Lesson 5 :

National Artists
of the Philippines
What is National Artist award?
 National Artist Award (NAA) bestows the HIGHEST FORM OF RECOGNITION TO
FILIPINO ARTIST for their significant contributions in the arts and letters. It shares
the same prestige as the GAMABA and the NATIONAL SCIENTIST AWARD.
 The award is conferred every 3 years through a rigorous (accurate) deliberation and
selection process jointly facilitated by 2 major cultural offices, the National
Commission on Culture and the Arts and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
 NAA was established in 1972 under Presidential Decree No. 1001 Isssued by then
President Ferdinand Marcos. The first recipient was Fernando Amorsolo, wh was
conferred the award Posthumously (Posthumous awards are made when the intended
recipient dies as a result of the action which merits the award.)

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 Much has changed since the institutionalization of the award.
 The roster has included 66 awardees from 7 disciplinal areas, namely :
1. Architecture, design, and allied arts
2. Film and broadcast art
3. Visual arts
4. Literature
5. Dance
6. Music
7. Theater
 In the history of the NAA, other categories have been considered by virtue of the
president’s prerogative (Right or Privilege), among them, historical literature and
fashion design.
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 What are some
examples of works of
National Artists?
Works of National
Artists in Public places:
A look at UP DILIMAN
A good number of works by national artists can be found in university campuses. One such example
is the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Diliman, Quezon City

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The iconic school symbol is based on
the OBLITION, 1935, a sculptural
work by the classically trained
sculptor Guillermo Tolentino
(Awarded 1973) depicting a male
nude with arms outstreched as a
gesture of sacrifice and freedom. It
was later cast in bronze also by
Guillermo Tolentino.

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 Guillermo Tolentino From the Lesson 2, we remembered
Tolentino as a proponent of the academic
 tradition in sculpture much like Fernando
Amorsolo ( Awarded 1972) is in paintings.
Amorsolo’s romantic paintings of bucolic
landscapes and idealized portraits of
prominent individuals from the
Commonwealth Period and the Second
World war can be viewed at the Jorge B.
Fernando Amorsolo Vargas Museum in UP. As of this writing,
many Tolentino’s works can be viewed at the
 National Museum.
Both National Artists served as professors
at the UP School of Fine Arts and have
7 been influential as teachers and artists.
Detail from Fernando Amorsolo's
1945 Defence of a Filipina
Woman's Honour, which is
representative of Amorsolo's
World War II-era paintings. Here,
a Filipino man defends a woman,
who is either his wife or daughter,
from being raped by an unseen
Japanese soldier. Note the
Japanese military cap at the
man's foot

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 Abdulmari Asia Imao’s
Calligraphic work done in the 80’s
(Awarded 2006) at the sculpture
garden of the Vargas Museum is
one of the largest sculptures he
made

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 Benidicto Cabrera’s Iconic
Variations of Sabel 2015
(Awarded 2006), made out of
aluminum sheets and can be
found at the UP Theater

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 Of Modernist sensibilities, The painter
Jose Joya (Awarded 2003) and sculptor
Napolean Abueva (Awarded 1976)
produced commissioned works that have
become part of the University’s visual
arts heritage.
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 ◉ Joya’s mural in the Virita School of
Business titled Barter of Panay 1978
is rendered in the abstract
expressionist style and consist of of
soft, overlapping planes of black,
white, orange, brown, and golden
yellow.
◉ Without rendering human forms, the
solid color palette establishes links
to the legend, referencing the trade
between Datu puti and King
Marikudo, the former bearing gold
accessories to purchase the lowlands
of Panay from the latter

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THE BARTER OF PANAY 1212 A.D.
 ◉ From the same school, Abueva’s
abstract sculpture Spirit of Business
1979 seems to be drawn from
science fiction, composed of a metal
disk with sharp-looking poles jutting
through.
◉ Abueva has produced a significant
number of public sculptures for the
University using various materials
from wood, to stone, and metal;
with themes ranging from
figurative tableaus to abstract
sculpture that embody the spirit
of the academic unit.

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 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 U.S, two
were influenced by modernist sensibilities of the
period. It was worth noting that in 1964, Both
represented the Philippines in the Venice Art
Bennale, one of the oldest international art
exhibitions worldwide.
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In 1955, The Church of the Holy Sacrifice in UP Diliman is
credited as the first Catholic Church in the country to
employ a circular architecture with a thin shell dome.

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 Complex mathematical computations along with the rising popularity of concrete as
building material enabled the sleek rounded church construction. It departed from the
rectangular configuration of the most churches consisting of structures with a transept
and nave.
 Leandro Locsin’s (Awarded 1990) architectural vision that drew inspiration from the
spirit of times. Reminiscent of a flying saucer, the spherical structure indicated a keen
interest in space travel; and the advancement in science and technology in the 1950s.

 The Church is recognized as a National Historical Landmark as well as a Cultural

Treasure by the National Historical Institute ( now known as National Historical
Commission of the Philippines) and by the National Museum, respectively.

 It consolidates (combine) the works of 5 National Artist: Locsin for architechture

and 4 other modernists in the visual arts, whose works are found inside the chapel. 17
 .
 Hanging above the circular altar
positioned at the center is a
double-sided crucifix carved in
hardwood by Abueva.
 One side of the crucifix depicts
Christ crucified, while an image of
the resurrected Christ is on the
other vantage point.

