West Visayas State University

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

Iloilo City

Eng. III-A (Reading Visual Art)

First Sem., S.Y. 2019-2020

Bless Ann E. Tio Dr. Alexis L. Diamante

BSDC 2-A Facilitator

Topic: Art in the Philippines

Through migration and trade during the Precolonial Period, there was a lively
interchange between the Philippines and other Asian countries. This helped Philippines
to develop their own culture such as pottery, weaving, woodcarving, jewelry, etc., that
they could use for their everyday living. According to DLSU Research Congress Vol 4
2016, pottery had been known from the beginning of time because of the need to have
plates and bowls to eat. Another main use was containers for storage of foods, liquid
and dry goods. Most palayok (pots) were produced and used for daily cooking activities,
though small pots with incision might have been intended as grave furniture. Other
forms include pouring vessels, jugs, dishes, vases and native dippers (tabo) others were
made as ornamental ware like goblets, footed dishes, and globular bottles. And in the
early period it is very sacred, why, because they served as burials and was used in
religious rituals.

Manunggul Jar. This elaborate burial jar is topped with two

figures. The front figure is the deceased man. The rear figure is
holding a steering paddle directing the boat and soul of the man
to the afterlife. Discovered at Manunggul cave of the Tabon
Caves at Lipuun Point in Palawan. 890–710 B.C.

Fig. 1 Manuggul Jar

 Fig. 2 Palayok Fig. 3 Banga
Fig. 4 Workers digging a drainage canal in Iloilo

City’s business district have found artifacts.

While in weaving, native Filipinos weaved using fibers from abaca, cotton, and bark
cloth. Textiles, clothes, rugs, and hats were weaved. Baskets were also weaved and used
as vessels of transport and storage, and for hunting. These baskets were used to
transport grain, store food, and catching fish. They also used weaving to make just about
all of the clothing that was worn. They weaved rugs that they used for quilts and bedding.
The Cordillera groups of the north are well-known for the art of weaving

Fig. 5 A Filipino loom for weaving rough fabrics of abaca Fig. 6 T’boli Weaving in T’boli, South Cotabato

fiber, 1905.
West Visayas State University

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION

Iloilo City
 Eng. III-A (Reading Visual Art)

First Sem., S.Y. 2019-2020

Bless Ann E. Tio Dr. Alexis L. Diamante

BSDC 2-A Facilitator

Topic: Art in the Philippines

Pre-Colonial Art and Southeast Asian Cultures

The Philippine way of life before coming of the Spaniards is one thread of thread of
the web of interrelated cultures that simultaneously developed in mainland Southeast Asia,
the Indonesian Archipelago, and many other islands in the Pacific Ocean. The earliest
people who lived and stayed here for the longest period of time had created their tools
and artifacts from locally available materials.

During the pre-colonial period, there was a lively cultural exchange between the
Philippines and other asian countries through migration and trade.

Pre-Colonial Art in the Philippines

Design
The safety of a certain place from wild animals and unkind weather, as well as its
nearness to a more or less continuous source of food are the major factors that made man
form permanent settlements. The first occupied natural caves in dense forests and settled
along river banks or shorelines.

Receptacles
Filipinos believe in the afterlife. The earliest containers served a funerary purpose: if
they were not coffins made out of tree barks and fibers woven into mats, they were
receptacles of food and other belongings to accompany the dead on his journey to the
other world.

These were made of leaves, wood, and bamboo.

Other references suggests:

Manunggul Jar. This elaborate burial jar is topped with two

figures. The front figure is the deceased man. The rear figure is
holding a steering paddle directing the boat and soul of the man to the afterlife.
Discovered at Manunggul cave of the Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point in Palawan. 890–710
B.C.

Fig. 1 Manuggul Jar

Textile Weaving

Flat stone tools believed to have been used to pound and flatten tree barks into
primitive types of textiles have been excavated. In the latter, native Filipinos weaved
using fibers from abaca, cotton, and bark cloth. Textiles, clothes, rugs, and hats were
weaved. Baskets were also weaved and used as vessels of transport and storage, and for
hunting. These baskets were used to transport grain, store food, and catching fish. They
also used weaving to make just about all of the clothing that was worn. They weaved rugs
that they used for quilts and bedding. The Cordillera groups of the north are well-known
for the art of weaving

Fig. 2 A Filipino loom for weaving rough fabrics of abaca Fig. 3 T’boli Weaving in T’boli, South Cotabato

fiber, 1905.

Jewelry

A pierced cone shell is the most ancient example of jewelry dug up in our country. It
was found in one of the layers of Duyong Cave excavation in Palawan. The dexterity in
making jade ornaments was due to the introduction of more sophisticated tools.

Fig. 4 A nephrite (jade) earing of the lingling-o type was found in the
abundance in both Palawan and Calatagan excavation sites.

Pottery

According to De La Salle University Research Congress Vol 4 2016, pottery had been
known from the beginning of time because of the need to have plates and bowls to eat.
 Another main use was containers for storage of foods, liquid and dry goods. Most
palayok (pots) were produced and used for daily cooking activities, though small pots
with incision might have been intended as grave furniture. Other forms include pouring
vessels, jugs, dishes, vases and native dippers (tabo) others were made as ornamental
ware like goblets, footed dishes, and globular bottles. And in the early period it is very
sacred, why, because they served as burials and was used in religious rituals. For
example, the Manunggul Jar.

Fig. 5 Palayok Fig. 6 Banga Fig. 7 Workers digging a drainage canal in Iloilo

City’s business district have found artifacts.

