PAINTINGSSSSS

Fabian de la Rosa

Fabian de la Rosa (May 5, 1869- December 14, 1937) was the brightest name in
Philippine painting after Luna and certainly the leading master of genre in the first
quarter of the century. Particularly noted for being an outstanding painter of women’s
portraits, alongside Juan Luna and his nephews, Pablo and Fernando Amorsolo.

Fabian Cueto de la Rosa was born on May 5, 1869 in Paco, Manila, the second child
of Marcos de la Rosa and Gregoria Cueto. He had apprenticed with his aunt, Mariana
de la Rosa, and later with Simon Flores for his first art lessons. Prior to receiving any
formal academic training in the arts, he painted La Perla de Lucban, his first known
masterpiece and oldest existing work, at the age of twenty-two. In 1893, he enrolled in
Escuela Superior de Pintura, Grabado y Escultura under the directorship of Don
Lorenzo Rocha (1837-1898). He left the Academy and frequented studios of simple
unknown painters in Quiapo and Sta. Cruz, Manila to look for new ways to forge his
ideas. Later on, he also received lessons from Lorenzo Guerrero and Miguel
Zaragoza.

De la Rosa spearheaded the student body in petitioning the government to hold the
quadrennial contest for the pensionado-ship to the Madrid Art Academy in June of
1896.The petition was approved by the authorities but the outbreak of the Revolution
impede its implementation for the next two years. In April 1898, the Second
Revolution was on the brink of exploding so the contest was considered an exercise in
futility. Despite of this, de la Rosa won the scholarship just when the Spanish regime
was nearing collapse.

On January 13, 1900, he welcomed the 20th century by marrying Gorgonia Tolentino.
Although the couple was childless, their house was filled with the presence of their
orphaned nephews, Pablo and Fernando Amorsolo, who stayed with them in 1903.

In 1904, de la Rosa won his first gold medal for Planting Rice, in the St. Louis
Exposition. Four years later, in 1908, when the University of the Philippines School of
Fine Arts was founded, de la Rosa received a scholarship from the Germinal Cigar
Factory to study in Europe as a scholar. He attended the Academie de Julien in Paris
and the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid -- the school attended
by Juan Luna, Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo, and later on Fernando Amorsolo.

When he returned to the Philippines in 1910, he joined the distinguished faculty of the
UP School of Fine Arts which consisted of outstanding alumni, scholars, and
professors of the old academy: Don Rafael Enriquez (1850-1927), the first director of
the School of Fine Arts; Jose Asuncion (1869-1925), Teodoro Buenaventura, Vicente
Francisco (sculptor, 1866-1936), Antonio Garcia (engraver), Joaquin Ma.
Herrer,Vicente Rivera and Miguel Zaragoza.

De la Rosa introduced and taught decorative painting. Teaching and portrait painting
became his means of livelihood. His skill and reputation in portraiture have rarely
been equaled except perhaps by Fernando Amorsolo. During the period of 1927-1937,
upon the retirement of Rafael Enriquez, de la Rosa became the director of the UP
School of Fine Arts with a new set of upcoming masters: Fernando Amorsolo (1892-
1972), his nephew and pupil, Fernando’s brother, Pablo (1898-1945), Dr. Toribio
Herrera (1892-1968), Ireneo Miranda (1896-1964), Ambrosio Morales (engraver) and
Guillermo Tolentino (sculptor, 1890-1976).

In 1928, de la Rosa went to tour Europe with his wife the second time. He painted in
Paris for four months and then traveled to Munich, Geneva, Rome, and Madrid. In
1928 he presented a much-acclaimed exhibition of his paintings at the Ateneo de
Madrid.

Best remembered for painting landscapes, portraits, and everyday scenes with
women depicted as simple yet regal in doing daily activities such as cleaning out clay
pots, weaving, chatting, going to church, planting in the rice fields, washing clothes,
etc. De la Rosa’s style has never changed despite his exposure to Europe.

In 1937, De la Rosa’s ever faithful wife, Gorgonio, died of cancer. Sadness seemed to
follow the old master. De la Rosa himself lived less than a year afterwards, suffering
from kidney disease. He died on December 14, 1938 in his home at the Kraut
Apartments at Maria Carpena St.in Quiapo, Manila.

PAINTINGS
El Kundiman, oil on canvas, 1930's.
by: Fabian dela Rosa
El Kundiman (Ca 1930) is 71.12 x 118.11 centimeters in dimension. A unique composition by Fabian
de la Rosa, is also known as Tertulia. This realistic painting pictures a musical gathering or song
concert in the afternoon hours. It is an interior scene, sets in the spacious and carpeted sala of an
ilustrado house. Numerous human figures are in formal wear but, the focus of the details is a female
singer standing beside the piano as she is singing a "kundiman" to the accompaniment of a male
pianist. The audience are preoccupied in appreciation to the music they are listening to. The features
those who belong to the period's elite as conveys by the details in this painting
on canvas.
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is de la Rosa and the
second or maternal family name is Cueto.
Don Fabián de la Rosa y Cueto (May 5, 1869 – December 14, 1937) was a Filipino painter. He was
the first cousin once removed and mentor to the Philippines' national artist in painting, Fernando
Amorsolo, and to his brother Pablo. He is regarded as a "master of genre" in Philippine art.

( planting rice: background )

REFERENCES:

https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1114/today-in-philippine-history-may-5-1869-fabian-
cueto-de-la-rosa-was-born-in-paco-manila

http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/30/master-of-genre-fabian-cueto-de-la-rosa-1869-1937-

https://www.facebook.com/111131982293260/photos/a.319492514790538/1592138654192578/?
type=3

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Kundiman.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fabian_de_la_Rosa,_Women_working_in_a_rice_field.jpg
 Fernando Amorsolo – Biography

Fernando Amorsolo painted and sketched more than ten thousand pieces over his lifetime using natural
and backlighting techniques.  His most known works are of the dalagang Filipina, landscapes of his
Philippino homeland, portraits and WWII war scenes.

Born in Calle Herran in Paco, Manila, on May 30, 1892, Fernando Amorsolo began drawing and sketching
as a young boy.  The family lived in Daet until the death of his father.  At that time his mother moved the
family to the home of her cousin, artist Don Fabian dela Rosa in Manila.  Amorsolo was 13 years old at
the time and in order to help provide for his family, he sold his drawings and began to study art under
dela Rosa.  

In 1909, he began studies at the Liceo de Manila and graduated from the University of the Philippines in
1914.  After designing the logo for Ginebra San Miguel, Amorsolo received a grant to attend the
Academia de San Fernando in Madrid from businessman Enrique Zobel de Ayala in 1916.  A major
influence in his painting style during this period was painter Diego Velasquez.

Fernando Amorsolo used family members as subjects for many of his sketches and paintings.  When
WWII broke out, Amorsolo continued to paint from his home in Manila.  Instead of painting landscapes
with bright sun filled skies, he did works that portrayed the human suffering and wartime scenes along
with self portraits and the Japanese occupation soldiers of the time.  Many of these paintings were
exhibited in the Malacanang presidential palace in 1948.  

Following the war he returned to painting landscape scenes of the countryside and portraits.  He painted
oil portraits of all of the Philippine presidents, revolutionary leader General Emilio Aguinaldo, and
General Douglas MacArthur.   

Due to the popularity of his works he cataloged them and developed a technique to paint them quicker
to meet the demand.
 

Throughout his life Fernando Amorsolo worked as an instructor, a draftsman for the Public Works, chief
artist for the Pacific Commercial Company, illustrator for children's books and magazines, and served as
Director at the School of Fine Arts before he retired in the early 1950s.  
In the twilight years of his life, Amorsolo continued painting through declining health.  He was married
twice and had 13 children before a heart attack eventually took his life on April 24, 1972.

