Victorio C. Edades
| Victorio C. Edades | |
|---|---|
The Sketch, 1928, Oil on canvas, 96 x 117 cm
|
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| Born |
December 13, 1895 Barrio Bolosan, Dagupan, Pangasinan, Captaincy General of the Philippines |
| Died | March 7, 1985 (aged 89) Davao City, Philippines |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Education | University of Washington, Fondation Des Ecoles D'Art Americaines De Fontainebleau |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | "The Sketch", "The Builders", "Interaction", "Fontainebleau, August 1937", "The Model and The Artist" |
| Movement | Modernism |
Victorio C. Edades (December 23, 1895 – March 7, 1985) is a Filipino painter who was the leader of the revolutionary Thirteen Moderns who engaged their classical compatriots in heated debate over the nature and function of art. He was named a National Artist in 1976.
Victorio Edades was born on December 13, 1895 to Hilario and Cecilia Edades. He was the youngest of ten children (six of whom died of smallpox). He grew up in Barrio Bolosan in Dagupan, Pangasinan. His artistic ability surfaced during his early years. By seventh grade, his teachers were so impressed with him that he was dubbed "apprentice teacher" in his art class. He was also an achiever from the very beginning, having won awards in school debates and writing competitions.
After high school, Edades and his friends traveled to the United States. Before enrolling in Seattle, Edades incidentally made a detour to Alaska and experienced working in a couple of factories. Nonetheless, he moved on to Seattle and enrolled at the University of Washington where he took up architecture and later earned a Master of Fine Arts in Painting. The significant event that stirred Edades, and made him as what he is known now, was his encounter with the traveling exhibition from the New York Armory Hall. This art show presented modern European artists such as Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso and the Surrealists. His growing appreciation to what he saw veered him away from the conservative academic art and Realistic schools and thus he began to paint in the modern manner. The two former schools of thought were inclined more towards idyllic subject matter, and require a mastery of refined detailing. What attracted Edades to the modernist movement was its principle to go beyond the idealistic exteriors propagated by Impressionism and Realism. Modernist thought encourages experimentation in artistic expression and allows the artist to present reality as he sees it in his own way.
During his journey to America, he participated in art competitions, one of which was the Annual Exhibition of North American Artists. His entry The Sketch (1927) won second prize. When he returned to the Philippines in 1928, he saw that the state of art was "practically dead." Paintings he saw dealt with similar themes and were done in a limited technique that mostly followed the works of Fernando Amorsolo, the first Philippine national artist and the most popular painter of the time. He recognized that there was no creativity whatsoever, and that the artists of that time were merely "copying" each other. So in December, Edades bravely mounted a one-man show at the Philippine Columbia Club in Ermita to introduce to the masses what his modern art was all about. He showed thirty paintings, including those that won acclaim in America. It was a distinguished exhibit, for the Filipino art circle was suddenly shaken by what this young man from Pangasinan had learned from his studies abroad. Viewers and critics were apparently shocked and not one painting was sold.
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