(Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo is the daughter of National Artist Fernando Amorsolo. We are posting the speech she made at the Media Launch of "His Art Our Heart" the Amorsolo Retrospective Seven Museum Exhibition that runs from late September 2008 till April 2009. Lazo is the person authorized by her father to authenticate and certify his works. Lazo was the apprentice and assistant of her father and is herself a painter. She also taught painting for forty-five years. Lazo has already retired from teaching in order to devote more time to creating her own artworks. The following text provides insights into Amorsolo as only she could give.)

Ladies and gentlemen of the Media, the invaluable sponsors, organizers and guests of the Amorsolo Retrospective Exhibition "His Art Our Heart", a pleasant good afternoon.

 During his lifetime, my father and his prolific body of work was showered with many honors and awards. He was known as an artist whose extraordinary abilities gave life to many colorful and beautiful facets of Philippine society.

When I am asked to speak about Amorsolo, the man, and what art meant to him, I picture my father as someone who was very different from the public persona that is associated with him. The grandiose public figure that was my father was, in fact, a very simple man.

He came from humble beginnings – born in Manila but raised in Daet, Camarines Norte. He was a soft-spoken man with parents who taught him the values of humility and decency, qualities he abided to, even after he had made a name for himself. He lived an austere lifestyle, free from the garishness of the big city. Amorsolo always had a modest air about him and never carried himself in a pretentious manner.

My father’s restraint in the way he carried himself runs in direct contrast to the manner by which he pursued his art. He reserved his creative energies and dictated it solely to his artistic output. He devoted his entire life to art and approached it with passion.

From early childhood, he manifested his art by drawing anything and everything he set his eyes upon. He was privileged to have a mentor in his uncle, Fabian dela Rosa, another distinguished Filipino painter and later, took up his formal studies in painting at the School of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines.

Amorsolo found beauty in the ordinary. Rather than paint objects of opulence, glorious scenes of victory in battle, he depicted the common folk like the farmers, vendors, and young women who went about their daily tasks and chores. He loved to often explore painting scenes set in the midst of a rice field or by the river. He believed that art was for everyone and not reserved only for the affluent. But choosing subjects of painting life’s simple pleasures like sceneries of lavanderas washing clothes, farmers toiling the fields, children at play, he sought to communicate that beauty surrounded us, even in the most mundane situations. In so doing, he created a form of art that everyone, from all walks of life, appreciated.

Amorsolo held himself to the highest technical standards. He attained mastery in every medium, not only painting in oil, but also producing outstanding works rendered in pastel, charcoal, conte, crayon, to pen and ink and pencil. He excelled in various genre. He was known for his rural landscapes but he was also a master portraitist. He not only captured the sitter’s likeness through his dedication in representing true form and anatomy but he had the uncanny ability to represent the subject’s inner character. Amorsolo’s paintings that depict history are not only renowned for its rich colors and textures but its accurate representation of the significance of the event. He truly believed that Art was for everyone and they deserved nothing but the best.

Needless to say, Amorsolo also had his fair share of detractors who criticized him for his "idealized representations of Philippine society". The artist never paid attention, staying true to his art and more importantly, to himself. This man saw and experienced both the good and bad side of his world, yet he consciously chose to depict the beauty that he saw around him.

Amorsolo was shy, a quiet man who rarely spoke out on anything at length. A simple man who chose to express himself through his art. And so he did. He expressed himself quite extensively as he painted until his brush fell still, three months before he passed away. Amorsolo had a very productive career with works of art numbering well into the thousands.

Fernando Amorsolo, my beloved father, and beloved painter, was dedicated to communicate the beauty that he saw around him. And we are all richer, in beholding his beautiful legacy.

Our heartfelt gratitude to the amazing organizers of "His Art Our Heart", to the seven museums, and all the invaluable sponsors of this wonderful tribute to remember and honor my father through a retrospective exhibition in seven museums. And to the members of the Media, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for honoring Fernando Amorsolo.