Juvenal Sansó’s pieces have a knack for transporting his viewers to a different world. This untitled work, an otherworldly image of a dark forest as though seen through night vision lenses, is a testament to that. Stones piled upon stones–a key element in Sansó’s works–with greeneries sprouting in-betweens are present in this image. There was also a tinge of orange on the rocks, suggesting a trace of moonlight. At first, it could look like a harmless, typical night in the forest, but it still exudes cold and sinister feeling. Critics and laymen alike have always noted the mysterious and troubled qualities elicited by Sansó’s compositions. Another trademark of a Sansó piece is its hauntedness. Although the medium he used was undetermined, the painting at hand resembled an etching art, one of the techniques the artist studied in France. Thin, white strokes used to create figures adorned a black base, unveiling an ominous atmosphere. “[It] shows the world as a limbo hovering between day and night where living creatures do not exist but inanimate objects become prime actors,” Cleveland Museum curator Louise S. Richards notes on what a tour in Sansó’s 1964 Cleveland Museum exhibition feels like. Richards further discussed the characteristics of Sansó’s landscapes by saying, “...shadowy rocks and bushes have a watchful presence neither evil nor beneficent but alien to our everyday experience of stone and wood.” (Jessica Magno)
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Juvenal Sansó (b. 1929)
Nightscape I
signed (lower right), dated 1964
tempera on paper
19” x 24 3/4” (48 cm x 63 cm)
SOLD: PHP 600,800
Accompanied by a certificate issued by Fundacion Sansó confirming the authenticity of this lot
Provenance: PRIVATE COLLECTION
Literature: Paras-Perez, Rodolfo. Sanso: Art Quest Between Two Worlds. Manila: Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Inc., 1988. Illustrated and with painting description on page 136.