Author: National Museum of the Philippines

In celebration of the Christmas season, this week’s #ArtStrollSunday series focusing on the 17th to early 20th-century art from the National Fine Arts Collection features Federico Estrada’s sculpture entitled “Holy Family” (1953).

The “Holy Family,” created in 1953 by Federico Estrada (1915-1999), won the second prize in the 1953 Art Association of the Philippines Art Competition. Engraved in this block of narra wood are the faces of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, and Jesus Christ.  The image of the Holy Family is a central theme in Christian art which symbolizes the Nativity or the birth of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the Nativity is the beginning of the Christmas season which celebrates the coming of Jesus Christ and the gift of salvation. 

This sculpture is featured in the recently launched exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Gallery XXIX, entitled “Lilok, Hulma, at Tipon.”

Federico D. Estrada was born on July 17, 1915, in Tondo, Manila. Estrada earned praises from his teachers at a young age because of his talent in drawing and mud sculpture. His talent also earned him a scholarship at the North American School of Drawing and a membership in its Art Club No. 95 as an award for winning in pencil sketching contest in 1928. He later studied at the UP School of Fine Arts but could only enroll from 1931-1932 because of a lack of funds. He then worked at the Manila Artistical Decoration Company as a sculptor designer from 1932-1938. There he met the Italian sculptor Pietro Amberti (died 1970). He learned the techniques of synthetic marble, floating strips, spray dotting, and general sculpting while working at Amberti’s atelier from 1932-1940. After the war in 1945, he worked as a senior artist at the U.S. Air Force. He participated in his first group exhibition in 1946 sponsored by the N.T.C. Art Club in Tanduay, Manila. From 1948-1950, he worked as an art director at the Movie Newsreel Magazine, as a chief artist at Bireley’s California Orange in Pasay, as a poster artist at Sampaguita Pictures, and as an art director at the Institute of Commercial Art. Some of his works won top prizes at the Art Association of the Philippines Art Competition from 1951-1953. One of these was the “Holy Family,” which won an award in 1953. 

In 1985, Estrada, who was a resident of Pasig, became the president of the Sining Kulturang Pasig. The following year, he founded the Portraitist Association of the Philippines, which mounted their first group exhibition entitled “Artist and Artist” at the National Museum. Some of his important works include the column statues in the San Agustin Church in Iloilo, the eagle casting and fountain project at the Manila Hotel, and the mural at the Municipal Building of Pasig. 

Estrada passed away on December 12, 1999, after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest in his house in Pasig. 

We are now open! To visit the National Museum of Fine Arts, you may book a tour through this website. Please note the guidelines for visiting. You may also view the 360 degrees virtual tour of select NMFA galleries on the link https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nmfa360/HTML5/NMFA360.html. See you at the National Museum!

#ArtStrollSunday

#FedericoEstrada

#BeatCOVID19

Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

The #NationalMuseumPH honors Manlilikha ng Bayan Federico Caballero as he celebrates his 83rd birth anniversary today, 25 December. Federico Caballero was conferred the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan award in 2000 for his expertise in the Sugidanon, the epics of Central Panay. 

He learned to value the epics at an early age, as he and his siblings would listen to their great-great grandmother as she chants while lulling them to sleep in a hammock. He was then taught to chant the epics in exchange for his help in the fields and in household chores. 

As a culture bearer, he painstakingly persevered in the documentation of the 10 Panay Bukidnon epics which were rendered in a language that, though no longer spoken, is related to Kinaray-a. He worked with researchers to piece together the epics of Humadapnon and Labaw Donggon. He also encouraged the elders in the community to learn how to read and write so that they can document and preserve their indigenous traditions and beliefs. He sought help from the Bureau of Non-formal Education as he traveled to different barangays in this endeavor. 

Manlilikha ng Bayan Caballero is also a manughusay, or an arbiter of conflicts, who helps in resolving disputes at the local level. He believes that this practice prevents people from being alienated from each other and preserves the social fabric of their community. 

His upper male jacket bearing the panubok, the traditional embroidery of the Panay Bukidnon which uses designs derived from the environment, is displayed at the Manlilikha ng Bayan Hall at the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila. In order to physically visit the gallery, reserve your slot through this website and learn more about the life and works of the 16 Manlilikha ng Bayan.

#GAMABA
#ManlilikhaNgBayan
#FedericoCaballero
#PanayBukidnon

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division and NCCA GAMABA Executive Council

© The National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

It’s Friday again! In today’s #DignayanBiyernes, let us talk about another renewable energy source we use – wind power.

Do you know that wind power has already been utilized by early civilizations thousands of years ago? At that time, windmills were used to crush grains or pump water. Today, modern turbines use the power of the wind to generate electricity.

To harness wind energy, wind turbines are installed in areas with intense wind speed. The wind then turns the blades of a turbine around a rotor, which then spins a generator that creates electricity. If wind speed is faster, more electricity will be generated. That is why wind turbines are getting taller to reach higher heights where the wind is stronger. 

With the increasing demand for a cleaner energy resource, wind power has become an attractive option worldwide.  And as our country’s demand for renewable energy is continuously rising, wind turbines are helping us diversify our energy resource aside from using fossil fuels in generating power.

Wind farms in the Philippines that are operating commercially include the Bangui Wind Farm, Caparispisan Wind Farm, and the biggest wind farm in our country, the Burgos Wind Farm located in Ilocos Norte; the Wind Energy Power System in Oriental Mindoro; the San Lorenzo Wind Farm in Guimaras, the Nabas Wind Farmin Aklan and Pililla Wind Farm in Rizal. 

For more information about the Philippines’ renewable energy resources, visit us at the National Museum of Natural History by booking through this website.

