PHILIPPINE CHRISTIAN ARTWORKS PRESENTED TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

15 August 2007 – Ambassador Ernesto H. De Leon formally presented to the National Gallery of Australia seven pieces of Philippine artworks including a rice basket, skirts woven from wild banana fibre (abaca) and cotton, and two Molave wood figures of St. Anthony of Padua and the Immaculate Concepcion on 09 August 2007.

Gallery Director Ron Radford was very pleased to accept the gifts from the Philippines and emphasized the great importance of receiving for the first time Christian artworks coming from Southeast Asia .  In thanking the Ambassador, he said that “Until today, the art of Christian communities of Southeast Asia have not been represented in the collection.  And yet, of course there are millions of Christians in the region pre-dating Christian communities in Australia .”  Mr. Radford also said that the Gallery intends to showcase not only the Islam religion but also Christianity as important impetuses for creating art.

Asian art curator Robyn Maxwell said that the statues were already displayed since the beginning of August and prior to its formal presentation, these items were already a major attraction in the gallery.  While emphasizing on the importance of all the gifts, Ms. Maxwell said that the National Gallery of Australia was among the first in the world to focus on Southeast Asian textiles as an important art tradition.

The other gifts are made up of traditional clothing items from Mindanao and Luzon which will add to the gallery’s collection of Southeast Asian textiles.

Ambassador De Leon gave a detailed description of all the items presented, which include a man’s ceremonial loincloth decorated with embroidery and glass beads.  The Ambassador was a walking example of this art, wearing a barong tagalog woven from pineapple fibre.

Ambassador De Leon said the gifts were designed to showcase both traditional and Christian art within Filipino culture and would help Australians better understand the country.  He added that “you have to start with the culture to know the people, to know the traditions, so you will know how to deal with the other country.”

The artworks are currently displayed at the Asian section of the National Gallery of Australia . END

/esgret

(Home)