In the American period education was introduced to the Philippines.

There were

Filipinos who studied abroad and influenced the art making in the country. Juan Arellano,

Diosdado Lorenzo, and Victorio Edades were among those who studied outside the

Philippines. These three artists went back and introduced the concept of modern art in the

country.

Upon his arrival, Vict Edades introduced modern visual art through his art exhibition

which shocked many Filipino audiences due to his different style in painting. Instead of

using usual bright and happy colors, he used dull and dark hues in his works with the life

of the laborers, workers, and lower sector of the society as his subjects.

After the triumvirate had introduced art modernism, thirteen artists called the thirteen

moderns followed their path. Vicente Manansala, Cesar Legaspi, Anita Magsaysay-Ho,

Hernando Ocampo, Carlos Francisco were few of those composing the Thirteen Moderns.

It was noticeable that during the American period, the subjects of artworks shitfed from

ural to urban themes. Urban setups ecame the usual subjects of visual arts. After World

War lI. artists started creating, proletarian art which depicts the life after the war

issues, and economic problems. Modernism garnered a larger influence since there were

institutions created like the Art Association of the Philippines by Purita Kalaw-Ledesma

and the Philppine Art Gallery by Lydia Villanueva- Arguilla, which supported modern art movement.

Through the year's different artists carrying different styles in making arts became popular

and various visual art trends emerged. There were stylistics arts and drawings and thematic
rtworks reflecting historical, social, economic, and political themes. Different mediun

were also employed in art making.

In sculpture, Napoleon Abueva became famous for his modern works. He made use of different
materials like the variety of woods, metals, and stones. Abueva combined these materials to produce
unique sculptures. Other sculptors joined Abueva in his modernism and produced creative works using
plastics, jade, brass, and other materials. Art in the Philippines during this period retlects dynamism,
freedom of expression and concern to the masses. This kind of art continued to flourish, and the number
of artist's eager of creating innovations increased.

Ang Kiukok painted in expressionistic cubistic style. BenCab worked with realism and ex-

perimental devices. Sculptors like Ramon Orlina and Impy Pilapil explored the use of glass

in making sculptures. Surrealism emerged which explored the world of dream. The known

surrealist in this time was Galo Ocampo and Juvenal Sanso.

There was also social realist artist who continued doing proletarian art but this time, they used other
popular art forms in conveying nationalistic messages like comic, posters, and cartoons. Magic realism
also entered the art scene. This refers to the style in a painting

showing minute details of the subjects and highlighting their texture and color. An example of this is the
Bigas artwork by Nestor Leynes , Genre painting is showing the lives of townfolks, legends and traditions
stayed in the Philippine contemporary period. Moreover, the use of indigenous materials became a
trend in sculptures and installation art to promote environmental awareness. Among those artists who
used indigenous material are

Junyee, Roberto Villanueva, and Roberto Fleo, Furthermore, cartoons, comics and

photography became popular.

Indeed, visual art has developed and transformed through the years. T he significant development of the
modern and contemporary art in the country only shows how creative, innovative, and free thinkers the
Filipinos are. In order promote and preserve the rich artistry of the country, the National Government
through the NCCA's Committee on Visual Arts (CVA) launched an education program that tends to
convene artists annually in the country through their regional and national congresses. Artists from
different parts of the Philippines interacts on different Congress' activities while being encouraged to
participate actively in national and international exhibits, workshops and lectures.

The Commitee on Gallery on the other hand developed, and annual art exhibition is inviting artists from
the regions to submit their artwor and be exhibited in Manila. The artists

were given more avenues to exhibit their works in Manila and their regions as well that

led to their imitiatives in promating visual ats in the regions There were art groups

founded in the regions and provinces like the Baguio Art Guild and Bacolod's Black Artist

in Asia. These groups create workshops, art festivals, and art exhibitions to encourage young
generations to take part in enriching the country's visual art.

The bond between the Philippines and the American still continues even after the declaration of
independence in 1946 which is evident in the continual flourishment of Modernism. In the field of
poetry during,th contemporary period, publication of young poets campus journals emerged. The Bagay
movement also took the scene. Itis a kind of poetry which uses colloquial language and is built on
concrete images which tend to describe experiences. Poets Jose F.Lacaba, Rolando Tino, Bienvenido
Lumbera, Antonio Samson, and Edmundo Martinez started the Bagay movement. An example of bagay
poetry is the Valediction sa Hillcrest written by Rolando Tinio, which employs Taglish. Later on, national
consciousness was inserted into bagay poetry. Amado V. Hernandez introduced another form of poetry
through his work 'Ang Bayang Malaya'. It is a long narrative piece about a peasant leader. Oppression
and fighting for human rights are the main themes of the said piece. In the succeeding poems developed
by Filipino poets, the influence of Amado V. Hernandez was evident. Social protest and social realism
becan the theme of the poems.

Protest poetry proliferated. The nationalist spirit of many writers a Marshall Law During the
contemporary period, the works of American and British poets influenced the English poems in the
Philippines. Poets like Edith Tiempo, Emmanuel Torres, and Dominador Ilio were among those who were
influenced by Western poets

Their works revolved on subjects like the search for love and identity, oppresion and those subjects
concerning the poet's private worlds. This kind of poetry was followed by

poems containing social issues. The rise of the nationalistic poetry discussing poverty, inequality,
political turmoil, and other social problems started during the Marcos Era.

In the area of short story writing, after the World War II,short stories focused on the self
Consciousness and self-expression of the writer. Some of the known English short story

wTiters during those times are N.V.M. Gonzales, Nick Joaquin, Alejandro Roces, Francisco Arcellana,
Gregorio Brillantes, Bienvenido Santos, Edith Tiempo, etc. During the contemporary period, there are
also short stories produced which use vernacular language. However, it was only the publication of
Filipino literary works that continued due to the lack of moral and financial support, and due to the
writers choice of producing works using a language that can be understood by more readers. Short story
writers produced more social

conscious fiction during the 1970s. Short stories depicting the lives of the working class

emerged. Social protest fiction was produced during the Marcos era.

In the area of novels, the production of novels with sociopolitical themes continued after

the World War II. English novelist on the other hand, like the English poets and short

story writer, focused on the search for identity.

In the area of essay and criticism. literary criticism was produced after the World War Il

aiming to analyze the Philippine writings. Informal essay, on the other hand, also took the

scene which was developed by women writers The Contemporary Philippine Literature was a mixture of
a variety of subjects. lt is also a product of different innovative techniques of writers.