As we continue with our celebration of the #NationalArtsMonth2022, the #NationalMuseumPH in partnership with The Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS) on the occasion of the Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines proudly displays to the public “The Battle of Mactan,” a large-scale painting of Elmer Borlongan at The Spoliarium Hall. 

2021 marked the 500th Anniversary of Ferdinand Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world and arrival in the Philippines. It was an event that altered the course of Philippine history and the country’s place in the world. 

With this in mind, Elmer Borlongan’s decision to paint “The Battle of Mactan” to commemorate the Quincentennial came after a surprising realization that while the battle has been the subject of important artworks in the past, there had not yet been any major work created about it of this size or scale. Borlongan spent months of research, interviews, and studies to present an accurate picture of this historic day. 

Elmer Borlongan, born in 1967 in Manila, is a contemporary Filipino painter. He started taking painting lessons at the age of 11 under Fernando Sena. He took up Fine Arts Major in Painting at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He received the prestigious CCP Thirteen Artists Award in 1994. In 2007, Borlongan’s book, “The Rocking Horse,” was published by CANVAS and won the Gintong Aklat Award for Best Illustrated Children’s Book. In 2004, he won the Metrobank Foundation Award for Continuing Excellence and Service (ACES). 

Borlongan has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in the Philippines and abroad.  His latest solo exhibitions include: An Extraordinary Eye for the Ordinary, a survey show at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (2018); Elmer Borlongan Draws the Line at the Ateneo Art Gallery (2018); Pinoy Odyssey at CANVAS Gallery in Quezon City (2015); Labyrinth of Kinship at Pinto Art Gallery in Antipolo City (2015); and In City and Country: 1992-2012, A Retrospective at the Ayala Museum in Makati City. In 2012, he collaborated with writer Vim Nadera to produce his first iPad digital illustration project, “Rizalpabeto,” also published by CANVAS. 

His works are part of the public collections of Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, the Singapore Art Museum, Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo City, and BenCab Museum in Benguet. 

He currently lives with his artist-wife Plet C. Bolipata in San Antonio, Zambales.

The Battle of Mactan is now on exhibition at the Spoliarium Hall. The process of creating this large-scale painting was documented and made on film, “The Battle Stars” by Plet Bolipata. It may be viewed at the President Sergio Osmeña Hall, adjacent to the Spoliarium Hall.  View the painting and film by booking online through this website.

#NAM2022
#ElmerBorlongan
#MuseumFromHome
#BeatCOVID19

Text by NMP FAD and CANVAS

Photo by CANVAS

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

As we celebrate the #NationalArtsMonth2022, it is very timely that we learn about the oldest known rock art in the Philippines – the rocks of the Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs. 

The Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs is composed of zoomorphic and geometric figures engraved on a rock shelter found at the border of the municipalities of Angono and Binangonan, province of Rizal, hence its name. A total of 179 distinct figures have been discovered as of this writing. 

The petroglyphs are carved on a volcanic ash deposit known as tuff which belongs to the Diliman Tuff of the Guadalupe Formation. Tuff is a relatively soft, poorly consolidated porous rock that is usually formed by the compaction and cementation of volcanic ash ejected during a volcanic eruption. Its color varies from light grayish to buff. 

Since tuff is a relatively soft rock, markings can easily be made on its surface. However, it is not known whether the rock arts were etched using stone tools or metal tools.

Although fossilized leaves of Euphorbia family, bits of wood and teeth fossils of deer and elephants were recovered which gives the formation a Pleistocene age (an age that began about 2.6 million years ago and lasted until about 11, 700 years ago), the age of the petroglyphs itself cannot be established. 

Until today, we cannot say for sure who made the carvings, what tools were used to engrave them, when they were made and what they symbolize for the group or culture that made them. And just like any other rock art in the world, these questions still remain a mystery. 

Stay tuned for more of our #MuseumFromHomeSeries.

#SiningNgPagAsa
#NAM2022
#PhilippineArt

Text and image by the NMP Geology and Paleontology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

Halina’t maki-Sining!

