Art History Module

This educational module is designed for university level Art Studies majors with the goal of
serving as a preliminary learning tool on art history through the five Art History Series exhibitions
presented by the UP Vargas Museum since 2013. The module includes additional information
regarding each exhibition, guide questions and activities, and suggested readings.

This Art History module is free to download and may be reproduced.

We are interested to know if the module is helpful to you. For comments and suggestions,
please email vargasmuseum@[Link] under the heading "Art History module feedback".

Objectives
This module aims to:
1. Encourage exploration of the Vargas Museum permanent collection through different art
historical perspectives,
2. serve as a guide when learning about art history and historiography, and to
3. foster more critical engagement with art.
What is art history?
When thinking about what art history is, an image that may easily come to mind is a linear
timeline enumerating a sequence of significant art movements, a singular art historical narrative
that ends when it catches up with the present. However, contemporary approaches to art history
recognize that what has typically been established as "history" often comes from a particular
place of dominance (oftentimes marked as the “west”), assumes authority because it is enforced
across other places, and neglects, if not suppresses, other concurrent histories. Rather than a
simple reconstruction of the past, art history is ​a construction and continuing reconstruction
within the frame of a particular present​. It is an academic discipline and museological practice
that has vast implications in the production of values in specialized fields, markets, and the
common culture.

An example of an art history timeline

Source: [Link]

The "frame"
The writing of history - known as historiography - may seem straightforward and objective, but in
actuality involves making decisions on what to include and exclude, how to organize the
material, what to say about it, and what ​should​ be seen or rendered visible. Art history is a way
of looking at the “past” through different frames, such as conceptual concerns, post-colonial
history, political persuasion, gender and sexuality, and many others.

The power of museums

The Vargas Museum Collection itself is an accretion
of objects that were deemed valuable. Jorge B.
Vargas was interested in fragments of Philippine
culture as a heritage of a national collective. During
a time of political and societal unrest, transition, and
rebuilding, Vargas was in a unique position to collect
documents, memorabilia, and art that forwarded
certain ideologies of Philippine culture and identity.
Today, this ideology metonymically persists in the
Vargas Museum Collection. Museums, in general,
are a means of educating the general public, closely associated with nation-building, and
becoming "cultured." As such, museums and museum exhibitions are powerful modes of
establishing or challenging art history.

What is the goal of the Art History Series?

The Vargas Museum's Art History series of exhibitions reframes objects, artworks, documents,
and memorabilia through different art historical methods. Jorge B. Vargas's collection is
explored in order to uncover new possibilities of stories and storytelling that have yet to be told
or attempted. These works are then exhibited together with contemporary works in critical
adjacency, in order to bring the past and the present in a contact zone or shared vicinity and in
a situation of reciprocal critique. In this way, the Vargas Museum not only tells a singular story of
its Permanent Collection exhibition, but also animates traces of history to create exhibitions that
better engage with the viewing public and the surrounding social milieu.

These "reactivations" are invitations to consider "what a museum exhibition is, how art history is
constructed, what the work of art placed in a historical perspective is, or how it can be perceived
in terms other than historical" (Piotrowski). The goal is a responsive and self-critical museum
that initiates its audience into looking at art and history in more extensive, meaningful, and
imaginative ways.

Piotrowski, Piotr. “Museum: From the Critique of Institution to a Critical Institution.” (Re)Staging the Art
Museum, by Tone Hansen, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, 2011, pp. 77–90.

Further Readings on Art Histories from Elsewhere

❏ Arnold, Dana. ​Art History: A Very Short Introduction.​ New York: Oxford University
Press, 2004.
❏ D'Alleva, Anne. ​Methods & Theories of Art History.​ London: Laurence King, 2005.
❏ Flores, Patrick D. and Low Sze Wee, 劉思偉 (Eds.). ​Charting Thoughts: Essays on Art
in Southeast Asia​. National Gallery of Singapore, 2017.
❏ Harris, Jonathan. ​The New Art History: A Critical Introduction​. London and New York:
Rouletdge, 2001.
❏ Nelson, Robert S. ​Critical Terms for Art History​. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
❏ Van Damme, Wilfried and Kitty Ziljmans. ​Art History in a Global Frame: World Art
Studies.​ Brill, 2012.

