PERMANENT DISPLAYS

Art and the Order of Nature

in Indigenous Philippine
Textiles

Ayala Museum is proud to announce the opening of a major

ethnographic exhibition, The Art and Order of Nature in
Indigenous Philippine Textiles beginning October 24, 2014 at
its Fourth Floor Galleries.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is the generous donation by
Mercedes Zobel to the Ayala Museum, which consists of 111 textiles
representing indigenous communities in the Philippines from

the Cordilleras in northern Philippines and from Mindanao in the south,

including the Muslim regions in Western Mindanao and the Sulu
archipelago.
Mercedes Zobel hopes that the collection will inspire and rekindle
interest in the living arts of the country. For her, textiles speak the
earliest language that expresses the beginnings of our culture.
In collaboration with the Princes School of Traditional Arts in
London, the exhibition provides a new way seeing indigenous
Philippine textiles. Founded in 2004 by HRH the Prince of Wales as one
of his core charities, the Princes School specializes in teaching,
researching, and promoting the practice and theory of the arts and
crafts of the worlds great traditions. Using traditional geometry and
biomorphic design principles, the artists of the Princes School
analyzed a selection from the Mercedes Zobel Collection. Showcased
alongside the actual objects in the exhibition, together they are like
textbooks that illustrate how Philippine indigenous textiles, like other
great traditions, reflect the universal order of nature.
It is our hope that this highly visual approach to the analysis of
indigenous Philippine textiles will be a fresh addition to the corpus of
knowledge about the subject matter and will spark renewed interest in
this unique aspect of our cultural identity said Mariles Gustilo, Senior
Director of Ayala Museum.
Ayala Museum will be producing various activities and education
programs across the duration of this long-term exhibition, allowing
museum visitors to go more in-depth into the topic and relate it to
multiple disciplines. A publication co-authored by Dr. Patricia
Araneta (Outreach Program Director) of the Princes School of
Traditional Arts and Amihan Lim, Research Assistant with photographs
by Neal Oshima is also set to be launched.

In celebration of Philippine-British Friendship Week, The British

Embassy will participate in the opening nights festivities.

Fernando Zobel

CURRENTLY ON DISPLAY: FERNANDO ZOBEL IN THE 1960s.

In his mid-thirties, Fernando Zobel decided to retire from the family
business to live in Spain and pursue the life of a fulltime artist. His
work had evolved into pure non-objectivism with the introduction of the
Saeta series. This shift in Zobels artistic style, which transpired in the
1960s, continues to be an exemplary standard of Philippine abstraction
today.
Zobels journey into pure non-objectivism and minimal color defined
his work in this decade.
The fine, calligraphic lines of

the Saetas evolved into the vigorous and painterly Serie Negra works
that recall both American Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline (19101962) and Japanese sumi-e paintings, as seen in Vasata (1960)
and Icaro (1962).
In the mid-1960s, the gestural lines dissolve into atmospheric
tonalities, similar to the color field paintings of Mark Rothko (19031970) and the landscapes of British artist J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). El
Balcon II(1964) and Pausa Clara (1966) are representative of Zobels
range in this particular phase. Towards the end of the decade, pictorial
space transformed into stark landscapes defined by geometric forms
with an implicit perspective, as revealed in the majestic Las Soledades
de Lope de Vega (1968).
Ayala Museum pays homage to Zobel not only for his artistic legacy but
also for envisioning the foundation of an art and iconography museum
as part of the overall development of the Ayala Center in Makati.The
museums Fernando Zobel collection is part of its permanent displays
and is exhibited in its Third Floor Galleries.

Gold of Ancestors

The exhibition of more than one thousand gold objects celebrates the sophisticated cultures that
existed in the Philippines before colonization in the 16th century. Many of the precious objects were
recovered in association with tenth to thirteenth century Chinese export ceramics. Similarities in form
and iconography with artifacts of other Southeast Asian cultures affirm regional affinities and interisland contacts that flourished in these archipelagic crossroads of civilizations. Adornments of elite
individuals and their deities include a spectacular array of golden sashes, necklaces, pectorals,
diadems, earrings and finger rings, bracelets, and anklets. Here, the role of archaeology in
reconstructing the past is illuminated, demonstrating how funerary offerings become valuable sources
of information for subsequent generations of the living.

A Millennium of Contact

Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics found in the Philippines tell the
story of how the country forged social and commercial ties with China
and its neighbors. This display of more than 500 ceramics provides one
of the most comprehensive surveys of Chinese and Southeast Asian
trade wares found in the Philippines, spanning a thousand years.
These trade ceramics are not only a feast for the eyes, but their origins
and the periods in which they were produced also provide important
data about the past. As proof of the lively trade that occurred between
China and Southeast Asia, these pieces continue to play an important
role in the understanding of Philippine history.
Exhibition
curator:
Rita
Tan
Made possible through the support of the Roberto T. Villanueva
Foundation

Embroidered Multiples

The exhibition features selections from the Leiden National Museum of

Ethnologys collection of Philippine garments acquired from the French
diplomat Brejard, who served in Manila from 1881 to 1886. The
collection includes rare, embroidered silk trousers or sayasaya worn by
Philippine elite men, formerly known only through nineteenth-century
watercolor
images.
Multiple
examples
of
delicately
embroiderednipis blouses provide a lexicon of decorative techniques
including relief embroidery, calado openwork, and supplementary weft
or suksuk, as well as the changing silhouette of womens fashion. This
unprecedented five-year loan of the Brejard collection is enhanced by a
generous ten-year loan from the private collection of Rina Ortiz, which
includes heirloom garments formerly in the Pardo de Tavera collection.
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands
Embassy and supported in part by Unilever Philippines, Shell
companies in the Philippines, and Philips Electronics & Lighting, Inc.

Maritime Vessels

The Ayala Museums collection of finely crafted ship models is a tribute

to the boats of yore that were used for everything from warfare to
transport and dwelling. This selection includes the local skiffs as well as
foreign ships that dropped anchor at Philippine shores. These boats
were handcrafted out of baticulin, laniti, and apitong wood, and
adorned with cloth, string, buntal fiber, bamboo, and bronze.
Pre-Hispanic Sailboat
Between 6000 and 500 BC, the development of more sophisticated
tools allowed for the progress in boat making. Sailboats began to look
different the side extended upwards and sideways with planking,
creating bigger hull and more space for travelers and cargo.
Chinese Junk
The Chinese junk can be used for fishing, trading, and combat. Being
flat-bottomed, it can run aground without damage. It is characterized
by five-staged masts, splayed like the sticks of a half-open fan.

Arabian Baghla
The ornate baghla is a trading vessel carrying spices and ivory from
the Persian Gulf ports. Its lateen sail, long stern, and sharp bow are
well-suited to sailing Mediterranean waters.
Lorcha
Built in China, the lorcha has a hull similar to those found on European
ships, but is rigged like a Chinese junk with three masts and a batten
sail. The ships original purpose was to help stamp out piracy in the
China Sea, but it was later used for smuggling. It eventually came into
use as a trading vessel.
Galleon
From 1565 to 1815, galleons laden with treasure shuttled across the
Pacific between Manila and Acapulco. These galleons varied in size but
all carried the distinctive half-moon silhouette, with high forecastles
and poops. Framed for resisting monsoons and pirates attacks,
galleons were called the strong castles of the sea.
Caravel
In the 16th century, after the Treaty of Tordesillas finalized the division
of the world into two halves like an orange between Portugal and
Spain, the countries respective rulers sent their sailors out to
commandeer as much land as they could. Under royal decree, both
Portuguese and Spanish would-be conquerors set out upon the oceans
in caravels, which were built expressly for long voyages. Ferdinand
Magellan himself journeyed across the Pacific in a caravel. The caravel
was characterized by broad bow, a high narrow poop, and two or three
masts with a triangular lateen sail.

The Diorama Experience

The Diorama Experience is an encounter with the dioramas of
Philippine history that have been a prominent attraction of Ayala
Museum since its completion in 1973. Carved by artisans from Paete,
Laguna, the dioramas are unique achievements in woodcarving as well
as in miniature painting and decoration. They depict sixty major events
and themes in history, from prehistoric Philippines to the recognition of
Philippine independence by the United States in 1946. The exhibit
culminates with People Power, a multimedia presentation that
chronicles significant events, including the tumultuous 1950s and the
riotous martial law years, that led to the First EDSA People Power
Revolution in 1986.
UPDATES: The joy of viewing the dioramas can now be experienced
anytime, anywhere! As part of Ayala Museums participation in the
international Google Art Project (now under the Google Cultural
Institute), high resolution images of fifteen select dioramas have been
uploaded to the web, which viewers at home can examine to the last
detail. Ayala Museum is so far the only Philippine participant among
more than 150 famous museums and galleries the world over. Visit
the Dioramas @ Google Art Project!

