{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":14976,"auction_id":16,"set_id":29,"lot_number":"50","artist":"Benedicto Cabrera (b. 1942)","title":"Girl with a Salakot","starting_price":1000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1972 (lower right)","medium":"acrylic with pen and ink","size":"14 1/2\" x 13\" (37 cm x 33 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"The Luz Gallery","exhibited":"The Luz Gallery, Larawan: 1972 Paintings by Bencab\nMakati City, October 12 - 31, 1972","literature":null,"write_up":"A Rare ‘Larawan’ from \nBencab’s 1972 Inaugural \nLarawan Exhibition
\nOn the 50th anniversary of Benedicto Cabrera's 1972 \nLarawan exhibition at The Luz Gallery, León Gallery is \ndelighted to present a rare, thought-provoking work \nfrom that seminal show, which manifested the artist's coming \nof age. That landmark exhibit would be the first of many artistic \npursuits during the tumultuous 70s. It would be Bencab’s first \nLarawan exhibition and, interestingly, the first cultural activity \nafter the declaration of martial rule.
\nIt was October 1972. Bencab had just returned from London \nafter a string of successful exhibitions in various European \ncities. Towards the middle of that month, Bencab mounted a \nhomecoming exhibition at the famed The Luz Gallery. It was the \nfirst cultural activity after the declaration of martial rule. The \nshow, Larawan: 1972 Paintings by Bencab, became a rousing \nsuccess. It earned critical praises and signaled the emergence of \nBencab as an eminent artist—an influential maestro in a league \nof his own.
\nIn an April 1978 interview with Cid Reyes published in the 50th \nanniversary two-volume book on the artist, Bencab expounds on \nthe origins of both the Larawan series and exhibition: \"Well, ever \nsince I came to London in 1969, I have been collecting old prints \nand rare books about the Philippines. I was then planning to go \nback to Manila for a visit and a possible exhibition, and I just hit \non the idea of doing a show, which would be an approximation \nof the experience of browsing through an old Filipino album. \nSo, I did these paintings, which were all based on these old \nphotographs. The show was called ‘Larawan.’”
\nBencab shares in Krip Yuson and Cid Reyes' BENCAB: \"I talked \nto the people at The Luz Gallery. They were a bit wary at first, \nbut eventually, word got around, and interest in the paintings \nbecame very strong. At that time, no one else was attempting \nwhat I had done. But soon it started a trend, of feeding from \ncolonial images and giving these a modern twist.\"
\nBencab's Larawan was his serious undertaking in carving his \ndistinct creative path that, at the same time, is deeply connected \nwith his native roots. The poet Luis Francia writes in his memoir \nEye of the Fish: \"…In London, Bencab quickly realized that if he \nfollowed what was current in Western art, he would always be \na second-rate artist, since the impulse for such art didn't come \nfrom within, wasn't of his skin.\"
\nDespite the works being created before a stormy period in \nPhilippine history, the Larawan series possesses an inherent \nsocial relevance. Bencab shares in Yuson and Reyes' book: \"They \n[his Manila friends] told me, 'Why, this is all very subversive,' since \nin a way it revealed the new masters, about whom everyone \nthought best to keep silent.\" Bencab ingeniously consolidates \nhistory, social critique, and aesthetics. Dr. Patrick Flores notes \nin 'Social Realism: The Turns of a Term in the Philippines' that \nthe Larawan \"exerted a strong influence in the making of social \nrealism, given its ability to draw links between the precolonial \npast and the postcolonial present through the appropriation of \nimages.\" Through his Larawan works, Alice Guillermo referred to \nBencab as a forerunner of Philippine social realism.
\nSeveral pieces in the Larawan exhibition also depict the lifestyles \nand costumes of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The \nsocial commentary in these works lies in their innate power to \ninstigate progressive discourses on the parallelism between the \nsubjugated indio and the modern Filipino. Such is the case with \nthe work at hand. Bencab depicts a turn-of-the-century Filipino \ngarbed in the traditional baro't saya and wearing a salakot.\nHer facial expression radiates a penetrating gaze. Her stature \nexudes confidence. Here, the woman's defiant and dignified \nimage connotes a bold declaration of autonomy borne out of \ntheir colonial experience; that we must no longer capitulate to \nforeign hegemony.
\nBencab shares in his interview with Reyes that the end goal \nof the Larawan was \"to make our colonial past reflect on \nour present.\" He \"wanted to show how the whole process of \ncolonization changed the Filipino.\" Beyond the nostalgia evoked \nby the sepia-colored composition, Bencab's Larawan instills that \nthe Filipino is a result of centuries of contact, subjugation, and \nstruggle. Today, as our sovereignty and democracy are under an \noppressively constant threat, we are in a continuous endeavor \nto explore, reclaim, and affirm our nationhood. Therefore, the \nLarawan is representative of the modern Filipino.
\nSignificantly, the semi-centennial anniversary of the Larawan \nexhibition happens to occur during this challenging period in our \ncountry's recent history. As a series produced in a most turbulent \ntime, the Larawan enkindles today an unceasing assertion of \nour identity as stalwarts of freedom—and uncompromising \nresistance to defend our rightful, genuine expression of \nliberty and self-determination enshrined in our democratic \nprinciples. (A.M.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Benedicto Cabrera (b. 1942) Girl with a Salakot signed and dated 1972 (lower right) acrylic with pen and ink 14 1/2\" x 13\" (37 cm x 33 cm)