Excerpts from the introduction to the UST Museum’s visual arts catalogue to be launched on Jan. 17.
THE EXHIBITION’S banner image depicts two angels carrying baskets of brightly colored flowers and fruits which they are about to shower upon the earth. These angels are actually part of the huge undated hagiographic portrait of the penitent Mary Magdalene attributed to and signed by Juan Arzeo (b. ca 1785 d. ca 1870). The showering of flowers and fruits is an allusion to the stream of favors and graces which flow down from their celestial abode.
These graces do not remain only in the realm of symbols but certainly are concretely manifested in the existence of UST spanning four centuries (1611-2011). This gracious existence includes the UST Museum that houses and cares for the important visual arts collection, particularly paintings, which has become a trail map in the development of art production and art training in the Philippines.
To give an idea of the extent of its collection, the museum comes out for the first time with a comprehensive catalogue of its visual arts collection in various media, such as watercolor, oil, acrylic, charcoal and mixed media.
Art scholar Ma. Victoria Herrera explains that the UST Museum’s collection is a fascinating cross-section of art history, divided roughly into four eras, from the 18th century to the 20th century. The first group reflects the period during the 18th to the early 19th centuries, when the Church was the foremost art patron and paintings were created mainly for religious purposes and not artistic expression, hence the preponderance of unsigned but important artworks. The exception here is the UST Museum’s portrait of Mary Magdalene which is signed by the artist Juan Arzeo.
The second group marks the birth of formal art training in the country, when art schools and guilds were formed and 19th-century economic progress allowed the middle class to commission paintings and thereby usher in a socio-cultural context to visual arts in the Philippines extending up to the start of the 20th century. Among the works in the museum’s collection representing this group are Juan Luna’s “Italian Soldier” and “Playa de Kamakura”; Felix Resureccion Hidalgo’s works including “Costas de Bretaña,” “Costas de Normandia,” “Estudio I” and “Estudio II” and Miguel Zaragoza’s “Landscape I” and “Landscape II.”
The third group represents the rise of artists who were products of the Academia de Dibujo and who subsequently formalized art training in the academe during the 20th century. The UST Museum has a fine representation of this period with five works by Rafael Enriquez, including “Andaluz,” “Portrait of Pico, El Alguacil,” and “The Bridge of Sighs”; Fabian de la Rosa’s “Filipina” and a “Portrait of A Girl,” and 10 works by Teodoro Buenaventura. Also included are eight works by Fernando Amorsolo, among them “Portrait of Miss Anne Saleeby,” “Portrait of Rev. Fr. Silvestre Sancho, OP,” “Portrait of Miss Virginia Grace” and “Portrait of Pres. Diosdado Macapagal”; and two Pablo Amorsolo works, “Fruit Vendor” and “Limpia Botas.”
The fourth group features the works of the early Modernists, who broke away from the classical tradition and explored new modes of expression, with the leaders of this artistic movement making UST their home: Victorio Edades’ “Dr. José Rizal” and “Portrait of Fr. Francisco Mann, OP”; Vicente Manansala’s “Pounding Rice” and “Overcast Sky”; nine works by Ricarte Puruganan, including “Portrait of Fr. Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, OP,” “Breakers,” and “Harvest Festival”; 10 works by Gab Ocampo such as “Brown Madonna,” the triptych of “Annunciation, Nativity and Adoration by the Three Kings”; and 15 works by Carlos “Botong” Francisco such as “Under the Mango Tree,” “Pastoral,” “Harana” and “Oracion.” Furthermore, Manansala, Ocampo and Francisco had chronicled UST’s role in Philippine history with murals found on campus.
Recognizing its great responsibility and vital role in conserving these artworks for future generations, the oldest museum in the country embraces technological advances to stay a step ahead in terms of collection management, education and conservation. The UST Museum is one of the first to employ a computerized database designed specifically for its collection, including a detailed data entry system with the object’s full description, condition report and collection management information.
It has also embarked on a conservation enterprise for the collection that makes use of its own conservation laboratory; painstaking efforts have already yielded great rewards, with the conservation of 12 very important pieces out of over 900 pieces in the collection.
These include invaluable artworks such as the celebrated “Portrait of a Young Balinese Girl” by Romualdo Locatelli, the “Portrait of Bishop Antonio Zulaybar” attributed to Juan Arzeo, “Dr. José Rizal” by Victorio Edades, “Fruit Vendor” by Pablo Amorsolo and “The Foundation of the University of Santo Tomas by Archbishop Miguel de Benavides” by D. Celis that won in the painting competition during the 300th anniversary of the University of Sto. Tomas in 1911. And, very recently, the murals depicting the history of UST by Antonio Garcia Llamas in the lobby of the UST Main Building have undergone intensive cleaning and minor restoration, an effort that adds luster to the National Cultural Treasure honor bestowed on the UST Main Building by the National Museum in 2010.
