Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist

Literature: Paras-Perez, Rodolfo. Manansala. Manila: PLC Publications, 1980. Full color illustration and painting description on page 229.

ABOUT THE WORK

The Chromatic Series of Manansala Inang Bayan Serenading the Filipino People Vicente Manansala, from the 1970s onwards to the final years of his life, was an artist most sought-after and a man admired by many for his humble and homespun character, candid frankness, strong sense of humor, infectious laughter, and childlike congeniality. But beyond his charisma and comic personality lies an inner child deprived of a nurturing mother. Civic leader and environmentalist Odette Alcantara, one of Manansala's best friends, wrote in a loving ode to the Cubist master a month after his passing on August 22, 1981 that Manansala "liked motherly attention, always longed for motherly affection." This void in Manansala's psyche was due to an unfortunate childhood memory in which he felt neglected and disowned by his mother, who cherished his older brother more and whom a manghuhula said "would become rich and famous." "It never crossed her mind that I would amount to anything. Kaya ako naglayas [That’s why I left home],” Manansala once revealed to Alcantara. Alcantara succinctly follows: "Mang Enteng enjoyed the company of women who are mother types. Lorna Montilla is one. Bessie Legarda, Judy Roxas, Prissy Chiongbian, Melinda de Leon, Floy Aguenza, Lisa Gatmaytan, Jose Cruz all mothered him and he liked it. These women brought out the infant in him." A woman Alcantara specifically mentioned was Priscilla Chiongbian. She and Manansala met in 1972 through the latter’s protégé, Ang Kiukok. Priscilla was Ang's dear friend and one of his first serious collectors, coming at a time when Ang's works had not yet become popular among the circle of art connoisseurs and collectors. Ang brought Mrs. Chiongbian to Manansala's Binangonan abode and, from there, struck a decade-long friendship. 1972 was also when Manansala settled in Binangonan. Woman Playing Guitar was painted by Manansala in Los Angeles during a two-month vacation abroad with Priscilla, spanning Paris, New York, and LA. "To help foster Manansala's upbeat, positive mood so that he would be moved to paint, Lola would take Manong Vicente Manansala on vacation trips with her to Europe and the United States, entirely for the artist's relaxation and inspiration," says Priscilla's granddaughter Caroline Sison. "During these journeys with my grandmother and myself, he would paint the beautiful works of art, which we now enjoy. I believe that the way Manong Enteng tried to repay Lola for these kindnesses and understanding was that he would do paintings for her. I remember he would spend months at her Beverly Hills home, just painting the pieces that were hanging there." During these trips, Priscilla brought out Manansala's inner child; he made some of his best works and unleashed the unbridled vibrancy of his palette, akin to a little boy possessing the inexhaustible energy of play. As a loving reminder of her friend, Priscilla hung this painting in a special place in her Beverly Hills home—the master's bedroom—along with other paintings that Manansala painted just for her. Woman Playing Guitar forms part of Manansala's Chromatic Series, which Rod. Paras-Perez notes in his book Manansala as dominated by "atmospheric colors and the continued use of the figure type." In the work at hand, Manansala uses color to bring out an inherent symbolism, an "easter egg." The woman's baro't saya and the "golden" setting represent the trifecta of colors of the Philippine flag. The work instantly evokes a folk atmosphere, recalling to mind the quaint kundiman that became popular during the pre-war era and extolled the virtues of the dalagang Filipina, whose charming image Amorsolo used as his quintessential muse. However, in Manansala's work, the dalaga has matured and now symbolizes Inang Bayan (Motherland), the personification of the Philippines as a nation with a throbbing experience of colonialism, a formidable history of struggle and resistance, and a hopeful yearning for genuine liberty. Here, Inang Bayan is seen serenading herself in the realm of her peace and quiet. Her face exudes both dignity and composure. In Manansala's coloristic exploration, the trifecta of vibrant colors that seemingly create a soulful melody emancipate a deep sensibility of the native; Inang Bayan becomes a representation of the Filipino people's perseverance, struggling to break from the echoes of colonial oppression that still palpably resound even in our present times. The composition becomes a metaphor for Inang Bayan, the Philippines, serenading herself into genuine liberty and inclusive progress especially for the underprivileged. Manansala’s choice of Inang Bayan comes to no surprise. As a person with a dysfunctional experience of the maternal, Manansala sees himself longing for a mother whose comforting solace he found in his art that manifests his Filipino sensibility and puts forward his compassion to his fellow masses. Coincidentally, this may also have been evocative of Priscilla, who was beloved by the Sarangans as their dearest "Mommy Priscy;" was a protective and nurturing mother on the strength of her environmental advocacies and peoplecentered initiatives; and whose motherly instincts and gentle company Manansala relished. (Adrian Maranan)