(MAN WITH A COCKEREL: BACKGROUND)

( fruit gatherer: background )

References used:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Amorsolo

https://biography.yourdictionary.com/fernando-amorsolo

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/360921357610310128/

http://ationgson.tumblr.com/post/81401451683/fruit-gatherer-1950-oil-on-canvas
 VICTORIO EDADES (b. Dagupan, Pangasinan, Dec. 23, 1895, d. March 7, 1985)

 Victorio Edades was the son of Hilario Edades and Cecilia Edades. He was the youngest of 10
children, 6 of whom died of smallpox. He received his early education in barrio schools. By 7th
grade he was considered the “apprentice teacher” in art class due to his talent.

After high school, Edades and his friends traveled to the United States. Before enrolling in
Seattle, Edades incidentally made a detour to Alaska and experienced working in salmon
canneries. Nonetheless, he moved on to Seattle and enrolled at the University of Washington
where he took up architecture and later earned a Master of Fine Arts in Painting.

He married Jean Garrott, an American who also later taught English and drama at the University
of the Philippines.

In 1922 the travelling exhibit of the Armory show opened his eyes and that of the American
public to the artistic ferment in Europe led by Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso’, Duchamp,
the surrealists, and the Dadaists. While it drew outcries from the conservative public, it gave
Edades the artistic direction he was looking for. Deviating from the academic style, while
retaining some of its characteristics, he executed two paintings in 1928: “The Sketch,”
(also called “The Artist and His Model”) and “The Builders.”

When Edades returned to the Philippines in 1928, he embarked on his crusade to change the
course of Philippine art which was then dominated by painter Fernando Amorsolo and sculptor
Guillermo Tolentino.

Barely a month after his return he had a one person show in December at the Philippine
Columbian Club. It was met with shock and disdain by a public accustomed to Amorsolo’s rural
idylls. Edades decided to shift strategies: it was through teaching that he would conduct his
campaign for advanced art.
Edades helped organized the University of Sto. Tomas Department of Architecture in 1930 and
was its acting head. In 1935, he was appointed as Director of the UST College of Architecture
and Fine Arts, which he organized under the Architecture Department.

The year 1934 provided him with a new opportunity to reach the public through art when he was
commissioned by the architect Juan Nakpil to do a mural for the lobby of the Capitol Theater on
Escolta Street. For his assistant Edades chose Carlos (Botong) Francisco, an illustrator for the
Philippine Herald, who in turn brought Galo B. Ocampo to the project. Together, they formed
the first triumvirate in Philippine modern art.

In the 1930’s the famous press battle between the modernists and conservatives erupted. In an
interview with A. B. Saulo for an article in the Monday Mail, Edades fired the first shot by
bewailing the conservative orientation of art and its insistence on the bright aspects of life while
excluding the dark side of reality as a valid artistic subject. In addition to Edades, those who
spoke for the modernists included Salvador P. Lopez and Jose Garcia Villa; the conservatives
had Ariston Estrada, Ignacio Manlapaz, and Fermin Sanchez on their side. The debate was
interrupted by WWII, but resumed in 1948, this time with Edades and Tolentino on opposite
poles, debating the pros and cons of modern art on the pages of The Sunday Times Magazine and
later in “This Week” of the Manila Chronicle.

In 1937, Edades, Ocampo, and Diosdado Lorenzo organized the Atelier of Modern Art, which
led to the formation of the “Thirteen Moderns,” thus boosting the cause of modernism with new
talents. The support system for modernism was further strengthened with the founding of the Art
Association of the Philippines (AAP) and the Philippine Art Gallery (PAG) in 1951. The
modernists included Edades, Carlos Francisco, Galo Ocampo, Lorenzo, Vicente Manansala,
HR Ocampo, Anita Magasaysay, Cesar Legaspi, Demetrio Diego, Ricarte Purugganan, Jose
Pardo, Bonifacio Cristobal and Arsenio Capili.

The struggle between modernists and conservatives came to a head in the AAP annual exhibition
of 1955, which was marked by the walkout of the conservatives after the modernists won
significant prizes.

Modernism opened the way to new artistic idioms, as well as enlarged the subject of art to span
the entire range of human experience. Edades not only introduced modernism into the
Philippines but also gave it his guidance and related it to the issue of national identity. He
envisioned an art in, which the artist was to pursue an individual vision, while also discovering
his identity as a Filipino.

Edades received the Pro Patria Award during the Rizal Centennial Celebration in 1961 and the
Patnubay ng sinsing at Kalinangan award from the City of Manila in 1964. He was proclaimed
National Artist in painting in 1976.

Edades retired to Davao City with his family. He taught at the Philippine Women’s college, and
continued making art.

Edades died on March 7, 1985

( poinsettia girl: background )

( mother and child: background)

References used:

https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/841/today-in-philippine-history-december-23-1895-
victorio-edades-was-born-in-dagupan-pangasinan

https://www.geringerart.com/artists/142/

http://www.manilaartblogger.com/2012/05/31/victorio-edades-the-original-bad-boy-of-philippine-
art/

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/mother-and-daughter/JwER0WTlfPq48w
 CARLOS VILLALUZ FRANCISCO (aka Botong B. Angono)

(b. Rizal, November 4, 1914, d. Angono, Rizal, March 31, 1969)

Carlos Villaluz Francisco, born in 1914, was the son of Felipe Francisco and Maria Villaluz of
Angono, Rizal.

Francisco studied at the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Fine Arts. Before the war,
he did illustrations for the Tribune and La Vanguardia, and later, with Victorio Edades and
Fermin Sanchez painted sets for the Manila Grand Opera House, and the Clover Theater. He was
also a member of the “Thirteen Moderns” a group formed in 1938.

After WWII, Francisco taught at the University of Santo Tomas, simultaneously working in film-
making with Miguel conde, as the scriptwriter for “Ghenghis Khan, Putol na Kampilan” (Broken
Sword) and “Tatlong Labuyo,” (Three Wild Roosters). He also designed costumes for “Romeo at
Julieta,” (Romeo and Juliet) as well as “Prinsipe Tenoso,” (Prince Tenoso) “Ibong Adarna,”
(Adarna Bird), “Siete Infantes de Lara,” and the Juan Tamad series.

Francisco belonged to the first generation modernists who, with Edades and Galo B. Ocampo,
constituted the pioneering triumvirate which attempted to change the direction of Philippine art
from the tenacious influence of the Amorsolo school in new and fresh idioms of visual
expression. In the struggle for modern art, Francisco was one of the artists/protagonists in the
center of the fray.

His painting :Kaingin” (Swidden), a modernist composition with strong design and rhythm, won
him the first prize in the historic first national art exhibition of the Art Association of the
Philippines (AAP) held at the National Museum in 1948.

Francisco, along with Edades and Ocampo were commissioned to do a number of murals for
lobbies and for private residences such as that of the architect Juan Nakpil. These murals
featured stylized figures in flowing curvilinear lines: nymphs dancing or playing the flute, often
against a background of tropical vegetation.

Through these works, the artists contributed towards developing a Filipino imagery, drawing
inspiration from the the customs and traditions of the Philippine people, as well as from familiar
environments.
In the quest for a Filipino modernist idiom, Francisco, who chose to be based in his fishing
village of Agono, observed Philippine folk aesthetics and researched Philippine histon,, customs,
and traditions. He arrived at an idiom which was both Filipino and Asian. Francisco employed
bold folk colors, flowing rhythmic lines and decorative patterns often covering the entire field of
the painting. He evoked the communal life of Philippine gatherings and celebrations.

