A hallway of Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s egg tempera paintings. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Artwork by Anita Magsaysay-Ho. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Curated by Patrick Flores, the exhibition highlights each artist’s signature technique: egg tempera for Anita, pen-and-ink for Nena, bringing their expressive styles to life.
“I know very well the strength, hard work, and quiet dignity of Philippine women, for I am one of them,” reads a quote by Anita Magsaysay-Ho, displayed on a wall at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila’s (now known as the M) Material Inspirations exhibit. Curated by Patrick Flores, this exhibition brings together the works of Magsaysay-Ho and Nena Saguil, celebrating their mastery of materials and their pioneering roles in Filipino modern art.
Magsaysay-Ho’s egg tempera pieces stand out for their luminous vibrancy, a quality maintained by her meticulous process, highlighted through her archival handwritten recipe on display. Meanwhile, Saguil’s intricate pen-and-ink works transport viewers to otherworldly realms, their fine lines and dots forming microcosms that feel both organic and infinite.
With the works displayed in a backdrop of butter yellow and royal blue to complement both women, the exhibition creates an intimate experience, inviting viewers to appreciate the physicality of the works up close. In the luminosity of Magsaysay-Ho’s palette and the hypnotic detail of Saguil’s patterns, both women claim their place as pathfinders in Filipino modernism.
The curator emphasizes the artists’ deep connection to their chosen mediums: egg tempera for its delicacy and vividness, pen and ink for its intricacy and meditative quality. These materials demanded extraordinary patience, reflecting not only their technical skill but also the quiet resilience of women navigating a patriarchal art world. In an exclusive interview, curator Patrick Flores shares more of his insights.
Vogue Philippines: What first drew you to the works of Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Nena Saguil, and how has your relationship with their art evolved over time?
Patrick Flores: There are so many things in the art and life of Anita and Nena that could inspire, but in this exhibition I was drawn to the specific media by which they produced a suite of pieces from a particular period. I was struck by the preciousness of the effect of egg tempera and pen and ink—the delicacy, the intricacy. Alongside these qualities were the demands of these media on the artists who were remarkably patient in rendering painstaking form.
I was also fascinated with another level of material, which is the material condition of their being women artists in a patriarchal society and art world. To have been able to prevail and triumph as artists of the first water was exceptional as their art was exquisite. The surprises came from their thoughts on art, the impulses they felt from Bruegel and Kandinsky, the commitment to women and their spirit. To have all these egg tempera and pen and ink works together in one room is an achievement, I think, and I am truly honored to curate them.
In curating an exhibition that celebrates these two pioneering women, how did working on this exhibit change or deepen your understanding of the role women have played in shaping Filipino modern art?
The exhibit is able to transcend the duality between gender and aesthetics, without diminishing the politics and poetics underlying them. In their work, they claim their light, if not their luminosity, both as great women and great artists. Anita and Nena were pathfinders not only of modernism but of potentially feminist art.
The exhibition focused on two mediums/techniques: egg tempera for Anita, and pen and ink for Nena. How did you work with the physicality of their works, such as color, texture, and medium, to bring out their individual sensibilities and depth in the exhibit?
The physicality comes with the intimacy that the viewers experience when they behold the paintings up-close and first-hand. When they do so, they feel the craft and the consciousness of the artists; they also glean layers of light and depth of tone.
I designed the exhibition as a sequence of both enigmatic and vivid paintings, taking the audience to the collective of working women and the cosmology of a possible vastness. The color of the walls of Anita speaks to the palette of the field; while Nena’s evoke or intuit the realms of immediate as well as imagined worlds.
Were there any unexpected discoveries in the textures or techniques used by the artists that added new layers to their artistic narratives?
Maybe the magnificent obsession with the medium. I didn’t realize it was so profound that it almost ushers us into a trance. We present in the exhibition Anita’s instructions on how to make egg tempera, and that was a revelation. And when you look into the work of Nena more thoughtfully, you will be conveyed to another dimension, a microcosm that resembles follicle, or vein of plant or web spun by spiders.
Looking back at the process of curating Material Inspirations, what do you hope audiences will take away, both from the exhibit and from your curatorial journey?
First, the appreciation of the wondrous work of Anita and Nena and their vital place in Philippine modern art. Second, the specificity of material through which their personhood and artistic talent sharply and decisively figure. And third, the overall density and graciousness of art from a place like the Philippines, which plays out between islands and continents, colonial histories and struggles for freedom, the quaint and the imminent.
The Material Inspirations exhibit featuring the works of Filipino artists Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Nena Saguil and curated by Patrick Flores are available to view at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila until December 8.