ACTIVITY
Observe the two groups of paintings below, both containing the work ​Conspiracy​ by Simon
Saulog. The first group shows the paintings that were directly beside ​Conspiracy​ as displayed in
the exhibit, ​Revisiting the Conservative,​ curated around the stylistic tendencies of conservatism
and academic realism. The second group is from the exhibit ​Jorge B. Vargas: A Collecting Life​,
which included some works made during the height of Vargas’s political career.
● Imagine each group of paintings as if they were hung together on a wall. Do the
differences in the adjacent works affect your perception of ​Conspiracy?
 ● Does knowing the title of the exhibition and the curatorial motive affect your perception of
Conspiracy?
● Compare and contrast your observations of the two groups of paintings.

Cesar Buenaventura Simon Saulog Crispin V. Lopez

Mi Papa Conspiracy President Manuel L. Quezon
1944 1943 1949
Oil on canvasboard Oil on board Oil on canvas

Group 1: As hung in the exhibition, ​Revisiting the Conservative​ (2019)

Nena Saguil Marcelino Sanchez

A Sunken Japanese Ship at Manila Bay Tales of Bataan
1945 Simon Saulog 1943
Oil on canvasboard Conspiracy Oil on canvasboard
1943
Oil on board

Group 2: As hung in the exhibition, ​Jorge B. Vargas: A Collecting Life​ (2019)

Picturesque
10 August - 10 October 2013
3F Galleries

Picturesque​ is the first edition of the Art History Series. Held in 2013, the exhibition uses a
thematic approach to explore the idea of the picturesque, and how it manifested in the
collections of Jorge B. Vargas. The exhibition features paintings from the collection, and is
complemented by archival materials such as photos and keepsakes accrued over the illustrious
career of Vargas. Paintings by Fernando Amorsolo and Mabini artists such as Isidro Ancheta,
Gabriel Custodio, and Miguel Galvez present nostalgic landscapes so desired during wartime as
well as landscapes and seascapes evoking the sense of peace after the war.
Picturesque​ also dedicates a section to works from contemporary artists that explore how the
picturesque interacts with the acts of remember and forgetting, as “[creating] the picturesque is
to revisit an experience and search from a reservoir of memories.” Art by contemporary Filipino
artists, namely: Dominic Mangila, Lyra Garcellano, Pam Yan-Santos, Jake Verzosa, Michelle
Dizon and Camilo Ontiveros, Erwin Leaño, and Arturo Sanchez, prompt conversation with
Vargas’s collection and archives; they explore their own expressions of the picturesque
conditioned by unique experiences and memories.
The picturesque as the ideal

Consider the suffix ​-esque​. When added to a word, what meaning does the new word convey?

The picturesque is an aesthetic concept, mostly applied to landscapes, that deals with the ideal
form of nature as dictated by its artistic appeal. Records point to Rev. William Gilpin of England
as responsible for the popularization of the idea of the picturesque,1 when he wrote about the
concept in 1768, as well as publishing other books on the landscapes he saw on his travels.

To say that a work is picturesque means holding it to an ideal of nature. In turn, to think of the
ideal is to evoke the idea of the beautiful. The concept of the picturesque then became the
center of debate; should the human alter nature so that when translated into paintings on
canvas, it will reflect the ideal, or should the human seize the state of nature as is as by itself, it
is worthy of painting?

1
Dabney Townsend, “The Picturesque,” ​The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism​ 55:4 (1997), 365-376.
Fernando Amorsolo’s ​Harvest Scene​ from the Vargas art collection was displayed as part of
Picturesque.​ The oil on canvas work was painted in 1942.

ACTIVITY:
Look closely at the painting and answer the following questions:
1. What is the mood of the scene? What elements of the painting support your answer?
Which figures painted on the canvas tell you this?
2. Research on the events in Philippine history in 1942. Does this scene point to what was
happening during the year it was made?

Based on your answers to the questions above, write a short reflection paper on how the
standards of the picturesque influences how images are viewed, experienced, curated, or
framed. Consider events in Philippine history as well, especially the impact of colonization.

Weighing the influence of images by the [Insta]gram

Part of the contemporary art section of ​Picturesque​ is the photo series of acclaimed
photographer Jake Verzosa titled ​Basketball Landscapes​.

