Gallery

Birth Anniversary of Jeremias Elizalde Navarro

The #NationalMuseumPh celebrates the 98th birth anniversary of National Artist Jeremias Elizalde Navarro, born #OnThisDay in 1924.

Born in Antique, Navarro studied art at the University of the Philippines Manila as one of the ten aspirants chosen from 500 hopefuls for the Ramon Roces art scholarship. However, he transferred to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) where his childhood idol, Carlos “Botong” Francisco became his teacher. He also studied under eminent artists Victorio Edades, Diosdado Lorenzo, Alejandro Celis, Bonifacio Cristobal, and Francesco Monti. Navarro graduated from UST with a degree in Fine Arts in 1951. He took further studies in New York City, USA, after which he taught at UST for nine years and briefly at the Randwick University in Australia. As an artist, Navarro passionately experimented with different media including oil, acrylic, watercolor, metal, wood, mixed media and found objects in his abstract and figurative paintings, sculptures and assemblages. 

Today, as we celebrate his birth anniversary, we feature his sculpture entitled “Man and Woman” from the National Fine Arts Collection. Navarro completed this sculpture made of wood, metal, and concrete in the 1960s. Wood is his favored material, describing how he “loves the roundness” of it. During his interview with Cid Reyes, the artist remarked, “I see a piece of wood lying around, and right away it suggests a sculptural possibility.” The genius of Navarro and his high regard for this medium, enabled him to create masterpieces that are now part of the collection of major museums. The National Fine Arts Collection holds several works of the National Artist which are also exhibited in this gallery alongside “Man and Woman”. These artworks are the following: Idiot Box Circa ’64 (1964, wood), Desaparecidos [(1996, bronze) and (undated, wood)]. You may also view his two sets of Via Crucis studies at the Museum Foundation of the Philippines Hall (Gallery X). 

Navarro passed away on June 10, 1999, and was posthumously proclaimed National Artist for Visual Arts on December 1, 1999 for his significant contributions to our rich artistic heritage.

Man and Woman is part of a body of artworks by the National Artist which was acquired through his daughter with the late painter and sculptor, Virginia Ty-Navarro, Pearl, and is among the most recent additions to the National Museum’s permanent exhibition “Lilok, Hulma, at Tipon: Modern Sculptures in the Philippines”. It may be viewed at the National Museum of Fine Arts’ Philippine Modern Sculpture Hall (Gallery XXIX) during its extended visiting hours from 9 am to 6 pm, Tuesdays to Sundays.

#MuseumFromHome
#JerryNavarro
#JElizaldeNavarro
#PhilippineArt
#AbstractArt
#ModernArt
#PhilippineModernArt

Text and photo by NMP FAD

NM Complex in Manila extends its visiting hours to 6 PM starting on May 18 in time for the International Museum Day 2022

𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟖, 𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐔𝐌 𝐃𝐀𝐘!

This is one of the most important dates in the calendar of the #NationalMuseumPH and all museums worldwide, and it is a day when we are especially proud to show what we can do to serve our community – the entire Filipino people and all our friends and visitors from around the world.

In this spirit, and in our quest to do better in our public service and widen opportunities for as many people as possible to access our museums, we are proud to announce that, starting tomorrow on #IMD2022, the National Museum of the Philippines in our central complex in Manila will EXTEND its visiting hours to 6 PM daily.

THAT’S RIGHT! From tomorrow onwards, our National Museum of Fine Arts, National Museum of Anthropology, and National Museum of Natural History, all in Rizal Park, Manila, will be open from 9 AM to 6 PM, Tuesdays to Sundays, except on certain public holidays as will be announced.

Take advantage of our extended opening hours and visit your National Museum! On International Museum Day and every day, we are proud to be of service to you.

No need for reservations, just please bring your vaccination cards. Don’t forget, ADMISSION IS FREE!

But wait, THERE’S MORE! Stay tuned on our social media accounts for our other special treats we have in store for you this IMD 2022…

Built Heritage Tradition of the Minor Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel in Tayabas City, Quezon Province

Built Heritage Tradition of the Minor Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel in Tayabas City, Quezon Province

Showing ground floor plan, front façade, and location map (A. Arciaga III, 2022)

In this week’s #MuseumFromHome series this National Heritage Month, we feature the Minor Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel which is located in Tayabas City. The basilica remains the only one of its special designation in Quezon Province, is acclaimed as one of the most beautiful churches in the country, and is a declared National Cultural Treasure in 2001 by the National Museum of the Philippines.

The nave of the basilica, view from the altar to the main entrance (A. Arciaga III, 2022)

The basilica’s humble beginnings originate with a single-nave camarin-type (or shed-type) church building made of bamboo, anahaw, and nipa, built through the efforts of the Franciscans in 1585. By the year 1600, the church structure was transformed into a stone edifice. In 1743, the main church was damaged in an earthquake and was rebuilt by 1745, incorporating stone walls measuring 1 vara (roughly equivalent to 1 yard or 0.8359 meters) in thickness. By 1855, the basilica would be expanded with the modification of the triangular pediment of the facade into a curvilinear form and the addition of the crucero—also known as transepts—which completed the church’s cruciform plan and gave it the distinct key-shaped form for which it is now known for. 

