Anita Magsaysay-Ho, One of the Thirteen Moderns

MAGSAYSAY-Ho, ANITA CORPUS b. Manila 25 May 1914. Painter. She is the daughter of Ambrosio

Magsaysay and Armilla Corpus. She is married to Robert Ho. She studied at the University of the Philippines

(UP) School of Fine Arts under Fabian de la Rosa, Vicente Rivera y Mir, and Fernando and Pablo Amorsolo.

She also studied at the School of Design under Victorio Edades and Enrique Ruiz. From there she proceeded

to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, USA, While in the United States, she affiliated with the Art

Students League in New York where she took courses in oil painting, graphics, and figure sketching.

During the early 194os Magsaysay Ho's works showed the influence of Amorsolo in choice of subjects and in

treatment of light and color, However, these works had very modernist tendencies, such as the use of

expressive distortion and concern for design and rhythm. The Philippine Art Gallery (PAG) did much to

situate Magsaysay Ho's works showed the influence of Amorsolo in choice of subjects and in treatment of

light and color, However, these works had very modernist tendencies, such as the use of expressive distortion

and concern for design and rhythm. The Philippine Art Gallery (PAG) did much to situate Magsaysay Ho's art

in the modernist movement of the 1950s. The original neorealists expanded to the PAG group which included

Lydia Arguilla, Nena Saguil, and Magsaysay Ho's art in the modernist movement of the 1950s. The original

neorealists expanded to the PAG group which included Lydia Arguilla, Nena Saguil, and Magsaysay Ho as its

women artists. In her paintings of the PAG period, which had as subjects women harvesting fruits, gathering

sheaves of grain, or selling fish in the market in their baro Ho as its women artists. In her paintings of the

PAG period, which had as subjects women harvesting fruits, gathering sheaves of grain, or selling fish in the

market in their baro't saya and bandana, Magsaysay Ho emphasized movement and bustling interaction by

means of bold, vigorous brushstrokes and strong tonal contrasts of light and dark, In the 1960s she opened up

space and allowed a more leisurely disposition of her women figures which became clearly articulated and

separate, the better to bring out the relationship of their movements and their serial rhythms. The lines tended

to soften with a more consistent modelling, the light and dark tones, creating a more harmonious and

mellifluous effect that hinted of choreographic grace. The style developed into paintings with movement and

greater interaction among the figures.

Her work of the 1970s showed the artist exploring a new style influenced by Chinese calligraphy, and a

secondary quasiwriter atmosphere. While her subjects were still the native women, she randomly spattered her

canvases with delicately controlled ink blots which suggested rock formations, vegetation or waves in the sea.

Her concern had evidently become purely formal: balance the interest and variety of the human gestures and

movements with the dynamic and assertive power of the ink blots.

A distinct period in the mid late 1980s may be called the Green Period after its predominant coloration. The

predominant green is the hue of leaves, fruit, and vegetables; the women figures themselves share this quality

symbolically as they themselves become like plants and fruit in nature. The physical type of her sisterhood is

now clearly defined: the oval face with high cheekbones and narrow eyes, brows softly curving up to the

temples.

In the late 1980s Magsaysay Ho began to paint large half figures. She filled the pictorial field entirely with

female figures surrounded by baskets, fruits, or tame birds hopping around them. In place of spontaneity and

lightness which characterized her earlier period, her figures and forms acquired solidarity of mass rendered in

a highly refined manner. Her colors became very Asian, using stark contrasts such as burnt sienna and yellow

greens.

Magsaysay Ho won second prize for Five Senses in the 1950 Manila Grand Opera House Exhibition. She

won second prize for Fish Vendors in the second watercolor exhibition of Graphic Arts in 1952. Her awards

from the Art Association of the Philippines include: first prize, The Cooks, 1952: second Prize, Fruit Vendors,

1953, third prize, Mending the Nets, 1959; first prize, Two Women, 1960; and second prize, Trio, 1962.

Kulay-Diwa  is a venue for Philippines and Southeast Asian Contemporary Art. Inaugurated on February 7, 1987, Kulay-Diwa, is strategically located within a cluster of communities South of Manila.  It has five independent exhibition areas able to accommodate large-scale works and a garden ideal for programs, performances and sculpture installations.  The goals of the gallery are to discover and promote the works of young, talented but deserving Filipino Artists and to foster cultural interaction and exchanges with the local regions and other countries.

Kulay (Colour)

Diwa  (Spirit, Thought)

Please contact us if you are interested to see more of her works.

Anita Magsaysay-Ho, "Beggar Girl", Oil on Canvas, 35 x 48 cms., 1946

Anita Magsaysay-Ho, "Untitled", Print, 25 x 33 cms., 1945

Anita Magsaysay-Ho, "Untitled", Pen and Ink on Paper, 30 x 20 cms., 1951

       INQUIRE

HOME