{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":59758,"auction_id":186,"set_id":220,"lot_number":"43","artist":"Vicente Manansala (1910 - 1981)","title":"Pieta","starting_price":5000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1970 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"22\" x 29\" (56 cm x 74 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM THE DON VICENTE “TIKING” H. LOPEZ, JR. COLLECTION","coa":null,"provenance":"Acquired directly from the artist","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Don Vicente “Tiking” Hofileña Lopez, Jr.<br/> The Hacendero Collector<br/> by LISA GUERRERO NAKPIL<br/><br/>Don Vicente “Tiking” H. Lopez, Jr. was the epitome of the gentleman farmer. On his estate in Vallehermoso (or beautiful valley), Negros Oriental, he first planted sugar, then diversified into prawns, bangus, mangoes, cashews, longkom (a variety of Thai lanzones), white Gmelina wood, black pepper, and even cacao.<br/><br/> His gracious plantation house, which he called Il Paradiso, featured four huge themed and art-filled rooms with other structures on the grounds, including a lovely chapel and cozy lanai.<br/><br/> He adored his farm, the produce of which made it possible for him to collect. And collect he did. Don Tiking was passionate about both art and antiques, filling rooms and hallways in his homes with celadon and blue and white porcelain from the various Chinese dynasties.<br/><br/> Prized even more was his collection of modern art. He would invite the famous ‘Saturday Group’ of artists — which included the likes of H.R. Ocampo — to his penthouse at the family-owned Elena Apartments in Ermita. (The building was named after his mother, the elegant Doña Elena Hofileña Lopez. Tiking was thus cousin two times over to the Eugenio Lopezes.)<br/><br/> Don Tiking was famous for his fabulous buffets, featuring roast beef, lamb, duck, turkey, Russian Salad and Caesar Salad. Ilonggo dishes were not to be missed including a sauceless adobo, chicken binakol, chorizo de Negros, pansit molo, kadyos and apan-apan (kangkong.) There would be Filipino-Spanish courses of relleno, chuletas, lengua, mechado, morcon, paella, lentejas and cocido with all the trimmings.<br/><br/> Gathered at his table would be Vicente Manansala, Hernando R. Ocampo, Sym Mendoza, Alfredo Roces, and Tiny Nuyda, to name a few. There were also musical soirees featuring the Elena String Ensemble which included members of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra with Don Tiking on his 17th-century cello. Jose Joya was a particularly avid fan of these evenings. Don Tiking would also invite this circle to enjoy the delights of the Vallehermoso country air.<br/><br/> Don Tiking Lopez was born on February 10, 1919, and had his early schooling in the city of Manila at the Ermita Public School (1932) for his primary grades; the Jose Rizal College (1936), for his secondary years; and the Ateneo de Manila for a Bachelor of Arts (1936-38). He then took up Law (1938-40) at the latter. He would complete this course at Silliman University, graduating with an LLB in 1941.<br/><br/>  Called to active military duty at the outbreak of World War II, he served the Armed Forces of the Philippines until he resigned with the rank of major in 1946.<br/><br/> He then went into private business and operated the Hacienda Doña Elena Lopez Enterprises Company, Inc., and VICMAR Agro-Industrial, which he headed as president. He guided community-based enterprises such as the San Carlos Planters Cooperative, the Southern Lines Shipping Co., and the Negros Navigation Co. Inc. either as president or a member of the board of directors.<br/><br/> As a hobbyist, he cultivated bonsai and prize-winning orchids, which bear witness to his continued interest in maintaining his roots to the soil. He would attend international orchid shows not just as a buyer but as a judge. One Thai variety of orchid is even named after him. He added other hobbies, including being a skilled golfer and fisherman.<br/><br/> He was deeply involved in the cursillo movement (1967 to 1979) of the country, rising to be president of the Cursillo Foundation of the Philippines, propagating the spiritual and civic dimension of the movement through lectures and seminars in various parts of the country, including among soldiers sent to the Vietnam War. He later became a Eucharistic minister, serving especially in the Nuestra Senora de Guia parish in Ermita. From being a farmer and fisherman, his final role was as God’s fisher of men (and women).<br/><br/> A deeply spiritual and devout person, Don Tiking Lopez—who actively participated in the spiritual retreats and other ministerial activities of the Cursillo Foundation of the Philippines and later became a Eucharistic minister at Ermita's Nuestra Senora de Guia Parish—found solace in the moving image of Christ's passion and death, a reminder of his commitment to his vocation as a servant of the Lord.