19. PRE-WAR PORTRAITS BY GALVEZ & TECSON

In his preface to the exhibit of portrait paintings entitled “LARAWAN, Immortality & Identity in Filipino Portraiture” at the Ayala Museum in 1989, Jaime Laya wrote: “Portraits are challenges to mortality. The originals may have long become dust, but their likenesses remain—on marble, on canvas, paper, plaster—seeking to remind at least the next few decades after they pass on, that once they were here.

“ Before the advent of photography, the art of portrait painting was practiced by a few artists in the 19th c. like Justiniano Asuncion, Damian Domingo, Antonio Malantic and Simon Flores. Academically-trained artists followed suit, and notable among this group are Lorenzo Guerrero, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo and of course, Juan Luna. Only the affluent and powerful could afford such artworks, considered as trappings of wealth. The subjects sat in his finest clothes for the painter, and he was often painted surrounded by symbols of his accomplishment and status—from silver-tipped canes, silk hankies to ostrich feathered fans and ivory santos on a marble-topped table.

 In-demand portraitists during the American period (1900-45) included Fabian de la Rosa, Miguel Zaragoza, Teodoro Buenaventura, Jorge Pineda and above all, FernandoAmorsolo, whose style would dominate the period.

 Pre-war portraits are hard to come by in the local market; families tend to keep them because of their personal connection with the subject. They are not exactly favorites of collectors either, preferring religious subjects and landscapes over these strange, nameless faces with stiff postures and icy stares. The Ayala exhibit opened many collectors’ eyes to the value of portrait paintings which are part of Philippine art history that began over 250 years ago.

 These two portrait paintings were discovered by chance in the warehouse of an occasional antique dealer whose main preoccupation is buying house parts, architectural details, and sometimes, its entire content, which would invariably include house décors such as paintings. They are significant finds in that they survived the war, saved for some slight scruffs and manageable tears, and they represent the early works of two award-winning Filipino artists who started painting during the American occupation and into the 80s. Whereas one went on to be written about in art books, and with works rising in value, the other remains virtually unknown outside of his province.

 The first painting which I randomly pulled out of a stack of paintings leaning against a wall showed the thin, almost gaunt face of an old grand dame, who, in her 70s, could be anybody’s lola. There, on the lower right had corner was the signature of the artist-- M. Galvez-- only 25 when he completed the painting on 13 September 1937. This portrait can be classified as coming from his Classical period (works from the 1920s-30s) when he painted genres and landscapes with carefully=studied compositions done in  impasto.

The portrait is a sharp departure from his usual landscapes, but nevertheless, the young artist painted in detail, the subject’s most notable features—her wide forehead, her bony cheeks and chinky eyes. Grandma here is forcing a smile, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if with worry. Indeed, one could almost detect a pained expression on her face.

 As realistic as the subject’s expression is the exquisite detail of her dress and accessories, starting with her gold criolla earrings and her gold necklace from which is suspended a small cross with the crucified Christ. Below her slender neck, she wears a seed pearl-encrusted pin to hold her baro in place. But the baro itself is even more amazing—the gossamer translucence of her embroidered baro of piña is captured beautifully with his brush, with four-petalled flowers and viney blue blossoms accenting her butterfly sleeves and panuelo.

The 73 year-old portrait was cleaned and restored, then –re-framed in an appropriate period frame. Galvez would later experiment with abstraction, cubism and expressionism in the 60s, but would later revert to straight realism for which he was always noted for.

******

 The second painting was found hanging at the rear of the warehouse, possibly because the thin, fragile canvas had suffered a V shaped tear on the neck area of the subject, which, fortunately had not affected the face. There were also lots of paint losses, the most major of which was a vertical line that cuts through her shoulder area. The portrait had a painted 3-inch gray border and it came with its original heavy wood narra frame that also had a screwed-on wooden backing.

 Dated 1941, the portrait showed an elegant, robust lady seated on a chair inside her residence that showed the trappings of her wealth—there is a small landscape painting on the wall and an imported vase with gardenias on a plant stand. A heavy red velvet curtain falls on the painting’s left side, framing the lady’s importance.

