Provenance:
León Gallery, The Magnificent September Auction 2018,
Makati City, 8 September 2018, Lot 142

Literature: The Art and Times of the Seventies, by Corazon S. Alvina, Augusto MR Gonzalez III, Jaime C. Laya, Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, Marian Pastor Reyes; Januarius Holdings, Inc. 2020. Page 54 with a Full Color Illustration on page 63.

ABOUT THE WORK

Vicente Manansala had always aimed to express his compassion for the underprivileged through his art. The artist said: “May compassion ako sa mahihirap… naiintindihan ko’yang wala. Naramdaman ko iyan.” (I have compassion for the poor… I understand what it is like to have nothing. I experienced that." Isabel Nazareno writes in Discovering Manansala: "Emotion, stressed Manansala, imbued art with a humanistic quality." Manansala spun a web of emotions drawn from his povertystricken childhood and experiences and observations in wartorn Manila. He then visually translated his sentiments into an oeuvre that conveys humanistic expressions of grim social realities. Beggars embody Manansala's theme of urban poverty, which he emphasized in many of his pieces. In this piece, Manansala depicts the beggars as oppressively solemn figures, with their faces concealed from the often-disparaging eyes of society. Their bodily expressions bear the marks of relentless suffering. The beggars are shrouded in obscurity, symbolizing the uncertainty of their socio-economic conditions. One can picture that Manansala's beggars are closely nestled—as if in a congregation—outside the walls of an imposing church. In contrast with the church's promise of alleviating suffering, Manansala reveals the opposite. Pain and desolation permeate the composition. Hence, Manansala draws attention to the vulnerability of their existence.