A number of our early earthenware were also painted. They were immersed into a vat
of clay dye for them to have another color in lieu of their original red or brown or black
color. Some of them were also glazed. Several places in our country, like Rizal, Masbate,
Negros and Mondoro, were floursihing centers of pottery of different shapes and designs.

Representational Art: Sculpture

The effigies representing spirits constituted most of early Philippine representational

sculpture. The Tagalogs called their religious images likha, tao-tao, and larawan. These
images represented the anitos, the spirits to to whom the early Filipinos prayed and who
fulfilled a role similar to that of then later patron saints. Though Bathala was the Supreme
God, there were, however, other supernatural powers who were supposed to assist or
punish men in their daily lives.

The most common anitos mentioned were patrons of good harvest, the guardians of
voyages by water, the defenders in battle, and the numerous spirits who protected people
from disease and sudden deaths, and who assisted women in pregnancy and childbirth.
Only a few specific names have been recorded, Dian Masalanta was invoked by lovers.
Lacapati and Idianale protected cultivated lands and farm animals.

Some of the statuaries of the early Filipinos were also brought from other lands,
copied from or inspired by foreign models, as were the vessels used in local rituals. The
discovery of statues of Hindu gods and goddesses in excavations all over the archipelago
is a concrete evidence. The Golden Images unearth in Agusan; the
Avalokiteshvara-Padmapani clay medallion found in Karitunan, Batangas; and the Bronze
Lokesvara discovered in Mactan, Cebu.
 Fig 8. Golden Tara Fig. 9 Avalokiteshvara-Padmapani clay Fig. 10 Bronze Lokesvara

medallion found in Karitunan, Batangas discovered in Mactan, Cebu.

Houses

Fig. 11 Bahay Kubo

Bahay Kubo

Bamboo and nipa are the most common construction materials. Bamboo posts
support the single floor comprising the sala and the sleeping area. Bamboo, opened and
flattened, and nipa are ussed for walls and cover the roofs. The roof slopes steeply on the
four sides of the living area, extending beyond the walls to protect it from heavy rains, the
elevation of the floor from the ground by four posts provides protection from the floods as
well as ventilation from the heat thta rises from the ground during the dry season. The
ground floor is used for storage of crops or for enclosure for fowls and work-animals.

Fig. 12 Ifugao House

Ifugao House

Due to the cold climate of the Mountain Province, the Ifugaos constructed their
houses in a manner that assures them protection from the low temperature and the rains.
They build their houses in top of four tree trunks. They cut off the tops of the trees,
leaving roots intact and firmly planned on the ground.

The roof of the Ifugao house almost totally covers the walls of the living area. Two
layers of beams join the parts of the house together , with the lower main beam- the
horizontal support just on the top of the supporting tree trunks - held to the post by
dowels. On the of the main beam, another beam supports the flooring of the house, and
on the corners are the small posts that support the rest of the structure.
 Fig. 13 Maranaw House

Maranaw House

A boat-house appearance primarily suggested by the presence of the panolong , the

prow-like end of the beams that support the flooring of the house. The beams interlock
with the columns of the hpuse, then jut out from under the walls; their ends are ornately
carved and painted. The boat-like look is further suggested by the squat rectangular
shape of the house and its wide sloping roof.

THE INDIGENOUS ART OF THE MUSLIM REGIONS AND THE MOUNTAIN

PROVINCE

Muslim Mindanao

The teachings of Mohammad reached our shores during the end of the 13th century or
the beginningof the 14th. Arabic missionaries ad wise men, having preached the Islamic
region in Malaysia and the northern islands of Indonesia, extended their missionary route
to Sulu and Mindanao.

Nine Muslim Filipinos or ethno-linguistic groups:

1. Taosug

2. Maranaw

3. Samal

4. Maguindanao

5. Yakan

6. Sanggil

7. Badjao

8. Malbog

9. Jama Mapun

The taousugs, Samals, Maguindanaws, and Maranaws consider themselves the original
Muslim tribes.

Fig. 14 Sarimanok

Sarimanok

Stylized decorative motifs are readily

recognizable in Muslim art. An open-winged
legendary bird whoe beak or claws clutch a fish.
Sarimanok is usually placed on top of bamboo
poles at the center of Maranaw Villages.

Naga

A stylized dragon or serpent carved in gravemarkers

or in elaborately carved plows. Other stytlized patterns
are curls and curves reminiscent of flowers, leaves, and
vines.

Fig. 15 Naga

Seven ethnic groups compose the Mountain Province people, commonly called igorots
by Christians. They are the Ifugao, Bontoc, Ibaloi (Nabaloi), Apayao, Tinguian or Itneg,
Kalinga, and Kankanay.
 Wood is the predominant material in the art of the mountain people. It is used in
making shields, spoons, ladles, bowls, and human and animal figures. Wood carving is an
established vocation in almost all of the seven tribes. There is sculptor in every village.
Narra, adda-an, and lutmu trees supply the materials in abundance.

Mountain tribe carving retains the color of the wood. After it is smoothed, it is given a
sheen by rubbing with oil. Shields sometimes given a red and black paint, while the
different materials used in making the eyes and teeth of the bihang, the gruesome
houseguard idol, give this figure a variety of texture and color.

Mountain Art

Mountain art is divided into two groups, the ritualistic and the decorative. The
ritualistic belong the bulol and the bihang. The bihang is meant to be gruesome to incite
fear of punishment in anybody who goes against the norms of the village. The bulol is a
multi-purpose benevolent spirit primarily used to guard granaries and rice fields. These
two ritual objects fit the description of idols worshiped by the Filipinos at the Spanish
coming as “ugly” and “gruesome”.

Fig.16 Bulol
Fin.