Contemporary Arts in

the Philippines
 National Artist Award

The National Artist Award is the highest

distinction bestowed upon Filipino Artists
whose body of work is recognized by their
peers and more importantly by their
countrymen as sublime expression of
Philippine music, dance, theatre, visual
arts, literature, film and media, arts,
architecture and design.
These are artists who have promoted
Filipino cultural identity and dignity through
their art. 
President Ferdinand E. Marcos through
proclamation no.1001 dated April 2 1972,
confers the award to deserving individuals
as recommended by the Cultural Center of
the Philippines (CCP) and the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts
(NCCA).
 List of National Artists in the Philippines
Legend: (+) deceased; (++) posthumous conferment.

Painting
Fernando Amorsolo Paco, Manila 1972 (++)
Carlos V. Francisco Angono, Rizal 1973 (++)
Victorio C. Edades Dagupan, Pangasinan 1976 (+)
Vicente S. Manansala Macabebe, Pampanga 1981 (++)
Jeremias Elizalde Antique 1999 (++)
Navarro
Jose T. Joya Manila 2003 (++)
Fernando
Amorsolo
Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (May 30,
1892 – April 24, 1972) was one of the
most important artists in the history of
painting in the Philippines.

Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter

of rural Philippine landscapes. He is
popularly known for his craftsmanship
and mastery in the use of light.
Rice Planting
Carlos V.
Francisco
Carlos V. Francisco (November 4, 1912 – March 31,
1969), popularly known as Botong, was amuralist
from Angono, Rizal.

Francisco was a most distinguished practitioner of

mural painting for many decades and best knownfor
his historical pieces.

He was one of the first Filipino modernists along with

Galo Ocampo andVictorio C. Edades who broke away
from Fernando Amorsolo's romanticism of Philippine
scenes.
Harana, 1957 (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Collection)
PORTRAIT
OF PURITA
The Invasion of Limahong
Muslim Betrothal
Blood Compact
First Mass at Limasawa
The Martyrdom of Rizal
Bayanihan
Magpupukot
Sandugo
Victorio C.
Edades
 Victorio
C. Edades (December 23, 1895 –
March 7, 1985) was a Filipino painter.
 Heled the revolutionary Thirteen Moderns,
who engaged their classical compatriots in
heated debate over the nature and
function of art.
 He was named a National Artist in 1976.
 Heemerged as the “Father of Modern
Philippine Painting”. 
The Sketch
Portrait of the Professor
Japanese Girl
Mother and Daughter
The Wrestler
Vicente Silva Manansala (January 22,
1910 – August 22, 1981) was a Philippine
cubist painter and illustrator.

Manansala believes that the beauty of

art is in the process, in the moment of
doing a particular painting, closely
associating it with the act of making
love. 
A Cluster of Nipa Hut
Banaklaot
I Believe in God
Market Venders
Madonna of the Slums
Still Life with Green Guitar
Jeremias
Elizalde
Navarro
 J. (Jeremias) Elizalde Navarro, was born on May
22, 1924 in Antique.
 He is a versatile artist, being both a proficient
painter and sculptor.
 His devotion to the visual arts spans 40 years of
drawing, printmaking, graphic designing, painting
and sculpting.
 His masks carved in hardwood merge the human
and the animal; his paintings consists of abstracts
and figures in oil and watercolor; and his
assemblages fuse found objects and metal parts. 
Morning Mist Over Ubud, Bali (1992)
A Maguindanao Folk
Dance
Islands of the Gods,
1994
Jose T.
Joya
JOSE TANIG JOYA (b. Manila, June 3, 1931 d. 1996)
 National artist Jose Joya was a pioneer modern and
abstract artist who was active as a painter, printmaker,
mixed-media artist and ceramicist.
 Ithas been said that it was Joya who “spearheaded the
birth, growth and flowering of abstract expressionism” in
the Philippines.
 Hismature abstract works have been said to be
“characterized by calligraphic gestures and linear forces,
and a sense of color vibrancy emanating from an Oriental
sensibility.”
 Joya’s sense of color has been said to have come from the
hues of the Philippine landscape, and his use of rice paper
in collages demonstrated an interest in transparency.
“Makiling
 Granadean Arabesque,
1958 (Ateneo Art Gallery
Collection)
Woman's Head
 Visual
Art F. Legazpi
Cesar Tondo, Manila 1990 (+)
Hernando R. Ocampo Sta. Cruz, Manila 1991 (++)
Arturo R. Luz Manila 1997
Ang Kiukok (Ang Hwa Shing) Davao City 2001 (+)
Benedicto R. Cabrera Malabon 2006
(BenCab)
Abdulmari Asia Imao Siasi, Sulu 2006
(painting/sculptor)
Federico Aguilar Alcuaz Sta. Cruz, Manila 2009 (+)
Francisco V. Coching Buting, Pasig 2014 (++)
Cesar F. Legazpi
 A pioneer “Neo-Realist” of the country, Cesar
Legaspi is remembered for his singular
achievement of refining cubism in the Philippine
context.
 Legaspi belonged to the so-called “Thirteen
Moderns” and later, the “Neo-realists”.
 Legaspi made use of the geometric fragmentation
technique, weaving social comment and
juxtaposing the mythical and modern into his
overlapping, interacting forms with disturbing
power and intensity.
Hernando R. Ocampo
Hernando R. Ocampo, a self-taught painter, was a
leading member of the pre-war Thirteen Moderns, the
group that charted the course of modern art in the
Philippines.
His works provided an understanding and awareness of
the harsh social realities in the country immediately
after the Second World War and contributed
significantly to the rise of the nationalist spirit in the
post-war era.
He also played a pivotal role in sustaining the
Philippine Art Gallery, the country’s first.
 ArturoLuz, painter, sculptor, and designer for
more than 40 years, created masterpieces that
exemplify an ideal of sublime austerity in
expression and form.
 From the Carnival series of the late 1950s to the
recent Cyclist paintings, Luz produced works that
elevated Filipino aesthetic vision to new heights of
sophisticated simplicity.
 By establishing the Luz Gallery that
professionalized the art gallery as an institution
and set a prestigious influence over generations of
Filipino artists, Luz inspired and developed a
Filipino artistic community that nurtures
impeccable designs.
 Arturo Luz
Cycling Trio, 2011
 Arturo Luz
Performers, 1990
 Arturo Luz
Homage to Isamu Noguchi
Ang Kiukok (1931-2005)
 He was a Filipino painter who attained
prominence for his distinct portrayal of
cubist, surrealist and expressionist concepts. 
 He was named a National Artist for Visual
Arts in 2001 for his figurative expressionist
style. 
 Ang Kiukok was known for his non-mainstream
portrayals of the mother and child and the
crucifixion of Christ.
 AngKiukok was born in Davao City on 1 March
1931 to Chinese parents, Vicente Ang and Chin
Lim.  He had four children with his wife, Mary
de Jesus.
 AngKiukok, an ethnic Chinese painter who
studied under Vincente Manansala, attained
prominence for an Expressionist style that
fused Cubist, Surrealist and Expressionist
aspects into a unique personal aesthetic.
 Kiukok hasbeen called “one of the most
dynamic figures in contemporary Philippine
arts.”
Ang Kiukok (Ang Hwa Shing)