His images of women were drawn from mythology. such as Mariang Makiling; from history and
legend, such as Princesa Urduja; from customs of the past, such as the maiden carried on a
hammock across the mountain in Antipolo; and from contemporary folk, such as the woman
preparing fish for sinigang. Fisherfolk were among his favorite subjects since he lived in a
fishing village. He showed his closeness to the folk in paintings such as the “Camote Eaters,” his
last and unfinished work.

Francisco’s first important mural was done for the 1953 International Fair held in Manila. On the
theme of 500 years of Philippine History, its scope covered the legendary origin of the Filipino
with the first man and woman Malakas and Maganda springing from the primal bamboo, up to
the administration of then incumbent President Elpidio Quirino. The mural was finely executed
in wood by the Paete woodcarvers.

Foreign visitors to the Fair were impressed by Francisco’s mural which received full Newsweek,
but local sentiment was lukewarm and the work was promptly carelessly disposed of after the
fair.

Francisco’s major masterpiece is the mural for the Bulwagang Katipunan of the Manila City
Hall, commissioned by Manila mayor Antonio Villegas during his administration. “Filipino
Struggles through History” chronicles the history of Manila from the first great Rajahs of Tondo,
the Spanish colonial period, Balagtas, Rizal and the Revolution of 1896, up to the American
colonial period which becomes the history of the entire nation itself.

In this work Francisco often integrated several historical episodes, in smaller scale, under one
period. The episode groups, however, are not static but flow into each other by means of various
linking devices, such as a winding river, flames branching out, or clouds coiling in spirals. The
murals are marked by artistic vigor and inexhaustible inventiveness, a lively characterization of
the numerous historical figures, and unifying all, a strong sense of design. Andres Bonifacio’s
figure makes a compelling visual impact as he is shown forging forward, leading the
Katpunero with their long bamboo spears, rifles, and bolos. Among the many dynanic scenes is
the encounter between Limahong and the Spanish soldiers as they thrust their weapons at each
other.

A smaller mural is the Pageant of Commerce in four sections: two sides on the history of
Philippine trade, from commercial relations with China and Arabia to the Manila Acapulco
galleon trade: a section on the development of modern industry in factories, travel and
communication; and the central one of a Filipino couple in native costume, the woman slipping a
coin into a bamboo alkansya, with the spirit of commerce hovering above.
Francisco also did the murals on the Life and Miracles of St Dominic for Santo Domingo
Church, 1954; and the Stations of the Cross for Far Eastern University, 1956. He worked with
Victorio Edades and Galo B. Ocampo on the mural of Rising Philippines for the Capitol Theater
and murals for the Golden Gate Exposition, the State Theater, the houses of Pres Manuel
Quezon, Ernesto Rufino, and Vicente Rufino.

Francisco’s Kaingin won first prize in the 1948 painting competition of the Art Association of
the Philippines. He received the Patnubav ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the City of
Manila in 1964. He was proclaimed National Artist in painting in 1973.

(Maria Makiling Background)

(Fiesta Background)
References used:

http://www.kulay-diwa.com/thirteen_moderns/carlos_v_francisco

https://www.geringerart.com/artists/carlos-villaluz-francisco/

https://poetryofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2016/06/three-symbols.html

http://noypicollections.blogspot.com/2011/07/works-of-carlos-v-francisco.html
 GALO B. OCAMPO

OCAMPO, Galo B. b. Santa Rita, Pampanga 16 Oct 1913 d. Virginia, USA 12 Sept 1983.
Painter.

HE studied at the University of the Philippines and holds the distinction of being the only
Filipino to study heraldry abroad and to hold membership in the International Institute of
Genealogy and Heraldry in Madrid.

During WWII, he did intelligence work for the guerrilla movement and became a captain. As his
cover, he did stage backdrops for the Associated Artists group headed by Fernando Poe Sr. In the
1960s, during the administration of Pres Diosdado Macapagal, Ocampo served as curator of the
Presidential Museum of Malacanang and, subsequently, as director of the National Museum and
technical adviser on heraldry in the president’s office. During this time he also taught art at the
University of Santo Tomas (UST) and at the Far Eastern University (FEU), where he became
head of the Department of Fine Arts in 1971.

Ocampo staged the revolt against academic conservatism in the 1930s together with Victorio
Edades and Carlos (Botong) Francisco. The triumvirate launched a crusade to stimulate artistic
development along modernist lines. In 1934 they created murals-early works in interaction-for
the lobbies of the Capitol and State Theaters, which expressed their new artistic credo and the
rising nationalist consciousness at the height of the Commonwealth era.

Ocampo soon developed his own artistic personality. A key painting of the period was his Brown
Madonna, 1938 which indigenized the image of the Virgin Mary. Moro Dancer, and Igorot
Dance, were celebrations of indigenous culture in lively colors and designs. These paintings are
characterized by a modernist sense of design, linear rhythms, and fresh colors.

In the 1950s Ocampo’s art was haunted with images of the war he had just lived through. The
flagellant theme, fully brought out in Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), arises from harrowing
experiences of the war.

Christ, crowned with thorns and hooded with the flagellant’s veil, stands with arms bound
together, while in the skies, warplanes zoom, trailing smoke or releasing a fleet of parachutists.
In Shades of Things to Come, 1955, a flagellant lies prostrate, his arms forming a cross on the
ground, while shadows of airplanes are reflected on the sand. These paintings in brown tones
convey the feeling of the modern wasteland, littered with the debris of war.

The flagellant theme would undergo a significant stylistic change in the rnid-1950s with the large
painting, Christ in Flagellant. Here the entire space is filled up with figures, with the hooded
Christ on the cross dominant. The receding space in previous works is now replaced by a
vigorous design sectioned as in stained glass.

The artist was sent to Rome in 1956 by the Archbishop of Manila to train for the work of
designing stained glass for the Manila Cathedral. For the cathedral he did the seals of different
Archbishops of Manila as well as those of Manila, and various images and attributes of-the
Virgin Mary in the country. He also did the designs for the stained-glass windows of Santo
Domingo Church in Quezon City, and the sarimanok for the Philamlife building.

It was only in 1973, at the age of 59 and after his years in government service, that Ocampo held
his first one-person show at Galerie Bleue. For this exhibit he produced a new series entitled
Anthropographic Designs, in which he paid tribute to the Tabon man. His field work with Robert
Fox in Palawan inspired him with images of the early Pilipino: Adam and Eve growing from the
ancient stalagmites and reflecting the ever-changing hues of the mysterious caves.

His 1982 retrospective at the Museum of Philippine Art brought out all his themes, although the
“flagellants” had shifted from their original somber mood to a more positive tone-the hooded
figure of Ecce Homo now sits on a space missile in a lunar landscape. He expanded the ethnic
theme to include the ati-atihan where masked figures cavort in gaudy revelry.

Ocampo’s awards from the Art Association of the Philippines are: second prize, Pounding Rice,
1951; honorable mention, Igorot Dance, 1951; special award, Weary Traveller, 1951; and the
first Rotary Golden Anniversary Award, Bayanihan, 1955. He received the Patnubay ng Sining
at Kalinangan Award from the City of Manila in 1964.
(Tabon Caves Background)

(Mexico Background)
References used:

https://www.geringerart.com/artists/galo-b-ocampo/

http://viewsfromthepampang.blogspot.com/2011/03/240-galo-b-ocampo-sta-rita.html

https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Tabon-Caves/6B5A12F73E36E881

http://www.artnet.com/artists/galo-ocampo/
 Vicente Manansala

VICENTE MANANSALA

MANANSALA, VICENTE SILIVA b. Macabebe, Pampanga 22 Jan 1910 d. Aug, 1981.

