CRUEL HISTORY The Contemplative Court in the US Museum of African American History, Culture, and Arts The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. is a reminder of the horrors experienced by the families of a significant part of the American population, the genocide that Adolf...
WALA LANG It is as if Juan Luna (1857-1899) has just laid down his brushes and standing proudly, almost defiantly, before his prize-winning Spoliarium , proclaims, “There. Try and better that.” The painting and the artist—then 27 years old—as he was in the very year that he finished...
WALA LANG Even as some US cities suffer from stagnation, crime, homelessness, and wholesale shoplifting, New York City remains vibrant. On a short break the other month, some family members and I stayed a week in Manhattan. My trip is museums and while my companions were scootering in Central Park...
WALA LANG Twin buildings are rising in Diliman near the Carillon and the Film Center. One is the Black Box KAL Theater, the other a gallery. The former has state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment and can sit 350 to 450 people in rows facing a stage or in tiers on four sides as a...
WALA LANG On its 54th anniversary, celebrated this month, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is strictly speaking, homeless. The main building on Roxas Boulevard has been dark since January and at its traditional location, only the recently inaugurated Teatro Ignacio Gimenez (the Black...
WALA LANG A remarkable couple, banker Edwin Bautista and academician Aileen B. Bautista, teamed up to form a unique collection of Philippine material heritage that the perceptive scholar and writer Florencio “Floy” Quintos declares “gives a deeper meaning and resonance to the narrative of an...
Dr Jaime Laya feted for his opinion article “Emily in Egypt” in his Manila Bulletin column “Wala Lang” Dr. Jaime C. Laya was recognized by the Egypt Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt for his outstanding work on the article he wrote entitled “Emily in Egypt” which was featured in...
WALA LANG *THE HOLY GRAIL Juan Luna's Hymen, O Hyménée was considered missing until it was found at a Spanish aristocratic family's home (Photo Leon Gallery)* There is excitement—pro and con—over the recently rediscovered Hymen, O Hyménée painted by Juan Luna and exhibited as part of...
WALA LANG *IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME The Teus house and a great grand daughter of its builder Ms. Begona Cabral Vara de Rey* The first lady, Mme. Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta Marcos, has created museums intended to make Filipinos know and be proud of their historic past. They are housed in three...
WALA LANG *HYMEN, O HYMÉNÉE The painting and a detail, the bridesmaids (Leon Gallery).* On exhibit at the Ayala Museum is a rediscovered Juan Luna, Hymen, O Hyménée!. Repatriated from Spain by León Gallery’s Jaime Ponce de León, the painting depicts a bridal procession as it might have...
WALA LANG Gossiping oldies would warn each other that there was danger—that young blabbermouths were within earshot—and the topic had better be less juicy. Until the mid-1800s, Mindanao pirates preyed on coastal towns from the Ilocos in northern Luzon down to the Bicol region and all over the...
WALA LANG I suppose that in one’s senior years, one hopes to be mentally sound, to have good friends to bum around with, to have a large bank of happy memories, and have the joy of looking with pride at one’s children. For this article, the 600th of “Wala Lang,” I thought I’d share some...
