AREOLA, JOEMAR T.

MEJ1-B1
ART APPRECIATION

1.) 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 his paintings, "significant not only in the development of

Philippine art but also in the formation of Filipino notions of self and

identity." Fernando Amorsolo techniques painted and sketched more than ten

thousand pieces over his lifetime using natural and backlighting. His most

known works are of the dalagang Filipina, landscapes of his Filipino

homeland, portraits and WWII war scenes.

2.) VICENTE MANANSALA

Vicente Silva Manansala was a

Filipino cubist painter and illustrator. One of the first

Abstractionists on the Philippine art scene Vicente

Manansala is also credited with bridging the gap between

 the city and the suburbs, between the rural and cosmopolitan ways of life. His

paintings depict a nation in transition, an allusion to the new culture brought

by the Americans. Manansala together with Fabian de la Rosa are among the

best-selling Philippine artists in the West. He was a member of the

prominent Cruz, Manansala, Lopez family clan. He is considered one of the

13 Moderns, a group of modernists associated with Victorio Edades.

Throughout his decades-long career, he has successfully ushered the three art

movements, developed an original style of cubism, and influenced numerous

artists across the globe. Yet he only had eight solo exhibitions in his lifetime.

3.) EL GRECO

El Greco was born in the Kingdom of Candia (modern

Crete), which was at that time part of the Republic of

Venice, Italy, and the center of Post-Byzantine art. He

trained and became a master within that tradition before

traveling at age 26 to Venice, as other Greek artists had done. His most

important architectural achievement was the church and Monastery of Santo

Domingo el Antiguo, for which he also executed sculptures and paintings. El

Greco is regarded as a painter who incorporated architecture in his painting.

 He is also credited with the architectural frames to his own paintings in

Toledo.

4. PAULCEZZANE

Cézanne was born the son of the milliner and later banker

Louis-Auguste Cézanne and Anne-Elisabeth-Honorine

Aubert at 28 rue de l'Opera in Aix-en-Provence. Paul

Cézanne was born on 19 January 1839 in Aix-en-

Provence. On 22 February, he was baptized in the Église de la Madeleine,

with his grandmother and uncle Louis as godparents, and became a devout

Catholic later in life. Paul Cézanne is known for his search for solutions to

problems of representation. Such landscapes as Mont Sainte-Victoire (c.

1902–06) have the radical quality of simultaneously representing deep space

and flat design.

5. HENRY MATISSE

Matisse was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in

the Nord department in Northern France on New Year's Eve in

1869, the oldest son of a wealthy grain merchant.[8] He grew

up in Bohain-en-Vermandois, Picardie, France. In 1887, he

went to Paris to study law, working as a court administrator in Le Cateau-

Cambrésis after gaining his qualification. He first started to paint in 1889,

 after his mother brought him art supplies during a period of convalescence

following an attack of appendicitis. He discovered "a kind of paradise" as he

later described it,[9] and decided to become an artist, deeply disappointing his

father. Henri Matisse is widely regarded as the greatest colorist of the 20th

century. The French artist used color as the foundation for his expressive,

decorative and large-scale paintings. He once wrote that he sought to create

art that would be “a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a

good armchair”.

6. MARCEL DUCHAMP

Duchamp was born at Blainville-Crevon in Normandy,

France, to Eugène Duchamp and Lucie Duchamp (formerly

Lucie Nicolle) and grew up in a family that enjoyed cultural

activities. The art of painter and engraver Émile Frédéric

Nicolle, his maternal grandfather, filled the house, and the family liked to play

chess, read books, paint, and make music together. Duchamp is associated

with many artistic movements, from Cubism to Dada to Surrealism, and paved

the way for later styles such as Pop (Andy Warhol), Minimalism (Robert

Morris), and Conceptualism (Sol LeWitt).

7. BENJAMIN MENDOZA
Benjamin Mendoza y Amor Flores was a Bolivian surrealist painter who made an

unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Pope Paul VI in Manila in 1970. he

exhibited his work in a few galleries in the San Telmo district of Buenos

Aires, and in 1963 illustrated the book Todo estaba sucio by Raúl Barón Biza.

He also made two murals for the Manila Hotel in Mar del Plata, which no

longer exist. He then exhibited in the Soviet Union, Hawaii, and after that

moved to the Philippines. After serving a 38-month prison sentence in the

Philippines, Mendoza was released on bail of £533 (approximately

US$700) and deported to Bolivia in 1974. Upon regaining his freedom, he

organized several exhibitions in more than 80 countries, living in Lima. When

asked about his attempt to assassinate Pope Paul VI, he said he simply wanted

to attract attention. According to filmmaker Armando Bó, who made contact

Mendoza, he acted in a "moment of madness’’.

8. MARC CHAGALL

Marc Chagall was a Russian-French artist. An

early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic

styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats,

including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained

glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints. He

mastered the difficult art of stained glass in the late 1950s, and he designed a
number of windows at international locations such as the Cathedral of Metz in

France (1958–60), the synagogue of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical

Center in Jerusalem (1960–61), the United Nations building in New York (1964)

9. PAUL DUMOL

Paul A. Dumol is a Philippine playwright, historian and

educator. He is a member of the Philippine Center for Civic

Education and Democracy and has served as its chair. He is

author of the A History of the Filipino People for High

Schools. He lectures on philosophy and the aesthetics of film and also teaches

film scriptwriting to Humanities students. He is known for his pro-

colonization stance, describing the colonization of the islands as "good", and

defending the proponents of colonial rule such as white Spanish colonizers,

notably priests.

10. AMELIA LAPENA-BONIFACIO

Amelia Lirag Lapeña-Bonifacio was a Filipino playwright,

puppeteer, and educator known as the "Grande Dame of

Southeast Asian Children's Theatre". In 1977, she founded a

children's theater troupe, Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas, the

 official theater company and puppetry troupe of the University of the

Philippines. Lapeña-Bonifacio served as the President of the International

Association of Theatre for Children and Young People-Philippines and Union

Internationale de la Marionnette-Philippines. She was recognized in 2018 as

a National Artist of the Philippines for Theater. Among her works were 10

books, 16 plays, 30 plays for children and more than 130 short stories for

children published by the Philippine Journal of Education. She has also

produced a number of poems, short stories and essays.

1.) Write your reflections on the influence/effects of the arts in the

development of your personality.

The arts have this amazing ability to shape who we are. When we engage with

art, whether by creating it ourselves or enjoying others’ creations, it opens up

new ways of thinking and feeling. It helps us to step into different shoes,

understand various viewpoints, and even express our own emotions in ways

words can’t. This whole process really nurtures our empathy, makes us think

critically, and stirs up our creativity. It’s like a journey of self-discovery that

enriches us on a personal level. Art acts as a bridge that connects us to diverse

perspective and cultures. It encourages us to see the world through others’

eyes, fostering empathy and breaking down the barriers that often divide us.
 When we engage with art created by individuals from various walks of life,

we gain insights into their struggles, joys, and unique worldviews. This

experience cultivates open-mindedness and broadens our understanding of the

human experience.

2.) Describe the symbolic meaning of Juan Luna’s Spoliarium.

“Spoliarium” is a monumental painting by Filipino artist Juan Luna. It depicts

fallen gladiators being dragged from the Colosseum arena in ancient Rome.

Symbolically, the painting can be interpreted as a critique of Spanish colonial

oppression and a call for a freedom. The dramatic and somber scene captured

in the painting serves as a powerful representation of the suffering and

sacrifices endured by the Filipino people during that era.