{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":45997,"auction_id":93,"set_id":122,"lot_number":"32","artist":"Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972)","title":"Sabungero","starting_price":3200000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1951 (lower left)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"18 1/4\" x 22 1/4\" (46 cm x 57 cm)","property":null,"coa":"Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo\nconfirming the authenticity of this lot","provenance":"Private collection, Edward J. Nell, USA","exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"One can argue that the illustrious life and career of\nFernando Amorsolo is highly intertwined with that of\nthe pre-war Philippines. Meek and mild-mannered,\nit is hard to believe that Amorsolo led an artistic movement\nthat became the standard that many generations of artists\nhold themselves to, either to uphold or dismantle.<br><br>\nBy the 1950s, the Amorsolo School had weathered the\nconstant pushback of Philippine modernism. The classical\nrealism of Amorsolo has been tempered by the horrors of\nthe war – the idyllic pasture of the Philippine countryside no\nlonger becomes appealing to many of the newer artists who\nhave witnessed the war’s atrocities. It is dated, they said,\ngiven the current climate.<br><br>\nBut Amorsolo persevered. With the exception of his darker\nWorld War II-era paintings, he went straight back to\ncapturing the pastoral Philippines in his famed Amorsolo\nlight. His usual muses found themselves back onto his\ncanvases – his dalagas bathed in the golden yellow sunlight,\nhis vendors back to selling their wares. An intense sense of\nnostalgia penetrates his post-war works, made heavier by\nthe knowledge that the Philippines underwent such atrocities\nin the war, a fact Amorsolo became intimately familiar with\nas he saw firsthand the Battle of Manila.<br><br>\nHis 1951 Sabungero shows no sign of the war period angst\nthat enveloped Amorsolo’s 1940s pieces. Here, he focused\non a specific rural aspect of the Philippines: cockfighting.\nCockfights are major social functions in the barrios of the\nPhilippines, going far back to pre-colonial Philippines when\nAntonio Pigafetta recorded it during Magellan’s 1521\nexpedition. The first wave of Filipinos arriving in Hawaii\nbrought cockfighting into the foreign land, so beloved was\nthis sport for the Filipinos.<br><br>\nAmorsolo’s Sabungero depicts the titular sabungero (or the\ncockfight bettors) holding his best rooster. He seems to be\ninspecting the animal, checking for injuries or defects that\nmight hinder him during the upcoming fight.<br><br>\nCockfighting is emblematic of the quintessential Filipino\ntraits. It is a social event, a gathering recognized and awaited\nby most. When the roosters meet, it becomes a battle not\njust between the animals themselves but the bettors who\nhad gambled their hard-earned money on their favored\ncompetitor. The Filipino pride and ego are on the line fuelled\neven further by the adrenaline of the brutal fight.<br><br>\nHowever, in his Sabungero, Amorsolo depicts not the\ndeadly fight but the tranquil start of it. Gone are the frantic\nmovements of the roosters that many artists choose\nto focus on; instead, Amorsolo portrays the quiet and\nloving relationship of the farmer and his fowl. For Filipino\nsabungeros, their roosters are much more than fighting\nmachines – they are part of the family, as beloved as their\nchildren. These animals are well taken care of and Amorsola\nperfectly encapsulates that on his canvas.<br><br>\nThere is no denying\nAmorsolo’s\nlongevity in\nPhilippine art\nhistory. His works\nevoke the ordinary\nand daily life of the\nrural Philippines,\nsuffused in his\ntrademark light.\nHis impact was\ncemented even\nfurther when he\nwas posthumously\nconferred the\nNational Artist\nAward in 1972, the\ndistinction’s first\nawardee. (Hannah\nValiente)","lot_group":"PAINTING","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":5500000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":5500000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":6608800,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":45554,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/93/122/lot/32.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":31,"next":33,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}