About the Artist
Edades' Education
He obtained his early education in barrio schools and went to a high school in Lingayen. In 1919, he left for the United States to study Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Washington in Seattle. During the summer, he worked in the salmon canneries of Alaska. It was also during his stay in the U.S. that he married American Jean Garrott,with whom he had his only daughter, Joan.
He returned to the Philippines in 1928 and in the same year had his first one-man show at the Philippine Columbian Club. He also came up with two of his most well-known works in that year: The Sketch (also known as The Artist and His Model), and The Builders.
Edades joined the University of Santo Tomas in the 1930’s where he stayed on for three decades and became dean of its Department of Architecture. It was he who introduced the Liberal Arts program which led to a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, a first in the Philippines since art was only taught in vocational schools then. Edades later formed the Triumvirate of Modern Art with Carlos V. Francisco and Galo B. Ocampo, after they produced a mural for the lobby of the Capitol Theater on Escolta Street. This began the growth of mural painting in the Philippines.
Victorio's Advocacy
Edades debated that the conventions and clichéd ideology of domestic art stunted the development of Philippine art, attesting that “art is ever the expression of man’s emotion, and not a mere photographic likeness of nature. Thus to express his individual emotion, the artist is privileged to create in that distinctive form that best interprets his own experience. And the distortion of plastic elements of art such as line, mass and color – is one of the many ways of expressing one’s rhythmic form.” Edades also explained that Modern Art is not anti-Classicist. He said,
“From the technical point of view, Modern Art is an outgrowth of Classical Art. Modern Art is the interpretation of the Classical concept conditioned by the artist’s new experience with the aid of improved means of aesthetic expression.”
By his defiance to the academic perception of art and determination to stand by his ideology, he made art available to the common man.
The Thirteen Moderns
The Thirteen Artist is named in honor of the pioneering group of thirteen modernist in Philippine art.
The Thirteen Artists Awards started as a curatorial project of the Cultural Center of the Philippines under its first museum curator Roberto Chabet. The award recognizes progressive, young artist who are chosen based on: a body of work characterized by artistic integrity; innovativeness and congency of ideas; responsive to contemporary realities; and sustained artistic ability demonstrated in individual and collective exhibitions. The Award is now given every three years.
The Thirteen Moderns is made in honor of the following artist:
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Victorio Edades
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Carlos (Botong) Francisco
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Galo Ocampo
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Diosdado Lorenzo
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Vicente Manansala
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H.R. Ocampo
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Anita Magsaysay-Ho
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Cesar Legaspi
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Demetrio Diego
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Ricarte Puruganan
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Jose Pardo
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Bonifacio Cristobal
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Arsenio Capili
Victorio Edades' Death
On March 7, 1985, the Father of Philippine Modern Art, leader of the revolutionary Thirteen Moderns, National Artist, and a distinguished retiree in Davao City, passed away at the age of 89. Leaving behind him a legacy of distinct style of Philippine Modern Art - an art which had been an obvious awe to his contemporaries, an admiration to his followers, and will undoubtedly serve as an inspiration to the generations of budding Filipino artists in the many years to come.