Telesforo Sucgang

Background

Telesforo Sucgang was born on January 5, 1855, in Capiz, Philippines. He was the son of Eusebio Sucgang and Matea Alayon.

Education

Telesforo Sucgang began his schooling with a private teacher in his home town and later studied at the parish school. At a very young age, he attracted the attention of the parish priest. He drew on the cardboards, paper, desks and walls of the school. Telesforo also made carvings there. At the age of twelve, his father sent him to study at the Colegio de San José, Manila, where he became acquainted with a Filipino painter, Lorenzo Rocha. How long he studied under this teacher, it is not known. He also took music lessons, besides the regular course. Later, Sucgang transferred to the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Sucgang displayed not an unusual interest in his studies by training prizes. So his teachers advised him to continue his education at the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura then under the direction of Don Agustin Saez. Rocha and Saez became his teachers. Among his classmates were Jose Rizal, Glicerio Janson and Javier Gomez de la Serna. After some time, a class in sculpture was opened for the first time at the same school, and he enrolled with Rizal and Janson in this class. In 1879, the Liceo Artistico-Literario held a literary-artistic contest, in which Rizal's poem, A la Juventud Filipina, won the first prize. In the same contest, Rizal also submitted a bust of Cervantes, but this entry did not receive any award, which went to Janson's bust of de Camoens and Sucgang's bust of Cardinal Cisneros. Meanwhile, he apprenticed himself in the shop of Juan Flameño, a woodcarver and sculptor, who had his atelier in Santa Cruz. When, five years later, the Gremio de Escultores of Santa Cruz held an art competition, Sucgang was chosen to manage the event.

Career

Telesforo Sucgang knuckled down to art in 1884, when a competitive examination was held in Manila to select two pensionados to study art abroad. Sucgang submitted to testing and passed it together with Esteban Villanueva. But Rafael Enriquez, a contemporary and one of the contestants, failed to qualify. For four years, Telesforo was a pensionado, staying most of the time in Madrid and visiting the cities of Italy and France. In Madrid, Felix M. Roxas roomed with him for a time. It was in this city, that he painted two large historical pictures. One, El Desembarco de Magallanes (1888), sometimes called The First Mass in the Philippines, used to hang in the National Gallery, Manila. The second canvass, La Llegada de Legazpi y Urdaneta, was purchased by the Augustinian Order in Manila.

Two marines of large dimensions also belong to this period: Estamos Salvados and La Llegada del Correo Español en la Bahia de Manila (1887). The latter was renamed Steamship Buenaventura and used to be housed in the National Gallery, but did not have merits except as a historical piece. Felix M. Roxas believed, that these pieces were influenced by the success of Luna's Spolarium, but his works received very little attention.

In portraiture work, Sucgang executed quite a number of canvasses, the qualities of which cannot now be appreciated. He made portraits of Spanish personages like Manuel Becerra, the Minister of the Ultramar, Victor Balaguer, Marquez de Soller, Castelar, Pi y Margall, General La Corte and the Infant King of Spain, Alfonso XIII. Other canvasses were kept in what used to be called the Museo de Filipinas in Madrid. Recently, a portrait of Rizal by Sucgang, produced in 1891, was discovered in Madrid and brought to Manila. A few more portraits were done in the archipelago after his return. That of Vicente Francisco, a sculptor, used to belong to the collection of Epifanio de los Santos Cristobal.

Telesforo's sculptural works were chiefly religious in character. Sagrada Familia represents the birth of Christ; La Purisima Conception is a life-size creation; El Despojamiento de la Sagrada Tunica belongs to the same group, besides carvings of various saints.

Sucgang's musical compositions are no longer remembered for they have not survived as playing pieces. Such were Submarino Parad, a waltz, composed in Madrid, La Bahia de Manila, danza Filipina, La Rosa Temprana, danza, and other pieces, including polkas, which faded in time.

Telesforo stayed in the Peninsula for another period of five years after the expiration of the term of his pensionadoship. After this period, he moved to Manila in 1893. He accepted a royal appointment in the Escuela de Artes y Oficios at Iloilo, teaching modeling and engraving. At the same school, Jose Maria Asuncion was an assistant for some time.

During the second stage of the Revolution, Sucgang was appointed captain and later promoted to commandant of military administration with quarters in Santa Barbara under General Martin Delgado.

After the Revolution and upon the establishment of American rule, Sucgang became interested in education. He was one of the founders of Instituto de Visayas, which was established in Jaro, Iloilo, in 1900. Then, he formed the Instituto Aklan in Kalibo, Capiz, and another in Capiz between 1907 and 1911. Later, he went to Manila upon hearing of a vacancy at the School of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines. Meanwhile, Telesforo founded the Colegio de Minerva in Manila, which operated from 1912 until his death.

Besides, during his lifetime, Telesforo contributed articles to the Manila paper, El Comercio, and the Visayan periodicals, El Porvenir de Visayas, El Panay, El Ilonguillo and Revolución in Jaro.

Achievements

• Telesforo Sucgang was one of the most prominent figures in Filipino art. As a painter, he became particularly famous for his portrait of Jose Rizal, which was described as the finest and truest likeness of Rizal, and for portraits of well-known Filipino people. Apart from being a renowned painter, he was recognized as a sculptor and composer. Telesforo is also remembered as an educator, who taught at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios and founded the Instituto de Visayas and Colegio de Minerva.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • The Portrait of Jose Rizal

  • The Beggar

  • Un Indio

  • Florero

Personality

Telesforo Sucgang's favorite instrument was the ocarina, but he also played the guitar, violin, bandurria and piano.

Connections

Telesforo Sucgang was married to Manuela Mateo y Villamana. The marriage produced twelve children.

Father:

Eusebio Sucgang

Mother:

Matea Alayon

Wife:

Manuela Mateo y Villamana

References

• Dictionary of Philippine Biography A book by E. Arsenio Manuel.
  1970