EXHIBITIONS

Botong Francisco: A Nation

Imagined

Botong Francisco: A Nation Imagined will be on display at President

Ramon Magsaysay House in Zambales City from October 7 to
November 3, 2015, made possible through a partnership with the
National Historical Council of the Philippines (NHCP). This is the sixth
NHCP site and 17th overall stop of this traveling exhibition.
The show features 25 reproductions of Botongs paintings from
institutional and private collections. Accompanying these images is a
film produced by Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI), and directed by
acclaimed filmmaker Peque Gallaga on Botongs vision and artistry.
This outreach initiative of AFIs Arts and Culture Division is a traveling
version of the museum exhibition held last December 2012 to March
2013 in celebration of Botong Franciscos centennial birth anniversary
at Ayala Museum in Makati City. The exhibition showcased over 40
actual paintings by Botong supplemented by a short film that captured
his large-scale works and murals commissioned for public buildings.
The film had also been selected for inclusion in the documentary
category at the 2013 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival at the
Cultural Center of the Philippines. An exhibition catalogue with the
same title was also published for this exhibition. Together with the film
documentary presentation in each site, the exhibition catalogue also
forms part of the educational component for each site. Copies are
donated to partner venues for their reference centers and library.
By partnering with malls and centers of education such as universities,
museums, and tourism councils, Ayala Museum believes that the life
and legacy of the artist will be widely promoted, particularly to
students and general audiences outside Metro Manila, where its main
building and exhibition spaces are based.
Botong Francisco: A Nation Imagined exhibition catalogue and film by
Peque Gallaga are now available for sale at the following Fully Booked

branches: The Fort (BGC), Alabang Town Center, Rockwell, GreenhillsPromenade and Cebu.

Gerardo Diego and Julio

Palacios in the Philippines:
Chronicles of a Journey

Instituto Cervantes Manila, The Embassy of Spain in the Philippines,

Ayala Museum, and Fundacion Gerardo Diego present
Gerardo
Diego
and
Julio
Palacios
Philippines: CHRONICLES OF A JOURNEY

in

the

Exhibition
duration:
September
30
to
October
27,
2015
Second
Floor
Function
Room,
Ayala
Museum
For the very first time, the Instituto Cervantes of Manila, Embassy of
Spain, Ayala Museum, Fundacin Gerardo Diego, with support of
FormaLighting and Vivanco present the exhibition Gerardo Diego and
Julio Palacios in the Philippines: Chronicles of a Journey. Curated by
Ariana H. Valladares, this exhibition is presented in commemoration of
the 80th anniversary of the first Cultural Embassy between Spain and
the Philippines after the Paris Treaty was signed.
In 1935, Spains poet Gerardo Diego and scientist Julio Palacios visited
the Philippines. They were sent by the Government of Spain as a
cultural mission, with the main purpose of delivering a series of master
lectures at the University of the Philippines and the University of Sto.

Tomas. These served as a sign of affection and friendship of Spain

towards its former colony.
During that trip, Professor Diego and Professor Palacios not only
enjoyed and were part of the vibrant cultural scene of Manila but also
witnessed that moment of great importance for the formation of the
Filipino identity: the approval of the 1935 Constitution, said the
curator. Iloilo, Negros, Cebu, Zamboanga, and North Luzon were also
visited by the cultural envoys before leaving for Spain.
The exhibition offers Filipinos and visitors the chance to embark on a
journey to the Philippines at the 1930s through the impressions of
these two Spanish masterminds. These are reflected in a selection of
documents, press clippings, audio recorded and photographs from
Fundacin Gerardo, together with extra materials about Manila and the
Islands at that time from different sources.
The briefs of Gerardo Diego and Julio Palacios together with the press
of the time described everything they saw, heard and experienced
along the journey. These Chronicles serve as our guide through the
exhibition, added the curator.

Philippine Gold: Treasures of

Forgotten Kingdoms

Asia Society, New York, and Ayala Museum, Philippines present

Philippine Gold
Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms
September 11, 2015 to January 3, 2016
Asia Society and Museum
New York
Join us this fall for an exhibition of spectacular works of gold that
highlight the prosperity and achievements of the Philippine Kingdoms,
which flourished long before the Spanish discovered and colonised the
region. Many of the objectsincluding exquisite regalia, jewellery,
functional and ritualistic objects, ceremonial weapons, and funerary
masks from the Ayala Museum and Bangkok Sentral ng Pilipinas
Collectionsare on view for the first time ever outside of the
Philippines.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of opening events and a
season of programming that will highlight the richness and diversity of

Philippine culture and current affairs, and explore

performing arts, film, design, literature, and more.

its

cuisine,

HOME EXHIBITIONS PHILIPPINE GOLD: TREASURES OF FORGOTTEN

KINGDOMS

ARTWORKS (50)
"A gorgeous and historically intriguing exhibition"
The New York Times
This exhibition presents spectacular works of gold primarily discovered
over the past forty years on the Philippine islands of Luzon, the
Visayas, and Mindanao. The regalia, jewelry, ceremonial weapons, and
ritualistic and funerary objects attest to the recently uncovered
evidence of prosperity and achievement of Philippine polities that
flourished between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, long before the
Spanish discovered and colonized the region. Although the forms and
styles of the majority of these works developed locally, some indicate
that Philippine craftsmen had been exposed to objects from beyond
their borders through the robust cultural connections and maritime
trade in Southeast Asia during what was an early Asian economic
boom.
The Philippine archipelago of over 7,000 islands lies between the
Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean in the region off the Asian
mainland known as Island Southeast Asia. During the time when
artists and craftsmen created the works in this exhibition, mariners,
merchants, missionaries, and emissaries plied the waters connecting
the tropical isles to distant lands including China and India. Monsoon
winds dictated the comings and goings of merchant shipsthe time of

year they docked, how long they stayed, and when they set sail. Port
settlements near protected coves such as ancient Butuan by the mouth
of the Agusan River where it empties into Butuan Bay in northeastern
Mindanao attracted ships and sailors seeking refuge from the strong
southwest winds that blew from May to November. Some of these
merchant ships traded for the natural resources of what early Indian
texts refer to as Survarnadvipa, or Islands of Gold, a geographic
place name that scholars believe refers to the islands of Southeast
Asia, including Sumatra in Indonesia and nearby Mindanao and Luzon
in the Philippines.
The Philippines has the second largest gold deposit in the world. The
works on view herefrom tiny gold tweezers to fabulous pieces of
jewelryreveal that these natural resources were readily exploited by
the local people between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. While the
diverse objects offer clues about those who produced and used them,
future finds will hopefully provide further information about the once
flourishing but now lost cultures that created these sophisticated
treasures.
Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms is organized by Asia
Society, New York, and Ayala Museum, Philippines.
Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, Consulting Curator, Ayala Museum
Adriana Proser, John H. Foster Senior Curator for Traditional Asian Art,
Asia Society

Encounters with Early Asian Gold

A symposium on the role of gold in trade and culture in pre-colonial Asia

Large ear ornaments with stylized fruit and bud motif. Butuan, Agusan del Norte
province. Gold. 3 3/16 x 3 9/16 in. (8.1 x 9.1 cm); 3 3/8 x 2 5/8 in. (8.5 x 6.6 cm).
Ayala Museum, 77.5022ab. Photography by Neal Oshima, image courtesy of Ayala
Museum

Held in conjunction with the exhibition, Philippine Gold: Treasures of

Forgotten Kingdoms this symposium features new scholarship that
reassesses our understanding of Asian peoples in the context of gold
trade and movement. Noted historians, art historians, and
archaeologists present papers and discuss findings that impact our
understanding of cultural interaction in Asia between the tenth and
thirteenth centuries, before the period of sustained contact with
western colonial powers. Confirmed speakers and discussants at this
one-day symposium include exhibition cocurators Florina H.
Capistrano-Baker and Adriana Proser; MJ Louise A. Bolunia,
chief archaeologist at the National Museum, Philippines; John Guy,
Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Helen I. Jessup, independent
scholar and President of Friends of Khmer Culture; Francois Louis,
Associate Professor of Chinese Art and Material Culture at the Bard
Graduate Center in New York; Amy G. Poster, Curator Emerita, Asian

Art, Brooklyn Museum and Interim Consulting Gallery Director, Japan

Society and Cherubim Quizon, Associate Professor of Anthropology,
Seton Hall University.
For the complete scenario click here.
SHOP AsiaStore for the exhibition catalogue.

