ANTONIO SANTOS VELASQUEZ

                                         ANTONIO SANTOS VELASQUEZ

            He was born in Paco, Manila on October 29, 1910. While a boy of 16 in high school, he worked as photo-engraver at the Banaag Press in Sta. Cruz, Manila, w/c was later bought by Ramon Roces of Liwayway. Velasquez took courses in cartooning and advertising at the Federal School of Arts of America. In 1935, Velasquez was promoted to chief Advertising Artist for six sister magazines : Liwayway, Graphic, Bannawag, Bisaya, Hiligaynon, and Bikolnon. In 1962, he also took up modern management at the Management Development Center in Manila.
            Velasquez received the Gawad CCP para sa Sining from the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1993. His earlier awards are Best Komiks of the Year from Graphic Arts Services, Inc, 1963.

JUAN NOCIO LUNA

                                                        JUAN NOCIO LUNA

 - from Badoc, Ilocos Norte and was born on October 24, 1857 and died in Hongkong, December 7,1899.
 - transfered to Manila (1861)
 - he finished highschool at Ateneo de Manila.
 - 1869 - enrolled in the Escuela Nautria
 - after 5 years of theoretical courses and practical sailing to Asian ports like Hongkong, Singapore, Colombo, and Batavia.
 - he obtained the certificate of piloto de altos mares terces clase(pilot of the high seas third class)
 - Port for 6 months, he took up lanscape painting Academia de Dibujo y Pintura.
 - he had private lessons from Lorenzo Guerrero, who perceiving his potentials urged his parents to send him to Spain for further studies.
  - enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Mandrid.
  he obtained color composition and antique studies but did not stay long.
 - went to Italy (1879)
 * he stayed in Rome until spring (1884)
              ~ pieces
            > La Bella Feliz y La Esclava Ciega (The Happy Beauty and the Blind Slave)
            > La Muerte de Cleopatra (The Death of Cleopatra)
            > The portrait of Pedro Paterno
 * Cleopatra - silver medal at Madrid Art Exposition - 1881
 * painting of Spolarium - gold medal at Madrid Art Exposition - 1883

VICENTE SILVA MANANSALA

                                             VICENTE SILVA MANANSALA
        Vicente S. Manansala 
               - from Macabebe, Pampanga
               - born on January 22,1910 and died in August 1981
               - proclaimed National Artist in Painting (1982)
               - was a newsboy and bootblack in Intramuros
               - Earle creativity : designing kites and making charcoal sketches
               - (15 y/o) studied under the turn-of-the-century painter Ramos Peralta while doing signboards for painting shop.
               - entered  the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts (1926) 
               - graduated (1930)
               - member of the Thirteen Moderns and the neorealists, and also at the forefront of the modernist movement in the country.
* WORKS              
-  consistently worked in the figurative mode (w/ exception of a few abstract works)
- painted an innovative mother and child 
        * subjects : jeepneys, barong-barong, cockfighters, families gathering for a modest meal and Quiapo women vendors  of various goods
- Madonna of the Slums
- 1950
         * reflected poverty in postwar Manila
*ASPECT
      > Cubist aspect - Manansala's work rests largely on the geometric faceting of forms and in the shifting and overlapping of planes. His facets and planes are broader than the original cubism as they bring out larger rhythms. 
       * He work and developed the style of transparent cubism which was generally shared by his fellow neorialists Cesar Legaspi and Romeo Tabuena.                      

CARLOS VILLALUZ FRANCISCO

                        CARLOS VILLALUZ FRANCISCO

                      Carlos V. Francisco, aka Botong was born in Angono, Rizal, November 4, 1914 and died March 31, 1969. He is also included in the roster of Filipino artists who received the National Artist award in Painting. He studied at the University of the Philippines(UP) School Fine Arts. Before the war, he did illustrations for the Tribune and La Vanguardia, and later, with Victorio Edades and Fermin Sanchez painted sets for Manila Grand Opera House and the Clover Theater. He also formed a group of modern artists called the "Thirteen Moderns" in 1938.
                       Francisco, Edades and Ocampo, were commisioned to do the number of murals for theater lobbies and for private residences such as that of the architect Juan Napkil. His first important murals was done for the 1953 International Fair held in Manila. On the theme of FiveHundred Years Philippine History, its scope covered the legendary origin of the Filipino with the first man and woman Malakas at Maganda springing from the primal bamboo, up to the administration of then incumbent president Elpidio Quirino.
                       Francisco's major masterpiece is the mural for the Bulwagang Katipunan of the Manila City Hall, commissioned by Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas during his administration.
                      Francisco's Kaingin
                         - won first prize (1948) painting competition of the Art Association of the Philippines.
                         - received Patnubay ng Sining at Kalingaan Award (1964) from City of Manila
                         - proclaimed National Artist in painting (1973)

FERNANDO CUETO AMORSOLO

FERNANDO CUETO AMORSOLO

Countryside scene in Oil by Fernando Amorsolo
         
            Fernando Cuento Amorsolo was born in Paco, Manila, of May 30,1892 and passed away on February 26, 1972. He is one of the National Artists in Painting. He spent his youthful days in Daet, Camarines Norte. When his father died, his mother Bonifacia moved the entire family to Manila to live with a first cousin, painter Fabian dela Rosa. To raise money, Amorsolo sold water color postcards to a bookstore which paid him 10 centavos per piece, while his mother took embroidery. somehow, he managed to complete his schooling at the Liceo de Manila, where he gained honors especially in drawing and painting. At 17, he enrolled at the University of the Philippines(UP) School of Fine Arts, where his uncle taught. He was one of its first graduates in 1919, receiving several medals of excellence. During his college days. he was influenced by the works of the Spanish painter Diego de Velasquez and other European painters, such as Sargent, Zorn, Sorolla, and Zuloaga.
           In 1922, Amorsolo made his first important painting,"Rice Planting," which became one of the most popular images of the Commonwealth period, appearing in several versions in calendars, posters and tourist brochures. He was the first to extensively portray, traditional Filipino customs and manners, fiestas, and occupations like fishing, planting, going to market, washing laundry, cooking, and reading.
             Amorsolo is credited with having captured the elusive quality of Philippine light. In his landscapes the genre paintings, he used the technique of back lighting in which the figures are situated against the light, thus outlining them with a golden glow. He preferred to paint in a natural light, learning to be quick and decisive in his work since "ligjt changes rapidly and you have to be fast in order to catch the mood with you started out."