Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Throughout postwar modernist painter Hugo Yonzon Jr.’s prolific artistic career, he did not stick to one particular genre, medium, style, and subject. One can see his versatility as one studies his oeuvre, also how years of working in the advertising field developed his draftsmanship and artistic discipline; Yonzon is known for being at ease with various styles and techniques, hence producing works that cater to all kinds of collectors’ preferences. The artist also credited Cesar Legaspi for teaching him the tangents in composition and acknowledged the National Artist’s influence in his craft. Yonzon’s masterpieces are mostly in oil, his preferred medium. He showcases a representational style with traces of cubist leanings in his constant depictions of everyday people, from fishermen to vendors, as well as historical and mythical scenes. In Vendors, ordinary people selling fish and tropical produce are presented through his distinct stylized figuration and textured composition. It has an illustrative and narrative quality as well as colors that complement traces of cubist folds.