Alcuaz, Conde lead National Artists
By Lito Zulueta
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:26:00 06/07/2009
Filed Under: Arts and Culture and Entertainment
MANILA, Philippines – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to proclaim painter Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, composer Ramon Santos, the late filmmaker Manuel Conde and the late Tagalog novelist Lazaro Francisco as the country’s new National Artists, said culture officials who declined to be named.
The four names were elected in a meeting of the joint boards of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and submitted to Malacañang for the President’s proclamation.
While the President cannot veto any name or subtract from the NCCA-CCP list, she has the prerogative to add to it, as in 2008 when she included Mindanao visual artist Abdulmari Imao, along with those elected by the NCCA and CCP—Bienvenido Lumbera, Benedicto Cabrera (“Bencab”), Ildefonso Santos, Fernando Poe Jr., Ramon Obusan and Ramon Valera.
Culture circles say the President might add comics author Carlo J. Caparas, theater veteran Zeneida Amador, fashion designer José Moreno, and/or architect Francisco Mañosa to the list.
Orden ng Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining (Order of National Artists) is the highest national recognition given to Filipinos who have made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts. Its categories are Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film and Broadcast Arts, and Architecture and Allied Arts.
The order is jointly administered by the NCCA and CCP and conferred by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation by both institutions.
A living National Artist receives a monthly stipend of P24,000 and annual medical and hospitalization support of P750,000. He or she also receives support from the NCCA for her or his artistic projects.
The heir of a posthumous National Artist will receive P75,000 upon the proclamation.
Because two of the four awards this year will be given posthumously, there is renewed debate on whether to put a cap to the number of years after the death of a nominee, or doing away altogether with posthumous awards.
Although there was a rule before that the award could be given posthumously only within 10 years after a nominee’s death, this rule appears to have been abandoned when Severino Montano (1915-1980) was proclaimed National Artist in 2001 and Valera (1912-1972) in 2006. The rule appears to have been again ignored this year—Lazaro Francisco died in 1980.
There were also arguments raised that the National Artist award should stick to the seven classical arts and no longer be given for Landscape Architecture (Santos received this award in 2006), Fashion Design (Valera), and Broadcast Arts (with no recipient yet).
Alcuaz
Alcuaz (born 1932) is perhaps the most important living Filipino modernist painter, with mastery of both representational (still-life, portrait, landscape) and nonrepresentational idioms (abstract and abstract expressionism), evincing skill in both traditional (oil and acrylic) and non-traditional (weave) mediums.
Staying for several years in Barcelona, Spain, he won several prizes in Europe. In 2007, Arroyo gave him the Presidential Merit Medal.
Alcuaz’s works are included in the collection of some 20 museums and major cultural institutions in the world today, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona; Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid; Gulvenkian Foundation Museum of London; Museum of Modern Art of Warsaw; Museum of Modern Art of Krakow; Philips Cultural Museum of the Netherlands.
Alcuaz pieces have lately enjoyed record biddings in international auctions such as the September 2007 Sotheby’s auction in Singapore and the 2007 Christie’s auction in Hong Kong, in which his “Tres Marias” sold at HK$271,000 (P1,490,000), nine times above the minimum estimate, and his “Still Life with Landscape” sold at HK$112,500 (P618,750), which is five times the minimum estimate.
Santos
Ramon Santos (born 1941) is exponent and composer of new and experimental music. He incorporates largely Philippine and Southeast Asian idioms in his compositions. His works derive from both Western and non-Western sources, combining orchestral instrumentation from both, such as Javanese gamelan and Philippine instruments. The same eclectic and innovative adaptation and original recasting characterize his vocal compositions.
His musicological and other scholarly studies have been published in leading journals here and abroad. He has been at one time or another chair of the Asian Composers League and secretary general of the League of Filipino Composers. He was also head of the NCCA Subcommission on the Arts and NCCA board commissioner.
Conde
When the book “The Cinema of Manuel Conde,” written by Filipino popular-culture scholar Nicanor Tiongson and published by the UST Publishing House, was launched last year during the fourth Cinemalaya festival of independent films at the CCP, Conde (1915-1980) was declared “the father of independent filmmaking.”
The title owes to the fact that decades before the phrase “indie cinema” was invented and became current, Conde was already producing, writing, directing and even starring in his own independent productions that challenged the hegemony of commercial movie studios such as LVN, Sampaguita, Premiere and Lebran.