The #NationalMuseumPh joins the nation in celebrating National Arts Month this February. This year’s theme, “Sining ng Pag-asa,” aims to recognize the arts “as a source and expression of hope as shown in the creative ways we respond to the effects of the pandemic, natural calamities, and other social realities, as well as the arts’ role in improving our community life as Filipinos”. 

The #NationalMuseumPH, a trust of the Government, is an educational, scientific, and cultural institution that acquires, documents, preserves, and exhibits.  It fosters the scholarly study, and public appreciation of works of art, specimens, and cultural and historical artifacts representative of the unique cultural heritage of the Filipino people and the natural history of the Philippines.

One of the latest fine arts exhibitions that we upgraded and improved at the National Museum of Fine Arts is the “Lilok, Hulma, at Tipon: Modern Sculptures in the Philippines.” This exhibition located in Gallery XXIX, highlights the sculptures ranging from carvings (lilok) to assemblages (tipon) from the National Fine Arts Collection, and those of other partner government institutions. The gallery features works in various media by notable Filipino sculptors who have had significant contributions and influences in the development of modern arts in the Philippines. These include works by National Artists Arturo Luz, Abdulmari Asia Imao, and Jerry Elizalde Navarro, and works by modern masters including Eduardo Castrillo, Solomon Saprid, Renato Rocha, Lamberto Hechanova, and Ramon Orlina. Also featured are the works by female artists, namely Julie Lluch, Agnes Arellano, Rosario Bitanga-Peralta, and Virginia Ty-Navarro, who showcase their mastery and expertise in their chosen medium. 

This exhibition is a testimony to the ingenuity and excellence of Filipino sculptors who chose to break free from the confines of the artistic tradition of sculpture and made innovations in media, form, and subject.

The National Museum of the Philippines commits to continually create exhibitions and corollary activities amid the pandemic. This is our way of fulfilling our mandate and honoring our Filipino artists and the masterpieces they created which inspires and is a “source and expression and hope” in these difficult times.

We invite you to this exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts! Book a slot through this website.

Happy National Arts Month!

#NAM2022
#SiningNgPagAsa
#ArtsMonth

Text and poster by NMP-FAD

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

The #NationalMuseumPH continues to celebrate and join the communities around the world in welcoming the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, known as a day of reunions, gift-giving, and feastings important to the East and Southeast Asians. For this week’s #MuseumfromHome feature, we are highlighting some of our ethnographic stoneware jars as evidence of the vibrant trade relations between the Filipinos and Chinese communities. 

Before the Spanish colonizers arrived in the Philippines in 1521, the Chinese were already actively engaged in trading with early Filipinos especially those who lived near waterways. This is evidenced by a number of artifacts, such as the earliest Chinese ceramic wares dating from around the 9th century, which early Filipinos exchanged for forest and sea products, for aromatics, and traditional medicine. 

Around 70% of ceramic finds in the country are of Chinese origins—mostly from south China kilns believed to produce items for the international market. The quantity of these wares that are widely dispersed in the different provinces, including glazed stoneware jars which have been either retrieved from shipwrecks and archaeological sites or kept as heirlooms, indicate extensive trade and cultural contacts between China and the Philippines possibly from the 10th to 14th century. These were commonly used as storage for both food and liquids, for cooking, as vessels for important ceremonial rituals, and as indicators of wealth. In particular, Chinese jars are considered as among the most valuable properties of the Ifugao, Tagbanua, and Pala’wan, among others.  The knowledge and technology of stoneware production were also transferred by Chinese migrants to local artisans, particularly in the production of burnay in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.

The National Museum of the Philippines is one of the institutions with the largest stoneware collection from different ethnolinguistic groups throughout the country. Through the support of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, Inc., the Elizabeth Y. Gokongwei Ethnographic Resource Center and Visible Storage at the 5F of the National Museum of Anthropology will soon be open to the public. This additional facility aims to provide an accessible research venue in order to encourage more students, educators and researchers to engage in documenting our ceramic traditions and gain a better understanding of both our unique and shared cultures with our neighboring countries.  

We wish everyone peace, prosperity, and good health throughout this auspicious year! Stay safe and Happy Year of the Water Tiger!

#LunarNewYear2022
#SpringFestival2022
#MuseumFromHome

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines