This piece is accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo confirming the authenticity of this lot

Provenance: Paul Shafer, USA

ABOUT THE WORK

Many of the prewar painters’ genre scenes hid the faces of their subjects to emphasize their anonymity and marginalized position. The women's bowed bodies with hid faces represented their everyday hard work, but Amorsolo was different in that he showed the pleasant cherubic faces of some of his provincial women, their bodies highlighted by his famous backlighting technique. In a typical Amorsolo painting, figures are outlined against a characteristic glow, and intense light on one part of the canvas highlighting nearby details. Philippine sunlight was a constant feature of Amorsolo's work, as he made the most of it — elegantly glazing his subjects with a subtle hint of brilliance, and lighting up a scenic view. Amorsolo, throughout his entire career, is believed to have painted only one rainy-day scene. The composition is simple and coherent; its management of space conveying a restful sense of depth and breadth. The bright tones of the peasants’ clothes complementing the cool greens of the surroundings. It was Fernando Amorsolo with his tropical genre who became the image of the Filipino within a tropical idyll, where youth reigned supreme, and nature was infinitely bountiful. His famous backlighting, which cast golden tones on the natural scenery and created a warm, sentimental atmosphere has in a way defined the idyllic, and to some degree created a benchmark for which.