Ang Kiukok,
"Thinking Man,"
1979, Watercolor
on Paper
Ang Kiukok,
“Cockerel,”
1976,
Watercolor on
Paper
Benedicto
R. Cabrera
(BenCab)
 Benedicto R. Cabrera, who signs his paintings “Bencab,”
upheld the primacy of drawing over the decorative color.
 Bencab started his career in the mid-sixties as a lyrical
expressionist.
 His solitary figures of scavengers emerging from a dark
landscape were piercing stabs at the social conscience of a
people long inured to poverty and dereliction.
 Bencab, who was born in Malabon, has christened the
emblematic scavenger figure “Sabel.”
 For Bencab, Sabel is a melancholic symbol of dislocation,
despair and isolation–the personification of human dignity
threatened by life’s vicissitudes, and the vast inequities of
Philippine society.
Dancer, 2006
 Benedicto Cabrera
Mi Ultimo Adios, 1996
 Abdulmari Asia Imao, a native of Sulu, is a sculptor,
painter, photographer, ceramist, documentary film maker,
cultural researcher, writer, and articulator of Philippine
Muslim art and culture.
 Through his works, the indigenous ukkil, sarimanok and
naga motifs have been popularized and instilled in the
consciousness of the Filipino nation and other peoples as
original Filipino creations.
 His U.P. art education introduced him to Filipino masters
like Guillermo Tolentino and Napoleon Abueva, who were
among his mentors.
 With his large-scale sculptures and monuments of Muslim
and regional heroes and leaders gracing selected sites
from Batanes to Tawi-tawi, Imao has helped develop
among cultural groups trust and confidence necessary for
the building of a more just and humane society.
"Sarimanok ng Bayan na Mapayapa" 36" x 48" Oil
on Canvas 2006
 Federico Aguilar Alcuaz was a 20th-century
Filipino painter known for his Cubist-inspired
paintings.
 Most often depicting nude women,
interiors, still lifes, and landscapes, Alcuaz’s
work is characterized by its soft blurred
edges coupled with bold lines and shapes.
 This contact between forms creates
distinctively dynamic spatial overlaps
throughout his compositions, resulting in
lively and memorable images.
Federico Aguilar Alcuaz
Seascape, 1977
 Federico Aguilar Alcuaz
Cinco Marias (Tres Marias Series),
 FranciscoCoching, acknowledged as the
“Dean of Filipino Illustrators” and son of
noted Tagalog novelist and comics illustrator
Gregorio Coching, was a master storyteller –
in images and in print.
 His
illustrations and novels were products of
that happy combination of fertile
imagination, a love of storytelling, and fine
draftsmanship.
 Hesynthesized images and stories informing
Philippine folk and popular imagination of
culture.  His career spanned four decades.