{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":14645,"auction_id":14,"set_id":26,"lot_number":"52","artist":"Betsy Westendorp (1927 - 2022)","title":"Untitled","starting_price":7000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1986 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"81 1/2\" x 131\" (207 cm x 333 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM THE DOÑA NENE QUIMSON COLLECTION","coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"The flowers in Betsy Westendorp’s works are seemingly in eternal blossom, signifying the artistic freedom the artist had found in the delight of painting such subjects. In her interview with art critic Cid Reyes, Westendorp had this to say about her passion for flowers: “Before, whenever I would receive some flowers—like carnations or roses—I would paint them. I find flowers fascinating. Flowers for everybody.”
\nWhile the artist has painted a variety of floral species, such as the hydrangeas, poppies, peonies, birds of paradise, azaleas, irises, sunflowers, and water lilies, Westendorp’s oeuvre is dominated by the orchid. Since orchids make up one of the most diverse groups of flowering plants in nature, it came to no surprise that it pervaded Westendorp’s artistic psyche. As Cid Reyes put it, “this hothouse tropical flower is ultimately the subject, the image, that drove her floral art to its peak of excellence.” Reyes further added that in Westendorp’s paintings of orchids, many of them in large-scale dimension, “we behold a magnificent tumble of sheer gorgeousness, in filigreed clusters or preening petals, glowing in a complex bleeding of myriad colors.”
\nThe Spanish art critic Elena Flores rhapsodized on Westendorp’s paintings of orchids, saying: “The flexible stems bend down and leap into the void showily and capriciously to the rhythm of a colorful cascade: white, rosy, purplish, yellow, red, they have the resplendent explosion of fireworks as they open into space, multiplying their number into handsome and kaleidoscopic figures. Over the background of shady, blue, earthy tones, the light at dusk or dawn indicate a shady location of dense vegetation, stands out a dazzling floral picture.”","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Betsy Westendorp (1927 - 2022) Untitled signed and dated 1986 (lower right) oil on canvas 81 1/2\" x 131\" (207 cm x 333 cm)