{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":57466,"auction_id":116,"set_id":150,"lot_number":"40","artist":"Vicente Manansala (1910 - 1981)","title":"Family","starting_price":18000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1975 (upper left)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"41\" x 36\" (104 cm x 91 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Artist's personal collection<br>Acquired directly from the artist","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Even though Vicente Manansala had already lived a simple yet comfortable life, thanks to his many avid collectors who would buy his works in the blink of an eye, either before the paintings had been finished (many of them would purchase the paintings even before they had dried or been stretched to a canvas) or before an exhibition would be opened. These collectors—several of them eventually became close friends with Mang Enteng—would often visit the maestro in the Manansala family home in the lakeside town of Binangonan, greeted by the warm smiles of the Manansala couple and the best part of it all, the chance to acquire a painting from the most in-demand painter of their time.<br><br>An interesting footnote to Manansala's life is that he kept some paintings in his and his wife's bedroom. Hidden under the couple's bed, these paintings were the works Manansala kept for himself, several of them his favorites. One such painting is this work titled Family.<br><br>According to the current owner of the painting, who wished to be anonymous, Manansala said this particular work is his version of the Holy Family. The work was acquired by the current owner's mother, who once worked as a writer for The Manila Times under Chino Roces.<br><br>Manansala and the owner's mother had been friends since after the war, as they both worked under the Roces media empire (Manansala was once a staff artist for The Evening News).<br><br>Family was acquired by the owner's mother together with the painting From the Market, which was Manansala's favorite work and was recently auctioned by Leon Gallery in June this year. Both works were hidden under the Manansala couple's bed, paintings that the maestro created for his self-gratification. The current owner and his mother went together to the Manansala residence in Binangonan on a bright day in 1975 at the request of the latter's very good friend, modernist matriarch Purita Kalaw-Ledesma.<br><br>The owner recalled in an interview with Leon Gallery, \"My mama was fascinated with this tall painting after Mang Enteng said that this was his version of a Filipino Holy Family.\"<br><br>In Family, Manansala assimilates both the sacred and the secular. While Transparent Cubism liberated Vicente Manansala from his Botong-like sensibilities in style and form (he was a self-confessed fan very much influenced by the Angono master's genius), it did not, however, alienate him from nor fragment his identity as a proletarian and folk painter, carrying that Botong influence of elevating the native and the secular until the end.<br><br>Family forms part of Manansala's Chromatic Series, which Rod. Paras-Perez notes in his book on the artist titled Manansala, as dominated by \"atmospheric colors and the continued use of the figure type.\" In the work at hand, Manansala uses color to bring out an inherent symbolism, an \"easter egg\" in pop culture terms.<br><br>We see in this painting a montage of Manansala's favorite subjects: the sabungero (cockfighter) and his cherished tandang (rooster), the female maglalako (vendor) carrying her baby as she wanders the busy streets to earn a living. A third image, that of a young girl in red, is used as an interesting device.<br><br>In line with Manansala's aim to portray this work as his Filipino version of the Holy Family, the artist used the colors of the Philippine flag to emphasize the painting's native aspect. Blues and reds are interspersed across the composition, especially evident in the background and the vendor's saya (skirt). The rooster, with its glowing golden color, highlights Manansala's love of sabong (cockfighting). Manansala had been an avid sabungero since his youth, with his father castigating him after he discovered his son's \"stable of seven fighting cocks” after he graduated from the UP School of Fine Arts in 1930.<br><br>The golden rooster also alludes to the golden yellows of the sun and the three stars and resonates even more profoundly when taken into another historical context: cockfighting as an age-old Filipino pastime that has been in existence by the time Ferdinand Magellan arrived on our shores in 1521 and recorded by the expedition's official chronicle, Antonio Pigafetta. The rooster becomes a symbol of a collective pride and deep sensibility rooted in the indigenous.<br><br>The deep reds that are particularly highlighted in the young girl's clothing stand out in the composition, representing the vigor and potential of the youth, to whom Manansala once expressed lament for their lack of delicadeza and palabra de honor. \"Walang asin [no salt] and kulang sa timpla [lacking in ingredients],\" Manansala said in a December 1977 interview for People magazine.<br><br>The People article mentioned that \"Manansala insists children should be molded by parents.\" \"Let them lose [sic], and what will happen to them?\" Manansala asked. \"Can you imagine what will happen to a child that wasn’t given any direction?\"<br><br>\"Where else but among the young can we expect hope for the future?\" Manansala expressed in the same interview with dismay, but still with a touch of optimism.<br><br>The overall composition of Family is both solemn and exuberant. Even though colors are applied in an off-beat manner, this may be intentional. As colors cascade through each other, Manansala achieves a striking tension that highlights the country's fundamental identity: a nation of distinct cultures and identities yet unified by the continuing struggle of reclaiming our hopes and dreams, our dignity and rightful place in society. Using one of the most popular subjects in Catholic iconography, Manansala elevates the Filipino masses into hallowed spheres, worthy of honor for being the very backbone of society.<br><br>By identifying the color red with the young lady, Manansala pins his hopes on the youth (especially in this age of social media and A.I. powered convenience at the expense of real learning and critical thinking), that they may regain their sense of enlightenment and responsibility in advancing the ideals that watered the seeds of our nation—a reminder of continuing perseverance towards a bona fide progress that is inclusive of all, particularly the Filipino masses that Manansala had always exalted in his art.","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":20000000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":20000000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":24032000,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":61952,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/40.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":62439,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/40f.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62438,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/40e.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62437,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/40d.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62436,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/40c.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62435,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/40b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":62434,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/116/150/lot/40a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[],"prev":39,"next":41,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}