Intertwining Filipino and French art at MET's ‘Luminescence’ exhibit 

Many Filipino and French artists and travelers have lived, studied, and worked in both the Philippines and France. To celebrate their works, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila president Tina Colayco revealed Monday at the press launch of Week Gastronomique that the museum will mount an art exhibit dedicated to Filipino and French artistry. 

 

"Luminescence" will feature works as far back as the 19th century such as those from French naturalist Antoine-Alfred Marche and French traveler Paul Proust de la Gironière. 

 

Marche collected artefacts in the Philippines in the 1800s. He also published the book "Luçon et Palaouan, six années de voyages aux Philippines (Luzon and Palawan, six years of voyages in the Philippines)" in 1887. De la Gironière, meanwhile, published "Vingt Années aux Philippines (Twenty Years in the Philippines)" in 1853. 

 

Representing the Philippines for the same era is celebrated Filipino painter Juan Luna. He will be joined by fellow Filipino artists Macario Vitalis, Nena Saguil, Juvenal Sanso, Alfonso Ossorio, David Medalla, Ofelia Gelvezon-Tequi, Gaston Damag, Lani Maestro, and Victoria Abad Kerblat—who all went to France at some point in their life. 

 

Aside from well-known Filipino and French names, Luminescence will also feature up and coming artists such as French-Filipino Olivia D'Aboville and a group of art students from the University of the Philippines who studied in Ecole Nationale Superieur de Beaux Arts (ENSBA) or the National School of Fine Arts in Paris as scholars. 

 

Works of photographer Charles Fréger, painter Hervé Di Rosa, conceptual artist Fabrice Hybert, and ENSBA faculty and sculptor Götz Arndt will also be installed in the exhibit to represent France. 

 

The art exhibit will open during the MET Fête gala dinner on October 14, which will also officially kick off Week Gastronomique, the first French Gastronomy Week in the Philippines. 

 

Luminescence will be on view at the MET from October 15 to November 30. — Trisha Macas/VC, GMA News