Germones, Lianne N.

BSA  To add to the artists’ dilemma, with Amorsolo

dominating the limelight, there were not
ART APPRECIATION (REVIEWER) enough art galleries yet except for the
Philippine Vistas, a small art gallery in
Intramuros; the National Museum, and the Art
Harana, 1957 Carlos “Botong Francisco Gallery in the UST Museum-the latter two of
 The awareness of showcasing art in a formal which did not exhibit works of unknown artists.
venue in the country, the purpose of art  Art activity was hence dictated by Amorsolo
exhibits, and the vision of giving art its proper and a few other established artists.
liberty of expression, only came into being in  For the unknown artists, the opportunity for
the 1900 s . exposure to the public then became an
essential factor for their quest to gain
Pre-Colonial Art is functional: popularity.
1. For practicing and evoking their religion or  That there were also other talents worthy of
method of worship; praise and patronage, was an existent fact.
2. For making known their designated or newly Art Association of the Philippines (AAP)
acquired social status;
3. For telling stories or legends;  It was instituted to promote the interests of
4. For showing off their recent achievements. artists, to exhibit their works, and to serve as an
education center.
Spanish proto art galleries - were the churches  This association even offered incentives that
erected during the spread of Catholicism in the challenged the upliftment of artistic standards.
country. Stone churches were built, and the  There were annual competitions, exhibitions,
education of engraving, painting, and sculpture scholarships, and even free art lessons for
from the friars followed suit. hobbyists and art enthusiasts.
 In 1995, AAP held an exhibit, which was marked
Centers for Art Patronage
by a walkout of the conservatives. This group
 Art could only exist through religious works, formed themselves into the Academy of Filipino
objects, or relics of worship due to the Real Artists (AFA), and eventually held sidewalk
Orden and the Comision de Permanente de exhibitions and annual outdoor shows at the
Censura, which required that all artistic Luneta Park. Many of these artists since then have
productions passed through put up galleries along Manila’s tourist belt.
 One of the prominent remembered venues for
A Changing City struggling Young Modern Artists was the
 In spite of the economic disruption between Philippine Art Gallery (PAG). It functioned not
the Spanish rule and the beginning of the only as an art gallery but also as a venue for
American regime, art activity soon became artists, leading literary men, and intellectuals who
active. frequented the place to exchange ideas about the
 National Museum, the Philippine Vistas Gallery, art scene, art-making, art trends, etc.
and the first university gallery in the Philippines
POST LIBERATION YEARS
(the Art Gallery in the UST Museum) were
established. Philippine art scene under the  The art scene improved during the post-liberation
American period was largely conservative. years. As the number of businesses increased, so
 The art patrons became the American officials, did the middle-class grow in number, in economic
teachers, merchants, and tourists who sought and intellectual status. In fact, high society was
paintings which depicted landscapes, genre, added to a list of traders, businessmen and
still-lifes, and portraiture. The production of industrialists. What followed from this was the
monuments were also encouraged. public’s rising awareness and consciousness of the
talent and proficiency of the Filipino artist. Thus,
Fernando Amorsolo was gaining ground and soon
Art patronage and its promotion increased
earned international and local fame, outshining all
altogether.
the other artists.
 Compared to the previous decades, the artworks as investments, and of course the
community during the 1960s have been very curious viewing public who did not want to be left
supportive of the arts. One example was the out of the developing art scene.
increase involvement of private firms like san  There were on record 34 art galleries and four art
miguel brewery, insular life, fgu, etc. Who museums inaugurated in the 1970s (1970-1979).
provided cash awards for art competitions. Among these were the Hidalgo Art Gallery, Red
Another was the creation of a commission on Gallery, Palette Gallery, Sining Kamalig, Galerie
culture, and the alay at pamana ceremony which Bleue, Diliman Gallery, Miladay Art Center, Village
formally launched the cultural project of then first Gallery, Impressions Gallery, Rear Room Gallery,
lady imelda marcos. Malacañang park itself Metro Gallery, Galleria Duemila 2000, Print
became a venue for one-man shows. Even the Collections Gallery, and the Kawilihan Art Gallery.
(AAP) also came up with new projects for art The museums were the Ayala Museum,
awareness and appreciation. Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Contemporary
 In the year 1960 alone, the Luz Gallery, the Ateneo Art Museum of the Philippines (CAMP), and the
Art Gallery, and the Lopez Museum were Museum of Philippine Art (MOPA).
inaugurated. About nine more galleries and one  the Museum of Philippine Art (MOPA) as
museum opened by the time the decade ended mentioned earlier, was one of the major
including: Lawrence D’ Art Gallery; Avans Art contributions of the Marcos government to the
Galler; Gallery 7; Gallery Indigo; Solidaridad cultural scene. Built around the donations of
Galleries; Print (also known as the Joy-Dayritt artists and collectors, chiefly by the Purita Kalaw
Gallery) and the galleries inside the Cultural Ledesma Art Foundation, the collection was
Center of the Philippines. housed in the former Elks Club building.
Inaugurated in 1977, the museum’s founding
Arturo Luz, owner of the Luz Gallery, had three
director was Arturo Luz and its function was to act
objectives when he opened his gallery:
as the national venue for Philippine Modern Art.
1. To properly show paintings that deserved to 1980 saw an economic recession, and in the
be shown; immediate years (1980-1983) that followed, there
2. To seek genuine talent and give it the needed were only seven galleries that opened. Familiar
approval and recognition that it needs; and names were Hiraya Gallery, Greenhills Art Center,
3. To mold taste and exercise a certain degree of Lliongoren Gallery, Gallery Genesis, and the Artists
critical judgment Gallery.
 When Mrs. Marcos stepped into the Malacañang
SOCIO-POLITICAL THEME
Palace in 1966, she launched her own program
that was focused on the wider acceptance of the  By the time the mid-80s came, the Philippine
artist and his role in the nation’s cultural and economy posted a negative GNP growth
social development. She sponsored art shows in resulting to a significantly reduced art market.
the palace, graced art openings, bought artworks,  But in spite of the plunging economy, there were
and in turn influenced many of her friends to do still worthy shows as recounted by art writers, in
the same. Art acquisition through her example which art became increasingly political in
drove the social elite to ardent, frenzied-buying in character. It was in 1983 that a massive, open,
the 1970s. Hence, the patronage of art was in no and protest movement would ensue due to the
time associated with prestige, status symbols, and Ninoy Aquino assassination. From this time on,
making a suitable investment. the decade would be filled with a series of
 Art awareness among the public was intensified demonstrations and indignation rallies.
with the government’s issuance of Proclamation  But in terms of activity for the artists
No. 1001 (pertaining to the National Artist themselves, there was a great number of them
Award). Amid the declaration of Martial Law in who engaged in socio-political themes. Many
1972, the art scene managed to flourish and was forms of art spilled out of the galleries and into
even helped by certain events that grew out from the confetti-showered streets as large portable
this environment. With the big number of artists murals or symbolic paper mache effigies. As for
already professionally honing their art full time, art galleries and their exhibits, much
the numerous artist-groups vying for recognition performance art expressed a political content.
and patronage, the large audience clamoring for
 Accompanying the exhibits were film showings,
lectures, and art symposia.