Biographies of Speakers
Mary Jane Louise A. Bolunia holds a Doctorate degree in
Anthropology from the University of the Philippines Diliman,
specializing in archaeology and prehistory. She is the officer-in-charge
of the Archaeology Division of the National Museum of the Philippines,
one of the research divisions of the National Museum. Part of Bolunia's
research is on the participation of ancient Butuanon in the Southeast
Asian maritime trade and exchange of goods and ideas which became
part of her dissertation. Currently, she is the team leader excavating
two balangays or ancient Butuan boats that crossed the South China
Sea as early as the 8th century CE. She is also part of a team
coordinating the acquisition of properties in Butuan to convert into a
maritime heritage park; in partnership with the Butuan City
government and Butuan Historical and Cultural Foundation. Bolunia is
also doing research on the Spanish period shipyards as part of the
Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade Project which is a multi-agency
endeavor. She has been with the National Museum for more than two
decades and has travelled around the country doing fieldwork as well
as training young students in the rudiments of archaeological
fieldwork.
Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, co curator Philippine Gold: Treasures
of Forgotten Kingdoms, Consulting Curator, Ayala Museum. She
received her PhD, MPhil, and MA from the Department of Art History
and Archaeology, Columbia University. Director of the Ayala Museum
for seven years from 2000 to 2006, Capistrano-Baker shepherded the
museum to its new building in 2004, and played a key role in the
transfer of the gold collection to the museum in 2006. She curated the
permanent exhibition Gold of Ancestors at the Ayala Museum in
2008, and wrote the catalogue Philippine Ancestral Gold in 2011.
Capistrano-Baker is the recipient of numerous awards, including

fellowships from Columbia University, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

Asian Cultural Council, Ford Foundation, American Association of
University Women, and the Getty Research Institute.
John Guy, FSA, is the Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts
of South and Southeast Asia at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, and an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London. He
was formerly Senior Curator of South Asia at the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, and has served on the Councils of the European
Associations of South Asia and Southeast Asian Archaeology and
various editorial boards. He has worked on a number of archaeological
excavations, both land and maritime sites, and served as an advisor to
UNESCO on historical sites in Southeast Asia.
Guy has authored books on many aspects of Indian and Southeast
Asian art, and numerous research papers. Major books
include Oriental Trade Ceramics in South East Asia (1986),Ceramic
Traditions of Southeast Asia (1989), Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate
Tradition (co-author 1997), Woven Cargoes. Indian Textiles in the
East (1998; reprint 2009), La sculpture du Champa (co-author, Musee
Guimet 2005), Indian Temple Sculpture (V&A /Abrams, 2007),Chola.
Bronzes of Southern India (co-author Royal Academy 2007), The
World of Kubilai Khan(co-curator MMA 2010), Shipwrecked. Tang
Treasures and Monsoon Winds (co-curator Freer-Sackler, 2010), Gods
of Angkor. Khmer Bronzes from the National Museum of
Cambodia (co-author, Freer-Sackler 2010), Philippine Ancestral
Gold (co-author, Manila, Ayala Museum 2011), Wonder of the Age:
Master Painters of India (co-author, MMA/Yale 2011), Bronzes (coauthor, London, Royal Academy 2012), Interwoven Globe. The
Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800 (co-author, MMA/Yale 2013), Lost
Kingdoms. Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast
Asia (MMA/Yale 2014). He has curated and co-curated many
exhibitions, including more recently Wonder of the Age: Master
Painters of India (MMA 2011), Cambodian Rattan: The Sculpture of
Sopheap Pich (MMA 2013), Interwoven Globe. The Worldwide Textile
Trade, 1500-1800 (MMA 2013) and Lost Kingdoms. Hindu-Buddhist
Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century (MMA 2014).

Helen I. Jessup is an independent scholar specializing in the art and

architecture of Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia and Indonesia.
She has curated several exhibitions, including Sculpture of Angkor
and Ancient Cambodia, Millennium of Glory for the National Gallery of
Art in Washington, DC (1997), and "Court Arts of Indonesia" for the
Asia Society and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
(1990) and was the editor and author of the accompanying catalogues.
In addition she wrote Art and Architecture of Cambodia for the World
of Art series (2004), Masterpieces of the National Museum of
Cambodia (2006), Temples of Cambodia, the Heart of Angkor (2012)
and is currently writing Angkor and Beyond, (River Books), about the
outlying temples of Cambodia. Born in Australia, Jessups BA is from
Melbourne University, and her MA and PhD are from the Courtauld
Institute of Art, London University. She has taught at Georgetown
University (Washington, DC), the Australian National University
(Canberra) and Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok) and is currently
an Associate Fellow of Saybrook College, Yale University. She has
lectured in the United States, Britain, The Netherlands, Thailand,
Indonesia, France and Australia. Jessups studies have also included
Dutch colonial architecture, Indonesian art and architecture, and
Australian art and literature. She is the founding President of Friends
of Khmer Culture and also serves on the boards of The United StatesIndonesia Society and the American Friends of the National Gallery of
Australia.

Franois Louis is an Associate Professor of Chinese Art and Material

Culture at the Bard Graduate Center in New York. From 20022008 he
also served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Artibus Asiae. He obtained
his doctorate in Chinese Art History from the University of Zurich. Dr.
Louis has published widely on ancient and medieval Chinese art and
design history, including a book on goldsmithing in medieval China.
Recent publications include co-edited volumes on Antiquarianism and
Intellectual Life in Europe and China, 15001800 (2012),
andPerspectives on the Liao (2013). He is currently working on two
book projects: one is tentatively called Dynastic Possessions: The
Material Culture of the Early Kitan Elite, which evaluates recent
archaeological finds from the Liao dynasty (9071125) in northern

China. The other uses a tenth-century illustrated book to examine

objects used in the Confucian state cult in medieval China.
Cherubim Quizon is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Seton
Hall University and chair of the Philippine Studies Group, Association
for Asian Studies. Her research relates current textile traditions of the
Bagobo and related Mindanao groups to early 20th century museum
data, helping to more rigorously link the Philippine textile record to
that of SE Asia and the Pacific. She co-edited an influential centenary
volume on the display of Filipinos at the St Louis Worlds fair,
emphasizing the viewpoint of the displayed and their descendants
(Philippine Studies, 2004). As guest curator for the UCLA-Fowler
Museums innovative exhibition Weavers Stories of Island Southeast
Asia (2009-2012), she directed one of eight videos that featured
weavers from Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor and the Philippines, and
examined how the late weaver Lang Dulay expressed and transcended
her individuality, her Tboli identity, and appreciation of a global
episteme.
Dr. Quizons work continues to link past and present, from the
implications of an unspun thread, abaca, on the broader question of
Austronesian loom and fiber technology (in Benitez-Johannots Paths of
Origins, 2012), to the ironies of how an identity term, lmad, used in
Mindanao, erases identity markers while obscuring womens work in
dressing chiefly men (Humanities Diliman, 2012). Most recently, she
argued for the agency, efficacy and ecological embeddedness of textile
arts in polyethnic contexts (in de Monbrison and Alvinas Philippines,
Archipel des changes, 2013), and is currently exploring how
archaeological textiles of unspun fiber can be analyzed through the
lens of current textile practices.
Amy G. Poster (moderator) is an independent curator of Asian Art
and a consultant specializing in museum strategic planning. She is
Curator Emerita of Asian Art at the Brooklyn Museum, where she was
Curator and Chair of the Asian Art Department from 1989 to 2006.
Poster has curated numerous special exhibitions and has authored
scholarly publications on topics as wide-ranging as South Asian
painting, the history collecting Asian art in America, as well as the
seminal reference on Indian terra-cotta sculpture. In recent years, she

has served as Consultant on Asian Art at the Ringling Museum,

Sarasota, FL (2007-2009), and as Mellon Curator-At-Large for the
Indianapolis Museum of Art (2012-2013), where she developed a
strategic plan for their South Asian Art collections. Her most recent
special exhibition, China Then and Now, opened at the Nassau
County Museum of Art in November 2014. Most recently, Poster has
been appointed as Interim Consulting Gallery Director of the Japan
Society, New York. She presently serves on numerous art advisory
committees, including the Islamic Art Visiting Committee of The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Rubin Museum of Art Board of
Trustees (Board Member), the Art Advisory Committee of Olana
Historic Site, the Advisory Group of the Friends of Khmer Culture, Inc.,
and the Japanese Art Society of America (Vice-President).
Adriana Proser, (moderator) co curator Philippine Gold: Treasures of
Forgotten Kingdoms, is John H. Foster Senior Curator of Traditional
Asian Art at Asia Society Museum in New York. A specialist in Chinese
art, she has organized and co-organized over 40 exhibitions featuring
diverse works from all over Asia, including the exhibition Pilgrimage
and Buddhist Art. Proser has also coordinated and served as in-house
curator for international loan exhibitions such as The Buddhist
Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara and Gilded Splendor:
Treasures of China's Liao Empire for Asia Society Museum. She was
editor and contributor for the cataloguePilgrimage and Buddhist
Art (Asia Society Museum and Yale University Press, 2010). Proser
received her Ph.D. in Chinese art and archaeology from Columbia
University. She was formerly Assistant Curator of East Asian Art at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art and has taught East Asian Art History at
the University of Pennsylvania, Loyola College in Maryland, and
Columbia University.

