PROPERTY FROM THE ZITA FELICIANO COLLECTION

ABOUT THE WORK

Vicente Manansala's Birds in Flight, from his elusive Whirr Series, epitomizes the artist's consummate mastery of Transparent Cubism. By this time, Manansala's "Filipinization" of Cubism had fully matured; he had finally escaped a laborious two-decade exploration for a distinct artistic idiom and entered his “Golden Age.” Just six years prior, in 1963, Manansala had been bestowed the very prestigious Republic Cultural Heritage Award, precursor to the National Artist Award, of which he would also be eventually conferred in 1981. In her monograph Discovering Manansala, Isabel Nazareno notes that Manansala's "constant search for a unique expression" would come fortuitously "in a piece dubbed Whirr (1962)," now in the trove of legendary art collectors Paulino and Hetty Que (although there is an earlier 1961 incarnation in the collection of another legendary collector and influential industrialist Roberto T. Villanueva). 'Whirr' is Manansala's onomatopoeic title that evokes "the action of birds in flight [in which they] produce a whirring sound." The work at hand, thematically similar to the Que couple’s piece, is Manansala at his artistic coming of age. Manansala first dabbled in Cubism during his six-month UNESCO Art Fellowship to Canada from June to December 1949. But it was during his nine-month Parisian sojourn from 1950-51 that Manansala would lay the foundations for his distinct Cubist language. Manansala studied in the Montmartre studio of the French cubist Fernand Leger, a close contemporary of Cubist pioneers Picasso and Braque, two of Manansala's foremost luminaries. Agnes Duval, in her article "Manansala" in the April 1968 issue of Solidarity: Current Affairs, Ideas, and the Arts magazine writes: "Window shopping one day [in Paris], he [Manansala] noted the interplay of reflected images on the plate-glass and the objects inside the window displays." This vision would captivate Manansala's mind, creating an image that would be more than a decade in the making: the superimposition of tones, shapes, and patterns while retaining his realist and figurative sensibilities. Thus, the birth of his Transparent Cubism. Manansala even remarks that his Parisian stay was the "most alive segment" of his life. Not only did the idea of Transparent Cubism come to Manansala's mind during his Parisian sojourn but also the magnificence of his future Whirr Series. In Paris, where green and open spaces abound, birdwatching is common for anyone seeking respite or casually sparing time. Manansala enjoyed watching flocks of birds gently flap their majestic wings as they traversed the vast skies. These gentle creatures enkindled in Manansala a nostalgic longing for his childhood. In Rod. Paras-Perez's book on the artist Manansala recalls: "Birds in Paris reminded me of my boyhood in Intramuros. I used to pass by San Francisco Church. The birds would be flying in flocks, whirling." Thus, the Whirr Series, epitomized by the work at hand, evokes in Manansala the sweetness of his youth. It is a creative catharsis in all its splendor, encapsulating Manansala's lived experiences and his long, arduous journey toward a style he can call his own. Manansala's Filipino sensibility is also encapsulated in this work, and of course, in his Transparent Cubist brand. The post-war and post-colonial periods also engendered a critical juncture towards reclaiming our culture and identity, which Manansala expressed in his works with utmost sensibility. The artist fiddles with maximalism, which art professor Felipe M. de Leon Jr. writes is "a manifestation of the Filipinos' highly sensitive and expressive nature that is rooted in communal existence." Manansala veering away from Western Cubism's tendency to fragment forms and his use of gesture and the expanse of space capture our concept of social cohesion that translates to our aesthetic notions, i.e., beauty and expressiveness in abundance. The year of the work is also socially significant; it was 1969, a time of growing dissent and dissatisfaction with the looming dictatorship. With the ecstatic aerial dance executed by the birds' graceful flying, their behavior of flying in flocks to overwhelm threats from predators allegorizes safeguarding our freedom through conscious solidarity. Like a flock of birds' concerted action, we are bound by our commitment to collective action as an expression of defying subjugation. It reflects our enlightened thinking; that collective action is the path toward progress and liberty. Recognizing and navigating through our shared struggles bolsters our sense of social cohesion, allowing us to be unbound in conveying our joys and grievances toward a liberating humanity. Therefore, beyond this work's entrancing visual poetry is the mutual concordance between solidarity and liberty, an acknowledgment of our unbroken aspiration as a people. Despite the birds' various movements, which both allude to Manansala's search for his visual language and our diversity as a people, they form a harmonious conjuncture, flying unbridled toward the same horizon. The idea embodies not only Manansala's creative freedom brought about by the successful concoction of his own virtuosity but also a sublime picture of Filipino consciousness and our shared identity as stalwarts of freedom and aspiration towards people-centered advancement. Birds in Flight engenders both a personal sense for the artist and a sense of identity, being, and belonging in the larger context. (A.M.)