AFTER seven long years, the new National Artists who were already proclaimed since 2009 and 2014 have received the recognitions they truly deserved in a conferment ceremony on April 13, 2016 at the Malacañang Palace.
The newly-conferred National Artists were Alicia Garcia Reyes (for Dance), Cirilo Bautista (Literature), Francisco Coching (Visual Arts), Francisco Feliciano (Music), Ramon Santos (Music) and Jose Maria Zaragoza (Architecture, Design and Allied Arts), who were all proclaimed in 2014.
Manuel Conde (Film and Broadcast Arts), Lazaro Francisco (Literature) and Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (Visual Arts), who have been proclaimed since 2009, were awarded posthumously.
Receiving the posthumous awards were their awardees’ respective family members: Alcuaz was represented by his son Christian Aguilar. Actor Manuel “Jun” Urbano, Jr. received the awards in behalf of his father Manuel Conde. Lazaro Francisco’s son Rafael accepted the medal. The women behind the success of Francisco Coching (wife Felomina), Francisco Feliciano (wife Rebecca) and Jose Maria Zaragoza (wife Pilar) received the recognitions.
Leading the ceremony was President Benigno S. Aquino Jr. who has recognized the significant contributions of the nine individuals to the development of Philippine arts and culture. He enthused that the new National Artists have shaped the Filipino identity and honors through their various works.
In attendance during the ceremony were: National Artists Virgilio Almario, Benedicto Cabrera and Bienvenido Lumbera, NCCA chairman Felipe de Leon Jr. and OIC-executive director Adelina Suemith, CCP chairperson Emelie Abrera and president Raul Sunico, and Press Secretary Sonny Coloma, among others.
Created through Proclamation No. 1001 in April 27, 1972, the Order of the National Artist Award aims to to give appropriate honors to Filipinos who have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields and made outstanding contributions to Philippine arts and culture. The first award was conferred posthumously to Fernando Amorsolo in 1973.
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Meet the new national artists. Who are these new National Artists and what have they done to deserve the highest national recognition given to Filipino individuals?
NCCA chairman de Leon Jr. explained the role of the National Artists, and arts and culture in general, to the development of the Filipino society.
“Ang mga Dalub-sining (National Artist) ang nagpapaalala at humahamon sa ating lahat na panagumapayan ang pinakamatayog na tadhana ng ating pagkatao. Misyon ng mga dalub-sining na panatilihing masigla ang kalooban at patuloy mapag-alab ang ating malikhaing diwa. Hinaharap nila sa atin ang larawan ng buhay na nagpapayaman at nagpapalalim sa ating pagkatao. Bukod sa lahat, nabibigyan nila ng mataas na kahulugan at karangalan ang pagiging Filipino. Napaaangat nila ang antas at dignidad ng pagiging Filipino sa loob at labas ng bansa.”
Here are the newly-conferred National Artists and their contributions to the Philippine society:
Alice Reyes (Dance)
Alice Reyes founded the Ballet Philippines, one of the strongest ballet companies in the country. She established the Summer Dance Workshop of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1970, a year after the cultural center has been inaugurated and became an institution. Through this workshop, she beckoned dance students from all over the country and nurtured them to become professional dancers, choreographers and teachers for several generations.
After finishing her master’s degree in fine arts, majoring in dance, at Sarah Lawrence College, she proposed to direct a resident dance company and school, the Ballet Philippines and the CCP Dance School, respectively. She named it Ballet Philippines to show how the company encompassed the art form and was representative not only of the CCP, but the whole of the Philippines.
The repertoire of the company was programmed and developed by Reyes, who sought to balance ballet classics, to showcase the capability of our homegrown dancers as world-class performers, with original Filipino choreographies. She programmed her company’s seasons to include a Christmas ballet, starting the Philippine tradition for families to come to the ballet as part of their holiday activities.
Her notable works included: Tales of Manuvu, Bayanihan Remembered, Rama Hari, Bungkos Suite, Dugso, Anting Anting, Amada and Itim Asu. She has collaborated with notable Filipino artists from other genres in the Philippine Music Festival, including Jose Maceda, Ramon Santos, Rodolfo Cornejo, Eliseo Pajaro and Antonino Buenaventura, and the local choreographers that Reyes nurtured and mentored in her company. Reyes established the off-season show “Five Young Choreographers” to further encourage young choreographers to produce new works, which eventually made it to the company’s repertoire.
Cirilo Bautista (Literature)
A poet, fictionist and essayist, Cirilo F. Bautista has made great contributions to the development of the country’s literary art. In his writing career that spans more than four decades, Bautista has been known for his fine and profound artistry. Crowning his literary career was his Trilogy of Saint Lazarus, with its astounding visualization of Philippine history and nationhood that became crucial in shaping the direction and character of Philippine poetics.
His notable works included fiction Galaw ng Asoge, essays Desire and Memory: Essays on Life and Literature (2013), The House of True Desire: Essays about Life and Literature (2011), Bullets and Roses: The Poetry of Amado V. Hernandez (2002), Words and Battlefields (1998), poems The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus (three volumes in one edition, 2001), Sunlight on Broken Stones (1999), Kirot ng Kataga (1995), Boneyard Breaking (1992), and Sugat ng Salita (1985), among others.
