Vicente Silva Manansala (1910-1981) was a Filipino artist known for his Cubist paintings and prints.
Through his depictions of contemporary Filipino life, Vicente Silva Manansala (1910-1981) addressed issues of intimacy, poverty, and culture. His melding of social commentary with painting had a profound influence on the younger Filipino artists of his generation, such as Angelito Antonio and Manuel Baldemor.
Vicente Silva Manansala (1910-1981) was a Filipino artist known for his Cubist paintings and prints.
Through his depictions of contemporary Filipino life, Vicente Silva Manansala (1910-1981) addressed issues of intimacy, poverty, and culture. His melding of social commentary with painting had a profound influence on the younger Filipino artists of his generation, such as Angelito Antonio and Manuel Baldemor.
Born on January 22, 1919 in Macabebe, Philippines, he studied at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Art until 1930. He later received a UNESCO fellowship to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The artist died on August 22, 1981 in Manila, Philippines. His works are in the collections of the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Philippine Center in New York, and the Lopez Memorial Museum in Manila.
Manansala's canvases were described as masterpieces that brought the cultures of the barrio and the city together. His Madonna of the Slums is a portrayal of a mother and child from the countryside who became urban shanty residents once in the city. In his Jeepneys, Manansala combined the elements of provincial folk culture with the congestion issues of the city.
Manansala developed transparent cubism, wherein the "delicate tones, shapes, and patterns of figure and environment are masterfully superimposed". A fine example of Manansala using this "transparent and translucent" technique is his composition, Kalabaw (Carabao).
Vicente Manansala, a National Artist of the Philippines in Visual Arts, was a direct influence to his fellow Filipino neo-realists: Malang, Angelito Antonio, Norma Belleza and Manuel Baldemor. The Honolulu Museum of Art, the Lopez Memorial Museum (Manila), the Philippine Center (New York City), the Singapore Art Museum and Holy Angel University (Angeles City, Philippines) are among the public collections holding work by Vicente Manansala. Holy Angel University recently opened a section of its museum called The Vicente Manansala Collection, holding most of the estate left by the artist.
He died on August 22, 1981 in Manila, Philippines due to lung cancer.
