The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Vibal Foundation launched the third installment in its print division's art series Arte Filipino at the Ayala Museum in Makati Thursday evening.

The Life, Art, and Times of Damian Domingo was written by Dr. Luciano P.R. Santiago, who spent many years doing archival research, searching for records pertaining to the formerly little-known nineteenth-century artist Damian Domingo, termed the first great Filipino painter.

Dr. Santiago's book sheds new light on Domingo, who actually flourished in earlier periods of the 19^th century as an artist painting portraits commissioned by Spanish royalty; rich and lively scenes of saints, angels, and the Holy Family; and albums of tipos del pais for travelers in need of portrait souvenirs.

The recently launched art book is an invaluable reference material for a very important personality in Philippine art history, according to Guillermo Luz, director of the Ayala Museum. He said that Domingo's original works not only preserved information about Philippine art but also preserved the history of the Filipino people as well.

“We're happy to be a part of this event,” Mr. Luz said, and congratulated both Dr. Santiago and the Vibal Foundation, the book's publisher, on their efforts to shed more light on history's events and figures including Damian Domingo.

Santiago, a psychiatric doctor by profession who has a passion for archival research, co-wrote The World of Damian Domingo in the '70s with Nick Joaquin, who was proclaimed National Artist for Literature in 1976.

The author clarified that his latest book “is not a reprint” of the previous one he worked with. Although the earlier book contains series of essays written by Joaquin about Damian Domingo's works, Santiago said it lacked thorough descriptions of the artist's life.

“The book that is being launched today is the first full-length biography of an artist that lived earlier than Juan Luna and Felix Resureccion Hidalgo,” he said in an interview.

First Filipino Western art instructor

Born in 1796, Domingo, a painter of portrait miniatures and religious images, produced albums illustrating the native costumes or tipos del pais of the early 19^th century period.

A native and resident of Tondo, Domingo is acclaimed for establishing the country's first official Philippine art academy in his own hometown in 1821. The Ayala Museum website says that the academy he established and served as a director was “likely the first in Asia to teach the Western principles of foreground, middleground, and background perspectives, among other artistic techniques.”

In 1826, after his school closed, Domingo assumed a teaching position which had been offerred to him at the Academia del Dibujo. The art school had just been opened by the Real Sociedad Economicade Amigos del Pais (Royal Economic Society of the Friends of the Country). Domingo later became the director of the Academia. During his term, he instituted non-discriminatory policies giving equal rights to the students regardless of racial or social background.

The Academia taught still-life and human-form drawing, preparing colors and surfaces, and painting using oil and aquarelle. It was the precursor of the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines.

Domingo painted miniature portraits in ivory and did oil portraits on canvas. When he died at the young age of 38 in 1834, he is said to have left a new generation of artists oriented in the artistic traditions practiced in the Western art world.

Dr. Santiago's book features an overview of the social, cultural, ethnic, and political climate of the Philippines, particularly Tondo, as a prelude to Domingo's birth in the late 18^th century. Domingo married Lucia Casas and had two sons, Jose and Severo, who also became painters; and a daughter, Agapita, who became a pioneering sister of a religious order.

In the book, a painter of religious scenes by the name of Faustino Quiotan is identified as a possible influence on the young master artist. Domingo's artistic contemporary, Juan Arzeo, is also discussed in the book, while a Calcutta-based fabric trader named Daniel Baboom is cited as Domingo's partner in cataloging the colorful Philippine costumes for which the artist is now best known.

Santiago also incorporated Domingo's last will and testament, which he discovered at the National Archives, and traced the Domingo family tree down to its direct descendants living to this day, the Ongpin family.

Grateful

Lisa Ongpin-Periquet, a direct descendant of Damian Domingo, expressed their family's joy about the release of the historically important book.

“It's our family's dream come true. We are indeed so lucky Dr. Santiago is obsessed about Damian Domingo,” Mrs. Periquet said, adding that the author was able to collect “so much” information that highlights Domingo and brings him to public attention. She expressed gratitude to the Foundation as well.

Periquet believes that the greatest legacy Domingo has handed to the Filipinos is his pioneering systematized instruction of art in the Philippines.

Mr. Gaspar Vibal, Executive Director of the Vibal Foundation, also expressed his gratitude for the support given by the Ongpin and Ayala families in the creation and publication of the book.

Asked why the Foundation honors Filipino artists like Damian Domingo, Mr. Vibal stated that the Foundation maintains an arts conservation program.

“What we are trying to do is to promote art through books, for instance, since books are cultural objects,” he said, adding that the book and its launch are instrumental to the expansion of knowledge.

The lobby of the Ayala Museum became a standing-room-only venue as many guests and dignitaries attended the event. Among the attendees were business tycoons Don Fernando Zobel and Ayala Museum founder Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala.

This is a very historical book, a very beautiful book,” Don Fernando Zobel said.