Antonio Abad

Antonio Martínez Abad (Antonio M. Abad) was born on 1894 and died on 1970. Antonio Abad was a famous Filipino poet, fictionist, playwright and essayist from Cebu, Philippines, who wrote in Spanish when such was the language of the Filipino society. Antonio Abad was a master of costumbrismo (local color), in a personal form of anecdote known as instantánea or ráfaga. He won the Premio Zobel in 1928 and 1929. He was a professor at Far Eastern University and the University of the Philippines, where he taught Spanish and co-founded the Department of Spanish (now European Languages). His novel La oveja de Nathan is widely discussed in the following article in Spanish, by Professor Manuel Garcia Castellon, from University of New Orleans.

Fabian de la Rosa

Fabian Cueto de la Rosa was born on May 5, 1869 and died on December 14, 1937. Fabian de la Rosa was a Famous Filipino painter. He was uncle and mentor to the Philippines' national artist in painting, Fernando Amorsolo, and to his brother Pablo. He is regarded as a “master of genre” in Philippine art.

His masterpieces are the following:

* Women Working in a Rice Field, 1902
* Transplanting Rice, 1904
* The Death of General Lawton, 1904
* Un recuerdo de la Villa Borghese (A Remembrance of the Villa Borghese), 1909
* Planting Rice, 109.2 x 190.6 cm, oil on canvas, 1921, National Museum Collection
* Los Baños, watercolor, 56.2 x 66.4 cm, 1922, UP Vargas Museum
* La pintora (Woman Painter), 1926
* La bordadora (The Embroiderer), ca. 1926
* Landscape with Dark Trees, 1927
* Pasay Beach, Manila, 1927
* Young Filipina, oil on canvas, 34.2 x 27.9 cm, 1928 , Paulino Que Collection
* El kundiman (The Kundiman), 1930
* Riverview of Sta. Ana, 48.2 x 64.5 cm, oil on canvas, 1938, UP Vargas Museum Collection
* Marikina Road, ca. 1939
* Fishermen's Huts on Balut Island, Tondo
* View of Santa Ana
* Marikina Valley, oil on canvas, 39.3 x 50 cm, undated, UP Vargas Museum Collection

Lamberto V. Avellana

Famous Filipino Artist: Lamberto Vera Avellana was born on February 12, 1915 and died April 25, 1991. Lamberto V. Avellana was a prominent Filipino film and stage director. Despite considerable budgetary limitations that hampered the post-war Filipino film industry, Lamberto V. Avellana's films such as Anak Dalita and Badjao attained international acclaim. In 1976, Lamberto V. Avellana was named by President Ferdinand Marcos as the very first National Artist of the Philippines for Film. While Lamberto V. Avellana remains an important figure in Filipino cinema, his reputation as a film director has since been eclipsed by the next wave of Filipino film directors who emerged in the 1970s, such as Lino Brocka and Ishmael Bernal.

Lamberto V. Avellana made his film debut with Sakay in 1939, a biopic on the early 20th century Filipino revolutionary Macario Sakay. The film was an immediate sensation, particularly distinguished for its realism atypical of Filipino cinema. The treatment of the subject remains a source of some controversy today. Avellana's Sakay toed the line with the American-fostered perception of Sakay as a mere bandit, different from the current-day appreciation of Sakay as a fighter for Filipino independence. Raymond Red's 1993 film, Sakay hews closer to this modern view of Sakay. Interestingly, Leopoldo Salcedo, who played Sakay in the 1939 Lamberto V. Avellana version, portrayed Sakay's father in the 1993 version in his final film role.