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Known as the master of genre and sunlight in
the history of Filipino art, there was,
however an aspect to Amorsolo’s paintings
other than the quality of light which is
often overlooked: the suggestion of images
in their most simple telling configuration.
Amorsolo has understood that complex forms
are most easily perceived when they fall
within a larger, more simple pattern.
Contemporaries of Amorsolo called it
‘Velasquez’s vision’ of the moment, it was
the capacity to paint something
comprehensible in one glance. Between 1919
and 1920, Fernando Amorsolo went to Spain
under the patronage of Enrique Zobel. He
enrolled at the Escuela Superior de Pintura,
Esculyura y Grabado de San Fernando in
Madrid and made copies from Goya and
Velasquez at the Prado Museum. He saw also
for the first time, the actual works of
Sorolla, Zuloaga and Zorn. Amorsolo,
however, did not paint in a classicist
manner. Two years after he returned to the
Philippines in 1922, he painted his first
major ode to rural life, Planting rice,
which became the generic image for the
whole generation of painters.
The Dalaga bathing in the River, Batis
is one of the genre themes which celebrates
the tranquil and idyllic lifestyle of the
country which to the artist represented the
very essence of Filipino culture. In 1963 he
got an award Pintura - Parangal Patnubay ng
Sining at Kalinangan, Araw ng Maynila
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