Street Scene in Quiapo by Lauro Alcala. Oil on canvas (1942). 

From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Fishing Boats by Alfredo Carmelo. Watercolor (1921).

From the UP Vargas Museum Permanent Art Collection.

Photo courtesy of the University of the Philippines Diliman University Collection Mapping Project, 2017-19.
University of the Philippines Diliman Collections, Vol. 23: Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center (Quezon City: UPD Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts, 2020), 348, https://universitycollections.upd.edu.ph.

A View in San Francisco Del Monte by Elias Laxa. Oil on canvas (1943).

Photo courtesy of the University of the Philippines Diliman University Collection Mapping Project, 2017-19
University of the Philippines Diliman Collections, Vol. 23: Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center (Quezon City: UPD Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts, 2020), 348, https://universitycollections.upd.edu.ph.

Fire Tree by Tomas B. Tan. Photo courtesy of the University of the Philippines Diliman University Collection Mapping Project, 2017-19 

University of the Philippines Diliman Collections, Vol.23: Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center (Quezon City: UPD Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts, 2020), 348, https://universitycollections.upd.edu.ph.

Quipayo Church, Camarines Sur by Rico Mariano. Watercolor (1977). Photo courtesy of the University of the Philippines Diliman University Collection Mapping Project, 2017-19 University of the Philippines Diliman Collections, Vol.23: Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center (Quezon City: UPD Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts, 2020), 348, https://universitycollections.upd.edu.ph.

Road to the Sea, Batangas by Jose V. Pereira. Oil on canvasboard (1943). From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Detail from Philippine Sunset (Erlinda Vargas). Oil on cardboard (1946). From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Village by a Lake (Isidro Ancheta) From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

 

Submarine Sculpin (Vicente Genato) Oil on woodboard (1942)  From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Japanese Bombing of Bacolod (Ayco, Jesus Encarnacion)  
Pastel on Board (1942)19.7 cm x 27 cm  

From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Moonlight on the Shore (29.2x36.8cm) (Manuel Arellano). 1941. Oil on woodboard. From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Bahay Pari (Detail) (Fernando Amorsolo). 1931. Oil on canvas board.
From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Beach Scene (Fantastic Poem) (Detail) (Venancio Igarta). Undated. Oil on canvas board 49.7 cm x 62.3 cm. (size sight).

From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Rice Planting (1943) by Fernando Amorsolo. From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines

On the Cover: Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (1943) by Gregorio Sibug. From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Two Igorot Women (1947) by Victorio Edades. From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines

On the cover: Harvest Scene (1947) by Fernando Amorsolo. From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, University of the Philippines.

Contents of this journal may not be reproduced without the publisher’s written permission except for fair use, i.e., for personal, educational and research purposes, in accordance with Copyright law. Reprinting and re-publication in any other journal or compilation is likewise prohibited except as provided in the Copyright Agreement when the author reprints his/her article for inclusion in any publication where he/she is the author or editor, subject to giving proper credit to the original publication of the article in the journal.

Mother and Child, Cesar Legaspi (Undated). Oil on Canvas board 59.3 x 43.7 cm (size sight) 83.7 x 68.5 x 6.5 cm (size with frame)

Primeras Letras
Simon Flores
1890
Oil on Canvas board
84.5 x 59.3 cm
(UP Vargas Museum collection)

River view from Santa Ana
Fabian de la Rosa
1938, oil on canvas

From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and the Filipiniana Research Center
University of the Philippines

Nena Saguil
Taga-Ani sa Bukid
1954, Relief print
18.5 cm. x 23.5 cm.

From the Collection of the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center
University of the Philippines

Cover Design: Ang Kiukok
Artwork: Bananas, oil on canvas, 33” x 6 3/8”, 2003, by Ang Kiukok
Photo: Sylvia Gascon
Photo: courtesy of Finale Art File

The late National Artist for the Visual Arts Ang Kiukok painted this scroll-like image of bunches of bananas hanging from a triangle. A plate on the bottom appears to catch those that would eventually drop from the cluster. This colorful oil on canvas painting appears whimsical at first glance but it is actually a masterful triumph of Ang over the restriction of a two dimensionial surface that his frame presents. He created a multiple-point perspective by representing the bananas in different angles and offering planes of cadmium red and thalo blue, variations of primary colors that complement the cobalt yellow, orpiment and chrome yellow bananas. The result is a striking depiction of a rather mundane subject.

This painting was one of those on exhibition from 16 Dec. 2003 until 4 Jan. 2004 at the Art Center of SM Megamall, Ortigas. Titled New Works, the exhibition organized by the Finale Art Gallery was to be Ang’s last. He died on 9 May 2005.

About the Cover Artwork and the Artist:

New Jersey-based Filipino miniature painter Gregory Ray Halili painted postage stamp-size recreations of the Fernando Amorsolo portraits of the UP Vargas Museum collection. It is this way of honoring artists that he admires. Having been used to working from imagination and photographs, this is Halili's first attempt at painting from a museum collection. These portraits are of Jorge B. Vargas, his first wife Marina, second wife Adelaida and three daughters Nena, Teresita and Lourdes. Prior to exhibiting them from August 11 to October 3, he spent one month in residence to study and recreate the Amorsolo portraits, the results of which were then exhibited next to these portraits. Halili is known for his colorful watercolors with fluttery winged butterflies painted on myriad fabrics, and for his tropical visionary landscapes of paradisiacal settings, all of miniature scale. In his last gallery exhibition at the Nancy Hoffman in New York City entitled Nostalgia, the artist painted a visual "love letter" to his country of birth, the Philippines.

Cover Design:

Cadence, rubber, 244.5 cm x 87 cm, 1999, by Ikoy Ricio.

Two black strips of rubber with colorful feet thongs make up young artist Ikoy Ricio's installation. The rows of rubber represent the material before it is cut into 26 pairs of mainly mismatched flip-flops. Favoring found objects for their design elements, Ricio uses quotidian things and assembles them to make us even more aware of their fulfillment as artworks. He divides his time between book design projects and his fascinating installation art exhibitions. His previous works include alphabet books where all letters in each book are erased except for the letter that a particular book represents. He also collects colorful neighborhood plumber's advertising signs that are handmade, using enamel paint on iron sheets.

Cover Design:

Mother and Child, oil on canvas, 56" x 12". 17 July 2001, by Malang.

An unusually shaped canvas that is as narrow as an enlarged bookmark, Malang painted this equally unusual mother and child against a bright blue night full of stars. Humorous in his depiction of everyday life, Malang began composing extremely vertical and nearly life-size paintings after making small bookmark art for his exhibition in 2001.

Cover Design:

Philippine stamps (Philippine Folk Rituals and Festivals) by Filipino painter Manuel D. Baldemor.