Basketball is undeniably the most popular sport and pastime in the Philippines—the game is
easy to follow, and while a team sport, one can still play it without any peers around. Filipinos
are so passionate about the sport that they seem to be oblivious to the destruction around as
hindrance to playing the game. This becomes the impetus for ​Basketball Landscapes​: Verzosa
captures photos of makeshift basketball hoops set up in typhoon-devastated Leyte and in other
unexpected locations.

More photos may be viewed at [Link]/basketballlandscapes.

ACTIVITY 1:
As you view the photos in the Instagram page, answer the following:
1. What is common among the basketball rings featured in the photo series? What are they
made of, and where are they placed?
2. Why, do you think, is ​Basketball Landscapes​ part of the exhibition ​Picturesque?
​ Do the
pictures conform to the conventions of the picturesque, or are there other ideas being
conveyed?
3. What purpose does Instagram and other social media platforms reliant on images have
on collective consciousness and memory?
4. In contrast to the horizontal frame of Amorsolo’s ​Harvest Scene,​ ​Basketball Landscapes
conform to the custom square format of the Instagram platform. What does this format
do to landscape?
5. In its inception, the picturesque was largely applied to paintings. With photography
around, and now made more accessible and democratic, in what ways has photography
informed the picturesque?
ACTIVITY 2:
Create your own Instagram photography project that lies in the same vein as
@basketballlandscapes. Look to @tropikalye, a survey of contemporary Filipino aesthetics, as
another example. Is there a distinctly Filipino kind of picturesque worth documenting? Are there
other phenomena of Filipino ingenuity towards nature and everyday surroundings that must be
captured and preserved?

Drawn to Scale
13 March - 10 June 2014
3F Galleries

The exhibition ​Drawn to Scale​ presents the works of

Pablo Amorsolo (1898-1945) and Pedro Coniconde
(1901-1974), two painters, portraitists, and
illustrators, in conversation with works by
contemporary artists in the same vein: Manix Abrera,
Ernest Concepcion, Louie Cordero, Dex Fernandez,
Lyra Garcellano, Mark Salvatus, and Apol Sta.
Maria.

Pablo Amorsolo​ and ​Pedro Coniconde​, both

well-represented in the Vargas Museum Permanent
Collection, were graduates of the University of the
Philippines School of Fine Arts. Pedro Coniconde
was an illustrator for the Tribune newspaper and Art
Director of the Philippine Herald, a nationalist
newspaper founded in 1920 by then-Senate
President Manuel Quezon. He specialized in
"Spanish-style" cartoons and caricatures and
finely-detailed pen illustrations of personalities.
Pablo Amorsolo, brother of National Artist Fernando
Amorsolo, was an artist for the publications Manila Times and Graphic, and contributed editorial
illustrations for Tribune, La Vanguardia, and the Philippine Herald. He was also an assistant
instructor at UP before the advent of World War II.

Drawing and the artist’s style

Now we look at these two artists’ technique and style in drawing. In the case of portraiture and
figurative illustration, subtle nuances of the sitter, like expression, gesture, and personality are
articulated through lines, shading, hatchings, curves, and so on. But as the artists depict their
subject according to their perception, so too does the depiction reveal the artists’ personality,
outlook, and broader milieu.

ACTIVITY
Observe the two pairs of portraits below. The column on the left contains works by Pedro
Coniconde, while the column on the right by Pablo Amorsolo. Oftentimes in portraiture, each
line, shading, and highlight is very deliberately and thoughtfully executed by the artist.
● Compare how Coniconde and Amorsolo depict light and shadow on the face, clothing,
and background. Are the lines hard or soft? Where is your attention being drawn
towards? Where are the subjects looking? In the case of the paintings, how would you
describe the colors used - on the subject as well as on the background? Are the strokes
rough or fine? Visible or invisible?
● Try to extrapolate particularities of each artist's style based on how they depicted these
subjects. How are they different or similar?
● Based on the observations you made on the formal qualities of the illustrations, create
interpretations of the personalities of the figures represented. Do you think the artists
were successful in depicting the character of the sitter?