In the early 1990s and under the Ramos

administration (1992), when the turtle-paced
economy had improved and many economic reforms
were seen to be taken seriously, many art galleries
opened. The Ramos government had also showed
early efforts to help the art scene.

 First, there was the Republic Act No. 7356

that was signed into law in 1992 to create
the National Commission for Culture and the
Arts (NCCA), particularly the National
Committee on Independent Commercial
Galleries.
 Other continuous forms of support came in
the form of Presidential Proclamation No.
798 that declared October as the Museums
and Galleries Month, and the creation of the
Committee of Art Galleries (CAG) during the
mid-90s, specified under the sub-
commission on Cultural Heritage. Through
this, a number of member galleries met
monthly and discussed special projects for
the promotion of art.

THE MALL CULTURE

 Today, more major city shopping malls have
given the initiative to invite art galleries to
open within their infrastructure. It started in
early 1992 that the idea and opening of an Art
Walk, a lane of art galleries clustered in a
shopping mall, first germinated from the
successful exhibit of Juvenal Sanso in the SM
Megamall. With many paintings sold mostly to
art collectors, as well as to “chance-passerby
customers,” SM’s vice-president for
engineering and development Mr. Sy-who
himself was an avid art collector, decided that
it was possible for art to be brought closer to
the people. And with a successive show by
another artist that attracted a receptive
audience, the establishment of a gallery row
was put into action. New museums that also
entered into the art scene and continues to
flourish are the GSIS Museum and the Museo
ng Maynila.