ON Feb. 26, 2020, a few days before the coronavirus pandemic lockdown, I was brought to a simple tall house to look at some proposed designs for two monuments. My host was my kumpadre, Frederic Caedo, and this was his family’s atelier on 1 Blumentritt Extension, Quezon City. The house did not look like a typical heritage house, for there were no markers on display. But going inside, you will be welcomed by various sculptures and maquettes, many of them of familiar figures. Fred belongs to one of the very few artistic families in the country, perhaps our country’s answer to the Nicoli family of Carrara, Italy, whose contributions to marble sculpture have traversed generations since the 19th century.
The atelier was started almost a hundred years ago by Anastacio T. Caedo. Interestingly, Caedo had Chinese roots and was once thought to have been born in Macao. But he was actually born in Batangas in 1907. When his mother, Genoveva Tanchauco, died, one of his uncles brought him to Macao, where he learned mathematics and became fluent in the Chinese language. At 14, he returned to the Philippines and after four years, in 1925, entered the University of the Philippines (UP). Without a high school diploma, he was backed by the recommendation of Maestro Guillermo Tolentino. He simultaneously studied fine arts and finished high school. Being Tolentino’s student assistant and protégé from a very young age, he became heir to Tolentino’s “classical realism.” Being so, he shared Tolentino’s fondness for body building, which is not only needed to master the portrayal of the human physique, but also to maintain a healthy body that can handle heavy sculptural works. Because of this, he did not only help Tolentino finish his UP Oblation, he was also one of its models. Tolentino also let Caedo do the Oblations of UP Manila and UP Baguio.
Continue reading with one of these options:
Ad-free access
P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
- Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
- Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)