The next day, I continued on my rounds of the National Museum, this time proceeding to the next door National Gallery of Art, housed in the Old Legislative (Congress) Building. This historic edifice, a magnificent Neo-Classic-inspired structure with stylized Corinthian columns, is a work of art in itself.
It was designed in the Federal style of architecture as a museum/library in 1921 by American architect and Manila and Baguio City planner Daniel H. Burnham and Filipino architect (and later 1973 National Artist) Juan Nakpil. It functioned as a museum/library until 1935 when it was made the legislative seat of the Philippine Commonwealth.
This grand, earthquake-proof edifice, was, however, reduced to rubble during the Liberation of Manila. After the war, the building was rehabilitated with Ralph Doane and Antonio Toledo as architects in charge for its construction and extensive renovation. A fourth floor was added.
After the declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972, Congress was abolished and the building was closed. After years of neglect, the building was restored to its former glory as the Executive House, Office of the Vice-President, Philippine Senate and finally as the permanent home of the National Gallery of Art. It was formally inaugurated as such on October 18, 2001, during the National Museum’s centennial.
The museum’s ground and fourth floors houses offices, laboratories and storage. The second floor houses art exhibits while the third floor has a seminar hall and two major halls, also airconditioned, for science exhibits. Today, the National Gallery of Art has amassed a collection of 1,204 visual art pieces, most of which are paintings housed in three major halls and three smaller halls at the second floor, all airconditioned. A session hall, for formal lectures and concerts, has just been refurbished.
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| The National Gallery of Art |
The remarkable Juan Luna studied and perfected his craft by living in the art capitals of the world: Rome (Italy), Paris (France) and Madrid (Spain). In Spain, he was commissioned by the Spanish Senate and King Alfonso XII to paint El Batalla de Lepanto (The Battle of Lepanto) which now hangs at the halls of the Spanish Senate.
Another work, La Muerte de Cleopatra (Death of Cleopatra), won the silver medal at the 1881 Exposicion General de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain. His last major work, Peuple et Rois (People and Kings), completed in 1889, was acclaimed as the best entry in the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire during World War II. But these were not his greatest obra maestras.
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| Juan Luna’s Spoliarium |
Rendered in frenzied fin de siecle brushstrokes, it was identified by Jose Rizal as an allusion to the exploitation of the country by Spain. This art achievement underscored the ability of Filipinos to compete with Europeans at their backcourt and it was also a subtle affirmation of the Filipino’s capability to run affairs back home.
The Art Donations to the National Museum Hall displays notable donated art pieces by rising stars Emilio Aguilar-Cruz, Lex Cachapero, Elizabeth Chan, Papo de Asis, Jaime de Guzman, Gene de Loyola, Josie de Ocampo, Zozimo Dimaano, Miguel Galvez, Elmer Gernale, Ang Kiukok, Gregorio Lim, Hernando R. Ocampo, Joaquin Palencia, Al Perez, Jonathan Pulido, Carlos P. Valino and Roy Veneracion.
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| A retablo at the Religious Art Hall |
The Religious Art Hall houses Spanish-era statues of saints, paintings and retablos. Retablos are intricately carved and decorated altar pieces which are often gilded, polychromed and embellished with rosettes, scrolls, Solomonic columns and cherubs. On display are a huge retablo from Leyte (late 18th century) and another smaller one from Dimiao (Bohol).
The oldest painting in the collection is the unsigned, circa 1800 oil on wood painting Coronation of the Virgin. Another hall houses the still ongoing Centennial Celebration of Wood & Form by Jerusalino “Jerry” Araos which was opened last October 24, 2001.
The Colonial Art Hall houses oil paintings on canvas and wood as well as pencils sketches of genre scenes, typical landscapes known as pasajes, still life as well as portraits done by prominent Spanish and American-era Filipino painters.
The most noteworthy is Juan Luna contemporary Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo (1855-1913) who won the second prize for Virgenes Cristianas Espuestas al Populacho in the same Madrid competition won by Juan Luna’s Spoliarium . His teacher (as well as Juan Luna’s), Lorenzo Guerrero (November 4, 1835 to April 8, 1904), is a painter of religious and native landscapes. Gaston O’Farrell (1879 to 1942), on the other hand, was a student of Juan Luna.
