Art Houses: Nemiranda and Blanco Museums

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Art Houses: Nemiranda and Blanco Museums
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Next on our list was the Nemiranda Art House, owned by Nemesio Miranda, Jr. He is a well know painter and sculptor, and his works can be seen all over Angono. In 1975, he founded the Angono Atelier Association, the first group in Angono to popularize sculpture in concrete.

Nemiranda's Gallery

The Art House itself, was surrounded by huge sculptures of his work, often mythical figures in graceful poses. This particular sculpture below is known as the Mermaid of Angono.

The gallery of paintings showcase the paintings of Nemiranda and his children. I think I was more interested in exploring the house. It just had so many twists and turns, and was by itself, a form of art. In my opinion, anyway. Lol.

The Mermaid of Angono

Our next stop was the Blanco Family Museum. On the way, we were awestruck by the sheer number of sculptures, murals and paintings that lined the streets of Angono. If we had more time, I wouldn't mind just walking along the streets to get a better look on the art pieces.

Did you know that there is a family from Angono whose every member is an accomplished painter? The head of the family is renowned artist Jose "Pitok" Blanco. All his seven children are gifted painters and their museum showcases their work.

Done by one of Pitok's children

The gallery is arranged from the works of the youngest Blanco child up to the father, Jose Blanco. The children's works had their ages posted together with the painting. Even at 7 years old, the Blanco children's work rivaled professional painters. As the children grew older, their styles became more developed and the vast improvement of their skills really shone through.

Jose's wife, Loreto "Loring" Blanco, also paints but she started much later, at the age of 48. Jose Blanco was inspired by the works of Botong Francisco. One of his works I particularly liked was the Filipino version of the Last Supper, where a group of 13 fishermen dined on shrimps they caught.

The man who is bent over is said to be "Judas"

The "Angono Fisherman's Festival" is also considered to be Pitok's Obra Maestra. All the people depicted in this painting were people Pitok personally knew and he obtained permission from each one to include them in his masterpiece. Pitok also painted himself and his family in this painting.

Angono Fisherman's Festival

Interestingly, the Blanco Family logo was an upturned fish with a bulging belly. The museum guide explained that Jose Blanco was the son of a fisherman and people often called him "Pitok Bunggan" because he was bald with a huge stomach, vaguely resembling an upturned fish when he was asleep.

All too soon, it was time to go and we needed to heed the calls of our growling stomachs.