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1 The Lopez Memorial Museum

[edit] The Lopez Memorial Museum

The Lopez Memorial Museum is a Philippine art and history museum and library located in Metro-Manila, Philippines at the ground floor of the Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Pasig City.

[edit] History

It was founded on 13 February 1960 by Don Eugenio López, Sr. in honor of his parents, Benito López and Presentacion Hofileña. Don Eugenio built the museum in order to provide scholars and students access to his personal collection of rare Filipiniana books, manuscripts, maps, archaeological artifacts and fine art.

[edit] Collections and Art Galleries

The Museum’s art galleries house paintings by 19th century Filipino masters, Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo and selected works by 20th century National Artist Fernando Amorsolo.

Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo garnered honors for the country when the paintings they submitted to the 1884 Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid won the Filipino some international recognition in the field of fine arts. Luna’s Spoliarium received one of the three gold medals awarded. Hidalgo’s entry, Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho was awarded the first silver out of a total of fifteen that were given out. A walk through the galleries will prove that Luna’s work are in distinct contrast to those of Hidalgo’s. If Luna’s canvasses depict drama and a certain bravura, Hidalgo’s portray a delicate sensibility.

Fernando Amorsolo gained prominence during the early Thirties and Forties as the painter who popularized the era’s rustic Philippine landscape and the lovely dalagang Filipina or Filipina maiden. Throughout the years, the museum has acquired paintings by many of the country’s National Artists including Botong Francisco, Vicente Manansala, HR Ocampo, Cesar Legaspi, Arturo Luz and J. Elizalde Navarro. Important artists such as Fernando Zobel, Nena Saguil, Macario Vitalis, Jose Joya, and Romeo Tabuena are also represented in the museum’s ever-expanding collection. The museum is equally proud of its largely under-rated pieces from Juan Arellano and Dominador Castañeda.

Among the museum’s other treasures is an initial collection of 14th and 15th century artifacts recovered in the Calatagan burial sites. The Calatagan excavations opened new areas of study on the culture and civilization of the early Filipinos. The museum’s share in the diggings which Don Eugenio financed consists chiefly of porcelain of Chinese origin, Filipino earthenware, beads and a few Annamese and Siamese pieces.

The museum’s Rizaliana includes some 90 priceless letters of José Rizal to his mother and sisters. Some of the memorabilia exhibited are his billfold and brushes, his flute, including personal papers from Dapitan, Hong Kong, and Europe.

[edit] Library

The Library has a collection of over 17,000 Filipiniana titles, constantly enriched by new acquisitions. Its rare Philippine imprints date from early 17th century – the oldest being a unique copy of the Belarmin-Lopez Doctrina in Ilocano (Manila, 1620). Among the other rare books and manuscripts displayed are works by such eminent printers as Tomas Pinpin, Raymundo Magysa, Nicolas Cruz Bagay, Laureano Atlas and Juan Correa. The earliest book in the library is the third edition (Rome, 1524) of De Moluccis Insulis, by Maximilianus Transylvanus, which has the first printed account of Magellan’s voyage to the Philippines. Another important book in the Lopez collection is the famous Relacion de las Islas Filipinas by the Jesuit Pedro Chirino (Rome, 1604). The library also has extensive holdings on books of the Spanish and early American period. To these are added old periodicals (such as The Tribune), photo albums of Philippine flora, fauna, Philippine urban and rural environs, and microfilms of manuscripts and the like.

To strengthen the goal of the Lopez Memorial Museum in preserving and promoting Philippine arts and letters, the Eugenio López Foundation continues to publish Filipiniana material intended for scholars and the general public. Its publications include The Philippine Insurrection Against the US, edited by Renato Constantino, Juan Luna: The Filipino as Painter by Santiago A. Pilar, Orchidiana Philippiniana by Helen Valmayor, Philippine Rariora by Mario Garcia, and Fernando Zobel by Rod. Paras-Perez. The book, Hidalgo and the Generation of 1872 by Alfredo Roces won the 1998 Manila Critic’s Circle National Art Book of the Year and it marked the Foundation’s contribution to and commemoration of the Philippine Centennial.