Fabian de la Rosa (May 5, 1868 to December 14, 1937) is famous for his painting Planting Rice which won in the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. Rafael Enriquez (July 1, 1850 to May 5, 1937) was the first director of the U.P. College of Fine Arts. Prominently displayed at the center of the gallery is a terra-cotta bust of Gov. Ricardo Carnicero done by National hero Dr. Jose Rizal in 1892.
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| The Colonial Art Hall |
The Old and Contemporary Figurative Art Hall houses works done by seven of the country’s National Artists as well as other noted artists. These National Artists are painters Fernando Amorsolo (1892 to 1972), Victorio Edades (1895 to 1985), Carlos V. “Botong” Francisco (1913 to 1969), Cesar Legaspi (1917 to 1994) and Vicente S. Manansala (1910 to 1981), and sculptors Napoleon V. Abueva and Guillermo Tolentino. They consist of oil paintings done on canvas or wood, pastel on paper and charcoal on paper as well as sculptures.
The Zoology Division, born in 1901, is one of the oldest pillars of the National Museum. Their exhibits are both interesting and captivating, providing a true-to-life showcase of our rich and diverse Philippine fauna.
The country is home to 172 terrestrial mammals, 351 reptiles and amphibians, 573 birds and 1400 butterflies. Of the 1,236 species known to occur in the country, 512 are endemic. As the Department of Tourism Building hasn’t been officially turned over to the National Museum, the zoological displays are still confined at the National Gallery of Art.
The Philippine Terrestial Fauna at the third floor was opened last October 30, 2001 with the theme “Ride the Green Wave.” It features a walk-in diorama of preserved and mounted endangered specimens in their simulated habitats. They include the Mindoro dwarf water buffalo or tamaraw, scaly anteater or tangiling, Palawan bearcat or binturong, Philippine brown deer or usa, mouse deer or pilanduk and Gray’s monitor lizard or butaan.
Birds include the critically endangered Philippine eagle or haribon (our national bird), rufous hornbill or kalaw, black-naped oriole or tulihao/kilyawan, grey-headed fish eagle and the pink-bellied imperial pigeon. Mounted in glass cases on the walls are various insects like butterflies, moths, beetles, grasshoppers, locust, bugs, ants, wasps, bees, crickets and cicadas.
Also on display are a glass enclosure of a termite colony plus another of anthropods of a more pesky nature but still of medical importance: dog louse (garapata), sucking lice (lisa), human lice (kuto), bedbug (surot) and the mosquito (lamok).
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| The Bones from Prehistoric Times to the Present |
The Bones from Prehistoric Times to the Present Exhibit, an exhibit with a lot of stories to tell, is also located on the third floor. It was opened last October 10, 2001. On display are skeletons of man, mammals, frogs, birds, fishes, snakes, dolphins and sharks (entered through a bite-size portal surrounded by huge shark teeth).
There are also fossilized specimens of a stegodon (Stegodon sp.) tusk found at the Espinosa tusk site in Solana (Cagayan), an Elephas sp. molar, a Rhinoceros philippensis mandible with teeth and a giant tortoise (Gechelone sp.) limb bones and claw. There are also bone awls and ivory seals from the Ambangan site (Butuan City, Agusan del Norte) and Stone Age tools and knives.
Also noteworthy, as a shining example of the Filipino’s oftentimes wildly fertile imagination, are the remains of a basking shark found near the shores of Burias Island (Masbate). It was mistakenly identified as those of a Loch Ness-type monster or dinosaur, and presented as such in sensational Jurassic stories featured by the Philippine Star (February 24, 1997) and the Pilipino Star Ngayon (March 1, 1997).
The exhibit’s star attraction, however, is a huge, complete and centrally displayed skeleton of a sperm whale (Physeter catodon). A “must see” for medical detectives and forensic scientists, this whale skeleton has a tale to tell.
It is not a whodunit tale but rather a “who didn’t do it” story of extreme pain as this specific specimen suffered from osteoarthritis as shown by an extra bone along the margin of the articular surface of vertebra no. 24 and 25. It also had a fractured rib. However, this was not the smoking gun that killed the whale because signs of healing are seen on several broken ribs.
National Gallery of Art: National Gallery of Art Bldg., cor. Taft and P. Burgos Ave., Manila. Tel: (632) 527-0278 and 527-1215. Fax: (632) 527-0306. Open 10 AM-4:30 PM. Admission is free. Website: www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph.