LESSON 3: NATIONAL ARTISTS

Proclamation No. 1001

The presidential proclamation officially established the Award and Decoration of National Artist in 1972.

Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)

The two cultural organizations jointly administer and evaluate nominations for the Order of National Artists before submitting recommendations to the President.

Katotohanan, Kabutihan, at Kagandahan

The three baybayin letters on the Grand Collar stand for an official motto.

Leandro V. Locsin

He reshaped the urban landscape with a distinctive architecture reflective of Philippine Art and Culture.

Juan F. Nakpil

He is an architect, teacher, and civic leader is a pioneer and innovator in Philippine architecture.

Ildefonso Paez Santos, Jr

He distinguished himself by pioneering the practice of landscape architecture–an allied field of architecture–in the Philippines and then producing four decades of exemplary and engaging work that has included hundreds of parks, plazas, gardens, and a wide range of outdoor settings that have enhanced contemporary Filipino life.

Lamberto V. Avallana

He is a director for theater and film and has the distinction of being called “The Boy Wonder of Philippine Movies” as early as 1939. He was the first to use the motion picture camera to establish a point of view, a move that revolutionized the techniques of film narration.

Catalino “Lino” Ortiz Brocka

He is a director for film and broadcast arts and espoused the term “freedom of expression” in the Philippine Constitution. He took his social activist spirit to the screen leaving behind 66 films which breathed life and hope for the marginalized sectors of society — slum-dwellers, prostitutes, construction workers, etc.

Ishmael Bernal

He was a filmmaker of the first order and one of the very few who can be truly called a maestro. Critics have hailed him as “the genius of Philippine cinema.” He is recognized as a director of films that serve as social commentaries and bold reflections on the existing realities of the struggle of the Filipino. His art extends beyond the confines of aesthetics

Ronald Allan K. Poe

He was a cultural icon of tremendous audience impact and cinema artist and craftsman–as actor, director, writer and producer.

Marilou Diaz-Abaya

He was a film and television director and screenwriter. She began her career in the 1980s and was part of the generation that defined what is today remembered as the “Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema.” Her first collaboration with screenwriter Ricky Lee was Brutal (1980).

Noca C. Villamayor

The “Superstar” has an extensive filmography— 170 films—is exceeded only by the number of awards and citations she has received from local and international organizations.

Fernando Amorsolo

The official title “Grand Old Man of Philippine Art” was bestowed on Amorsolo when the Manila Hilton inaugurated its art center on January 23, 1969, with an exhibit of a selection of his works.

Hernando R. Ocampo

He is a self-taught painter and was a leading member of the pre-war Thirteen Moderns, the group that charted the course of modern art in the Philippines.

Abdulmari Asia Imao

A native of Sulu. He is a sculptor, painter, photographer, ceramist, documentary filmmaker, cultural researcher, writer, and articulator of Philippine Muslim art and culture.

Guillermo Estrella Tolentino

He is a product of the Revival period in Philippine art. Returning from Europe (where he was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Rome) in 1925, he was appointed as professor at the UP School of Fine Arts where the idea also of executing a monument for national heroes struck him.

Lauro “Larry” Alcala

His comic strips spiced up the slices of Filipino lives with witty illustrations executed throughout his 56 years of cartooning. He created over 500 characters and 20 comic strips in widely circulated publications.

Francisco Arcellana

He is a writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist, and teacher and is one of the most important progenitors of the modern Filipino short story in English. He pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form.

Edith L. Tiempo

She is a poet, fictionist, teacher, and literary critic. She is one of the finest Filipino writers in English. Her works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style and substance, of craftsmanship and insight.

Alejandro Roces

He is a short story writer and essayist and is considered the country’s best writer of comic short stories. He is known for his widely anthologized “My Brother’s Peculiar Chicken.”

Levi Celerio

He is prolific lyricist and composer for decades. He effortlessly translated/wrote anew the lyrics to traditional melodies: “O Maliwanag Na Buwan” (Iloko), “Ako ay May Singsing” (Pampango), “Alibangbang” (Visaya) among others.

Ramon L. Muzones

He was a Hiligaynon poet, essayist, short story writer, critic, grammarian, editor, lexicographer, and novelist who authored an unprecedented 61 completed novels.

Gemino H. Abad

His contribution to the world of letters, as a writer, critic, scholar, literary historian, and anthologist, is tremendous. His numerous books and literary awards are eloquent testimony of this—51 books in all.

Ramon Valera

Whose family hails from Abra, lies in the tradition of excellence of his works, and his commitment to his profession, performing his magical seminal innovations on the Philippine terno.

Salvacion Lim-Higgins

She is known to the fashion world as “Slim’s” and is credited for having masterfully innovated on and transformed the “national costume” into a world-class silhouette.

Salvador F. Bernal

He designed more than 300 productions distinguished for their originality. Sensitive to the budget limitations of local productions, he harnessed the design potential of inexpensive local materials, pioneering or maximizing the use of bamboo, raw abaca, and abaca fiber, hemp twine, rattan chain links and gauze cacha.

Francisca Reyes Aquino

She is acknowledged as the Folk Dance Pioneer. This Bulakeña began her research on folk dances in the 1920s making trips to remote barrios in Central and Northern Luzon.

Ramon Obusan

He was a dancer, choreographer, stage designer, and artistic director. He achieved phenomenal success in Philippine dance and cultural work.* He was also acknowledged as a researcher, archivist and documentary filmmaker who broadened and deepened the Filipino understanding of his own cultural life and expressions.

Alice Reyes

She has become a significant part of Philippine dance parlance. As a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and director, she has made a lasting impact on the development and promotion of contemporary dance in the Philippines.

Leonor Orosa Goquingco

A pioneer Filipino choreographer in balletic, folkloric, and Asian styles, produced for over 50 years highly original, first-of-a-kind choreographies, mostly to her own storylines.

Agnes Locsin

She is a choreographer, director, and teacher considered one of the “most progressive contemporary choreographers in the Philippines.

Antonio Buenaventura

He vigorously pursued a musical career that spanned seven decades of unwavering commitment to advancing the frontiers of Philippine music.