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The Burning of the Idols by Fernando Amorsolo is on exhibit at the Ayala Museum in Makati Avenue, Makati City at the Amorsolo Gallery along with several of his other paintings from different time periods such as his Untitled (Nude) painted in 1919, Planting Rice (1922) and Going to Town on Sunday Morning made in 1958. Like the latter painting mentioned (Going to Town on Sunday Morning), the painting Burning of the Idols was made sometime during 1958. It measures 84 x 128 centimeters and was painted using oil on canvas. The painting is easily classified as representational art.
However, some difficulty is encountered in specifying the kind of representational art in which the painting is made. After much debating, it is classified as classicist with a touch of impressionism and romanticism. Before discussing the painting more fully, a brief description of its creators life is needed. The painter, Fernando Amorsolo, was given the title Grand Old Man of Philippine Art on January 23, 1969 when the Manila Hilton inaugurated its art center with an exhibit of a selection of his works. In 1973, he was posthumously awarded as the first National Artist. Amorsolo was born on May 30, 1892 in Paco, Manila.
When he was seven months old, his family moved to Date, Camarines Norte where he would live for his first thirteen years. In 1905, after the death of his father, the family moved back to Manila and stayed in the house of Don Fabian dela Rosa, a well-known painter and Amorsolo's mothers first cousin. It is here at Don Fabians studio that Amorsolo learned to mix colors and wield a brush. He enrolled at the Like de Manila in 1909 but had to drop out after his third year due to lack of means. However, he refused to be discouraged; through odd jobs such as doing postcard sketches for a shop, he was able to enroll and graduate from the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts in 1914. He says that he found his own style by reacting to the influences of the four men under whom he studied: Don Fabian dela Rosa, Don Rafael Enriquez (the first director of the UP School of Fine Arts), Miguel Zaragoza (from whom he learned the use of color), and Toribio Herrera (who advocated anatomical detail and muscle).
In 1917, Amorsolo was offered a one-year fellowship in Spain, Paris and Rome by Don Enrique Zone. However, because of the turmoil caused by the recently concluded World War I, he was unable to go to Paris and Rome. Amorsolo stayed in Madrid for seven months, studying at the Escuela de San Fernando. In Spain, he found new mentors in the works of Ignacio Zuloaga, Diego de Silva Velasquez, and Joaquin Scroll. He spent his winter abroad in New York, where he was exposed to post-war Impressionism and cubism.
In the 1920 s, he developed the backlighting technique which would become his trademark. The Burning of the Idols portrays the pre-colonial period in the Philippines but also a time when the Spanish conquerors had already arrived. This is evidenced by the cross that can be seen on the upper-left hand corner of the painting. This scene probably took place immediately right after the Spanish had arrived and converted the natives to Christianity from animism and idolatry. As mentioned at the start of this paper, the painting was done in 1958 a crucial time in the Philippines. This was a time of rebuilding the nation after World War II.
This was also a period characterized by the attempts of Filipinos to assimilate or adapt what were originally western movements or styles or media to Filipino content, sensibility and tradition. National identity and national consciousness were also important issues at this time. This could explain the theme of historical events in the painting (as well as in other paintings done during the same period such as the Early Sulu Wedding and The First Baptism in the Philippines). In order to describe the painting better, let us divide it into 3 divisions vertically and start describing from the leftmost section. This upper part of the first section has a shadowy cross set against a slightly dark sky with natives surrounding the cross in a half-circle.
The natives features and bodies are not that detailed; only the basic outlines and features are shown. The natives, like the cross and the sky, are in shadows. In the lower portion of the first section, we see two men leaning forward, towards the young woman and the fire. The man in the foreground is also holding an idol. In the second section, we see two men on the upper left-hand side of the woman. One of them is holding a long slender stick in his right hand.
The young woman is kneeling in front of the fire, holding up an idol with both of her hands above her head, about to cast the idol into the fiery flames. Above the woman, in shadows, is the silhouette of a Spanish soldier holding a stick, spear, or some other long-handled weapon. I am speculating that it is a Spanish soldier because, looking closely at the silhouette, its arm seems to be clothed in a armor of the Spanish soldiers during that time as depicted in other drawings and paintings. The third segment shows the glowing fire and the child sitting to the right of the young woman. The fire is no ordinary fire; it is huge, like a bonfire.
It crackles and sizzles and radiates warmth and heat. It is possible that a few idols may have already been cast into the fire and burned prior to this scene. Above the fire is darkness, as if wherever the painting took place is pitch-black. The child, unlike the other men described in the other two parts of the painting who are all positioned sideways, sits with his back to the audience and, like the woman, wears nothing on the upper half of his body. Through their positioning in the painting, one can determine the way the artist wanted them to look or to seem to the observer. The men, with their bodies leaning forward and arms outstretched, show activity and motion.
There is an energy and passion or emotion in their stance which is heightened even further with the somewhat fierce expression in their faces. The child seems to be a passive participant or a mere observer in the gathering with his relaxed sitting position and detachment from the others (the child sits apart from the rest and is the only one depicted on that side of the fire and woman). The Spanish soldier exudes a dignified aura despite the fact that he is a mere silhouette or shadow and has the appearance of a watchful observer. This is probably because he is painted with his body straight, hovering over the fire and everyone else.
Meanwhile, from the woman emanates grace, femininity, sensuality, poise and strength. Her grace, sensuality and femininity are derived through the use of curves outlining her body the curve of her waist and hips, the gentle swell of her breast, and the arch of her arms. At the same time, she appears poised and strong because of the vertical alignment of her body, the erect way she held herself. The central focus of the painting is the young woman kneeling before the fire and holding up an idol in her hands.
We can establish this in several ways. First, the woman is the only figure in the painting depicted with a solid outline and light colors. The rest of the figures are cast in shadow and less solidly formed. Second, the womans figure is surrounded by the glow of the fire. She seems to be bathed in a warm glow. Lastly, the hands and feet of the men on her left point towards her when you draw an imaginary line from where their hands and feet end.
The same is true for the man above her and the fire as well as the child sitting on the womans left. The painting very much reveals the style of Amorsolo he was a classicist with a dash of impressionism and romanticism. He revelled in the use of warm tones in his paintings and made personal use of color. His pe...
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Research essay sample on Burning Of The Idols Fernando Amorsolo
