Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

Called “BenCab” by many, Benedicto Cabrera is considered as one of the National Artists for Visual Arts in the Philippines who champions contemporary Philippine art. Throughout BenCab’s career that has been spanning for around fifty years and counting, one can see that he aims to leave a lasting and meaningful legacy. In the book BenCab: Filipino Artist, critic Patrick D. Flores writes that BenCab’s artistic style has “often been viewed in shorthand; and his figures on canvas have been easily consumed as icons.” These produced artworks are reflections of how he “tells stories visually and how these stories interpret what it means to be Filipino.” This nude sketch, for instance, shows his artistic sensibilities in rendering the female form. Here, BenCab presents not over-idealization of the nude nor the heavy stylization of the subject’s physical structure but hints realistic contours and features. His nude works are part of his oeuvre celebrated and collected by various patrons of the arts, as these show his unparalleled draftsmanship in depicting his subjects both in pose and movement.