FERNANDO AMORSOLO PAINTING

FRANCISCA R. AQUINO DANCE

CARLOS P. FRANCISCO PAINTING
AMADO V. HERNANDEZ LITERATURE
ANTONIO J. MOLINA MUSIC
JUAN P. NAKPIL ARCHITECTURE
GUILLERMO E. TOLENTINO SCULTURE
JOSE GARCIA VILLA LITERATURE
NAPOLEON V. ABUEVA SCULPTURE
LAMBERTO V. AVELLANA
THEATER AND FILM
LEONOR O. GOQUINGCO DANCE
NICK JONGIN LITERATURE
JOVITA FUENTES MUSIC
VICTORIO C. EDADES PAINTING
PABLO S. ANTONIO ARCHITECTURE
VICENTE S. MANANSALA PAINTING
CARLOS P. ROMULO LITERATURE
GERARDO DE LEON CINEMA
HONORATA "ATANG" DELA RAMA
THEATER AND MUSIC
ANTONIO R. BUENAVENTURA MUSIC

Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto was one of the most important artists in the
history of painting in the Philippines. Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter
of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly known for his craftsmanship
and mastery in the use of light.

On March 9, 1899, Francisca Reyes-Aquino, the country's pioneer

researcher on traditional Philippine folk dances and music and known as the
mother Philippine folk dancing, was born in Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan.
Francesca was the eldest of the three children of Felipe Reyes and Juliana
Santos. She had her early schooling at the Meisic Elementary School, Tondo
Intermediate School and Manila High School in Tondo, Manila. She obtained
her High School Teacher's Certificate (HSTC) in 1923, her Bachelor of Science
in Education degree in 1924 at the University of the Philippines (UP) and her
Master of Arts degree in 1926 also at the UP.

Carlos V. Francisco (November 4, 1912 – March 31, 1969), popularly known

as Botong, was a muralist from Angono, Rizal.
Francisco was a most distinguished practitioner of mural painting for many
decades and best known for his historical pieces. He was one of the first
Filipino modernists along with Galo Ocampo and Victorio C. Edades who
broke away from Fernando Amorsolo's romanticism of Philippine scenes.
Botong is also known for discovering the Angono Petroglyphs, which are
considered the oldest prehistoric artwork. This paleolithic art consists of 127
human and animal figures that are estimated to date back to 3000 BC.
Presidential Decree 260 was issued in 1996 and declared the petroglyphs a
national cultural treasure. The National Museum established a museum on
its site.

Amado Vera Hernandez, commonly known as Amado V. Hernandez

(September 13, 1903 – March 24, 1970), was a Filipino writer and labor
leader who was known for his criticism of social injustices in the Philippines
and was later imprisoned for his involvement in the communist movement.
He was the central figure in a landmark legal case that took 13 years to
settle.
He was born in Tondo, Manila, to parents from Hagonoy, Bulacan. He grew
up and studied at the Gagalangin, Tondo, the Manila High School and at
the American Correspondence School.

Antonio Molina (26 December 1894 – 29 January 1980) was a Filipino

composer, conductor and music administrator. He was named a National
Artist of the Philippines for his services to music. He was also known as the
Claude Debussy of the Philippines due to his use of impressionist themes in
his music. Molina made his first composition in 1912 titled Matinal, which
is preserved in an unpublished volume called Miniaturas, Vol. 1.[1]:147 He
was appointed to teach harmony, composition, music history, and
violincello at the UP Conservatory of Music, pursuing a career in music
education until being appointed dean of the Centro Escolar Conservatory of
Music. He founded the CEU String Quartet which was professionally
organized and financed by its music school.As a composer Molina is
credited with over 500 compositions.

In March 2006, there was a flurry of protest, mainly by conservationists,

journalists and bloggers, upon the impending demolition of the Avenue
Theatre to make way for a parking lot. The building’s end happened quickly,
leaving them to mourn another loss of heritage, the work of a National
Artist, Juan F. Nakpil.
The Avenue theatre was described as “a grand Art Deco structure that
provided entertainment to generations of Manilans… a landmark building
that helped define Manila’s downtown – Avenida Rizal… Nakpil had
designed it as a cutting-edge cinema before the war and he renovated it
after the war to cater to new technologies of air-conditioning, Technicolor,
and wide screens.” (Villalon, PDI)

Guillermo Estrella Tolentino (July 24, 1890 – July 12, 1976) was a Filipino
sculptor and professor of the University of the Philippines. He was
designated as a National Artist of the Philippines for Sculpture in 1973,
three years before his death.[ Tolentino was born on July 24, 1890 in
Malolos, Bulacan. He was the fourth child in his family and had seven
siblings. Before being interested in sculptures, he learned how to play the
guitar, a skill which he inherited from his father. The young Tolentino
showed an early talent in sculpting, having been able to mold figures of
horses and dogs out of clay.

Jose Garcia Villa (August 5, 1908 – February 7, 1997) was a Filipino poet,
literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National
Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973,[1] as well as the
Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken.[2] He is known
to have introduced the "reversed consonance rhyme scheme" in writing
poetry, as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks—especially
commas, which made him known as the Comma Poet.[3] He used the
penname Doveglion (derived from "Dove, Eagle, Lion"), based on the
characters he derived from himself. These animals were also explored by
another poet E. E. Cummings in Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem
dedicated to Villa.

