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Purissima Helena Benitez-Johannot

Professorial Lecturer

art history: Africa, Southeast Asia, Oceania / Modern (19th cen European) & Contemporary

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Purissima (Petty) Benitez-Johannot received a Bachelor of Arts degree in the Humanities from the University of the Philippines and two Masters of Arts degrees in the History of Art from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University and the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. For over forty years, she had worked in a variety of curatorial and administrative positions at the Museum of Philippine Art and Ayala Museum in Manila, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Center (now Museum) for African Art, Independent Curators Incorporated, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, where she served as Assistant Director for Education. She was the first English edition editor of Arts & Cultures magazine (on antiquities and the arts of Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas) in 2000 and worked at the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva as Curator until 2007. She has authored and edited publications on the arts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Philippines. She received the National Book Award for Best Art Book of the Year (The Life and Times of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, Vibal Foundation, 2017). She was President of Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. 2010-2013 and is currently a trustee on the boards of Unlad Development Resources, Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation, Lopezes of Balayan Foundation, Benitez-Tirona MiraNila Foundation, and UP College of Arts & Letters Foundation. Since 2009, she has served as Professorial Lecturer II in the Department of Art Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman, and since 2018, has been archivist/curator of the MiraNila Heritage House and Library.

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Books Authored / Edited

Benitez-Johannot, Purissima, ed. Forthcoming. Arts of the Philippines. Quezon City: Vibal Foundation, Inc.

______, ed. 2017. Fujian Ware Found in the Philippines during the Song and Yuan Period, 11th-14th Century. Makati: Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines.

_____, ed. 2017. The Life and Times of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma. Quezon City & Makati: Vibal Foundation, Inc. & Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation, Inc. National Book Award, Best Art Book of the Year (2017).

_____, ed. 2012. The Life and Art of David Medalla. Quezon City: Vibal Foundation, Inc.

_____, ed. 2011. Paths of Origins: The Austronesian Heritage in the Collections of the National Museum of the Philippines, the Museum Nasional Indonesia, and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde. Manila; Singapore: ArtPostAsia.

_____, ed. 2009. Unfolding Half a Century: The Lopez Memorial Museum and Library. Singapore; Manila: ArtPostAsia; Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Inc.

_____, ed. 2003. Sièges d’Afrique Noire du musée Barbier-Mueller. Milan: 5 Continents; English ed. Forthcoming. Seats of Power: African Thrones, Stools, and Chairs from the Barbier-Mueller Museum.

Benitez-Johannot, Purissima and Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller. 1998. Boucliers d’Afrique, d’Asie du Sud-Est et d’Océanie du musée Barbier-Mueller. Paris: Editions Adam Biro, 1998. English ed. Shields from Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania from the Barbier-Mueller Museum. London, New York, Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1999.


Recent Articles in Journals, Chapters in Books

Benitez-Johannot, Purissima. 2022. “Le Pouvoir d’Action de la Statuarie Bullul” (Empowering Bullul Statuary) p. 106-110 in Collection Béatrice and Patrick Caput Paris 20 October 2022. Paris: Christie’s.

_____, 2022. “David Medalla: Inventing Spaces in Which to Create and Thrive” p. 78-116 in David Medalla Parables of Friendship. Bonn: Bonner Kunstverein & Bolzano, Italy: Museion Bolzano.

_____, 2019. “Site of Commerce and Authenticity: A Kalasag Shield from the Kalinga of Northern Luzon” in Arts & Cultures. 2019 issue (Geneva: Fondation Barbier-Mueller).

_____, 2018. [Chapter on pre-history, articles on the balanghai, Banton burial shroud, bubble machines, David Medalla, Calatagan jars, jade lingling-o, Maitum jar, Malacaňang Palace collections, Oton gold death mask, portrait of Fernando Zobel]. CCP Encyclopaedia. Manila: Cultural Center of the Philippines.

_______, 2017. “South China Sea before the Age of Commerce.” Pp. 206-211 in Fujian Ware Found in the Philippines during the Song and Yuan Period, 11th-14th Century. Ed. P. Benitez-Johannot Makati: Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines.

_____. 2015. Foreword. Fashionable Filipinas: An Evolution of the Philippine National Dress in Photographs 1860-1960. Manila: Bench, Inc.

______. 2013. “Des signes sur le sable : D’anciennes stèles funéraires et les Sama Dilaut de Tawi-Tawi” in Philippine Archipel des Echanges. Ed. Corazon Alvin & Constance de Monbrison. Paris: Reunion des Musées Nationaux, musée du Quai Branly, 2013, pp. 158-163; English ed. “Markers of the Past and the Sama Dilaut of Tawi-Tawi” in Philippine Archipelago of Exchange, p. 158-163.

_____. 2012. “Origins: Medalla in the Fifties” and “A Narrative of Differentiation: Medalla from the Sixties to the Eighties” in The Life and Art of David Medalla. Ed. P. Benitez-Johannot. Manila: Vibal Foundation.

______. 2011. “Finding Ourselves in Southeast Asia” in Paths of Origins: The Austronesian Heirtage in the National Museum of the Philippines, the Museum Nasional Indonesia, and the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde. Ed. Purissima Benitez-Johannot. Manila; Singapore: ArtPostAsia.

_____. 2010. “Making Art and History Matter: The Lopez Memorial Museum at Fifty” in Arts of Asia Magazine. May issue. (Hong Kong: Arts of Asia Publishing).

_____. 2009. “Grave Goods, Trade Goods, and Other Aspects of the Philippine Story.” Pp. 19-29 in Land of the Morning: The Philippines and Its People. Ed. David Henkel. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum.

_____. 2008. “Amorsolo’s Women: Concealed and Revealed.” Pp. 18-53 in Fernando Amorsolo: His Art, Our Heart. Manila: ArtPostAsia.

_____. 2007. “Weavers of Dreams: Art from the T’boli of Southwestern Mindanao, Philippines.” In Arts & Cultures 8 (Paris: Somogy), pp. 238-257.

_____. 2005. “Death and Rebirth in Venice: Gravemarkers from the Southern Philippines.” In Arts & Culures 6 (Paris: Somogy), pp. 184-211.

_____. 2002. “The Bagobo Revisited: Historical and Personal Perspectives on the Bagobo of Southern Mindanao, Philippines.” In Arts & Cultures 3 (Paris: Edition Adam Biro), pp. 176-197.

_____. 2002. “Focus on David Cortez Medalla: Hedonist in a State of Grace.” In Pananaw 4 (Philippine Journal of Visual Arts; Manila: National Commission on Culture and the Arts).

______. 2001. “Art, Artifact, or Polemic? Entangled Objects on Display.” In Arts & Cultures 2 (Paris: Vilo Publishing; Edition Adam Biro), pp. 25-30.

_____. 2001. “Sculpture Ifugao: Figure de bulul assis tenant une coupe.” Sculptures Afrique, Asie, Océanie, Amériques. Paris: Reunion des Musées Nationaux, musée du Quai Branly, 2000, pp. 237-243; English ed. “Ifugao Sculpture: Sitting Bulul Figure Holding a Bowl.” Sculptures: Africa, Asia, Oceania, Americas.

_____. 2000. “The Oldest Dated Bulul: Witness to Ifugao Prehistory.” In Arts & Cultures 1 (Paris: Vilo Publishing; Edition Adam Biro), pp. 94-110.

_____. 1998. “From the Profane to the Sacred and Beyond: A Trobriand Decorated War Shield.” In Art Tribal (Geneva: Barbier-Mueller Museum), pp. 3-15.

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