National Artists

in the Philippines
• Understanding the National Artists Award
• Traditions and Collaborative Works of National Artists
 NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD
 bestows the highest form of recognition to Filipino artists
for their significant contributions in the arts and letters.
 The award is conferred every three years through a
rigorous deliberation and selection process jointly
facilitated by two major cultural offices, the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Cultural
Center of the Philippines.
 NAA was established in 1972 under Presidential Decree No.
1001 issued by then President Ferdinand Marcos.
 Fernando Amorsolo
 NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD
As of this writing, the roster has included 66 awardees from
seven disciplinal areas, namely:
(1) architecture, design, and allied arts
(2) film and broadcast arts
(3) visual arts
(4) literature
(5) dance
(6) music, and
(7) theater.
 NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD
 University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman, Quezon City
 Oblation (1935) a sculptural work by the classically trained
sculptor Guillermo Tolentino (awarded 1973)
NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD
NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD
Barter of Panay
(1978)
Spirit of Business
(1979)
 NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD

Both Joya and Abueva served as faculty and deans

of the UP College of Fine Arts and taught in UP.
Gaining further art studies in the United States, the
two were influenced by modernist sensibilities of
the period. It is also worth noting that in 1964,
Abueva and Joya represented the Philippines in the
Venice Art Biennale, one of the oldest international
art exhibitions worldwide.
The Church of the Holy Sacrifice
in UP Diliman
 thefirst Catholic Church in the
country to employ a circular
architecture with a thin shell
dome
 Leandro Locsin’s (awarded 1990)
 The Church of the Holy Sacrifice
in UP Diliman

recognized as a National Historical Landmark as well as a Cultural

Treasure by the National Historical Institute (now known as the National
Historical Commission of the Philippines) and by the National Museum
 The Church of the Holy Sacrifice
in UP Diliman

Another work done in the modernist style is a terrazzo floor work by

Arturo Luz (awarded 1997) suggesting flowing rivers that terminate in the
altar as a whirling pattern of planar forms.
15 Stations of the Cross
by Vicente Manansala
(awarded 1981)
 NATIONAL ARTIST AWARD
 This cutting-edge structure of the period housed
a performance in 1968 led by the equally avant-
garde composer, musician, and ethnomusicologist
Jose Maceda (awarded 1997) who was eventually
proclaimed National Artist for Music.
 Pagsamba
 He also founded the UP Center for
Ethnomusicology.
 For its significance, the Maceda Archives received
recognition from the UNESCO Memory of the
World.
Traditions and Collaborative
Works of National Artists
Lesson Two
 GENGHIS KHAN
• Filmed and directed by Manuel Conde
(2009), set and costume design by
Carlos Francisco (1973)
• This was filmed in Francisco’s native
Angono. Although more known for his
magisterial murals, Francisco’s
imaginative production design likewise
enriched Conde’s cinematic vision. The
film was screened in many film
festivals abroad and translated into 16
languages for international
distribution, the most recent of which
was at the 2015 Venice Biennale.
 Tales of the Manuvu
• performed at the CCP in 1985
• Bienvenido Lumbera (awarded 2006)
wrote the libretto
• Alice Reyes (awarded 2014)
choreographed the performance
• Salvador Bernal (awarded 2003) took
charge of the costume and set design
• One of the songs popularized by this
production is Noong Unang Panahon, a
melancholic reminiscence of ecological
transformation, still compelling in
today’s context.
 Pedro Penduko
• first appeared in Coching’s work in
Liwayway comics
• combined drawings and stories
popularized by the prolific Francisco V.
Coching (awarded 2014) in comics have
inspired filmmakers to create
adaptations on the big screen.
• animated into film by Gerardo de Leon,
National Artist for Film (awarded 1982)
in 1954.
 A Portrait of the Artist as
Filipino (1950)
• Nick Joaquin (awarded 1976
• Set in pre- war Intramuros, the play
forwards concerns about the value of art
and the plight of artists and the nostalgia
for “peace” and glory days in Manila
• adapted for film in 1965 by Lamberto
Avellana, National Artist for Film
(awarded 1976). His wife and
collaborator, the actress, director, and
writer Daisy Hontiveros Avellana,
National Artist for Theater (awarded
1999) played the lead character (Candida
Marasigan) in both film and theater.
 Traditions and Collaborative
Works of National Artists
The tradition of collaboration exemplified by these
NAA recipients is a testament to how art’s social
role. This gives art a social dimension, one that is
important to retain especially for an award such as
the NAA. The NAA is an award granted by two major
cultural offices, the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts and the Cultural Center of the
Philippines, and is existing through a presidential
decree. That means, that at its core, NAA exists for
the benefit of the Philippine art scene.
WRAP UP