This much-awaited Book Launching of the Monograph of Prof. Vicente Alvarez entitled "After The Day's Toil" authored by his only daughter Josie Dizon Henson was held at the Plaza San Jose of the Holy Angel University last February 11, 2014.
Lots of relatives and friends from Manila and Angeles came over. The program was hosted by Ms. Cecile S.Yumul of Angeles City. Prof. Tina P. Colayco made a tribute to Prof. Vicente Alvarez Dizon and read a short passage from the book. Prof. Tina is the former Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (2006-2012) and is the President of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.
Dr. Rogelio M. Pine of New Jersey, USA graced the occasion and shared how and why he came to buy "After The Day's Toil" in 1980, when he was still a new practicing doctor in the United States of America.
Dr. Raoul Henson shared how the book project came about and his Mom's long search for an editor. She finally found her good friend Prof. Juliet Mallari of University of the Philippines at Clark.
The cocktails was served at the Cafe Juan adjacent to Plaza San Jose. Below is the newspaper article that came out in some of the national and local dailies...
DIZON BOOK LAUNCH
MANILA, Philippines – A book on Vicente Alvarez Dizon, the Filipino painter who topped Salvador Dali and Maurice Utrillo in an international art competition in 1939, will be launched at 4:00 P. M. on February 11, 2014 at the Holy Angel University in Angeles City, Pampanga,
The 130-page tribute is entitled “After The Day’s Toil”. Dizon’s artist-daughter Josie DIzon Henson recounts how her father’s masterpiece, “After the Day’s Toil,” put the country in the spotlight during the San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition in California on February 18, 1939, seventy-five years ago.
The painting was unanimously awarded first place in the art contest to highlight America’s openness to the world, sponsored by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) and participated in by 79 countries.
The painting recalls a rustic scene in which a Filipino family returns from the field in contentment and harmony after a hard day’s labor. Dizon had painted it in 1936 as a graduation thesis for his art studies at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.
The entry of Spain by Dali won second place, while that of the United States won third. The entry of France by Utrillo failed to garner a prize.
The Golden Gate Exposition was held to celebrate the inauguration of San Francisco's two new bridges: the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (1936) and the Golden Gate Bridge (1937).
An IBM representative visiting the Philippines in 1938 saw the painting in the artist’s studio and instantly bought it for the competition and shipped it to the United States.
The masterpiece went missing from 1952 until 2004 when the late artist’s family discovered that a Filipino cardiologist based in New Jersey had obtained it from a New York gallery in the 1980s.
Dizon, a Kapampangan painter who died in 1947, was a contemporary of Fernando Amorsolo and taught at the University of the Philippines in the 1930s. The Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco was opened on February 19, 1939. Two months later, on April 30, 1939, Amorsolo also won first place at the New York World’s Fair in the U.S. This was just before World War II.
Vicente Dizon was a man of many talents who specialized in painting, mural decoration, art education, composition, and museum administration. He introduced the art of finger painting, traveling from Manila to provinces in Central Luzon to propagate the technique.
During the war years, Dizon secretly recorded scenes of the war in 30 dramatic war paintings, which he later dubbed "From Japanese Invasion to American Liberation, As My Brush Saw It."
He wrote two books: "Art Education and Appreciation," which saw publication, and "Living As An Art," in which he set down his insights on art and life. He was also an accomplished musician.
Josie Dizon Henson, the artist’s daughter, is a professional artist herself who graduated from the University of Santo Tomas. She has traveled extensively, recording her impressions on canvas in still-lifes, landscapes and portraits. Like her father, she is a passionate art educator teaching Art to young children at the Museo Ning Angeles every summer for the past 13 years now.
She is married to Ruben G. Henson, MD, by whom she has four children, Raoul Paolo Henson, MD, Ramon Alfonso Henson, Ruben Emil Henson III, MD, and Janina Maria Henson.
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