Provenance: Private Collection, Hawaii, USA

ABOUT THE WORK

Art lovers have witnessed how Bencab has continuously caused change to his two familiar images, which we term his series, namely his Sabel and Larawan, both of which have engaged viewers starting as mere signature motifs of the times and have undergone metamorphosis into creative grounds of artistic experimentation, finally turning into engaging totems of social critique. Larawan, the Filipino term for photograph, is a major theme that recurs in BenCab’s paintings since the 1960’s, carries an emotional and pictorial reverberations in the art of the artist. Bencab was In London ni the late 1960s when David Hockney and Francis Bacon started what they called “the new spirit of painting.” “It was a return to figurative art, which I liked. I had studied Japanese prints, and thought, “How were they able to influence the Europeans?” Maybe I can show my own culture and influence them as well. I started the “Larawan” series in 1972. I was buying a lot ofF ilipiniana books in London with old photographs from the colonial era. I was showing the parallelism between the past and present. When I was at UP I loved reading about history, like Nick Joaquin’s “A Question of Heroes.” Almost all the 19th century Filipina women in Bencabs’ oeuvre belong to the indio class. Cid Reyes wrote in 1998: “Lying at the heart of this artistic decision is the painful scorn and derision suffered by these indias, a factual record of which is distinctly etched in the travel narratives of 19th century chroniclers and visitors. Succeeding travelers took their turn heaping insult on the person of the poor Filipina. Thus with jaundiced eyes did the 19th century foreigners regard the Filipina. But in the eyes of an ardent nationalist like Bencab, a reversal in outlook was gallantly forthcoming, In a grand celebration on the canvas, the artist conceives the Filipina as an india brava. rising boldly from the grief of her poverty and ignorance, through sheer endurance and industry..” Based on colonial photography, the Larawan images hauntingly suggest parallel scenarios between the past and present, and Bencab emerges triumphantly in these veritable tableaux of our ancestors. Asked to explain his concern with the depiction of “The Filipino”, Bencab replied: ”I am interested in the investigation of the various and differing social and cultural aspects of the Filipino personality.”