National

Artist
 National Artist Award
The National Artist Award is the highest distinction
bestowed upon Filipino Artists whose body of work
is recognized by their peers and more importantly
by their countrymen as sublime expression of
Philippine music, dance, theatre, visual arts,
literature, film and media, arts, architecture and
design.
The Order of National Artist of the Philippines
(Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining
ng Pilipinas)

•Established by the virtue of Presidential

Proclamation 1001, s. 1972
•The order is conferred to individuals by the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and
Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)at a ceremony
in Malacanang Palace, bears the power of
Presidential proclamation
• The highest recognition given to Filipinos
who have contribute significantly to
status of Philippine Arts such as Music,
visual arts, film, broadcast arts, theater,
dance architecture, design and allied
arts.
• An order bestowed by the Philippines on
Filipinos who have made significant
contributions to the development of
Philippine art letters.
These are artists who have promoted
Filipino cultural identity and dignity
through their art.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos through

proclamation no.1001 dated April 2
1972, confers the award to deserving
individuals as recommended by the
Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)
and the National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (NCCA).
 Criteria
1. Living artists who have been Filipino citizens

for the last ten years prior to nomination

as well as those who have died after the

establishment of the award in 1972 but were

Filipino citizens at the time of their death;

 Criteria
2. Artists who have helped build a Filipino

sense of nationhood through the content and

form of their works;

 Criteria
3. Artists who have distinguished themselves

by pioneering in a mode of creative

expression or style, making an impact on

succeeding generations of artists;

 Criteria
4. Artists who have created a significant body

of works and/or have consistently displayed

excellence in the practice of their art form,

enriching artistic expression or style;

 Criteria
5. Artists who enjoy broad acceptance through
prestigious national and/or international
recognition, awards in prestigious national
and/or international events, critical acclaim
and/or reviews of their works, and/or respect
and esteem from peers within an artistic
discipline.
A person who receives this title gets the
following honors and privileges:

Rank and title of National Artist, as

proclaimed by the President of the
Philippines;
ex.
Insignia of a National Artist and a citation

a badge or distinguishing mark of office or

honor
Cash awards, monthly life pension,

Medical and hospitalization benefits,

life insurance coverage,

state funeral and burial at the Libingan

ng mga Bayani and a place of honor at
national state functions along with
recognition at cultural events.
Insignia – “KKK” Katotothanan, Kabutihan
at Kagandahan
National Artist in Architecture
Juan F. Nakpil (1899-1986)

Architect, civil engineer,

teacher and civic leader,
is a pioneer and
innovator in Philippine
architecture.
He designed the 1937 International Eucharistic
Congress altar and rebuilt and enlarged the
Quiapo Church in 1930 adding a dome and a
second belfry to the original design.
Pablo S. Antonio
Pablo Sebero Antonio pioneered modern
Philippine architecture. His basic design is
grounded on simplicity, no clutter. The lines are
clean and smooth, and where there are curves,
these are made integral to the structure. Pablo
Jr. points out, “For our Father, every line must
have a meaning, a purpose. For him, function
comes first before elegance or form“.
Antonio’s major works
Leandro V. Locsin (Architecture, 1990)
A man who believes that true Philippine architecture
“is the product of two great streams of culture, the
oriental and the occidental… to produce a new object
of profound harmony,” Leandro V. Locsin is the man
responsible for designing everything you see at CCP
complex – the cultural center of the Philippines, folk
arts theatre, Philippine International Convention
Center, philcite, and the Westin hotel (now Sofitel
Philippine Plaza).
Locsin’s largest single work
National artists in visual arts
Carlos “Botong” Francisco
 National artist for painting (1973)

(November 4, 1912 – March 31, 1969)

The poet of Angono, single-handedly

revived the forgotten art of mural and remained
its most distinguished practitioner for nearly
three decades.
Fiesta
First Mass in the Philippines
Muslim Wedding
Magpupukot
The Cockfight
Bayanihan
Guillermo Tolentino
Guillermo Estrella Tolentino is a product of the
revival period in Philippine art. Returning from
Europe (where he was enrolled at the Royal
Academy of fine arts, Rome) in 1925, he was
appointed as professor at the UP school of fine arts
where the idea also of executing a monument for
national heroes struck him. The result was the UP
oblation that became the symbol of freedom at the
campus.
Acknowledged as his masterpiece and
completed in 1933
UP OBLATION
Other works include the bronze figures
of President Quezon at Quezon Memorial,
life-size busts of Jose Rizal at UP and UE,
marble statue of Ramon Magsaysay in GSIS
Building; granolithics of heroic statues
representing education, medicine, forestry,
veterinary science, fine arts and music at UP.
Fernando Amorsolo
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.
Returning from his studies abroad in the 1920s,
Amorsolo developed the backlighting technique that
became his trademark where figures, a cluster of
leaves, spill of hair, the swell of breast, are seen aglow
on canvas.
Among others, his major works include the
following:

