That legendary man in hotel lobbies

MANILA, Philippines - It was in the early morning of a Thursday, the third of February when a flurry of text messages circulated in art circles in Metro Manila. Something tragic had occurred the night before. One of the country’s greatest modernist artist, internationally renowned Federico Aguilar Alcuaz had passed away in his studio-cum-hotel suite at a five-star hotel in Ermita.

Many remember Alcuaz as this pesky gentleman who would hang out in hotel lobbies, with his electronic hand-held flute-like instrument, a Casio recorder, playing along with the string quartets or mini-orchestras to the consternation of some or to the amusement of many. Rumors abound about the man and his instrument. Some say he got banned from numerous hotel lobbies, others say he simply just got tired and found other ways to unwind and relax. A few swear that his recorder had gotten lost while one or two strongly believe that he may have had accidentally sat on it and crushed it until it was no more.

Then there also stories about his famous “Tres Marias” series. Weren’t they top fashion models that were only too willing to sit for hours on end to have themselves and their costumes immortalized on canvas? Or could they have been the culturati, the fashionistas or the crème de la crème of Manila’s high society, who were only too flattered for the opportunity. Or weren’t they the waitresses and women staff members of the then Manila Hilton Hotel that were only too titillated to have the great maestro ask them to pose for him.

Such is the mystery, or if others may describe it, notoriety that have followed Aguilar Alcuaz. Many say he was a prankster. Others that he was a bon-vivant, or a man about town. Although there have been divergence in views when it comes to little anecdotes, there is only unanimity in the awe and praise for the man and his distinctions in the field of arts.

Alcuaz was a legend in his own time. Not only did he gain international recognition for his painting, he did sculpture, designed monumental tapestries, brought abstract art to a new and higher level, worked with ceramics, made innovative art in mixed media from rolled bits of paper and cigarette wrappers which he called “alcuazaics.” He was, perhaps inspired by another great alumnus of the Ateneo, Jose Rizal, fluent in several languages. With Aguilar Alcuaz, it was Filipino, English, Spanish, German, even speaking a little French.

Because of the myriad facets of his personality and his many talents, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz remains an enigma to many.

“Abstract (980-188)”

• Cellist. Wasn’t he a noted musician? Born in Manila on June 6, 1932, Federico Aguilar was the sixth of 11 children of Mariano Aguilar and Encarnacion Alcuaz. Mariano himself was a lawyer but art in its other forms was popular in the household. Mariano played the violin and the piano and was also a composer. Federico’s other siblings played other instruments and it was not uncommon for mini impromptu concerts occurring at the Aguilar household. Federico was encouraged by his father to play the cello, a string instrument which he learned to play competently.

• Lawyer. Wasn’t Federico Aguilar Alcuaz a lawyer, a member of an esteemed fraternity, and a graduate of that law school from Padre Faura that counts as among its alumni, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, Ex-Chief Justice Renato Corona, as well as luminaries such as Chief Justice Cesar Bengzon? How could a lawyer have painted as well as he did? Apparently, art was really his first and primordial interest. Even as a child, he would be drawing and sketching endlessly. But, because his father Mariano was a lawyer, Mariano had other plans for his highly intelligent son. His father believed that one could not eke out a living to support a family by being a full time artist. He encouraged his son to take up law and not wanting to displease his father, Federico took up law at the Ateneo College of Law at Padre Faura.

• Artist. While following his father’s planned career path for him, Federico could not give up his passion for art. Hence, while pursuing a pre-law degree in San Beda, he cross-enrolled at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts. At the UP, he had as his mentors National Artist Fernando Amorsolo, National Artist Guillermo Tolentino, Toribio Herrera, Constancio Bernardo and Irineo Mirando. National Artist Napoleon Abueva was his classmate while Juvenal Sanso, Araceli Dans and Rodolfo Ragodon were ahead of him by one year.

It was while he was studying law that he was given a studio to work in at the Ateneo College of Law by a Jesuit priest. It was also at that time that he won, in 1953, first prize at the University of the Philippines Art Competition. In 1954, he won first prize at the Shell Art Competition and second prize at the UP Annual Art Exhibition. In 1955, he exhibited at the most prestigious art gallery in the Philippines at that time, at the Philippine Art Gallery. It was also at that time, with the help of Fernando Zobel, that he received a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to study in Spain. As he was already an adult, and a lawyer at that, Aguilar Alcuaz decided to pursue an artistic career instead.

One of the artist’s “Tres Marias” paintings

• Consummate Traveler. Alcuaz was a consummate traveler. In 1955, he moved to Spain, making Barcelona his base. He met his wife, Ute Schmitz in Barcelona. A German national, she was a business and languages student then. But it was in a fencing class at the military club in Barcelona where they met. Ute’s teacher, a Filipino introduced them to each other. The two had a lot of things in common, particularly their interest in Asian culture, talking for hours on end about Asian and Japanese art. They met again the next day at a landmark café at the Paseo de Gracia and after that, they were inseparable watching movies together, going to the dance. In other words, as Ute recalls “we fell in love.” Ute and Federico have three sons: Christian, who now handles the artist’s estate, German based Andreas and New York resident Matthias. It was in Barcelona that he decided to adopt the nom de plume Alcuaz, taking this from his mother’s maiden name. While in Spain, he realized early on that Aguilar was a very common name. From that time forth, he decided he would make himself known to the art scene as Federico Aguilar Alcuaz.

