Contemporary

Philippine Arts from

the Regions
Contemporary Art Forms and Their
Practices from the Various Regions
Finals – Module 2
Lesson 4: American and Japanese Period
Lesson 5: 70’s to Contemporary Period
Lesson 6: National Artists of the Philippines

What I need to know

 The 1896 Philippine Revolution paved the way to the country’s independence from
Spain. However, it became a short-lived liberty when the Americans became the
country’s new invaders. From one colonizer to another – after more than three centuries
of Spanish rule, the Americans came. They set out to conquer the Filipinos through
education and governance – the public school system and a system of government.

The extensive effort to provide education to Filipinos during the American

occupation lead the way for the locals to adapt to their influence in a surprising short
amount of time, and the instruction of the English language provide instrumental to this
change. They also provided greater artistic freedom for the Filipinos, with the exception
of works that contained hints of rebellion and discontent.
The fact that very few depictions of the devastation and atrocities of World War II were
produced within the Japanese occupation (1942-1945), some artworks presented a
neutral relationship between the Filipinos and the Japanese through works that showed
the normality of daily living.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Identify the different contributions in art made by the American and Japanese
Period.
2. Understand the issues discussed and their relationship to real-life situations.
3. Appreciate the role of art and artists during the period of American and Japanese
Period.

What I know

Look up for the definition of the following terms:

 • Tanikalang Guinto (Juan Abad)
- Juan Abad (February 8, 1872 – December 24, 1932) was a Filipino printer turned
playwright and journalist. His main contribution to Filipino theatre was his patriotic
plays: the zarzuela Ang Tanikalang Guinto (The Golden Chain), and Isang Punglo
ng Kaaway, the former which, caused his arrest and trial. Some authors credit Abad
with the introduction of symbolism to Tagalog drama,[1] a claim which is still to be
proven; although he may have been one of the first Tagalog dramatists to use
symbolism in their plays.
• Hindi Ako Patay (Juan Matapang)
- Hindi Aco Patay (Iam Not Dead) a full-length play drama simboliko written by Juan
Matapang Cruz in 1903. First staged at the Teatro Libertad in Singalong, Manila then
at the Teatro Nueva Luna in Malabon. In 1981 staged at the Puerto Real Gardens in
Intramuros Manila by the University of the Philippines (UP) Repertory Company.
Bonifacio Ilagan wrote a tagalog version from the english translation preserved by
Riggs found in Arthur Riggs, The Filipino Drama (1905) Manila: Intramuros
Administration, 1981. The play invited strong reactions from the colonial authorities
during its time. It was banned in mid-performance at Teatro Nueva Luna in Malabon,
and the troupe including the playwright's wife, was arrested and imprisoned. In court,
Cruz testified that he organized the Karangalan Dramatic Theartrical Company for
the purpose of presenting the play which seems to have been presented many
times-even advertised under different names-and won enthusiastic audiences.
• Kahapon, Ngayon, at Bukas (Aurelio Tolentino)
- Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas, Aurelio Tolentino's second of the cyclical flys and in
some respects most interesting of all the seditious dramas— *grid nature of its
incidents—Nature of the piece and what Tolentino tried b,do in writing it—Wou1d
there have been a third had not this
• Tuba Drinkers (Vicente Silva)
- Tuba Drinkers is one of the artworks of Vicente Manansala. It is a painting of men
drinking coconut wine (tuba) and women serving them in a classic bamboo hut. The
simplicity of the use of shapes and the complexity of the overlapping planes did a
great effect in the overall appearance of the artwork and the form used.
• Gadget II (Cesar Legaspi)
- A well-known work of Legaspi's from this period, Gadgets II (1949), depicts the
mutant fusing of man and machine in an age where the industrial was both feared
and mythologized.
 Lesson American Colonial Period to
4 Japanese Period

What’s In?
American Colonial Period (1898-1940) to the Postwar Republic (1946-1969) MAJOR ART
MOVEMENTS

The independence that the Philippines gained after the revolution of 1896 was cut short
with the establishment of the American colonial government in the Philippines Bound by
the Treaty of Paris in 1898, Spain “surrendered” the Philippines to United States.

What were the changes brought about by American colonization? How are they
different from the religious forms of the Spanish colonial period?

The Filipinos were at war with the Spanish and the Americans. Not long after the
Americans won in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American started. The
Philippines only wanted their independence.

Philippine Revolution (1896-1898) –

Filipino independence struggle that, after

more than 300 years of Spanish colonial
 rule, exposed the weakness of Spanish administration but failed to evict
Spaniards from the islands. The Spanish-American War brought Spain’s rule in
the Philippines to a close in 1898 but precipitated the Philippine-American War, a
bloody war between Filipino revolutionaries and the U.S. Army.
Treaty of Paris (1898) – Is a treaty concluding the Spanish-American War. It was
signed by representatives of Spain and the United States in Paris on December
10, 1898.

