Father or Modern Philippine Painting
Victorio C. Edades was born on December 23, 1895 in Dagupan, Pangasinan. He led the revolutionary Thirteen Moderns, who engaged their classical compatriots in heated debate over the nature and function of art.
He was the pioneer in modernism in the Philippine art scene. In fact, he is known as the “Father of Modern Philippine Painting ”. A lot of his paintings portrayed the hardships of the working class, using dark and somber colors and bold strokes.
Edades was one of the finest artists in Philippine history. He left an indelible mark to our country’s fine art design. His training in painting started way back in the United States where he took his training in the University of Washington. Although he started his career in architecture and finished it, he also earned a Master of Fine Arts in Painting.
His love for the art industry made him join the Traveling Exhibition of New York Armory Hall. He was so inspired and it made him be acquainted with the famous and modern European artists, the likes of Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso and the Surrealists. This paved to make him move away from the Conservative Academic Art and the Realism School as he began his Modern Art, creating art his own way.
Victorio Edades
Edades’ major works include:
-
Artist and Model (1927)
-
The Sketch (1928)
-
The Builders (1928)
-
Interaction (1935) with Carlos V. Francisco and Galo B. Ocampo
-
Mora Girl (1950)
Influenced by Post-Impressionism, Edades’ Artist and Model presents a situation in which a painting is created within the representation itself, thus affording viewers to experience both the process, with the painter sketching his model, and the object, which is the artifact of art. It departs from the lyricism of the academic painters of the early American Period and introduces distortion as an artistic virtue.