While in Spain, or from 1955 to 1964, he traveled extensively all over Spain. Among the places he frequented were the Costa del Sol in the autonomous region of Andalusia and the Mediterranean coast. He was very active in the Spanish art scene and exhibited in numerous art galleries in Spain, including the very prestigious Sala Direccion General at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid. He exhibited as well in art galleries in Santander, Bilbao, Burgos, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. He also traveled extensively all over the European continent, having exhibits in Lisbon and Estoril in Portugal, Hamburg, Germany and at the Galerie Paul Cezanne in Paris, France. That is until a serious car accident on a German freeway necessitated his coming back to Manila to recuperate.

A few years later, when he had fully recovered, he continued to shuttle constantly between Manila, Barcelona, Hamburg and New York. He loved New York and found the art scene there robust and exciting. There he would attend art events or paint the city’s intriguing landscapes. He maintained his studio in Barcelona, at the fourth floor of a building in Aragones street, which he kept as his main studio when he was away from Manila, or until 1997 when he decided to close that down completely and make Manila his full time artistic base.

In the 1980s, he began flying regularly to Brno, a town outside Prague where he came up with stunning tapestries. Alcuaz has also exhibited in the United States, Japan, the Netherlands and Singapore. His works are in the collection of some 20 museums and cultural institutions in the world including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the Museum of Modern Aert of Krakow, the Museum of Modern Art of Warsaw, and the Philipps Cultural Museum of the Netherlands.

• Doting Father and Indefatigable Donor. Christian remembers his dad to be a doting father. “Every week, he would bring a bouquet of flowers to add color to our Barcelona home. Music was also abundant in our home,” Christian recalls. “He was a very supportive dad and although he would shower us with affection, he knew when to keep his distance and would only come in to correct us or instruct us if my brothers and I asked him how something should be done.” Alcuaz, too, has proved to be an indefatigable donor, donating entire collections or important paintings to numerous causes such as his alma maters Ateneo, San Beda and the University of the Philippines, and fund raising causes for the Philippine General Hospital or charity for different ailments.

“Wiesbaden Landscape”

• True Blue Filipino. In his later years, people mistook Alcuaz as either a Spanish or German and others even though he was a French citizen. Although he could have become a citizen of any of those countries, Alcuaz remained a true blue Filipino. One of the items he considered most important and treasured was his Philippine passport as well as little Philippine flags he had in his studios in Barcelona, Hamburg or when he was painting in New York. His strong sense of nationalism finds itself not only in his “Tres Marias” series where several of his figures are painted in the Philippine flag’s colors of red, white and blue, but also in his Manila cityscapes, painted from hotel suites either at the Manila Hilton or the Manila Hotel.

His untimely death last year has only helped increase the interest in this giant of a talent. It is in tribute to the immense artistic legacy that this great artist has left that Galerie Joaquin in cooperation with the estate of the family of Federico Aguilar Alcuaz in commemoration of the artists’s 80th’s birth anniversary, has put together an exhibition at the SM Art Center of SM Megamall Building A from June 7 to 19 a not to be missed exhibit showcasing the various facets of the maestro’s art titled “Remembering Aguilar Alcuaz.”

• Multi-Awarded. A look back at Alcuaz’s accomplishments reveals that he is one of the country’s most awarded artists. While in Spain, he won the Premio Mocada in 1957 and the Prix Francisco Goya award in Barcelona. His work also won first prize at the Pintura Sant Pol del Mar in 1961 and second prize at the Premio Vancel at the Fourth Biennial of Tarrasa in Barcelona in 1964. In France, he was awarded the Diploma of Honor at the International Exhibition of Art Libre in 1961 and was bestowed the rank of Chevalier for Arts and Letters in 1964. He was also accepted into the Order of French Genius in 1964.

In the Philippines, he was recipient of the San Beda Outstanding Alumni award in 1965, the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1965, the Outstanding Manileno award in 2001, the Presidential Medal of Merit Award and in 2009, after an extensive three year vetting process, he was granted the status of National Artist by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). The entire art community was most happy with Alcuaz being chosen as National Artist. That is, until Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came into the picture and as has been her consistent character, damaged Philippine institutions. This she did with the judiciary, the COMELEC, the Executive Branch and, unbelievably, even in art and culture. She smuggled in, without going through the vetting process, four more names into the list of National Artists. But that, is another story.

For information on Federico Aguilar Alcuaz’s exhibit, call 723-9418 or 723-9253.