Fifty Shades of Philippine Art: Nineteenth-Century Masters of Angono Art

Dating back 5,000 years to ancient petroglyphs carved on cave walls, Angono’s long artmaking tradition has produced two National Artists, numerous art galleries, and the famous Higantes Festival. The town gained renown as the “Art Capital of the Philippines” after Carlos “Botong” Francisco’s modernist paintings captivated the art world. However, even a master like Botong stood on the shoulders of Angono’s giants who came before him—artists like Juan Senson, Pedro Piñon, and Moises Villaluz Sr. The works of these old masters, Angono’s own “triumvirate,” are little acknowledged and seldom studied, apart from a few pieces which have ended up in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas collection as cultural treasures.

Published in 2023 by Vibal Foundation, Inc.

128 pages