PROPERTY FROM THE ALFONSO T. ONGPIN COLLECTION

ABOUT THE WORK

Emilio Alvero, a contemporary of Fernando Amorsolo at the UP School of Fine Arts, is known for realistic still lifes and rural scenes like this particular piece, Nipa Hut. The work displays a pictorial approximation of the gloried countryside, a rural image depicted through fine traditional brushwork and approach. The father of renowned poet and art critic Aurelio Alvero, whose pen name is Magtanggol Asa, Emilio studied painting privately under Lorenzo Guerrero and was a well-known telon painter during his younger days. For scenographic painting, he studied under Cesare Alberoni. Emilio’s wife, Rosa Sevilla y Tolentino, was a writer, social worker, and educator who founded the Instituto de Mujeres, among the oldest schools for women in the country. The artist is also one of Alfonso Ongpin’s artist friends; the art patron is noted as a “godfather” to Filipino artists during the 1920s and 1930s. This piece bears a note to Ongpin who believed in the importance of supporting artists and saw the genius of the country’s foremost artists during his time.