Writers began to produce scripts that talked about war and their
antiSpanish/antiAmerican feelings. There were hidden messages everywhere; from
character names, to costumes, to love themes, to staging of the scenes and
mannerisms of characters. Playwrights wrote about freedom and independence,
oppression from America.

THEATRE

TANIKALANG GUINTO (Juan Abad) – is a drama in three

acts written by Juan Abad in 1902.

This was first staged at the Teatro Libertad on July 7, 1902.

This was banned as “seditios” on May 10, 1903. Because
of this, Abad was sentenced to two years imprisonment and
fined $2,000.
The play talks about love and oppression. Ligaya (light,
spirit of independence) is forbidden to see her love
Kaulayaw (by her uncle Maimbot (greedy; the American
government). Maimbot then gives Ligaya a golden chain
which symbolizes his control over her.
Hindi Aco Patay (Juan Matapang) - The play talks about
the love between Karangalan (honor) and Tangulan
(defender, patriot) and their opposition to Macamcam (the
American government). Tangulan and Macamcam battle it
out and Tangulan dies.
However, he screams out “I am not dead!” The scenery
then changes to a rising sun on the Katipunan flag,
symbolizing freedom. A fight breaks out in the theatre
audience between the white men and the brown men.

Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas (Aurelio Tolentino) - talks

about Filipino oppressors from yesterday (the Chinese),
today (the Spanish), and tomorrow (the Americans).
Inangbaya (the Philippines) and her son Tagailog (the
Filipinos) conquer all of them.
 The scene then proceeds with the taking down of the American flag and stepping
on it, causing another riot between the white and brown men.

Because the lingua franca of this period was English, poems, and the stories from
books were dramatized in classroom, to facilitate the teaching of the English language.
Unlike the Spanish, the Americans zealously taught their language through an efficient
public school system.
LITERATURE

A Modern Filipina – the first Filipino play written in English. To this day, English
plays from the classic to Broadway and West End musicals are still staged in the
Philippines and are generally
lucrative ventures.
Inspired by the City Beautiful Movement
introduced in 1893 at the Chicago World
Fair, the new urban designed employed
Neoclassic architecture for its government
edifices and integrated parks and lawn
inviting for leisure amid urban blight.

ARTISTS

Dela Rosa was known for his

naturalist paintings characterized by

restraint and formally in brushwork,
choice of somber colors, and subject
matter, as seen in the works
PLANTING RICE (1921) and EL
KUNDIMAN (1930).

Fernando Amorsolo had produced numerous portraits of prominent individuals;

genre scenes highlighting the beauty of the dalagang Filipina, idyllic landscapes;
and historical paintings.
 He was also a graphic artist who rendered drawings or the textbooks series The
Philippine Readers as well as
illustrations for the newspaper The
Independent.
Guillermo Tolentino is credited for the
iconic Oblation (1935) of the University of
the Philippines and the Bonifacio
Monument (1933) in Caloocan.
 “Botong” Francisco is known for his
magisterial murals, particularly Filipino
Struggles Through History (1964), one
of the largest and most ambitious in
scope, which he did for the Manila City
Hall.
Japanese Occupation (1941-1945)

Early moderns and conservative alike continued

to produce art and even participated in
KALIBAPI (Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod ng
Bagong Pilipinas) sponsored art competitions.

LITERATURE

In 1943 & 1944, Purugganan and Francisco

won KALIBAPI award, respectively. Slogans
such as “Asia for Asians” made its way to the
public through posters, ephemera, comics, and
Japanese sponsored publications such as the
following:

Shin-Seiki (Bagong Araw) - the magazine

of the KALIBAPI used Tagalog and

Japanese side by side. Films and plays
of the period, were all done in the
national language.
Liwayway (Dawn) – is a Tagalog
magazine published since 1922. It
contains Tagalog serialized novels, short
stories, poetry, comics, essays,
entertainment news and articles.
Tribune – It competed with the
Americanowned Manila Day Bulletin and
rival Philippines Herald.
MUSIC

Awit sa Paglikha ng Bagong Pilipinas –

composed by National Artist Felipe P. De

Leon, was said to have been
“commanded at the point of the gun”.
 Declared as the anthem specifically for the period. It conveyed
allegiance to the nation reared
 in East Asia, where Japan was actively asserting
political power.
Sa Kabukiran – written in Tagalog in the 1940s by the acclaimed composer Levi
Celerio (National Artist for Music and Literature, 1997)
 Sylvia La Torre’s operatic singing along with an
energetic tempo offered an escape from the troubles of war.
VISUAL ARTS (Fernando Amorsolo) 1.
Harvest Scene and Rice Planting (1942)
 These paintings that evoked a semblance of peace, idealized work in the
countryside, and
promote values of docile industriousness.

