HASHTAG PEYUPS
Group 1 Evangelista Ledesma Sabijon San Andres Torres
UP Vargas Museum: Glimpse of Philippine History
by John Marlo Evangelista
Just as it was always been, when our memories of the past faded into twilight a new era of dawn emerged to fill-in those voids. That is what I learned from our trip to the Vargas Museum. In every section of the museum, the glimpse of the past could be seen which stretch throughout the history of the Philippines.
The first section of the tour was dominated by expressionists like Juan Luna. Based from his works, he wasn’t concerned in the changing qualities of light by using small feather-like brushstrokes or pastel palette unlike the other impressionists of his time. Instead, he was expressive and dramatic. His use of the violent movement of the brush made his compositions produced an aura of strong yet artistic depictions.
The next section was inspired by the paintings during the Spanish pre-occupation in the Philippines. Majority of them were religious paintings however what truly got my attention were the portraits of famous “Dons” and “Donyas” together with their families. The exquisite designs of their clothes still amazed me, can you imagine how much work the artists do in order to copy the exact delicate designs for that painting. Art, was truly a status symbol during the early days.
Then, with the arrival of the Americans, our meaning of art shifted from individualism and religion to nature. As evident by the usual pattern of nipa huts and mountains, they were able to showcase to the Western world our own interpretation of nature’s beauty. However for me, there was a hidden meaning for those patterns. It only shows that our portrayal of rural like themes means that we haven’t been aware of civilization and progress. This was still debatable up till now.
The portrayals of pre-war themes were inspired in many of Fernando Amorsolo’s works. The fiestas and the traditional rice paintings were all part in his inspirations.
As the Worlds War II began, the art themes shifted once more from the peaceful depictions of life to the total destruction of it. The paintings then reflected the true nature of the whole mankind. We yearn for war. Ever since the beginning of time, we always sought to destroy each other fighting for ideologies, religion or national interests. The paintings were so accurate that I couldn’t even tell if those were photographs or paintings.
As the war ended, the era hope of hope emerged – the birth of Philippine Contemporary Art. Many claimed it was a phenomenon of the post-war period in the Philippines.
However, even though the war has ended, decisive battles between ore-war academic arts and the new expressionism took place during the early fifties. The effort to avoid direct confrontation and showdown by labeling sides ‘conservative’ and ‘modern’ was clearly a new step for future artists.
During the sixties, the emergence of the new generation of young artists who were considered as the offspring of the innovative elements and styles of the post-war era brought unique and challenging perspective to the Philippine Culture of today.
As the last section of the museum came, I saw that the modern styles of today, which were inspired by our past, evolved into a form which doesn’t only display the beauty of nature nor of oneself but also gave new ideas and taught us to think outside of the box.
Image References:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj294/annpablo/RicePlantingFernandoAmorsolo-1.jpg
http://payload122.cargocollective.com/1/10/324156/4751746/artefact%20x.JPG
http://cms.interaksyon.com/lifestyle/assets/2013/06/CANVAS2-Tarpaulin-Art-2013-1.jpg
