Supporting the arts isn’t just a fashionable cause especially for iconic store Rustan’s, which has been organizing art events and even initiating art collaborations in its stores for the past decades.
The distinguished retail company’s latest pursuit is the launching of the two-volume Amorsolo: Love & Passion featuring life and works of National Artist Fernando Amorsolo.
Published by Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation Inc., the new volumes take a deeper look at the stories of the subjects behind the maestro’s famous portraits.
Through Amorsolo’s daughter, Sylvia Amorsolo Lazo, anecdotes and insights on the artist’s famous muses and his prominent works are shared not just for the readers’ delight but also takes into context the maestro‘s contribution to Philippine art history.
The new mini-coffeetable books (sized at 9.5 x 12.75 inches) includes two volumes: the first of which is Portraits, which features 309 Amorsolo paintings and photos in the compact 188 pages, and Landscapes & Other Works, which includes 193 images by the renowned maestro.
Readers will enjoy the new insights on the man and his muses as well as appreciate photos of his masterfully illuminated (chiaroscuro) landscapes, portraits of distinguished families and ladies of Manila society, as well as rural folks such as farmers and his imagined dalagang Filipina.
Volume 1: Portraits, which features his works on prominent portrait subjects like Senate President Manuel L. Quezon, Enrique Zobel Ayala and General Douglas MacArthur, among others, is an especially important piece of work as Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo narrates the incredible stories behind each art work.
Volume II: Landscapes & Other Works, on the other hand consists of engaging essays by writer Carlomar Daoana and art critic Cid Reyes.
In a press statement, Sylvia Amorsolo Lazo shares, “My father had a view of the world that was remarkably youthful—the world is always fresh and bright, as depicted by his artworks contained in these coffee-table books.
Multi-awarded writer Krip Yuson is the books’ editor. He notes, “As writer Jane Allinson shares in her commentary Infinite Variety: Themes and Variations: “Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto put his soul on canvas. Each composition was a creative celebration—not a repetition—of the way he saw the world. An accurate assessment of the artist’s oeuvre confirms his statement: ‘My paintings are all original.’”
Amorsolo: Love & Passion is now available at Rustan’s Makati, Rustan’s Shangri-La, Rustan’s Gateway, and Rustan’s Alabang.
For every purchase, a portion of the proceeds will go to EPCALM (Erwin Piedad Cabanag Adult Leukemia Ministries), a non-profit organization, which reaches out to leukemia patients, as well as their families.
