Bravo, Claudio Bravo

MANILA, Philippines - The celebrated hyper-realist Claudio Bravo came to Manila in January 1968 with a party of Spanish royals.

Madrid-based and in demand as a portraitist, Bravo was a wunderkind who had mounted his first solo art exhibits as a teenager in his native Chile as well as dabbled in acting and ballet. Only 31 years old at the time of his visit, Bravo nevertheless was already an accomplished artist with six solo exhibits to his name.

The initial connection between Bravo and Manila happened in 1965: in Madrid, businessman Jaime Zobel de Ayala saw the portrait that Bravo did of his uncle, artist Fernando Zobel, two years before, and asked the Chilean to paint him and his wife as well. Struck upon seeing Bravo’s portrait of the Zobels on a Christmas card back in Manila, the former first lady Imelda Marcos invited Bravo to visit the Philippines.

But it wasn’t until three years later that the artist was able to make the trip, together with the Spanish royals, to attend the 40th wedding anniversary celebration of Lopez Group founder Eugenio Lopez Sr. and Pacita “Nitang” Moreno Lopez.

At the end of the week-long celebration, his companions headed home while Bravo turned his attention to several commissions for portraits.

The fine-featured Chilean held portrait sittings at the Luz Gallery along EDSA. When he was doing a portrait, Bravo was all business, painting from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., with an hour off at noon. He was a “day painter” who worked to soft classical music, Tessie Luz said of the “disciplined and hard-working” artist. Later, he painted at the home of one of his clients, architect Luis Araneta.

Bravo’s Manila clients included the Leandro Locsins, the Constantino Manahans, Chona Kasten, Imelda Cojuangco, Nitang and her daughter Presentacion Lopez Psinakis, Conchita Lopez Taylor, among others. In all, Bravo produced more than 40 portraits over his half-year visit.

Manila saw these works for the first and only time during a 10-day exhibit at the Luz Gallery in June-July 1968. This became Bravo’s seventh solo exhibit and served to cap his brief but eventful stay in the Philippines.

In the mid-1990s, Bravo recalled the experience: “I think the Philippine portraits are, perhaps, my most lucid paintings, because it was a different race, beautiful! Different colors and I could paint with colors like Matisse. [The] Philippines was the tropics, a different vision of the world and of light. There I began to dare to use more ‘electric’ colors and to enjoy color.”

The Manila portraits of which Bravo spoke so warmly would be the last major body of portraits he produced before being catapulted into the international contemporary art scene for the hyper-realist still lifes that would eventually define his career.

Sojourn in Manila exhibit

PORTRAIT OF THE FILIPINA: Chilean artist Claudio Bravo painted over 40 portraits over his six-month stay in the Philippines in the 1960s. At left, the artist is shown in his studio with Conchita Lopez Taylor.

Nearly 50 years after Bravo forged a cultural connection with Manila, the works that many Filipinos didn’t get to see will be featured in Claudio Bravo: Sojourn in Manila, an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila along Roxas Boulevard.

From Sept. 19 to Oct. 20, Filipinos will be able to see Bravo’s paintings.

According to Energy Development Corporation (EDC) chairman emeritus Oscar Lopez, “Claudio Bravo will forever be recognized for the portraits that he painted. In those portraits, in the glamor and spirit of the personalities he depicted, one cannot but sense the optimism, confidence, vitality and sense of pride, but also the innocence that characterized the Philippines and the Manila of the 1960s.”

“We are totally convinced that – along with diplomatic, political and economic relationships – cultural links are fundamental to build bridges of understanding and unity among nations. It is our expectation that this homage in memory of Claudio Bravo becomes a realistic contribution in strengthening the solid and traditional friendship between the Philippines and Chile,” Amb. Roberto Mayorga of Chile said.

EDC and the embassy of Chile are sponsoring cultural events to mark the 202nd anniversary of Chile’s independence on Sept. 18 and to honor Bravo, who passed away last year.

Claudio Bravo: Sojourn in Manila runs until Oct. 20 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Central bank Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila. Open Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed on Sunday and every first Monday of the month. The exhibit will be accompanied by weekly activities on Saturdays, including a curator’s talk, portraiture lecture and drawing session. For details, contact the museum at tel 708-7829 or visit www.metmuseum.ph