NATIONAL ARTIST

Pablo S. Antonio Architecture (1976) Born at the turn of the century, National Artist in Architecture Pablo S. Antoniopioneered modern Philippine architecture. His basic design is grounded on simplicity, no clutter. The lines are clean and smooth, and where there are curves, these are made integral to the structure. Pablo Jr. points out, "For our father, every line must have a meaning, a purpose. For him, function comes first before elegance or form". The other thing that characterizes an Antonio structure is the maximum use of natural light and cross ventilation. Antonio believes that buildings "should be planned with austerity in mind and its stability forever as the aim of true architecture, that buildings must be progressive, simple in design but dignified, true to a purpose without resorting to an applied set of aesthetics and should eternally recreate truth". Antonio's major works include the following: Far Eastern University Administration and Science buildings; Manila Luis Polo Club; Ideal Theater;Lyric Theater; Galaxy Bel-Air)

Theater; Capitan

Gonzaga

Building;Boulevard-Alhambra (now

apartments; Ramon Roces Publications Building (now Guzman Institute of Electronics).

NATIONAL ARTIST

Vicente S. Manansala Painting (1981) Vicente S. Manansala's paintings are described as visions of reality teetering on the edge of abstraction. As a young boy, his talent was revealed through the copies he made of the Sagrada Familia and his mother's portrait that he copied from a photograph. After finishing the fine arts course from the University of the Philippines, he ran away from home and later found himself at the Philippines Herald as an illustrator. It was there that Manansala developed close association with Hernando R. Ocampo, Cesar Legaspi, and Carlos Botong Francisco, the latter being the first he admired most. For Manansala, Botong was a master of the human figure. Among the masters, Manansala professes a preference for Cezanne and Picasso whom he says have achieved a balance of skill and artistry. He trained at Paris and at Otis School of Drawing in Los Angeles. Manansala believes that the beauty of art is in the process, in the moment of doing a particular painting, closely associating it with the act of making love. "The climax is just when it's really finished." Manansala's works include A Cluster of Nipa Hut, San Francisco Del Monte,Banaklaot, I Believe in God, Market Venders, Madonna of the Slums, Still Life with Green Guitar, Via Crucis, Whirr, Nude.

CONSTANTIN BRNCUI
Constantin Brncui (Romanian: [konstantin brku]; February 19, 1876 March 16, 1957) was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career inFrance. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to thecole des BeauxArts in Paris. His abstract style emphasizes clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic allusions of representational art. Famous Brncui works include the Sleeping Muse (1908), The Kiss (1908), Prometheus (1911), Mademoiselle Pogany (1913), The Newborn (1915), Bird in Space (1919) and The Column of the Infinite (Coloana infinitului), popularly known as The Endless Column (1938). Considered the pioneer of modernism, Brncui is called the patriarch of modern sculpture. Brncui always dressed in the simple ways the Romanian peasants did. His studio was reminiscent of the houses of the peasants from his native region: there was a big slab of rock as a table and a primitive fireplace, similar to those found in traditional houses in his native Oltenia, while the rest of the furniture was made by him out of wood. Brncui would cook his own food, traditional Romanian dishes, with which he would treat his guests.[7] Brncui held a large spectrum of interests, from science to music. He was a good violinist and he would sing old Romanian folk songs, often expressing by them his feelings of homesickness. Nevertheless, he never considered moving back to his native Romania, but he did visit it eight times.[7] His circle of friends included artists and intellectuals in Paris such as Amedeo Modigliani, Ezra Pound, Henri Pierre Roch, Guillaume Apollinaire,Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Henri Rousseau, and Fernand Lger. He was an old friend of Romany Marie,[8] who was also Romanian, and referred Isamu Noguchi to her caf in Greenwich Village.[9] Although surrounded by the Parisian avant-garde, Brncui never lost the contact with Romania and had friends from the community of Romanian artists and intellectuals living in Paris, including Benjamin Fondane, George Enescu, Theodor Pallady, Camil Ressu, Nicolae Drscu, Panait Istrati, Traian Vuia, Eugne Ionesco, Emil Cioran and Paul Celan.[10] Brncui held a particular interest in mythology, especially Romanian mythology, folk tales, and traditional art (which also had a strong influence on his works), but he became interested in African and Mediterranean art as well.[11] A talented handyman, he built his own phonograph, and made most of his furniture, utensils, and doorways. His worldview valued "differentiating the essential from the ephemeral," with Plato, Lao-Tzu, and Milarepa as influences. He was a saint-like idealist and near ascetic, turning his workshop into a place where visitors noted the deep spiritual atmosphere. However, particularly through the 10s and 20s, he was known as a pleasure seeker and merrymaker in his bohemian circle. He enjoyed cigarettes, good wine, and the company of women. He had one child, John Moore, whom he never acknowledged.