Re-collecting a Forgotten Past: Traces of Hindu-Buddhist Art in the

Precolonial Philippines
Members-Only Exhibition Opening Lecture

Caste cord. Ca. 10th13th century. Gold. 59 1/16 in. (150 cm). Ayala Museum,
81.5186. Photography by Neal Oshima, image courtesy of Ayala Museum.

Join co-curator of Philippine Gold: Treasures from Forgotten

Kingdoms, Florina H. Capistrano-Baker for an insightful talk on the
origins of these extraordinary objects, from the pre-colonial era of the
Philippines, which are on view in the United States for the first time.
Dr. Capistrano-Baker is Consulting Curator, Ayala Museum.
Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms
11 September 2015 - 3 January 2016
This exhibition of more than 100 gold objects focuses on the wealth of
the golden age of Butuan (pronounced boot wan), a polity on the
southern Philippine island of Mindanao that rose to commercial
prominence in the tenth century and declined in the thirteenth century.
Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms is organized by Asia
Society, New York, and Ayala Museum, Philippines. The exhibition is
cocurated by Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, Consulting Curator, Ayala
Museum, and Adriana Proser, John H. Foster Senior Curator for
Traditional Asian Art, Asia Society.

Giyera: War in the Eyes of

Maestro Amorsolo

Ayala Museum presents

GIYERA
WAR IN THE EYES OF MAESTRO AMORSOLO
4 August to 11 October 2015
Ground Floor Gallery
In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Manila,
Ayala Museum presents this exhibition of Fernando Amorsolo paintings
from the war years, on loan from several public and private collections.
Fernando C. Amorsolo (1892 1972), who received the first
National Artist Award in the Philippines, was a first-person witness to
the everyday sites, scenes, and events that took place in Manila during
World War II. Afraid for the safety of his family, he sent them to a

rented house on Raon Street while he remained in their home on

Azcarraga Street. From his window, he saw and experienced the
destruction and brutality of war.
With pencil, pen, and paintbrush, the Maestro, how his students and
other artists addressed him, was able to depict and create art out of
the chaos of war. Amorsolo channeled the harrowing moments into
creative energy and captured history as it unfolded before his eyes.
The Maestro possessed a vivid visual memory and was able to recreate specific battle scenes in various media throughout the war
years (1941 to 1945). The act of repeating various scenes of the tragic
war polished the painters skills both artistically and technically. On
record, Amorsolo had produced voluminous pencil sketches and
drawings of the war protagonists, both local and foreign, as well as of
ordinary folk, who were the victims of the conflict.

OpenSpace: Bangaw by
Leeroy New

Ayala Museum presents

OPENSPACE
Bangaw by Leeroy New
Leeroy New
Bangaw
2015
Assorted plastic food covers, metal frame, plastic mesh, cable ties
Variable size
This whimsical installation is especially commissioned for Ayala
Museums OpenSpace public installation art program. It is made up of
numerous plastic covers used in typical Filipino households to protect
food from flies and pests. The materials were sourced from Divisoria,
Metro Manilas popular wholesale haven. Together, these covers

ironically form the shape of a multicoloured bangaw (Tagalog word for

blowfly).
Perched on the museums fountain, the piece may be commenting on
the state of museums in the Philippines. A photo of the work posted on
the artists Instagram account was accompanied by the question posed
by Leeroy New himself: Totoo nga bang nilalangaw ang ating mga
museo? (Is it true that our museums are left to the flies?)
Leeroy New (b. 1986) is a Filipino visual artist and designer who
graduated from Philippine High School for the Arts and from the
University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. His works often
intertwine the visual arts with fashion, film, and theater, as he takes
his inspiration from mythology, film, video games, and other artists. He
has been recognized and awarded consistently throughout his career,
winning the grand prize for Sculpture in the 2005 Metrobank Awards,
being a recipient of the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards, and chosen as one of
the 2012 Thirteen Artists Awardees of the Cultural Center of the
Philippines. Leeroy New has been showcased internationally in
Singapore, Japan, Australia and in American pop culture, as one of his
creations was commissioned for a Lady Gaga music video.

Diorama Augmented Reality

Guides

Ayala Museum, in partnership with The Harish and Johnsen Group,

takes one more step into the digital age by introducing a dynamic 3D
Augmented Reality (AR) feature to supplement its popular Diorama
Experience of Philippine History exhibition.
The dioramas, depicting iconic scenes in Philippine history from the
pre-colonial period to self-determination, are part of the inaugural
exhibition of Ayala Museum when it opened in 1974. They were
designed to be a comprehensive visual narrative of the story of the
Philippine people in a way that compresses extensive research on the

events, architecture, costumes, technologies and topographies of the

times they represent.
An iconic part of childhood for many a Filipino thanks to school tours
and family visits to the museum, the Dioramas were envisioned to be a
compelling way to tell the rich history of our country, described
Mariles Gustilo, Senior Director for Arts and Culture of Ayala
Foundation, Inc.
Through the new AR feature conceptualized, designed and developed
by Harish & Johnsen, further supported by Globe, Avida Land, and
Power Mac Center, users can now rent special AR units in Ayala
Museum to use within the Diorama Experience of Philippine
History exhibition. When the device is placed in front of one of
eighteen AR-ready dioramas, these historic scenes will be brought to
life by exciting animations, realistic sound effects, and voice
narrations.
Weve given the Diorama Exhibit a whole new experience, not only by
combining but actually bridging the gap between traditional arts and
sophisticated science. We are not just revolutionizing the experience
but we are actually witnessing evolution unwrap itself right before our
very eyes, at the palm of our hands literally. And it is here at the
museum. said Shirah Ragos Segarra, Vice President of The Harish &
Johnsen Group.
It is the first 3D-on-3D augmented reality feature offered by a museum
in the Philippines and Asia.
Today, with our partnership with Harish & Johnsen and the use of the
fascinating technology of Augmented Reality, I am pleased that we
have been able to contemporize [the dioramas] and so continue to
fulfill our mandate for generations to come, mentioned Gustilo.

We are proud and honored to share with Ayala Museum one of our
core digital solutions, said Jhoanna Feliz Serrano, President &
Marketing Director of The Harish & Johnsen Group. We hope the new
Diorama Experience in Augmented Reality can strengthen the Filipinos
appetite in imbibing our history, culture and nationalism.
More than just claiming a pioneering stance in both platform
technology and art category, the Ayala Museum and The Harish &
Johnsen Group partnership purports to create a collaborative fusion of
the arts with the evolving digital technology era, added Serrano.
Production of The Diorama Experience augmented reality application
was further made possible by the support of brands aligned with the
objectives of the project. Globe saw this rich experience as a unique
and meaningful way of catering to the digital and increasingly mobile
lifestyle of its subscribers, one thats espoused by its Globe myLifestyle
Plan. Likewise, Avida Land believes that advocating these one of a kind
experiences with art, Philippine history and culture will ultimately add
to the vibrant lifestyle that comes with residing in any of its properties,
specifically within Makati for its partnerships with Ayala Museum.
The new dynamic 3D augmented reality feature was publicly launched
on June 12, 2015 during the 117 thanniversary of Philippine
Independence. During the day of the event, Globe postpaid subscribers
were treated with free Ayala Museum admission and were able to
download a free version of the AR application, while prepaid users were
afforded huge discounts in entrance fees. Avida Land also participated
in the public launch by providing free AR-ready devices for guests to
try out the museums latest mobile feature.
Visitors may now rent units for Php 95 at the Ayala Museum ticket
counter to try the augmented reality feature.

Learn more about the event and features

at www.ayalamuseum.harishandjohnsen.com

of

the

project

Ayala Museum regularly introduces new multimedia features to sustain

and renew interest in the exhibition which has since been enjoyed by
more than a million museum visitors. In 2004, an audio visual
presentation on Martial Law and the EDSA People Power was added to
the exhibition to continue its historical timeline. Updated audio guides
were released in 2009, which have been upgraded to iTouch units
through the generous donation of Power Mac Center in 2013. They
have donated additional gadgets specifically to use for Ayala Museums
augmented reality feature this year.

Beautiful Handicrafts of
Tohoku, Japan

Ayala Museum and The Japan Foundation, Manila present

The Japan Foundation Traveling Exhibition
Beautiful Handicrafts of Tohoku, Japan
Ceramics | Lacquerware | Textiles | Baskets | Metalwork | Wood crafts
June 16 July 26, 2015
Ground Floor Gallery
The Japan Foundation, Manila (JFM), in partnership with Ayala Museum
and with support from JT International (Philippines) Inc.,
commemorates the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami with a
traveling exhibition that recognizes the traditional handicrafts of the
region steadfastly recovering from the calamity.
On exhibition are around 70 works that best exemplify the craftsmens
high level of skill in basket weaving, lacquerware, pottery, embroidery,
and
wood
crafts.
Some
of
the
curated
works
include tsugaru lacquerware
and kogin embroidery
from
Aomori
prefecture; Mage wappa (bent woodwork) and kaba zaiku (bark
craftsmanship) from Akita prefecture; E-rosoku (decorated candles)
and cloth decorated using tsutsugakidyeing technique from Fukushima
prefecture.
The traveling exhibition also features the late mingei (folk craft)
movement artists who were not necessarily from the Tohoku region but
whose works were significantly influenced by the traditional Tohoku
handicrafts. There are wood block prints byShiko Munakata, screens
and textiles by Keisuke Serizawa, and ceramics by Shoji
Hamada and Kanjiro Kawai. Serizawa and Hamada were both
designated
as Holder
of
Important
Intangible
Cultural
Property by the Japanese government.

