Detail of "The Builders" (1928) by Victorio C. Edades
Ayala Museum honours National Artist and Father of Philippine Modern Painting, Victorio C. Edades (1895-1985), in the exhibition Images of Nation: Victorio Edades. The exhibition features selected artworks of the artist from the late 1920s to 1950s highlighting the beginnings of Philippine modernism. Inspiration for Edades comes by way of Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso and Paul Gaugin, and is in sharp contrast to the classical and pastoral works of his contemporaries such as dela Rosa and Fernando Amorsolo.
The exhibit is on view from 6 March until 29 July, 2012 at its Third Floor Galleries.
Yesterday, I came across a slideshow by LIFE Magazine of projecting the coolness of Steve McQueen. It was shot by John Dominis who spent about three weeks with McQueen and his first wife, Neile Adams, at their home in Palm Springs, CA. I got curious about McQueen’s wife. I had expected a dirty blonde, but she was dark haired, not even tall. There was something about her that made me think she might’ve been mixed blood.
I went digging today and was surprised to find out that Steve McQueen’s wife was actually born in Manila, Philippines, and had Filipino, German, Spanish, English and Chinese blood. During WWII, Neile spent nearly three years in a Japanese interment camp at the University of Santo Tomas. After the war, Neile Adams was “…shipped off to a boarding school, Rosemary Hall…” (today known as Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT). Soon after graduating from prep school Neile pursued acting and dancing. Neile married McQueen in November 1956. At this time she was a bit more successful in her Hollywood career than McQueen.
After conceiving their first child, she took a step back from her Hollywood career, but, she seems to have been influential and instrumental in guiding Steve McQueen’s rise to the top of the Hollywood pile. They stayed married for 15 years.
