1521-1890

I
The Loom of Colonial Art

OPPOSITE

W HEN THE VOYAGER Ferdinan~ Magellan introduced Spanish religious

DAMIAN DoMINGO
statuary into the Philippines in 1521, the Queen of the southern island of
LA SAGRADA FAMIIJA
Cebu chose the figure of the Christ as a boy-the Sto. Nino-for her baptismal CA.1830, AQUAREllE ON COPPER SHEET
46.5 x 34.5 CM
present. Her choice was not unusual for a child-loving people. Neither was the
SIGNED LOWER RIGfn"
genre. Sculpture was the main art form in pre-Hispanic Philippine culture. LOUIillF5 V. ONGPIN COll.EmON
There were indigenous words both for carving and for sculpture in the round.
Portraits in wood-larawan (which then and now means "picture") andlikha
(an artistic creationj-vrepresented specific ancestors and heroes. Pigafetta,
Magellan's chronicler, described the "idols" as "made of wood and ... hollow
with no back pans. Their arms are open with feet turned up under them with
legs open. They have a large face with four huge tusks like those of the wild
boar; and are painted all over." Some were sheathed in gold; others were left
uncolored. These anitos were also carved in stone, bone, ivory or crocodile
tooth, or molded in clay or gold. In Laguna Province, the town of Paete, whose
name means "chisel," was even then a center of Philippine sculpture.
The ancient Filipinos also drew images on bamboo or paper, although none
of these pieces have survived. There are indigenous words for drawing and
painting. Anthropomorphic drawings from the Stone Age are inscribed on the
walls of a cave in Angono, Rizal Province. 111e pre-Islamic epic of the Maranaos
of the Lake Lanao region of Mindanao pays homage to the god of the arts,
Tominaman sa Rogong. He created abstract designs of "lines and colors,"
which he freely shared with his people.
Chinese tradeware pottery and porcelain containers used for calligraphy and
brushwork have been unearthed in pre-Hispanic tombs along Laguna Lake in
Southern Luzon. Traders from the Middle Kingdom must have displayed sam-
ples of their painting in the Islands. Filipinos were certainly familiar with the
staple colors from herbs and clay, which they also used for tattooing, coloring
pottery and dyeing. Manila itself was named for an indigo plant which
abounded in the delta where the city grew. The old Tagalog language had a
word for varnish. Red was, by far, the color most used for rituals. Finally, the
enthusiastic way in which the Filipinos took to Western painting suggests some
prior indigenous tradition.
 AHT PIIII.II'I'INI~' Hispanic Art (1565-1700)

S PANISII CLiLTlIHE and religion inspired portraiture. It took Filipino artists only
two to three centuries to absorb--and
tcmpcrameru-c-wcsicrn
modify according to their taste and
an, which had taken the Europeans themselves several
centuries to develop. In the process, the cLissic:tllIeril;lgl' or the i/,~{)II (the Greek
word for portrait) ;IS distilled in the Sp;lIlish conccpt olthc illl(/,~(,11 W;IS inrc-
grated by Filipino artists with the Chinese idea of the bua and the Malay princi-
ple of the tarauau. This splendid blend of images ami ideas from the three
disparate cultures Formed the hybrid verve and essence of Philippine <lit and
culture during the colonial period and beyond.
Lik Philippine pre-Hispanic art, the principal purpose of Hispanic art was
on-osrn.
religious. Art was a visual aid to the propagation and enhancement of the Chris-
UNKNOWN ARTIST
tian faith. The five major religious orders at first commissioned Chinese artists
BLESSED 77UiW7Y
laic IHth-early 19th century who had immigrated to the colony. For models they used the few :Iv:lilahle
polychrome wood. statues and paintings brought from Spain and Mexico, supplemented by books
29 x 21.8 em
Private Collection and prints. The obvious problem was how to translate the illustrations on paper
into the three-dimensional. To this challenge the first colonial artists rose compe-
UElO\X(
tently, judging from the .ut ohjects which have survived. In time they passed on
UNKt~OWN Aansr
.57/1. FfI.OM/"NA VING/:.N YMARTIN tbeir professional skills and secrets to the next generation of artists, who were
IArE IHr"-EAlu.Y l~n I CENTUI(Y Chinese mestizos.
1'01.\"0 !HOME WOOl)

22.8 x 37 eM
To tbeir sons these pioneers passed down such features 01' colonial art as the
PRIVATE COU.ECIlO ubiquitous whorled and scrolled clouds, flowing drapery, flattened lions,

