This is about the Romulo family's two missing Amorsolo paintings. My late father - Roberto Romulo - actually wrote about one of them in The Philippine Star in 2009. His version of what happened follows here:
"In 1947 when my father, General Carlos P. Romulo (then Permanent Representative to the United Nations), returned to the US from a Manila visit, he brought back with him three paintings by Fernando Amorsolo. Two were portraits of my mother and himself, and the third was a painting of the famous landing in Leyte of General Douglas MacArthur in October 1944 that commenced the liberation of the Philippines. The American general was accompanied by President Sergio Osmeña and others, including my father, who was then the aide de camp of General MacArthur.
MacArthur’s “I Have Returned!” Speech
Fernando Amorsolo, Leyte Landing, 1950 (missing since 1982)
Fernando Amorsolo, Doña Maria Peña Viuda de Romulo, 1940(?) (missing)
Fernando Amorsolo, Carlos P. Romulo, 1950
Through the years, those three paintings were always prominently placed in the homes we lived in, wherever my father was assigned. When he returned to Manila to assume the position of president of the University of the Philippines, the paintings were permanently placed in Kasiyahan, our Forbes Park residence."
The Romulos in (?), Leyte Landing can partially be seen in the back left wall
"Sometime in the early eighties, when former first lady Mrs. Imelda Marcos arranged to have a Filipiniana exhibit in the New York store of Bloomingdales, she borrowed the painting from my father. After several months, I vaguely remember that my father and stepmother Beth Day Romulo tried to locate it but to no avail. Almost three decades have now passed and my daughter Liana, who is in charge of CPR memorabilia, retrieved a photo of the Romulo family with the Leyte landing painting in Washington D.C. She has been trying to locate the painting by asking friends and DFA personnel in the United States if they have seen it."
Imelda Marcos at Bloomingdales, 1982
The Filipiniana exhibit that my father refers to above took place in the Spring of 1982, and was entitled “The Philippines, Land of Friends.” It showcased a collection of Imelda Marcos's state gowns (on special mannequins made to resemble her) as well as furniture and handicrafts ... and President Marcos's 32 wartime medals and two of my Lolo's medals (also still missing).
The New York Times reported that the "promotional display" launched on April 14, 1982, with a gala attended by Imelda Marcos, while Filipino demonstrators "hanged her in effigy outside the New York department store." One protester shouted out that Imelda was ''another Marie Antoinette.''
Malacanang's "Official Gazette," online, says that the Marcoses went to the Fair on Sept. 26 as part of their official state visit to the US, where President Marcos met with President Reagan. Marcos gave a speech at the Fair.
"Besides U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan—who came separately, several months apart--there were Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. The 65-year-old president of the Philippines, extremely controversial for several reasons, Marcos was in the U.S. for medical treatment, as his glamourous and famously extravagant 53-year-old wife, Imelda, often filled in for her husband. The two of them visited the fair together, including the proud Philippines pavilion; Imelda also visited by herself."
As I said to you on the phone, the painting went missing after Bloomingdale's released it to the Philippine Tourism office.
My grandfather, General Romulo, and his second wife, Mrs. Beth Day Romulo, tried to recover the painting just before his death. Three years had already gone by -- and Lolo was really sick -- so for him to think of it at all indicates just how dear it was to him. See attached 3 letters dated August 1985. (He died in December 1985.) According to the letters, the exhibit left New York and went to the Knoxville World's Fair, which ran from May through October 1982. I also read that the exhibit went to Washington, DC; but this still needs to be fact-checked.
I am sure we can find photos of the Philippine Pavilion and the painting-of-interest. But for now I am attaching four photos (plus the pdf) to this email:
the Leyte Landing painting
the same painting hanging in the family home (1947 or 1948). The family is in the foreground. We can get a sense of the painting's size from this photo.
the Amorsolo portrait of Maria Pena, General Romulo's mother, which was probably destroyed in the war
Imelda at the Bloomingdale's exhibit
“We would like to retrieve the painting because of its sentimental and historic value. It properly belongs with the other CPR memorabilia. The Romulo family would be most grateful to anyone who could give us information where we can find it in the United States or the Philippines.”
Now you know the whole long story if ever you come across the painting. Either painting, actually. As my father wrote, "We would like to retrieve the painting because of its sentimental and historic value. It properly belongs with the other CPR memorabilia. The Romulo family would be most grateful to anyone who could give us information where we can find it in the United States or the Philippines."
KEY DATES:
1940 - Latest possible date for CPR's mom's original Amorsolo portrait. It might have been painted before 1940.
October 20, 1944 - the Leyte Landing
October 27, 1946 - After arduously searching for a house to buy (1946 was the year of a national housing emergency in the US), the Romulo Family finally moved into 3422 Garfield Street, Washington, DC.
April 14, 1982 - opening of the Bloomingdale's exhibit
May 1 to October 31, 1982 - Knoxville World’s Fair