Pedro Coniconde Pablo Amorsolo

Sports Ambassador Jorge B. Vargas

Undated Abraham Lincoln
Pen and ink on paper Undated
Crayon on paper
 My Son
1944
Oil on canvas

Character Study
1940
Oil on canvasboard

Further Reading on Artistic Style

❏ Schapiro, Meyer. “Style.” ​Anthropology Today: an Encyclopedic Inventory​, by A. L.
Kroeber, University of Chicago Press, 1970, pp. 287–312. (Available online at
[Link]: ​link​)

Drawing and storytelling

Artists and illustrators have a role in telling the tales that accompany their art, sometimes even
re-inventing the story. They are partial storytellers, offering a glimpse of their own reflection in a
collaborative work with literature. This is most evident in Coniconde’s and Amorsolo’s
contributions to newspapers and magazines, as they bring life to editorials, fiction, and
urgencies of the day.

ACTIVITY

Pablo Amorsolo
The Family Peace Maker
Undated
Pen and ink on bristol board

Observe the illustration on the left. Describe what is happening

in the picture. What are the characters doing, and how do they
relate to each other? Describe the quality of the lines and
shading used, and how they affect the story Amorsolo is trying
to portray. Based on your description of what is happening,
formulate a story based on the picture. If you were the artist,
how would you choose to portray this scene? Draw your own version, and compare how the
story changes.

In conversation with the contemporary

The works of seven Filipino contemporary artists and illustrators are included in the exhibition in
conversation with the works of Coniconde and Amorsolo. Continuing in the impulse of drawing
and storytelling, these artists blur the boundaries between words and images. Some create
illustrations and comics for publications, while others circulate in alternative platforms like zines,
street art, and exhibitions.

Installation shot of a mural by Dex Fernandez, featuring variations on his Garapata Man
character which can be found in many countries, in murals, stickers, bags, etc.

While completely different in form and style, the contemporary artists Manix Abrera, Ernest
Concepcion, Louie Cordero, Dex Fernandez, Lyra Garcellano, Mark Salvatus, and Apol Sta.
Maria also tell timely and relatable stories that resonate with contemporary audiences. Looking
at the contemporary counterparts of Pedro Coniconde and Pablo Amorsolo’s illustrations, how
would you compare them? What are the similarities and differences in storytelling style?
 Manix Abrera Apol Sta. Maria
Cover of Kikomachine Komix Vol. 6 Panget (with special participation of Nardong Garagimatix Abrera)
2014
Original art displayed at the Vargas Acrylic on canvas and plywood
Museum

Republic
22 September - 26 October 2016
3F Galleries

Republic​, the third iteration of the Art History Series, reactivates the
museum’s collection through a diachronic curatorial approach as an
engagement with the milieu of the Philippine Commonwealth
government from 1934 to 1941. It ​presents archival materials from
the Vargas collection in juxtaposition with works by Filipino
contemporary artists Roberto Feleo, Michelle Dizon, Renan Ortiz,
Stephanie Syjuco, Santiago Bose, and Brenda Fajardo.​The
exhibition sheds light on the geopoetic formation of the
Commonwealth and its political aspiration as a Republic through
sections on persons of authority; the knowledge on flora and the
aesthetic of the cultivated landscape; and the liveliness of the
human figure as either icon or witness, caricature or ethnic. Probing
the Commonwealth as a season of imperialist tutelage offers a
chance to revisit the ramifications of America in historical
consciousness and current reflections on everyday life.
ACTIVITY: Research about the Commonwealth government of the Philippines by answering the
following questions:

1. What are the most important events for Filipinos during the Commonwealth period?
2. What are the important accomplishments delivered by then President Manuel L.
Quezon?
3. Who is Jorge B. Vargas, and what are his role/s during the Commonwealth period?
4. What is the involvement of the American government in making the Commonwealth
government of the Philippines? And in the duration of this period?

Understanding history and influence through visual cues

Republic​ displays certain objects from the Vargas memorabilia which reflect notions of the
political nature of the Commonwealth government, and the identity of political figures like Jorge
Vargas, whose contributions go beyond politics, through the making of his art collection. It runs
parallel with ​A Matter of Contemplation and Discontent​, an exhibition presenting works by
Romanian artists created from the 1980s to the 1990s. Through the selection of the works, the
project creates a portrait of Romania during the period of transition from socialism to
democracy.