Napoleon "Billy" Veloso Abueva (January 26, 1930 – February 16, 2018) was
known as the "Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture" Through
Proclamation No. 1539, He was proclaimed National Artist for Sculpture in
1976 when he was 46, making him the youngest recipient of the award to
date.

Lamberto Vera Avellana (February 12, 1915 – April 25, 1991) was a
prominent Filipino film and stage director. Despite considerable budgetary
limitations that hampered the post-war Filipino film industry, Avellana's
films such as Anak Dalita and Badjao attained international acclaim. In
1976, Avellana was named by President Ferdinand Marcos as the very first
National Artist of the Philippines for Film. While Avellana remains an
important figure in Filipino cinema, his reputation as a film director has
since been eclipsed by the next wave of Filipino film directors who emerged
in the 1970s, such as Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal.

Leonor Orosa-Goquingco (July 24, 1917 – July 15, 2005) was a Filipino
national artist in creative dance.[1] She played the piano, drew art,
designed scenery and costumes, sculpted, acted, directed, danced and
choreographed. Her pen name was Cristina Luna and she was known as
Trailblazer, Mother of Philippine Theater Dance and Dean of Filipino
Performing Arts Critics. She died on July 15, 2005 of cardiac arrest following
a cerebro-vascular accident at the age of 87.

Nicomedes "Nick" Márquez Joaquín (May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004) was a
Filipino writer and journalist best known for his short stories and novels in
the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila.
Joaquín was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines
for Literature. He has been considered one of the most important Filipino
writers, along with José Rizal and Claro M. Recto. Unlike Rizal and Recto,
whose works were written in Spanish, Joaquin's major works were written
in English despite being a native Spanish speaker. Before becoming one of
the leading practitioners of Philippine literature in English, he was a
seminarian in Hong Kong – who later realized that he could better serve
God and humanity by being a writer.
Victorio C. Edades (December 23, 1895 – March 7, 1985) was a Filipino
painter. He led the revolutionary Thirteen Moderns, who engaged their
classical compatriots in heated debate over the nature and function of art.
He was named a National Artist in 1976. Victorio Edades was born on
December 23, 1895 to Hilario and Cecilia Edades. He was the youngest of
ten children (six of whom died of smallpox). He grew up in Barrio Bolosan in
Dagupan, Pangasinan. His artistic ability surfaced during his early years. By
seventh grade, his teachers were so impressed with him that he was dubbed
"apprentice teacher" in his art class. He was also an achiever from the very
beginning, having won awards in school debates and writing competitions.

Pablo Sebero Antonio, Sr. (January 25, 1901 – June 14, 1975)[1] was a
Filipino architect. A pioneer of modern Philippine architecture,[2] he was
recognized in some quarters as the foremost Filipino modernist architect of
his time.[3] The rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines was
conferred on him by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1976. Antonio was born
in Binondo, Manila in 1901. He was orphaned by the age of 12, and had to
work in the daytime in order to finish his high school education at night. He
studied architecture at the Mapua Institute of Technology but dropped out
of school.

Manansala was born in Macapuk, Pampanga. From 1926 to 1930, he

studied at the U.P. School of Fine Arts. In 1949, Manansala received a six-
month grant by UNESCO to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Banff and
Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 1950, he received a nine-month scholarship
to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris by the French government.

Carlos Peña Rómulo, QSC, CLH, NA (14 January 1898 – 15 December 1985)
nuwas a Filipino diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist and author. He was
a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at
32. He was a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, a general in
the US Army and the Philippine Army, university president, President of the
UN General Assembly, was eventually named one of the Philippines'
National Artists in Literature, and was the recipient of many other honors
and honorary degrees. His hometown is Camiling, Tarlac and he studied at
the Camiling Central Elementary School during his basic education.

De León, who was born Gerardo Ilagan, was a member of the Ilagan clan of
Philippine motion pictures, which includes Robert Arevalo, Conrado Conde,
Angel Esmeralda, Eddie Ilagan, Ronaldo Valdez, musical scorer Tito Arévalo,
and his daughter Liberty Ilagan. De León was a medical doctor by
profession, but his ultimate love for film won him over. He made his acting
debut in the 1934 film Ang Dangal. He acted in eight other films before
becoming a director. The first film he directed was Bahay-Kubo (1939),
starring Fely Vallejo, an actress whom he later married.

Honorata de la Rama-Hernandez (January 11, 1902 – July 11, 1991),

commonly known as Atang de la Rama, was a singer and bodabil performer
who became the first Filipina film actress. Atang de la Rama was born in
Pandacan, Manila on January 11, 1902. By the age of 7, she was already
starring in Spanish zarzuelas such as Mascota, Sueño de un Vals, and
Marina. At the age of 15, she starred in the sarsuela Dalagang Bukid, where
she became known for singing the song, Nabasag na Banga.

Antonio Buenaventura also known as Colonel Antonio Buenaventura, was

born on 4 May 1904 in Baliuag, Bulacan. He inherited his interest in music
and military from his father, Lucino Buenaventura. He was born to a family
of musicians and actively involved in the band. In 1922, he composed two
pieces, a march and a foxtrot entitled “Only You”. He was admitted as
clarinetist to the University of the Philippines Symphony Orchestra. He was
a student in composition and conducting and the captain of cadet corps of
the university when he organized the first student orchestra, the UP Junior
Orchestra.