Born in Manila near the turn of the 20th century, Fernando Amorsolo was a precocious child, endlessly sketching figures and landscapes for personal amusement. At thirteen, he apprenticed with the preeminent artist of the time who was his mother's cousin, Fabian de la Rosa. Amorsolo's extraordinary skill won for him, at the tender age of sixteen, one of four second prizes for Leyendo Periodico.

His remarkable talent soon came to the attention of a prominent businessman, Enrique Zobel de Ayala, who encouraged him to develop his skills through further studies and observation at the leading art galleries and schools of Europe. Under Zobel's patronage, Amorsolo enrolled at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Spain - the same institution that Juan Luna, whose works are included in this exhibition, had attended. It was during his European sojourn that Amorsolo produced what many consider to be his finest drawings.

Amorsolo's pioneering use of impressionistic techniques and shimmering sunlight on pastoral landscape is significant not only in the development of Philippine art, but also in the formation of Filipino notions of self and identity. His idyllic country scenes, beautiful maidens, and colorfully dressed peasants planting or harvesting rice distilled an imagined sense of nationhood in counterpoint to the American colonial rule - an idealized image of the true Filipino that persist today.

CHRONOLOGY