Her hair in a neat bun, she is posed more casually but with a stare fixed on the painter. She is Filipina in every respect, from her morena complexion, rounder eyes and very full lips. Obviously a family matriarch, she cuts a commanding figure despite the simplicity of her baro’t saya, which consists of a diaphanous, spread-out baro matched with a plain brown saya that falls in drapes on the carpeted floor. Her only piece of jewelry is a plain wedding band on her finger.

 This portrait was signed L. D. Tecson Jr., Cabiao, N.E. , and when I asked the dealer about the provenance, he could only say he rescued the painting from an old house in Cabiao town in Nueva Ecija. It took me awhile to acquire this painting not only because of its damage but also because I did not know the artist. His name did not appear in local art books nor did it show on google search.

Finally, one contemporary art book yielded his name and a short biographical sketch—Lauro Dizon Tecson Jr. was born in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija in 1912—so he must have set up shop in his own neighborhood after his graduating from the University of the Philippines with a Fine Arts degree. Cabiao was a rich and vast farming town that had its share of hacenderos, so this must have been commission from a landed family in the town.

 Little else is known about Tecson, aside from the fact that he won First Prize in one art competition sponsored by the Art Association of the Philippines. His accomplishments have all but been overshadowed by J.D. Castro, his contemporary and fellow Nueva Ecijano who settled and did good business in Baliwag.

In a special way, these women continue to live on through these recovered portrait paintings, providing us with a permanent memory of how they looked while opening a window to their past world for us to witness and see: from their manner of grooming and dressing , their personal taste for adornments, to the social class they belonged in, as well as hints of their wealth and identity. It is simply amazing how one can summon hidden memories and conjure stories just by looking at a face on a canvas. Such is the power of the art of portraiture.

18. SOLD FOR A SONG: TWO ALANO PORTRAITS ON EBAY

I am posting these two Ben Alano (1920-1991) ethnic portraits to prove a point that there are still affordable works that one could find of this painter who belonged to the once-lowly regarded Mabini group of commercial artists.

 This pair of matching ethnic portraits, favorite subjects of many Ermita artists at the height of the Mabini craze for souvenir art, were offered on ebay recently. The pair had a starting bid of $200 (around PhP 9, 200++, or Php4,600 each) and the bidding period was for 5 days.

 Previous Alano canvass paintings on ebay have been selling briskly with ending bids often breaching the $600 mark. His velvet paintings sell much less because the material is hard to keep. Alano prices continue to rise due to a surge in demand, fuelled by a core group of international Filipiniana art enthusiasts that actively deals on ebay.

Inexplicably, Alano paintings available on the market in the Philippines are outrageously priced, the most extreme being priced at half a million for a Filipina nude. It’s no surprise that it’s been on a local buy-and-sell online site for years, unsold and gathering dust. That is why, I have taken to searching on ebay instead, for these fine examples of Filipiniana art.

I kept watch on these paintings which I really like; the fact that they were being sold as a pair enhanced their appeal to me (most of the time, matching paintings are broken up to be sold separately). There were no bids up to the very last day, but then, I knew there were a lot of ebay snipe bidders out there, who wait for the last minute to place their bids. My fingers did not leave the keyboard as the seconds ticked away, and in the dying 10 seconds of the auction, I placed my bid. When the page was refreshed, I had a congratulatory message—I had won the pair of Alano portraits for $200..but the bigger shock was, I was the lone bidder. Now where was every one? Either people were asleep or looking the other away.

I quickly paid my new possessions online, had them shipped to my sister’s U.S. address and contacted the owner to ask about the paintings’ provenance. It turned out, that the ebay seller, a gracious lady named Dolores, had a Filipino-American father-in-law born in the Philippines, who was an avid art collector of this genre. He was proud of his Philippine roots and instilled in his son the same love for his heritage by bringing these paintings to America until he passed away.

