{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":40498,"auction_id":64,"set_id":92,"lot_number":"154","artist":"Anita Magsaysay-Ho (1914-2012)","title":"Lavanderas","starting_price":5000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1957 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"30” x 24” (76 cm x 60 cm)","property":"Property FROM the COLLECTION of a very distinguished couple","coa":null,"provenance":"Philippine Art Gallery (PAG) F.S. Hackett, USA Sotheby’s, Singapore, Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings, October 1, 2000, lot 112 Private Collection, Makati City","exhibited":"Philippine Art Gallery (PAG), Exhibition of Paintings, Manila, November 30, 1957 – December 10, 1957 The Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Anita Magsaysay - Ho: A Retrospective, Manila, December 15, 1988 - January 15, 1989 Singapore Art Museum, Thrice Upon a Time : A Century of Story in the Art of the Philippines, Singapore, November 2009 -  January 2010","literature":"Guillermo, Alice G., Anita Magsaysay - Ho: A Retrospective, A. Magsaysay Inc., Manila, 1988, p.76 Roces, Alfredo R., Anita Magsaysay – Ho: In Praise of Women, The Crucible Workshop, Pasig, 2005, p.149 Joyce Toh et al, Thrice Upon a Time : A Century of Story in the Art of the Philippines, Singapore, 1st edition, 2009 Guerrero, Amadis Ma., Ledesma, Purita K., The Struggle for Philippine Art, Vera-Reyes, Inc., Quezon City, 1974, p. 141","write_up":"One of the most significant Anita Magsaysay-Ho pieces to ever appear at auction worldwide, this rare 1957 painting —  ”Lavanderas”, oil on canvas — is reputedly one of Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s favorites.  This masterpiece has been prominently  featured in a number of seminal publications on the artist: \nAnita Magsaysay-Ho: A Retrospective, authored by Alice Guillermo in 1988;  Anita Magsaysay-Ho: in praise of women, authored by Alfredo Roces in 2005; Thrice Upon a Time: A Century of Story in the Art of the Philippines, authored by Joyce Toh et al.   in 2009; and The Struggle for Philippine Art, authored by Amadis Ma. Guerrero and Purita K. Ledesma in 1974. \nIt was shown to the public for the very first time at the pioneering Philippine Art Gallery (PAG) from November 30 to December 10, in 1957, and three decades later in a sweeping retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila held from December 1988 to January 1989.  It was also the only work of Anita Magsaysay-Ho to be exhibited in the Singapore Art Museum for its exhibition “Thrice Upon a Time: A Century of Story in the Art of the Philippines” from November 2009 to January 2010.  Further bolstering its significance — and perhaps also her personal fondness for it — prints have been made by Anita Magsaysay-Ho of this particular work.\nA closer examination of the piece is therefore imperative:\nThe figures are brown as the soil, sturdy, big boned and at work.  The artist has been faithful to this icon — graceful women in action — through the decades, traceable even to the beginning of her glorious career.  The color palette — the golden brown tones of the skin and the shadowy deep turquoise blues of the skirt, are typical of her works from 1957.  In her early, pre-1970 works in fact, the application of paint is evidently more robust.  Magsaysay Ho’s almost decorative depiction of the wavy water on the basin, at the lower left, makes for a curious detail which counterbalances the arms of the woman at the rear, which are raised towards the large white sheets hanging on the clothesline.\n \nThe resulting image, then, is that of a fine balance of all the pictorial elements.  In 1975, taking cognizance of Magsaysay Ho’s inimitable sense of balance among her rural women, Leonor Orosa Goquinco wrote, “Always they are juxtaposed and grouped in subtle, delicate variations of balance; invariably, they make fine and harmonious compositions.”\n \nIn the book “The Struggle for Philippine Art” (1974), Purita Kalaw Ledesma further expounded on this distinct ability:  “Magsaysay Ho believed that the Filipino coloring in real life — black hair, black eyes, etc.  — was top heavy. To balance this,  she always painted her women with handkerchiefs around their heads and made their eyes mere slits.” \nAnd despite hailing from a privileged background, rural working class women always fascinated Anita Magsaysay-Ho: She paid tribute to them. Honored them. And gave them their just due through her works. Towards this end, Leonidas Benesa wrote:  It is a theme she is most at ease, and most creative about. So, it’s the theme she pursues.”","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"<p><strong>Anita Magsaysay-Ho</strong> (1914-2012)<br /><em>Lavanderas</em><br />signed and dated 1957 (lower right)<br />oil on canvas<br />30&rdquo; x 24&rdquo; (76 cm x 60 cm)</p>","alias":null,"hp":34000000,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":34000000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":39712000,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":39576,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/64/92/lot/154.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[],"prev":153,"next":155,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}