Provenance:
Private Collection, Manila

ABOUT THE WORK

In the 1960s, BenCab worked as an illustrator for The Sunday Times Magazine. Prior to this, he worked for two years as a draftsman at the United States Information Service (USIS). However, his early works did not resonate with his chosen field at that time. Instead, his works during this period exemplify his mastery of linear refinement, resulting in pieces that exude a dynamic and spontaneous control of the entire composition. The leading art critics of that time took notice of and remarked on the early works of BenCab. Alfredo R. Roces commented: “BenCab displays a strong command of patterns, breaking up such subjects as sampayan and barong-barong views into patches of light and dark, advancing and retreating spaces.” Eric Torres spoke of BenCab’s influence, noting that the artist’s works during this early period are “strongly reminiscent of Juvenal Sansó’s drawings and etchings of similar subjects.” This was an allusion to Sansó’s ‘poetic surrealism’ where color augmented the aura of the composition. Similar to Sansó’s, the subjects of Bencab’s early works were rendered directly from his creative imagination. The exceptionally evocative quality of BenCab’s early works aptly fit the theme of the Filipinos’ identity and circumstances that serve as inspirations for his moving art, and this would constantly pervade the inner psyche of his art.