{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":47370,"auction_id":95,"set_id":125,"lot_number":"123","artist":"Diosdado Lorenzo (1906 - 1984)","title":"Chinese Mandarin","starting_price":600000,"signed_dated":"signed and dated 1936 (lower right)","medium":"oil on canvas","size":"25\" x 19\" (64 cm x 48 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":"Manila Hilton, A Retrospective Exhibit of the Works of Diosdado M. Lorenzo, Manila, March 27 - April 24, 1969<br />  Museum of Philippine Art, Diosdado Lorenzo: Retrospective Exhibition, Manila, March 2 - April 30, 1978","literature":"A Retrospective Exhibit of the Works of Diosdado M. Lorenzo (Exhibition Catalog). Manila: 1969. Published on the occasion of the Diosdado Lorenzo retrospective at the Manila Hilton in 1969. Illustrated.<br />  Benesa, Leonidas V. Diosdado Lorenzo (Exhibition Catalog). Manila: Museum of Philippine Art, 1978. Published on the occasion of the Diosdado Lorenzo retrospective at the Museum of Philippine Art in 1978. Listed as \"Chinese Mandarin\" on page 10.<br />  Guillermo, Alice G. Disodado Magno Lorenzo: Art Rebel to Legend. Makati City: Philippine-Italian Association & Tantoco-Rustia Foundation, 2009. Full-color photograph on page 35 and painting description on page 34.","write_up":"If Victorio Edades lashed the earliest scourges against the preeminence and overt romanticism of the conservatives led by Fernando Amorsolo, Diosdado Lorenzo was the one who gashed the inflamed lesions and accelerated the fueling rage of the “Amorsolo School” and its followers. Although deemed conservative in subject matter, Lorenzo traversed through the modernist line in his stylistic choices and conscious decision to align with and befriend the modernists, particularly Edades and Galo Ocampo. Lorenzo’s works, disfavoring a conservative’s polished finish, omit romantic tendencies in favor of subtle expressionistic distortion and delicate impressionistic impastos.<br /><br />It was in Europe where Lorenzo was introduced to modern art, away from the classical tradition espoused by the UP School of Fine Arts, his alma mater. There, Lorenzo visited the museums of Spain, Italy, and France and became influenced by the works of Vincent van Gogh, whom he considered “first” among his “great favorites,” as he once revealed in a 1977 interview with Cid Reyes and published in the latter’s Conversations on Philippine Art. It was from van Gogh and the Impressionists that Lorenzo “learned the use of impasto…which conservative academics had found inimical, and the repeated application of patches of colors in juxtaposition,” as the eminent art critic Alice Guillermo writes in her book on the artist.<br /><br />Returning to the Philippines in 1934 from his six-year European studies in Madrid (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando) and Rome (Reale Accademia di Belle Arti), Lorenzo mounted a homecoming exhibition in January 1935 at the Philippine Columbian Club, where Edades also held his historic solo show in 1928 that spearheaded the introduction of modern art to the country (Interestingly, it was Edades who encouraged Lorenzo to have his homecoming exhibition at the said venue.).<br /><br />Lorenzo, galvanized from the sweet acceptance of his art in Europe, notably his 1934 debut solo exhibition in Rome, which showcased mainly portraits of his wife Lina and Italian landscapes and garnered the general acclaim of Italian artists and critics, had only high hopes for his homecoming. Although he won the praises of the critics, writers, and cultural cognoscenti for his homecoming show, with The Philippines Herald newspaper dedicating an entire lead story with the headline “Modern Art Makes Formal Bow with Exhibition of Lorenzo’s Paintings,” Lorenzo became frustrated over the conditions of Philippine art at this time.<br /><br />“He expressed disappointment with the Philippine art market that seemed to impede the development of his art because the public had a wary regard for artists outside the Amorsolo school,” writes Guillermo. “Besides, he was vexed with buyers haggling over the prices of paintings in the exhibit.”<br /><br />Dismayed, Lorenzo and Lina traveled to Hong Kong in 1935 and would settle there until 1937. Hong Kong became Lorenzo’s creative haven, free from the frowning of an opposing art movement and the lack of local support. He established the Accademia di Belle Arti, Hong Kong’s first art educational institution. “This was a rare move by a Filipino artist who fast gained a sizable following of students and collectors,” writes Guillermo. “For this initiative, he was praised warmly, not only in the colony but in many parts of the world, noting that it was headed by a Filipino artist. The governor of Hong Kong himself, through his deputy, wrote him a letter acknowledging him for this worthy effort and showing interest in its curriculum.”<br /><br />In Hong Kong, Lorenzo painted mainly character studies depicting ordinary natives, such as the work at hand titled Chinese Mandarin. Lorenzo’s impressionist-cumexpressionist flair is discerned in his manner of depicting an elderly Hongkonger with such dignified sophistication. The intensity of Lorenzo’s warm palette, dominated by browns, signifies reverence for the elderly in traditional Chinese culture. The browns symbolize the earth, where the elderly have stood for the longest time and thus have acquired the profoundness of wisdom and the vitality of life. This rings true, especially in Hong Kong, where traditional Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist teachings revolving around filial piety are espoused and followed. (Adrian Maranan)","lot_group":"Painting","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":0,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":0,"userBid":null,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"UNSOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":null,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":0,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":47063,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/95/125/lot/123.jpg","isFeatured":1}]},"increment":[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":122,"next":124,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}