Today, as we celebrate the 80th birth anniversary of National Artist for Visual Arts Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, born #OnThisDay in 1942, we feature the artist himself in his painting, “Self” from the National Fine Arts Collection (NFAC).

Completed in 1965, this acrylic painting is a self-portrait and an early work of the artist. It represents himself as a young man painted in an impasto of earth tone colors in brown and greenish-gray. This portrait is far from the usual thematic works and familiar images he had later launched. BenCab is a painter and printmaker.  

Benedicto Cabrera was born in Malabon, Manila to Democrito Cabrera and Isabel Reyes, on April 10, 1942.  At six months old, his family moved to Santa Cruz, and later to the district of Tondo, Manila.  At a young age, BenCab’s older brother Salvador, an established artist, has influenced and exposed him to the arts. He won his first award when he joined a poster-making contest with a theme of human rights when he was in sixth grade at Balagtas Elementary School in Bambang. He enrolled at UP College of Fine Arts in 1959 but had to leave school and worked as an illustrator for magazines Liwayway and The Sunday Times before going full-time in painting.  His early works depict scavengers, barung-barong, and Sabel, the woman scavenger in his area.  Later his works reflect social commentaries on the American and Spanish influences.  He held his first solo exhibition at the Indigo Gallery in Ermita, Manila in 1966.  From the 1970s to the 80s, he held solo exhibitions and joined group shows here in the Philippines and abroad. Among these are the Six Artistes Contemporains Philippins en Europe in Paris; Philippine Printmakers at the Royal Festival Hall in London; Philippine Graphic Art exhibit in Munich; and the 8^th Biennale Internationale de Arts in Valparaiso, Chile.  

He has exhibited widely and has won awards. He received the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1992.  He was conferred with the Order of National Artist for Visual Arts in 2006.

This painting is on exhibition at Gallery XIX, Third Floor, National Museum of Fine Arts.

Follow this page for more features from the National Fine Arts Collection.  The #NationalMuseumPH is now open to the public.  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
#BenCab
#BenedictoCabrera
#MuseumFromHome

Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

Palm Sunday (Linggo ng Palaspas or Domingo de Ramos) marks the beginning of Holy Week (Mahal na Araw or Semana Santa), which narrates Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem. On this day, devotees bring plain or ornate palm fronds (locally referred to as palaspas, palapa, langkay, lukay, or ramos) to church to re-enact the arrival of Jesus in Gethsemane where people welcomed Him while waving palm leaves. 

Palms are blessed during the Mass and brought home to be placed on home altars, doors and windows with the belief that these ward off evil spirits. According to Mr. Elmer Nocheseda, author of “Palaspas: An Appreciation of Palm Leaf Art in the Philippines” published in 2009, early Christians considered the palm as a symbol of victory of the faithful over the enemies of the soul and thus used symbolically for those who died as martyrs of the faith like San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod. 

The palaspas is primarily made from coconut palms (Cocos nucifera L.), but other plant species such as the century plant (Agave americana L.; A. cantala Roxb.), buri (Corypha utan Lam.), and oliva (Cycas revoluta Thunb.) can also be used. Traditionally, the head of the family or the male members of each household would gather and make the palm a day or two before Palm Sunday. Nowadays, palaspas can be bought outside the church. Some palaspas are plain, while there are also those that are decorated with colorful plastic ribbons, paper flowers, and images of saints, Mary, and Jesus, among others. 

After a year, these are gathered and burned by the church wherein the collected ashes are used during Ash Wednesday, the start of the 40-day Lenten Season. Among agricultural communities in the provinces of Bohol and Batangas, ashes gathered from burnt palaspas are mixed with commercial or organic fertilizer with the belief that when scattered in the cultivated areas, these will increase their harvest. 

To further commemorate the Lenten season, the #NationalMuseumPH presents a lecture and demonstration on palaspas by Mr. Nocheseda accessible through these links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSFTtr6DGc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlRuExzglLk. 

