Fernando C. Amorsolo was a very versatile artist who had considerable skills as an illustrator and commercial artist. Amorsolo’s ability to make money as a working artist appeared early. As a boy he sold hand-made post cards, and then as a university student he earned extra funds by illustrating several novels and also provided religious images for “Passion” books.
Here are some examples of Amorsolo’s graphic skills.
A series of lithographs made during a 7-month stay in New York in 1919 display Amorsolo’s rapidly maturing confidence as a draftsman, and his mastery of the female form.
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Amorsolo’s 1919 lithograph “Maple Leaves”
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Amorsolo was a nimble comic artist, and is widely credited as being the author of the first newspaper cartoon strip to be published in the Philippines, the satirical “Kiko at Angge.”
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| A panel from the 1922 comic strip “Kiko at Angge.” |
Amorsolo’s fame grew as his fine art art images were published in the form of posters and brochure images. The tourist brochure below features a stylized Amorsolo image used to lure tourists to the Philippines.
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A Philippine tourist brochure features an Amorsolo image
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| “Miss Philippines” appears on an Amorsolo style brochure |
Above: Amorsolo’s distinctive and alluring images of women were widely copied in the pre-war period.
Even Philippine schoolchildren were familiar with Amorsolo’s skill as an illustrator. Below, a copy of the “Philippine Reader” features an Amorsolo illustration:
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| Amorsolo’s illustration of a clever monkey |