Hernando R. Ocampo and Victor Oteyza both saw the crashing of the relentless tides of modernism. But how did these two meet and forge a friendship? The answer lies in other seminal figures in Filipino modernism, who were all inextricably bonded to their zealous endeavor of liberating Philippine painting.
\nBefore the war, Ocampo worked as the assistant editor of the mid-week magazine of the Philippines Herald. He counted among his colleagues now venerable names in Philippine history: Carlos P. Romulo (editor), Salvador P. Lopez (columnist), and Vicente Manansala, who had jumped to the art department of the Philippines Herald after working as a painter of billboards for the Philippine Advertising Company.
\nOn Saturdays, when people were off work, Cesar Legaspi would join Ocampo and Manansala. Legaspi then worked for Elizalde and Company as one of its advertising artists. “It was during these sessions that the young Manansala and Legaspi would hear, for the first time, about the wonders of Modern art,” wrote Purita Kalaw-Ledesma in the book The Biggest Little Room. H.R. Ocampo, being the literary and the intellectual one, talked of modernist theories and concepts in these conversations (He was a founding member of the Veronicans, progressive writers in the 1930s that also counted Francisco Arcellana, Angel G. de Jesus, and N.V.M Gonzales in its roster. The group wrote short stories and other literary pieces that were described by de Jesus, who would become Ocampo’s biographer, as representing “a break with tradition, an absence of bourgeois-moralistic taboos, and a realistic approach to life.”).
\nLegaspi first met Oteyza around 1937, when Galo Ocampo requested the former to design the set and costumes for “Pygmalion and Galatea,” which Oteyza directed.
\n“Cesar met Oteyza, and from this acquaintance, a deep friendship developed,” noted Kalaw-Ledesma. “Although Cesar lived at 821 Gelinos Street in Sampaloc, he would join Oteyza, who lived near the U.P. campus at Padre Faura Street. At night, they would meet and walk around discussing art and life. These discussions stimulated Oteyza and encouraged him to become a painter.”
\nThrough a common friend that was Legaspi, H.R. Ocampo and Victor Oteyza became acquainted. Kalaw-Ledesma recounted the pre-war Sunday luncheons when Galo Ocampo, H.R. Ocampo, Manansala, Demetrio Diego, and other artists (which reasonably included Oteyza) frequented Legaspi’s house and indulged in the savory Spanish cuisine meals that his father prepared and cooked. “Inevitably, the discussions would center on art,” said Kalaw-Ledesma.
\nAnother anecdote to H.R. Ocampo and Oteyza’s bond can be found in Angel G. de Jesus’ book on the former, writing that “as early as 1939, Nanding [and] Enteng held a joint exhibition at the UP Library where they were able to sell only two paintings,” one for each artist. De Jesus continued, “Their group was later joined by Legaspi and then by Ramon A. Estella, Victor Oteyza, Romeo V, Tabuena, and Arturo R. Luz. They visited each other’s studios, talked about each other’s paintings, and learned about their mistakes and faults. In that way, they improved their art and technique on the basis of what they learned from each other.”
\nWhen liberation came for the war-torn Philippines, these artists reunited for their beloved Sunday get-togethers, now hopping from one artist’s house to another every weekend “to show what each had painted during the week and to comment on each other’s works” as Kalaw-Ledesma put it. “…As always, they could only paint after office hours or on holidays. This limited their production to three or, at most, twelve paintings a year.”
\nThe bond formed by H.R. Ocampo and Oteyza is encapsulated in this Portrait of Victor Oteyza. Painted by Ocampo in 1948, the work echoes sentiments of his “Proletarian Period” of 1934 to 1945, in which he depicted faceless figures as symbolic of the Filipino struggle against colonialism and, in turn, the destructive war.
\nHowever, Ocampo’s portrait of his dear friend depicts the Filipino artists’ struggle towards artistic liberation, shattering tradition, embracing innovation, and finding a unique identity. This zeal would be materialized with the rise of Neo-Realism in the early ‘50s. This group counted among its members Ocampo and Oteyza and banded in the name of artistic revolution: a subversion against the deeply rooted supremacy and conservatism of the Amorsolo school of painting. They wanted to depict the destruction brought by the war and the trauma it had inflicted on the Filipino soul as it unfolded before their very eyes.
\nIn line with the Neo-Realist spirit, as articulated by the words of Francesco de Sanctis (to create reality, an artist must first destroy it, and its fragments would come together again to breathe new life among each other), Oteyza painted his Plastic Engineering Series (Oteyza himself was a professional engineer). The works are composed of stark linear forms arranged in a frenzied manner, emphasizing the plastic elements of painting. At the same time, it mirrors the turbulent, almost anarchic condition of Manila in the immediate aftermath of the war, as encapsulated by the ruined landscape and the cramped barong-barongs scattered all over the city.
\nKalaw-Ledesma wrote, “Oteyza was the closest [to adhere] to the De Santis philosophy.”
\nThe post-war Modernists also found themselves in great luck as the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP) would be founded in 1948, the same year Ocampo painted the work at hand. The AAP would be headed by Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, matriarch and vanguard of modernism. It would hold annual exhibitions and competitions, and modernists and conservatives were all invited to join. But the tides would always turn in favor of the moderns, who, even in the first AAP competition in 1948, had swept all the major awards, from the 1st Prize won by Botong Francisco for Kaingin up to the 6th Prize won by H.R. Ocampo for Nude with Candle and Flower.
\nOcampo and Oteyza were peers (and rivals) in these lively competitions. In particular, Oteyza would bag several honors: the 5th Prize for his work Perfect State at the 1949 Annual and an “Honorable Mention” for The Crucible at the 1950 Annual. But it was his entry to the inaugural AAP annual, the first painting of his iconic “Plastic Engineering Series,” that would be dubbed years later by Magtanggul Asa in the booklet for the landmark “First Exhibition of Non-Objective Art in Tagala” in December 1953, as bagging “the distinction of the first non-objective piece entered in the competition,” a heralding of what’s to come in the fate of Philippine Modernism.
\nAsa also honored Ocampo and Oteyza as the “major exponents” of non-objective art. (Adrian Maranan)
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