Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Buenaventura sought for a naturalism that reaches beyond appearances. He pursued intensely personal visions of nature. The nipa huts seem more like lanterns with the lamps lit within, the poetry for which he yearned may have proven to be hard to find, and harder still to hold. With his meticulously rendered images of commonplace sights, Cesar Buenaventura provokes a fresh, postcard pretty view of the material world Buenaventura’s art of capturing outdoor scenes was his way of taking stock of his many personal observations through life, be it inspired by a location or a memory. Buenaventura’s forte was landscape and his views of the Philippine countrysdi e are notable for their solidity of mass, somber color, and brooding atmosphere. Some of the best Filipino art frankly acknowledged its provincial character, which has likewise found an appreciative audience among many of Cesar Buenaventura’s collectors here and abroad.