{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":5376,"auction_id":8,"set_id":11,"lot_number":"310","artist":"Charito Bitanga (b. 1934)","title":"Chopin’s Ballad #1","starting_price":35000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1960 (lower left)","medium":"oil on paper","size":"6 1/4” x 10 1/4” (16 cm x 26 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":"","write_up":"Rosario “Charito” Bitanga is noted as the first and foremost Filipina abstract artist. However, art was not the sort of activity she fell for at first sight. The young Charito played the piano with considerable brilliance, but, on the other hand, the dreadful chore of drawing once drove her to tears. Only her illustration of a microscope for a school assignment sparked in her a change of heart. A high school student in her second year was Bitanga when she, without the permission of her parents, decided to discontinue her piano lessons and instead enrolled herself in a painting class. It was in 1952 and the price of admission was 5 pesos per semester at the Philippine Women’s University College of Music and Fine Arts. The art lessons consisted of still life, watercolor and oils, and copying busts of composers such as Schubert, Schumann, and Chopin.<br /><br /> The pastel piece titled Chopin’s Ballad #1 is dated 1960. A year before its creation, Bitanga was accepted into the second term of the Cranbrook Academy of Arts. At that time, it was considered a “millionaire’s school” that admitted only a limited number of applicants. The exclusive institution was also attended by Jose Joya for his Master’s Degree in Painting under a Fulbright-Smith- Mundt grant. In Cranbrook Academy, Bitanga began to deviate from representative painting, discovering her potential as an abstract artist. In 1960, she was the first Filipina to be conferred the degree of Master in Fine Arts.<br /><br /> Bitanga’s return to the Philippines was welcomed with a solo show. Her art exhibit was held at the Contemporary Arts Gallery, with Victorio Edades as the Guest of Honor. Jose Joya also went to the event, and thus the two Filipino graduates of Cranbrook Academy met for the first time. (P.I.R.)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":"<p><strong>Charito Bitanga (b. 1934)</strong><br /><em>Chopin&rsquo;s Ballad #1</em><br />signed and dated 1960 (lower left) <br />oil on paper<br />6 1/4&rdquo; x 10 1/4&rdquo; (16 cm x 26 cm)</p>","alias":null,"hp":0,"bp":0.168,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":0,"userBid":5930,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"UNSOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":0,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":5726,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/8/11/lot/310.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[25000,30000,35000,40000,45000,50000,55000,60000,70000,80000,90000,100000,110000,120000,130000,140000,150000,160000,170000,180000,190000,200000,220000,240000,260000,280000,300000,320000,340000,360000,380000,400000,450000,500000,550000,600000,650000,700000,750000,800000,900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":309,"next":311,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}