GROUP ACTIVITY: Create an online discussion with your peers or classmates, and discuss the
following works by Fernando Amorsolo, Antonio Dumlao, and Ramon De La Rama, seen below.
Try to examine the nature of these works. Reflect how they signify a particular political and
social image of Philippine society during the Commonwealth period.
 ​ ​Manuel L. Quezon Landscape Igorot Woman
Fernando Amorsolo Ramon De La Rama Serafin Serna
Pen and ink on bristol board Oil on canvasboard Oil on cardboard
1935 1935 1941

Mexican artist, illustrator, and caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias visited the Philippines in 1930,
which gave an opportunity for political figures of the time to commission caricatures made by
him, such as the example below. Beside this work is an image of President Manuel L. Quezon,
with his Executive Secretary Jorge Vargas, and an American military officer during a military
ground inspection in 1938, and the 2016 mural of Renan Ortiz titled “Palabas / Paloob,” all part
of the ​Republic​ exhibition.

ACTIVITY: Observe the caricature work of Covarrubias, Renan Ortiz’s mural, and the
photograph. Write a short reflection on how these images reflect foreign influences, specifically
in art and politics in the country during the Commonwealth period by answering the following
questions:

1. Who are the people that you recognize in these images? What are their most significant
roles in history?
2. How is foreign influence being reflected in each work/image? And how do each particular
reflection connect these works together in conveying implications on colonialism?

left: Miguel Covarrubias’s 1940 caricature of President Manuel

L. Quezon (pastel on paper); right: 1938 photograph with
President Quezon and Executive Secretary Jorge Vargas,
bottom: Renan Ortiz’s 2016 mural “Palabas / Paloob”
Similarities on what is then, and what is now

Diachronic (adjective) - of, relating to, or dealing with phenomena (as of language or culture) as they
occur or change over a period of time (Merriam-Webster dictionary).

The exhibition is curated in a diachronic approach in which the pieces, from objects which are
part of Vargas’s art collection and memorabilia, involved in the exhibition zero in on how the
Commonwealth government came about and developed in the Philippines. They are placed in
relation with contemporary works to summon the effects of American colonialism in the present
time.
 Above: full view of Feleo’s “Ang Dilubyo ng Bola”

Left: installation shot of Feleo’s 2012 intermedia

work

PAIRED ACTIVITY: One of the contemporary works part of the ​Republic​ exhibition is an
intermediary work by Roberto Feleo, titled “Ang Dilubyo ng Bola”. Choose a partner and virtually
discuss with each other how Feleo’s work unveil the effects of American colonialism through the
sign system of his work. Discuss what the words “The Great White Lie” (seen at the bottom part
of the work), and the following objects used by Feleo in his work signify to evoke the notion of
American colonialism: naval ship, balls (in white, blue, and red), and various toy figures
scattered at the bottom part.

OUTPUT: Suppose that you are creating a personal collection which will attempt to define
Philippine society under the current government. List down five (5) of each from the following:
objects, artworks, and photographs that you would like to include in your collection. Write a
short description of your collection, by explaining how it defines Philippine government and
society today.

Christmas Eve, Emilio G. Santiago, 1942

10 April - 9 May 2018
3F Galleries

Christmas Eve, Emilio G. Santiago, 1942​ is the fourth iteration of the Art History Series. The art
historical approach it uses is the study of a single work: how one art object invites examination
of varied and associated visual materials, informed by history and context. The exhibition title
refers to the eponymous painting in the collection by Emilio Santiago: an oil on canvas board
work captures a Christmastime scene in wartime Manila. A mother with a present in hand looks
over her sleeping child, as they are surrounded by objects that reveal colonial references:
nativity creche, oriental lanterns, and an English-language book. In light of its art historical
approach, the exhibition includes paintings from the collection that complement the
Christmastime scene, and objects from the museum archives that correspond to the themes
present in the painting.

Emilio Santiago (b. 1895), according to the art historian Santiago Pilar, was a painter, sculptor,
and engraver. According to Pilar: “During Santiago’s elementary schooling, he was importuned
by his classmates for sketches and clay figures. He took up high school at the Liceo de Manila.
At the U.P. School of Fine Arts, he graduated in Engraving and Modeling in 1915. He served as
decorator for the Santa Clara Lumber Company; as instructor for the U.P. School of Fine Arts;
as creator of monuments such as that of Andres Bonifacio at Plaza Guipit, Sampaloc; as
ornamentor for the Legislative Building, the Jones Bridge, the Agriculture and Commerce
Buildings, and many other edifices; and as designer of medals. Santiago has won several first
prizes at painting exhibits and has had several works reproduced on the cover of the Graphic.
His Balagtas, Ama ng Wika, a bust, was found at the National Gallery of Art and History before
World War II.”

