Juan Luna’s Revolution
Dr Kevin Chua, Associate Professor of Art History, TTU
Juan Luna (1857-1899), Filipino painter, spent the 1880s and 90s in Europe, exhibiting in several major European salon exhibitions. Together with José Rizal – doctor, intellectual, patriot – they formed a group known as the “ilustrados,” who were exposed to European enlightenment ideas, and were committed to working towards the independence of the Philippine colony from Spain. If previous attempts have too quickly read Luna's painting in a nationalist and post-colonial light, this 30-minute talk considers the strategic positioning of his painting with regard to European exhibition politics, and the anachronic dimension of his painting with regard to European and Filipino history. By close readings of three canvases – Spoliarium (1884), Battle of Lepanto (1887), and The Blood Compact (1886) – this talk seeks to provide a more critical assessment of Luna’s politics, several years before the Philippine Revolution of 1896.
