Letras Y Figuras Painting Has Found His Painter

http://www.paintingsphilippines.com/2011/03/letras-y-figuras-painting-has-found-his.html

And so I contacted him, and they were able to reconnect with Alvaro Jimenez and had a wonderful interview. Indeed the Letras Y Figuras has found it’s great filipino painter. See the interview here. 

This is the post I found in Satoshi’s site:
Letras Y Figuras, an Ingenious Filipino Art Form 

I was looking for an appropriate Christmas card in my stash, when I saw this card, published by the Ayala Museum in the Philippines. This work by Alvaro Jimenez in watercolor in 2002 is entitled “PASKO”, which in Filipino means “Christmas”. I was very lucky to be able to negotiate and purchase the original painting in 2002 in which the card is based on. What makes this painting interesting is that it is based on the 19th century style called Letras y Figuras (Letters and Figures).



Letras y Figuras is perhaps the most unique Filipino design arts during the Spanish colonial period. It is an art form wherein the artist creatively forms letters by making the most out of the contours, colors and shadings of the different human figures, animals, plants and other objects. A letras y figuras artwork normally showcases an individual’s name – usually the patron’s. It usually integrates a variety of images that tell the story about the patron who commissioned it. A good example of this is the modern letras y figuras artwork in the Malacanang Museum of the Philippines bearing the name of Imelda Romualdez Marcos. Yes, the politician and wife of the 10th Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, who is often remembered for her collection of 2700 pairs of shoes. In her painting, buildings and institutions that she (and her husband) has established were proudly showed-off. I do wonder who painted it.

Santiago Pilar, an expert on 19th century paintings and a professor of humanities explained it as “age-tinted paintings in manila paper depicting vignettes of the 19th century Philippine life, ingeniously arranged, delineated and highlighted with color to form the letters spelling out a certain person’s name.” She believes that they are “some of the most quaint and endlessly fascinating relics of the Filipino culture in the Spanish times.”

To see the complete article, click on the link: http://www.paintingsphilippines.com/2011/03/letras-y-figuras-painting-has-found-his.html

Read before Jan. 31, Tuesday

Visit this link: http://takdangaralin.tumblr.com/spainliterature or click “Spain’s Influence on Writing and Literature” and be ready for our quiz. : ) If you want to read up on our next topic, go to the next link “Filipino Artists during the Spanish Era”.

Look at “Dances during the Spanish Era.”

You can find the link here: http://takdangaralin.tumblr.com/Spaindances

The videos will appear as links so click on the link and prepare for a quiz on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012! Scope of the quiz will be the dances, instruments and songs.

Besame Mucho, a harana

Besame, besame mucho
Como si fuera esta la noche
La ultima vez

Besame, besame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte despues

Quiero tenerte muy cerca
Mirarme en tus ojos, verte junto a mi
Piensa que tal vez manana
Yo ya estare lejos, muy lejos de aqu

Besame, besame mucho
Como si fuera esta la noche
La ultima vez

Besame, besame mucho
Que tengo miedo a perderte
Perderte despues

Besame, besame mucho

O, Ilaw by Reuben Tagalog and interpreted by the Cornell University Filipino Rondalla 

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The rondalla is an ensemble of stringed instruments played with the plectrum or pick and generally known as plectrum instruments. It originated in Medieval Spain, especially in Catalunya^[1], Aragon, Murcia, and Valencia. The tradition was later taken to Spanish America and elsewhere. The word rondalla is from the Spanish ronda, meaning “serenade.”

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The Rondalla is performed on ensembles comprising mandolin instruments of various sizes called banduria composed on the Iberian tradition. Other instruments including guitars, is also performed. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondalla)

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Lyrics:

O ilaw,
sa gabing madilim
wangis mo’y
bituin sa langit;
O tanglaw,
sa gabing tahimik,
larawan mo, Neneng
nagbigay pasakit.

Tindig at magbangon
sa pagkagupiling,
sa pagkakatulog
na lubhang mahimbing;
buksan ang bintana
at ako’y dungawin,
nang mapagtanto mo
ang tunay kong pagdaing.