Maiden in a Stream(1921)
 El Ciego (1928)
El Ciego (The Blind
Man), oil on panel, 1929.
This work commissioned
by a naval intelligence
officer who helped in the
liberation of Manila
during World War II.
Dalagang Bukid (1936)
The Mestiza (1943)
Planting Rice (1946)
Sunday Morning Going to Town (1958)
National artists in cinema
 Ronald Allan K. Poe
(August 20, 1939 – December 14, 2004)
Popularly known as Fernando Poe,

Jr., was a cultural icon of tremendous

audience impact and cinema artist and

craftsman– as actor, director, writer and

producer.
 Eddie Romero
(July 7, 1924 – May 28, 2013)
Is a screenwriter, film director and producer, is the
quintessential Filipino filmmaker whose life is devoted
to the art and commerce of cinema spanning three
generations of filmmakers. His film “Ganito kami
noon…paano kayo ngayon?,” Set at the turn of the
century during the revolution against the Spaniards
and, later, the American colonizers, follows a naïve
peasant through his leap of faith to become a
member of an imagined community.
Lino Brocka
Catalino “Lino” Ortiz Brocka, director for film
and broadcast arts, espoused the term
“freedom of expression” in the Philippine
Constitution. Brocka took his social activist
spirit to the screen leaving behind 66 films
which breathed life and hope for the
marginalized sectors of society —
slumdwellers, prostitute, construction workers,
etc.
He also directed for theater with equal zeal and

served in organizations that offer alternative

visions, like the Philippine Educational Theater

Association (PETA) and the Concerned Artists

of the Philippines (CAP).

At the same time, he garnered awards and

recognition from institutions like the CCP,

FAMAS, TOYM, and Cannes Film Festival.

To name a few, Brocka’s films include the
following:
 Santiago (1970),

 Wanted: Perfect Mother (1970),

 Tubog sa Ginto (1971),

 Stardoom (1971),

 Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (1974),

 Maynila: Sa Kuko ng Liwanag (1975),

 Insiang (1976),

 Jaguar (1979),

 Bona (1980),

 Macho Dancer (1989),

 Orapronobis (1989),

 Makiusap Ka sa Diyos(1991)
National artists in literature
 Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez
(September 8, 1915 – November 28, 1999)
Better known as N.V.M. Gonzalez, fictionist, essayist,
poet, and teacher, articulated the Filipino spirit in
rural, urban landscapes. Among the many
recognitions, he won the first commonwealth literary
contest in 1940, received the republic cultural
heritage award in 1960 and the gawad CCP para sa
sining in 1990.
The awards attest to his triumph in appropriating
the English language to express, reflect and
shape Philippine culture and Philippine
sensibility. He became U.P.’S international-
writer-in residence and a member of the board
of advisers of the U.P. Creative writing center. In
1987, U.P. Conferred on him the doctor of
humane letters, Honoris Causa, its highest
academic recognition.
 Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez include
the following:
 The Winds of April,

 Seven Hills Away,

 Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other

Stories,

 The Bamboo Dancers,

Look Stranger,

On this Island Now,

Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty -One Stories,

The Bread of Salt and Other Stories,

Work on the Mountain,

The Novel of Justice: Selected Essays 1968-

1994,
A Grammar of Dreams
 Carlos P. Romulo
(January 14, 1899 – December 15, 1985)
Carlos P. Romulo‘s multifaceted career spanned 50 years of

public service as educator, soldier, university president,

journalist and diplomat. It is common knowledge that he

was the first Asian president of the united nations general

assembly, then Philippine ambassador to Washington, D.C.,

and later minister of foreign affairs. Essentially though,

Romulo was very much into writing: he was a reporter at 16,

a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32.

 Sionil Jose
(Literature, 2001)
One of the few living national artists, Sionil Jose is

best known for creating the five-novel masterpiece

known as the Rosales saga: poon; tree; my brother,

my executioner; the pretenders; and mass. Set in the

town of Rosales, Pangasinan, it talks about the five

generations of two families, the Samsons and the

Asperri, during the Spanish and American occupation.

