PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A DISTINGUISHED COUPLE

ABOUT THE WORK

Romeo Tabuena took inspiration from his Filipino roots with his groundbreaking landscape paintings. His ethereal scenes with carabaos, farmers, and barrios or nipa huts were done in an exquisite style. He acquired signature techniques such as calligraphic brushstrokes and a distinct figurative style. Furthermore, a noteworthy detail in Tabuena’s works is his color choice which is often soft pastels and pleasing hues. As a Filipino artist who resided in Mexico, the majority of his works in oils, acrylics, and watercolors exhibited a combination of Filipino and Mexican cultural themes. In this 1966 oil on masonite board piece, Tabuena was able to imbue a certain lyrical and literary beauty into the simple folk life. His use of attenuated figures that are spread out in large tonal areas, evoking an early morning fog, all the more elevates the mundane into the transcendental sublime. A year before the creation of this oil piece, in 1965, Tabuena attended the eighth Biennial in Sao Paulo, Brazil, as the official representative of the Philippines. (P.I.R.)