Provenance: Private Collection, Makati City

ABOUT THE WORK

Exposed to the cultural heritage of Italy where he lived during the pre-war years, Diosdado Lorenzo was an artist who believed in the ability of art to be timeless. Diosdado Lorenzo lived in interesting times: Philippine art was going through its first modernist ferment, and among his contemporaries are great artists like Victorio Edades, Galo Ocampo, and Carlos Francisco. The art of Lorenzo is distinguished by its masterful impasto technique, his eye for warm, clashing colors, and the sure strokes of Lorenzo’s his brush that do not conceal their tracks. The practice of one’s art should be reward in itself; the paintings of Diosdado exude a kind of exuberance in their making that must have been solace for the artist at a time when modernism was a form of rebellion. Lorenzo’s works have outlived him, and will outlive the various subjects and sceneries they have portrayed.