{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":47354,"auction_id":95,"set_id":125,"lot_number":"105","artist":"Benedicto Cabrera (b. 1942)","title":"Three Faces of Sabel","starting_price":18000000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 2008 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"48\" x 60\" (122 cm x 152 cm)","property":"PROPERTY FROM THE DON EUGENIO “GENY” LOPEZ JR. COLLECTION","coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"It can be said that Benedicto Cabrera’s iconic muse, Sabel, has two primary and iconic iterations: the scavenger of the 1960s that would not only mark Bencab’s socio-political stances on contemporary issues but his career-defining moment as an artist and the graceful woman garbed in voluminous cloth and exemplifying the beauty of femininity.<br /><br />Throughout his artistic journey, Sabel remained a constant companion to his brush and canvas. Over the years, Sabel has undergone several iterations: from the expressionist madwoman of the mid-1960s, the hard-edged, minimalist variation towards the end of the decade, the abstract expressionistic slashes of femininity of the 1990s, and back to the figurative expressionist lady of the 2000s—the iteration that has become one of the most coveted in Bencab’s oeuvre owing to its graceful composition.<br /><br />Indeed, Sabel has captured not only Bencab’s heart and art but also captivated his audiences, with their attention drawn to the evermetamorphosing image of the woman.<br /><br />In this work titled Three Faces of Sabel—which Bencab painted two years after he was accorded the most venerable title of National Artist for the Visual Arts in 2006—the artist enshrouds Sabel with the sinuousness of the drapery. Here, Bencab’s expressionist flair is discerned; instead of Sabel’s figure animating herself and evoking movement, it is the drapery that evokes reflex and gesture. Drapery animates life itself. <br /><br />The tormented image of Sabel is nowhere to be found in this piece. Instead, Sabel exudes the gracefulness of movement akin to the delicate yet calculated swirling and twirling of a ballerina. The piece is also much in the same vein as Bencab’s series of works beginning in the late 1990s that depict Isadora Duncan, the American dancer and choreographer hailed “The Mother of Modern Dance.”<br /><br />Bencab’s illusion of dynamic energy and constant movement through his rich application of paint and lyrical, voluminous brushstrokes evokes a palpable sense of flesh.<br /><br />The real-life Sabel died in 1972, of which her death was relayed to Bencab. This makes the gap between her passing and Three Faces of Sabel span a long period of 36 years. But with the drapery as an animating force, Bencab immortalizes Sabel, his perpetual muse. (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"Painting","lot_details_html":null,"alias":"bencab","hp":20000000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":20000000,"userBid":5930,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":24032000,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":47042,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/95/125/lot/105.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[],"prev":104,"next":106,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}