Joya, KiuKoK and Bonifacio letters in leon Gallery auction
Buoyed by its string of successes last year (the most expensive Ang Kiukok ever to have been sold on the auction block; the Jose Rizal letters; the record prices for both modern and contemporary art pieces), Leon Gallery is expected to pull off major feats in its Asian Cultural Council (ACC) Art Auction happening on March 3 (Saturday, 2 p.m.). In the week that appears to be the most important in the art calendar, the auction house has prepared 150 lots that range from fine furniture to paintings to the letters of Andres Bonifacio, which have created buzz lately for their historical significance, with one congressman beseeching the Philippine government to procure them on behalf of the nation.
Addressed to Emilio Jacinto, these letters, along with an official document and an envelope, all bearing Bonifacio’s confident handwriting and/or seal, were once owned by Epifanio delos Santos, after whom the EDSA was named. They were written after the Tejeros Convention, which shifted the center of power from Bonifacio to Emilio Aguinaldo, thereby irrevocably changing the destiny of the nation forever. Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, who curates the auction, states that these letters “would be the last communications from Andres Bonifacio before he would be killed on May 10, 1897, revealing his mindset and providing important information on his last days and the brotherhood of Katipunan that he had founded with blood, sweat, and tears.”
With these documents, Leon Gallery has established itself as the leader not only in the auction of fine art pieces and antiques, but also of historical memorabilia. Certainly, the value of these documents transcends the monetary( each Bonifacio document has a starting bid of half a million pesos), but it’s affirming to note that people are willing to shell out good money, as they would for modernist paintings, to become the next custodians of these rare, historical records. Hopefully, more documents, especially those penned by the movers and shakers in our history which have yet to be seen by the public, surface in the coming months, if only for us to have a better appreciation of the fact that consensus of the past is an unsettled terrain and may shift significantly by the appearance of a letter or a diary.
Another showstopper of the ACC auction is Jose Joya’s “Space Transfiguration,” which has never left the family. Painted in 1959 when the would-be National Artist was all of 29 years old, the painting is a complex orchestra of coruscating fields of color, ranging from large swathes of white to pockets of vermillion, accomplished through calligraphic gestures and furious overlapping brushstrokes, underscoring not only depth, but atmosphere, a state feeling. With a starting bid of P22 million, the most “talked and written about, iconized, and celebrated” work of Joya, “the one he refused to part with,” is also one of his biggest, measuring at 60 by 70 inches. According to Josie Baldovino, Joya’s sister, the work could not be included in the 1962 Venice Biennale as it could not pass through the airplane’s doors.
Another large work, at 46 by 66.5 inches, is Danilo “Danny” Dalena’s “Alibangbang Series,” which has an initial bid of P1.2 million. Said to be a fierce contender for the honor of the National Artist, the artist painted five men collectively relieving themselves against the dirty tiles of a bar restroom, any sense of privacy all but jettisoned. Despite the presence of an exhaust fan, the scene is redolent with the eye-watering sting and stench of urine — something that is familiar to anyone who has to brave such a place, located anywhere from bus stations to derelict bars. The communality of the act gives the men a brief, temporary sense of solidarity, before they break off to continue on their individual journeys and rejoin their respective lives. Other significant works on offer are Anita Magsaysay Ho’s
“Tahip” (with a starting bid of P18 million) and “Harvest” (P4 million), Vicente Manansala’s “Tres Marias” (P16 million), Ang Kiukok’s “Scream” (P10 million) and “Fish” (P8 million), H.R. Ocampo’s “Fertile Valley” (P9 million), Fernando Zobel’s “Virevia II” (P8 million), BenCab’s “Sabel” (P3.8 million) Fernando Amorsolo’s “Noonday Meal” (P3.4 million), Arturo Luz’s “Venezia” (P3 million), Mauro Malang Santos’ “Flower Vendor” (P3 million), and Alfonso Ossorio’s Abstract (P2 million), and Untitled (P2 million). Among the works of living contemporary artists, Annie Cabigting’s “Black” (After Ad Reinhardt at the MoMA) has the highest starting bid at P3 million. This work is one of her ongoing series of people looking at paintings, a selection of which will be exhibited in the show, Museum Watching, at Finale Art File opening on March 1.
As its title suggests, the auction is in partnership with theAsian Cultural Council “to raise funds in support of giving grants to Filipino artists in the pursuit of excellence through exposure and study abroad,” say Jaime Ponce de Leon, director of Leon Gallery. “The benefit of the ACC grants to culture and to the country’s life of the imagination is inestimable. Joya, for instance, was himself an ACC grantee. Through this auction, Leon Gallery is honored to take part in shaping the next generation of artists who, through their inspired works, will essay our collective identity.”
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With these documents, Leon Gallery has established itself as the leader not only in the auction of fine art pieces and antiques, but also of historical memorabilia.