{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":18,"auction_id":1,"set_id":1,"lot_number":"152","artist":"Benedicto Cabrera (b. 1942)","title":"Larawan Series","starting_price":10000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1994 (lower right)","medium":"acrylic on canvas","size":"48\" x 40\" (122 cm x 102 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Acquired from the Cemex Philippines Foundation\nAuction in 2005 for the benefit of Philippine schools\nand students","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"The Larawan Series is highly celebrated and acclaimed as the quintessential Benedicto Cabrera. Here, Bencab has found his trademark—and legacy. It also signaled his artistic coming of age and creative maturation. His inaugural exhibition of the first iteration of the Larawan in 1972 at The Luz Gallery earned Bencab critical praises and rousing success. It gave him his distinct identity marked by his seamless wedding of social commentary and nostalgia and bridging the link between the past and present, between the colonized indio and the continuing struggles of the modernday Filipino. For this, the eminent art critic Alice Guillermo christened Bencab as a precursor of social realism.<br /><br />Fast forward to almost two decades later, Bencab, in the 1990s, was an artist worthy of higher recognition. In 1992, Bencab was conferred the Gawad CCP para sa Sining (CCP Awards for the Arts), the highest award given by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, for “his paintings and prints, which offer valuable insights into the Filipinos’ past and present and which exemplify innovative techniques and the highest artistry; and for his leadership in artists’ organizations.” The 1990s was also a decade of heightened international exposure for Bencab, participating in various exhibitions, such as in Indonesia (1992), Singapore (1993), New York (1994), and Tokyo (1995).<br /><br />Amid a shower of acclaim, Bencab’s Larawan endured as the artist’s jewel in his own crown, paying homage and celebrating the series that first gave him serious recognition.<br /><br />An offshoot of the Larawan Series, this 1994 painting from Bencab’s prolific decade depicts four native ladies—three women and one little girl—dressed in their traditional everyday attire of the baro’t saya. The facial expressions of the woman vary, with the woman on the far left radiating sheer delight and high-spiritedness and the other on the far right expressing solemn dignity. Overall, their disposition exudes a resounding expression of their valiant femininity amid a period that encouraged women to be subservient and passive.<br /><br />Huddled together closely, Bencab seemingly alludes to the collective aspiration of the Filipinas in their path to genuine emancipation in two different centuries: the 19th and 20th centuries (Bencab's milieu).<br /><br />Take for instance the successful 1816 strike or alboroto led by the cigarerras (women tobacco workers) of Manila due to low wages, verbal and sexual harassment (by the maestra or female lead worker), and usury, among others.<br /><br />Another shining example were the Young Women of Malolos, whom Jose Rizal addressed in his famous 1889 “Letter to the Young Women of Malolos.” In that interesting episode in Filipina “her-story,” twenty daughters from the principalia class of Malolos successfully petitioned Governor-General Valeriano Weyler to permit them in their plans to open a night school where they could properly study Spanish, for they believed that it was the everyday language used in high-browed discourses, especially in the socio-political arena. For them, learning Spanish is the way to become an erudite person.<br /><br />The Filipina would also figure prominently in the Philippine Revolution, with key figures led by Gregoria de Jesus, Teresa Magbanua, Gen. Agueda Kahabagan, Trinidad Tecson, and Melchora Aquino. Women would also participate in the struggle against the Japanese during World War II, with Remedios Gomez-Paraiso, popularly known as Kumander Liwayway, becoming a commander for the HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon). She even became famous for her trademark red lipstick while engaging in fierce battle. Felipe Culala, known as Kumander DayangDayang, was also a woman protagonist in the resistance movement against the Japanese. She headed one of the earliest guerilla forces in 1942 as part of the HUKBALAHAP.<br /><br />The Asociación Feminista Ilonga, headed by journalist Pura Villanueva-Kalaw, led the fight for the right of women to suffrage. In 1937, more than 400,000 women voted “yes” to a plebiscite calling for the legalization of women’s suffrage (only 300,000 “yes” votes were required). For the first time, the Filipina women possessed the right and privilege of choosing their leaders.<br /><br />Women would again figure prominently in the resistance against the dictatorship. This valiant group included Maria Lorena Barros, founder of the militant women’s organization Malayang Kilusan ng Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA); Liliosa Hilao, activist-writer and the first political prisoner to die in detention during martial rule; and Maita Gomez, the beauty queen-turned-activist founder of the Metro Manila chapter of GABRIELA The 20th century also saw the rise of women’s progressive and grassroots organizations, such as the MAKIBAKA, founded in April 1970 and advanced the fight for national democracy and liberation from neocolonialism amid the looming martial rule. Fourteen years later, in the intensifying resistance against the dictatorship, the GABRIELA Alliance of Women was founded.<br /><br />In this evocative Larawan work, Bencab preserves our connection with our valiant female ancestors who rose in the collective struggle in different eras in history. It is a reminder of our shared identity as lovers of and fighters for freedom— an august declaration of our continuing resistance and relentless affirmation of our nationhood against the ruthless yoke of modern-day societal ills. The work at hand reminds us that the liberation of one oppressed class, such as the women, could only be achieved through the radical emancipation of the broad range of the oppressed Filipino masses from the shackles of an oppressive system propagated by those in power. (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":"bencab","hp":12000000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":12000000,"userBid":5930,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":14419200,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":175,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/1/1/lot/152.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":151,"next":153,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}