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◉ 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.
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Stylistically, the use of flat and angular shapes finds the resonance in the
15 Stations of the Cross, which murals painted by Vicente Manansala
(Awarded 1981) with the assistance of Ang Kiulok (Awarded 2001).
Christ and characters surrounding his passion are represented with midly
distourted figures-limbs are elongated, and volume suggested through
solid, hard-edge shapes, lending the compositions a cubist quality

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Stations of the Cross I: Jesus is condemned to Death Stations of the Cross III: Jesus falls the first time

Stations of the Cross III: Jesus falls Stations of the Cross IV: Jesus Stations of the Cross V: Simon of
the first time 21 Mary
meets Cyrene helps Jesus carry the Cross
Stations of the Cross VI: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus Stations of the Cross VII: Jesus falls the second time

Stations of the Cross VIII: Jesus Stations of the Cross IX: Stations of the Cross X: Jesus is
meets the women of Jerusalem. Jesus falls22
the third time stripped of his Garments
Stations of the Cross XI: Jesus is nailed to the Cross Stations of the Cross XII: Jesus dies on the Cross

Stations of the Cross XIII: Jesus is Stations of the Cross XIV: Stations of the Cross XV: The
taken down from the Cross 23 in the Tomb
Jesus is laid Resurrection
• This cutting-edge structure of the period house, 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.
• Maceda’s Pagsamba involved a hundred mixed voices, indiganeous musical
instruments such as bamboo buzzers, clappers, and whistle flutes; while
incorporating a prayer sung in Tagalog.
• He also founded the UP center for Ethnomusicology, where he donated his
precious collection of sound recordings, filed notes, and other materials on
ethnomusicology in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. For its significance, the
Maceda Archieves received recognition from the UNESCO Memory of the
World.

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 Translations and
Collaborative Works of
National Artists?
 Artist collaborations help develop projects involving elaborate production work, as in the
case of film or theater.

 The actor, filmmaker, and producer Manuel Conde (Awarded 2009) worked with Carlos V.
Francisco (Awarded 1997) in many films.

 One of the films was the acclaimed Genghis Khan, 1950, which told
the epic adventure of a Mongolian Conquer. This was filmed in Francisco’s
native Agono. Although more known for his magisterial murals, Francisco’s
imaginative production design likewise enriched Conde’s cinematic vision.

 The film screened in many film festivals abroad and translated into 16
languages for international distribution, the most recent was at the 2015
Venice Beinnale.
 Pop-rock opera Tales of the Manuvu performed at the CCP in 1985 also benefitted from
the efforts of several National Artist.
 Recounting the origins of the Manobo people, the scholar, poet, and the teacher
Bienvenido Lumbera, National Artist for Literature (Awarded 2006) wrote the libretto,
while National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes (Awarded 2014), founder of Ballet Philippines,
choreographed the performance
 The National artist for Theater Salvador Bernal (Awarded 2003) took charge of the
costume and set design. It reflected a confluence of genres normally perceived as
belonging to different realms: Ballet and opera on the other hand, popular music and folk
culture, on the other.
 Noong unang panahon was popularized by this
production, a melancholic reminiscence of
ecological transformation, still compelling in
todays context.
 Narratives in existing literary works sometimes become the basis of moving images and

performing arts.
 The 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.
 Before the emergence of the so-called Fantaserye (fantasy series) on national television in

the late nineties for example, the young superhero Pedro Penduko first appeared in Coching’s
work in Liwayway comics, and animated into film by Gerardo de Leon, National Artist for
Film (Awarded 1982) in 1954.

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Pedro Penduko in Liwayway Comics by Pedro Penduko film by Gerardo de Leon
Francisco V. Coching 29
 In the same decade, the poet, novelist, and playwright National Artist for Literature Nick
Joaqin (Awarded 1976) wrote A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, 1950.
 The story revolves around a painting of the same title, dedicated by a crippled artist to his 2
unmarried daughters, Candida and Paula. The said paintings calls the attention of
characters that take interest in the work of the once famous artist and who give their varied
appraisals of the work.
 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.
 This was 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 films and
theater.
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What are some issues
sorrounding the NAA?
 The works of National Artist are explorations about Filipino
Culture and identity, as expressed creatively through varied
styles and artistic mediums

 The artists’ technical excellence and outstanding vision

are forges through a strong commitment to their
respective practices. They are profound thinkers who
may well be innovative, open to experiment, and
inclined toward engaging with people.
 As we have seen in some of the examples, several
artists take on multiple roles as teachers , founders of
collective, or community organizers 33
The institutionalization of the NAA spans roughly 4 decades. Perhaps it is an opportune
moment to reevaluate what the award means to us today

We could, for instance :

◉ Think about the term “national” is interpreted and exemplified by the works of artist.

◉ Return to the history of the award back to the Modern period in Philippine Art History

◉ Ask about the kind of values and forms an idea of nation privileges

◉ Think about what it excludes.

The NAA, The GAMABA are channels of validation that contribute to the creation of art
history.
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◉ Since its establishment in 1972, The NAA has institutionalized awards in the areas of architecture,
design, and allied arts, film and broadcast arts, visual arts, literature, dance, music, and theater.
◉ We learned about artists whose practice peaked during the so-called Modern period and we looked at
their works that have a greater public dimension, such as those produced collaboratively or in the
context of a campus.
◉ While the government and institutions retain the power to “validate” or name an individual as a
“National Artist”, we have also seen how power can be negotiated, as exemplified in the series of
movements by the public that approached the issue of the award system in 2009.

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THANK
YOU !
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