Napoleon "Billy" Veloso Abueva was known as the "Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture" Through Proclamation No. 1539, He was proclaimed National Artist for Sculpture in 1976 when he was 46, making him the youngest recipient of the award to date.
Biography and career
Billy Abueva, as he was fondly called, was born in Tagbilaran, Bohol, to Teodoro Lloren Abueva, a Bohol congressman and Purificacion Gonzalez Veloso, president of the Women's Auxiliary Service. Abueva had six other brothers and sisters: , Purificacion, José, Amelia Martinez, Teresita Floro, and Antonio. Born Esabelio Veloso Abueva, he was named after the younger sister of his paternal grandmother, Isabel. He assumed the name Napoleon at the age of six, when as a student at the St. Joseph Academy in Tagbilaran, one of the nuns first called him Napoleon after Napoleon Bonaparte. The name stuck, and ever since, Abueva referenced the quote from Napoleon: "If I weren't a conqueror, I would wish to be a sculptor." Abueva graduated in high school at the Rafael Palma College in 1949. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the UP School of Fine Arts in 1953 as one of the second batch of Fine Arts students who moved from the old campus in Padre Faura to Diliman. He was mentored by fellow National Artist for Sculpture Guillermo Tolentino. Through scholarship grants, he was able to pursue advanced studies abroad including one from Harvard University.
Major works
Recognized as the “Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture”, Abueva helped shape the local sculpture scene to what it is now. He used almost all kinds of materials for his sculptures such as hard wood, adobe, metal, stainless steel, cement, marble, bronze, iron, alabaster, coral and brass. He was the first Filipino artist to mount a one-man exhibit at the Philippine Center in New York in 1980. Some of his major works include Kaganapan, Kiss of Judas, Thirty Pieces of Silver, The Transfiguration, Eternal Garden Memorial Park, UP Gateway, Nine Muses, UP Faculty Center, Sunburst -Peninsula Manila Hotel, the bronze figure of Teodoro M. Kalaw in front of National Library, and murals in marble at the National Heroes Shrine, Mt. Samat, Bataan.
He was married to Cherry Abueva, a psychiatrist, and had three children: Amihan, Mulawin, and Duero. Before his stroke, he taught at the Industrial Design department of the De La Salle-College of Saint BenildeSchool of Design and Arts. Abueva was confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City for pneumonia from December 31, 2017, until his death on February 16, 2018. His death was announced by News5 Reporter Maeanne Los Baños on tbe radio program Balita Alas Singko on Radyo5. He was 88. His remains were then brought to his final resting place at the Heroes' Cemetery.
Exhibits
Exhibitions of Napoleon Abueva's work were held in Cebu Plaza.