12
Till' LOOM OF COLO IAL AnT

13
 AIlT PHIUI'I'INF~ almond eyes, soft brushwork and emphasis on line rather than light and shad-
ows. Above all, they introduced the technique of iVOlYsculpture, which is now
WOODtN ALTAR FROM BONOL recognized as the unique Philippine contribution to Hispanic alt. The most
CA. 17'111CENTIIilY. W(Xlil
600 X 800CM venera led ivory image in the Philippines is that of Our Lady of tl ic MUSL J loly
NA110NAI. MUSEUM COU-ECIlON Rosary in the Dominican Church. Once in the Walled City, Intramuros, it is now
housed in suburban Quezon City. It was carved by a Chin se sculptor in 1593.
The Spaniards ascribe to her intercession the Spanish-Filipino victory over the
Dutch in Manila Bay in 1646; in commemoration of this victory, her feast in
October is called "La Naval."
Indio sculptors too were summoned to calve icons for the first churches, as
well as for home altars to replace the anitos. Thus was launched the "popular"
style of religious sculpture, which thrived in the rural areas up to the close of the
BELO\V, LEFT
colonial regime. This popular style combined the indigenous tradition with
IMJvIACULATE CONCEPTlON
17111 CENTUI{Y. IVORY
Christian form. Some of these early works were carved in the same manner as
IIEIGIIT: 40 c., the pre-Hispanic idols and endowed with the round eyes, snub nose and brown
UN'VEIt~'TY OF SANTO TOMAS MUSEUM
COI.l.ECIlON
skin of the Malays. Their vigor and simplicity all at once evoke early Christian art
and modem expressionism.
BELOW, RIGHT The image carvers needed painters to animate their works. To meet the initial
SANIO ClUS70 demand, the Chinese were also employed, but the indios, or natives, could not
17111 CEN'I1JRY,IVORY
HEIGHT: 57 CM
have been far behind. Both used the Chinese-style brush, since the Western type
IN'll{AMUROS ADMINISTRA110N COU-EcnON was scarcely available. The usual method of extracting tinting elements and

14
 TIlE Loou OF COLONlAl AHT

pigments from natural sources had to be reviewed and refined; coconut oil was
found to be a workable solvent. Collaborating with the sculptors, the early
painters had to learn the Spanish cstofado technique, in which the carved robes
of the figures were embellished with polychromatic designs not unlike tattooing.
From the outset, Filipino artists, like their forebears, revealed their fonclness for
primary colors, which match the radiance of the tropical sun. The process of
encarnacion, or "putting flesh" into a holy image, was also introcluced into the
New World by the mother counrry. In Tagalog it was taken to mean "endowing
an image with a white complexion." In contrast to the anitos of old, the Chris-
rian God .rnd His communion of angels and saints belonged to the white race.
These efforts gave rise to the "classical" or formal style of sculpture.
In the beginning, painting was subordinate to sculpture. In fact, some of the
enrliexr examples of folk art are "statue-paintings." Drawn on wooel were sriff
FRJANSAlNF
santos copied from church rerables, complete with their niches, pedestals, EAI<LY 19"nI CENTURY

flowers and flickering candles, Paintings never replaced statuary in local ivouv AND WOO)) wru I (;I.ASS EYES
IIEIGI·IT: 19.5 CM
retablos=e« they did in Latin America-probably because Filipinos had been
rNTI~Af!.'IUHOS ADMINI~Jl~A'1l0N

I'rl'di.~posL'd hy ({ili/oworshir to associate statuary with formal venerarton. Till C()I.I.F.r:II()N 15

16
 Till' \..(X)~IOF COI.ONIAI.
Aur
the end of the Spanish era, Philippine sculpture remained largely religious.
OI'I'OSm:
Canvas could only be imported from Spain at high cost. Tropical wood, in
UNKNOWN BonOL1\RTlST
abundant supply, \\':IS less than ideal for painting because it shrank or expanded
7HE CRUCIFIXION
according to the weather, and tended to crack in time. But its surface could be IS-IlI-EARI.Y 19"111CENTVIIY
I'OLYCIIROMEWOOD
polished, and it did not absorb pigments. So it became the popular materia!
82 x 54.6 eM
"The Indios are of special intelligence and fine ability," wrote Fray Domingo Plllv,m;COU.EC110N
Fernandez. .ivareue, a Dominican chronicler, in 1650. "Among them are some
1:1I110US
write-r», p:linleTs and sculptors." None of these early names, save one,
has come down 10 us. Religion preached anonymity as a cardinal virtue, ro be
rcw.u'dcd nOI in this life hUI in the next The only xcvcntccru h-ccntury Filipino
sculpl()r WL' knm\' hI' n.unc i,~.Ju;lnell' los S;lnIOS(cl.l'i<)()-cI.I()()() olSan 1':lhlo,
L:tguna, He spent -to years as senior sacristan, sculptor and silversmith of his BEI.OW, LEFr

parish church and that of San AgustIn. Most of his works have been lost. A huge
J VAN DE I..OSSANTOS
retablo and ;1few ivory images ,1I'ein the San Agustin Convent museum, WOODIe'IVALTAR
CA. ](',';0, WOOD
Si\\1 A(iIISTiN MIISEIII\I C()UH:I1()N
The Formative Century (1700-1800)
IlEI.OW I RIGHT

ill' century was the Iorm.uive period or Philippine an. Arter more S70. DOMINGO ot: GUZMAN

