MODERN ART AND ITS CHALLENGE TO ACADEMIC ART Contexts - Are frames of reference that inform the concepts and focuses, allowing visual communication and meaning to evolve. The contexts are contemporary, personal, cultural, and formal. As students engage in critical analysis of different art forms, they employ different contexts to understand and appreciate how artists incorporate a range of influences and layers of meaning. The four contexts in the Visual Arts are: Contemporary context – which informs the analysis and interpretation of past and present artwork through a lens of 21st Century art ideas and issues, and how these challenge engagement, communication and meaning. Personal Context – Informs the analysis and interpretation of emotions, sensory experiences, personal philosophy, beliefs and ideas that are reflected in artworks, and how these contribute to engagement, communication and meaning. Cultural Context – Informs the analysis and interpretation of the social influences and representations of time, place, politics, purpose, ethnicity, gender, and spiritual and secular beliefs on artwork, and how these contribute to engagement, communication and meaning. Formal Context – Informs the analysis and interpretation of formal visual art elements and principles, the application of materials and techniques, the stylistic qualities relative to historical periods or iconology seen in artworks, and how these contribute to engagement, communication and meaning. JUAN LUNA - - - With the triumph of his Spoliarium at the 1884 Madrid Exposition, Luna gained access to the world of the European Art Salon then in the thrall of academic classicism, a style at which Luna had clearly become a master. His subsequent works – The Blood Compact, painted for the Ayuntamiento de Manila and the Battle of Lepanto commissioned by the Spanish Senate and unveiled by no less than the Queen Regent herself – were further evidence of his affinity for the Grand Manner in art. Having savored the accolades of Madrid and Rome, Luna realized that the logical destination of his artistic career lay in Paris, the capital of the art world at the time. Thus in 1885, he came to this decision, marrying his fiancée, Maria Paz Pardo de Tavera, shortly thereafter Evidently, he was at his turning point in his life. Odalisque, 1885 o - - - It is one of Luna’s so-called “Academic Salon portraits´that followed the standards of proper proportion and perspective, and realistic depictions with “an air of dignity and allure” o Although less polished compared to Luna’s other works of art, the Odalisque is typical of the well-planned characteristic of the artist’s portraits meaning it was painted in a personal studio while expertly studying the desired effects, and with finesse. o The Obalisque is one of the paintings that made Luna as an officially accepted artist at the Salon of Paris because it shows Luna’s skill at draftsmanship, his “talent to draw and to draw well”. o The Odalisque was formerly a part of the painting collection of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal. o It is currently a component of the Don Luis Araneta Collection But the artist ferment of Paris soon revealed to Luna the limitations of classicism and the Frand Manner, his Spoliarium garnering only bronze medal at the Salon of 1886 set up by the Society of French Artist. This was the Paris after all of Manet, Degas, Seurat, Monet, and Van Gogh; and Luna was not blind to the winds of change. “The grand painting, the historical painting of the studied effect has disappeared… all historical paintings are false”, he confided to a friend. His dormer predilection for history found new spur with his growing interest in socialism; and perhaps developments at home and the influence of his reformist Filipino friends may have encouraged his increasing concern over the exploitation of the poor and the dispossessed. He began to see the negative aspects of the Industrial Revolution and longed to paint factory workers as victims of their soot filled workplace, not unlike the fallen gladiators of the Coliseum. (Pic) This brooding frame of mind may have exacerbated his perception of his wife’s infidelity, leading Luna to shoot his wife and mother-in-law in a fit of jealousy. Though he was eventually acquitted by the French courts, the tragedy was to hound him forever. Quickly, sought solace in Madrid with his beloved son Andres There, he resumed painting, but Europe appears to have lost its appeal for him. Returning to Manila in 1894 with his son and brother Antonio, he rediscovered the charms of Philippine life, executing some of his finest oils and portraits. The assassination of his brother Antonio left him a broken man. On December 7, 1899, he suffered a fatal heart attack two days after arriving in Hong Kong. Only at 42 at the time of his death, one can only surmise what a greatness lay in stone for Juan Luna had not events in both his personal life and the nation’s intervened. Modern Art in the Philippines - The most well-known proponent of Modern Art in painting was Victorio Edades, whose works were initially rejected and misunderstood. Later, Edade’s modernist sensibility was shared by several artist among them, National Artist Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco and Galo Ocampo - Ocampo, is recognized for indigenizing western icons, seen in his Brown Madonna 1938, which sets the mother and the child in a native, tropical environment. “Triumvirate” - Edades, Francisco, and Ocampo have been