When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.
THE EXHIBITION’S banner image depicts two angels carrying baskets of brightly colored flowers and fruits which they are about to shower upon the earth. These angels are actually part of the huge undated hagiographic portrait of the penitent Mary Magdalene attributed to and signed by Juan Arzeo (b. ca 1785 d. ca 1870). The showering of flowers and fruits is an allusion to the stream of favors and graces which flow down from their celestial abode.
These graces do not remain only in the realm of symbols but certainly are concretely manifested in the existence of UST spanning four centuries (1611-2011). This gracious existence includes the UST Museum that houses and cares for the important visual arts collection, particularly paintings, which has become a trail map in the development of art production and art training in the Philippines.
To give an idea of the extent of its collection, the museum comes out for the first time with a comprehensive catalogue of its visual arts collection in various media, such as watercolor, oil, acrylic, charcoal and mixed media.
Art scholar Ma. Victoria Herrera explains that the UST Museum’s collection is a fascinating cross-section of art history, divided roughly into four eras, from the 18th century to the 20th century. The first group reflects the period during the 18th to the early 19th centuries, when the Church was the foremost art patron and paintings were created mainly for religious purposes and not artistic expression, hence the preponderance of unsigned but important artworks. The exception here is the UST Museum’s portrait of Mary Magdalene which is signed by the artist Juan Arzeo.
The second group marks the birth of formal art training in the country, when art schools and guilds were formed and 19th-century economic progress allowed the middle class to commission paintings and thereby usher in a socio-cultural context to visual arts in the Philippines extending up to the start of the 20th century. Among the works in the museum’s collection representing this group are Juan Luna’s “Italian Soldier” and “Playa de Kamakura”; Felix Resureccion Hidalgo’s works including “Costas de Bretaña,” “Costas de Normandia,” “Estudio I” and “Estudio II” and Miguel Zaragoza’s “Landscape I” and “Landscape II.”
The third group represents the rise of artists who were products of the Academia de Dibujo and who subsequently formalized art training in the academe during the 20th century. The UST Museum has a fine representation of this period with five works by Rafael Enriquez, including “Andaluz,” “Portrait of Pico, El Alguacil,” and “The Bridge of Sighs”; Fabian de la Rosa’s “Filipina” and a “Portrait of A Girl,” and 10 works by Teodoro Buenaventura. Also included are eight works by Fernando Amorsolo, among them “Portrait of Miss Anne Saleeby,” “Portrait of Rev. Fr. Silvestre Sancho, OP,” “Portrait of Miss Virginia Grace” and “Portrait of Pres. Diosdado Macapagal”; and two Pablo Amorsolo works, “Fruit Vendor” and “Limpia Botas.”
The fourth group features the works of the early Modernists, who broke away from the classical tradition and explored new modes of expression, with the leaders of this artistic movement making UST their home: Victorio Edades’ “Dr. José Rizal” and “Portrait of Fr. Francisco Mann, OP”; Vicente Manansala’s “Pounding Rice” and “Overcast Sky”; nine works by Ricarte Puruganan, including “Portrait of Fr. Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, OP,” “Breakers,” and “Harvest Festival”; 10 works by Gab Ocampo such as “Brown Madonna,” the triptych of “Annunciation, Nativity and Adoration by the Three Kings”; and 15 works by Carlos “Botong” Francisco such as “Under the Mango Tree,” “Pastoral,” “Harana” and “Oracion.” Furthermore, Manansala, Ocampo and Francisco had chronicled UST’s role in Philippine history with murals found on campus.
Recognizing its great responsibility and vital role in conserving these artworks for future generations, the oldest museum in the country embraces technological advances to stay a step ahead in terms of collection management, education and conservation. The UST Museum is one of the first to employ a computerized database designed specifically for its collection, including a detailed data entry system with the object’s full description, condition report and collection management information.
It has also embarked on a conservation enterprise for the collection that makes use of its own conservation laboratory; painstaking efforts have already yielded great rewards, with the conservation of 12 very important pieces out of over 900 pieces in the collection.
These include invaluable artworks such as the celebrated “Portrait of a Young Balinese Girl” by Romualdo Locatelli, the “Portrait of Bishop Antonio Zulaybar” attributed to Juan Arzeo, “Dr. José Rizal” by Victorio Edades, “Fruit Vendor” by Pablo Amorsolo and “The Foundation of the University of Santo Tomas by Archbishop Miguel de Benavides” by D. Celis that won in the painting competition during the 300th anniversary of the University of Sto. Tomas in 1911. And, very recently, the murals depicting the history of UST by Antonio Garcia Llamas in the lobby of the UST Main Building have undergone intensive cleaning and minor restoration, an effort that adds luster to the National Cultural Treasure honor bestowed on the UST Main Building by the National Museum in 2010.
When in Cebu City, please visit gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.
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