 Dolores had been quietly disposing his father’s collection through ebay and I was lucky to have chanced upon the paintings she uploaded last week. She will be glad to know that they are in good hands and they are going home.

 One man’s souvenirs of 58 years ago are now another man’s art treasures.

17. Review: COMFORT WOMEN: Slave of Destiny

Category: Books
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Author: Maria Rosa Henson

Maria Rosa Luna Henson burst into the national consciousness in 1992, when she broke half-a-century's silence to talk about her ordeal as a ‘comfort woman’ in a World War II rape camp.

In April 1943, then 15 year old Rosa was taken by Japanese soldiers and forced to render sexual services to the military. In this moving autobiography, she recalls her childhood as the bastard daughter of a rich Angeles landowner, her wartime experience and her decision to go public with a secret she had kept for 50 years. She wrote her memoirs by hand, often crying as she remembered. ‘Comfort Woman’ is a story of a young woman’s survival, but it is also an account of her extraordinary courage which moves and inspires us all.

Her example encouraged other women to come out with their own stories, belying earlier claims that the Japanese forces did not set up ‘comfort stations’ in the Philippines as they did in Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. Lola Rosa overcame great odds to become a champion of justice for the most secret and silent victims of World War II. Sadly, her personal crusade went unfinished when she died of a heart attack at the Pasay City hospital on the night of August 18, 1997. She was 69. The book was a finalist for Best Biography in the 1997 National Book Awards.

16. HISTORIANS AS CRIME DETECTIVES, by Russel S. Arador

(originally published Jan 23, 2009)

I read with interest an article in this newspaper by a good friend of mine, Tonette Orejas, titled “Kapampangans recover missing saint’s image.” It tells of the theft and quick recovery of a 19th century image of St. John the Apostle.
 
What I found riveting about the story, however, wasn’t the role that modern-day communication technologies played in the success of efforts to locate the missing religious heritage. It was the potential of tapping historians and their encyclopedic knowledge of the past to solve common crimes, whether committed today or a long time ago.

Among those who figured in the heart-pounding search for and rescue of the image of St. John of Apostle was Dr. Lino L. Dizon, director of the Tarlac State University’s Center for TarlaqueHo Studies. Although Prof. Dizon’s part in the detective work did not go beyond forwarding an S.O.S. email to book author and fellow Kapampangan Alex Castro (who did a search of his own) I believe he was able to make a simple but crucial decision of alerting somebody who could do something because of his work as a historian.

 Knowing the right people who have the capability and the predisposition to help is a matter of training. For this reason alone, I can say that historians can work wonders in solving crime puzzles. However, I must admit there’s more to detective work than information dissemination. Crime investigation entails knowledge of people, places, events and documents, past or present, living or dead, printed or displayed on an LCD screen.

In these things, again, I dare say historians like Prof. Dizon have solid grounding, thus suited for detective work. For example, according to Prof. Dizon, one can easily find out how certain landed families were able to acquire their vast tracts of land. And don’t be surprised if in the closet of one or two of these families you will discover the skeleton of a former revolutionary leader who fought in the Philippine revolution against Spain and the subsequent Filipino-American War.

Using a simple framework, Prof. Dizon clues us in on the secret: During the Spanish period, land titling wasn’t a serious thing. Infact, there was virtually no system of land registration to speak of. It was only upon the coming of the Americans—who introduced the Torrens System—that lands began to be registered for the purpose of real estate ownership.

Now, who do you think trooped to the Registers of Deeds to register lands, not necessarily their own? The moneyed class, the educated class and the revolutionary leaders, many of whom were both moneyed and educated, Prof. Dizon said. How about the poor and illiterate peasants in the barrios? They didn’t even know what was happening.

Prof. Dizon also speculates on the possibility of revolutionary leaders being allowed by the American government to own large tracts of lands in exchange for giving up the fight and laying down their arms. Thus, not only can historians reconstruct the past, but they can also reconstruct the past to detect crimes. Landgrabbing, for example.