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.