Dedication St. Joseph the Worker Functional status active Architectural type Chapel | Denomination Catholic Dedicated 1950 Architect Antonin Raymond | |
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Similar The Ruins, Mount Apo, Seagram Building, Villa Savoye, Borgata | ||
The St. Joseph the Worker Chapel, commonly known as the Angry Christ Church, in Victorias, Philippines, is a Roman Catholic chapel located inside the Victorias Milling Company residential complex, in Victorias, Negros Occidental, Philippines. It considered the first example of modern sacral architecture in the Philippines. It is dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker.
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The church was designed by the Czech architect Antonín Raymond, himself already recognized as the founder of modern architecture in Japan. The church was declared Important Cultural Property of the Philippines in December 2015.
The church is also known for its modern altar painting of so-called "Angry Christ" painted in vivid colors by Alfonso Ossorio, Filipino-American abstract expressionist artist.
History
It was built between 1948-50 by the Ossorio family thus it is sometimes called the Ossorio Chapel. The Ossorios originally planned to offer the job to the then young Filipino architect Leandro Locsin, but later changed their mind and selected then-already internationally acclaimed Antonín Raymond, who had designed buildings in the United States, Japan, India, Indonesia. and many other Asian countries. It is said that this event caused Locsin to change his style to more modern concrete architecture, which actually made him famous later.
Art in the church
The mural inside the church, commonly called “The Angry Christ”, is by Philippine-born Alfonso Ossorio, friend of the famous Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still. Mosaics are by the Belgian Adelaide de Bethune. The materials and talents were provided by the local artists Arcadio Anore and Benjamin Valenciano. Arcadio Anore executed Bethune's designs for the brass plates in the pulpit and baptistery while Benjamin Valenciano did the wooden image sculptures inside the church including the images for the Stations of the Cross. Their works were recognized by the Philippine religious arts for introducing a "Filipinized" version of religious themes depicting Mary, Joseph and the characters in the Fourteen Stations of the Cross to have brown skin in traditional Filipino attire.