regarded as the “triumvirate” of modern art after having worked on several murals together. A collaborative work that survives to this day is Nature’s Bounty, (ca.1935), which portrays a group of women harvesting fruits in a field. At the center of the painting is a papaya tree and heavenly beings hovering from above. In this painting, we can discern how the artists integrated folk subject matter with a style that draws on Modern Art. Art Nouveau and Art Deco -The linearity of the figures, the sensuous curves, and the flatness of the composition closely link it with the spirit of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, popular styles at that time which also found expression in architecture. Pablo Antonio - Antonio’s buildings are characterized by clean lines, plain surfaces, and bold rectangular masses, a departure from the traditionalist and academic style of the period An example of Art Deco architecture is Juan Arellano’s Metropolitan Theater in Manila (1935). Thirteen Moderns - Before the war, Edades publicized a roster of artists which in his view, had modernist leanings. He called them the Thirteen Moderns, which included himself, Arsenio Capili, Bonifacio Cristobal, Demetrio Digeo, Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Cesar Legaspi, Diosdado Lorenzo, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Galo Ocampo, Hernando R. Ocampo, Jose Pardo, and Ricarte Purgganan. ====================================11/13/2023======================================= Japanese Occupation (1941-1945) - Under the Japanese Occupation of Manila the Modern Art project would slow down in pace. Early moderns and conservations alike continued to produce art and even participated in KALIBAPI (Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod ng Bagong Pilipino) sponsored art competitions. In 1943 and 1944, Purungganan and Francisco won KALIBAPI awards, respectively Art Production (continue) The Japanese forces led the formation of the Greater East Asio Co-Prosperity Sphere, a propaganda movement that sought to create a Pan-Asia identity that rejected Western traditions. - - Slogans such as “Asia for Asians” made its way to the public through posters, ephemera, comics, and Japanese sponsored publications such as Shin-Seiki, and in newspapers and magazines such as Luwayway and Tribune. The production of images, texts and music underwent scrutiny. In music, composer National Artist Felipe P de Leon was said to have been “commanded at the point of the gun” tp write Awit sa Paglikha ng Bagong Pilipinas If art was strictly policed during the Second World War, it it brings us little surprise that Amorsolo’s paintings, many of which showed little or no indication of wars’ atrocities, continued to be favored. Genre Paintings - - Genre paintings were the most widely produced, particularly those that presented a neutral relationship between the Filipinos and the Japanese through works that showed the normality of daily living. Although scenes from the war were also made, the imagery remained neutral, focusing rather on the aesthetic instead of the brewing disaster Take Amorsolo’s Bombing of the Inendencia, 1942, and Ruins of the Manila Cathedral, 1945, as examples, they draw attention to the elegant handling on value in the billows of smoke or the pile of ruins rather than the urgency of the disaster itself. (Fernando Amorsolo, Bombing of the Intendencia, 1942, Jore B. Vargas Museum Collection. Neo-Realism, Abstraction, and Other Modern Art Styles - - Artist and writers reflected about national identity as Filipinos were rising from the ashes of war. This search entailed explorations in subject matter, content, and form, as well as debates between art for art’s sake and art that exposed the “true social conditions” of the period. The period looked promising for the development of modern art. (missing) Neo-Realism - Using modernist figuration, many of these artists explored folk themes and also crafted commentaries on the urban condition and the effects of the war. Vicente Manansala, Legaspi, and HR Ocampo were among the National Artists associated with Neo-Realism o Manansala Manansala’s The Beggars, 1952 consists of the image of two women with emaciated bodies, their forlorn faces set against a dark background capturing the dreariness of poverty. o Legaspi o o Legaspi’s Gadgets II, 1949 depicts half-naked men almost engulfed in the presence of machined. Their elongated limbs and exaggerated muscles indicate the hardship of their labor; their expressionless faces and repetitive actions rob them of their humanity as they function like machines HR Ocampo HR Ocampo’s The Contrast 1940 is a distinct figurative work which exposes dire human conditions amid the backdrops of modernity. Other Ramon Estella Victor Oteyza Ramon Tabuena (Blue Night) Support Institutions - Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) were established in 1948 under the leadership of artist Purita Kalaw-Ledesma. Philippine Art Gallery (PAG), provided a venue and laid out early programs for modern art was put up in 1951 through the efforts of the artist-writer Lydia Arguilla, and others. Printmaking - - Around this time, when there was little support for the graphic arts, the printmaking of (unfinished) Part of APP’s initiative is to sponsor contests to encourage art production. Its awardees include the Cebu-based Martino Abellana for his work Job was Also Man, and Fernando Zobel’s iconinc painting Carozza Both were awarded by the AAP in 1953. *Check photos nalang*
