Birth Anniversary of National Artist Vicente Manansala
The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the 112th birth anniversary of National Artist Vicente Silva Manansala, born #OnThisDay in 1910.
Macabebe, Pampanga-born and 1981 National Artist for Painting, Vicente Silva Manansala was the son of Perfecto Manansala and Engracia Silva. He spent his childhood in Intramuros, Manila and grew up with fellow artists Antonio Dumlao and Jose Alcantara. He worked as a newsboy, a distributor of programs in movie houses, and a billboard painter. He also took drawing lessons under Ramon Peralta (1877-1940), a renowned scenographer.
In 1930, he earned his fine arts degree at the University of the Philippines. After college, he worked as an illustrator for the Philippines Herald. He formed associations with Carlos ‘Botong’ Francisco, Cesar Legaspi, and Hernando Ocampo, who would eventually become National Artists. After almost two decades, Manansala received a UNESCO scholarship grant to study at Ecole de Beaux Arts in Montreal, Canada for six months. In 1950, he went to France and studied at the University of Paris under a French government scholarship. He was mentored by French artist Fernand Léger who advised him to simplify the shapes and colors in his works. He eventually rendered figures and objects and simplified them into basic geometric shapes while applying layers of colors. This style, which he pioneered and developed, is called transparent cubism.
His renowned subjects include Philippine urban and rural themes, the Filipino family, mother and child, woman, chickens, and carabao (water buffalo). Exhibited at The Philippine Center New York (PCNY) Core Collection of 1974: A Homecoming Exhibition located in Galleries XXVII to XXVIII of the National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA) is his 1965 watercolor entitled “Kalabaw.” This is the only work of Manansala on display in this exhibition gallery.
Manansala died on August 22, 1981, in Makati City.
You may view other works of National Artist Vicente Manansala at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Hall, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Northwest Hall, and the PHILAM Life Hall. These are all found on the Third Floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts. Check the 360 Tour of the PCNY Homecoming Exhibition on this website, or reserve a slot for your visit.
Text and photo by NMP-FAD
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©National Museum of the Philippines (2022)
