National Artist for Painting (1981)
(January 22, 1910 – August 22, 1981)
Vicente Manansala is part of the Thirteen Moderns and espoused modernism in his art through the influences of Western artists of the time. He was heavily influenced by Cubism (an art movement that used geometric shapes to portray an object’s three dimensions on a surface), and made his own unique interpretation. He invented Transparent Cubism, where he selected only a portion of the figure to break down, utilizing geometric shapes to connote perspective, while at the same time retaining some realistic elements in the forms of his figures. He featured Mother and Child works that are in impoverished setting (a long way off the reverential portrayal of the subject in the arts). He visually took a stance on social commentary as seen in his barong barongs and his paintings on Martial Law. He painted the everyday life in the rural setting. His still life paintings are reminiscent of the usual fares in a Filipino household. He also made a lot of religious works, a compulsion he seemed to have every year. Overall, Manansala depicted the Filipino: battered by poverty but beautiful in resilience.