A history of storytelling through art collections

A history of storytelling through art collections | Daily Tribune

Narrative art is art that tells a story. It uses visual images of a sequence of events unfolding over time or an ongoing story to evoke emotions and capture one's aspirations or culture. Narrative art preserves the past for future generations across diverse cultures.

One of the country's top bankers, Edwin Bautista, president of Union Bank of the Philippines, and his wife, professor Aileen Beltrano Bautista, debuted their private collections at the Salcedo Auctions titled Private Art, Public Lives, featuring A Passion for Connections: Objects and their narratives from Edwin and Aileen Bautista collection.

"It's a full story," said Edwin when asked about the collections' narrative.

"The exhibit starts with the
pre-colonial era. Basically, (Ferdinand) Magellan. There's a portion that shows trade with China. Some ceramic pieces and gold pieces of jewelry that ancient Filipinos wore. This is like telling the story of how life was before the Spaniards came. That portion ends with the arrival of Magellan and his death at the Battle of Mactan."

The Bautistas' collection of pre-colonial art pieces illustrating historical events of life before the Western World discovered the Philippines brings our imagination to life and provides us insights into our ancestors' sophisticated artistry and rich culture.

Philippine birth certificate

An interesting collection is the map section that tells the story of the Philippines through maps and how the Philippines was seen in the eyes of the Western World. The collections trace the evolution of the Philippines through maps, Edwin said.

The first Philippine map, which is also called the Birth Certificate of the Philippines, shows the first time the whole archipelago was officially named the "Philippines."

According to Edwin, there are only about three or four copies of that map. Some of the original maps do not show the island of Luzon. "Remember it was only after the third expedition of (Miguel Lopez de) Legazpi that the Spaniards landed in Luzon. Before him, there was only the Visayas. So you have Magellan and then Villalobos."

One of the most important collections in that section is the Murillo Velarde map or the Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Islas Filipinas (Hydrographical and Chorographical Chart of the Philippine Islands). The map was the first map made in the Philippines and first published in Manila in 1734 by the Jesuit cartographer Pedro Murillo Velarde, the engraver Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay and the artist Francisco Suárez.

The Velardo map played a critical role in the Philippines case in The Hague for our claim over the West Philippine Sea islands as the 1734 map showed that the Spratly Islands, named Los Bajos de Paragua, and Scarborough Shoal, named Panacot, were part of "Las Islas Filipinas" constituting the Philippine archipelago during the Spanish regime.

There were also old Philippine flags captured by the American soldiers during the Philippine-American war. But Bautista traced most of them and bought them from private collectors.

Personal collections

Edwin said all of the art pieces in the exhibit were from his and his wife's own collection. They did not even know most of the artworks existed before they started their collection.

His passion for the arts was ignited when he started collecting amulets (anting-anting). "My focus then was how to make the narrative full. It's easy to collect amulets because there is an organized group of Filipinos who believe in them."

As for the source, he used to scour eBay, visit auction houses or even get tips from Buddhists and other religious groups.

But for the Salcedo Auction exhibit, the Bautista couple commissioned well-known playwright and director Floy Quintos, who also owns the Art Gallery Deus in Manila.

Floy shared: "The exhibition begins with two large ivory corpus that embody the very pinnacle of both Filipino craftsmanship and spirituality. It ends with contemporary folk amulets and carvings that speak for the enduring, resilient folk spirit of the Pinoy."

"In between these objects, many narratives have unfolded. The range of objects offers perspective and insights into our history, spirituality and creativity. The collection of Edwin and Aileen Bautista brings all these objects together to tell a story of our evolving nationhood.

"From the blood, sweat, tears and passion of Edwin and Aileen Bautista comes the art collections worth preserving. The art pieces are the stars of our history, but the collectors connect all their stories to create a wonderful narrative. They inspire, educate and even entertain the public with their passion for the arts and gripping perspectives on our history and heritage."