Aiko Tezuka: Unraveling,

Restoring

Ayala Museum and Galerie Michael Janssen present

Aiko Tezuka
Unraveling, Restoring
June 9 July 19, 2015
Third Floor Exhibition Hall
Ayala Museum, in partnership with Galerie Michael Janssen Singapore,
presents the unique exhibition Aiko Tezuka: Unraveling, Restoring from
June 9 to July 19, 2015 at the Ayala Museum Third Floor Multi-purpose
Hall.

Her work weaves a timeless narrative into fabrics, based on ancient

Japanese, Indian, and Indonesian cultures, stories and symbols,
ensuring that the presence of her work will be felt far beyond her time.
Tezukas unique treatment of fabrics melds together the old world with
the familiar and contemporary. Currently based in Berlin, the artist has
held solo exhibitions in Singapore, Hong Kong and Germany. Her recent
works have been exhibited in Hermes, Singapore and Art Basel,
Hong Kong, some of which are on display in Unraveling, Restoring.
Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1976, Aiko Tezuka was trained in painting,
having graduated from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 2001, and
then completing a Masters Degree in Painting at the same school in
2005. She then moved to Kyoto to complete her PhD, and to teach
painting there until 2009. However, Tezuka gradually shifted to working
primarily with textiles because [she] could not find a new way to work
in painting.
Her intricate work consists of the deconstruction of everyday material,
fabrics that she either finds or designs herself, which she then unravels
and unpicks at specific areas to tell her story. According to the artist, I
am interested in loosening up these invisible narratives to unravel
forgotten histories or discover new plotlines. Pervading my creative
processes are techniques and rules that I have developed over time:
untying and unwinding fabric, revealing its structure, juxtaposing time
and place, to name but a few. I do not cut or paste, or add or subtract
matter. By unravelling and recomposing the structures and stories
hidden within the material, I try to capture overflowing time and the
continuous process of metamorphosis. (Aiko Tezuka, Berlin, January
2003)
Tezuka also spends plenty of time in Tilburg, Holland, where she has
found a textile factory with a specialty loom that can create the types
of fabrics she needs, with the designs that she creates.

Aiko Tezukas works demonstrate the artists concept of globalization

and illustrate her Japanese roots combined with her westward
understanding of art. Her ability to weave history into her fabrics
enables her to mix cultures, stories, symbols, East and West all into a
timeless narrative for the viewer to decipher, ensuring that the
presence of her work will be felt far beyond her time.

From Citadel to City

Ayala Museum presents

From Citadel to City
Juan Luna paintings and 19th-century prints from the BPI Collection
Opens May 26, 2015
Third Floor Galleries
The exhibition features a selection from the collection of the Bank of
the Philippine Islands on long-term loan to the Ayala Museum. The
display of Juan Luna paintings and 19th-century prints chronicle the
history of Manila from palisaded fort to port city and reflect on the
ideas and ideals of the young nation at the end of the Spanish colonial
period.
The imperial gaze of Spanish colonizers and other European travellers
reveal the prospect and promise of Manila for both commercial and
conversion purposes. The various engravings depict the walled city
of Intramuros and its environs and provide a pictorial chronicle of
Manila from palisaded fort to a bustling port city.

When displayed in juxtaposition with the later paintings of workers and

urban dwellers in Madrid and Paris by Juan Luna, the concept of an
urban center is tempered with a social realist sensibility and
cosmopolitan perspective, culminating in a revolution of ideas and
ideals that paved the way for the modern city of Manila.

Ronald Ventura: Big and

Small
Ayala Museum welcomes the summer season with a new exhibition
entitled Ronald Ventura: Big and Small, Joel Mendez, MD
Collection, featuring early works by the regions most sought-after
contemporary artist today.
Considered by many to be the most exciting artist to emerge from the
Philippines in the beginning of the 21st centurya view intensified after
his stately painting Grayground fetched a record-breaking 1.1 million
USD at the 2011 Sothebys auction in Hong KongVentura is first and
foremost admired for his technical mastery of the classical human
figure.

The works featured in Big and Small include over a hundred male and
female nude paintings and anatomical studies dating as early as 1998
until the mid-2000s from the collection of physician and gallery owner
Joel Mendez, MD. Venturas dramatization of the human form is

apparent regardless of the size of his canvas, hence the title of

exhibition.
Marking a very early period in Venturas career, the collection, in the
truest sense, strips his art off its characteristic potpourri of imagery
and reveals what lies at its very foundation: the human body and its
language. Art critic Alice Guillermo makes note of this in the
book Realities: Ronald Ventura when she said the basis of his art is his
mastery of anatomy, so that having gone through the entire gamut of
male and female nudes in all postures, stances, and attitudes, he has
assumed the capability of distorting the human body, clothed or
unclothed, or of morphing it in the most unexpected ways.
Ronald Ventura: Big and Small, Joel Mendez, MD Collection is presented
under Ayala Museums Collector Series exhibition program, which aims
to expand the understanding and appreciation of local and
international art by providing the opportunity to view artworks that are
usually not seen in public, especially a body of work of a single artist
whom a collector admires.

OpenSpace: Toym Imao

Beginning 12 May, 2015

Ayala Museum Plaza
Ayala Museum is going beyond the walls of its galleries to
launch OpenSpace, the new series of outdoor exhibition area at the
Museum Plaza. Ayala Museum senior curator Ditas Samson describes
OpenSpace a public site for dialogue and interaction with
contemporary art and artists.
To launch OpenSpace, Ayala Museum has invited celebrated artist and
sculptor Toym Imao to display Last, Lost, Lust for Four Forgotten
Episodes; a carroza-like art installation inspired by his childhood love
for Japanese animation and memory during the Martial Law years.

Toym Imao was born in 1968, just four years before President
Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in the country. There were few
viewing options in 1970s television, having only five broadcast
channels to choose from. During this time, Toym and his siblings were
avid fans of weekly Japanese cartoons, the super robot series Voltes
V and Mazinger Z. However, with only four episodes left before the
finale ofVoltes V, the cartoons were banned from broadcast due to its
alleged excessive violence, leaving its young fans devastated and
distraught.
Now, almost four decades later, Toym used that initial sting of anger
experienced during the Marcos years to create this installation work.
This art installation was born out of the childhood memory and
experience of the artist, shaped and formed with academic training in
architecture and fine arts, harnessed with the rigor of professional
practice, and inspired by the heroes and ideals of history, and the
character and gravitas of public art.
Toym Imao is multi-media visual artist. He is a sculptor (brass, bronze
and wood), painter, writer and filmmaker. He first trained in the arts
under Philippine National Artists for the Visual Arts Napoleon V. Abueva
and Abdulmari Asia Imao (his father.) His formal training came from the
University of the Philippines (Architecture) and Maryland Institute
College of Art (Sculpture). He studied film under premier Philippine
director Marilou Diaz-Abaya. He credits his mentor National Artist for
Literature Alejandro R. Roces for his passion for Philippine history and
culture.
Last, Lost, Lust for Four Forgotten Episodes, supported by Ayala
Corporation, Ayala Land, Inc., Ayala Foundation, Inc., Ayala Center
Estate Association, and LG Electronics Philippines, will be on display at
the Museum Plaza until June 15, 2015.

OpenSpace will follow up with another Toym Imao creation later this
year, and will continue to host compelling contemporary works by
Filipino artists.

Common Threads

Ayala Museum
Arts present

and

The

Princes

School

of

Traditional

Common
Threads
Indigenous Philippine Textiles and the Language of Traditional Art

14 May 2015 | 3:00 PM

Second Floor, Ayala Museum
Join us for an afternoon with Dr. Patricia Araneta as she shares her
learnings from her research among the Blaan and Tboli communities
in Saranggani province, with special focus on traditional textiles as
living art. As Programme Outreach Director of the Princes School of
Traditional Arts in London, Dr. Araneta will share her insights on how
important the understanding and appreciation of the principles of
design are in promoting and sustaining the traditional arts and our
cultural heritage.