National Artist in Painting. He is the son of Perfecto Q. Manansala and Engracia Silva. He
married Hermenegilda (Hilda) Diaz, with whom he had one child. As a newsboy and bootblack
in Intramuros, he expressed his early creativity designing kites and making charcoal sketches. At
15, he studied under the turn-of-the-century painter Ramon Peralta while doing signboards for a
painting shop. He entered the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts in 1926 and
graduated in 1930. He undertook further studies and training at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in
Montreal, Canada, in the USA, and in France where he had a brief stint under Ferdinand
Leger. Subsequently, he earned a living as illustrator for the Philippines Herald and Liwayway
and layout artist for Photonews and Saturday Evening News Magazine during the 1930s.

As a member of the Thirteen Moderns and the neo-realists, he was at the forefront of the
modernist movement in the country. With the issues of national culture and identity in focus after
WWII his works were those of the other early modernists which reflected the social environment
and expressed the native sensibility. He held his first one-person show at the Manila Hotel in
1951.

Manansala consistently worked in the figurative mode, with the exception of a few abstract
works. Shunning Amorsolo’s rural idylls, he developed a new imagery based on the postwar
urban experience. The city of Manila, through the vision of the artist, assumed a strong folk
character. He painted an innovative mother and child, Madonna of the Slums, 1950, which
reflected the poverty in postwar Manila. Besides the mother-and-child, his subjects included
jeepnevs, barong-barong, cockfighters, families gathering for a modest meal, and Quiapo women
vendors of various goods. His women vendors sit veiled and hunched over their wares, their
brown impassive faces like the archaic bulol, blocklike with broad planes, their large bare feet
projecting from the hem of their saya. He did still life’s of native fruits, vegetables, and dried fish
in the setting of a native kitchen with its folk utensils, palayok, kawali and almires, against capiz
windows. The cubist aspect of Manansala’s work rests largely on the geometric facetting of
forms and in the shifting and overlapping of planes. But his facets and planes are broader than in
original cubism as they bring out larger rhythms. Here and there, he incorporates linear
decorative patterns, as in the ironwork curlicues of gates and windows. In his work, he developed
the style of transparent cubism which was generally shared by his fellow neo-realists Cesar
Legaspi and Romeo Tabuena. Unlike analytical cubism, which arbitrarily fragments and dissects
the figure into complex abstract compositions with only clues of the subject remaining,
Manansala stayed close to the figure which he simplified to its basic geometric shape. He went
through the black-and-white phase of crucifixions and madonna-and-child paintings, but, on the
whole, he used color in all its folk vibrancy, sensuous appeal, and evocative power. In
composition, his works often feature lines of perspective with receding space, although shallow;
but recession in depth is simultaneously defined by lines and planes which create spatial
ambiguities. His still life’s have a tapestrylike quality, the various objects from the domestic
context, not fragmented but left integral, occupy he entire visual field, bright elements on a
dark, ambiguous space, and at times showing the influence of I7th century paintings of Dutch
interiors with their checkerboard motifs. As a whole, Manansala reinterpreted or indigenized
cubism as he drew his themes from the familiar Filipino environment.

Manansala’s vision of the city and his fundamentally native Filipino approach to his subjects
would influence numerous artists who took up his folk themes within an urban context. Among
those who show his influence are Mauro Malang Santos, with his own version of folk
romanticism in paintings which convey the fragile, makeshift character of the 1950s, and others
from the University of Santo Tomas where Manansala taught for a time, such as Antonio
Austria, Angelito Antonio, and Mario Parial. Like him, they draw their inspiration from the folk,
their occupations and pleasures. He influenced Manuel BaIdemor, whose roots are in
Paete, Laguna, as well as some Laguna lakeshore artists.

Manansala’s art exemplified a solution to the problems of the 1950s in terms of the use of
modem Western idioms and their local transformations, and in terms of the subject matter and
content of art reflective of a people’s identity.

Manansala won first prize for Barong-barong $ 1 in the 1950 Manila Grand Opera House
Exhibition. His awards from the Art Association of the Philippines include: third prize,
Banaklaot, 1948; second prize, Kahi (Scratch), 1953,second prize, Fish Vendors, 1955; third
prize, Best Served, Well-Gained, 1955; second prize, Give Us This Day, 1962; and best in show,
Give Us This Day, 1962. He received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1963. He also
received the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the City of Manila in 1970 He was
proclaimed National Artist in Painting in 1982.

In his painting, Beggars (1952), distorted images of slum dwellers depict the bleak life in poverty
against the backdrop of industrialization. Social realism has since become a favorite theme in
Philippine art. As pointed out by Alice Guillermo, realism in Philippine social realism is not a
stylistic term, but a shared point of view which seeks to expose the true conditions of Philippine
society as well as to point out solutions by which these conditions are changed and transcended
to achieve a truly human order.

(Background tuba drinkers)

References used:

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/518688082066289015/

https://www.geringerart.com/artists/vicente-manansala/

https://chasingthestarrs.wordpress.com/2014/09/07/a-narrative-of-the-times/

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/400538960583987039/

https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/university-of-the-philippines-quezon-city-
the-rise-of-modernism-the-u-p-vargas-museum-collection/
 HR Ocampo

HERNANDO RUIZ OCAMPO

OCAMPO, HERNANDO RUIZ aka H.R. b. Santa Cruz, Manila 28 Apr 1911 d. Caloocan City,
28 Dec 1978. National Artist in Painting. He is the son of Emilio Ocampo and Delfina Ruiz. He
married Irene Illovato in 1932, but she died in 1945. His second wife is Cresencia Valenzuela. In
1931 he started working at the Philippine Education Company (PECO). In 1935, he worked as
executive secretary of the National Paper Mills Inc. After the war, he worked in the script
department of Palaris Feler and Fernando Poe Productions.

He began as a writer in English. He was one of the organizers of the Veronicans, a young
writers’ group which included Francisco Arcellana and Estrella Alfon, N.V.M. Gonzalez,
Manuel Viray and Angel G. de Jesus, among others. His house at Maypajo, Caloocan served as a
frequent venue for their meetings. As a Tagalog fictionist, he is known for his prizewinning
“Bakya” (Wooden Clogs) and “Rice and Bullets,” both showing a consciousness of the
proletariat. During the Japanese Occupation, Ocampo turned to writing in Tagalog and wrote
plays for the stage, becoming the chief scriptwriter and assistant director of the
Associated Artists. The Japanese also appointed him censor for the stage and for the Taliba
newspaper, at the same time that he had an intelligence assignment as second lieutenant in
Straughn’s Guerrillas.
He also became editor of the Manila Sunday Chronicle Magazine. He was producer-director of
the Filipino Players Guild, which specialized in radio programs, 1950-1953. He became
executive director and senior vice-president of Philprom, 1958-1968.

Together with Carlos Francisco, Galo B. Ocampo, and other modem artists, he was a member of
the Thirteen Moderns founded in 1938. With Vicente Manansala and Cesar Legaspi he formed
the triumvirate of neo-realists. He was also a leading member of the Saturday group of artists
which met regularly at the Taza de Oro.

Ocampo identified the several stages in the development of his art: 1929-1934, Amorsolo period;
1934-1945, proletarian period; 1945-1963, transitional period, 1963-1978, mutants period; and
1968-1978, visual melody period.

Since Fernando Amorsolo was the dominant artistic influence in the 1930s, most artists who
began painting before the war, including H.R. Ocampo, emulated Amorsolo, although
unsuccessfully, as Ocampo did not take formal studies in the University of the Philippines
School of Fine Arts where the maestro was based, preferring to pursue art on his own. His
Contrast belongs to this period.

