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 illustration and painting description on page 95.

ABOUT THE WORK

Diosdado Lorenzo’s genre pieces, while reaching their apex in the mid-1970s, stretch past that date. While his pastoral subjects of nipa huts and rural genre share similarities with the romantic conservatives of his time, his stylistic approach led to art historians labeling him as a modernist. His 1958 Sabungero, for instance, takes the usual subjects of cockfighters and turns them into a uniquely Lorenzo. His keen sensitivity to light, colors, shapes, and textures results in his obvious brushstrokes (as opposed to the smooth strokes used by the Conservatives) that emphasize the fragmentation of his figures as well as pull the pieces together. By juxtapositioning the cool pink background with the warm brown skin of the sabungeros and their fighting roosters, Lorenzo's figures pop out, their image devoid of idealization and sentimentality but no less captivating. (Hannah Valiente)