Amorsolo’s Lavandera Beauty by the Brook
By the 1930s, Fernando Amorsolo was already a household name, not just within the Philippine art circle but even beyond that. His works encapsulate the gentle and pleasant atmosphere of the rural Philippines amidst the rapid urbanization and modernization that the country faced at the time.
“Through the thirties, Amorsolo remained highly imaginative and active, periodically going outdoors,” Alfredo Roces wrote in Amorsolo. “Stimulated by the nostalgia around him for the changing country life, he painted rural life as genre rather than aspects of city life.”
The Amorsolo school of thought continues its reign over the Philippine art scene with the maestro’s romantic depictions of the Philippine countryside continuing to influence the new wave of artists. This firm grasp on the Philippine art scene was further emphasized when in 1938 Amorsolo was given the title of director in UP School of Fine Arts, a post previously held by his uncle and mentor Fabian de la Rosa.
Among his favored themes is the lavanderas. Often depicting his beloved dalaga (yet another of his favorite subjects), Amorsolo, trained in the classical romantic art practice, gives a Filipino spin to the Greco-Roman practice of depicting dryads and naiads. He turns the mythical creatures into Filipino washerwomen and bathers frolicking in the stream, Amorsolo’s 1939 Lavandera focuses on a sole washerwoman. Perched on a shallow rock, the dalaga scrubs through her laundry. She has wrapped around her lithe body a towel and the sunlight shines down her back, lighting up her beautiful brown skin.
Amorsolo’s daughter Sylvia Amorsolo Lazo revealed in Amorsolo: Love & Passion that most of his lavandera paintings are painted on the spot. “I think his lavanderas were mostly painted in the provinces of Laguna and Bulacan, and along Pasig River,” Mrs. Sylvia said. This gave his works a more intimate and natural feeling – his composition feels more closed and intimate as bamboo leaves creep in from the corner, reminding the viewers of the vast world outside the canvas. The river ripples as the sunlight bounces off its surface, and the waters cool under the tree’s shade.
The lavanderas are among Fernando Amorsolo’s most enduring subjects. Mrs. Sylvia recounts that her father’s lavanderas are “ideal, beautiful Filipinas who lived in a pastoral landscape of woods, streams, and mountains." Indeed, as Amorsolo returns again and again to the local washerwomen, he depicts a sweet and dignified young woman, armed with the strength of character that Amorsolo reveres and respects within his Filipino dalaga. (Hannah Valiente)
Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazo confirming the authenticity of this lot