To bring poetry and fiction closer to the Filipino people, Bautista holds workshops and lectures throughout the country where he would share literary developments and techniques to student-writers. Realizing that classroom is an important training ground for Filipino writers, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Bienvenido Santos Creative Writing Center, the Philippine Literary Arts Council in 1981, the Iligan National Writers Workshop on 1993, and the Baguio Writers Group.
Federico Aguilar (Visual Arts, posthumous)
Federico Aguilar y Alcuaz, a.k.a Aguilar Alcuaz, is known for his gestural paintings in acrylic and oil, and sketches in ink, watercolor and pencil. He rendered abstract and figurative works in ceramics and tapestries. He created the “Alcuazaics” artworks, which are relief sculptures made of paper and mixed media.
“His works are notable not only for their studied refinement and European flair, but also for his choice of light, color and composition, adding up to scenes that are always quite playful but never cluttered. His love for classical music is also apparent in this constant fluidity.”
In deference to his father’s wish, Alcuaz obtained a law degree in 1955 at Ateneo de Manila in Padre Faura, Manila. But he didn’t practice law. After mounting an exhibit at the Philippine Art Gallery, he received a fellowship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Spain and proceeded to study at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. After finishing his studies, he continued to live in Europe to familiarize himself with the European art and culture, mounting exhibits in Madrid and Barcelona, where he met his future wife Ute Schmidt who he married in 1959n and have three children.
In 1964, the family moved to Manila; however, after four years, his wife returned to Germany with their three sons. Alcuaz would then shuttle between Europe to see his family and mount exhibits, and Manila where he preferred to have his studio at the Manila Hilton (now Manila Pavilion).
While he enjoyed an international career, he chose to establish roots in his home country. His dualities – an art student juggling his law studies, an expat longing both for home and for his family in another land, a local living in a hotel like an eternal tourist – gave depth to his works. Despite coming from a privileged background and having global credentials, Alcuaz imbibed the travails and the stubborn optimism of Filipino diaspora. A philanthropist, Alcuaz would do exhibits whose proceeds went to the University of the Philippines, San Beda College and the Ateneo de Manila as a sign of gratitude for the education he received.
Francisco V. Coching (Visual Arts-comics illustration, posthumous)
Known as the “Dean of Filipino Illustrators,” Francisco Coching was a master storyteller, who combined fertile imagination, a love of storytelling, and fine draftsmanship in his various works. In his career spanning four decades, he championed Philippine folk and pop culture in his illustrations and novels.
In 1934, he became the moving force in the comics industry. His works were known for great draftsmanship, featuring his expertise in anatomy, perspective and dynamic compositions. With strong yet elegant lines, he narrated stories with unerring sense of perfect angle, providing dramatic credence that would build the character arc. “The narrative would unfold in sequences of framed images and accompanying balloon texts that do not interfere with the images.” (Alice Guillermo)
Filmmakers like National Artists Lamberto Javellana and Gerardo de Leon translated Coching’s novels into films, starring the men and women who are also icons in their own right such as Gloria Romero, Fernando Poe Jr., Tita Duran, Pancho Magalona and Rita Gomez. With his strong sense for drama, perfect angles and detailed narration, it is believed that the directors who translated his works into film would shoot with the comic book on their hands guiding them frame by frame.
His works were based on Philippine culture, reflecting the dynamics brought about by the racial and class conflict in Philippine colonial society in the 19th century, valorizing the indigenous and untrammeled Filipinos, and creating the native sense of self in his Malay heroes as seen in Lapu-Lapu and Sagisag ng Lahing Pilipino. In Haring Ulupong, he was inspired by the Philippine myths and folklores, featuring grotesque characters such as vampire bats and shriveled witches.
He also grounded his works based on his experience during the Japanese occupation, and drew from popular post-war culture of the 50s, weaving narratives based on the changing times such as in Pusakal, Talipandas, Gigolo and Maldita. He brought to consciousness of the Filipino people the various issues on race and identity, as well as concept of hero in Dimasalang and El Vibora.
Francisco F. Feliciano (Music, posthumous)
Whether as a composer, conductor and educator, Francisco Feliciano celebrates the Filipino ethnicity and brings “Asianness” to his various works, championing the Asian culture as a rich source of inspiration. His strong desire to embrace indigenous cultures is very evident in his compositions.
His works are known for their unique sounds of the indigenous music in compositions, with high technical demands that are equal to the compositions of masters in the western world. In his choral pieces, he incorporates “many subtleties of rhythmic vitality and intricate interweaving of lines, inspired from the songs of the Philippine indigenous groups.”
He borrows musical lines from the indigenous music and transforms them into an energetic fusion of sound and culture that celebrates ethnicity, evident in La Loba Negra, Ashen Wings and Yerma. Feliciano would also bring out the Filipino mysticism in his simple harmonies.
Founding the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music in 1981, his life-long mission is to propagate a new language for religious music. His strong influence among those who have studied at AILM can be seen on the renewed worship repertoire in many churches in Asian countries.
Whenever he performed as a conductor, his nationalism shines through because he would insist to include at least one Filipino composition in his program. He strongly believes that when Filipino compositions are done well, in terms of composition and performance, they can make it to the international stage.
To be continued