BPI Foundation launches Herencia: A Legacy of Art and Progress, a coffee table book that promises to be one of the most important publications on Philippine art history
The Three Graces by National Artist Bencab (Benedicto is among the rare life-size pieces in BPI’s art collection featured in Herencia: A Legacy of Art and Progress, a coffee table book that promises to be one of the most important publications on Philippine art history.
National Artist Fernando Amorsolo’s Mango Gatherers is among the rare life-size pieces in BPI’s art collection featured in Herencia: A Legacy of Art and Progress, a coffee table book that promises to be one of the most important publications on Philippine art history.
At 157 years, the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) holds a rich history as the country’s first bank and Southeast Asia’s oldest. Not too many Filipinos know, however, that BPI also holds the key to unlocking the Philippines’ rich art history, being the depository of 900 paintings, drawings, mixed media works and sculptures of the country’s masters accumulated over a span of mergers and acquisitions.
This month, BPI Foundation, Inc. is celebrating three decades of leadership as the corporate social responsibility arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) with the launch of a coffee table book that promises to be one of the most important publications on Philippine art history. The book is also the first collaboration of art and literati giants Dr. Jaime C. Laya, former Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines; University of the Philippines professors Alice Guillermo and Ma. Victoria Herrera; artist/critic Cid Reyes; and Ramon N. Villegas, who conceived and edited the book.
The book, Herencia: A Legacy of Art and Progress, contains in-depth reviews of nearly 1,000 important works of art accumulated by BPI in the course of its ten mergers and acquisitions – from People’s Bank and Trust Company in 1974 to Prudential Bank in 2005. BPI Foundation is formally launching the book on Aug. 28 at its newly renovated 1851 Club in its head office in Makati City.
The universal bank’s earliest art-related venture was the design of the Philippines’ first banknote, known as the pesos Fuertes, issued in 1852. An oil portrait of Spain’s Queen Isabela II could still be found at the anteroom of the 19th floor of the BPI Building on Paseo de Roxas in Makati City, proof of the bank’s historical link with her reign when it was still known as El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II.
Other artworks by Filipino visual artists and sculptors were included in the acquisitions and integrated with BPI’s existing collection. BPI Foundation has also been acquiring pieces to help strengthen the collection’s art historical value. Over the past two years, the Foundation has acquired a Cesar Legaspi painting, originally owned by the National Artist’s family. It also bought 20 drawings and memorabilia of the National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco from a 1960s collector’s estate.
“The combination of old and contemporary masters reflects the Bank’s long history, as well as its dynamic thrust to the future,” wrote UP Prof. Herrera in the chapter on the BPI Art Collection.
Copies of Herencia: A Legacy of Art and Progress can be ordered at the BPI Foundation office, 9th floor, BPI Building, 6768 Ayala Avenue, Makati City or call numbers 845-5710, 816-9390, and 816-9749.
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