Rhizomatic ramifications

The year 1942 marked the second year of the Philippines into war. In the first quarter of the
year, Japanese troops began to arrive, and soon, the Japanese set up their military
government. President Manuel Quezon and his cabinet soon left for the United States, and
Filipino and American forces battled against Japanese militia. The times were bleak and weary
for the common Filipino. To further paint a picture of how the Christmas season during this year
was, read the message from Quezon, aired on the radio:

Fellow-Countrymen:

Merry Christmas to you all, wherever you may be. Whether you are living in the
enemy-occupied towns and cities of our country, or in the mountains of Luzon, Visayas
and Mindanao, or in the United States, to you all I say: Merry Christmas. Christ was born
to make all men free. Thanks to Him, our freedom will soon be redeemed. Tell your
children that soon the invader will be driven out of our land, and that Christmas will once
more be as we knew it in the past—a day of gifts and laughter, of stars shining from the
windows, of lights burning on the Christmas trees.

For the lights of freedom, justice and decency which we have seen go out in Europe and
in our own land will soon go on again all over the world. Never before in this grim war
has the cause of freedom been nearer to victory. The Nazi armies are bleeding white in
Russia, and will soon be driven out of Africa; Wavell’s army is pushing relentlessly
 towards Burma; down in the Southwest Pacific, General MacArthur is driving the
Japanese out of New Guinea. Here in America, the American people under President
Roosevelt have not forgotten the Philippines. The world cannot forget Bataan, and the
courage of a people that fought against tremendous odds only because it had faith in the
cause of freedom and decency. For this cause was Christ born: that men may have the
freedom, the dignity, the happiness of the sons of God. MALIGAYANG PASKO, MGA
KABABAYAN, AT MABUHAY ANG FILIPINAS.2

In 1942, Jorge Vargas was the Chairman of the Philippine Executive Commission, a provisional
government organized under the orders of the Japanese military administration.

The objects of the exhibition are drawn from the themes present in the painting of Emilio
Santiago. From a single work, the collections were mined to find materials that correspond to
the motifs, thereby allowing a branching out of subjects that drive home the message further, as
well as a growth of affinities between images, particularly in popular culture.

ACTIVITY:

An ​object list​ details the objects and components to be used in an exhibition. This is an
important instrument in curatorial work, as it helps museum and gallery workers in taking stock
of the objects, their display modes, and information about the objects that matter in their
inclusion, presentation, and placement in the exhibition.

2
Source: [Link]
Below is a partial object list of the exhibition:

IMAGE DESCRIPTION COMPONENTS

Philippine Executive Epson Projector

Commission Chairman Jorge
B. Vargas and President Jose Wooden Bench
P. Laurel during an
oath-taking ceremony

Videos on loop
3:30 minutes
NHK/ Getty Images
Edited by Jeff Agustin

Transcribed Speech of Jorge N/A

B. Vargas
Filipino and English
Translation
Sticker paper mounted on
Sintra Board

Salonga, Cirilo Panel boards 1 and 2

Going to the Misa de Gallo (Two pieces of panel boards
1942 furnished together)
Oil on board

Santiago, Emilio Panel boards 1 and 2

Lights for Christmas (Two pieces of panel boards
1937 furnished together)
Oil on canvas board

Fulgencio, Braulio Panel boards 1 and 2

New Year/ Año Nuevo (Two pieces of panel boards
1948 furnished together)
Oil on Masonite

Faustino, Roman N/A

Chairman Vargas
1942
Oil on cardboard
Vargas Family Life Wooden Table 1
(Brown, no glass)
Scrapbook Vol. 9
Vargas Yulo Tribe
January 1942 to August 1943