 Levi Celerio
(Literature and Music, 1997)
A prolific lyricist and composer, is known for having

effortlessly translating or rewriting lyrics of traditional

Filipino melodies like “O maliwanag na buwan” (Iloko),

“ako ay may singsing” (Pampango), and “Alibangbang”

(Visaya). He’s also been immortalized in the Guinness

book of world records as the only person to make

music using just a leaf.

National artists in fashion
design
 Ramon Valera
(August 31, 1912 – May 25, 1972)
Valera, born on August 31, 1912 in Abra, is the

Philippines’ first National Artist for Fashion

Design. He finished his primary and secondary

education in La Salle, but dropped out of his

first year in college at FEU due to financial

problems.
Valera never had any formal training in fashion

design, but his works have been the standard of

fashion students for intricate sewing,

embroidery, and handiwork.

Valera is known to the public as the “High priest of
local fashion” and wearing garments of his creation
would be considered as an honor. He was the only
male counter his contemporaries had, and he would do
the designing, cutting, pasting, and sewing all by
himself. Ramon was a fastidious worker, discarding
finished garments that weren’t of his liking when they
were done, and was one who worked directly from his
imagination and never worked with patterns.
Ramon introduced to the Philippine society the one-

piece terno fastened at the back with a zipper, and

transformed the traditional Maria Clara outfit into a

wedding gown with bell sleeves, which at first was

considered a disgrace to the Filipina standard.

Here are some of his creation
Ramon proved that having a college degree
or formal training in a field is not necessary
for one to be successful in life. He used his
creativity, imagination, and will to defy
tradition to his advantage and came out as
the one of the Philippines’ most treasured
artists.
National artists in theater
design
Salvador F. Bernal
Salvador F. Bernal designed more than 300

productions distinguished for their originality since

1969. Sensitive to the budget limitations of local

productions, he harnessed the design potential of

inexpensive local materials, pioneering or maximizing

the use of bamboo, raw abaca, and abaca fiber, hemp

twine, rattan chain links and gauze cacha.

Salvador Bernal's fish skeleton-inspired
stage design for the zarzuela "Sa Bunganga
ng Pating.
National Artist Salvador Bernal designed a

scenery of overlapping floor-to-ceiling capiz

panels that suggested the layers of propriety,

custom and status one had to live with in

colonial-era Filipino society.

National Artist citation for Theater Design: “Sensitive
to the budget limitations of local productions, [Bernal]
harnessed the design potential of inexpensive local
materials, pioneering or maximizing the use of
bamboo, raw abaca and abaca fiber, hemp twine,
rattan chain links and gauze cacha. In doing this he
exemplified the versatility of Filipino materials for
design and proved that the poverty of a production
need not imply a poverty of the imagination.”
National artists in dance
 Ramon Obusan
(June 16, 1938 – December 21, 2006)
Ramon Obusan was a dancer,
choreographer, stage designer and artistic
director. He achieved phenomenal success in
Philippine dance and cultural work. He was
also acknowledged as a researcher, archivist
and documentary filmmaker who broadened
and deepened the Filipino understanding of his
own cultural life and expressions.
Through the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group (ROFG), he had
effected cultural and diplomatic exchanges using the
multifarious aspects and dimensions of the art of dance.

Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group 

 Among the full-length productions
he choreographed are the following:
Vamos a Belen! Series (1998-2004) Philippine
Dances Tradition

Noon Po sa Amin tableaux of Philippine History in

song, drama and dance

Obra Maestra a collection of Ramon Obusan’s

dance masterpieces
Unpublished Dances of the Philippines Series I-IV

Water, Fire and Life, Philippine Dances and

Music A Celebration of Life Saludo sa Sentenyal

Glimpses of ASEAN Dances and Music of the

ASEAN-Member Countries

Saplot (Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group): Philippines

Costumes in Dance
 Francisca Reyes Aquino
(March 9, 1899 – November 21, 1983)
Francisca Reyes Aquino is acknowledged as the
Folk Dance Pioneer. This Bulakeña began her
research on folk dances in the 1920’s making trips to
remote barrios in Central and Northern Luzon. Her
research on the unrecorded forms of local
celebration, ritual and sport resulted into a 1926
thesis titled “Philippine Folk Dances and Games,”
and arranged specifically for use by teachers and
playground instructors in public and private schools.
In the 1940’s, she served as supervisor of physical
education at the Bureau of Education that distributed
her work and adapted the teaching of folk dancing as
a medium of making young Filipinos aware of their
cultural heritage. In 1954, she received the Republic
Award of Merit given by the late Pres. Ramon
Magsaysay for “outstanding contribution toward the
advancement of Filipino culture”, one among the many
awards and recognition given to her.
 Her books include the following:
Philippine National Dances (1946)

Gymnastics for Girls (1947)

Fundamental Dance Steps and Music (1948)

Foreign Folk Dances (1949)

Dances for all Occasion (1950)

Playground Demonstration (1951)

Philippine Folk Dances, Volumes I to VI.