#NationalMuseumPh

#MuseumFromHome 

#StaySafe

Text and image by the NMP Geology and Paleontology Division

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

The #NationalMuseumPh celebrates the 126^th birth anniversary of National Artist for Painting Victorio Edades, born #OnThisDay in 1895 by featuring his portrait, “Modern Maria Clara” from the National Museum of Fine Arts collection.  

This oil on canvas painting, completed in 1958, is a portrait of a Filipina depicted as the modern version of Maria Clara.  Maria Clara is a prominent character from Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere.  She was portrayed as the traditional, feminine, conservative, and charming lady described by Rizal as the ideal Filipina. In the portrait, the lady is wearing a Filipino fashion ensemble of multi-clothing known as the Maria Clara gown.  Edades have portrayed this lady as the modern Maria Clara in his time.

Victorio Edades was born to Hilario Edades and Cecilia Edades on December 23, 1895 in Dagupan Pangasinan.  He studied his early education in his hometown. In 1893, he left for the US to study architecture and fine arts at the University of Washington in Seattle.  Edades had been exposed to the Western artistic styles that led him to deviate from his academic style.  He returned to the Philippines in 1928 with new influences, met and worked with Carlos V. Francisco and Galo Ocampo. They formed the first triumvirate in Philippine modern art.  In the same year, he had his first solo exhibition at Philippine Columbian Club in Ermita, Manila. He held more exhibitions and participated in group shows locally and internationally.  He taught architectural design and history at Mapua Institute of Design and Technology in 1929 and also helped establish the College of Architecture and Fine Arts in UST.  Together with HR Ocampo and Diosdado Lorenzo, they formed the Atelier of Modern Art in 1937. He married Jean Garrott, an American, teaching English and drama at the University of the Philippines.  Edades was proclaimed National Artist for Painting in 1976.

Edades, the Father of Modern Painting in the Philippines, passed away on March 7, 1985.

“Modern Maria Clara” is on exhibition at Gallery XIV, Pillars of Philippine Modernism, Third Floor of the National Museum of Fine Arts.

Follow this page for more features from the National Fine Arts Collection.  The #NationalMuseumPH is now open.  You may book your visit through this website and click Book a Tour.  View the link for the 360 degrees virtual tour of the nine select galleries at the National Museum of Fine Arts:  http://pamana.ph/ncr/manila/NMFA360.html

#OnThisDay

#VictorioEdades

#MuseumFromHome

Text by NMP FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

©National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

As Christmas draws near, allow us to present in today’s #WildlifeWednesday a species of plant that is commonly associated with this season — the Poinsettia.

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch) is a native plant of Mexico that was once considered a weed and grows during the winter season. It was named after Colonel Joel Roberts Poinsett who first introduced the plant to the United States.

Poinsettia is grown best in moist soil and in cold weather (18-22 degrees C). It is a popular holiday plant due to its colorful bracts (modified leaves) which are usually mistaken as flowers, as a result of photoperiodism. Poinsettias are considered short-day plants which means that its bloom is affected by the length of daylight (or darkness) exposure. When days are shorter and nights are longer, poinsettias will form their flowers surrounded by brightly colored bracts. Thus, it is important to keep the plant in controlled darkness if you would like to initiate bloom. Daily dark periods of 11 hours generally can initiate blooms in most cultivars while it might also take 14-14.5 hours dark period per day for other varieties. 

Show us your colorful Poinsettias by posting your own shots of the plant in the comment section of our social media pages. 

Text and photo by NMP Botany and National Herbarium Division

Have you ever wondered on what object the symbol of the star was represented in precolonial Philippines?

In the continuing celebration of this month’s festive season, today’s #TrowelTuesday features the earthenware pottery with a star motif from Calatagan in Batangas.

The star, generally represented as a glyph with multiple pointed tips arranged and connected in a circular manner, is a symbol shared among many cultures. While its meaning varies depending on the cultural context, it is one of the popular symbols associated with the festive or holiday season.

Archaeological excavations of the #NationalMuseumPH in the two 15th-century burial sites in Calatagan, Batangas in the 1950s, led by Dr. Robert Fox, yielded a large number of artifacts such as late 14th to 16th-century local and foreign ceramics used as grave goods (read more: https://tiny.one/TheCalataganEarthenwares). Among the retrieved artifacts were locally made earthenware pottery with incised zigzag design forming a star, with points varying in number from 6 to 9. This distinct motif, accompanied by punctate design between the lines’ field, was particularly observed on pottery vessels with lugs and spouts excavated in the area and even in neighboring sites of Santa Ana in Manila, Pila and Pangil in Laguna, and Naic in Cavite. Other pottery vessel forms also share similar incised zigzag designs that resemble the sun more than the star.

But why were the star and the sun used as earthenware decorative motifs by precolonial Filipinos?

Using archaeological data, ethnography, ethnohistory, and oral literature, archaeologist Dr. Grace Barretto-Tesoro of the UP-Archaeological Studies Program associates the relevance of celestial symbols with our ancestors’ indigenous cosmology of a tripartite universe, wherein the sun and stars represent the “Kaitaasan” (Upperworld). These celestial figures were viewed by various cultural groups within and beyond our archipelago as important or sacred in relation to their precolonial worldview and practices on the afterlife (like burials) and probably even festivities. Through our precolonial ancestors’ ingenuity, these symbols were manifested and persisted in various ethnographic and archaeological objects such as earthenware pottery.

Come and visit the #NationalMuseumPH to see some of the excavated pottery from Calatagan, Batangas by booking a tour through this website.

#CalataganEarthenwarePottery

#StarMotif

#MuseumFromHome

#YearOfFilipinoPrecolonialAncestors

#MaligayangPasko

Text by Gregg Alfonso Abbang and poster by Timothy James Vitales | NMP Archaeology Division

© National Museum of the Philippines (2021)