Did you know: National Artist Jose Joya

Today, June 3, is the 83rd birth anniversary of National Artist Jose Joya. Born in Manila in 1931, he graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, earning the distinction of being the university’s first magna cum laude. Some of his popular works included “Beethoven Listening to the Blues” and “Space Transfiguration.” Joya served as chair of the committee on visual arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and president of the Art Association of the Philippines. He died on May 11, 1995, and was posthumously named National Artist for Visual Arts in 2003.–Marielle Medina, Inquirer Research