Provenance:
Private Collection, Makati City

ABOUT THE WORK

As a close contemporary of Fernando Amorsolo, Dominador Castañeda made a conscious effort to deviate from the prevailing ‘Amorsolo school.’ Landscapes - such as this bucolic scene - were his forte, and this he executed by way of a calmer color palette as opposed to the fiery chiaroscuro of Amorsolo’s canvas. His landscapes are predominantly rendered in white and light blue tones, evoking a cool atmosphere in contrast to Amorsolo’s yellow and orange flecked scenery. This luminous landscape seems to anticipate his excitement for things to come. Castañeda retired from teaching from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts where he became dean. E. Aguilar Cruz wrote in 1975: “His retirement from teaching in 1961 was a release from virtual imprisonment in routine… Once more on his own, he set to paint with almost feverish energy, producing more in the last few years of his life than he had in all his 30 years of connection with the Fine Arts faculty.