JUVENAL SANSO (B. 1929)
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Juvenal Sanso was born in Reus, Catalonia, Spain in 1929. Five years later, his family moved to Manila in the Philippines and established a wrought-iron business called El Arte Espanol. Although there were other Spaniards in town, the Sansos did not associate with them, as many of them were Castellian and the Sansos were Catalunians; moreover, many of the Spanish community in the Philippines supported Franco while the Sansos were strongly anti-Fascist. As World War II broke out in the Philippines, the family wrought-iron business refused to work for the Japanese war effort and was subsequently ruined. The war years were very traumatizing to Sanso, and this trauma later resulted in Sanso’s Black Period when he painted exclusively in black and white with gruesome imagery and hideously deformed beggars.
Sanso’s father thought that such artistic training would be of great help when Juvenal took over the wrought iron business, and he began taking art lessons from Alejandro Celis. Not long after, the young man realized that his true vocation was not in wrought iron but in painting. Sanso was able to persuade his father to enroll him as a special student at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts where he studied under such professors as Fernando Amorsolo, Dominador Castaneda and Ireneo Miranda from 1948 to 1951.
The years 1950 and 1951 were turning points for the talented young artist. During the first year, his work Incubus won first prize at the Art Association of the Philippines competition, and he repeated the feat the following year with his piece Sorcerer. In 1952, Sanso moved to Pariso and began studying at the Academia di BelleArti in Rome, and then enrolled at L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts the following year.
Sanso held his first one-man show in Paris in 1956 then came back to Manila in 1957 for his first local one-man show at the Philippine Art Gallery. He continued traveling extensively and holding solo exhibitions in Italy, the United States, England and Mexico, and regularly coming back to Manila for occasional shows. In 1964 his work Leuers was adjudged Print of the Year by the Cleveland Museum of Art, giving Sanso the distinction of previous winners like Henri Matisse and Salvador Dali. The same year he held a major all-media one-man show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as one-man shows at the prestigious Philadelphia Print Club and New York's Weyhe Gallery. Two year later, in 1966, Sanso had his 20-year retrospective show at the Makati Commercial Center, and in 1974, a 25-year retrospective held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 1976, in commemoration of the Manila World Bank and the International Monetary Fund summit meetings, Sanso held a one-man retrospective of some 1,000 works, and released a portfolio of 10 lithographs on Philippine subjects. He made a milestone in 1989 by doing six simultaneous exhibits in Manila at the Metropolitan Museum, the Lopez Museum, the Ayala Museum, the Center Cultural de Espaha, the Alliance Francaise and the Finale Art File.
In his latter years, Sanso transitioned out of his angst-filled Black Period to creating vibrate floras and still lifes in striking saturated reds, greens, oranges and blues. As a multi-faceted artist, Sanso has through the years, painted oils, watercolor, acrylic, ink, and dry brush medium. He has produced fine etchings in a very dynamic, strong-lined style and has distinguished himself in textile design, printmaking, and photography. He has designed sets and costumes for several operas in both France and the Philippines, and is one of the most respected and highly in-demand artists today.
After 50 years of living in Paris, Juvenal Sanso decided to come home and establish permanent residence in his beloved Manila in 2008.
Major Awards and Distinctions
The Presidential Medal of Merit, awarded by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on May 20, 2006
The Distinguished King’s Cross of Isabela, awarded by the Spanish King Juan Carlos on January 8, 2007
The Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, conferred February 26, 2008 by the Ministry of Culture and Communications of the Republic of France
Sanso's works are in the following Collections:
Museums
Museum of Philippine Art
Cultural Center of the Philippines
National Museum, Manila
Ateneo Art Gallery, Manila
Musee d Art Moderne, Paris
Cabinet des Estampes de la Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Collection de la Ville de Paris
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid
Smithsonian Institution, Washington
Rosenwald National Gallery, Washington
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington D.C.
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
Brooklyn Museum, New York
New York Public Library
Baltimore Museum
Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco
Chicago Art Institute
Cleveland Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
San Francisco Museum
La Jolla Art Center, San Diego
Rosenwald National Gallery, Washington
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Allen Museum, Oberlin College
Princeton University
Yale University, New Haven
Private Collections
Former President and Mrs. Ferdinand E. Marcos
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
President Soeharto
Georges Auric
Count de Sabran
Countess Pastre
Valerian Rybar
Jean Francois Daigre
Princess Chumbhot of Thailand
Jean Cocteau
Gabriel Dussurget
Prince Michel of Greece
Gian-Carlo Menotti
William Pahlmann
Nelson E. Rockefeller
Isabel de Rouault
Baroness Edouard de Rothschild
Dunoyer de Segonzac
Elsa Schiaparelli
Vincent Price
Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
John Newberry
Oliver B. Jennings
Dorothy Hales-Gary
Mrs. Murtogh David Guiness
Fernando Zobel de Ayala
Alfonso Osorio
John Schlesinger
William McCormick Blair
Henry and Hans Sy
The Lopez Foundation
Jack Teotico
Sanso’s father thought that such artistic training would be of great help when Juvenal took over the wrought iron business, and he began taking art lessons from Alejandro Celis. Not long after, the young man realized that his true vocation was not in wrought iron but in painting. Sanso was able to persuade his father to enroll him as a special student at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts where he studied under such professors as Fernando Amorsolo, Dominador Castaneda and Ireneo Miranda from 1948 to 1951.
