environment. With the big number of artists already professionally honing their art full
time, the numerous artist-groups vying for recognition and patronage, the large audience
clamoring for artworks as investments, and of course the curious viewing public who did not
want to be left out of the developing art scene. There were on record 34 art galleries and four art
museums inaugurated in the 1970s (1970-1979). Among these were the Hidalgo Art Gallery,
Red Gallery, Palette Gallery, Sining Kamalig, Galerie Bleue, Diliman Gallery, Miladay Art
Center, Village Gallery, Impressions Gallery, Rear Room Gallery, Metro Gallery, Galleria
Duemila 2000, Print Collections Gallery, and the Kawilihan Art Gallery. The museums were the
Ayala Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Contemporary Art Museum of the Philippines
(CAMP), and the Museum of Philippine Art (MOPA).