Napoleon Isabelo Veloso-Abueva

(born January 26, 1930), more

popularly known as Napoleon
Abueva, is a Filipino artist. He is a
sculptor given the distinction as the
Philippines National Artist for
Sculpture. He is also entitled as the
"Father of Modern Philippine
Sculpture". He is the first and only
Boholano given the distinction as
National Artist of the Philippines in
the field of Visual Arts.
Napoleon Abueva, nicknamed Billy,
was born on January 26, 1930 in
Tagbilaran, Bohol to Teodoro
Abueva, a Bohol congressman and
Purification Veloso, president of the
Womenʼ s Auxiliary Service. His
father was a friend and
contemporary of former Philippine
President Manuel Roxas and
Ambassador Narciso Ramos. He
was a member of the Provincial
Board, and later became the
Provincial Governor of Bohol. He
ended his career as a Congressman
in 1934. Both of Abueva's parents
died serving their country.
Abueva has six other brothers and
sisters: Teodoro, Jr., now based in
New York, USA; Purificacion,
married to Atty. Ramon Binamira of
Tagbilaran City; Jose Abueva,
former president of the University
of the Philippines; Amelia Martinez,
now living in Chicago; Teresita
Floro, now living in Sydney,
Australia; and Antonio, a landscape
artist who met a tragic fate aboard
Princess of the Orient; his body has
not been found.

A home-grown talent, he was given

a break in 1951 when he won the
Pura Villanueva-Kalaw Scholarship.
He then took up a Bachelor's
degree in Fine Arts at the University
of the Philippines where he
graduated in 1953. This was
followed by a Fulbright-Smith
Mundt Scholarship in 1954-55,
after which he got a foreign
Students Scholarship at the
University of Kansas (1955-56). At
the same time, he won another
scholarship at the Instituto de
Allende in Mexico City which he did
not avail due to conflict in schedule.
It was also in 1955 that he finished
his Masters in Fine Arts at the
Cranbook Academy of Arts, USA. In
1956, he attended Harvard
University for another scholarship
grant.

At U.P, one of his mentors was

Guillermo Tolentino, also a national
artist, who created the oblation at
the university entrance.
Abueva has helped shape the local
sculpture scene in the Philippines.
Being adept in both academic
representational style and modern
abstract, he has utilized almost all
kinds of materials from hard wood
(molave, acacia, langka wood, ipil,
kamagong, palm wood and
bamboo) to adobe, metal, stainless
steel, cement, marble, bronze, iron,
alabaster, coral and brass.

In 1976, he was awarded the status

of National Artist of the Philippines
by then President Ferdinand
Marcos. He was the youngest
recipient of the title at age 46.
Some of his major works include
Kaganapan (1953), Kiss of Judas
(1955), Thirty Pieces of Silver, The
Transfiguration, Eternal Gardens
Memorial Park (1979), UP Gateway
(1967), Nine Muses (1994), UP
Faculty Center, Sunburst (1994)-
Peninsula Manila Hotel, the bronze
figure of Teodoro M. Kalaw in front
of National Library, and murals in
marble at the National Heroes
Shrine, Mt. Samat, Bataan. One
masterpiece he dedicates to the
Boholanos is the Sandugo or Blood
Compact shrine in Bool, Tagbilaran
City, a landmark at the site of the
first international treaty of
friendship between Spaniards and
Filipinos. This is now a tourist
attraction in Bohol province. This
shrine is an expression of Abueva's
awareness of his roots, and a
manifestation of his artistic talents.
Abueva also performed the death
mask procedure of the late
Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004