<br/><br/> Being a devout Catholic, Don Tiking acquired several masterpieces from Manansala, whose religious works convey both the sacred and the profane. Among the Manansala opuses Don Tiking acquired was this poignant interpretation of the Pieta, depicting Mary sorrowfully cradling the dead body of her son, Jesus.<br/><br/> A June 26, 1971 article from The Manila Bulletin described Don Tiking as \"one of the country's avid art collectors.\" \"He has recently converted his hacienda in San Carlos City into a haven for artists who devote themselves to perfecting techniques,\" the article noted. \"Lopez today boasts of one of the biggest collections of Filipino paintings in the country today. His office at the Elena Apartments in Ermita has become converted into an art gallery.\"<br/><br/> Seasoned writer and journalist Jullie Yap Daza once wrote in her The Times Journal column In search of a voice, \"Unlike many of his contemporaries who collect for speculation's sake, Tiking loves his collection to the point of being thoroughly emotional about every single piece.\" Daza continued, \"Nearly every artist of note enjoys the honor of being hung on the walls of the penthouse of Elena Apartments, which he owns.\"<br/><br/> Manansala's Pieta was among those works once proudly displayed in Don Tiking’s own collector's haven.<br/><br/> Manansala created Pieta at a time of his sweet, overwhelming success. In the same year as this work, he was conferred the Araw ng Maynila Award. Seven years prior, in 1963, Manansala was awarded the Republic Cultural Heritage Award, the prestigious precursor to the National Artist Award.<br/><br/> But more than this string of continuous success, Pieta shows the maturation of Manansala's Transparent Cubism, with his smooth, delicate brush strokes showing refinement and the meticulous ability to render transparent layers of superimposed planes, thereby retaining their sheer realism and heightened emotional resonance while imbuing a sense of humanization..<br/><br/>  Manansala's journey to Transparent Cubism was an arduous two-decade-long process. He first laid its foundations during his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Banff, Canada in 1949 and his nine-month Parisian sojourn of 1950-51, during which he became the first Filipino to be awarded a scholarship by the French government to the famed École des Beaux-Arts of the University of Paris. There, Manansala was mentored by the French cubist Fernand Léger, a close contemporary of the pioneers of Cubism Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, two of Manansala's foremost luminaries..<br/><br/> Agnes Duval, in her article \"Manansala\" in the April 1968 issue of Solidarity: Current Affairs, Ideas, and the Arts magazine, writes of Manansala's particular catalyst for the birth of his Transparent Cubism. \"Window shopping one day [in Paris], he [Manansala] noted the interplay of reflected images on the plate-glass and the objects inside the window displays.\"<br/><br/> From there, Manansala began forging his own path and embarked on carving his legacy.<br/><br/> Pieta also encapsulates Manansala's Catholic faith. In his landmark book Conversations on Philippine Art, Cid Reyes said to Manansala: \"Isa pa hong lagi ninyong ipinipinta e yung Kristo.\" To which Manansala answers, \"Oo. Taon-taon yan, gumagawa ako ng isang Kristo.” The artist adds that it has become a kind of devotion, a religious vow. In Rod. Paras-Perez's book Manansala, the maestro revealed: \"I used to go to Mass every day at the San Francisco Church. At 14, I wanted to become a priest.\"<br/><br/> On that account, Manansala imbues his paintings of the suffering Christ not only with a solemn, reverential atmosphere but also with a profound understanding of his human nature, the Son of God incarnate. In his language of Transparent Cubism, Manansala never fragmented the subject; he remained faithful to its corporeality. Hence, Pieta evokes solemnity and humanity at once; a hallowed reminder of God's humble partaking in humanity's sins and suffering. (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":0,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":0,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"UNSOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":0,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":65253,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/186/220/lot/43.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":65470,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/186/220/lot/43c.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":65469,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/186/220/lot/43b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":65468,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/186/220/lot/43a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":42,"next":44,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}