CHAPTER 2 LESSON 1
HOW PHILIPPINE IS PHILIPPINE
ART?: A SURVEY ON THE MARKERS
OF OUR ARTISTIC CULTURE
PREPARED BY: ELLA MAE M. FARIOLA BSOA 3C
INTRODUCTION
PHILIPPINE ART IN GENERAL IS POIGNANT, ROMANTIC, AND EVEN NOSTALGIC.
BEFORE WE WERE INFLUENCED BY WESTERNERS, WE WERE ALREADY
DEVELOPING OUR OWN SETS OF CULTURE AND VALUES. DURING THE COLONIAL
PERIOD, GRADUALLY WE BECAME INFUSED BY FOREIGN INFLUENCE. IN A WAY, IT
IS QUITE SADDENING HOW THE GOOD HERITAGE OF OLD FILIPINO MANNERS,
ETHICS, AND EVEN CULTURAL MARKERS LIKE OUR OWN “BAYBAYIN” WERE
SUPERIMPOSED BY NEWER TRENDS. MOST OF US, ESPECIALLY IN OUR
GENERATION, CULTIVATED THE IDEA THAT OLD FASHIONED IS OLD SCHOOL EVEN
THE BEAUTIFUL WAY OF COURTSHIP IS GONE IN THE MIST OF THE PAST: NO MORE
HARANAS AND FEWER DALAGANG FILIPINAS, PHILIPPINE ART, ON THE OTHER
HAND, HAS BEEN CONSCIOUS OF THESE CHANGES AND HAS BECOME A WAY TO
REMINISCE AND REMEMBER OUR OLD VIRTUES AND RICH ROOTS. THAT IS WHY IT
IS VERY IMPORTANT TO STUDY PHILIPPINE ART. IT IS PART OF OUR IDENTITY AND
INTRODUCTION
APPLYING THE KNOWLEDGE OF ART CRITICISM HERE, WE CAN SEE HOW MUCH
PAINTING RENDITION OF AMORSOLO’S WORK MIRRORS THE FUNCTIONS OF ART
WE HAVE STUDED BEFORE. THE SUBJECT MATTER, THE CONTEXT, THE IMAGERY,
AND EVEN THE USE OF LIGHT HERE OBVIOUSLY SIGNIFIES SOMETHING LOCAL,
HENCE PRESENTING ITSELF AS A REMINDER OF OUR CULTURE AND VAN A SENSO
OF IDENTITY
FERNANDO AMORSOLO INTERPRETED
“PHILIPPINE LIGHT”
AMORSOLO WAS KNOWN AS “THE PAINTER OF PHILIPPINES SUNLIGHT” BECAUSE HIS
ILLUMINATED LANDSCAPES DISPLAYED THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE COUNTRY’S SUNSHINE AND
PORTRAYED TRADITIONAL FILIPINO CUSTOMS, CULTURE, FIESTAS, AND ORDINARY
OCCUPATIONS, SUCH AS RICE HARVESTING AND MANGO PICKING.
SUCH ARTISTS ARE AUGUSTE RENOIR,EDOURD MANET, AND 19 CENTURY PORTRAIT ARTIST
AUGSTE DOMINIQUE INGRES. BECAUSE OF AMORSOLO’S EXPERTISE ON HIS MEDIUM ,WHICH IS
OIL, AND HIS SENSITIVITY TO LIGHT.AMORSOLO WAS ABLE TO PAINT LUMINOUS SKIN AS LIGHT
STRIKES IT AND CREATES A CERTAIN GLOW. OTHERS EVEN SAY THAT YOU CAN ALMOST FEEL THE
BLOOD RUSHING UNDERNEATH THE FLESH.
ARTIST
AUGUSTE RENOIR EDOURD MANET AUGUSTE
DOMINIQUE INGRES
VICENTE MANANSALA DEVELOPED HIS
RENDITION OF TRANSPARENT CUBISM
TECHNIQUE.
CUBISM WAS PIONEERED JOINTLY BY PABLO PICASSO AND GEORGE BRAQUE, AND WAS
DESCRIBED TO BE THE MOST RADICAL INNOVATION OF AN “AMS SINCE IT CONTRASTED
GREATLY WITH THE CLASSICAL PEPTION OF BEAUTY. IT USES OVERLAPPING AND MULTI-
PERSPECTIVE GEOMETRIC SHAPES AND FORMS OF THE CHOSEN SUBJECT TO PRODUCE DEPTH
THE ABT ASPECT OF MANANSALA HAS BROADER FACETS AND PLANES THAN ORIGINAL CUBISM
SO THEY BRING OUT LARGER MYTHMS AND IS CLOSER TO SYNTHETIC CUBISM RATHER THAN
ITS EARLIER PHASE, WHICH IS ANALYTIC CUBISM. HE FURTHER DEVELOPED IT INTO
TRANSPARENT CUBISM, WHICH SHOWS PANELS OF PERACING EACH OTHER.
• UNLIKE AMORSOLO, MANANSALA ECHOES THE PROLETARIAN
PAINTERS OF THE UNITED STATES. HIS WORKS WERE NON-IDYLLIC
EMOTIONS AND BACKGROUNDS SHOWING EVIDENCE OF REAL EVENTS
HAPPENING AT HIS TIME LIKE POVERTY AND ECONOMIC DEPRESSION,
AND SKIN TONES ARE NOT LUMINOUS BUT RATHER KAYUMANGGI.
EXAMPLE OF TRANSPARENT CUBISM
HERNANDO R. OCAMPO'S STYLE WAS
CONSIDERED BY SOME CRITICS AS THE
MOST FILIPINO
MOST OF HR OCAMPO’S WORKS ARE PURELY ABSTRACTION, THEREFORE IT IS HARD
TO PINPOINT WHY HE WAS DESCRIBED AS THE ‘MOST FILIPINO PAINTER EVER.
HOWEVER, IT IS NOT THE CONTENT BUT RATHER THE STYLE OF HIS WORKS WHERE
ONE CAN SEE HIS UNIQUE PAINTEDLY APPROACH.
• WHAT IS UNIQUE IN HIS WORKS ARE THE ABSTRACT COMPOSITIONS OF BIOLOGICAL
FORMS THAT ARE THE ABSTRACT COMPOSITIONS OF BIOLOGICAL FORMS THAT ARE
PORTRAYED IN BOLD STROKES OF COLORS THAT SEEM TO OSCILLATE BEFORE YOUR
EYES. HIS SUBJECT MATTERS ARE USUALLY NATURE’S FLORA AND FAUNA, HENCE
REFLECTIVE OF THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF HIS COUNTRY.
NAPOLEON ABUEVA’S MODERNIST BUT
FILIPINO-THEMED SCULPTURES
CHARACTERIZED BY THE PLANAR AND GEOMETRIC LOOK OF HIS SCULPTURES,
ABUEVA VEERED AWAY FROM THE CONSERVATISM OF HIS MENTOR. GUILLERMO
TOLENTINO (KNOWN FOR SCULPTING THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES”
“OBLATION”)
• HE STILL KEPT FILIPINO THEMES IN HIS SCULPTURES SUCH AS RICE PLANTERS,
MOTHER AND CHILD, CARABAOS, AND THE LIKE. HOWEVER, HIS BOLD AND
EDGY INTERPRETATION OF SUCH THEMES INTENSIFIED THE KIND OF SPIRIT
PRESENT IN HIS DYNAMIC AND OFTEN MONUMENTAL SCULPTURES
THANK YOU !!!
