Known as the Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture, Napoleon Abueva became the youngest Filipino to become a National Artist at the age of 46, in the year 1976. He is a master in both academic representational style and Modern abstract. His works have been executed using almost all kinds of materials, including hard wood like molave, acacia, langka wood, ipil, kamagong, palm wood and bamboo, adobe, metal, stainless steel, cement, marble, bronze, iron, alabaster, coral, and brass. He even combined different materials, like wood with metal and stone.
Under a Pura Villanueva Kalaw Scholarship, Abueva graduated from the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts in 1953 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture. He received much recognition as early as his college years, during which he was mentored by Guillermo Tolentino, the first National Artist for Sculpture and creator of the UP Oblation.
For three years in a row (1951-1953), he won first prize and best entry awards in sculpture in the Art Association of the Philippines annual competition. One of his works from this period is the Kagampan or Kaganapan, which is considered most representative of his work. He also received recognition in the Institute of Contemporary Arts’ International Sculpture Competition in London, England.
Provenance: This maquette mounted on a wooden base was a gift of the artist to Engr Donato T Pangilinan, Jr in exchange for engineering services rendered to fix problems in the roof and ceiling of the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice at the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines. Engr Pangilinan and his wife then gave the sculpture as a gift to their daughter, Maria Rita Cecilia, in 2000 when she returned to university to study Art Education at the UP College of Fine Arts.