PHILIPPINE PAINTING

PHILIPPINE PAINTING
• Filipinos are imaginative and creative but whatever
artifacts available were eventually lost to oblivion
because of two major facts:
1. Is that primitive art were made to last for a very short
life span (“ephemeral”)
maybe because of the medium used like leaves and bark
of trees which could not withstand the exigencies of the
weather.
2. Is that the coming of the Spanish colonizers left them
with no choice but accept the culture of the Spaniards.
There were no incentives for them to go on practicing their
• With the coming of the Spaniards, Philippine painting had to be
revolutionized and was greatly influenced by religion. The
dominant subjects were religious figures of Jesus Christ, Virgin
Mary, and the Saints.
• Paintings in the Philippines mirror changes through colonial
periods. They embodied the vanishing period and were reflective of
Filipino sentiments.
• The cliché “Art for Art Sake” and “Art for the Message Sake” were
manifested in the artists’ work as expressions of their preferences
and understanding of life around them.
• The pieces varied from beautiful expressions of joy and sadness,
peace and chaos, and landscapes and figures.
• Early Philippine paintings were dominated by religious influence
as shown in the examples of “Jesus Addressing the Women of
Jerusalem” and paintings of the Virgin Mary.

Jesus Addressing the

Virgin Mary
Women of Jerusalem
 ETHNIC
ART
• This means native or indigenous Philippine design.
• This kind of art is influenced by Southeast Asian
neighbors.
• The ethnic art has curvilinear and linear patterns or
designs.

Curvilinear patterns Linear

patterns
 ETHNIC
ART
• This can also be traced from primitive designs as demonstrated
in Philippine prehistoric pottery used as surface decorations by
way of painting, piercing, impressing, and engraving.
 FOLK
ART
• It means people’s art as well as handicrafts. This is basically made by the
hands of common people where the materials are crafted together that the
process itself is also an art form.
• Most of these folk arts are produce in quantities whereby the quality and style
of the finished product may vary but the design is alike. This is because cultural
artifacts are manifestations of the manual skill known to them which is part of
their daily activities and as such reflected the way of life of the makers.
 THREE FOLK ART MOTIF

1. The Serpent-Demon of Art or the Middle of the Naga

• The term is used for cobra and other families of snakes. This
art form is described as the figure with “human face and
serpent-like lower extremities”.
• ”Dragon or mythological serpent” in Bahasa Indonesia
• “Dragon or mythical serpent” in Malay
• “Dragon” in many Maranao (Lanao and Cebuano)
• ”Dragon or mythological serpent” in Bahasa Indonesia
• “Dragon or mythical serpent” in Malay
• “Dragon” in many Maranao (Lanao and Cebuano)
 2. THE SARIMANOK

• This is a cultural symbol of Mindanao. It was influenced by

Indonesia and Malaysia and originated from the Middle East. It
is reminiscent of Islamic Art of Umayyad Dynasty in the 18 th
century.
The word “Sarimanok” is derived from the story of a Sultan of Lanao’s
daughter Sari who had a birthday party under a balete tree and during the
festivity a beautiful rooster appeared and magically disappeared together
with Sari never to return again. This prompted father Sultan to ask his
people to carve a rooster, just like the one that disappeared with his
daughter.
 3. BURAK (BORAK)
• This is also a Muslim folk art and is described as a horse with a
human figure.
• A creature from the heavens that transported the prophets.
(Islamic Mythology)
 TATTOO ART – ANCIENT ART
• The Philippines is rich in folk culture and the mountain tribes of
Northern Luzon have the most unique and colorful artistic
tradition.
• For women the tattoo on their legs, arms, and breasts was to
enhance their beauty.
• The menfolk, used them to mark age, bravery, tribal sincerity, and
prestige gained from head-hunting expeditions.
• It is claimed that some tattoos have magical qualities like those
of scorpion, centipedes, snakes. Among the Benguet tribesmen
the designs come in indigo and blue and are pricked on the
breasts and arms. Tattoos also take the place of a blouse.

