Painting, Sculpture and the National Artist Award

Visual Art Fields: Painting & Sculpture

• Painting emphasizes form through color, intensity, saturation, brightness, contrast, and combinations to convey the subject.
• Sculpture focuses on form using texture and dimension. Sculptures are never flat and can be smooth, rough, soft, hard, shiny, or pointed based on materials.

National Artist Award

• The National Artist Award is the highest distinction for Filipino Artists.
• Awarded to artists whose work is recognized by peers and countrymen for expressing Philippine music, dance, theatre, visual arts, literature, film, architecture, and design.
• Artists who have promoted Filipino cultural identity and dignity through their art.
• President Ferdinand E. Marcos conferred the award through proclamation no. 1001 dated April 2, 1972.
• The award is conferred to deserving individuals recommended by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
• Proclamation No. 1144, s. 1973 named the CCP Board of Trustees as the National Artist Awards Committee.
• Presidential Decree No. 208, s. 1973 reiterated the CCP mandate to administer the National Artist Awards, privileges, and honors.

Filipino National Artists in the Visual Arts

• Fernando Amorsolo (born 1892): His artworks serve as relics of the country's history covering the Spanish, American, and Japanese eras, up to the 1970s.
• His masterpieces showcase rural landscapes with light techniques like chiaroscuro and impressionistic brush strokes; noted for the "Planting Rice" series.
• Amorsolo was the first National Artist and was called "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art."
• He developed a backlighting technique trademark focusing on figures and landscapes.
• His works define and perpetuate a distinct element of the nation's artistic and cultural heritage.
• Carlos "Botong" V. Francisco: Post World War 2 painter from Angono, Rizal, known for vivid and vibrant colors in his expressionistic murals about the country's historical events.
• Victorio C. Edades (National Artist for Painting, 1976): He is known as the "Father of Modern Philippine Painting" for his distorted human figures in rough, bold impasto strokes.
• Unlike Amorsolo, Edades' colors are dark and somber, depicting laborers and the working class.
• Vicente Silva Manansala (National Artist for Painting, 1981): His paintings are described as visions of reality teetering on the edge of abstraction.
• He says the beauty of art is in the process of making love, and believes “the climax is just when it’s really finished.”
• Jerry Navarro Elizalde (National Artist for Painting, 1999): A versatile artist, proficient in both painting and sculpting.
• He has over 40 years of experience drawing, printmaking, graphic designing, painting and sculpting.
• His artwork includes hardwood masks blending human and animal forms, abstracts and figures in oils and watercolor, and assemblages of found objects and metal parts.
• He created figurative works inspired by Balinese art, showing his mastery of colors, evident in “The Seasons.”
• Jose Joya (National Artist for Visual Arts, 2003): A multimedia artist creating an authentic Filipino abstract idiom transcending foreign influences.
• His harmonious colors were inspired by Philippine landscapes.
• He used rice paper in collages to emphasize transparency, a common component of folk art.
• Cesar Legaspi (National Artist for Visual Arts, 1990): A pioneer of "Neo-Realist" art.
• He is remembered for refining cubism in the Philippine context.
• He belonged to the so-called "Thirteen Moderns" and later, the "Neo-realists".
• Hernando R. Ocampo (National Artist for Visual Arts, 1991): A self-taught painter and leading member of the pre-war Thirteen Moderns, who charted modern art in the Philippines.
• Ocampo’s works provided awareness of harsh social realities after World War II, significantly contributing to rising nationalism.
• His abstract works left an indelible mark on Philippine modern art, evoking Philippine landscapes in fierce and bold colors.
• He played a role in sustaining the Philippine Art Gallery.
• Arturo Luz (National Artist for Visual Arts, 1997): A painter, sculptor, and designer creating masterpieces for over 40 years.
• His work exemplifies an ideal of sublime austerity in expression and form.
• He produced stylized paintings showcasing Filipino aesthetic vision to sophisticated simplicity.
• Luz played a key role in professionalizing the art gallery institution, developing a Filipino artistic community with impeccable designs.
• Ang Kiukok (Ang Hwa Shing) (National Artist for Visual Arts, 2001): one of the vital and dynamic figures who emerged during the 60s.
• He blazed an iconic path of expressionistic meaning.
• Benedicto R. Cabrera (BenCab) (National Artist for Visual Arts, 2006): Upheld the primacy of drawing over decorative color.
• He started as a lyrical expressionist, and his focus turned to solitary figures of scavengers.
• He created the figure "Sabel", to symbolize dislocation, despair and the vast inequities of Philippine society.
• Abdulmari Asia Imao (National Artist for Visual Arts, 2006): A native of Sulu, versatile in sculpture, painting, photography, ceramics, film, cultural research, writing, and articulating Philippine Muslim art.
• His works popularized indigenous motifs such as ukkil, sarimanok and naga.
• His sculptures monument cultural confidence.
• Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (National Artist for Visual Arts, 2009): Works under his maternal name.
• He is known for gestural paintings as well as sketches.
• Furthermore, he constructed ceramics, tapestries, and relief structures.
• Francisco V. Coching (National Artist for Visual Arts, 2014): Known as the "Dean of Filipino Illustrators."
• He combines imagination with visual art, and Filipino culture.
• He was also a central force in comics.
• Guillermo E. Tolentino is known as the "father of Philippine classical sculpture," immortalizing national symbols in bronze and stone.
• Napoleon Abueva is known as the the "father of Philippine modern sculpture."
• Ben Cabrera is a mixed media artist known for his whimsical/folksy style.

National Artist in the field of Architecture

• Architecture is the art of designing and constructing buildings.
• Philippine architecture: It was characterized as simple, rational, and functional.
• In the 20th century the Philippines began to adopt American neoclassic styles, but after WWII real estate development began.
• Architecture is both utilitarian and aesthetic.
• The structures that a society produces reveal much about its environment, history, ceremonies and artistic.
• characteristics that separate architecture from other structures: The suitability of buildings to human use, the works stability, and the communication of experience thru form.
• Juan Nakpil: First hailed as National Artist in Architecture in 1973, was an Architect teacher and civic leader.
• Pioneer and innovator in Philippine Architecture, the greatest contribution is his belief that there is such a thing as Philippine Architecture.
• Called by many as the "Dean of Philippine architecture".
• Famous works are in neoclassic style: The Rizal Shrine, Manila Jockey Club, UP Theater and Carillon Tower, UP Quezon Hall and Library.
• Major Works include: the Avenue Theater and Hotel Building, Quezon Institution Building, the International Eucharistic Congress Altar and the renovated Quapo Church.
• Leandro V. Locsin: An architect from Silay negros Occidental, who was known for the use of domes, spirals, amd concentric spaces.
• Some of his famous works is here and abroad include: Brunei's Sultan's Palace, CCP, PICC, Folk Arts Theater, Makati Stock Exchange, NAIA Terminal 1, and the Philippine Plaza Hotel.
• In the field be reshaped the urban landmark "the product of two great streams of culture".
• Every Locsin Building is an original with themes of light.
• Pablo S. Antonio, pioneered modern Philippine architecture.
• best known for the UNESCO awarded Art Deco campus of FEU Manila.
• For him, function comes before elegance or form.
• He believes building should be planned with austerity in mind and its stability forever.
• Ildefonso P. Santos Jr., “father of Philippine landscape architecture” from Malabon.
• He made his first remark with the Makati commercial Center where he introduced a new concept of outdoor shopping with landscaped walkways and sculptures as accents.
• José María Zaragoza: Fused old world Spanish colonial style with modern international-ism.
• Notable works include Santo Domingo Church, the Meralco Building and the Convent of Pink Sisters.