Leonor Orosa Goquingco
(Dance, 1976)
Dubbed the “Trailblazer”, “Mother of Philippine

Theater Dance” and “Dean of Filipino Performing

Arts Critics”, Leonor Orosa Goquingco, pioneer

Filipino choreographer in balletic folkloric and Asian

styles, produced for over 50 years highly original,

first-of-a-kind choreographies, mostly to her own

storylines.
National artists in historical
literature
 Carlos Quirino
(January 14, 1910 – May 20, 1999)
Carlos Quirino, biographer, has the distinction of

having written one of the earliest biographies of Jose

Rizal titled The Great Malayan. Quirino’s books and

articles span the whole gamut of Philippine history and

culture–from Bonifacio’s trial to Aguinaldo’s biography,

from Philippine cartography to culinary arts, from cash

crops to tycoons and president’s lives, among so many

subjects.
In 1997, Pres. Fidel Ramos created historical

literature as a new category in the National

Artist Awards and Quirino was its first recipient.

He made a record earlier on when he became

the very first Filipino correspondent for the

United Press Institute.

His book Maps and Views of Old Manila is

considered as the best book on the subject.

His other books includes:

Quezon, Man of Destiny

Magsaysay of the Philippines

Lives of the Philippine Presidents

Philippine Cartography

The History of Philippine Sugar Industry

Filipino Heritage: The Making of a Nation

Filipinos at War: The Fight for Freedom

from Mactan to EDSA.

National artists in music
Ramon P. Santos
Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer, conductor and

musicologist, is currently the country’s foremost

exponent of contemporary Filipino music. A prime

figure in the second generation of Filipino composers

in the modern idiom, Santos has contributed greatly to

the quest for new directions in music, taking as basis

non-Western traditions in the Philippines and

Southeast Asia.
Simultaneous with this was a reverting back to more
orthodox performance modes: chamber works and
multimedia works for dance and
theatre. Panaghoy (1984), for reader, voices, gongs
and bass drum, on the poetry of Benigno Aquino, Jr.
was a powerful musical discourse on the fallen
leader’s assassination in 1983, which subsequently
brought on the victorious People Power uprising in
1986.
Lucrecia R. Kasilag
(Music, 1989)
Lucrecia R. Kasilag, as educator, composer,
performing artist, administrator and cultural
entrepreneur of national and international caliber, had
involved herself wholly in sharpening the Filipino
audience’s appreciation of music. Kasilag’s pioneering
task to discover the Filipino roots through ethnic music
and fusing it with Western influences has led many
Filipino composers to experiment with such an
approach. “Tita King”, as she was fondly called.
She dared to incorporate indigenous Filipino

instruments in orchestral productions, such as the

prize-winning “Toccata for Percussions and

Winds, Divertissement and Concertante,” and the

scores of the Filiasiana, Misang Pilipino and De

Profundis.
Her orchestral music includes;
Love Songs

Legend of the Sarimanok

Ang Pamana

Philippine Scenes

Her Son

Jose

Sisa
 Her chamber music like:
Awit ng mga Awit Psalms

Fantaisie on a 4-Note Theme

East Meets Jazz Ethnika

 Antonio J. Molina
(December 26, 1894 – January 29, 1980)
Antonio J. Molina, versatile musician,

composer, music educator was the last of the

musical triumvirate, two of whom were Nicanor

Abelardo and Francisco Santiago, who elevated

music beyond the realm of folk music.

Molina is credited with introducing such

innovations as the whole tone scale,

pentatonic scale, exuberance of dominant

ninths and eleventh cords, and linear

counterpoints.
Molina’s most familiar composition

is Hatinggabi, a serenade for solo violin and

piano accompaniment.
 Other works are (orchestral music)

Misa Antoniana Grand Festival Mass

Ang Batingaw, Kundiman- Kundangan

 Chamber music
Hating Gabi

String Quartet

Kung sa Iyong Gunita

Pandangguhan
 Vocal music
Amihan

Awit ni Maria Clara

Larawan Nitong Pilipinas