On February 25, 2020, Doc Chatters explored a series of 19th-century paintings of Filipiniana clothing and learned about the complex stylistic legacies of colonialism in the Philippines.

A weekly series from NYPL's Center for Research in the Humanities, Doc Chat pairs a NYPL curator or specialist and a scholar to discuss evocative digitized items from the Library's collections and brainstorm innovative ways of teaching with them. In Episode Seventeen, Miguel Rosales, Librarian in the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs and costume designer Raven Ong, faculty member at Central Connecticut State University, analyzed images of Filipiniana dress in the context of the Philippines' colonial past and discussed the ways in which clothing influences the weaving of a national narrative.

A transcript of this event is available here.

Below are some handy links to materials and sources suggested in the episode.

Episode Seventeen: Primary Sources

The watercolors discussed were executed by Justiniano Asuncion in 1841 and are found in a scrapbook held in the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs at the New York Public Library. Here is the catalog record for the scrapbook. You can explore all of the digitized images from the scrapbook on NYPL's Digital Collections here. 

Miguel and Raven focused on two paintings:

Episode Seventeen: Readings and Resources

Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, "Trophies of Trade: Collecting Nineteenth-Century Sino-Filipino Export Paintings" Archives of Asian Art 67: 2(2017),  237–256.

Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, Multiple Originals, original Multiples: 19th-Century Images of Philippine Costumes (Ayala Foundation, 2004)

Dominador Castañeda, Art in the Philippines (Office of Research Coordination, University of the Philippines, 1964).

"Filipiniana Dress History with Raven Ong," National Arts Club event, July 22, 2020.

Mina Roces, "Dress, Status, and Identity in the Philippines: Pineapple Fiber Cloth and Ilustrado Fashion" Fashion Theory 17: 3 (2013), 341-372.

Join the Doc Chat Conversation

Doc Chat episodes take place on Zoom every Thursday at 3:30 PM.  Over the next several months, we are covering a range of topics: visual culture in 19th-century Mexico, Zine-making,  the history of New York City tenements, Russian propaganda posters, and much more.

Check out upcoming episodes on NYPL's calendar,  and make sure you don't miss an episode by signing up for NYPL's Research newsletter, which will include links to register. A video of each episode will be posted on the Research Channel of the NYPL blog shortly after the program. There you can also explore videos and resources for past episodes. See you at the next Doc Chat!