JOSE T.

JOYA
1931-1996
NATIONAL ARTIST IN PAINTING
National artist Jose Joya was a pioneer modern
and abstract artist who was active as a painter,
printmaker, mixed-media artist and ceramicist.

It has been said that it was Joya who

“spearheaded the birth, growth and flowering of
abstract expressionism” in the Philippines.
Jose Tanig Joya was born on June 3, 1931, the
son of Jose Joya Sr. and Asuncion Tanig.

He began sketching at the age of eleven.

At a young age, he became interested in

studying architecture, but found that he did not
have the aptitude for the math and science that
architecture would require.
While attending the University of the Philippines he was
introduced to the paintings of Fernando Amorsolo, and
began his study of painting.

He was initially schooled in the traditional tradition — in

which the standards had been set by Amorsolo and
Tolentino — but gradually was influenced by American
abstraction and by the emerging trends in Philippine
modernism.

He was mentored by Guillermo Tolentino, Ireneo Miranda,

Domindaor Castaneda and Virginia Agbayani.
Joya graduated from the University of the Philippines (UP) in 1953 with a
Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art, earning the distinction of being the
university’s first Magna cum Laude.

In 1954 the Instituto de Cultura Hispanica of the Spanish government

awarded him a one year grant to study painting in Madrid.

 Travel/study scholarships to Madrid — which came about through the

influence of PAG (Philippine Art Gallery)member Fernando Zobel de Ayala
— were also given to other PAG artists including Arturo Luz, Nena Saguil
and Larry Tronco.
After returning from Spain, Joya finished his Master’s Degree in
Painting in 1956 at the Cranbrook School of Art in Michigan, with
the assistance of a Fulbright Smith-Mundt grant.

His early works were representational paintings that showed the

influence of Vincente Manansala and Anita Magsaysay-Ho.

During the late 1950’s, as he became involved in the Philippine

Art Gallery — founded in 1950 by a group of women writers led
by Lyn Arguilla — he became one of the “new wave” of artists
who developed abstract paintings.
His first one make show appeared at the Philippine Art
Gallery in 1954, and in March of 1958 he won first prize for
his non-objective “Painting” in the 11th Annual PAG Art
Exhibition, held at the Northern Motors Showroom.

He won more prizes in 1959 (Second place for “Space

Transfiguration),

1960 (Third place for “Horse of Life) and

1962 (Third place for “Cathedral).

Joya was often present a the “Saturday Group”
which met for weekly art discussions at the Taxa
de Oro Restaurant in Manila.

In 1962, when Joya was serving as the President

of the Art Association of the Philippines, he and
Napolean Abueva represented the Philippines in
the prestigious Venice Biennale: it was the first
time that the Philippines had participated.
He displayed a 1958 horizontal abstraction titled
“Granadian Arabesque,” a painting which
features powerful swipes of impasto mixed with
sand, and which is now in the collection of the
Ateneo Art Gallery.

Joya later wrote about participating in the

Biennale, and reported on the novelty, desire to
shock and “dazzle” of the work on view.
In the late 60s received grants from the John D. Rockefeller III
Fund and the Ford Foundation, which allowed him to paint and
study at the Pratt Institute in New York between 1967 and 1969.
Among the positions he held were:

– President of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) 1962-65

– Dean of the UP College of Fine Arts 1970-78, where he

modernized curriculum and established scholarships.

– hairperson of Philippine Delegations to China, 1961 and 1972

In the 1970s Joya executed two large murals,
“Lanterns of Enlightenment” and “Mariveles” which
display vivid interplays of shape and tone.

When traveling overseas he often made rapid, on the

spot sketches in pencil, charcoal or pastel.

Joya was also a holder of the Amorsolo Professorial

Chair in UP in 1985.
He served as chairperson of the National
Committee on Visual Arts, of the National
Commission on Culture and the Arts from 1987
until his death.

In 1981 a retrospective of some 200 of Joya’s works

was held at the Museum of Philippine Art.

In 1987 the French government awarded him

membership in the “Order of Chevalier des Arts et
Lettres.”
Joya died in May of 1995 at the age of 63 after
complications from a prostate operation.

In 2003, eight years after his death, he was conferred

the title of National Artist for his pioneering efforts in
developing Filipino abstract art.

 A retrospective of his work was held in August of 2011

at the National Museum.
Jose Joya, “Untitled,” 1960, approx. 16 x 24 inches, oil on canvas
Side view of the impasto of Joya’s “Granadian Arabesque”
Jose Joya, “Makiling Interlude,” 1984,
Acrylic and Collage on Paper, approx. 22 x
15 inches
From a starting bid of P22,000,
Jose Joya’s 1959 abstract work
“Space Transfiguration” was
sold for P112 million at the
Leon Gallery Auction in Makati.