OLD MAPS AT YUCHENGCO MUSEUM

Selfie with the Yuchengco Matriarch and Patriarch behind me

I make it a  point to maximize the precious little hours in my days off work. So today, as I was able to proceed to the Department of Tourism to work on my accreditation, Ronnie Gador and Yael Fernandez decided to visit the Yuchengco Museum at RCBC Plaza along Sen. Gil J Puyat in Makati.

Special showcase of Leonor Rivera's intimate personal effects

We planned to catch the ongoing  exhibit of  Antique Maps which are rarely, if ever, publicly displayed. I  found that the collection of the Yuchengco Museum is quite impressive. We started from the fourth level which had  two sections: the Yuchengco memorabilla and the Rizaliana collection which was very interesting. 

Leonor Rivera's hair and fashion accessories

On the left side of the room, one is treated to an inside look of the Yunchengco clan's humble beginnings from a small migrant family of Chinese traders from Nanjing to their current prominence in Philippine society. The other half of the room shows Jose Rizal's "more human" side. Intimate items like the peineta of Leonor Rivera and portraits of the women who have had a lasting influence in his love-life. The love-seat from which Rizal courted Leonor Rivera is displayed in a vignette with a blow up of the parlor at the Rivera home together with sepia portraits of Rizal and his Maria Clara.

a love-seat in crewel featured in Leonor Rivera's home

It was here where all three of us had a lively discussion of the whereabouts of Josephine Bracken and the side evenets leading to her death in HongKong after the war broke out. The security guards were so amused by the stories they were hearing from the Mabuhay Guides that we chided them for listening to gossip. that was very funny!

Rizal's girlfriends sections

A flight of steps down is the featured collection of antique maps of the Philippines published during the American occupation. The collection starts with a section on the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. Then it goes further into the areas occupied by the Americans upon arrival in the Philippines. There's also a section on the short-lived Malolos Republic. The extensive collection features rare pieces of PHIMCOS (Philippine Map Collectors Society) ergo, no photos are allowed. I managed to have a selfie at the landing where the collection is being introduced.

Map collection entrance

Another level down features contemporary pieces and installations that are just intriguing. A favorite of mine is the gown made of rope that ends in a cascade on the floor and a series of collages by Hy Dee which effectively combines minimal patterns in swathes of cool colors as pools of tranquility.

Rope Gown installation

I liked the ground floor a lot for its merry mix of the works of classical masters: Luna, Amorsolo, Hidalgo; all the way to the mavericks of modern art:  Edades, HR Ocampo, Manansala, Kiukok and Botong Francisco.  Yael and I were moved by Botong's unfinished work of the Kamote Diggers, an unfinished work at the time of his death that I had only seen in reproductions. This original frame, though done halfway, is very powerful... social realism at its finest!

Modern Art Masters wall

By the time we had reviewed the collection at the Museum, it was  nearly rush hour and it was time to go... go visit a museum! This one's worth the admission...

Botong Francisco's portrait of Dona Maria and Don Antonio Yuchengco