Leon Gallery wishes to thank Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo for confirming the authenticity of this lot

ABOUT THE WORK

Amorsolo’s landscapes almost always have figures as a point of reference and scale. In 1961, the actual rural life pattern itself changed as much as the countryside changed. But Amorsolo painted his peasants as timeless figures clothed in the same manner as he did before the war. “La Siega” depicts farmers doing backbreaking jobs with the same body language as how Thomas Hart Benton would depict the farmers of rural America. But the analogy ends there. Amorsolo’s “La Siega” embodies sweetness and light. The life he chose to portray on canvas invariably brims with good cheer, serenity, casual grace, optimism. His colors are extremely vivid and as in everything is given with the intensity of a dream. In fact, collectors will always be mesmerized by the lure emanating from a peasant filled Amorsolo landscape, prewar or postwar notwithstanding, even its atmosphere of a waking dream. There is a broad simplicity of technique and vigor of execution that bespeak spontaneous work carried to completion in a single setting. The brilliant effects of this painting, down to his generous use of his famous backlighting, are a showcase for Amorsolo’s mastery of technique.