“Ensuenos de Amor,” Juan Luna, undated
Cedie Lopez-Vargas, executive director, Lopez Museum Foundation, during media presentation: ‘Coming home. Giving back’
In 1878, when Iloilo was struck with a province-wide famine, Don Eugenio Lopez, Sr. and his brother Claudio took it upon themselves to organize a relief operation using their own funds. They distributed rice and money to save the people from hunger.
Fast-forward to 2006: When a disastrous oil spill affected Guimaras, the Lopez family donated 15 ha of land to affected families, providing them with a place to live, assisted with livelihood programs.
The Lopez family, a pioneer in Philippine business and industry whose foundations and corporations are based in Metro Manila, remains deeply rooted in its province of origin, Iloilo.
For more than a century, the members of the Lopez family have been involved in nationhood through entrepreneurial, civic, and philanthropic activities.
The Lopez Group Foundation, with its partners—the University of Visayas Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage, the Iloilo City government, with the support of former senator Franklin Drilon and Sen. Loren Legarda—will present The Patrimony of All: Ang Panublion Sang Tanan—Paintings from the Lopez Museum and Library Collection.
‘Street Flower Vendors’ by Juan Luna, circa1855
‘Philippine Scenes 2’ by Juan Arellano, circa 1920s
The exhibit is a survey of Philippine art masterpieces from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, by Juan Luna, Felix Resurrección Hidalgo, Juan Arellano, and Fernando Amorsolo, from the Lopez Museum and Library (LML) collection. It will run from Nov. 26, 2024 to April 25, 2025 at the University of the Philippines Visayas Museum (UPV).
“Through their work, we hope to show that these artists painted what they saw and felt around them, but also conversed with what was being imagined elsewhere in the world. Around Academic Realism and Impressionism, they layered their distinct visions of colonial allegory, the native sunlight, and the dreamwork of the primeval and the future,” explained Cedie Lopez-Vargas, executive director of Lopez Museum Foundation, during the presentation to media.
‘Christ Down from the Cross’ by Juan Arellano, 1960
‘Native Fruits by Fernando Amorsolo, 1950
The paintings on exhibit will range from the dramatic and monumental La Barca de Aqueronte by Hidalgo, to the tragic Christ Down from the Cross by Arellano, the romantic Ensueños de Amor by Luna, and the famous bucolic scenes of Amorsolo’s Native Fruits.
“Ingrained in the Lopez family, its businesses and foundation, is a deep sense of responsibility for the Filipino people and culture, specifically for Iloilo,” added Lopez-Vargas.
‘Per Pacem et Libertatem by Felix Resurrección Hidalgo, 1903
‘Atardecer, by Fernando Amorsolo, 1944
It was that spirit that drove Oscar Lopez, the late father of Lopez-Vargas, to fund the restoration of the frescoes of the Jaro cathedral, and for the Lopez Group Foundation, Inc. (LGFI) to bring the masterpieces from the Lopez Museum and Library collection to Iloilo.
Next year, the Lopez Museum, which for decades had been at the Benpres Building in Ortigas, will move finally to its new site at Proscenium Rockwell, Estrella St., Makati. “We are sharing a building with the concert hall or the Performing Arts Theater (at Proscenium) of Rockwell,” said Lopez-Vargas.
The theater is for the community, and the Lopez Museum is set to make the move towards the third quarter of 2025.
Lopez-Vargas said, “The Museum in Iloilo is only an exhibit space provided by UP Visayas. We have a lot of collections and we can only display about 10 percent of the collection at a time. So, a lot of art works will still be in storage even after we open at Proscenium.
“Research facility is in a storage space and the conservation lab along Aurora Boulevard (Quezon City). There are a little less than 600 artworks kept there. A lot are important because of their historical relevance and personal favorites.
“The art works are traveling to Iloilo, the first time we are doing this. For the Ilonggos, they are looking at this as a homecoming or giving back.”
The Lopez Museum and Library boasts a most historic and impressive collection of Filipino paintings, especially of the masters, Filipiniana rare books, manuscripts, and maps, collected the past century.
Testament to the importance that the Lopezes place on Philippine culture is their home, fondly called the “boat house,” in Iloilo, declared a heritage house by the National Historical Institute in 2004.
The Lopez Museum and Library is a private institution founded in 1960 by Eugenio Lopez, Sr. out of a deep and abiding love for the country, The Museum was erected after the end of the colonial period and the complete destruction of Manila after World War II.
Lopez, Sr. and his son, Oscar Lopez, felt the dire need for historical continuity, so the family deemed it important to reconstruct that historical timeline and collected materials for the library.
In the 1850s, they slowly acquired and repatriated thousands of volumes that captured the stories about the Philippines. That collection soon expanded to the fine arts with the assistance of the sons of Lopez, Sr. — the eldest, Eugenio “Geny” Lopez, Jr., and the youngest, Roberto Lopez.
“The Lopez Museum continues to push the timeline forward with exhibitions, programs, and research,” Lopez-Vargas said.
“The Lopez Museum continues to carry out is efforts to preserve Philippine heritage, and shares its collection through both local and international audiences through an active loan program.”
According to Lopez-Vargas, the Lopez Museum has worked with the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Singapore, Ayala Museum in Metro Manila, and now, the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage.
“At the UPV Museum of Art and Cultural Heritage will be our first loan in the Philippines outside of Manila, and we are very proud to make it happen in Iloilo.
“Loans are a delicate matter. On a technical level, so much consideration not only goes into the quality of the exhibition presented and viewership experience, but also into the care of these fragile works of art, many over 100 years old.
“With 24-hour climate control being a challenge for many institutions, our conservation team had to develop a way in which the paintings could be protected during the run of the exhibition without sacrificing the viewing experience of original works of art. After much research and development, they designed microclimate frames for each work to maintain Lopez storage conditions and enable environmental monitoring.
“The team of UPV MACH has also ensured that personnel is available for preventive care and that the gallery spaces are adequately equipped.”
Lopez-Vargas reiterated the significance of the partnership: “We could not have had a better partner in this endeavor. Not only is the facility impressive as one of the best-preserved examples of architect Juan Arellano’s built heritage, adorned with sculptures by Francesco Monti, but at UPV MACH we have found a kindred spirit that shares the same ethos of cultural preservation, access, and education.
“Engaging with them brings a new perspective to the collection as educators and also draws a strong and complementary connection to their permanent exhibition featuring Visayan artists who were no doubt inspired by the masters before them.”
Conceived by former Senator Drilon in 2019, The Patrimony of All exhibit will allow audiences in the Visayas to encounter the works of Filipino masters, while also shining the spotlight on the rich architectural heritage and legacy of Iloilo.
The title, given by exhibition curator Dr. Patrick Flores, who was born in Iloilo and now works as chief curator of National Gallery Singapore, encapsulates the spirit of the endeavor.
Flores is professor of Art Studies at the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines (UP). He was a visiting fellow at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1999.