T IX;IITJ-:J-::\TII

than a hundred ye;lrs of apprenticeship and improvisation

under Spanish tutelage, the Filipinos, both il7diosand
in Christian an
mestizos, were more than
171:'.7, 1'000Y(:Jlllmll'
~IOLAVI'
II EIGirr: 145 G\I
IN"'''A~II'''OS AnMINIS'IlIATIO COIJ.ECIlON

17
 NIS(jNW~CI70N
19n t CENTIIHY
EAI{IoY

191 X il7 UI, ~IOIJII'E WOOl)

INm.'\I\11 IIU)S AI)~"NISTIM-1l01 CoU.ECIlON

SAN NOQUJ::
18HI CEi'ITURY, MalAVE WOOD

HEIGIn": 44.5 CM

PAGIIEI. COLLECIlON AT SAN AGUS"IlN CIIUIICII

18
ready not only to erect stone churches but also to adorn them. A litany of emi- Tue Loon OF COLO 'IAL ART
nent churches in Luzon and the Visayas were built in the first three decades of
the eighteenth century. Native sculptors, painters, craftsmen and laborers
worked in concert. But only sculptors and painters left their particular mark.
The most common suhjects of religiou-, painting and sculpture reflected
Filipino s(x:i:11v.iluc-; and circumstances. The fondness for children produced a
proliferation of SIO. Ninos, cherubim and seraphim. Christ in His Passion and
Crucifixion may have evoked their own difficulties under Spanish rule. Pre-
Hispanic society'» high regard for women W:IS .rlfirmcd in the countless at-
tnhures of the Virgin 1:11")'.
A three-generation Holy F:lInily- a unique Philip-
pine art motil-e-manifested the pre-eminence 01"the family. The farmer's burden
was dignified hy the patronage 01"S:1I1Isidro Labrador. S:1I1Roque gave hope of
healing the epidemics introduced hy the white man. Penitence was preached
by the winged Dominican, San Vicente Ferrer. The Spanish calendar prescribed
:1saint for each day, ailment and problcm=-incloding the "impossible'v=-under
the sun. Patron sainrs were ,\ssigncd to each town and barrio, and made the STO.NlNO
l Sru CENTURY,woon
devotional ohject of each year's local fiesl<is.
36.5 x 30.5 CM
INTRAMUROS ADMINISTRA"f10N Cou.rcno»

SAN VICLiN7 7, Ph"RI?E/?,

SAN ISIIWO,

AND S70. Nli\IO ou Ch"BU

lH-nl-I9"JII (:E~n BY, \X/ex)l)

.36x42c~1
Ir\'TlMl'IIIIU)S Allf\lI\" ..•.
THr\·fl()I\ COU.FCI1()'\l

19
 NU/::S'1I<11 SJ;"[ilONA tua. Cl1l<MhN
1 HTII CENT[ IHY, \~:O()I)

74.2x'iOc~1
20 INTI{M'o1III{OS A[)/l.IINI~TI{i\TI()'J C( )1.lH:r1()N
 T"E Loov OF COLONIAL Am'

NUI,S77?A SI:NONA DI, LA PAZ

t:lll"'" ItALF ()F 19"'11 o: nuuv, OIL ON \'('LX)!)
.\,).,) X.H.()<:~l
li\fl<r\l\II'H()S AI)WI\ISTI(:HI()N 0)I.I.E(~I"Il):,\
21
 ABOVE, LEFr

M017-JI:R AND CHILD

17111 C.FNIlJnY

IVOltY WITII GUI.D I.EAF

HEIGHT: 18 eM
INlllMIUROS ADMINISTRAIlON CoU.ECJlON

ABOVE, IIIGI rr

svno aosto (/II0NIIJUNDO)

19'111 CENTURY, SOLID IVORY

HEIGm: 20CM
I~~llAMUROS AIlMINI,;mAIlON COLl.ECJlON

iUGHT

SANTO l'NT7l:.RRO
1~111 CE.v\1JIIY.IVOIIY ANIl WOOD
INTIWIUROS AIJ~IINI'llumON COLLECTION

22