Ocampo’s proletarian period reflected the debate in the 1930s between “proletarian art” and “art
for art’s sake” which was also an issue in the United States at the time. It was during this period
that WWII broke out, resulting in widespread dislocation, hunger, and misery. Under such
conditions, his paintings showed the stark realities of the time, such as the painting of an
emaciated man staring at an empty plate with high-rise buildings in the background to imply the
wide class gap of the period. Another was the painting entitled Calvary, 1948, which showed the
triple Crucifixion of Christ flanked by two thieves against the background of factories spewing
smoke. In the same period his triptych Tatlong Larawan (Three Pictures) also developed the
religious theme. These paintings, while still largely figurative, were not in a realist style, but
were rather expressionist in their distortion and their use of garish colors.

His transitional period, 1945-1963, was a period of intense creativity in painting. His works from
this period became more stylized and showed an increasing tendency to abstraction in their
primary concern for design, color, and texture. Some of his more complex and highly textured
paintings, such as Fiesta, are of this period. It was also during this time that the Philippine Art
Gallery (PAG) opened its doors to modernist painters and 6campo, Legaspi, and Manansala
made the PAG their second home.

Most of his paintings of the 1960s belong to his mutants period. He derived inspiration from The
Beginning of the End, a science-fiction fantasy film on the mutants and strange forms spewed
forth by nuclear explosions. The painting Dancing Mutants, for instance, shows fingerlike shapes
with a nervous, quivering quality. Towards the end of the 1960s he developed into the visual
melody period in which he brought back tonalities into his’ abstract designs of organic shapes,
creating a richer form of abstraction. An example of this style is Genesis, 1969, which was
executed into a tapestry for the main theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Its
central motif is a bright flame which casts oscillating shadows and reflections on the surrounding
design of red and yellow elements. Ocampo himself said that the work represented “the
full flowering” of his visual melody period. It also represented the final maturation of the
abstract style of the artist in painting the search of the Filipino spirit.

Ocampo’s awards from the Art Association of the Philippines are: sixth prize, Nude with Candle
and Flower, 1948; first prize, Arabesque, 1950; second prize, Man and Carabao, 1950; first prize
and special award, Ancestors, 1951; honorable mention, Intramuros, 1951; third prize, Fifty-
Three E, 1954; honorable mention, Fifty-Four A, 1955; second prize and purchase priz, Nativity;
1958; and first prize, Circle, 1969. He won third prize for Angel’s Kiss in the 1949 Manila Club
art exhibition. He received the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award, 1969, and the Diwa ng
Lahi Award, 1976, both from the City of Manila. He was awarded the Gawad CCP para sa
Sining in 1979. He was proclaimed as National Artist in Visual Arts in 1991.

 (Background The Contrast)

References used:

https://artistiqueshades.wordpress.com/2017/01/28/beyond-being-a-filipino-artist/

https://www.geringerart.com/artists/hernando-ruiz-ocampo/

http://arttistik.blogspot.com/2014/01/hernando-ocampos-paintingthe-contrast.html
Architechture

PUP Main Building

Architect: The 4-storey Engineering and Science Research Center, designed by Filipino Architect
Royal Pineda, is the central research building of PUP. Once completed, it will be occupied by the
College of Computer and Information Sciences, the College of Engineering and the Institute of
Technology. It will enhance future research undertakings of the university.Polytechnic University of
the Philippines is located in Santa Mesa, Manila. Its campus lies adjacent to the banks of Pasig
River. Most of PUP's building are designed as simple and modern. Some of the newest building in
PUP are the Tahan ng Atleta (Home of the Athletes) which was designed in modern Georgian style,
and the Engineering and Sciences Research Center designed by prominent Filipino Architect and
PUP alumnus Royal Pineda

Background:
A product and from a family of academes, Philippine licensed Architect Royal Christopher
Lopez Pineda completed his Bachelor of Science in Architecture at Polytechnic University of
the Philippines under the Japan-Philippines cooperation university program. He acquired his
professional training and exposure from years 1997 to 2002 under the firm of the Philippine’s
National Artist for Architecture Leandro V. Locsin, Partners. Exposed to designing challenging
and edifice structures commissioned to the firm, Arch. Royal Pineda got to acquire and learn the
trade of the professional practice of the industry, both the structure of its Science and its Arts. 

Honed and developed in international design standards and professionalism and given the
opportunities to be involved in his previous firm’s major projects under the administration of
Locsin’s managing partner and his mentor Arch. Edgardo Ledesma. Arch. Royal Pineda
comprehensively worked and collaborated with his counselor and colleagues during his whole
post in the company. He took pleasure being in the furnace of his career foundation during these
early years.

In his pursuit and vision on contributing his design approach and his own principles in
architecture, he decided to merge with one of the Philippine’s best creative minds, interior and
furniture designer, Budji Layug.

As a major progressive career step, Arch. Royal Pineda believes that it was also time to create
and bring his practice of the profession to a new and different dimension, to live and be able to
do and perform the real essence of being an architect… to design, to innovate and to evolve. 

Now, as the architect and the managing partner at Budji Layug + Royal Pineda Design
Architects. He is putting into reality his visions of creating modern and tropical creations that can
truly carry the soul of the evolving Filipino designs, making it tropical and yet a global
architecture. He is creating spaces and environments that addresses the present issues and solving
them with the most basic and logical solutions. Making his architecture modern, monastic and
tropical in style. Architect Pineda and his partnership with Budji Layug created a fortified
synergy that reinforces and revitalizes the firms design dynamism. The continuous years of
collaboration of both partners have defined and established the company’s integrity and
approach, making it one of the most prominent proponents of Modern Tropical Design in the
country and in Asia. Architect Pineda is disciplined to envision and create total design which the
company is also known for. From master planning, architecture, interior design, furniture design
and landscape design. With the present company Budji Layug + Royal Pineda Design Architects,
he already have designed different projects in major cities like Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore,
India, Malaysia, Indonesia Australia, United states of America, France, Germany, and Thailand.

History:
PUP Main Campus was named after Apolinario Mabini by Dr. Nemesio Prudente, when he
reorganized the university in 1988. [36] The sprawling A. Mabini Campus, with 10.71 hectares, hosts
the core cluster of academic buildings and services. The first building built on the site is the Main
Academic Building, which was originally intended to be a military tenement. The Main Library, known
as Ninoy Aquino Library and Learning Resources Center is regarded as one of the largest libraries
in Southeast Asia.[37] The historic Mabini Shrine located east of the Freedom Plaza, is the house
where Apolinario Mabini died.
Parks inside the campus include the Luntiang Pilipinas Forest Park, which contains a lagoon and is
sealed by walls that imitates Fort Santiago and its walls in Intramuros, and the PUP Linear Park that
was constructed in 2006 at the banks of Pasig River. Freedom Plaza was built for PUP's Centennial
Year that was celebrated in 2004. Its construction was finished in 2007. Sports facilities in the
campus include the PUP Gymnasium and Sports Center, an Olympic-size swimming pool, two
basketball courts, tennis courts, and the university oval (sports ground) and grandstand.
References used:
https://budji-royal.com/ar-royal-pineda/

http://pupalumnews.weebly.com/home/architect-royal-christopher-pineda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ph%3DMM%3Dmanila%3Dsanta_mesa%3Dpup_mabini_campus
%3Dmain_bldg._(philippines)(2015-0519).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytechnic_University_of_the_Philippines

Church of the Holy Sacrifice

Architect:

Leandro V. Locsin was a Filipino architect, artist, and interior designer, known for his use of concrete,
floating volume and simplistic design in his various projects. He was proclaimed a National Artist of
the Philippines for Architecture in 1990 by the late former President Corazon C. Aquino.

Background:

Leandro V. Locsin was born August 15, 1928 in Silay City, Negros Occidental, a grandson of the first
governor of the province. He later studied at the De La Salle Brothers in 1935 before returning to
Negros due to the Second World War. He returned to Manila to study Pre-Law, before shifting to
pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Music at the University of Santo Tomas. Although he was a talented
pianist, he later changed again to Architecture, just a year before graduating. He was married to
Cecilia Yulo, to which he had two children, one of whom is also an architect.

