LIFE AND WORKS OF

VICTORIO EDADES

LIFE
Born on December 13, 1895 to Hilario and Cecilia Edades.

He was the youngest of ten children (six of whom died of

smallpox).
He grew up in Barrio Bolosan in Dagupan, Pangasinan. His

artistic ability surfaced during his early years. By seventh

grade, his teachers were so impressed with him that he was
dubbed "apprentice teacher" in his art class.

LIFE
He was also an achiever from the very beginning, having

won awards in school debates and writing competitions.

After high school, Edades and his friends traveled to the

United

States.

Before

enrolling

in

Seattle,

Edades

incidentally made a detour to Alaska and experienced

working in a couple of factories.

LIFE
Nonetheless, he moved on to Seattle and enrolled at the

University of Washington where he took up architecture and

later earned a Master of Fine Arts in Painting.
The significant event that stirred Edades, and made him as

what he is known now, was his encounter with the traveling

exhibition from the New York Armory Hall. This art show
presented

modern

European

artists

such

Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso and the Surrealists.

as

Czanne,

LIFE
During his journey to America, he participated in art

competitions, one of which was the Annual Exhibition of

North American Artists. His entry The Sketch (1927) won
second prize. When he returned to the Philippines in 1928,
he saw that the state of art was "practically dead."
Paintings he saw dealt with similar themes and were done in

a limited technique that mostly followed the works of

Fernando Amorsolo, the first Philippine national artist and
the most popular painter of the time. He recognized that
there was no creativity whatsoever, and that the artists of
that time were merely "copying" each other.

 So in December, Edades bravely mounted a one-man show

at the Philippine Columbia Club in Ermita to introduce to the

masses what his modern art was all about. He showed thirty
paintings, including those that won acclaim in America.
It was a distinguished exhibit, for the Filipino art circle was

suddenly shaken by what this young man from Pangasinan

had learned from his studies abroad. Viewers and critics
were apparently shocked and not one painting was sold.

 Edades

helped organized the University of Sto. Tomas

Department of Architecture in 1930 and was its acting head.

In 1935, he was appointed as Director of the UST College of
Architecture and Fine Arts, which he organized under the wing
of Architecture. He was guided by the existing American
curricula when he made the Fi Painting.
On February 12, 1977, UST conferred on Edades the degree of

Doctor of Fine Arts, Honoris Causa.

 Edades retired to Davao City with his family. There he taught

for a time at the Philippine Women's College and resumed

his career as an artist. He died on March 7, 1985.
His famous works were "The Sketch", "The Builders",

"Interaction", "Fontainebleau, August 1937", and "The Model

and The Artist".

THE BUILDERS

THE BUILDERS

MESSAGE TO THE AUDIENCE:

THE BUILDERS conveys the essence of men engaged in

labor through the contortion of the bodies. It portrayed

tough, dirty construction workers drenched in grime and
sweat. It simply shows how hardworking the Filipino people
are.