HISTORICAL OVERVIEW: PHILIPPINE ART

Form Pre- Spanish American Japanese Postwar 70’s-

Conquest Period Period Period Republic Contempor
1521- 1898-1940 1941-45 1946- ary
1898 1969
PAINTI Body Religious Landscape, Wartime Modern, Figurative,
NG adornment and Secular portraiture, Scene conservativ non-
Icon interior, still e, abstract, figurative, art
life Propaganda experiment for art sake,
al, public multimedia,
SCULPT Pottery, Santos, Free Indigenizing art mixed media,
URE carving, furniture, standing, and transmedia
metalwork reliefs, altar relief, public orientilizing
and pieces, works
expression jewelry,
metalwork

ARCHIT Dwellings, Church, City planning Public works Real estate, safe housing,
ECTUR and houses, plaza parks, accessories, tenements,
E shelters, complex, waterfronts, squatters, convention arch,
worship town civic commercial/ business,
areas, planning, structures, condos, malls, subdivisions,
official commercial offices, development, low cost
residences, structures, business housing
mosque lighthouse chalet
BRIEF HISTORY
OF
PHILIPPINE ART
 I. PRE-CONQUEST

Was there “art” before the

colonization?
• Everyday expressions were all
integrated within rituals that
marked significant moments in
a community’s life.
• Aside from communal
functionality of indigenous art,
creative forms such as pottery,
weaving, carving, metalwork,
and jewelry also embody
aesthetic, technological, and
ritual values that exist in
various forms with the present.
• Hunter-gatherers
• Imitated the movements
and sounds of animals and
prey
• Perform ritual before and
after hunting
• Literature – oral storytelling
of hunting
• Theater/ Play acting –
imitation of animal
movements
• Music and dance – drum
beating during rituals and
attach rhythm to
movements.
 CAñAO or KANYAW (CAR)
a traditional practice by people from the
Cordillera mountains of Northern
Philippines where animal sacrifice,
feasting, and dancing is involved for
healing, thanksgiving, entertainment, and
asking for a bountiful harvest.
 Varied and Vibrant Musical Culture
KUDYAPI – three-stringed
guitar

KULINTANG – array of
bossed gongs

GANSA – flat gong

AGONG – a large
bossed gong
PANGALAY - Sulu, mimics seabirds movement

KINABUA (Mandaya)
BANOG- BANOG (Higaonon, B’laan)
MAN-MANOK (Bagobos) – predatory birds.

TALIP (Ifugao) – wild fowls

INAMONG (Matigsalugs)
KADALIWAS (T’boli) – monkey

TINIKLING
 • HAGABI (Ifugao) - a
wooden bench that
marks the
socioeconomic status of
the owner.

• BULUL (Cordillera) –
the granary God that
plays an important
role in rituals.
- appears in
containers, bowls, and
spoons.
Christianized communities in Laguna and Pampanga
• OKIR (Ukkil in Tausug, Samal, Badjao)
- curvilinear decorations
- painted in primary colors of mythical sarimanok, naga
or serpent, pako rabong or fern.
- can also be found in the panolong or protruding
beams of torogan.
- found in musical instrument ornamentation and
sheaths, grave markers called sunduk, marking for
ceremonial boats.
 Manunggul Jar (890-710 B.C.)
Manunggul Cave, Lipuun Point, Palawan
Other forms of pottery
Pagbuburnay
Textiles are not only functional, they also
impart knowledge about people’s belief
systems:
the reverence for spirits and nature
criteria for the beautiful
societies’ sociopolitical structures.

The fibers are gathered from plants like

cotton, abaca, and pineapple leaves while
pigments are extracted from clay, roots, and
leaves of plants.
Backstrap Loom or Pedal Loom
 Woven textiles
• Pis siyabit- headpiece woven by Tausug of Sulu

• Malong with Langkit woven by Maranao of

Lanao Del Sur
A colorful double-layered tepo mat of the Sama
of Tawi-Tawi made of pandan leaves as a
remarkable example of a mundane or everyday
object with high artistic value.
Ovaloid baskets made of nito and bamboo used
as a head sling to carry harvest.
 BUBO
Fish traps made of bamboo strips in Ilocos Region
BOXER CODEX
• Tattoos are valued because:
aesthetic function
protection from evil spirits
badge of maturity and bravery

• Jewelry is:
believed to make the wearer more attractive
pleasing to the Gods
– T’boli are known to wear brass chains, bells,
and colorful beads to complete their elaborate
ensemble
III. Spanish Colonial Period
(1521-1898)

What kinds of art were developed

during Spanish Colonization?
Religious art, lowland Christian art, folk art
 Baroque Style
• Grandeur
• Drama
• Elaborate details
 Fusion of both native and Europian
elements ( Colonial Baroque, Philippine
or tropical Baroque)

• Use of adobe, limestone, or brick and the

construction of thick buttresses or wing-like
projections reinforce the church to make it
more resistant to earthquakes.
 Chinese Artisans (17th Century)
• Engaged in making santos
• Building churches and houses and furniture
• Spread throughout centers of creative
production such as Cebu, Batangas, Manila,
and Ilocos
• Involvement resulted in works that drew
upon Chinese features and techniques
Nuestra Señora del
Rosario in Bohol

• Inspired from
Kuanyin, the deity
of mercy in East
Asian Buddhism
 RETABLO
• decorative altar
• Architecture and sculpture
• Embellished with rosettes, scrolls, pediments, and
columns which may be gilded or polychromed.
• Relleves – carved figurative
protrusions