Diliman Catholic Chaplain, Fr. John Delaney commissioned Locsin to design a chapel that is open and
can easily accommodate 1,000 people. The Church of the Holy Sacrifice is the first round chapel in the
Philippines with the altar in the middle, and the first to have a thin shell concrete dome. The floor of
the church was designed by Arturo Luz, the stations of the cross by Vicente Manansala and Ang
Kiukok, and the cross by Napoleon Abueva, all of whom are now National Artists. Alfredo L. Juinio
served as the building's structural engineer. Today, the church is recognized as a National Historical
Landmark and a Cultural Treasure by the National Historical Institute and the National Museum
respectively.

In his visit to the United States, he met some of his influences, Paul Rudolph and Eero Saarinen. It was
then he realized to use concrete, which was relatively cheap in the Philippines and easy to form, for
his buildings. In 1969, he completed what is to be his most recognizable work, the Theater of
Performing Arts (Now the Tanghalang Pambansa) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 1974,
Locsin designed the Folk Arts Theater, which is one of the largest single span buildings in the
Philippines with a span of 60 meters. It was completed in only seventy-seven days, in time for the
Miss Universe Pageant. Locsin was also commissioned to build the Philippine International
Convention Center, the country's premiere international conference building and the seat of the Vice
Presidency.

The current building was dedicated in 2004, and was designed by the L. V. Locsin and Partners, led by
Leandro Y. Locsin, Jr. Most of Locsin's work has been inside the country, but in 1970, he designed the
Philippine Pavilion of the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. His largest single work is the Istana Nurul Iman,
the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei. 

History:

The Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, also the Church of the Holy Sacrifice, is a landmark Catholic chapel on
the University of the Philippines Diliman campus. It belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Cubao and its present parish priest is Rev. Fr. Jose S. Tupino III. More popularly known as the UP
Chapel, the church was constructed under the supervision of Fr. John P. Delaney, who began
ministering to the spiritual needs of the campus in 1947.

Known for its architectural design, the church is recognized as a National Historical Landmark and a
Cultural Treasure by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and the National Museum
of the Philippines respectively. It was designed by the late National Artist of the Philippines for
Architecture, Leandro Locsin, one of four National Artists who collaborated on the project. According
to a post from the UP Diliman website, it is the only structure in the country where the works of five
national artists can be found.[1] Alfredo Juinio served as the structural engineer for the project.
The church is adjacent to the U.P. Health Service Building and the U.P. Shopping Center, and is
serviced by all of the university's jeepney routes.

Initially, Leandro Locsin designed the church for the Ossorio family, who were planning to build a
chapel in Negros. Unfortunately, the plans for the chapel were scrapped when Frederic Ossorio, the
head of the family, left for the United States. However, in 1955, Father Delaney commissioned Locsin
to design a chapel that was open and could easily accommodate 1,000 people. The Church of Holy
Sacrifice became the first circular chapel with the altar in its center in the country, and the first to
have a thin shell concrete dome. This was his first major architectural commission.

Locsin chose the round plan as the most suited for giving the congregation a sense of participation in
the mass. The center of the plan is the altar, which is elevated from the floor by three steps. The
separation of the choir and congregation was dissolved through this design. The ceiling of the
concrete dome church was left bare and a dramatic use of colored lights mark the changing seasons of
worship.

The dome of the church is supported by thirty two columns located along its rim. These columns
terminate a third of the way up where they support the ledge-like ring beam. This ring beam, in turn,
supports the 3-inch thick concrete shell of the dome that spans 29.26 metres (96.0 ft). The unique
design of the dome allows in natural lighting and ventilation. In the middle of the dome is a circular
skylight, which supports the triangular bell tower. The bell tower, then extends to the interior,
supporting the crucifix. The arrangement of the interior of the church is concentric, with the altar in
the middle.

The fifteen murals depicting the Stations of the Cross that adorn the circular walls are by Vicente
Manansala assisted by Ang Kiukok. The fifteenth mural of the "Resurrection of Christ" is on the wall of
the sacristy. The cross depicting both a suffering and a risen Christ and the marble altar are the
handiwork of Napoleon Abueva. The floor mural, executed in terazzo and radiating from the altar, is
by Arturo Luz. This floor mural is also called the "River of Life". Fernando Zobel de Ayala had studies
to fill the outer wall with calligraphic interpretations. However, the project was not executed. In 1968,
Jose Maceda, another national artist, premiered his concert, Pagsamba at the PHS, and repeated it in
1978 and 1998 at the same venue.[5]

On January 12, 2005, the church was recognized as a National Historical Landmark and a Cultural
Treasure by the National Historical Institute and the National Museum, respectively. During the
recognition ceremony, National Historical Institute Chairman Ambeth R. Ocampo lauded the church as
a "masterpiece of Filipino artistry and ingenuity".[This quote needs a citation] Currently, a project
aims to restore the dome of the historic church.

Years before the construction of the present Church of the Holy Sacrifice was finished in
December 20, 1955, there stood an old sawali-bamboo building on its grounds, a chapel of
U.S. Army detachment, later turned into a stable. Fr. John Patrick Delaney, S.J., then already
U.P. chaplain when the old campus moved from Manila to Diliman in 1949, saw its
possibilities and with the help of volunteers, had the crumbling facility repaired and
converted into a little brown chapel. To the U.P. Diliman Catholics, it was their house of
God and place of worship.

Before the Church of the Holy Sacrifice was erected in the early 1950s, a university chapel served the
University of the Philippines community, under the apostolate of the Society of Jesus. Fr. John P.
Delaney served as the first Jesuit chaplain.

The domed Parish of the Holy Sacrifice (PHS) is both an architectural wonder and a rallying point of
faith.[citation needed] Catholics in the faculty, student body, staff, and alumni worked tirelessly in the
early 1950s to raise funds for the structure.[3] The faculty pledged a part of their monthly salary,
while the students contributed from their own allowances to fund the construction of the church.
[citation needed]

In December 1955, the inner structure of the church which includes the pews, crucifix, tabernacle,
altar, marble floor design, and skylight were worked on, as well as the outside landscaping, pathways,
and fences. Eventually, the construction of the chapel was finished through the efforts of the UP
Catholic Community headed by Fr. Delaney, and the genius of young UP graduates such as Engr. David
Consunji, Engr. Alfredo Juinio, and National Artist Leandro Locsin. Its interior was an obra maestra of
yet another conglomeration of now National Artists: Vicente Manansala and Ang Kiukok, Arturo Luz,
and Napoleon Abueva. Structural, electric and water systems were also planned by Felisberto G.
Reyes, Lamberto UN Ocampo, and Jose M. Segovia with Agapito S. Pineda.

On December 21, 1955, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila officiated at the
first Mass in the newly constructed chapel and on December 24, 1955, Fr. Delaney celebrated Mass
and delivered his last homily entitled “The Reality of Christmas”. A transcript of his this last homily is
published in "The Chapel Chismis", a collection of Fr. Delaney's letters to the UP community.

On May 30, 1977, the chaplaincy was elevated to a university parish by Cardinal Jaime Sin. Msgr.
Manny Gabriel became its first parish priest. To date, eight parish priests have served the parish, two
of them were later ordained bishops, namely, Bishop Mylo Vergara of the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Pasig and Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lipa.[4]

References used:

http://fukuoka-prize.org/en/laureate/prize/cul/locsin.php

http://architectuul.com/architect/leandro-valencia-locsin

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/238409374001667345/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parish_of_the_Holy_Sacrifice#Architecture_and_Interior
http://www.parishoftheholysacrifice.ph/brief-history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parish_of_the_Holy_Sacrifice#History

Metropolitan Theatre

Architect:

The pioneer Filipino architect Juan M Arellano was commissioned by the government to prepare the
blueprints for the Met. He was sent to study the latest technologies in theatre construction in the
United States under the tutelage of Thomas W Lamb, who also served as consulting architect for the
project. Departing from stately and monochromatic Neoclassicism, Arellano’s aesthetic for the Met
was stunningly different from his previous works as it eagerly embraced a fanciful new style: Art Deco.
It was an architectural confection fuelled by exoticism and fascination with non-classical
ornamentation in the early 20th century.