Sabor a Ming: Eduardo Olbs

Ayala Museum, in collaboration with Silverlens Galleries, opens 2015
with Sabor A Ming: Eduardo Olbs Ming design series, an exhibition
featuring sculptural works of the Mexico-based artist and furniture
designer.
The series was inspired in homage to a lifelong admiration of a
particular period of excellence in Chinese cultural history, says
Eduardo Olbs (born in 1951, Manila). The exhibitionthe title of which
translates to Ming flavorfeatures architectural benches, consul
chairs, high tables, writing desks and other forms of functional art.
I wanted to celebrate the wonderful furniture of the Ming Dynasty,
the artist explains, the strong clean lines, the elegance of the joinery,
the connoisseurship of craftsmenevinced in the woods they chose
the wisdom of their craft, and in particular, the subtlety of the works
seeming simplicity.

The exhibition does not intend, however, to reproduce period pieces,

but rather, manifests the artists interpretation of what he believes to
be the essence of Ming aesthetic.
Eduardo Olbs body of work ranges from purely artistic to beautiful
functional sculpture. He began as an apprentice in woodwork more
than 40 years ago then later began to master stone carving in Mexico,
where he now resides.
His fountains, sculptures, and furniture are in some of the best private
collections in Mexico, and his work has been shown in galleries and
museums in Mexico City, LA, Manila and Madrid.
Sabor a Ming will run from 27 January to 1 March, 2015 at the Ayala
Museum Ground Floor Gallery. For more information, call (632) 759 82
88 or email hello@ayalamuseum.org.

IMAGE DETAILS. Eduardo Olbs. Chinese Consul Chair II (2010).

Santo Tomas marble and tindalo wood. 85 x 64 x 55 cm.

Cesar Legaspi: The Brave

Modern

Ayala Museum opens December with a new major exhibition featuring

the works of a Philippine master of Cubism and National Artist in the
Visual Arts for Painting, Cesar Legaspi, under its program Images of
Nation.
Cesar Legaspi: The Brave Modern includes the artists works from the
pre-war period, which show lessons in Cubism; to the ascendancy of
Neo-Realism in the 1950s and 1960s; and select large-scale works from
the 1970s to the 1980s. The exhibition will run from December 2, 2014
to April 26, 2015, at the Third Floor Gallery of Ayala Museum.
The exhibition includes select paintings from the Ateneo Art Gallery,
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Kalaw
Ledesma Foundation, Inc., Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana
Research Center, UCPB, and from the private collections of Felix and
Grace Ang, Louie and Liza Bate, National Ben Cabrera and Annie
Sarthou, Stanley and Abby Chan, Senator Nikki M.L. Coseteng, Silvana
Diaz, Dr. Ambeth Ocampo, Lawrence Ong, Jonathan and Stella Que,
Manuel and Alice Que, Mario and Mimi Que, Paulino and Hetty Que,
Mikee and Sheila Romero, and Joanne Young.
In the halcyon and heady days in pre-war Philippines, a group of young
artists were paving the way to a brave new world of modern art.
Learning from the acknowledged Father of Modern Art, Victorio Edades,
the young artists, who called themselves the Thirteen Moderns, which
included Cesar Legaspi, were eager in finding new ways of visual
expression.
The work of Cesar Legaspi shows the progression and development of
Philippine painting in the twentieth centuryfrom the rigorous
intellectualism of Cubism in his early paintings to the harmonious unity
of stylized figuration and tropical chromaticism at the peak of NeoRealism.

His fragmented pictorial style, intense color, and stark social

commentary contributed significantly to the acceptance of Philippine
modern art, earning his place in the pantheon of Filipino National
Artists.

Graven Images: 1964

2014, Pandy Aviado Fifty
Years of Printmaking

Ayala Museum, in partnership with Avellana Art Gallery and Crucible

Gallery, presents the exhibitionGraven Images: 1964 -2014, Pandy
Aviado, 50 Years of Printmaking, which opens on November 25,
2014 at its Ground Floor Gallery.
This exhibition features a broad array of graphic images from an
artistic output in a span of fifty years. Included are 161 prints; over a
hundred are from the artists personal collection, supplemented with
loans from cultural institutions and private lenders. The majority of
prints are in the artists favored technique of etching, but the
exhibition also displays works woodcuts, rubbercuts, lithography, as
well as rare prints done by solar etching and epoxy relief.
Graven Images: 1964 2014 attempts to group his prints
thematically. Like his mentors Manuel Rodriguez Sr. and Araceli Dans,
the work of Aviado was never totally abstract but persisted on creating
images from history, his personal world, popular culture, and classical
myths on stone and copper.
Virgillio Pandy Aviado (born 1944) first saw prints as a college
student at the Ateneo de Manila University. He was a member of the

Ateneo Arts Club and was a frequent visitor at the Ateneo Art Gallery.
Aviado remembers memorizing Ateneos print collection, which
became his first real education in the art of printmaking.
Aviado pursued and perfected his creative and technical skills in
printmaking during his college years. He arranged to have sessions at
the print workshop of Rodriguez called the Contemporary Graphic Arts
Workshop. Aviado first worked on stone lithography, then proceeded to
the etching press. He eventually had his own printing press fabricated
from spare parts found in a junk shop and set his own studio workshop
in his parents home. After joining and winning art competitions and
doing both solo and group exhibitions, Aviado obtained further training
and specialization in etching and lithography in Madrid and Paris.
Pandy Aviado is now one of the countrys staunch champions of the
graphic medium and the leading practitioner of the art of fine print.

Earth Manual Project

The Japan Foundation, Manila, in partnership with Ayala Museum, is

proud to present the traveling exhibition Earth Manual Project on
the third floor gallery of Ayala Museum from November 8 to December
7, 2014.
An initiative of KIITO (Design and Creative Center Kobe), Earth
Manual Project encourages a country of frequent natural disasters,
such as the Philippines, to also become a country of excellent disaster
preparedness. The exhibitions maiden run happened last year in Kobe,
Japan, wherein 23 projects from different Asian countries showcased
activities centered on disaster risk reduction and post-disaster relief
and recovery.
The Manila run of the exhibition includes 11 projects that tackle
earthquake, typhoon and flood: Iza! Kaeru Caravan!, Jishin ITSUMO
Project and Red Bear Survival Camp by NPO Plus Arts (Japan), Design
for Flood by Thailand Creative and Design Center (Thailand), Climate
School
Project by
Dakila
(Philippines),The
Filipino
Spirit
is

Waterproof by Ayala Museum (Philippines), Paper Partition System by

Shigeru Ban (Japan), RooSuFlood: Knowledge to Fight Flood by
RooSuFlood (Thailand), Lost Homes Model Restoration Project by
Osamu Tsukihashi (Japan), Core House: Extensive Live Post
Earthquake by Ikaputra (Indonesia), FLOATING WOMBS: A healing
project through the arts heARTS by Alma Quinto (Philippines)
and Forms of Recollection by Plus63 Design Co. (Philippines).
The exhibition is an opportunity for visitors to make their own disaster
preparedness manual based on the presented projects, as well as for
audience to hear stories and expertise from overseas creators. Talks
are slated on the first two Saturdays, with speakers Osamu Tsukihashi
of Lost Homes Model Restoration Project on November 8; and
Hirokazu Nagata of NPO Plus Arts, Ruttikorn Vittikorn of Club Creative
Co. Ltd., and Dan Matutina of Plus63 Design Co. on November 15.
After Manila, the exhibition will travel to Legazpi, Albay and Bohol in
the first quarter of 2015. Earth Manual Project is also made possible
through the support of KIITO, NPO Plus Arts, AIG, Muji, Yoshinoya,
Plus63 Design Co., Capitol University and the Ateneo de Manila
University, Japanese Studies Program.

Triumph of Philippine Art

Homecoming

After exhibiting the works of todays renowned Filipino visual artists at

two university museums in the USA, the show Triumph of Philippine
Art will hold its homecoming at the Ayala Museum this July.
Triumph first opened at the George Segal Gallery of Montclair State
University in New Jersey on September 21, 2013. Curated by the
gallerys Philippine-born Director, M. Teresa Lapid Rodriguez, the
exhibition is inspired by our long history of socio-economic/political
struggles and the Philippines search for a national identity. This unique
retrospective is the first exhibit in America to ever specifically use
artwork to tell the nations political story, beginning with the
oppression of the martial law period (1972-1986), leading up to the
1986 non-violent revolution that surprised the world and ultimately

resulting in the vibrant and robust art of a free society at the turn of
the 21st century.
Featured in the exhibition are works of Leo Abaya, Benedicto BenCab
Cabrera, Buen Calubayan, Ernest Concepcion, Mideo Cruz, Imelda
Cajipe-Endaya, Brenda Fajardo, Karen Ocampo Flores, Michael
Rodriguez Gomez, Gregory Raymond Halili, Mark Orozco Justiniani, Julie
Lluch, Athena Santos Magcase-Lopez, Racquel De Loyola, Renan Ortiz,
Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Mark Salvatus and Pablo Baen Santos.
Triumph of Philippine Art then traveled to the West Coast and was
hosted by the Fisher Museum of Art, University of Southern California,
CA, from February 6 to April 13, 2014. The homecoming show at Ayala
Museum will run from July 22 to August 31, 2014 at its Third Floor
Glass Lane and Multi-purpose Hall.

