PROPERTY FROM THE DON J. ANTONIO ARANETA COLLECTION

Literature: Araneta, Antonio S., ed., 1030 R. Hidalgo: Volume II, Legacy in Art. Manila: Mara, Inc., 1986. Full-color photograph and painting description on page 75. Duldulao, Manuel D. The Philippine Art Scene. Manila: Maber Books, Inc., 1977. Full color photograph on page 243; Catalogued in the caption on page 244.

ABOUT THE WORK

Teodoro Buenaventura's Street Scene is among the few surviving works by one of the country's undisputed masters of genre painting; many of his major works unfortunately perished during World War II. Street Scene hung prominently in the Main Reception Room of Don J. Antonio Araneta's magnificent Forbes Park abode, along with artworks by other revered artists, such as early works by Vicente Rivera y Mir, Amorsolo, Sanso, and even a pen and ink wash by the esteemed Italian master Caravaggio. Luna's Sorprendidos (ca. 1887) from his Venetian honeymoon with Paz Pardo de Tavera and Buenaventura's own A Countryside Dawn (1938) also graced the room's walls. Both were auctioned at León Gallery in 2021 and 2022, respectively. All these works had once greeted Don J. Antonio's distinguished guests, such as US President Richard Nixon. Buenaventura first immersed himself in art in childhood, drawing pen and ink landscapes of his native Bulacan. He became fatherless at 14, so he convinced his mother to allow him to migrate to Manila for job opportunities. When he landed a job in the capital, Buenaventura continued his passion for the arts. This sustained pursuit eventually led him to be discovered by the mother of Ramon Salas, his employer, who sent him to the Escuela Superior de Pintura, Escultura, y Grabado, the same institution that honed Luna and Hidalgo. Buenaventura would eventually become a prolific and well-decorated artist. He competed in the Exposition Regional de Filipinas, instituted by Governor-General Ramon Blanco as the first Exposition in the archipelago to promote trade and commerce. It was held in Manila from January 23 to July 19, 1895. Buenaventura would win a bronze medal for Después del Baño (After the Bath), one of the three oil paintings he entered in the competition. Buenaventura would also win a silver medal for his work Ya Vienen (They Are Coming) at an exhibition sponsored by the Asociacion Internacional de Artistas in 1908, besting Fabian de la Rosa, who was, at the time, already a big name in Philippine art. In 1899, Buenaventura opened his portrait shop in San Jose, Trozo, in present-day Santa Cruz, Manila. Numerous commissions for portraits and landscapes flocked to him for his excellence in classical realism. He would also establish in his home his own school, the Academia de Dibujo, which counted among its students Serafin Serna, Tomas Bernardo, and Mauro Malang Santos. The now revered Malang had his first serious art training under Buenaventura, his private tutor when he was only 11 years old. Buenaventura was a founding teacher of the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts, serving for almost three decades, from 1909 to 1935. (Adrian Maranan)