The years 1950 and 1951 were turning points for the talented young artist. During the first year, his work Incubus won first prize at the Art Association of the Philippines competition, and he repeated the feat the following year with his piece Sorcerer. In 1952, Sanso moved to Pariso and began studying at the Academia di BelleArti in Rome, and then enrolled at L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts the following year.
Sanso held his first one-man show in Paris in 1956 then came back to Manila in 1957 for his first local one-man show at the Philippine Art Gallery. He continued traveling extensively and holding solo exhibitions in Italy, the United States, England and Mexico, and regularly coming back to Manila for occasional shows. In 1964 his work Leuers was adjudged Print of the Year by the Cleveland Museum of Art, giving Sanso the distinction of previous winners like Henri Matisse and Salvador Dali. The same year he held a major all-media one-man show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, as well as one-man shows at the prestigious Philadelphia Print Club and New York's Weyhe Gallery. Two year later, in 1966, Sanso had his 20-year retrospective show at the Makati Commercial Center, and in 1974, a 25-year retrospective held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 1976, in commemoration of the Manila World Bank and the International Monetary Fund summit meetings, Sanso held a one-man retrospective of some 1,000 works, and released a portfolio of 10 lithographs on Philippine subjects. He made a milestone in 1989 by doing six simultaneous exhibits in Manila at the Metropolitan Museum, the Lopez Museum, the Ayala Museum, the Center Cultural de Espaha, the Alliance Francaise and the Finale Art File.
In his latter years, Sanso transitioned out of his angst-filled Black Period to creating vibrate floras and still lifes in striking saturated reds, greens, oranges and blues. As a multi-faceted artist, Sanso has through the years, painted oils, watercolor, acrylic, ink, and dry brush medium. He has produced fine etchings in a very dynamic, strong-lined style and has distinguished himself in textile design, printmaking, and photography. He has designed sets and costumes for several operas in both France and the Philippines, and is one of the most respected and highly in-demand artists today.
After 50 years of living in Paris, Juvenal Sanso decided to come home and establish permanent residence in his beloved Manila in 2008.
Major Awards and Distinctions
The Presidential Medal of Merit, awarded by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on May 20, 2006
The Distinguished King’s Cross of Isabela, awarded by the Spanish King Juan Carlos on January 8, 2007
The Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, conferred February 26, 2008 by the Ministry of Culture and Communications of the Republic of France
Sanso's works are in the following Collections:
Museums
Museum of Philippine Art
Cultural Center of the Philippines
National Museum, Manila
Ateneo Art Gallery, Manila
Musee d Art Moderne, Paris
Cabinet des Estampes de la Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Collection de la Ville de Paris
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid
Smithsonian Institution, Washington
Rosenwald National Gallery, Washington
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington D.C.
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York,
Brooklyn Museum, New York
New York Public Library
Baltimore Museum
Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco
Chicago Art Institute
Cleveland Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
San Francisco Museum
La Jolla Art Center, San Diego
Rosenwald National Gallery, Washington
Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Allen Museum, Oberlin College
Princeton University
Yale University, New Haven
Private Collections
Former President and Mrs. Ferdinand E. Marcos
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
President Soeharto
Georges Auric
Count de Sabran
Countess Pastre
Valerian Rybar
Jean Francois Daigre
Princess Chumbhot of Thailand
Jean Cocteau
Gabriel Dussurget
Prince Michel of Greece
Gian-Carlo Menotti
William Pahlmann
Nelson E. Rockefeller
Isabel de Rouault
Baroness Edouard de Rothschild
Dunoyer de Segonzac
Elsa Schiaparelli
Vincent Price
Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.
John Newberry
Oliver B. Jennings
Dorothy Hales-Gary
Mrs. Murtogh David Guiness
Fernando Zobel de Ayala
Alfonso Osorio
John Schlesinger
William McCormick Blair
Henry and Hans Sy
The Lopez Foundation
Jack Teotico