Mexico: Fantastic Identity

Ayala Museum, in partnership with the FEMSA Collection and Coca-Cola

FEMSA Philippines, are honored to present the exhibition Mexico:
Fantastic Identity, 20th Century Masterpieces, FEMSA Collection.
The show includes Mexican artworks starting form the European
experience of the early 20th century through the vanguard movements
and schools; and artists portraits captured by renowned
photographers.

Jana Benitez: Life Force

New
Frontiers is an exhibition program of Ayala Museum that provides the
space and opportunity for the concept, production, and documentation
of fresh and innovative issues and developments in Philippine
contemporary work and provides a venue for its discourse and
dialogue. The work featured and manner of presentation offer
alternative perspectives to expand the museum exhibition experience.
In 2010, New Frontiers introduced Olivia dAboville, whose art
installation fused the tradition of craftsmanship with the contemporary
use of utilitarian objects.

For the New Frontiers exhibition offering in 2014, Ayala Museum will
display new work by Jana Benitez. Returning to the museum where
she had her first solo exhibition as a twelve-year old artist prodigy in
1998, Benitez will unveil thirty-five new large-scale paintings. The
exhibition display will incorporate the thinking and the creating that
goes into the production of art. Consisting of random thoughts,
sporadic notes, and visual references of the artist as she conjures
imagery, the museum installation and environment juxtapose
graphically both concept and process into backdrop and frame of the
finished paintings to provide a comprehensive and compelling art
encounter.

Journey into Space: The

Visual Odyssey of Fernando
Zobel

Ayala Museum will present a major exhibition Journey into Space:

The Visual Odyssey of Fernando Zobel, at its Third Floor Galleries.

To span from the artists early output in the 1950s until his last years in
the early 1980s, paintings, drawings, prints and photographs from the
Ayala Museum collection and several private collectors will show the
pictorial metamorphosis from stylized figurative paintings to works of
total abstraction or non-objectivism.
The life and career of Fernando Zobel (1924-1984) had traversed a
large, geographical areafrom the Philippines to the United States and
Spain. Described as a transnational artist, he felt at home and thrived
in any country. Zobel was also pulled in several different directionsto
Manila where he was a pioneer in the modern art movement, especially
in non-objectivism; to Boston and Providence in the United States
where he enjoyed the intellectual stimulation within his circle of friends
who were artists and writers; and to Madrid, in the company of Spanish
artists at the ascendancy of Spanish abstract painting. Ultimately,
Zobel described himself as someone who lives in museums and is
happiest when surrounded by books and paintings. His world was the
history of art.
The exhibition will serve as a visual walkthrough of Zobels transition
from a more figurative style to his signature meditative, harmonious
abstract works, composed primarily of calligraphic lines, gradients and
even the positive use of space.
Journey into Space: The Visual Odyssey of Fernando Zobel, will
be on display on the 3F Galleries of Ayala Museum from July 1 to
October 5, 2014. This show is a long-awaited follow-up to Ayala
Museums 2009 exhibition Fernando Zobel in the 1950s: the
Formative Years.

Museum Collections Make

Connections

Together with the rest of the world, Ayala Museum is one in the

celebration of International Museum Day held every 18th of May of

every year.
2014 marks the 36th year of the establishment of INTERNATIONAL
MUSEUM DAY around the world. IN line with this years celebration,
Ayala Museum offers a special exhibition of selected objects from the
museums permanent collection to dramatize the connections
established among the various subcultures in the country across the
islands of our archipelago. Filipinos celebrate the uniqueness and
diversity of existing local cultures that are distinctly marked by the
material culture of the regions. From what is worn, to what is used,
eaten, worshipped, and/or engaged in, the differences in shapes,
colour, forms, and complexities of all these sum up to the multiplicity
and splendour of the Philippine culture as a whole.

Kisame: Visions of Heaven

on Earth

CURRENT
LOCATION: Museo
Iloilo,
NEXT DESTINATION: To be announced

Iloilo

City,

Iloilo

ILOILO CITY, ILOILOFollowing the tragic destruction brought about the

earthquake that hit Visayas in October 2013, Ayala Museum in Makati
City is bringing around the nation an exhibit featuring photographs of
ceiling paintings from colonial churches of the province of Bohol, which
it originally staged in its Ground Floor Gallery last 2008.
Entitled, Kisame: Visions of Heaven on Earth, this exhibit is
curated by Fr. Milan Ted D. Torralba and Kenneth C. Esguerra and
features photographs of Atty. Paquito Jojo N. Ochoa, Jr. Kisame is also
presented in partnership with the Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. and the
Diocese of Tagbilaran, Bohol.
Museo Iloilo will host the exhibition from July 30 to August 29, 2014.
This is now the fifth stop of Kisames traveling version, after being
officially re-launched at the Greenbelt Fashion Walk last November
2013 as part of Tugon sa Bohol, an initiative of the Ayala group of
companies for the restoration of Bohol churches. It was then on view at
the Anita Magsaysay Ho Gallery in CASA San Miguel, San Antonio,

Zambales (February-April 2014); at the Tam-awan Village Gallery,

Baguio City (May-June 2014); at the Negros Museum, Bacolod City,
Negros Occidental (May-July 2014).
The exhibition was also previously re-staged at the Museum of the
Filipino People (part of the National Museum complex) from June to
September 2012 prior to the collapse of the Bohol churches.

Beyond Tobacco: Tabacalera,

A bridge between the
Philippines and Spain

Perhaps the most important company in the Philippines at the

end of the nineteenth century and until mid-twentieth century
and certainly the main tobacco company in the country, the
Compaa General de Tabacos de Filipinas, more popularly
known as Tabacalera, is still a stranger to many of us.
However, having existed for more than a century, the history of
Tabacalera plays a significant role in the economic history of
the Philippines and in Philippine-Spanish relations.
For the very first time, the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, in
partnership with the Ayala Museum, and with the sponsorship of S &
R presents Beyond Tobacco: Tabacalera. A bridge between the
Philippines and Spain, a glimpse to the past through the history of
Spains very first multinational company based in the Philippines in

1882. Curated by Prof. Martn Rodrigo, historian from the University

Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, the exhibit will be open to the
public from the April 21 until July 6 at the Ayala Museum in
Makati City.
The exhibit retraces the history of the company through a selection of
images, maps, books, art objects and antiques that have been loaned
by Spanish and Philippine institutions as well as private collectors. It
showcases the luxury of its offices in Manila and Barcelona, the life in
its haciendas in Ilocos, Tarlac and Negros; the variety of its businesses
(tobacco, sugar, alcohol, maritime transport, etc.) and its cultural
legacy; over a hundred years of history of a company that was able to
survive deep historical, political and social changes both in the
Philippines and Spain.
Bringing together researchers from Spain and the Philippines
The history of Tabacalera, as large and complex as the society in which
it happened to live, has attracted historians and researchers from
Spain and the Philippines. The tobacco monopoly and the foundation of
the Compaa General de Tabacos de Filipinas, the companys ability to
adapt its business to the new political situation, its legendary cigar
brand La Flor de la Isabela and its cultural legacy have, among
others, been the subject of numerous studies.
Given the historical and public interest in Tabacalera, we are preparing
a catalogue that includes essays written by Filipino and Spanish
historians, researchers and authors. Dr. Benito Legarda, Jr., John Silva,
Mara Dolores Elizalde, Josep Mara Delgado, Saul Hofilea, Prof.
Arcadio Malbarrosa, Gloria Cano and journalist Ramn Vilar have,
among others, contributed to this catalogue that aims to bring closer
the history of the company to a wider public with the analytical and
conceptual rigor that we would expect from such renowned authors.

In parallel with the exhibit, a series of talks and round table discussions
will be held at the Ayala Museum to complete the whole picture of the
companys history and impact not only on the Philippines but also on
the rest of the world.
Biblioteca Filipina: the cultural legacy of Tabacalera
The Aparato Bibliogrfico de la Historia General de Filipinas, published
by Philippinologist Wenceslao E. Retana in 1906, is considered one of
the best historiographic work on the Philippine archipelago which
was first published in order to make the world aware of the great
library -the richest and most important bibliographical collection on the
Philippine Islands owned by the Compaa General de Tabacos de
Filipinas. (Gloria Cano, Researcher University Pompeu Fabra,
Barcelona).
In 1913 the collection was sold to the National Library of the
Philippines,
becoming
the
Librarys
core
Filipiniana
collection. Thereafter, donations and purchases of other collections
continued, including that of Jose Rizals, but there would be no other
Filipiniana collection of the number, the breadth, and the vintage as
that of the Tabacalera Collection. (John Silva, Executive Director
Ortigas Library Foundation). Sadly, World War II and the Japanese
occupation displaced the cultural legacy of Tabacalera, a collection that
shows the important role that the company played in the Philippines,
going far beyond tobacco.

Biyaya ng Lupa: Amorsolos

Landscapes of Abundance
Fernando Amorsolo reached his creative peak as a painter during the
American colonial period. This was a time of prosperity and abundance
in the Philippine countryside, resulting from the countrys blooming
export trade to the American market. By 1935, America was importing
83 percent of agricultural exports from the Philippines. Rice (palay)
was the countrys most abundantly grown crop.
This period was also a time of nationhood in counterpoint to American
colonial rule. Amorsolo pioneered the use of impressionistic techniques
and shimmering sunlight on pastoral landscapes in painting idyllic
country scenes, beautiful maidens, and colorfully dressed peasants
planting or harvesting rice. This national nostalgia for the Philippine
rural life was also expressed in creative art forms like poetry, prose,
music, dance, and fashion.
By 1928, Amorsolo dominated the local art scene. He made a living out
of painting commissioned portraits and genre pieces for select clients,
while continuing visits to the countryside to paint his landscapes of

abundance. The artist painted and sketched more than 10,000 pieces
in his lifetime. His works remain significant in the development of
Philippine art and the formation of Filipino notions of self and identity
idealized images of the true Filipino that persist today.

Ai Weiwei: Baby Formula

Ayala Museum, in partnership with Galerie Michael Janssen in
Singapore, presents the installation Baby Formula by the controversial
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei on its Third Floor Multi-purpose Hall from
February 19 to March 16, 2014.
Known for his politically charged art installations and vocal criticisms
against the Chinese government, Ai Weiwei produced Baby Formula as
a reaction to the issue of childrens milk safety in China. Ai was also
commenting on the restrictive trade policies implemented between the
mainland and Hong Kong following the melamine-tainted milk scandal
in 2008.
Baby Formula will be the artists first solo show in the Philippines. It
consists of 1,815 tin cans of seven popular baby formula brands in the
shape of the map of China. Panels showing images and text designs
made out of visuals on baby formula cans and the artists blog writings
accompany the installation.

Prior to its Manila exhibition, Baby Formula first opened at the Sheung
Wan Civic Centre in Hong Kong last May 2013. It traveled soon after to
Galerie Michael Janssen in Singapore in August.

In City and Country: Elmer

Borlongan 1992-2012
The paintings of Elmer Borlongan representing two decades of his art
will be exhibited in the upcoming Ayala Museum show, In City and
Country: Elmer Borlongan, 1992-2012 from February 18 to April 6,
2014.
Presented
in
partnership
with HSBC
Premier, In City
and
Country reviews Borlongans body of work, mainly visual expressions of
marginalized people in Philippine society. Using a social realist style,
his abstract portraits of the Filipino situate subjects in their contexts
and convey social issues of the day.
Over 40 paintings gathered for the exhibition depict stories of survival
and endurance amidst poverty and despaira testament to the

strength of the Filipino spirit. Among the selection include those from
the artists private collection, pieces that Borlongan personally chose
to keep tucked in his residence.
The schedule of its opening week was planned to coincide with the
much-anticipated 2014 Art Fair Philippines, the premier platform for
artists and the countrys foremost galleries to showcase the best in
modern and contemporary Philippine visual art.
After graduating from the University of the Philippines College of Fine
Arts with a degree in painting in 1987, Elmer Borlongan (or simply
Emong to his friends and family) quickly established himself in the
local art scene. In 1988 and 1992, he won second prize in the oil
painting category of the Metrobank Annual National Painting
Competition. He also received the Thirteen Artist Award from the
Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1994.
More recently, he received the Award for Continuing Excellence and
Service (ACES) from Metrobank Foundation in 2004. He was also
chosen, in 2006, to be a fellow for the Center for Art, New Ventures and
Sustainable Development (CANVAS), a non-profit organization that
works with young artists to promote Philippine art, culture and
environment.
Borlongan has held numerous solo exhibitions here and abroad. A
number of his works now belong to the public collections of foreign
museums such as Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; Tokyo Museum of
Contemporary Art, Japan; Queensland Art Gallery, Australia; and
Singapore Art Museum.

Constancio Bernardo 19132013

November 28, 2013 March 2, 2014
A retrospective exhibition of the work of Constancio Bernardo (19132003) marks the artists centennial at Ayala Museum, celebrating the
artists life and work as well as revisiting a critical gap in the history of
Philippine abstraction, heretofore unaddressed with either depth or
breadth.
Comprising a total of around 100 works, the exhibition provides the
first opportunity to view the full range of Bernardos uvre from a
career span of more than sixty years and highlights his canvases of

abstraction, lauded by a number of critics from the 1950s onward as

among the most important examples of Philippine modernist painting
but increasingly overlooked as the decades passed. While included in
a number of group exhibitions and the subject of 22 solo exhibitions
including retrospectives at U.P. Baguio in 1969, at the Museum of
Philippine Art in 1978, and at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in
1990, Bernardo remains to be on the margins of the annals of
Philippine art history. Dedicated to his lifelong art practice and his
teaching career at the University of the Philippines, Bernardo staunchly
resisted the limelight, eschewing the social scene of the art world and
opting to work tirelessly in his studio.
Within abstraction, his paintings ranged from geometric abstraction to
Op art and abstract expressionismeach series structured with a
formal mastery and infused with a depth of feeling singularly his.
Obdurate in his self-effacing silence in his lifetime, his body of work
preserved by the Museo Bernardo Foundation Inc., and Constancio Ma.
A. Bernardo Foundation prove to be the clearest evidence of enduring
artistic expression.
The centennial retrospective also tracks the artists evolution and
transitions, revealing Bernardo to be the consummate artist who was
accomplished at both figuration and abstraction. Early in his career,
Bernardo was identified by Fernando Amorsolo as the student at the
University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts most likely to surpass
the master himself. Upon being named the first Filipino Fulbright fellow
in art in 1948, he continued his studies at Yale University and he spent
his first two years honing his facility with classical drawing and painting
techniques. A selection of around 12 works from the Yale years appears
in this exhibition.
Bernardos yearlong fellowship was extended to four years so that he
could complete both his BFA and MFA at Yale. It was during his MFA
studies that he proved to be a virtuoso at abstraction. He absorbed

the developments of abstract art at Yale with such intensity that Josef
Albers, one of the most influential art teachers in the world and a
luminary of geometric abstraction, declared him not a student but a
peer. The centennial exhibition features Bernardos seminal abstract
work, Perpetual Motion, completed in 1952 for his Masters thesis
exhibition. An excellent illustration of achieving vibrant energy with an
economy of means, the spare lines and bold colors anchor the flat
painting in its most distilled form but simultaneously catapult it into an
optical play of depth and volume.
Contrary to Alberss auspicious projection that the Bernardo who had
demonstrated mastery of the visual language of abstraction within
such a short period of time would meet unprecedented success upon
his return to the Philippines, Bernardos radical shift was shunned
rather than embraced by Amorsolo and his colleagues at UP.
Bernardos manifest engagement with abstraction not only
disappointed Amorsolo who had high hopes for his protg in the field
of figurative art; it also led to the archetypal interrogation of meaning
in his paintings in which the human figure, still life objects, or
landscape scenes are absent. To this, Bernardo contended that
abstraction allowed him to free himself from the constraints of
representing only what is physically visible in the world and allowed
him to give visual form to what only the mind could perceive.
Nevertheless, the teaching environment at UP became difficult enough
that Bernardo reportedly returned to genre paintingpictorial
representations of everyday scenesand became a closet abstract
artist at one point. This meant that he never fully abandoned
figuration while tenaciously persevering on the path of abstraction. His
exhibitions of abstract art tended to be misunderstood or dismissed
despite being championed by some critics. In 1978, Leonidas Benesa
cited Bernardo as the most underrated of the exponents of modern art
in the Philippines and as second to none in this country in the field

of abstraction, particularly of the geometric-planar, optical-painting

variety.
Refusing to be buffeted by the waves of public opinion, to be
conditioned by the dictates of the art market, to solicit attention from
collectors, to capitulate to pressures from the art world, or to pursue
the trappings of fame, Bernardo chose to be steadfast in the discipline
of his studio practice. So quietly sustained was this commitment over
the years that he was referred to by Eric Torres as the invisible man of
Philippine painting.
This exhibition showcases not only his astounding ease with shifting
from one style to another but also the rigor and discipline exemplified
by each body of work. The disadvantage of his limited commercial
success in his lifetime is in its own way the advantage of having a body
of work thats almost intact to reconsider in the context of the larger
history of Philippine art in general and Philippine abstraction in
particular and provides an opportunity for the public to be introduced
or reintroduced to the work of an important artist. Forms of expression
without an audience are mute. But forms of expression preserved are
gems within the realm of possibility. These paintings and drawings
might havelike Bernardo himself in his liferemained quiet in his
studio for years after his death but they are formidable imprints of a
compelling artistic vision and a powerful creative voice.