USC Press launches book on Visayan painter Martino A. Abellana
T he Un i - versity of San Carlos Press is the official publisher of academic books and scholarly journals of the University of San Carlos, considered one of the oldest universities in Asia. It was founded in 1963 by the German ethnologist Fr. Rudolf Rahman, the last SVD confrere to occupy the position of USC Rector.
Over time a number of books were published starting with An Archaeological Picture of a Pre-Spanish Cebuano Community by Karl Hutterer in 1973. In 2005, the first coffee-table book, University of San Carlos, A Commemorative History, was produced as a celebratory volume followed five years later with a second coffee-table book, Celebrating Milestones, to mark the 75th anniversary of the SVD administration of USC.
Upon the recommendation of business manager Dr. Jose Eleazar
Bersales, the publication was renamed University of San Carlos Press to ensure its recognition as a university-based academic publishing house.
At the Capiz Ballroom of the Cebu Country Club recently, the USC Press formally launched another coffeetable book entitled Kamingaw, an impressionist portrait of the Bisaya painter Martino A. Abellana. Written by Raymund Fernandez,
Kamingaw narrates the life and times, the art and influence of an artist fond-
ly called “Noy Tinong,” whose initial artistry and evolving aesthetic would take shape under the mentoring of masters such as Fernando Amorsolo and Guillermo Tolentino.
Kamingaw is a comprehensive showcase of Abellana’s works and is a fitting tribute to the legend who paved the way for the development of Cebuano art. Together with his friend Professor Julian
Jumalon, he helped found the Fine Arts program of the University of the Philippines College Cebu, where the likes of Raymund Fernandez, Celso
Pepito, and Mar Vidal along with other Cebuano painters passionately learned from the “Amorsolo of the South.”