By the light of Juan Luna’s art

Sheree Roxas-Chua Gotuaco is not one to trifle with the launching of any Freeway fashion collection, especially a line that has been adopted from the works of a much-loved Filipino artist.

She launched all the fashion collections in their National Artist Series by way of cultural celebrations. And always there was a learning peg. The Jose Garcia Villa collection, for instance, was presented at  Legarda Elementary School, a heritage site, with poetess Virginia Moreno as the honored guest. The Carlos “Botong” Francisco collection was kicked off with an on-the-spot painting session among young artists from Botong’s beloved Angono town.

Recently, Freeway launched the first fashion collection in its Filipino Master Series, this time honoring Juan Luna. Held at Lopez Memorial Museum and Library, the event turned out to be quite educational. Here are our takeaways from our night at the museum.

Art history

Esteemed as one of the greatest Filipino artists of all time, Luna first received international attention in 1881 at the Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid when his work, “La

Muerte de Cleopatra,” won the silver medal.

The distinction earned him a scholarship from  Ayuntamiento de Manila but with strings attached. Luna was required to create a painting that would capture the essence of Philippine history and the painting would have to remain with the Ayuntamiento.

The painting that Luna created to fulfill this commitment was shipped in 1884 to the same Madrid exposition where he first won three years earlier. And so it was that Luna became the first artist to win three gold medals at the international exhibition.

His entry, “Spoliarium,” turned out to be the seminal work of his life. It defined him as a vibrant and gifted painter with the same force that it defined his country’s fate. The powerful brushstrokes in the masterpiece are said to have inspired Jose Rizal to write the novel, “Noli Me Tangere,” and set afire the hearts of the then colonized Filipinos.

University of the Philippines art historian and professor Santiago Pilar and Lopez Memorial Museum director Mercedes Lopez Vargas graced the launch to shed more light on the drama and dynamism in Luna’s life here and abroad.

Very visual art

Can you hold a fashion show in a museum and keep the context of culture minus the stuffiness? Yes, you can if you’re Freeway.

Hosted by ANC anchor Lexi Schulze, the fashion show that launched the Luna line followed a guided tour of the museum and preceded a conversation about the featured artist’s life and passion, and yet it managed to be a visual delight.

Glammed up women (thanks to Piandre Salon and VMV Hypoallergenics) and a couple of guys walked down the main hallway wearing their Lunas. They wove in and out of two rooms where Luna’s paintings were being exhibited. Each room had a giant screen that showed the models as they were flaunting the clothes elsewhere in the museum.

Casual knit tops, career wear, jumpsuits, tailored dresses, satin and georgette holiday wear for women, and a few easy pieces for men have been turned into canvasses for Luna’s art. They come in colors that complement the hues in “El Flautista,” “I am Cold,” “Una Dama Francesca,” “Fencing Positions” and “A Roman.”

The Juan Luna collection is available at Freeway stores nationwide. Shop online at www.freewayonline.com.ph, visit www.facebook.com/Freeway

Online or follow on Twitter and Instagram @FreewayOnline.

Trajectories

A guided tour of the Lopez museum  introduced Freeway’s guests, many of whom were young fashionistas, to the works of Luna in the current Trajectories exhibit, a rare display of some of the museum’s historic treasures.

Designed to examine the growth of the Lopez family’s acquisitions into one of the most comprehensive Filipiniana libraries, archives and art collections, Trajectories showcases 17 important paintings by Luna and 47 by Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, as well as works by artists representing the next wave of art in the Philippines.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is Luna’s “España y Filipinas,” a tall work of lyrical beauty deserving of its important place in the museum. Luna was commissioned by the foreign ministry in Madrid to paint a second version of the allegorical oil painting he first presented to his friend, Pedro Paterno. The work was entered in the Exposicion Universal de Barcelona. Reports have it that an earlier version was auctioned off recently by Sotheby’s Hong Kong for over $3 million.

Also included in the Trajectories collection are a portrait of Luna’s wife, Paz Pardo de Tavera, and a portrait of Hidalgo’s wife, Maria Yrritia. Both women met tragic deaths. Paz was shot dead by Luna himself; Maria perished in a sunken ship.

Trajectories is ongoing until Dec. 20 at  Lopez Memorial Museum and Library, ground floor, Benpres building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Pasig City. Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays to Saturdays.

Class tags

Each piece of clothing in Freeway’s Luna collection comes with two tags.

The fabric tag says the design of the garment has copyright protection and credits the Lopez museum for the art inspiration.

The board tag contains a photo of the artist and a briefer that says he was born on Oct. 23, 1857, in Badoc town, Ilocos Norte province, the third of seven children of Joaquin and Laureana Luna. Older brother Manual inspired Luna’s interest in drawing and painting. Luna first took art lessons from maestro Lorenzo Guerrero and later enrolled at Academia de Dibujo y Pintura in Manila. It was Guerrero who encouraged Luna to go to Spain to pursue his art studies.

The tag also says: “The international art scene molded Luna into a brilliant artist. It opened his eyes to new techniques, perspectives, concepts and other elements, which he used to create his own identity to make it in the cutthroat world of art … His other famous works include  ‘La Batalla de Lepanto,’ ‘El Pacto de Sangre’ and ‘The Parisian Life.’ Juan Luna y Novicio is hailed as Philippine Master.”