Napoleón Abueva

“Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture”

Victoria M. Prieto

His Life• Born on January 26, 1930 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines• Whole name: Napoleón Isabelo Veloso-Abueva • Nickname: Billy• Parents: Teodoro Abueva – A Bohol congressman

Purificacion (Nena) Veloso - President of the Women’s Auxiliary Service

• Spouse: Sergia (Cherry) Abueva – A psychiatrist• Children: Amihan, Mulawin, Duero• Siblings: Teodoro (Teddy) Jr. – now in New York

Purificacion (Neny) – deceased Jose Abueva – former President of UP Amelia Martinez (Inday) – now in Chicago Teresita (Ching) Floro – now in Sydney Antonio (Tony) – landscape artist. He was aboard the Princess of

the Orient that was on it’s way to Cebu during tropical storm Vicki (1998) and it sunk less than an hour after departure. His body still has not been found.

Highlight of His Childhood

• In 1943, during WWII, his parents were taken by the Japanese, tortured, and killed in Valencia, Bohol. He was only 14 then and he was tortured for more than a week. He lost his front teeth and his bruises took weeks to heal.

Education• As a young boy, he studied at Tagbilaran Elementary School, and later at

University of Southern Philippines, Holy Name University, and Rafael Palma College (now known as the University of Bohol)

• Took Fine Arts in UP after getting the Pura Villanueva-Kalaw Scholarship in 1951 and graduated 1953.

• Followed by a Fulbright-Smith Scholarship (international educational exchange in US) in 1954-55.

• Then he got a foreign Students Scholarship at the University of Kansas from 1955-56. At the same time, he also won a scholarship for Instituto de Allende in Mexico City but put it down due to conflict in schedule.

• Also in 1955, he finished his Masters in Fine Arts at the Cranbook Academy of Arts in the United States. In 1956, he attended Harvard University for yet another scholarship grant.

* Fun Fact: At U.P, one of his mentors was Guillermo Tolentino, also a national artist, who created the Oblation at the university entrance . Tolentino later relegated to him the task of replicating the sculpture for the Campus of U.P. Los Banos.

Work• Uses both academic representation and modern abstract.

• Used hard wood (molave, acacia, langka wood, ipil, kamagong, palm wood and bamboo), adobe, metal, stainless steel, cement, marble, bronze, iron, alabaster, coral and brass.

• Among the early innovations Abueva introduced in 1951 was what he referred to as "buoyant sculpture" -- sculpture meant to be appreciated from the surface of a placid pool.

• He used to teach at Industrial Design department of De La Salle College of St. Benilde School of Arts and Design before his stroke.

AWARDS• First Prize, Sculptural Exhibition by the Art Association of the Philippines (1951)• First Prize in the Fifth Annual Art Exhibition (1952)• First Prize and Special Award on the Fourth Sculptural Exhibition (1952)• Awardee, "The Unknown Political Prisoner" in the International Sculpture Competition by the

Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1953)• First Prize and Special Award, Kaganapan (Marble), in the Semi-Annual Art Exhibition by the Art

Association of the Philippines (1953)• First Prize, "Kiss of Judas" (Wood) in the Religious Art Exhibition in Detroit, Michigan, USA

(1955)• Purchase Prize, "Water Buffalo" (Marble), in the Annual Show, at St. Louis, Missouri, USA (1956)• First Prize, "Figure" (Wood) in the Annual Show of the Art Association of the Philippines (1957)• Most Outstanding Alumnus of the School of Fine Arts, U.P. Golden Jubilee (1958)• Republic Award for Sculpture (1959)• Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) Awardee in Sculpture (1959)• Winner, U.P. Gateway Design Competition (1962)• Winner, Cultural Heritage Award (1966)• ASEAN Awards for Visual Arts in Bangkok (1987)• Fourth ASEAN Achievement Award for Visual Arts in Singapore (July 1995).

WELL KNOWN SCULPTURES

• Kiss of Judas (1955)• Kaganapan (1953)

WELL KNOWN SCULPTURES

• The Transfiguration (1979) –Eternal Garden Memorial Park

• Siyam na Diwata ng Sining (Nine Muses) (1994)

WELL KNOWN SCULPTURES

• Sunburst (1994) – Manila Peninsula

WELL KNOWN SCULPTURES

• Sandugo or Blood Compact Shrine -Bohol

WELL KNOWN SCULPTURES

• A mural of the death march done on marble

Other well known Art pieces

• 30 pieces of Silver• UP Gateway (1967)• UP Faculty Center• the bronze figure of Teodoro M. Kalaw in front of National

Library• and murals in marble at the National Heroes Shrine, Mt.

Samat, Bataan