PROPERTY FROM THE LITTON FAMILY COLLECTION

Provenance: Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist

ABOUT THE WORK

Anita Magsaysay-Ho is one of the foremost artists who helped in the acceptance of Modern Art in the Philippines. Known to assert a fresh individual style that does not adhere to academic formulas, she explored modernist techniques in her works, from expressive distortion to focus on composition and rhythm. Critic Alice Guillermo noted that in her subsequent studies in the Art Students League of New York, Magsaysay-Ho further developed her modernist style as she studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, University of Michigan. Living in different countries throughout her life, Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, upon describing Magsaysay-Ho, wrote: “Wherever she lived, she always remained a Filipina.” This early 1943 still life watercolor painting reveals her predominantly brownish yellow hues and her distinct curved lines before the angular lines that mark her works mostly composed of women.