{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":40581,"auction_id":65,"set_id":93,"lot_number":"58","artist":"Cesar Legaspi (1917-1994)","title":"Soldiers","starting_price":100000,"signed_dated":"signed (lower right)","medium":"watercolor","size":"17 1/2” x 12” (44 cm x 30 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"By the outbreak of World War II—and at the time of the creation of this piece—Legaspi was all of 24 years old, having graduated from the University of the Philippines’ School of Fine Arts at the age of 19 in 1936.  Soon after, he had quickly come into the orbit of Victorio Edades and Galo Ocampo who had put together a mutiny against the old-school classical art championed by Fernando Amorsolo and  Guillermo Tolentino.  Legaspi, in turn, has been described as the champion of neo-realism, a movement that interprets reality through color as well as geometric planes.   In this rare watercolour, one can read the influences of his  mentors: as the perspective of the row of wide-eyed fighting men, bare-chested and taut, is created by the use of classic complementary colours.  Though undated, we can presume that it is in the early years of the war, possibly 1941-1942, because of the distinctive “dishpan” helmets (devised in 1918 and standard if outdated issue to the  Philippine Commonwealth troops along with the creaky Springfield rifles.) The men seem to be floating amid an idyllic primeval forest of giant eagle-winged ferns (pakpak-lawin), a desolate forest behind them—oddly optimistic considering the circumstances, compared  to the barren, leafless landscape of his post-war “Tree Planting”  in 1949 or his eerily beautiful “Ritual” (1951) which was to set  a Philippine record for Legaspi at Leon Auctions, February 2015.  One of the hardiest of the original Thirteen Moderns, Cesar Legaspi holds the record of having been honoured at no less than six retrospective exhibitions: at the Museum of Philippine Art in 1978; the National Museum and the Metropolitan Museum, both a decade later in 1988; at the Luz Gallery and the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1990, and most recently, at the Ayala Museum this year. He was named Philippine National Artist for the Visual Arts in 1990.","lot_group":"Painting","lot_details_html":"<p><strong>Cesar Legaspi</strong> (1917-1994)<br /><em>Soldiers</em><br />signed (lower right)<br />watercolor<br />17 1/2&rdquo; x 12&rdquo; (44 cm x 30 cm)</p>","alias":null,"hp":320000,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":320000,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":373760,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":39688,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/65/93/lot/58.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[220000,240000,260000,280000,300000,320000,340000,360000,380000,400000,450000,500000,550000,600000,650000,700000,750000,800000,900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":57,"next":59,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}