UP Vargas Museum: A Lecture with Dr. Marilyn R. Canta

As part of our Learning About Art program, we will host the second of our Wednesday lectures on the painter Simon Dela Rosa Flores by Prof. Marilyn Canta, titled Simón de la Rosa Flores (1839-1902/1904): Towards a Catalogue Raisonné on Wednesday, July 22nd at 3 PM.

You may Register at: bit.ly/ALecturewithDrCanta2026.

The making of a catalogue raisonné is often fraught with art historical problems. In this talk, Dr. Marilyn R. Canta will share some issues she encountered while attempting one such catalogue for Simon Flores, an artist of the 19th century. The artist is said to have produced only some 50 works throughout his career of about 40 years. While originally conceived historically for the art market, Dr. Canta believes that catalogues raisonnés can be used to further scholarly investigations into art and heritage, especially for artists and periods which have been neglected as areas of study.

In this project, Dr. Canta shares the necessity of doing the sometimes difficult but necessary spadework associated with art historical methods, such as biography, connoisseurship, iconography, and social history.

Dr. Marilyn R. Canta (Ret.), is currently a Professorial Lecturer in the DAS, CAL and the Dept of Art Theory, CFA, both at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her master’s thesis was on the Spanish colonial churches of Camarines Sur, while her doctoral dissertation was on Indo-Philippine textile convergences.

In 2019, Dr. Canta spearheaded the Department of Art Studies’s extension work on an initial inventory of movable property in the Santiago Apostol parish in Betis, Guagua, Pampanga, which led to publication of a catalogue, Faces of Faith, in time for the town’s 450th anniversary in 2022. Her interest in a catalogue raisonné for Simon Flores began here.

Source: UP Vargas Museum Facebook