Background:
Juan Marcos Arellano y de Guzmán (April 25, 1888 – December 5, 1960), or Juan M.
Arellano, was a Filipino architect, best known for Manila's Metropolitan Theater(1935),
Legislative Building (1926; now houses the National Museum of Fine Arts), the Manila
Central Post Office Building (1926),the Central Student Church (today known as the
Central United Methodist Church, 1932), the old Jaro Municipal Hall (1934) and the old
Iloilo City Hall (1935) in Iloilo, the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol(1936), the Cebu
Provincial Capitol (1937), the Bank of the Philippine Islands Cebu Main Branch
(1940), Misamis Occidental Provincial Capitol Building (1935), Cotabato Municipal
Hall (1940) and the Jones Bridge.
Life and works

Juan M. Arellano was born on April 25, 1888 in Tondo Manila, Philippines to Luis C.

Arellano and Bartola de Guzmán. Arellano married Naty Ocampo on May 15, 1915. He
had eight children, Oscar, Juanita, Cesar, Salvador, Juan Marcos, Luis, Gloria and
Carlos.
He attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and graduated in 1908. His first passion
was painting and he trained under Lorenzo Guerrero, Toribio Antillon, and Fabian de la
Rosa.[1] However, he pursued architecture and was sent to the United States as one of
the first pensionados in architecture, after Carlos Barreto, who was sent to the Drexel
Institute in 1908; Antonio Toledo, who went to Ohio State; and Tomás Mapúa, who went
to Cornell.
Arellano went to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1911 and subsequently
transferred to Drexel to finish his bachelor's degree in Architecture. He was trained in
the Beaux Arts and subsequently went to work for George B. Post & Sons in New York
City, where he worked for Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.[2]
He then returned to the Philippines to begin a practice with his brother, Arcadio. He later
joined the Bureau of Public Works just as the last American architects, George
Fenhagen and Ralph H. Doane, were leaving. He and Tomás Mapúa were then named
as supervising architects. In 1927, he took a study leave and went to the United States
where he was greatly influenced by Art Deco architecture.
In 1930, he returned to Manila and designed the Bulacan Provincial Capitol,Manila
Metropolitan Theater, which was then considered controversially moderne.[3] He
continued to act as a consulting architect for the Bureau of Public Works where he
oversaw the production of the Manila's first zoning plan. In 1940, he and Harry Frost
created a design for Quezon City, which was to become the new capital of the
Philippines.
It was during that time that he designed the building that would house the United States
High Commission to the Philippines, later the Embassy of the United States in Manila.
He designed a demesne along the edge of Manila Bay, which featured a mission revival
style mansion that took advantage of the seaside vista.[4] The Americans instead opted
for a federal-style building that ended up overpriced and uncomfortable.
During World War II, the Legislative Building and Jones Bridge, were totally destroyed
and the Post Office Building was severely damaged. While these structures were all
reconstructed, his original designs were not followed and were considered poor
replications.[5]
Arellano retired in 1956 and went back to painting. In 1960, he exhibited his work at the
Manila YMCA.
Death

He died at the age of 72 on December 5, 1960.

History:

Juan Arellano, one of the first pensionados in architecture, also known for his other major projects
such as the Legislative Building and Manila Central Post Office Building, designed the Manila
Metropolitan Theater in January 1930. He was sent to the United States to be guided by one of the
experts in designing theaters, Thomas W. Lamb of Shreve and Lamb.[3]

The theater's roof and walls were partially destroyed during World War II. During the post-war period,
it was misused as a boxing arena, low-quality motel, gay bar, basketball court and as a home for
squatters. In 1978, a restoration of the theater was initiated by the then Governor of Metro Manila
Imelda Marcos which was headed by Otilio, the nephew of Juan Arellano.[4] Its prestige as a cultural
center was redeemed but proved to be short-lived. It closed down its doors again in 1996 because of
conflicts of ownership between the Manila City Administration and the Government Service Insurance
System (GSIS). In 2010, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Manila mayor Alfredo Lim tried to
revive the theater but to no avail.[1]

The theater was used again once for a Wolfgang concert in 2011. But since 2012, the theater was
closed again due to decays inside the building. The structure continued to deteriorate and vandalism,
political advertisements, promotional materials and trash now degrade the heritage theater. The
theater has been protected using pieces of wood, scrap electrical wires and rundown plywood.
Alleged paranormal activities in the theater was also reported.[5] Help continued to pour in at that
time but lacked any concrete direction.

In May 2015, the Department of Budget and Management released Php 270 Million from the National
Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts for the sale of the theater from its owner, the GSIS. In June
2015, the GSIS transferred the right of ownership of the theater to the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts to start the rehabilitation process of the Met.

Clean-up drives were started in December 2015, paving the way for the eventual restoration of the
building by 2016.[6]

It is currently undergoing renovations with Consulting Architect Gerard Lico spearheading the project.

References used:

https://ph.asiatatler.com/life/inside-the-manila-metropolitan-theatre-restoration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Metropolitan_Theater

https://www.vigattintourism.com/tourism/articles/The-Historic-Manila-Metropolitan-Theater

Philippine Arena

(picture of architect)

Architect:

Background of the Architect:

The initial design concept of the Philippine arena is inspired by Narra tree, the mother tree of the
Philippines, and the root of the Banyan tree.[15] The roof was inspired by that of a Nipa Hut.[16]

Populous, a global mega-architecture firm, designed the arena through their office in Brisbane,
Australia.[17]The official website of the sports facility describe's the structure's architectural style
as Modernist.[18]The arena has been master planned to enable at least 50,000 people to gather inside
the building and a further 50,000 to gather at a ‘live site’ or plaza outside to share in major events.
[17]
 The seating bowl of the arena is a one-sided bowl and is partitioned into two parts, the upper and
the lower bowl each with approximately 25,000 seating capacity. The lower bowl is the most used
part of the building and the architectural design allows for easy separation of the lower bowl from the
upper tier, by curtaining with acoustic and thermal properties. A retractable seating of 2,000 people
capacity is also installed behind the stage which is used by the choir of the Iglesia ni Cristo for
events of the church.[3]
The seating layout of the arena is different from that of a standard arena where the stage is at the
middle and is surrounded by seats. The seating of the arena closely resembles that of a Greek
amphitheater, built in a semi-circle with the seats at the sides and front of the arena stage. The
seatings are divided into three sections. Each of the sections are colored green, white and red: the
colors of the Iglesia Ni Cristo flag. [19]
The arena has 4 floors or levels. Level 1 is the stage level, Level 2 is the main access level open to
the general viewing public, Level 3 is the VIP area which also houses conference rooms with views
facing the main plaza outside the indoor arena building and Level 4 is the upper concourse.[3]
Furthermore, contractor Hanwha hired their own architecture firm, Haeanh Architects for the project.
[3]
Built on 99,200 square meters (1,068,000 sq ft) square meters of land, the arena has a dome over
9,000 square meters (97,000 sq ft).[20] The roof spans some 170 meters (560 ft) and contains 9,000
tons of steel work. The roof was made as a separate unit to reduce burden on the arena with extra
load. The arena is 65 meters (213 ft) in height, or about fifteen stories high and founded on pile
construction. About a third of the dead load of the building was designed for earthquake loads. The
building was also divided into multiple structures to strengthen the arena's earthquake resistance. [16]
[21]

PWP Landscape Architecture, the firm who landscaped the National September 11 Memorial &
Museum,[22] designed the landscape for the arena and the whole complex of Ciudad de Victoria. For
the arena, a series of outdoor plazas, gardens and performance venues form the setting for the
development including: The North and South Arrival Plazas, The Promontory Plaza, The Great
Stairs, and Ciudad de Victoria Plaza that are all related to each other with two cross axes (N-S and
E-W) that intersect at the Promontory Plaza. Two fountains that can shoot waters up to 15 meters
(49 ft) are also installed in front of the arena.[12]
In 2011, Korean firm, Hanwha Engineering and Construction won the contract to manage the
construction of the Philippine Arena. Hanwha outbested bids from Filipino firm, EEI Corporation and
Chinese firm, Jiangsu International.[8]

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Philippine Arena was done in August 17, 2011.[13] Hanwha
announced that it had completed the construction of the indoor arena on May 30, 2014.[8] The venue
was not formally inaugurated until almost two months later.

