Provenance: Provenance: Sotheby’s: Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, Hong Kong, 1 April 2018, Lot 325 Private Collection, U.K.

ABOUT THE WORK

One of BenCab’s avowed passions is said to be the work of Spanish Renaissance painter, sculptor, and architect El Greco’s works with elaborately rendered drapes. This fondness is apparent in the National Artist’s exceptional drapery pieces that manifest contrasts of light and shadow and fine detailed in pen and ink. This 1971 piece in particular, exhibiting a draped sculpture of a head, has haunting and somber qualities evoked by subdued tones and intricate folds. Illustrated are both hints of sorrow as well as redemption, and in the invigoration of the drape, a sense of flesh and life are also given off. The used dark acrylics all the more sets the captivating dramatic quality of the piece, remarkable for the details that reveal the weight of the wrapped cloth. It is undoubtedly in his enduring penchant for drapery in which his artistic temper and spirit can be seen.