316. LAPU-LAPU AND BULAKNA PORTRAITS

A pair of Filipiniana paintings depicting Lapu-Lapu, the hero of Mactan and his wife, Bulakna--or so that's how the dealer described them to me. These mid-century 18 x 22" paintings, painted by artist Rodolfo Pasno, dates from 1957--and they were obtained online--in a facebook group, of all places. Pasno was a noted Mabini painter, active from the 50s thru the 70s, in a shop at the famed Pistang Pilipino.

They were sold in stretchers, with few chips and scratches. At some point, someone painted over the background, but that doesn't detract from the portraits that express so much of the character of the country's first hero and his voluptuous wife. I had them re-stretched, re-framed and cleaned, so now they're ready to hang again...so happy I could sing! "In March 16, fifteen hundred and  hundred twenty one, when Philippines was discovered by Magellan..."

277. Advertique: CAFIASPIRINA ENAMEL SIGN

Cafiaspirina wa the pain relief medicine brand that rivalled bestselling Cortal in the 1950s. It was produced by the pharmaceutical giant, Bayer, which gave the world, Aspirin. The name Cafiaspirina was derived from Caffeine and Aspirin, two ingredients of the tablets, and grew to become a popular pain medication brand in Latin American countries.

Cafiaspirina made headway in the Philippines through effective trade marketing supports given to local boticas/ farmacias or drugstores. The company gave away large enamel signs bearing the names of the drugstores as well as advertising messages of the brand.

"Stop Pain! Feel Fine Again!", the nurse mascot proclaims, advising consumers to experience the triple-action benefit of New Formula Cafiaspirina--"2 marvelous pain fighters in every wonder tablet!". 

The weather-worn enamel sign has some paint losses and dents which have been professionally touched up by my local painter.  Moulded enamel metal signs such as this are no longer made as they were expensive to produce. These days, stores favor cheaper, more waterproofed signages made from tarpaulin and plastic. Hopefully, I will find a counterpart Cortal sign to match my Cafiaspirina soon!

249. Filipiniana Tole Art: A WEDDING IN 3-D

 One of the more unusual framed photos I have seen is this three-dimensional photo cut-out of a wedding couple, assembled between glass, found in an Apalit warehouse. The pictures appear in layers, with each picture element--the bouquet, the bride and the groom--cut out and glued on wood; which means that several sets of the same wedding photo were used to make this tole art piece.

 The whole ensemble was then mounted on the base of a frame, then sandwiched between glass, and the result is rather a unique and striking presentation of the busts of a wedding couple at a very special moment of their lives.

 I have seen only 2 similar pieces in my collecting lifetime--one, a solo figure of a woman in butterfly sleeves, and the other, also a 1930s wedding anniversary picture of a prominent couple in my town:

I may never know the identities of the bride and the groom, but what I do know is that their lifelike good looks are forever preserved in this rare, tole art piece that is a testament to the imaginative creativity of a Pinoy artist-photographer!

243. VINTAGE 3-D FOLK ART PAINTING

Time was when every 50s and 60s home had "works of art" such as this--a 3-D painting of some generic rural scene, often bought at furniture shops and downtown bazaars. Cheaply produced, the paintings featured subjects such as nipa huts that were cleverly raised in relief from the canvass using sticks, paper mache and cardboards. Elements such as the roof, the walls and the fences were then gesso'ed and painted, in the hope of achieving a more realistic, three-dimensional look. Think of it as "extreme impasto".

Nevertheless, despite this technique, paintings still looked kitschy and naive. But nowadays, period kitsch have been elevated to the status of folk art, Filipiniana style, and this example--sold at a swap shop--carried quite a price tag, many time its original price.Not even the fancy frame can hide the hideous execution of its theme--from the waterfall that cascades down to become a multi-tiered stream, the cockroach-looking carabao and the bahay kubo that looks like a cross between a log cabin and an Ifugao ulog hut. But as they say, one man's awful painting is another man's precious "outsider art".

232. LETTER ART: Victoriano Caballero

While scrounging around for some worthy finds at the antique row of NLEX's Sta. Rita Exit, I came upon an old religious print of the "Virgen de la Paloma"--tattered beyond repair--framed in a crumbling gesso'd picture frame. It was a pity that the print could no longer be salvaged, it had large missing parts--but the dealer pointed out to some possible paper treasures found at the back of the picture. Indeed, 3 pieces of paper were found sandwiched between the frame and the print, acting as backboards.