centipede scorpion
• The Bukik Igorots are examples where tattoos are done as
garments on the entire upper torso giving the unusual
appearance of a coat.
• The Pintados of the Visaya were so named by the Spaniards
because it was customary for the native to tattoo the whole
body at an early age and the elaboration of the tattoo got their
name – Pintados.
 SPANISH PERIOD

• Religion influenced a great deal the art of painting because the

church was the only patron of the art. The natives were
engaged in mediocre works due to lack of formal schooling.
• The Augustinian Friars of Intramuros initiated drawing lessons
that brought about better works as early as the 17th century.
• With religion as the impelling factor, religious themes
dominated painting thus giving way to secular painting where
Filipinos were into genre and landscape painting.
• 1. Jose Dans “Heaven, Earth and Hell” From Paete, Laguna
1840 No formal
Paete church Schooling
2. Damian Domingo “The Holy Family” Established art School Religious and
19th century (Sagrada Familia) portrait painter Binondo, Manila
Father of Philippine
Painting
3. Antonio Malantic 1876 “Julia Francia” Binondo, Manila
4. Jose Maria called “qord miniaturismo” Artist who gave prominence on
Asuncion details
5. Simon Flores y “Feeding Chicken” Genre and Religious painter from
dela Rosa Paco, Manila
6. Felipe Roxas Landscape painter
7. Pepe Lozano Illuminator ( a person who paints with designs in
color, gold or the like)
8. Rafael Enriquez Established two Schools A religious figure and
of Fine Arts, one at R. Hidalgo portrait painter
St. and the other was the U.P.
School of Fine Arts
9. Manuel Zaragoza Pointillist –in pointillism the painting is made up of small
dots of pure color.

Works of other
pointillist
10. Juan Luna -“Spolarium”a mural size classico romantic middle 19th century
painter where subjects are taken from episodes of Roman Empire
and means “spoils of war.”
- Won 1st gold medal in National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid I
in 1884 and took six months to finish.
10. Juan Luna -”Propagandist painter of “Blood Compact” (sandugo)
- Won silver medal at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri,
USA in 1904.
(Miguel lopez de legazpi and Datu Sikutana of Bohol)
11. Felix Hidalgo - “Virgenes christianas Expuestas Al Populacho christianas Al
The Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace

- Propagandist painter
12. Felix Hidalgo - “ La Barca de Aqueronte” awarded 2 gold medals, one in
the Philippine exposition in Madrid (1887) and the other in
the Madrid (1892) exposition Internacional de Bellas Artes.

The Boat of
 AMERICAN PERIOD
13. Fernando Amorsolo - Specialized on Philippine rural settings. He
perfected contrasting hues for harmony and this
color scheme was later called Amorsolo color

The Palay Maiden The Mango

 MODERN PERIOD
14. Hernando R. He is a national artist. “Calvary” Crucifixion was
Ocampo His works were purely Filipino used for suffering of the
expressionist and tell of the workers. They were the pro-
modern Filipino letarian painters because their
works underscored the plight
of the working class especially
those who work in industrial
firms.

Hat Weavers
15. Cesar legazpi uses gadgets in elements of painting like texture
,volume, and color were those of the machines and
the human figures looked like zombies.

Ritual
16. Arturo Luz Abstract painter, subject matter is local color
and people in the streets.

Galerie Stephanie Juggler and Musician

17. Jose de Joya Abstract
18. Victor C. Edades “The Builder” Had proletarian overtones but to
present beauty in the massive figures
of the working men, and he used
bold rough masses of deep brown,
ochre (fine yellow or reddish brown
clay) and black in his paintings in
contrast to that of Amorsolo’s bright colors.
 OTHER FAMOUS FILIPINO
PAINTERS
1. Carlos “Botong”Francisco – Folk baroque tradition of Angono,
Rizal.
2. Ben Cab – Ethnic motifs and forms and figures from the
Philippine history.

Three Graces
3. Imelda Cajipe-Endaya – Ethnic motifs and forms.
4. Ricarte Purugganan – Folk artist who combined modern lines
(curvilinear) and pre- Christian lines (straight).
5. Brenda Fajardo – Tackled Filipinism and Feminism as themes in
her Works.