Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, USA

ABOUT THE WORK

One of the most popular artists of the prewar era was Isidro Ancheta. A classical realist of the highest order, Ancheta’s highly detailed works of utmost intricacy were some of the most recognizable works of the time having adorned classrooms nationwide. It was when the Second World War broke out that most of these paintings were destroyed—and when the dust had settled, a very limited number of these had survived. A man of simple, generous impulses, his canvases are as unassuming as the artist. In Ancheta’s later, “looser” paintings, sensitively adjusted for the slightest change of value, the interplay between light and dark areas are overwhelmed by the presence of the sky or natural elements. The views have a certain timelessness— reveal something of his nostalgic attitude towards the outdoors.