Last June 26 at the Pinto Art Museum, France Ambassador Michèle Boccoz and Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. officially launched the year-long program celebrating the 75th year of history, friendship and partnership between France and the Philippines.
For more than seven decades, France and the Philippines have deepened and broadened their ties in several areas such as economic cooperation, climate action and cultural action. This 75th anniversary is therefore an occasion to celebrate the many facets of the long-standing relationship of the two countries, through a rich and diverse program of activities organized throughout 2022.
Boccoz and Locsin led a toast joined by guests including France Sen. Samantha Cazebonne, special envoy of the French Ministry of Finance François Corbin, Dr. Joven Cuanang of the Pinto Art Museum, Pinto Art Museum guest curator Sandra Palomar, and Philippe Augier.
Boccoz and Locsin also led the inauguration of the art exhibit, “Diamond in the Rough,” which showcases over 80 art pieces by Filipino artists who have lived in France, and by French artists living in the Philippines.
A project of the French embassy and the El Refugio Arts and Sciences Foundation Inc., initiated by Dr. Cuanang and curated by Palomar, the exhibition features numerous genres from painting to sculpture, film and fashion. The highlights of the exhibit are sculptures by Frenchman Paul Gauguin, loaned from the Museum Pasifika in Indonesia, shown alongside modernist Filipino painters such as Nena Saguil and Macario Vitalis, who were expatriates in France.
Likewise, there is a strong presence of French artists whose works are quite well known in Manila, such as Henri Eteve and photographers Pierre de Vallombreuse and Charles Freger. —CONTRIBUTED