The Philippine Arena, along with Ciudad de Victoria was officially inaugurated on July 21, 2014.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Iglesia ni Cristo Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo
unveiled the marker of Ciudad de Victoria.[14]

References used:

https://populous.com/project/manila-arena

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Arena

Iglesia ni Cristo Church

Architect:

Background of the Architect:

Carlos Antonio Santos-Viola FPIA (born Carlos Santos-Viola y Antonio; April 8, 1912 – July 31, 1994) was
an architect in the Philippines. He is best known for designing and building churches for the Iglesia ni
Cristo (INC) religious group.
Carlos was born in San Miguel, Bulacan and one of six children to Melecio de Guzman Santos and Miguela
Magpitang Antonio.
Starting from San Miguel Elementary School, Carlos moved on to the Ateneo de Manila to finish his high
school education. While in Ateneo he joined the school band, and was quite active in basketball. Santos-Viola
was one of the very first graduates of the College of Architecture of the University of Santo Tomas in 1935.
During this time the professors then were outstanding architects and engineers of the period, such as Tomas
Arguelles, Tomas Mapua, Juan F. Nakpil, Fernando H. Ocampo, and Andres Luna de San Pedro.
Santos-Viola worked in the office of Juan Nakpil after graduating. There he met Juan's youngest sister,
Caridad, his future wife and mother to his children: Rosario, Milagros, Paz, Lourdes and Carlos, Jr.
Shortly after World War II, he decided to open his own office in partnership with Alfredo J. Luz. In 1955, both
parted ways and practiced separately.
His first exposure to the INC group was executed under Nakpil's company through the Bishop's Palace in San
Juan, Manila. INC gave the subsequent project directly to Santos-Viola. Although common elements may be
visible, his designs were distinct from one another. Each structure was created on functionality that was built
with integrity, adorned with 20th-century geometric forms garnished with Gothic revival and Baroque lines.
Among those completed designs was the INC's central office in Quezon City. Architect Santos-Viola was the
only Filipino Architect who designed churches that were built all over the Philippines.
Carlos was a lifelong devout Catholic. He ministered for the Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Quezon City and
was frequently invited to join the INC but repeatedly denied the invitations due to ideological differences. He
also taught architecture at the college where he graduated, and helped found the Philippine Institute of
Architects in 1938.

History:

Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ)[4][5] (Tagalog pronunciation: [ɪˈglɛ̝ʃɐ ni ˈkɾisto̞ ], abbreviated as INC) is

an independent nontrinitarian Christian religious organization that originated in the Philippines. It
was registered on July 27, 1914 by Felix Y. Manalo,[6][7][8] who became its first Executive Minister.
The Iglesia ni Cristo affirms to be the one true church and the restoration of the original church
founded by Jesus, and that all other Christian churches are apostates.[7][9] INC doctrine cites that the
official registration of the Church with the Government of the Philippine Islands on July 27, 1914, by
Felix Y. Manalo—upheld by its members to be the last messenger of God—was an act of divine
providence and the fulfillment of biblical prophecy concerning the re-establishment of the Church in
the Far East[10][11] concurrent with the coming of the seventh seal marking the end of days.[1][12]

By the time of Manalo's death in 1963, the Iglesia ni Cristo had become a nationwide church with
1,250 local chapels and 35 large concrete cathedrals.[13] His son, Eraño G. Manalo, became the next
church leader and led a campaign to grow and internationalize the church until his death on August
31, 2009,[14] whereupon his son, Eduardo V. Manalo, succeeded him as Executive Minister.[15] In 2010,
the Philippine census by the National Statistics Office found that 2.45% of the population in the
Philippines are affiliated with the Iglesia ni Cristo, making it the religion with the third largest number
of adherents, with Islam at 5.57% and Roman Catholicism at 80.58%.
Felix Y. Manalo, born on May 10, 1886, in Taguig, Philippines, was baptized in the Roman Catholic
Church. In his teenage years, Manalo became dissatisfied with Roman Catholic theology. According
to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the establishment of the Philippine
Independent Church (also called the Aglipayan Church) was his major turning point, but Manalo
remained uninterested since its doctrines were mainly Catholic. In 1904, he joined the Methodist
Episcopal Church,[20] entered the Methodist seminary, and became a pastor for a while.[21] He also
sought through various denominations, including the Presbyterian Church, Christian Mission, and
finally Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1911. Manalo left Adventistism in 1913 and associated
himself with atheist and agnostic peers.[6][22]
On November 1913, Manalo secluded himself with religious literature and unused notebooks in a
friend's house in Pasay, instructing everyone in the house not to disturb him. He emerged from
seclusion three days later with his new-found doctrines. [6][7] Manalo, together with his wife, went to
Punta, Santa Ana, Manila, in November 1913 and started preaching. He left the congregation in the
care of his first ordained minister and returned to his native Taguig to evangelise; there, he was
ridiculed and stoned at his meetings with locals. He was later able to baptize a few converts,
including some of his persecutors. He later registered his new-found religion as the Iglesia Ni Cristo
(English: Church of Christ; Spanish: Iglesia de Cristo) on July 27, 1914, at the Bureau of
Commerce as a corporation sole, with himself as the first executive minister.[6][20][22] Expansion
followed as INC started building congregations in the provinces in 1916, with Pasig (then in Rizal
province) having two locals established. [23] The first three ministers were ordained in 1919.[7]
By 1924, INC had about 3,000 to 5,000 adherents in 43 or 45 congregations in Manila and six
nearby provinces.[22] By 1936, INC had 85,000 members. This figure grew to 200,000 by 1954.
[23]
 A Cebu congregation was built in 1937—the first to be established outside of Luzon, and the first
in the Visayas. The first mission to Mindanao was commissioned in 1946. Meanwhile, its first
concrete chapel was built in Sampaloc, Manila, in 1948.[22][24] Adherents fleeing for the provinces away
from Manila, where the Japanese forces were concentrated during World War II, were used for
evangelization.[22] As Manalo's health began to fail in the 1950s, his son Eraño began taking
leadership of the church. Felix Manalo died on April 12, 1963. [23][24] Within the span of 49 years of his
administration, the Iglesia Ni Cristo had 1,250 local chapels and 35 large concrete cathedrals. [13]
During American colonial rule over the Philippines, there were a variety of rural anti-
colonial movements, often with religious undertones,[17] and American Protestant missionaries
introduced several alternatives to the Roman Catholic Church, the established church during Spanish
colonial period.[18]
References used:

http://voicepoints.blogspot.com/2013/07/meet-carlos-santos-viola-man-behind.html

https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Carlos_A._Santos-Viola

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_ni_Cristo#History

https://thefilam.net/archives/24771
Sculptures

PUP Pylon