Charming Vistas of France’s La Bretagne From the Philippines’ Prime Post-Impressionist
Liberation for Macario Vitalis in the 1940s has brought a sense of nostalgia into his works. Unfortunately incarcerated in 1941 during the Second World War (he was noted as an “enemy of the state” by the Axis powers for carrying a Filipino passport which was then allied with the US), Vitalis’ release in 1944 meant a return to the arts for which he has left the country in the first place.
For the 1920s, Vitalis lived a double life – a worker by day and an art student by night, he first went to America in search of a good life before his artistic inclinations brought him to the heart of the art world in Paris in 1926.
Paris for Vitalis in the 1930s meant an introduction to a whole slew of characters who will distinctly influence his career moving forward. His interactions with the Cubist group of Puteaux at the restaurant of Camille Renault became a fundamental turning point for Vitalis; he was exposed to the influential counterculture of the time. The townscapes he created in the thirties have slowly shed their academic tonalities. His works became more impressionist in the same vein as the Puteaux group’s and they show the beginnings of the landscapes shown with the lot in hand.
These works, both created in 1947, were done three years after Vitalis’ release. The war’s end meant a proliferation of the influence of the New School of Paris. Paralleling the American Abstract Expressionism movement, this French movement drew from post-impressionism’s structuration and transformed it into a form of lyrical abstraction. Vitalis incorporated quick, fluid brush strokes into his landscapes, rendering the scenes both fleeting and cherished.
Vitalis’ dexterity belies his constant desire for growth. Imbibing the zeitgeist, his works evolve with time, ensuring a truly unique experience that is grounded in the work’s milieu. The decade following the creation of these landscape pieces saw Vitalis engaging deeper into the Parisian art community and the foundations of the flourishing of his personal style are evident in these pieces. (Hannah Valiente)
León Gallery wishes to thank Comité Vitalis for confirming the authenticity of this lot
Exhibited: The Alliance Française de Manille's Total Gallery, Vintage Vitalis, Makati City, 1 - 31 March 2011
Literature: Tayag, Claude and Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi. Vintage Vitalis: Paintings and Drawings (1930 - 1965) [Exhibition Catalog]. Makati City: Alliance Française de Manille, 2011. Published on the occasion of the "Vintage Vitalis" exhibition at the Alliance Française de Manille's Total Gallery in 2011. Full-color illustration.