Leon Gallery wishes to thank Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo for confirming the authenticity of this lot

Literature: Lupang Hinirang: Alay ni Amorsolo, published by Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Philippines, 1989, p. 105 (illustrated)

ABOUT THE WORK

This scene of two women cooking outdoors amid all the farm activity is painted with a combination of spectacular, fleeting romanticism and meticulous, somber literalism. In a conscious engagement with nature the rhythms of the land, people and place, inform the work of Amorsolo. By the 1950s, Fernando Cueto Amorsolo’s mastery the Filipino genre painting has crystallized, with its idyllic renditions of country life against the backdrop of lush landscapes, as against the realities of postwar urban encroachment. He continued to make many outdoor studies of the untouched Philippine countryside, in an ardent endeavor to capture the light and color of what he has observed. This immersion in nature would seem to reflect Amorsolo’s characteristically nostalgic attitude towards the countryside. From his academic background, the artist’s mastery to make meticulous studies of the human form has also crystallized. Amorsolo is, as ever, interested in the contrasts of warm and cool colors. An interesting contrast is the fact that the painting represents its subjects in the shady foreground delegating the harsh, tropical afternoon light in the background. Most of the artist’s canvases radiate with color and light and this humble, realistic scene expresses another aspect of his sensitive artistry, His color choices here are darker yet warmer than in most of his outdoor scenes; the shadows are not cooled, the bright green of the fields is tempered by the distant heavy blues. There is a growing command of light and shadow in relation to form and space. It is deeply reflective of space, time, the changes within nature, and the journeys of the country people throughout the world. There is a great vitality at work here, but the shadows also give a glimpse of the transitory reality of life.