{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1759,"auction_id":3,"set_id":4,"lot_number":"73","artist":"Betsy Westendorp (1927 - 2022)","title":"Poppies and Daisies","starting_price":1600000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1983 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"43 1/4\" x 77\" (110 cm x 196 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM THE LETTY JIMENEZ-MAGSANOC COLLECTION","coa":null,"provenance":"Acquired directly from the artist","exhibited":"Rustan's Gallerie Bleue, Manila, 1983","literature":null,"write_up":"Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc was a Filipino journalist, and the former editor-in-chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. She was the first woman and the longest serving editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper she co-founded in 1985. Under her leadership, the Inquirer published major scoops, exclusives, and investigative reports that shaped national conversation and inquiry and influenced reform.
She was a patriot who made sure nothing stood in the way of democracy, freedom and justice. For Letty, journalism was a vocation, a public good necessary for a robust democracy. She was fearless in exposing leaders who were a threat to democracy, leaders with an insatiable appetite for power and wealth that bred corruption and violence.
\nWhile she was the editor-in-chief of the Inquirer, the writing style of the newspaper, especially the front page was described by many as “alive.” National Artist Ricky Lee said reading the Inquirer was “as if you were watching television.”
\n\nShe saw to it there was a human face to facts, figures and issues. Profiles surfaced the essence and uniqueness of each subject matter.
Letty simplified and contextualized the most abstract, complex issues. She also celebrated positive news in the same fervor as the paper crucified the corrupt.
David Briscoe Jr., Manila Bureau Chief of the Associated Press in the 1980s described Letty as “A dear friend and hero of global journalism... Letty Magsanoc of the Philippines was, and is, a shining example (of) the best and boldest journalism can be—anywhere.”
\n \nShe demonstrated what journalism can achieve when journalists stayed true and committed to the truth. In an interview with the Inquirer on its 30th founding anniversary, she reminded journalists “we have to keep our noses clean, so that they cannot throw anything at us...You have to live a scrupulously clean life. I mean, it’s necessary for the job.”
\nLetty said she always wondered why people called her brave. She said she was simply doing her job and there was no overthinking to be done. United Kingdom-based novelist and former Associate Editor of Mr. and Ms. Special Edition Candy Gourlay observed, “When you were there, on the day, to witness Letty doing something courageous...saying things the way they really were and not accepting the safe, easy, convenient, escapist, let- things-be route—you were never aware of the fearlessness or even the danger of the moment. All you knew was what Letty always made clear: It was imperative to tell this story. Some stories just had to be told. Should the consequences stop you from telling it?”
\n \nLetty had a big heart for her colleagues in media, even from rival media organizations. She mentored and protected them like family. Colleagues would run to her for professional and personal counsel. She was their biggest champion especially when freedom of the press was threatened.
\n \nLetty never wanted to talk about her vital role in shaping the country’s history and future. She shunned the limelight.
\n\nShe was never comfortable being photographed or interviewed. Candy Gourlay said Letty always reminded journalists that “Writing is never about the writer. We are not the story!”
\nLetty’s life was a living prayer. She was steeped in faith, the source of her strength and courage and firmness of purpose. She heard daily Masses and did daily meditation walks.
\n\nIn 2006, Time International hailed her as one of Asia’s 60 heroes for the celebration of its 60th anniversary. In 1993, she won the Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri. In 1981, she won the Ten Outstanding Women of the New Society.
\nAfter her death in 2015, the Philippine Senate passed a resolution citing her contribution to the restoration of freedom in the Philippines. In 2016, the Philippine Daily Inquirer named her as 2015 Filipino of the Year. In the same year, the Spirit of EDSA Foundation honored her as one of the fighters for freedom, justice and democracy.\n
\nThe flowers in Betsy Westendorp’s oeuvre evoke ethereal pictures of delicate gardens in which tranquility and freshness abound. Her sublime paintings of different floral\nspecies stem from her profound appreciation of her subjects. 101 LEÓN GALLERY\nIn an interview with Cid Reyes and published in the catalog of Westendorp’s 2021 retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, the artist happily remarks: “With flowers, you have to know them also.” Westendorp also revealed that she would paint flowers she had just received. “I find flowers fascinating. Flowers are for everybody,” she adds.
\nIn this monumental work from 1983, Westendorp gives us a glimpse of her artistic garden featuring an assemblage of various flowers, such as poppies, azaleas, dandelions, and daisies. Her realistic renderings of the flowers give them a sense of palpability; it is as if one can touch their soft petals and smell their freshness and sweet fragrance. Westendorp’s realism gives tenderness and delicacy to her flowers.
\n\nBut flowers do not live forever. They are living creatures not absolved from the inescapable reality of death. Thus, the delicate elegance of Westendorp’s flowers evokes the Japanese concept of mono no aware, which translates to “the realization of the impermanence of things” and its bittersweet admiration. Westendorp knows this, and she found a simple way for her flowers to sustain their innate beauty.
\n\nCid Reyes writes in the same catalog: “[Westendorp] did the thing that would keep her flowers ever fresh and imperishable: she bred them in memory. Like some avid botanist, she had closely studied their physical structure and preserved them not only in her memory bank, impervious to the changing seasons and passage of time. She absorbed their essence, internalized them consciously and subconsciously to fuel her aesthetic engine. Thus, all her flowers are painted from memory, where they are always present and in perpetual bloom.”
\nRealizing and grasping the inescapable fact that things in the world are inherently ephemeral, especially life, is as poignant as the dreaded notion of death itself. But like flowers, the\n(melancholic) beauty of existence lies in its transience. Impermanence is ever present for us to appreciate the essence and actuality of everything.
\n\nFlowers are among the most enjoyable things in the world due to their inherent beauty and fragrance. But as the popular cliché says, all things beautiful lead to an ultimate end. In this fast- paced world, this thought is often forgotten until that beautiful, fleeting moment has already faded into the sands of time. Be that as it may, through Westendorp’s sublime works, the beauty of flowers will remain in perpetual bloom, always there for everyone to enjoy. It is a fitting reminder to make each moment count, fueling reflection and instigating creativity in the process. And indeed, that is the celebrated Besty Westendorp’s legacy in Philippine art.
\nLike the eternal bloom of her flowers, Westendorp’s name and artistic contributions will endure in the annals of Philippine art. (A.M.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"
Betsy Westendorp (1927 - 2022) Poppies and Daisies signed and dated 1983 (lower right) oil on canvas 43 1/4\" x 77\" (110 cm x 196 cm)