The main altar and the transepts, showing the painted interior of the church (A. Arciaga III, 2022)

Unique in the built heritage treasure are the beautifully rendered trompe l’oeil paintings in its interior, covering the entirety of the ceilings of the church and the walls of the crucero, featuring religious imagery and ornamentation made to look as if they were intricately carved and three–dimensional instead of painted on plain surfaces. Another exceptional feature is the astronomical clock embedded and installed in the basilica’s adjoining bell tower, unequaled in the country and installed in 1818. 

The church is situated on a small hill, and covers a building footprint of around 2900 square meters, with dimensions of around 103 meters in length and 53 meters in width. Its plan is oriented on a northwest to a southeast axis, with the main entrance located in the southeast. The main church plan is rectangular, featuring a single grand nave—the longest church nave in the country. The altar features three (3) Rococo retablos located at each apse of the northwestern terminus. The convent and its open areas cover an area of around 1900 square meters, with dimensions of 65 meters in length and 30 meters in width.

Detail photo of trompe l’oiel paintings (A. Arciaga III, 2022)

The basilica presents a fair state of conservation, backed by the conscious and informed efforts of the local government of Tayabas and the diocesan parish to preserve their built heritage. The national cultural treasure has undergone restoration work and currently undergoes regular maintenance and upkeep. Initiatives are in place, partnering stakeholders and the national cultural agencies, to secure the basilica’s preservation for all future generations to appreciate its magnificence. 

Text and illustrations/photos by Ar. Armando Arciaga III, AABHD 

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

#NationalMuseumPH
#BuiltTraditionThursday

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Art Stroll Sunday Feature – “I Believe in God” (1948)

In celebration of National Heritage Month and for this week’s Art Stroll Sunday feature, we present National Artist Vicente Manansala’s 1948 oil painting, “I Believe in God”, from the National Fine Arts Collection (NFAC) on display at the GSIS Northwest Hall.

This oil on masonite was created in 1948 when Manansala was around 37 years old. This oil painting is a significant part of the national collection, being one of the artist’s early works in this style before he introduced transparent cubism, wherein geometric shapes and layers of colors were used in rendering figures and objects. This painting also shows Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s influence, being one of the painters that Manansala admires the most. “I Believe in God” depicts a family pausing from pounding rice grains to pray the Angelus. The Angelus is a prayer recited by Roman Catholics at noon or at 6 in the evening. It is also noteworthy that this was completed three years after the end of the Second World War, when Filipinos were still picking up and trying their best to rise from the horrors of the war, and the artist himself, was one of those who survived it. This oil painting is apt as we celebrate National Heritage Month with the theme “Pamanang Lokal: Binhi ng Kulturang Pilipino,” highlighting the importance of preserving and promoting local heritage within a community.

Manansala was born in Macabebe, Pampanga on January 22, 1910. 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 graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines in 1930. In 1949, he received a UNESCO scholarship grant to study at the 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. His mentor, a French artist, and filmmaker Fernand Léger, taught him cubism. He was declared National Artist for Painting (1981). Manansala passed away on August 22, 1981, in Makati City.

You may view this painting inside the GSIS Northwest Hall, Gallery XXIII of the National Museum of Fine Arts. Other masterpieces of the National Artist are displayed in the other galleries on the Third Floor, namely: The International Rice Research Institute Hall (Gallery XXII) and the Philam Life Hall (Gallery XXIV).

We have numerous activities and programs this National Heritage Month! Click https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/national-heritage-month/ or https://ncca.gov.ph/nationalheritagemonth/ for more information

Text by NMP-FAD
Photo by Bengy Toda

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

Lilies of the deep

The deep is truly a dark and scary place to live- but for other marine animals, it is their home. Welcome again to our #WildlifeWednesday featuring a deep-sea living fossil echinoderm known as the Sea Lily.

Sea lilies or stalked crinoids have stems emanating from underneath their crown with the bottom end attached to a hard substratum such as rocks. They are known as the ancestors of feather stars, which have no stems, can swim freely, and live on shallow warm waters.

Because sea lilies are attached firmly to a hard surface, scientists thought that they cannot move from one place to another. Interestingly, they found out that sea lilies could relocate themselves by detaching their segments anchored on the sea bed, then settle themselves in a new location. They regenerate their lost parts as they live in their new settlement. To prove that they can also move, scientists were able to capture a video of a sea lily “running” away from a predator. Sea lilies spread their arms to filter the seawater that passes through to capture and feed on plankton.

Fossil records of sea lilies indicate that they existed and became abundant in the shallow parts of the sea before the age of dinosaurs. But as time passed, they became less abundant, with only their unstalked offspring dominating the shallow tropical seas to this day. Now, most of the stalked crinoids reside in the deep parts of the ocean ranging from 1,000 to 9,000 meters.

You may visit Gallery 4 – Life Through Time exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History and see the actual specimen of the Sea Lily from the Philippines.

Text and photo by NMP Zoology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

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