National Artist for Painting (1976)
(December 23, 1895 – March 7, 1985)
Known as the “Father of Modern Philippine Painting” and a pivotal member of the “Thirteen Moderns” and the “Triumvirate” (together with Galo Ocampo and Carlos “Botong” Francisco), Victorio Edades shifted the sensibility of Philippine Art from the Conservatives to the Modern. Edades’ paintings featured the plight of the working masses in their darkest, filthiest and most realistic portrayal of toil, through his distortion of figures (abstraction), rough brushstrokes and preference for darker colors (as seen is his work The Builders). He championed modern art and the artist’s self-expression at a time where art meant being technically adept at replicating nature: rustic, picturesque and idealistic. In 1935, he became the first Director of the University of Sto. Tomas’ Department of Fine Arts. There he created a strong multidisciplinary approach in arts education, ultimately creating a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. This signaled a new perspective in a society where the arts were considered vocational studies. Edades’ insistence on a new outlook in the arts provoked a wide discussion, debate and discourse on the trajectory of Philippine art and what it means to root one’s work in the “Filipino” in the arts.