2. Bombing of the Intendencia (1942) – Scenes from the war were also made.
The imagery remained neutral, focusing rather on the aesthetic qualities of ruin and
disaster.

3. Ruins of the Manila Cathedral (1945) – they draw attention to the elegant
handling of the value in the billows of smoke or the pile of ruins rather than the
urgency of the disaster itself.

(Crispin Lopez)

1. Study of an Aeta (1943) – portraits representing different

ethnolinguistic groups were produced. (Vicente Silva
Manansala)
Many of Manansala’s paintings are characterized by the transparent cubism, a style
marked by the soft fragmentation of figures using transparent planes instead of
hardedges ones.

1. Tuba Drinkers (1954) - It is a

painting of men drinking coconut
wine (tuba) and women serving
them in a classic bamboo hut. The
simplicity of the use of shapes and
the complexity of the overlapping
planes did a great effect in the
overall appearance of the artwork
and the form used.
2. 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.
(Cesar Torrente Legaspi)

1. Gadget II (1949) - depicts the mutant

fusing of man and machine in an age
where the industrial was both feared
and mythologized.
2. Bar Girls (1947) – Most of Legaspi’s
figures in this period are distorted by
his elongating or making rotund forms
in a well-ordered composition.
The 1950s also saw the construction of modern architectural structures, particularly
churches that modified or veered away from traditional cruciform designs.

 Church of Holy Sacrifice

& Church of the Risen
Lord (1955) – within the
UP Diliman campus, these
were both employed
concrete as
primary material and
experimented with
rounded or parabolic
forms.
 Chapel of St. Joseph the Worker (1950)
- was designed by New York architect
Anthony Raymond (an apprentice of the
great American architect Frank Lloyd
Wright) and was built, on the site of the
old factory, from 1948 to 1949.
Earthquakeproof, its tower and nave are
connected by movable beams.
 What’s more?

Research: State at least 3 works produced by the 2 artists from the American Period
and Japanese Period given below. Make a diagram using the 4 Key Questions: WHO
(artist), WHAT (artwork), WHEN, (date) and WHY (definition).

What I Have Learned

 IDENTIFICATION: Write the term that best describe the following definitions. (20 pts)

1. Its portrait is created to represent the different ethnolinguistic groups. Study of an Aeta
2. This was a subsequent conflict fought between the people and insurgents of the
Philippines and the Spanish colonial authorities. Philippine Revolution
3. It is considered as the first Filipino play that is written in the English language. A
modern filipina
4-5. These paintings promote the work of the countryside and the life in the rural
environment. Rice planting
6. She sang the song “Sa Kabukiran” along with an energetic tempo that offered an
escape from the troubles of war. Sylvia La Torre
7-8. The bombing of the Intendencia painting is focused more in these two aesthetic
qualities rather than the damage it has done. Ethical critism of art
9. It is the period where moderns and conservative artists participated in KALIBAPI.
Japanese period
10. It talks about Filipino oppressors from Chinese, Spanish, and then Americans.
Kahapon, ngayong at bukas
11. One of the largest and most ambitious scope which Botong Francisco did for the
Manila City Hall. Filipino struggles through history
12. It competed with the American-owned Manila Day Bulletin and rival Philippines
Herald. tribune

13. He is the composer of “Awit sa Paglikha ng Bagong Pilipinas”. Felipe P. de leon

14. This is when Juan Abad’s “Tanikalang Guinto” was banned as seditios that got him
imprisoned for two years. May 10 1903
15. This is how the Spanish “surrendered” Philippines to the Americans
- The independence that the Philippines gained after the revolution of 1896 was cut
short with the establishment of the American colonial government in the Philippines
Bound by the Treaty of Paris in 1898
16. It is the magazine of KALIBAPI that uses both Tagalog and Japanese language.
Shin seiki
17. An architecture designed by New York architect, Anthony Raymond. Chapel of st.
joseph the worker

18. It depicts the mutant fusing of man and machine through this artwork. Gadget II

19. Many of Manansala’s paintings are characterized by this style. Cubism

20. This painting consists of the image of two women with emaciated bodies that
represents poverty. The beggars
 What I Can Do

Give 5 advantages and 5 disadvantages about the colonization of the American and
Japanese Period that brought changes to the Philippine Arts. (20 pts)