Conde produced and directed lavish costume spectacles of Western mythological and historical figures, such as “Siete Infantes de Lara” (1950) and “Sigfredo” (1951), which were blockbusters during their time.
He also portrayed the Filipino everyman, Juan Tamad, in a hit movie series that he himself produced and directed, which were powerful political satires and gave birth to a whole new genre of film that used anachronism to make trenchant commentary on pressing issues of the day.
Decades ahead of Lino Brocka, Kidlat Tahimik and Brillante Mendoza breaking into the international film-festival circuit, Conde’s “Genghis Khan” became the first Filipino movie to be shown in the 1952 Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest international film festival and the most prestigious, along with those of Cannes and Berlin.
In almost all of his spectacular productions, Conde’s art director and production designer was Carlos “Botong” Francisco, who himself was to be proclaimed National Artist in the 1970s.
Francisco
Along with National Artist Amado Hernandez, the prolific Lazaro Francisco (1898-1980) is perhaps the most important Tagalog fictionist, a reputation that has become more and more unassailable with the critical consensus arising from the republications of several of his novels since his death.
Between 1925 and 1960, Francisco wrote 12 novels which were serialized and eagerly read in Liwayway, the weekly Tagalog magazine. His novels tackled romance, class tensions, tenancy issues and agrarian unrest.
Says literary historian and National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera: “When the history of the Filipino novel is written, Lazaro Francisco is likely to occupy an eminent position in it. Already in Tagalog literature, he ranks among the finest novelists since the beginning of the 20th century.”
“Dalubhasa sa wika, malalim sa pilosopiya, may puso sa dukha, idealistang nangangarap ng magandang daigdig, mamalikmatahin niya ang mambabasa... upang pagkaraa’y matuklasan nitong ang mata’y tinamaan na ng liwanag ni Lazaro Francisco [Wordsmith, deep thinker, champion of the poor, an idealist... the reader who dreams of a better world would discover he has all along been dazzled and inspired by the light of Lazaro Francisco],” wrote the late Tagalog contemporary fictionist Rogelio R. Sikat.
By Lito Zulueta
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:26:00 06/07/2009
Filed Under: Arts and Culture and Entertainment
MANILA, Philippines – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to proclaim painter Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, composer Ramon Santos, the late filmmaker Manuel Conde and the late Tagalog novelist Lazaro Francisco as the country’s new National Artists, said culture officials who declined to be named.
The four names were elected in a meeting of the joint boards of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and submitted to Malacañang for the President’s proclamation.
While the President cannot veto any name or subtract from the NCCA-CCP list, she has the prerogative to add to it, as in 2008 when she included Mindanao visual artist Abdulmari Imao, along with those elected by the NCCA and CCP—Bienvenido Lumbera, Benedicto Cabrera (“Bencab”), Ildefonso Santos, Fernando Poe Jr., Ramon Obusan and Ramon Valera.
Culture circles say the President might add comics author Carlo J. Caparas, theater veteran Zeneida Amador, fashion designer José Moreno, and/or architect Francisco Mañosa to the list.
Orden ng Gawad Pambansang Alagad ng Sining (Order of National Artists) is the highest national recognition given to Filipinos who have made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts. Its categories are Music, Dance, Theater, Visual Arts, Literature, Film and Broadcast Arts, and Architecture and Allied Arts.
The order is jointly administered by the NCCA and CCP and conferred by the President of the Philippines upon recommendation by both institutions.
A living National Artist receives a monthly stipend of P24,000 and annual medical and hospitalization support of P750,000. He or she also receives support from the NCCA for her or his artistic projects.
The heir of a posthumous National Artist will receive P75,000 upon the proclamation.
Because two of the four awards this year will be given posthumously, there is renewed debate on whether to put a cap to the number of years after the death of a nominee, or doing away altogether with posthumous awards.
Although there was a rule before that the award could be given posthumously only within 10 years after a nominee’s death, this rule appears to have been abandoned when Severino Montano (1915-1980) was proclaimed National Artist in 2001 and Valera (1912-1972) in 2006. The rule appears to have been again ignored this year—Lazaro Francisco died in 1980.
There were also arguments raised that the National Artist award should stick to the seven classical arts and no longer be given for Landscape Architecture (Santos received this award in 2006), Fashion Design (Valera), and Broadcast Arts (with no recipient yet).
