In 2013, the Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation, Inc. in partnership with Ateneo Art Gallery launched the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize in Art Criticism to encourage art writing and develop criticism, especially in the field of the visual arts. The inaugural awarding of the Ateneo Art Awards-Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for Art Criticism was held in 2014, in honor of Kalaw-Ledesma’s 100th birth anniversary. Its first recipient was poet, writer, and educator Carlomar Daoana.
Initially, the Prize’s sole publication partner is the broadsheet The Philippine Star, where the winning writer is granted the opportunity to publish their writings for one year, mostly art reviews under the column Platforms. Over the years, the Prize has expanded with the addition of publication partners, including the international magazine ArtAsiaPacific in 2016, and the academic journal Katipunan in 2021, to encourage essays written in Filipino. Aside from the three major prizes, in 2021, the AAA-PKL Prizes for Art Criticism launched a writing residency to enable one of the prizewinners to develop a project while being immersed in a creative and conducive sphere. The program partner for the writing residency is Orange Project, comprised of a network of artists and spaces based in Negros Occidental.
The recipients of the PKL Prizes have been invited to contribute in other platforms as well during their tenure as awardee. These include contributions to the arts and culture publication Perro Berde, produced by the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines and Instituto Cervantes, as well as participation as moderator in artists discussions (ArtSpeak) organized by the Ateneo Art Gallery. The shortlisted and winning essays, as well as the articles of awardees published in The Philippine Star, ArtAsiaPacific, and Katipunan Journal are uploaded in the online repository Vital Points, a microsite dedicated to the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes for Art Criticism.
Each year, the Ateneo Art Gallery (AAG) together with the Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation, Inc. (KLFI) releases a Call for Entries, the details of which are published on the websites and socials of AAG and KLFI, and the Vital Points microsite. At the onset of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the usual call for exhibition reviews was replaced by an invitation to submit essays based on a given theme. For the first time since its inception, the Award introduced Student and Non-Student Categories to distinguish the large number of insightful entries from students who contributed essays reflecting on the impact of the pandemic on their lives.
KLFI believes that the Award remains relevant and all the more urgent today, with the expanding artistic forms and platforms, artists and collectives pushing the boundaries of art, while in the midst of a heady sociopolitical climate. While there are a number of awards given for the visual arts, there is no other local award specific to Art Criticism.The PKL Prizes for Art Criticism aims to foster insightful and critical discussions surrounding creative forms that engage a community of art practitioners, enthusiasts, collectors, as well as the general public.
Art patron Purita Kalaw-Ledesma (1914-2005) is the founding president of the Art Association of the Philippines, an organization of artists established in 1948. AAP supported artists by providing them opportunities to develop their work and to encourage professional practice. Although contested at times, awards are a form of support which recognizes the exceptional work of artists and allows the work entry to the public sphere where it can be accessed for enjoyment and discourse.
Purita Kalaw-Ledesma believed that art criticism is a vital force in the development of culture. She averred that movements and tendencies in the visual arts were propelled by an equally sharp critical awareness. An informed and thoughtful criticism raised the standards by which artworks were judged.
The Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for Art Criticism has precedents in the work of Kalaw-Ledesma as a prime mover of the AAP and much later, as president of the Kalaw-Ledesma Art Foundation. In 1955, AAP launched its first art criticism award, with Francisco Arcellana (declared National Artist in 1990) as inaugural prizewinner. In 1990, the Kalaw-Ledesma Art Foundation introduced the Kalaw-Ledesma Award for Art Criticism, where artist Cesare Syjuco was first recipient.
The PKL Prizes for Art Criticism is a tribute to Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, an alumna of the University of the Philippines who was in her own right an artist, art patroness and founder of the Art Association of the Philippines, which today remains the biggest art organization in the country. Her involvement in the history of Philippine Art in her time had a deep impact in the development of Filipino artists, art critics and other practitioners; and the direction of art movements.
Launched in 2018, Vital Points tracks the pulse of Philippine art and culture by way of exhibition and project reviews as well as critical essays contributed by shortlisted writers and prize winners. As an online repository, the published writings of prizewinners for the year are also uploaded. This form of archiving is reminiscent of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma’s habit of chronicling daily art and culture events from various newspapers. Overtime, the clippings have accumulated into a comprehensive scrapbook collection. In Vital Points, we hope to maintain an archive of art criticism that can be examined retrospectively and be engaged with presently.
