ANITA MAGSAYSAY-HO
Anita Magsaysay-Ho was often hailed as the greatest woman Filipino painter. While she had a distinctive subject matter, celebrating the Filipino woman-mostly peasants-at work, Magsaysay-Ho’s painting styles evolved over time, from bold brushwork and strong contrasts of dark and light tones to softening and graceful, almost choreographed lines, to a whole new style influenced by Chinese calligraphy and finally a “Green Period” where many of the figures seemed to resemble fruits and plants themselves with solid, highly refined, bold colours.
Magsaysay-Ho was the subject of a biography by Alfredo Roces, In Praise of Women, published in 2005. She states, in the text; “In my works I always celebrate the women of the Philippines. I regard them with deep admiration and they continue to inspire me—their movements and gestures, their expressions of happiness and frustration; their diligence and shortcomings; their joy of living. I know very well the strength, hard work and quiet dignity of Philippine women, for I am one of them.”
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