{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":9642,"auction_id":10,"set_id":17,"lot_number":"962","artist":"Ramon Martinez (1869 - 1950)","title":"Set of Six Reliefs","starting_price":120000,"signed_dated":"signed (lower left and lower right) each ca. 1900s","medium":"oil on bas relief carved wood","size":"8” x 6” (20 cm x 15 cm) each","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Little information has been written and published about the life and career of painter and sculptor Ramon Martínez. He enrolled at the famed Escuela de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, which was known as the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura, before it was renamed in 1889. There, Martínez was likely mentored by the renowned Lorenzo Guerrero, who also honed Luna, Hidalgo, Zaragoza, and De la Rosa. Martínez completed his studies at the Escuela in 1898.
Martínez was among the frequent visitors of Guerrero’s house, receiving advice and encouragement from his maestro. Guerrero was the first Filipino painter to specialize in genre subjects. Luciano Santiago writes: “Guerrero translated Western aesthetics to the Philippine setting without allowing it to dominate the real life of the tropical archipelago.”
Guerrero’s influence on Martínez’s art is discernible in this set of six reliefs depicting countryside scenes. Although Western Academism prevailed during his time, Martínez, like his mentor, refused to kowtow to the rigidity in style and technique of the academic tradition. Worth mentioning is that Martínez’s creative flair flourished concurrently with the advent of the “autochthonous tradition,” a term coined by E. Aguilar Cruz referring to the indigenous way of painting that started in the 1850s, peaked in the 1920s, and declined in the 1940s.
Choosing to deviate his works from the grandiose and elaborateness of academic art, Martínez modestly depicts the simplicity and innocence of everyday rural living: a man riding a carabao cart loaded with fresh produce; women washing clothes by the pristine river; natives having lunch outside a kubo; a dalaga carrying a banga on her head; and a man transporting buckets filled with water. The subjects’ physical features devoid of Western notions add a striking layer of attachment and acquaintance with our native sensibility. Most importantly, Martínez’s subtle distortion of his subjects and application of subdued colors and lighting unveil an early indication of the gradual transition to Modernism. (A.M.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Ramon Martinez (1869 - 1950) Set of Six Reliefs signed (lower left and lower right) each ca. 1900s oil on bas relief carved wood 8” x 6” (20 cm x 15 cm) each