I have been collecting bits and pieces of Filipiniana of
all sorts—and one field of collecting interest are old Philippine busts. I have
about a dozen portrait busts—Rizal, Bonifacio, Maria Clara, Macarthur, and some
unknown personalities—made of wood, composition and cast cement.
So, when this bust of a lady came into the market, I
decided to acquire it to add to my collection. A bust is generally a portrait
intended to record the appearance of an individual, but may sometimes represent
a type, in this case, a Filipina type.
It is very unusual
for its tiny size, standing no more than 4.5 inches, including its plinth,
which has an incised date of 1931. It may have been carved as a practice piece
to test the skill of a student carver in shaping and carving the details.
But what drew me to this piece is its uncanny likeness to
a Filipina war heroine—the socio-civic leader Josefa Llanes Escoda. Of course, her martyrdom was still over a
decade away, so this could not have been a memorial piece, but by 1931, Josefa
was a prominent figure as a social worker, a civic leader and a champion of
nationalism and women’s suffrage.
In 1940, she founded the Girl Scouts of the
Philippines. Tragically, she was captured by the Japanese for her underground
activities during the war, and was presumed executed on 6 Jan. 1945.
That’s how I came to call my tiny wooden bust, “Josefa”. With
her head slightly turned to the left, she has the exact middle-parted,
marcel-curled hair that Josefa Llanes-Escoda sported in her extant pictures, a
style popular in the late 1920s-30s. She is carved wearing a collared Western
dress (Escoda favored the baro’t saya) and a bead necklace hangs from her neck.
“Josefa” is a fine example of Filipino skill and
artistry, in a period where Western influences began intruding on our
artistic traditions and making lasting impressions until today.
SOURCE:
