작품 상세

PROPERTY FROM THE ALEX FRIEDER COLLECTION Market Scene signed and dated Manila, 1948 (lower right) oil on canvas 11 1/8" x 15 1/8" (28 cm x 38 cm) PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist by Alex Frieder, who persuaded President Manuel Quezon to create a safe haven for Jews fleeing the Holocaust in Europe. The result was the establishment of the Jewish Refugee Committee of the Philippine Islands in the late 1930s, which was responsible for saving the lives of more than a thousand Jews from Germany and Austria. Private collection, USA When liberation happened in the early months of 1945, the nation was in a frenzy; there was the constant question of whether to survive and push forward to living a hopeless (and godless) life or spiral down along with the whirlwind of destruction. There was an uncanny haze filled with the still resounding remnants of heavy artillery and bombs, the haunting memories of those who tragically lost their lives to the war, the ruins of irreplaceable heritage, and the fears and anxieties of a people who had lost their morals and morale amid the scramble for survival. Everything, and everyone, was in absolute uncertainty. When the war unfortunately struck, painting commissions significantly lessened for Filipino artists, including Fernando Amorsolo. Manila’s crème de la crème, including the Zóbel de Ayalas, the Aranetas, the Vargases, the Madrigals, all of whom were Amorsolo’s top clients at the time, restrained in art collecting, fearing for the uncertainty of their cherished troves amid the impending destruction. Furthermore, the war made scarcity a norm, taking a toll on Amorsolo’s much-needed painting materials. In his landmark monograph on the artist, critic Alfredo Roces details of an incident, in which “art collector Don Luis Araneta recounted how Amorsolo would come to his office with a small landscape and ask, somewhat hesitantly, if he could possibly get P30.00 for the work.” However, for Amorsolo, his brush and paint became his unfailing companions to the precariousness of the war— and became instruments of cathartic healing for the scarred artist. His daughter, Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo, said in a recent interview with Leon Gallery, “Papa said, “There is no single moment that I remember that I don’t want to paint or draw. That was his passion that he kept on [painting and] drawing.” Even amid the violence, Amorsolo kept his art closer than ever, resolute in drawing and painting the horrors his countrymen were all helplessly facing. By the war’s end, Amorsolo labored to regain his life and living. “While Manileños in 1945 were picking up pieces to start life again, Amorsolo parlayed his artistic skill for needed cash and US army goods by doing quick sketches of GIs,” Roces writes in the all-important monograph on the artist. “His quick eye and sure pencil served him through those “honky tonk” days right after the war.” Once again, Amorsolo depicted the peace and idyll of his beloved countryside in his canvas. But this time, it was not anymore in the context of a renewed sense of Filipinismo amid the relentless surge of Americanization and the optimistic anticipation for the peaceful transition into becoming a fully sovereign nation. Amorsolo sought to capture an image of the not-so-distant past as mirrors reflecting that poignant yet tender hope for a new dawn. This petite market scene from 1948, painted just three years after the liberation of the Philippines, encapsulates a hopeful return to normalcy in the face of physical and moral destruction. The market serves as a metaphor for prosperity, its hustle and bustle evoking regaining the elusive path towards progress through the rebuilding of a reinvigorated sense of solidarity in the community. Amorsolo’s favorite sabungero is also remarkably present, symbolizing a people’s resilience, a nation breathing a great sigh of relief after a harrowing ordeal. Notice in the work how Amorsolo intended to position the lighting in the upper left corner of the work for it to cast its luminosity onto the woman in the center, acting as a metaphor for Inang Bayan encapsulating a nation’s shared aspirations for a renaissance, a homecoming to another promising day of life-sustaining pursuits. (Adrian Maranan)