Provenance: Private Collection, USA

ABOUT THE WORK

The years immediately after the Second World War were marked by the rise of the Neo-Realists, who took off the modernist movement started by Victorio Edades to unprecedented heights. The most prominent among them was Romeo Tabuena. Spurred by the artistic developments in the local art scene and, more so, in the larger international arena, Tabuena left the Philippines in 1952, living first in California before moving to New York. After a brief reunion with PAG founder Lyd Arguilla and a European tour in 1954, Tabuena would eventually settle in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in 1955, taking up residence and accepting a scholarship to pursue further studies. Tabuena would permanently call Mexico his home while retaining his Philippine citizenship. In Mexico, Tabuena developed a colorful and prismatic style of painting featuring the common folk, such as candle vendors and street sweepers. Tabuena also unleashed his Expressionist powers with his darkly toned compositions, lending an overall heavy atmosphere that implies the socio-economic disposition of the ordinary people. Such is the case with this work titled Mother and Child. The slender, elongated figures represent the influence of Chinese scroll painting in Tabuena’s style, which had been evident since the earlier phase of his painting career. In Tabuena’s interpretation of the popular subject, the figures’ facial expressions denote anguish and suffering; their frail physical structures imply deprivation. Tabuena’s expressionist distortion of the mother and child, juxtaposed with a monochromatic yet striking background powerfully highlights the somber subjects in their penurious reality, leaving an unequivocal depiction of the distress of the masses. (A.M.)