JAIME PONCE DE LEON

DIRECTOR, LEÓN GALLERY

Jaime Ponce de Leon’s interest in arts and antiques was born long before the founding of León Gallery. Having started as an interior designer, he always considered art the “soul of any setting” and the focal point in his designs.

After earning a degree from Silliman University in Dumaguete, he took a design course at the Philippine School of Interior Design. In 2010, he pivoted to an art dealership and opened León Gallery. He initially sold works by Filipino masters, alongside fine antiques, silver and other things he found during his travels abroad. After that, Ponce de Leon debuted his first auction.

He has been breaking auction records since, with the sale of works by masters and established artists including upcoming modern contemporary artists, such as HR Ocampo, Romulo Galicano, Pacita Abad and Jose John Santos III. He built a reputation by working with a small pool of experts in art history, curatorial studies and criticism.

In 2023, Ponce de Leon made his most significant contribution to the local arts and culture scene when he released Juan Luna’s long-lost work Hymen, oh Hyménée (1886), a piece he recovered in 2014. The 125 x 250.5 cm oil-on-canvas had been missing for 132 years and is believed to be dedicated to Luna’s wife, Paz Pardo de Tavera.

Hymen, oh Hyménée depicts a Roman wedding in Pompeii, one of the places Luna visited during his sojourn in Rome. “The scene shows various bridesmaids, guests and sundry folk...Swift, proficient brushstrokes and thick impasto conjured the spacious hall with the bridal party, flower-strewn marble floors, incense wafting against the deep red walls. The impressionistic execution of pictorial space combined with the casual atmosphere appeared fresh and modern and appealed in Paris at the turning point of a new century,” says Ponce de Leon.