BQ ARCHIVE
Vol I, No. 2
Sept 15, 2004

 
 
 by agnesdv

ARCHIVE #009

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Anita Magsaysay-Ho's Portrait of the Filipino

I first encountered Anita Magsaysay Ho's works in my lola's house where my uncle keeps his art collection (mostly of her works).  My uncle used to work for Magsaysay Lines, a line of cruise ships, which is owned by the Magsaysay family.  During his stint in the company, he was able to buy her works, although two or three were given to him by Magsaysay-Ho herself.  When you enter the house, you will immediately see her sketches, prints, an oil, and a tapestry/quilt on the walls, some rakuyaki plates on top of an antique television (remember those cabinet-like black and white televisions?). 

Of all her works there, I like the quilt the most.  I don't know what it's really called (quilt or tapestry) or what its title is, it has been there on the dining room wall ever since I can remember.  Every time I go visit the house and look at that tapestry, I wonder how she conceptualised the idea and sewed the whole thing into an artwork.

 

Anita Magsasay-Ho's tapestry in my lola's
house in Tolosa, Leyte.

detail of tapestry

Anita Magsaysay-Ho comes from a rich family.  A cousin of President Ramon Magsaysay, a wife of a Chinese businessman, a daughter of a shipping line... she comes from one of those privileged families in old Paco.  She was encouraged to draw and paint at an early age when she showed no talent in her piano lessons.  She studied many art disciplines (arts and crafts, pewter, miniature paintings from a nun, leather, glass, oil, mosaic) because she said she liked to learn new things.  She studied at the UP School of Fine Arts when it was still an old wooden building in Malate.

Because she grew up in old Manila, she was able to record the street scenes and the traditions of her childhood.  Her collection of works is a portrait of the traditional Filipino everyday life.  Women dressed in piña and panuelos (“Showing Off”), women caroling (“The Carolers”), women cooking for farmers (“Cooks”), fishermen (“At the Seashore”), women working in the farm (“Pounding Rice”), marketplace scenes (“In the Marketplace”), and even two pairs of slippers (“Slippers”). 

In her memoir, she wrote that her father taught her not to portray the ugly things in our country, but to try to find the beauty that is there.  And that she does and more.  She captures the essence of our culture in her works, freezes it in time and brings it forward to the present time. 

"Laughter", Manila, 1950,
Acrylic on wood, 25 x 19 cm. 
Collection of Purita Kalaw Ledesma.





"Cooks", Manila, 1952. 
Egg tempera, 46 x 61 cm. 
Private collection.






"Women with Fans", 1984.
Oil on canvas, 37 x 94cm. 
Collection Gerald & Jessica Magsaysay Brimo.