Sticker mounted on foam

board

Christmas Cards Wooden table 2

(Beige, with glass)
Scrapbook
Office of the President
December 1940-1942

Realia and sticker mounted

on foam board

Enriquez, Ricardo B. N/A

Madonna with Child
1959
Pastel on plywood

Marina Yulo Vargas and son Vitrine

Eduardo Mariano after
childbirth

Scrapbook
Vargas Yulo Tribe
Vol. 5
Photographs

Sticker mounted on foam

board

Philippines Free Press N/A

Covers
Volumes 39 – 62
1948 – 1969

Philippine Magazine Covers

Volumes 33 – 38
1936 – 1941

Sticker mounted on foam

board
 Handkerchief of Marina Yulo Vitrine
Vargas

Using this abridged object list as reference, draw a concept map of the exhibition. Use the
questions below to guide you in this activity:
1. What are the themes in the painting? List these down. Do the objects correspond to
these themes? Can they be categorized?
2. Are there objects that may belong to two or more categories? If yes, what is it about
these objects that makes the overlap possible?
3. What information about Vargas’s career, preoccupations, and family life can be gleaned
from the objects?

Activating the archives

Vargas was an avid collector of art, books, photos, and many other materials. After working with
Quezon, who was strongly pro-Filipino, Vargas’ collecting philosophy shifted focus on the
Filipiniana; everything he collected was by Filipinos and about Filipinos, with the intent of
documenting Philippine culture and heritage for generations of Filipinos to come. He lived a
well-documented life; scrapbooks containing tickets to sports events, correspondences with
other government officials, family photos, newspaper clippings, among many others fill many
many shelves in the Vargas Library and Archives. Visit the website of the Vargas Library and
Archives to know more: [Link]

In the essay “An Archival Impulse,” which talks about art that use archives as materials, Hal
Foster writes:

archival art is as much preproduction as it is postproduction: concerned less with

absolute origins than with obscure traces… [archival] artists are often drawn to unfulfilled
beginnings or incomplete projects—in art and in history alike—that might offer points of
departure.

As the painting of Santiago displayed motifs, the Vargas archives were sought to provide
objects that supplement the idea of connection among objects.
ACTIVITY:
Consider your own archives: pick a specific object to which other objects may relate. You may
also look into your digital archives: files, photos, mp3’s, and so on. Then, curate a miniature
exhibition using these objects. Use the concept map from the previous map in designing your
exhibition.

Revisiting the Conservative

16 April - 15 June 2019
3F Galleries

Revisiting the Conservative​ is the 5​th​ iteration of

the Art History Series exhibition of the Vargas
Museum. Different from the previous iterations,
the exhibit marks a particular stylistic tendency in
Philippine art history. In terms of source, it can be
traced to the academic realism of the nineteenth
century that found its most prominent articulation
in the exalted work of Fernando Amorsolo,
marked as the binary opposite of modernism as
advocated by the practice of such artists as
Disodado Lorenzo and Victorio Edades. In the
possession of the collection of Jorge Vargas is a
trove of pieces that exemplifies the conservative
disposition, which would later be identified or
even conflated with commercial art sold on
Mabini Street, thus the term “Mabini Art”. The exhibition scans the shifts of realism in Philippine
art as well as expressions of the supposed antithesis of the privileged modern.
Installation shot of Revisiting the Conservative, portion of the 3/F South Wing

The artistic style of the conservative

The conservative style of painting is rooted from the influences of the academic Western style
taught by the Americans during the first half of the 20​th​ century. The American colonization has
also introduced more opportunities for Filipinos to learn academic realism by establishing
schools such as the one at the University of the Philippines. Under the university’s School of
Fine Arts, Filipino pioneer painters Fabian de la Rosa and Fernando Amorsolo led in teaching
aspiring artists of the time. Amorsolo would then mentor his students with his style of painting,
which is known in shorthand as the Amorsolo school. The style may be described as ​idyllic​,
illustrative​, and ​romantic​. That said, these attributes are only perhaps the most popular
aspects of Amorsolo’s total body of work. A closer reading of his oeuvre surely would reveal
much complexity.

Amorsolo’s conservative style of painting portrays the picturesque Philippine landscapes,

pastoral sceneries, and everyday rural life, which highlight a particular image of the young
Filipina maiden, or the​ dalagang​ Filipina. The works included in the ​Revisiting the Conservative
unfold the continuous tradition of the conserative style of painters creating works from the 1940s
up to the 70s. The exhibition reassesses the meaning of the category “conservative” in relation
to the “modern,” which is supposedly more self-conscious, sensitive to concept and theory, and
socially aware. Surely, this is a simplification, thus the need for a reassessment.