Advantages

1. Once World War II hit, the plans for the Philippines to finally gain independence went
downhill as Japan invaded the Philippines and took control. There isn't nearly as
much cultural influence that the Japanese occupation had on the Philippines as
Spain or the United States had.
2. This is because Japan did not offer any support to the Philippines during the short
time they occupied the Philippines during the war, as these were times of conflict.
However, there has been a good amount of influence that is seen today to come out
of it through infrastructure and trade. There was not enough time for Japan to
establish any permanent influence, but they did manage to improve infrastructure by
building major highways, bridges, airports, railways, and ports.
3. This was to improve transport of troops and goods during the war for Japan's benefit,
but after the war it served the people of the Philippines well as an improved means
of trade and transportation.
4. A notable relationship that can be seen today between the Philippines and Japan is
their trade. Japan is the Philippines highest percentage of total exports, at 15.5%.
5. This may not directly relate to the influence of Filipino culture, but the amount of
exports and trading between the two countries serves as a good relationship that
can positively influence the Filipino culture indirectly.

Disadvantages

1. The invasion of the Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the
attack on Pearl Harbor. As at Pearl Harbor, American aircraft were severely
damaged in the initial Japanese attack. Lacking air cover, the American Asiatic Fleet
in the Philippines withdrew to Java on 12 December 1941. General Douglas
MacArthur was ordered out, leaving his men at Corregidor on the night of 11 March
1942 for Australia, 4,000 km away. The 76,000 starving and sick American and
Filipino defenders in Bataan surrendered on 9 April 1942, and were forced to endure
the infamous Bataan Death March on which 7,000–10,000 died or were murdered.
The 13,000 survivors on Corregidor surrendered on 6 May.
2. Japan launched an attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, just ten hours
after their attack on Pearl Harbor. Initial aerial bombardment was followed by
landings of ground troops both north and south of Manila. The defending Philippine
and United States troops were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur,
who had been recalled to active duty in the United States Army earlier in the year
and was designated commander of the United States Armed Forces in the Asia-
Pacific region.The aircraft of his command were destroyed; the naval forces were
 ordered to leave; and because of the circumstances in the Pacific region,
reinforcement and resupply of his ground forces were impossible. Under the
pressure of superior numbers, the defending forces withdrew to the Bataan
Peninsula and to the island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay. Manila,
declared an open city to prevent its destruction,[8] was occupied by the Japanese on
2 January 1942.
3. The Philippine defense continued until the final surrender of U.S.-Philippine forces
on the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and on Corregidor in May. Most of the 80,000
prisoners of war captured by the Japanese at Bataan were forced to undertake the
infamous "Bataan Death March" to a prison camp 105 kilometers to the north.
Thousands of men, weakened by disease and malnutrition and treated harshly by
their captors, died before reaching their destination. Quezon and Osmeña had
accompanied the troops to Corregidor and later left for the United States, where they
set up a government-in-exile. MacArthur was ordered to Australia, where he started
to plan for a return to the Philippines.
4. MacArthur's Allied forces landed on the island of Leyte on 20 October 1944,
accompanied by Osmeña, who had succeeded to the commonwealth presidency
upon the death of Quezon on 1 August 1944. Landings then followed on the island of
Mindoro and around Lingayen Gulf on the west side of Luzon, and the push toward
Manila was initiated. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was restored. Fighting
was fierce, particularly in the mountains of northern Luzon, where Japanese troops
had retreated, and in Manila, where they put up a last-ditch resistance. The
Philippine Commonwealth troops and the recognized guerrilla fighter units rose up
everywhere for the final offensive. Filipino guerrillas also played a large role during
the liberation. One guerrilla unit came to substitute for a regularly constituted
American division, and other guerrilla forces of battalion and regimental size
supplemented the efforts of the U.S. Army units. Moreover, the cooperative Filipino
population eased the problems of supply, construction and civil administration and
furthermore eased the task of Allied forces in recapturing the country.
5. Fighting continued until Japan's formal surrender on 2 September 1945. The
Philippines had suffered great loss of life and tremendous physical destruction by the
time the war was over. An estimated 527,000 Filipinos, both military and civilians,
had been killed from all causes; of these between 131,000 and 164,000 were killed
in seventy-two war crime events. According to a United States analysis released
years after the war, U.S. casualties were 10,380 dead and 36,550 wounded;
Japanese dead were 255,795. Filipino deaths during the occupations, on the other
hand, are estimated to be more be around 527,000 (27,000 military dead, 141,000
massacred, 22,500 forced labor deaths and 336,500 deaths due war related famine).
The Philippine population decreased continuously for the next five years due to the
spread of diseases and the lack of basic needs, far from the Filipino lifestyle prior to
the war when the country had been the second richest in Asia after Japan