Abdulmari Asia Imao: Stalwart Artist and National Artist

PADRE VICENTE GARCIA MEMORIAL ACADEMY, INC.
“Your partner in education since 1946”

____________________________________________________
UNIT 1: The New Me
Subject Teacher: Renz Paulo B. Rodriguez

Email: renzpaulorodriguez@gmail.com
Contact Number: +639499666424
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Introducing, Abdul Asia Imao!
Panoramic photograph of a Badjao village taken by the National Artist
Abdulmari Asia Imao: Stalwart Artist

By: Jessica Jalandoni-Robillos Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:19 AM December 12, 2016
Throughout his prodigious life, National Artist for Visual Arts

Abdulmari Asia Imao (1936-2014) seemed to have had at his beck
and call the sarimanok, avian harbinger of good fortune in Maranao
lore. That he is most known for renditions of the brightly hued
mythical bird should underscore his mastery of Mindanao
iconography. But unlike the mythical bird, his rise to artistic zenith
was not without struggle.
Born on Jan. 14, 1936, Imao hailed from Tulay barrio in Jolo, Sulu.
After the untimely deaths of two daughters, Jamasalli Allih and
Asia Imao relinquished the care of the young Abdulmari to Capt.
Abdurahim Imao, his mother’s brother. This made him an “anak
kiyapangdihil,” practiced to counter bad luck such as deaths in the
family.
In 1954, a floating art exposition docked in Sulu. Artist Tomas

Bernardo noticed Abdulmari was keen on the exhibit. When
Bernardo saw Imao’s works, he urged him to go to Manila.
With hardly any funds and just a few clothes, Abdul (he was also
called “Mari” by friends) ventured to Manila and initially stayed in
“Nude,” welded brass, 1975 Balut, Tondo, with Bernardo.
His examination results fell one slot short of the scholarship openings at University of the
Philippines (UP); he landed fifth when only the Top 4 were given scholarships. Sheer gumption
drove him to Malacañang to ask for President Ramon Magsaysay’s help. He walked daily to the
palace to seek audience with Magsaysay because he did not have any transportation money.
Presidential appointments secretary Jose Maria Ansaldo was so moved that he gave Mari money
for a meal and decided to help send him to UP.
Abdul was always strapped for cash but his physique that had been sculpted by hard
labor helped him augment his measly funds; he became a model and posed in life drawing
sessions in the Fine Arts school. He also joined the varsity swimming team.

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Under the tutelage of Guillermo Tolentino, Anastacio Caedo and Napoleon Abueva, Imao
chose sculpting. He began winning art competitions with works on Moro themes, such as
“Muslim Prayer.”
Works he exhibited at the Contemporary Art Showroom after his studies and early in his
career were touted as “startling creations in wood, adobe stone and plastilene” by a “gifted young
sculptor.”
Graduate Studies Abroad

Pursuing graduate studies, Imao won the Smith-Fulbright and Kansas University scholarships
for his master’s degree in Sculpture, Major in Brass Casting.
Next, he was a ceramics and photography scholar at the Rhode Island School of Design, He also
won a film directing scholarship from the faculty of Columbia University.
National Artist Abdulmari Asia Imao wasmarried to the late Grace de Leon of Pampanga. They were blessed with
four boys: Francisco Abdulmari Jr., Juan Sajid, Josemari and Melencio Alkarim. —PHOTOS BY JILSON SECKLER TIU
National Artist Abdulmari Asia Imao wasmarried to the late

Grace de Leon of Pampanga. They were blessed with four
boys: Francisco Abdulmari Jr., Juan Sajid, Josemari and
Melencio Alkarim. —PHOTOS BY JILSON SECKLER
TIUPortrait of Grace de Leon-Imao
At the director’s office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

in New York, his bas-relief piece “South Pacific” was on
display for two years. It was the museum director who
made it possible for Imao to receive a grant normally given
only to American citizens—one that allowed him to travel
to Europe where he gained exposure to art in Scandinavia,
Portrait of Grace de Leon-Imao Belgium, England, France, Germany, Holland

