{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":1873,"auction_id":4,"set_id":5,"lot_number":"142","artist":"Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (1932 - 2011)","title":"View of Intramuros","starting_price":2000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1977 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"24\" x 60\" (61 cm x 152 cm)","property":null,"coa":"León Gallery wishes to thank Mr. Christian M. Aguilar for confirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"After Federico Aguilar Alcuaz’s prolific “Barcelona” \nperiod starting in 1955, he returned to his native \nManila in 1964 with much acclaim and reverence \nfrom his motherland. He had just embarked on his “Golden \nPeriod,” producing the avant-garde Barcelona Paintings. \nAlcuaz had also gained international exposure, exhibiting in \nthe leading galleries of Spain, Portugal, and the global art \ncapital of Paris.
\nIn April 1964, Alcuaz was conferred by the French Government \nits prestigious Decoration of Arts, Letters, and Sciences\nAward. He would return to Manila by September of that \nyear, holding exhibitions at The Luz Gallery and a Ten-Year \nRetrospective at the National Library. The following years \nwould bestow Alcuaz with further recognitions: The Republic \nCultural Heritage Award (June 1965), a solo exhibition at the \nMalacañang (May 1966), and the Araw ng Maynila Award\n(1966).
\nAlcuaz had now emerged as a distinguished maestro in his \nown right.
\nBut Alcuaz would not stay in Manila in perpetuity, for he \nwould not abandon his thriving international career. Yet, he \nneeded a place to stay whenever he was in his native city: \na place where he could witness the melting pot that was \nManila’s colorful culture and heritage, which would be an \ninspiration for his landscapes in the years to come.
In 1969, Alcuaz established residence at the then-newly built \nManila Hilton Hotel (now the Waterfront Manila Pavilion \nHotel and Casino) along United Nations Avenue in Ermita. \nWhenever he was in the city, the five-star hotel would remain \nhis residence for four decades until his death in 2011.
\nAlcuaz’s wife, Ute, shares in the sidenotes of Rod. Paras-Perez’s book on the artist titled Parallel Texts: “Living \nwithout his wife and sons, he felt it was easier and more \ncomfortable in a hotel, where he could come and go as he \nwanted. He was constantly traveling, hardly staying a long \ntime without interruption in one place. As he was always \npresent at his exhibitions, he had to travel extensively in \nEurope, USA, and Asia.\"
Alcuaz’s hotel suite overlooked the site of his old studio \non the former campus grounds of the Ateneo along Padre \nFaura St. It can be remembered that the Jesuit priest Fr. \nThomas Cannon gave Alcuaz his first proper art studio \nwithin the university premises.
\nIt was at the Manila Hilton, then the Philippines' tallest \nbuilding, that Alcuaz painted a series of scenic cityscapes \nin homage to his beloved Manila. But like a singer \nembarking on a world tour, Alcuaz would hop from one \nhotel to another in search of an alternative sweeping and \ndramatic view of a city where the old and the new clash \nin epic grandeur.
\nThe work at hand was painted from Alcuaz’s suite at the \nhistoric Manila Hotel, the Philippines’ oldest premiere \nhotel, built in 1909 and opened in 1912. The Manila Hotel \npossesses a vantage point offering an unobstructed view \nof the captivating juxtaposition of Manila’s old and new \nworld charms. This piece shows an impressionist bird’s \neye view of Intramuros and Ermita, in which antiquity \nweds beautifully with modernity. To the left is Intramuros, \nwith the Manila Cathedral’s imposing dome and belfry \nrising above the historic walls of Old Manila. The Baluarte \nde San Diego, which had not yet been excavated until \n1979, and the Legazpi-Urdaneta Monument face the \nBonifacio Drive.
\nModern Ermita and its landmarks feature prominently in \nthe rest of the canvas. Vestiges of the proposed national \ngovernment center envisioned by Daniel Burnham \nmightily stand: the Neoclassical edifices of the Manila \nCity Hall, the Old Legislative Building, and the Old Finance \nBuilding (the latter two are now the site of the National \nMuseums of Fine Arts and Anthropology, respectively). The \nlush greenery of Rizal Park emerges on the right. The Manila \nHilton, Alcuaz’s residence and the tallest structure in this \ncomposition, epitomizes Manila’s continuing embrace of \nmodernity—for better or for worse.
\nIn a bustling panoramic view juxtaposing the old and new \nManila, Alcuaz shows his profound appreciation of his city’s \nhistory and cultural identity. His high-powered gestural \nbrushstrokes nourish the spirit of ethereality yet, at the same \ntime, yield to a pulsating rhythm of being in the present. \nAkin to a riveting musician, Alcuaz’s panoramic landscape of \nManila offers an inherent visual lyricism that sings the praises \nof distinguished and storied urbanity. (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":3400000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":3400000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":4085440,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":1884,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/4/5/lot/142.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":141,"next":143,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}