I was immediately drawn to a 22 x18 sheet of browning paper--a watercolor letter art bearing the name "Victorino Caballero". Letter art was a popular Filipino past-time, and the best examples were the water color 'letras y figuras' creations in the 19th century. "Letras y Figuras" refer to an art form involving the painting of the letters of the alphabet by ingeniously forming their contour out of the shape of human figures, animals, plants, and other objects. The foremost proponent of these charming folk art pieces was Jose Honorato Lozano. 

Simpler letter art involved embellishing individual letters with design elements like floral motifs, just like this example, thus creating a new font style that is at once pleasing and beautiful. This, actually, is a memorial piece--bearing the name of the dear departed. Underneath Victorino's name are pencilled inscriptions--indicating that this was unfinished: "Namatay ng icadalauampo ng Octubre ng taong isang libo ualong daan at ualong po at lima" (Died on the 20th of October in the year 1885). This work certainly was done after 1885, maybe a few months or so after the departure of Victorino from this mortal world.

224. Thrift Shop Art: VICTOR CABRERA PAINTINGS

GREEN AND BARE IT. Two small paintings of Victor Cabrera, ca. late 50s to early 1960s, found at a Quezon City junk shop.

In my recent forays to the junk shops of Cubao, I was rewarded with these two small paintings--one, a nude lady by the bank of the stream, and another, a more modest beauty, doing her laundry by the river, a little girl beckoning her, at the opposite pampang (river bank). The themes and even the colors were very vintage 50s. I quickly checked the artworks--and one was actually signed on the lower right hand corner. Since the paintings came together and they were stylistically similar, I concluded that these were painted by the same artist.

At first, I thought the painter was a certain "Fabroja", but a quick reference search yielded the name Victor T. Cabrera (b. 1915/ d. 1975) of Dongan, Paranaque. He was actually a student of Fine Arts at UP, but dropped out because of an early marriage. He eventually went back to painting in his 30s, and caught up with lost time by training with Vicente Manansala (they worked together as illustrators for Photo News in the 30s) and Antonio Dumlao, who enlisted him as one of his studio commercial illustrators.

A well-travelled artist, Victor went to Europe and the America, accepting portrait commissions from passengers while en route to his destination. He always finished the artworks even before reaching the port. His works--landscapes, portraits, historical paintings--were characterized by " a silky, finished quality", evident in these two creations.

He painted more earnestly upon his retirement in 1962--the period where these paintings were most likely completed. He had already scheduled his first one-man show at the Great Wall Gallery in 1975, but he died; his exhibit proceeded anyway. Art runs in Cabrera's family--his son-in-law is the noted cartoonist and illustrator, Ben Alcantara, who created the famous "Gorio and His Jeepney" comic strip fro Manila Times.

192. RIN TIN TIN Magic Erasable Pictures

The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, aired from October 1954 to May 1959 on ABC Television. The star was German Shepherd dog descended from the original Rin Tin Tin raised by American serviceman Lee Duncan who became popular in earlier 1920s films. The canine's adventures were adapted for TV and "Rinty" shared billing with child actor Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy orphaned in an Indian raid, and who was being raised by the soldiers at Fort Apache, a US Cavalry. Rusty and Rin Tin Tin helped the soldiers to establish order in the American West. Texas-born actor James Brown (1920–92) appeared in every episode as Lieutenant Ripley "Rip" Masters.


Transogram came out with a boxed kit of Rin Tin Tin Magic Erasable Pictures at the height of the show's popularity. There were actually several boxed activity kits issued in the 50s--including a Paint by Number set and a gameboard. But this picture playset that dates from 1957 is the rarest. The activity kit featured 12 panels that could be colored with crayons and then erased with a tissue and then colored again.

The panels carried illustrations of the major scenes and characters from the TV show. A box of crayons and a sharpener came along with the boxed kit. The best thing about this Rinty's collectible is that it's unused! A similar kit in unsued condition (saved for a split corner in the box) was priced at $175 on ebay. In the field of TV collectibles, Rin Tin Tin is sure one hot dog!

130. DR. JOSE P. RIZAL PORTRAIT

I was walking along Arquiza St., in Manila one day, and I chanced upon this vintage portrait of our national hero, Jose P. Rizal. It was well-painted and signed, albeit, illegibly and had paint losses, but the face remain unscathed, fortunately (this shows the painting restored already). Time was when every elementary school library or classroom in the country had a painting of a hero--usually that of Rizal and Bonifacio. Aguinaldo and Del Pilar were other favorites too, and I have seen at least one of Juan Luna. This Rizal painting could have come from one such elementary school. Rizal's 150th birth anniversary is coming up next year, so I thought I'd rescue our hero from antique shop oblivion, before it goes the way of "mi ultimo adios'.