Alcuaz
Alcuaz (born 1932) is perhaps the most important living Filipino modernist painter, with mastery of both representational (still-life, portrait, landscape) and nonrepresentational idioms (abstract and abstract expressionism), evincing skill in both traditional (oil and acrylic) and non-traditional (weave) mediums.
Staying for several years in Barcelona, Spain, he won several prizes in Europe. In 2007, Arroyo gave him the Presidential Merit Medal.
Alcuaz’s works are included in the collection of some 20 museums and major cultural institutions in the world today, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona; Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid; Gulvenkian Foundation Museum of London; Museum of Modern Art of Warsaw; Museum of Modern Art of Krakow; Philips Cultural Museum of the Netherlands.
Alcuaz pieces have lately enjoyed record biddings in international auctions such as the September 2007 Sotheby’s auction in Singapore and the 2007 Christie’s auction in Hong Kong, in which his “Tres Marias” sold at HK$271,000 (P1,490,000), nine times above the minimum estimate, and his “Still Life with Landscape” sold at HK$112,500 (P618,750), which is five times the minimum estimate.
Santos
Ramon Santos (born 1941) is exponent and composer of new and experimental music. He incorporates largely Philippine and Southeast Asian idioms in his compositions. His works derive from both Western and non-Western sources, combining orchestral instrumentation from both, such as Javanese gamelan and Philippine instruments. The same eclectic and innovative adaptation and original recasting characterize his vocal compositions.
His musicological and other scholarly studies have been published in leading journals here and abroad. He has been at one time or another chair of the Asian Composers League and secretary general of the League of Filipino Composers. He was also head of the NCCA Subcommission on the Arts and NCCA board commissioner.
Conde
When the book “The Cinema of Manuel Conde,” written by Filipino popular-culture scholar Nicanor Tiongson and published by the UST Publishing House, was launched last year during the fourth Cinemalaya festival of independent films at the CCP, Conde (1915-1980) was declared “the father of independent filmmaking.”
The title owes to the fact that decades before the phrase “indie cinema” was invented and became current, Conde was already producing, writing, directing and even starring in his own independent productions that challenged the hegemony of commercial movie studios such as LVN, Sampaguita, Premiere and Lebran.
Conde produced and directed lavish costume spectacles of Western mythological and historical figures, such as “Siete Infantes de Lara” (1950) and “Sigfredo” (1951), which were blockbusters during their time.
He also portrayed the Filipino everyman, Juan Tamad, in a hit movie series that he himself produced and directed, which were powerful political satires and gave birth to a whole new genre of film that used anachronism to make trenchant commentary on pressing issues of the day.
Decades ahead of Lino Brocka, Kidlat Tahimik and Brillante Mendoza breaking into the international film-festival circuit, Conde’s “Genghis Khan” became the first Filipino movie to be shown in the 1952 Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest international film festival and the most prestigious, along with those of Cannes and Berlin.
In almost all of his spectacular productions, Conde’s art director and production designer was Carlos “Botong” Francisco, who himself was to be proclaimed National Artist in the 1970s.
Francisco
Along with National Artist Amado Hernandez, the prolific Lazaro Francisco (1898-1980) is perhaps the most important Tagalog fictionist, a reputation that has become more and more unassailable with the critical consensus arising from the republications of several of his novels since his death.
Between 1925 and 1960, Francisco wrote 12 novels which were serialized and eagerly read in Liwayway, the weekly Tagalog magazine. His novels tackled romance, class tensions, tenancy issues and agrarian unrest.
Says literary historian and National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera: “When the history of the Filipino novel is written, Lazaro Francisco is likely to occupy an eminent position in it. Already in Tagalog literature, he ranks among the finest novelists since the beginning of the 20th century.”
“Dalubhasa sa wika, malalim sa pilosopiya, may puso sa dukha, idealistang nangangarap ng magandang daigdig, mamalikmatahin niya ang mambabasa... upang pagkaraa’y matuklasan nitong ang mata’y tinamaan na ng liwanag ni Lazaro Francisco [Wordsmith, deep thinker, champion of the poor, an idealist... the reader who dreams of a better world would discover he has all along been dazzled and inspired by the light of Lazaro Francisco],” wrote the late Tagalog contemporary fictionist Rogelio R. Sikat.
http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20090607-209267/Alcuaz-Conde-lead-National-Artists
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