• Plateria – organic designs of

hammered silver

• Carroza – used for the parade

of santos during toen
processions
• In 1742, Catholic liturgical music was
introduced.
• Archbishop of Manila Juan Rodriguez Angel
established a singing school at the Manila
Cathedral that taught western music
• Its curriculum was patterned after that of
the Madrid Conservatory of Music
• Santo Domingo and San Agustin convents
taught choral music to young boys that
create Filipino composers.
 Pasyon or Pabasa

• The biblical narration of Christ’s passion

chanted in an improvised melody.
• Atonal and repetitive
Awit and Corrido Kundiman and
Balitao
• Musical forms that
were chanted • Sentimental love
stories based on songs and lullabies
European literature
and history.
• During the latter half of the 19th century
when revolutionary sentiments began to
develop, the kundiman which usually spoke
of resignation and fatalism, became a
vehicle of resistance.
• The lyrics were that of unrequited love,
except that the love object was the
Philippines who would be cleverly concealed
as a beautiful woman.
Mangyans cut bamboo poles into smaller
nodes and etched Baybayin script.
 A huge stone discovered in Ticao, Leyte
contained Baybayin writing believed to be an
invocation for a safe journey by the sea.
 Zarzuela or Sarsuwela
• An operatta which features singing and dancing
interspersed with prose dialogue which allowed
the story to be carried out in song.
• Severino Reyes and Hermogenes Ilagan were the
most distinguished playwrights of their day with
Honorata ‘Atang’ dela Rama as their most
celebrated leading actress.
 Senakulo
1704 BY Gaspar Aquino de Belen
Komedya
• Komedya de Santo
• Secular Komedya
 Moro- moro – spanish word “Moor” which refers
to North African Arabs who ruled parts of Spain
from the 8th to 15th century.
 Love story between a Christian hero and an
Islamic heroine or vice versa.
 Dialog done in verse in vernacular language
 clashes were done in dance
Results to the conversion and baptism of the
leading Muslim character
Ending with a Christian wedding
And they lived happily ever after.
Heaven, Earth, and
Hell (1850)
Jose Dans
Paete Church, Laguna
 Basi Revolt
Esteban Villanueva
- Chronicles the defeat of
Ilocanos who rebelled
against the Spanish
government’s monopoly
of basi or rice wine in
1821.
 Doctrina Christiana
(The Teachings of Christianity)
• Printed in 1593 in Spanish
and in Tagalog by
Dominican Priest
• First printed book in the
Philippines compiling
song lyrics,
commandments,
sacraments, and other
catechetical material.
 Carta
Hydrographica y
Chorographica
de las Yslas
Filipinas, 1734

Fr. Pedro Murillo

Velarde with
Francisco Suarez
and engraver
Nicolas de la Cruz
Bagay
 Flora de Filipinas, 1878
Fr. Manuel Blanco

- An extensive compilation of
Philippine plants.
- Covered with exquisite
leather
- Contents consist of
lithographic reproductions
of remarkable watercolor
illustrations by Filipino
artists.
Viriña Urna
Portrait of the Quiazon Family
Simon Flores
Letras y Figuras
 Jose Honorato Lozano
• Best known as the pioneering practitioner
of the art form known as Letras y Figuras.
• Closer look of his works reveals scenes
depicting the person’s specific
circumstances such as the family’s trade or
business.
• Academia de Dibujo was the first art school in the
country established by Damian Domingo in 1821.
• The Academia was eventually absorbed by the
school put up by the Real Sociedad Economica
Filipina de Amigos del Pais where Domingo served
as director.
• Professors were predominantly Spanish
Peninsulars.
• Use of large panels, adoption of mythological
themes and historical scenes, application of
chiaroscuro (the play of light and dark and the
contrast between them to heighten the
composition’s sense of drama.
Spoliarium, Juan Luna
Las Virgenes Christianas Expuestas al Populacho
IV. AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD
(1898-1940) to the POSTWAR
REPUBLIC (1946-1969)

What were the changes brought about by

American Colonization?
How are they different from the religious forms
of the Spanish colonial period?
Sedition Law
Tanikalang Guinto – Juan Abad, 1902
Hindi Ako Patay – Juan Matapang, 1903
Kahapon, Ngayon, at Bukas – Aurelio
Tolentino, 1903

Drama Simbolico – one-act play that represents

a deep and profound yearning for freedom.

A Modern Filipina – Lino Castillejo and

Jesus Araullo, 1915
 Architect and Urban planner Daniel Burnham
was commissioned by the American government
to design Manila and Baguio, while Architect
William Parsons implemented the Burnham
plan.
Neoclassic Architecture
The demand for artists who could do illustrations
in textbooks or graphic design for product labels
thus emerged.
• In 1909, UP School of Fine Arts was opened.
• It offered a course on commercial design.
• Fabian de la Rosa succeeded Rafael Enriquez
as director.
• De la Rosa was known for his naturalist
paintings characterized by restraint and
formality in brushwork, choice of dull colors,
and subject matter.
Planting Rice, 1921 El Kundiman, 1930
 Fernando Amorsolo
(National Artist in 1972)
• Known for his romantic paintings
that captured the warm glow of the
Philippine sunlight.
• Produced numerous portraits of prominent
individuals, genre scenes highlighting the
beauty of dalagang filipina, landscapes, and
historical paintings.
• A graphic artist who rendered drawings for
textbook series.
 Logo design for
The Philippine Readers Ginebra San Miguel
 Guillermo Tolentino
(National Artist in 1973)

Oblation Bonifacio Monument

Bronze cast found at the Caloocan, 1933
UP Oblation plaza