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Nena Saguil (b. , d. ) is a pioneer for Filipino abstract art as seen in her notable works: Power Room (), Abstract (), Landscapes of the Mind (), and Illumination II (). Her works often centered around geometric shapes symbolizing the universe at large or at a microscopic level, reflecting her interest in mysticism. Her portfolio is often categorized into the Manila works, which were about her homeland, and the Paris works, where she experimented with cubism, impressionism and surrealism.

Saguil attended the University of Philippines School of Fine Arts where she graduated with an Award of Excellence. In , Saguil received the Walter Damrosch Scholarship, allowing her to study abstract and modern art at the Institute of Spanish Culture in Spain. She then studied at the School of American Arts in Paris and held her first solo art exhibit at Galerie Raymond Creuze. Throughout her life, Saguil exhibited paintings across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. In , she was declared as part of the Twelve Outstanding Overseas Filipinos. In , she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit. Her works continued to be displayed at the Lopez Museum, Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the Ateneo Art Gallery.

Nena Saguil

Nena Saguil

Nena Saguil

One of a handful of Filipino artists to delve into abstraction in the s, Nena Saguil was the only woman to feature in an unprecedented exhibition of non-objective art organised by the Philippines’ first art critic, Aurelio Alvero, in She studied at the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, graduating with distinction, and in received a medal of excellence. Five years later she left the country, having been awarded a number of grants that enabled her to study abstract art at the Ecoles d’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau (), the Institute of Spanish Culture in Madrid and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (–). She then chose to live and work in Paris, where she spent the next forty years.

In the wake of her first solo exhibition at Galerie Raymond Creuze in Paris in , her paintings were shown in Manilla, The Hague, Munich, Rome, Lausanne, Madrid, London, Stockholm, Istanbul, Nice and beyond. They are part of the collections of the Centre National d’Art Contemporain and the Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques in France, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Lopez Museum in Manilla, as well as a number of private collections in Europe and Asia.

Nena Saguil was born in Manila, , d, Paris, February A pioneering Philippine modern artist remembered as a feminist, a mystic and a recluse, Saguil studied art at the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts and was awarded a certificate in painting in

In , at the age of forty, a Walter Damrosch Scholarship allowed Saguil to move to Spain, where she studied abstract painting. Another scholarship, from the Instituto de Cultura Hispania allowed her to further her studies. In Saguil moved to Paris to study at the Ecole des Artes Americane.

The following year Saguil had a solo show at Galerie Raymond Creuze in Paris, where she exhibited works with linear and geometric elements. She later experimented with a syringe technique similar to that of Fernando Zobel and Lee Aguinaldo, painting delicate loops and spatters on softly brushed grounds.

Saguil paintings of the s include Cubist renditions of traditional Philippine subject matter, such as rice planting, as well as more rebellious Surrealist works. Nena Saguils mature abstract works are often described as cosmos and many contain spheres, fibers, dots, vortices and bubbles. Her imagery has also been characterized as cellular, and some of her forms appear as if seen through a microscope.

By the end of her career she had taken part in exhibitions in Germany, Italy, England, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States.

After her death in Saguil was the subject of a September memorial exhibition at the Lopez Museum which was followed by a major exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in , and in , Philippine President Arroyo posthumously awarded Saguil a Presidential Medal of Merit.

Filipina abstract artist (–)

Nena Saguil (September 19, – February, ) was a Filipina artist of modernist and abstract paintings and ink drawings. She was most known for her cosmic, organic, and spiritual abstract works depicting internal landscapes of feeling and imagination. For these, Saguil is considered a pioneer of Filipino abstract art.

Life and career

Simplicia "Nena" Laconico Saguil was born on September 19, , in Santa Cruz, Laguna, Philippines, to Epifanio Saguil and Remedios Laconico. Her father was a private physician to the country's second president, Manuel Quezon. One of ten children, Saguil was brought up in a conservative Catholic household.

Saguil rejected the Catholic school education her parents desired for her. She received her education at University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts where she studied under Fernando Amorsolo, a conservative painter and teacher who adhered to the Philippine art canon of the time. She graduated from UP in with a Certificate in Painting. She received her undergraduate degree in , after the Philippines gained its independence following the end of World War II.

Saguil's first solo exhibition occurred in at the newly opened Philippine Art Gallery (P.A.G.) where she also volunteered and met with modernist artists like Vicente Manansala, Hernando Ruiz Ocampo, Arturo Luz, Romeo Tabuena, Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Fernando Zobel. In his review of the 7th Annual Art Association of the Philippines exhibition, Fernando Zobel de Ayala declared that the Filipino "moderns seemed to carry the day both in quantity and quality." Among them, he praised the Saguil and Victor Oteyza for the originality of their works. This network of Filipino modernist artists to which Saguil belonged became known as the "Neo-Realist Group"

In , at the age of 40, Saguil left the Philippines for Spain after