Provenance: Private Collection, USA

ABOUT THE WORK

“Lavanderas” shows what the Amorsolo sunlight can do when it plays on the water. By the slightest of freehand indications, the green foliage on the opposite bank are about as “Impressionistic” as Amorsolo ever got. The woman standing up and the woman beating the laundry are as typical as Amorsolo ever painted women for genre themes; they are, however, typically long-limbed, long-stemmed, and glowing with good health and temper. Amorsolo creates a casual, informal atmosphere, avoiding the posed look, by painting the women some with their backs turned to the viewer and by shadowing their faces. The water in the paddies also reflects the sun and the sky with the large cloud masses, enlarging the overall space and enhancing the greeness of the rural space. Amorsolo had always been obdurantly resistant to the Modernist shockwaves from America. These works show him more entrenched than ever, not only in the 19th century tradition but in a Contemporary manifestation of it.