{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":22197,"auction_id":24,"set_id":43,"lot_number":"107","artist":"Graciano T. Nepomuceno (1881 - 1974)","title":"The Last Supper","starting_price":300000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1951 (lower left)","medium":"bas relief, wood","size":"with frame: 30 1/2\" x 46 3/4\" (77 cm x 119 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":"Acquired directly from the artist by the de Vera Family, close friends of the artist, ca. 1950","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"One of the preeminent sculptors and santeros (iconmaker) of the first half of the 20th century, Graciano T. Nepomuceno initially studied painting at the Liceo de Manila under the guidance of Miguel Zaragoza. Nepomuceno and Zaragoza’s learning relationship was in no way harmonious and after an exacerbating argument, the former left the academy and pursued sculpture under Ciriaco Arevalo, the only Filipino sculptor to win a gold medal in Spain. The celebrated sculptor’s preferred medium was the Molave wood. Nepomuceno’s famous works include the statue of San Francisco in Quiapo Church and the ceiling reliefs at the Malacañang Palace.
Art critic and historian Don Alfonso Ongpin distinguished four periods in Graciano Nepomuceno’s prolific career as a sculptor. The first period spanned the latter years of the 19th century and the early 1900s. It was during this time that Nepomuceno collaborated with sculptor and musician Bonifacio Arevalo. In his second period, Nepomuceno ventured solely and produced ornamental pieces for building façades, employing wood and cement as mediums. His third period was dominated by genre sculpture. Busts and bas-reliefs of illustrious personalities, as well as miniatures and carved relief reproductions of renowned paintings, characterized his fourth and last period, to which this wood carving of the Last Supper belonged.
Contemporary and Spanish colonial era woodworks have a certain degree of admiration among Filipino artists and collectors. But according to Alfredo Roces, this leaves a “middle ground that is forgotten or unknown”, and this is where Nepomuceno’s works belong. His works are “neither modern enough nor old enough” for contemporary likings yet these works “speak for themselves”. In direct carving, Nepomuceno stood out almost alone, stemming from his experience as an apprentice of Arevalo. Napoleon Abueva was once quoted to have said that Nepomuceno’s “depiction of familiar themes in high relief and religious pieces were exquisitely carved.”","lot_group":"OBJET D' ARTS","lot_details_html":"
Graciano T. Nepomuceno (1881 - 1974) The Last Supper signed and dated 1951 (lower left) bas relief, wood with frame: 30 1/2\" x 46 3/4\" (77 cm x 119 cm)