#MahalNaAraw2022
#HolyWeek2022
#Palaspas
#PalmSunday

Text and video by the NMP Ethnology Division and Exhibition, Editorial and Media Production Services Division

The lecture and demonstration were shown during the Laga, Tunos ken Pammati Story-Sharing and Demonstration of the NMP Ilocos on 22 March 2021

© (2022) National Museum of the Philippines

Today, as we commemorate Araw ng Kagitingan, also recognized as the 80^th anniversary of the fall of the Bataan peninsula during the Second World War, the #NationalMuseumPh features Bataan Death Marcher by Gene Cabrera from the National Fine Arts Collection (NFAC).

The occasion, also known as Bataan Day or Bataan and Corregidor Day commemorates April 9, 1942, when General Edward King of the US Army was forced to surrender his more than 70,000 American and Filipino soldiers to the Japanese.  The Japanese forced the captive prisoners to march from Mariveles, Bataan, to Camp O’Donnel in Capas, Tarlac.  Over 20,000 prisoners died of exhaustion, starvation, and brutality from the Japanese soldiers, thus known as the Bataan Death March. The Bataan Death Marcher resembles a soldier in a death skull made of metal with a military helmet, supported on a wooden base.  It depicts the soldiers suffering from the brutality of the Japanese during the war.  Cabrera’s sculpture serves to honor the bravery of the fallen soldiers in defending Bataan. 

Gene Cabrera was born to Agustin Cabrera and Andrea Dela Cruz on March 13, 1919.  He studied at the UP School of Fine Arts.  Cabrera is a cartoonist and an illustrator and had exhibited with top international cartoonists.  Cabrera died on April 19, 1988, at the age of 69.

This sculpture is on exhibition at the Silvina and Juan Laya Hall, Gallery VIII, National Museum of Fine Arts.

Follow this page for more features from the National Fine Arts Collection.  The #NationalMuseumPH is now open to the public.  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
#GeneCabrera
#MuseumFromHome

Text and photo by NMP FAD

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

In celebration of Global Astronomy Month, let’s learn about extra-terrestrial rocks.

Rocks from outer space that ended up here on earth are called meteorites. These space rocks could either be fragments of an asteroid, a comet, the moon, or other planets that survive the journey through the earth’s atmosphere.  As these fragments rapidly enter the atmosphere, they begin to burn and flame up. Under the night sky, these flaming debris are commonly referred to as shooting stars. Some of these rocks are too small and turn to ash as they enter while those large enough to withstand the heat, land on the ground as meteorites.

There are various types of meteorites depending on their composition, but three main types have been identified so far. Iron meteorites are mostly composed of iron and nickel.  Stony meteorites are composed mainly of silicate minerals. Meteorites that have an equal amount of silicate minerals and iron-nickel metals are called stony-iron meteorites. There are still quite a few more sub-types identified under these three major classifications. 

At the former #NationalMuseumPH Planetarium, you may remember seeing actual meteorites in one of the displays. One of the meteorites is an iron-type meteorite called Sikhote-Alin Fall that fell in the Maritime Territory of Russia in 1947. It was part of the largest ever meteorite fall in modern history. The other meteorite is the NWA-869 found in Northwest Africa in 2000. This stony meteorite is part of Asteroid 433, also called Eros. 

In geology, meteorites play an important role in our understanding of the Earth’s history. Most meteorites are older than terrestrial rocks. As such, they contain within them information that will help understand planetary origins and processes.

#GAM2022

Text and image by the NMP Geology and Paleontology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the 105^th birth anniversary of Modernist painter Cesar T. Legaspi, born #OnThisDay in 1917.

Cesar T. Legaspi was one of the Thirteen Moderns considered forerunners and pioneering advocates of modern art in the country. The group was formed before World War II and led by National Artist Victorio C. Edades (1895-1985). After the war, Legaspi joined the Neo-realist movement as one of its core members. The group produced works that feature Philippine themes in a style that is representational in form but more open to various degrees of abstraction.

