Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, USA

ABOUT THE WORK

A contemporary of Fernando Amorsolo and Vicente Manansala who reigned during the half of the 20th century, Antonio Dumlao concocted his own craft in the art circle fueled by his ingenuity and restless inner drive. Despite being self-taught, he possessed the technical dexterity to produce remarkable large figurative works. The lucidity and precision of detail down to the delicacy of the fabric patterns are subsumed under a grand pictorial design in which it appears distinctly as a whole. Labeled as a figurative painter but was generally considered by art patrons as a muralist, portrait painter, and stained glass artist, Dumlao was tasked in 1960 to repair and restore Juan Luna’s monumental Spoliarium. He developed an art that he named “sculpture glass” using pounded varicolored glass braced with a polymer in a wrought-iron frame; it has an effect similar to stained glass windows. In this untitled piece, Dumlao, staying true to his reputation, showcases a breathtaking piece depicting a northern indigenous tribe, a subject that is often underrepresented within its time period.