PROPERTY FROM THE PRISCILLA L. CHIONGBIAN COLLECTION

León Gallery wishes to thank Mr. Marcel for confirming the authenticity of this lot

ABOUT THE WORK

Like many artists before him, Angelito Antonio’s oeuvre professes a deep love for his home country. He has taken inspiration from the style of Picasso, delineating his f igures aggressively in the way that separated his nascent cubism from that of National Artist and mentor Vicente Manansala. With his developed sense of color (often in shades of acidic yellow, cerulean, or vivid red), Antonio’s works rang like an electric shock in the Philippine art scene, cementing his name as one of the most influential modernist artists. His 1971 Taga Nayon features his signature color palette. With the acidic yellow as the primary color used, Antonio renders a common Filipino theme with a man and a woman holding up wares in their arms and on their heads. It is a common image to which he gives a fresh twist. As Cid Reyes writes: “Antonio sees beneath the commonplace – transforming it into a personal paean, captive in his pictorial space, delivering what is regarded as routine and ordinary from its state of insignificance to a stature of dignity and […] nobility.” (Hannah Valiente)