What do Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, and Fernando Amorsolo have in common with Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali?

They all went to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain.

Luna entered the Real Academia in 1877 and in a year’s time won a silver medal at the prestigious Exposicion General de Bellas Artes for La Muerte de Cleopatra. In the same competition in 1884, his Spoliarium won a gold medal, while Hidalgo won a silver medal for his Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populache. Hidalgo entered the academy in 1879 and received a gold medal for his La Barca de Aqueronte in 1887. Luna and Hidalgo were the first Filipino painters to gain international recognition during the latter part of the nineteenth century.

Amorsolo, on the other hand, was given a grant to study at the Real Academia in 1917 by businessman Enrique Zobel. While in Spain, he encountered postwar impressionism and cubism, which influenced his work.

Nineteenth-century Philippines saw the establishment of formal art schools or academias patterned after academies in Europe.

In a two-hour lecture titled “Art Schooling of Filipino Artists in the 19th Century,” art historian Jose Maria Cario talks about the three academias established in the Philippines as well as the fine arts academies in Spain and Rome.The talk is part of the “Stories on Philippine  Art” lecture series organized by the Lopez Memorial Museum and the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, which aims to create more awareness of various personalities, art forms, and practices in the country.

A career diplomat and the director of the Office of United Nations and other International Relations at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Cario won an Anvil Award of Excellence in 1998 for “Discovering Philippine Art in Spain,” the National Book Award for Art, and the Alfonso Ongpin Award for Art History Research in 2002 for “Jose Honorato Lozano Filipinas, 1847,” and again in 2004 for “Album, Islas Filipinas 1663-1888.”

“Art Schooling of Filipino Artists in the 19th Century” is on September 13 (Saturday) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lopez Memorial Museum. Fees are P50 for students, P100 for Museum Foundation members, and P150 for nonmembers. For reservations, contact Fanny at (+63 2) 631 2417.

Art Schooling of Filipino Artists in the 19th Century
September 13, 2008 (Saturday), 2-4 p.m.
Lopez Memorial Museum
GF Benpres Building
Exchange Road, Pasig City

Photo from the Lopez Memorial Museum