Hernando Ocampo

Philippine national artist Hernando Ocampo was a fictionist, playwright and editor. Ocampo was a leading radical modernist artist in the Philippines. He was a member of the Saturday Group of artists (also known as the Taza de Oro Group), and was one of the pre-war Thirteen Moderns, a group of modernist artists founded by Victorio C. Edades in 1938.

Ocampo originally studied law, economics, and creative writing, and began as an English writer. During the Japanese Occupation, Ocampo turned to writing in Tagalog and wrote plays for the stage, becoming the chief scriptwriter and assistant director of the Associated Artists. The Japanese also appointed him censor for the stage and for the Taliba newspaper, at the same time that he had an intelligence assignment as second lieutenant in Straughn’s Guerrillas. He also became editor of the Manila Sunday Chronicle Magazine and later produced TV productions.

Ocampo was particularly renowned for works that addressed the harsh reality of his country after World War II. A large part of his oeuvre, however, also illustrates beautiful Filipino landscapes. His paintings then became increasingly abstract.