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.
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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.
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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.