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In an interview with Nick Joaquin in 1969, Imao said: “I think the woodcraft and smooth lines of
Scandinavian design have influenced me greatly. They are among the best designers in
ceramics.”
But he disclosed to Joaquin his chosen idiom: “I have been working on the sarimanok style. This
is a design I am trying to improve, revitalize. That is why I have been doing research on this
Muslim motif: to develop it into another design which will be distinctively Muslim.”
Although a Tausug, Imao loved and adapted in his art the vividly colored motifs common among
the Lumad of Mindanao.
He also became noted for his Islamic calligraphy; the sari-mosque or the gourd-like dome with
crescent moon and cross that often appeared in his depictions of the sarimanok with the staple
fish in its beak; the serpent or naga, and okir or ukkil, the undulating carvings that served as
embellishments to the Mindanao architecture.
TheNational Artist’s personal sculpture-cum-paintbrush

holderImao was the quintessential scholar. He wrote a number of
research monographs and briefs on Mindanao art and culture,
such as “Documentary and Photographic Study of Sulu People”
(1965, Ateneo de Manila’s Institute of Philippine Culture) and “The
Study of Sulu Art.”
After studies abroad, Imao taught at University of the East (UE) and
contributed to Chronicle Manila in which it was common to see his
byline for both text and photos. For UE’s Research Center for
Sciences, Humanities and Culture, he wrote “The Study of Sulu
Tribes.”
Broad creative range

Imao’s broad creative range may be seen all over the Philippines.
TheNational Artist’s personal
Along the bay front on Roxas Boulevard is the monument of
sculpture-cum-paintbrush holder President Elpidio Quirino. In UP Diliman is his largest calligraphic
sculpture that spells out “Allah.”
In the Visayas, inside Fort San Pedro, is the statue of Magellan’s chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta.
His artworks are naturally plentiful in his native Mindanao. In the Aga Khan Museum alone, there
are over 300 of his 450 versions of Allah’s sacred name.
In Saudi Arabia are his three-dimensional pieces of Islamic calligraphy. He was also United
Nation’s consultant for brass-casting in Sri-Lanka. In fact, he was the first Filipino metalcasting
consultant for Sri-Lanka and Thailand.
Sarimanok, 1975
“Art is a sense of order and harmony,” Imao declared, “and to be a
good artist, one must have the right attitude toward his interests
and associates. In his works his life is reflected, and it is necessary
that an artist must be generally well-informed and be interested
in other related artistic fields.”
The National Artist Award citation perfectly captures Imao’s many

sided brilliance: “Abdulmari Asia Imao, sculptor, painter,
photographer, ceramist, documentary filmmaker, cultural
researcher, writer, and articulator of Philippine Muslim art and
culture, is a versatile and prolific Muslim Filipino artist. His
sculptures of diverse mediums and styles, as well as his refined
and innovative rendering of indigenous art images and motifs, are
testimonies of his highly developed aesthetic sensibility, ingenuity,
and wide-ranging experience as an artist.”
To mark Imao’s second death anniversary on Dec. 16, the National Commission for Culture and
the Arts has mounted a tribute exhibit. — CONTRIBUTED

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“Abdulmari Asia Imao: National Artist” consists of never-before-exhibited sketches,
photographs, paintings and sculptures.
It is on view at NCCA Gallery, Intramuros, Manila. Call 5272192.
“Sarimanok” pen and ink, 1975, MSU Marawi City
A rare 1975 Imao landscape piece
References:
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/247310/abdulmari-asia-imao-stalwart-artist/
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/247310/abdulmari-asia-imao-stalwart-artist/#ixzz6PTyaktxP
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PADRE VICENTE GARCIA MEMORIAL ACADEMY, INC.

“Your partner in education since 1946”

UNIT 1: The New Me

Subject Teacher: Renz Paulo B. Rodriguez

Introducing, Abdul Asia Imao!

Panoramic photograph of a Badjao village taken by the National Artist