The National Fine Arts Collection has six paintings by Legaspi, including “Mother and Child.” Created in 1952, this oil on panel painting represents the influence of the neo-realism style. It is on display at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Gallery XVIII as part of the exhibition “Pillars of Philippine Modernism (II),” featuring modern art in the Philippines from the 1940s to 1980s. This exhibition presents the works of Cesar T. Legaspi and his fellow modernists and National Artist awardees Carlos V. Francisco (1912-1969), Jose T. Joya (1931-1995), and Abdumalri Asia Imao (1936-2014). 

Legaspi was born on April 2, 1917, in Tondo, Manila. His art training started at the University of the Philippines where he received his Certificate of Proficiency in 1936. After this, he continued his training under Pablo C. Amorsolo (1898-1945). In 1950, he exhibited his works at the Manila Hotel along with the other neo-realists. He later flew to Madrid, Spain in 1953 to study at the Cultura Hispanica as a scholar. He took an art course at the Academie Ranson in Paris, France under French American surrealist painter and engraver Henri Bernard Goetz. Upon his return, he held his first one-man show at the Luz Gallery in 1963. While practicing his art, he also worked as an artist for Elizalde & Company and as art director and vice president for creative planning for an advertising agency Philprom. In 1968, he retired from advertising and focused on his art as a full-time painter. He participated in several exhibitions abroad including the First Plastic Arts Conference in Rome (1953), São Paulo Biennial in Graphic Arts (1967 and 1969), and Wraxall Gallery in London (1982). He held retrospective exhibitions in the country at the Museum of Philippine Art (1978), National Museum (1988), Metropolitan Museum (1988), Luz Gallery (1990), and Cultural Center of the Philippines (1990). Legaspi was an active member of the Art Association of the Philippines and became the head of the famous Saturday Group of Artists from 1978 to 1994. 

While Legaspi suffered from color blindness, this did not deter him from pursuing his love for art. His life is an inspiration to everyone as seen in how he overcame his challenge and made an important contribution to Philippine art. Legaspi was awarded National Artist for Visual Arts in 1990, four years before he passed away on April 7, 1994. 

The National Museum of Fine Arts is now open for walk-in visitors! You may also view the 360 degrees virtual tour of selected NMFA galleries on the link https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nmfa360/HTML5/NMFA360.html. See you at the National Museum!

#CesarLegaspi
#OnThisDay
#BeatCOVID19

Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

As our Muslim brothers and sisters observe the start of Ramadan this 2^nd day of April, the #NationalMuseumPH features the lihar (Qur’an stand) from the National Ethnographic Collection that is of important cultural significance to the Muslim communities in the country.

During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from food from the break of dawn until sunset. It is also a time for abstaining from practices dissonant with Islamic teachings, such as inappropriate speech, indulging in excessive recreational activities, and unkind behavior towards the needy. These actions are said to divert their focus away from the spiritual realm. Instead, they show kindness and charity through zakat (giving alms) and more importantly, worship through prayer and recitation of selected verses from the Qur’an.

The Qur’an is an important book for Muslims as it contains all the teachings of Allah. During recitations, it is placed on an X-shaped foldable book stand made of wood and sometimes decorated with okir design patterns. Locally, it is called lihar among the Maranao and Tausug and lihal among the Jama Mapun and Sama. It is used to hold and ensure that the Qur’an is respected by keeping it elevated off the floor. Its foldable design is also a way to showcase the Qur’an as a precious manuscript among Muslims. The lihar is considered to be one of the most valuable elements inside the mosque. 

A collection of the lihar is currently exhibited at the “Faith, Tradition, and Place: Bangsamoro Art from the National Ethnographic Collection” exhibition at the 3F, National Museum of Anthropology in Manila. Visit the museum from Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 AM–4:00 PM, and know more about the rich material culture of the Bangsamoro communities in the country.

#Ramadan2022
#Lihar
#MuseumFromHome

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines