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Featuring more than 30 paintings, this exhibition chronicles one hundred years of Philippine painting from the late 19th to the late 20th century in the works of three artists—Juan Luna (1857–1899), Fernando Amorsolo (1892–1972) and Fernando Zóbel (1924–1984). Each artist was a pioneer in his own way:
Juan Luna was the first Filipino artist to achieve international acclaim. His early work focused on subject matter popular in the Europe’s art academies, including historical scenes and portraiture. Toward the end of his life he became interested in Social Realism, and began painting genre scenes of everyday life, pre-dating by almost one hundred years the Realist movement that was to become popular in the Philippines.
Fernando Amorsolo is the most famous and perhaps the most beloved of Philippine artists. His paintings of the Philippine landscape, infused with shimmering light, became a model for generations of artists that followed. His idealized depictions of young women at the market or in rice fields, of village men at rest or boys on the backs of water buffalos, can neither be classified as Social Realism or as Impressionism. Instead these genre paintings evoke pastoral visions of the countryside.
Like Juan Luna, Fernando Zóbel also received international training, having studied in both the United States and Europe. He was an artist of constant experimentation, and drew upon a wide variety of sources to create paintings of powerful abstraction. Zóbel was also a supporter of both Philippine and Spanish abstract artists. His achievements as an artist, a teacher and a patron have had a profound influence on the development of modern art in the Philippines.
--- www.asianart.org
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