ACTIVITY: Romeo Enriquez is one of the painters who studied Fine Arts in the University of the
Philippines, who was greatly influenced by Amorsolo’s conservative style of painting. Observe
his 1967 oil painting titled “Seaside at Dawn”, included at the ​Revisiting the Conservative
exhibition (see image below). Write a short critical paper about the painting by comparing it with
Fernando Amorsolo’s “Fishing Scene” (see other image below), currently on view at the 2/F
Permanent Collection. Identify how both works exemplify the qualities of the conservative style
as being idyllic, illustrative, and romantic.

​Seaside at Dawn
Romeo Enriquez
Oil on canvas
1967
Vargas Museum Permanent Art Collection

Fishing Scene
Fernando Amorsolo
Oil on panel
1942
Vargas Museum Permanent Art
Collection

Shifts in stylistic tendencies

The tendencies of the conservative style can be observed through portraiture and landscape
works of the Mabini artists. It would shift from time to time based on the predilections of art
patrons of the time. The persistent attractiveness of the conservative tradition responds to the
growing market in the art scene.

ACTIVITY: Below are portraits created by Ben Alano, Crispin Lopez, and Romeo Enriquez.
Compare and contrast these portraits by answering the following questions:
 1. Who are the people in the portraits and what are their identities in terms of social class?
2. How are the people portrayed in each of the works? How do these portrayals of the
subjects reflect the works’ purpose?
3. What do you think was the purpose of creating each of these portraits?

Olympic Delegate, Jorge B. Vargas Waiting for the Waves A Study of an Aeta
Ben Alano Romeo Enriquez Crispin Lopez
1958 1944 1944
Oil on canvas Oil on canvas Oil on plywood

ACTIVITY: Painters were also commissioned, aside from doing portraits, to do particular works
to create specific publicity for people who can afford to do so. Below is a 1975 oil painting by
Romeo Enriquez. Titled “President Quezon Planting Rice”, the work evokes a particular image
of then President Quezon. Try to create an online discussion of the painting with your friends or
classmates. Discuss among yourselves how Enriquez merged the conservative style and the
desire to promote a persona by explaining its tendencies of portraying the idyllic, illustrative, and
romantic style.

​ P​ resident Quezon Planting Rice

Romeo Enriquez
Oil on canvas
1975
Vargas Museum Permanent Art Collection
The art at Mabini street

The “Mabini Art”, or “Mabini School”, is a movement in the history of Philippine art that
developed around the 1950s. This style of painting used by artists is greatly identified as a
continuity of the realist tradition of the conservative style, and the commercial fine art of the
time. The term emerged as a result of the controversy during the 1955 art competition by the Art
Association of the Philippines, where realist painters protested against the result of the contest,
which supposedly favored modernism, by walking out, and placing their works in the streets.
Eventually, the artists settled on Mabini Street in Malate, Manila, and opened their own art
shops that would cater to tourists, collectors, and art enthusiasts. Known as the so-called
“Mabini artists,” these artists created accessible souvenir artworks that vary from nude paintings
to Philippine rural landscapes, and even provide portrait services particularly for the American
tourists and rich families. The Mabini sector has over the years achieved a particular aesthetic
and taste.

Isidro Ancheta, Cesar Buenaventura, Elias Laxa, and Serafin Serna are among the painters
who are considered part of the Mabini art scene. Observe their works below which were part of
the ​Revisiting the Conservative​ exhibition. Write a short reflection paper about the style of
Mabini art based on these works, and by answering the following thoughts:

1. What qualities of the conservative style can be seen in the works of the Mabini artists?
2. How do they create their own artistic style from the realist tradition of the conservative?
3. How do the artists portray Philippine landscape and identity through their works?

Banaba Tree Kabulusan Beach, Laguna de Bay An Alley in Sampaloc

Isidro Ancheta Cesar Buenaventura Elias Laxa
Oil on canvasboard Oil on canvas Oil on canvasboard
1943 1947 1939
OUTPUT: Create an artwork of any medium that you think will contextualize and reflect the taste
of the art market today. Let each student present their works with the class and discuss how it
signifies the taste seen and observed in the contemporary art scene.

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