Galo B. Ocampo. Brown Madonna. Oil on canvas. 62 cm x 47 cm. 1938. The Madonna and child create self-identification with the viewer. (Photo source: A Portfolio of 60 Philippine Art Masterpieces).

The Nativity is a glorious event in Christianity that is all but lost in the consciousness of the Filipino visual artists in the large. This is sad because 99.99% of the visual artists can be safely assumed to be Christians and therefore informed of the birth of the Messiah.

Where lies the challenge, not to say shortfall? Surely not the Christian faith for it is as ubiquitous as the air that we breathe. Could it be the artists’ (mis)education that may have placed emphasis on form rather than on content, including how this content is first conceived in the mind?

The works of the western visual artists on the Nativity have defied all kinds of stylistic/technological “isms” by reason of content. Reason: Content is eternal, whereas form is ephemeral.

The Infant Jesus is minified but is always the focal point regardless of the surrounding details. This is the artists’ graphic representation of this truth enshrined forever in Mt. 18:20, which says, “Where two or more are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, had since been transformed because Greeks, Romans, Arab Muslims, Christian crusaders, Turkish Muslims, Ottoman Turks, and even British forces became rulers in its colorful history. But no matter. The holiness of the place is a continuing presence and engulfs anyone regardless of religion. Or lack of it.

Sadly, to repeat, the Filipino visual artists are generally caught in an attitude of nonchalance where the subject of the Nativity is concerned.

Madonna and Child

The closest that a countable few visual artists have done a bit of the Nativity is to paint a Madonna and child, always Filipinized, with haloes hovering overhead. National Artist Botong Francisco painted a bronzified mother and child (title: Madonna of the Bamboos) in 1962. The Madonna in long skirt and with a veil, stands at the center of the upright oil on wood, with the child (not mentioned in the title), being carried on her right side. The Madonna and child are the foci, framed as such by the bamboo stems without branches, thorns and leaves. Furthermore, they have transparent irregularly-shaped ovals overhead that serve as haloes.

This work localizes a universal subject which most of Christendom has come to celebrate every December 25, with the Philippines having the longest celebration in the world.

National Artist Vicente Manansala had his own version of a Madonna and child titled Madonna of the Slums, oil on lawanit done in 1950. Some people might mistake this as a blasphemy, little realizing that this is Mang Enteng’s superb way of interpreting what obtains between Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ: Oneness.

This virtue is depicted by the closed arms of the Madonna as the child clings around the neck of his mother. The slum parallels the humble stable wherein the Redeemer was born. And make no mistake about the ragtag roof of the shanty immediately behind the Madonna. This rooftop serves as the Madonna’s halo — to drive home the point that the Madonna of the slums enjoys the virtues of humility and quiet dignity. The physical environment underscores God’s message to the poor and downtrodden for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 5:3).

Surprisingly, or thankfully, one National Artist, a Chinese born in Davao City in 1931, did no less than 37 masterpieces in a span of 40 years, bearing the title Mother and Child. Of these 37 pieces, a watercolor done in 1957 is unique because it is the only one showing the mother and the child with haloes.

Ang Hua Shing, later Ang Kiukok, showed the Child as the focal point for he is practically frontally-oriented, whereas the Mother, who carries her son on her laps, bows her head, her eyes closed, obviously in an act of silent prayer. Purity surrounds both Mother and Child, shown as such by the off-white vertical oval shape that merges with the light blue at the fringes.

Kiukok, who did not bother to finish Fine Arts at UST, did an incisive reading of his subject.

Galo B. Ocampo did his version of a brown Madonna in 1938, much earlier than the three masters above. The Madonna and the child, both brown, are the foci, and create oneness and self-identification with the viewer by reason of eye-to-eye contact. The Madonna is wearing a striped tapis and yellow blouse, while the child is in his birthday suit — and brown all over. Both wear perfect haloes (both circles). Behind are petaline and multi-rayed sunbursts. Below is a cross between a nipa hut and a Cordillera indigenous house, chalet style at that. At the left bottom corner are cacti and some desert plants without agronomic and natural habitation with the denuded mountains at the background.

The brown Madonna, with generous lips, is Ocampo’s version of the Virgin Mary, as proven by his dedication: “Binabati kita, Maria.” Notice the utter lack of veneration.

Challenge

Comes now the challenge. What will today’s visual artists, both the young once and the young ones, do to refocus their consciousness as artists, Filipinos and Christians?

Caveat: One need not be a Christian to be able to significantly do an in-depth discourse on the Nativity. Or do parallel presentations on the mother and child, specifically.