Art/Style/Travel Diaries

A Magsaysay-Ho gifted to loyal employee, Botong from an American collection lead León’s year-end auction

Ocampo, Joya, Zobel, and rare historical maps rounded out The Kingly Treasures Auction 2023

Lot 32, Anita Magsaysay-Ho (1914 - 2012), Harvesters, dated 1957, oil on canvas, 24” x 30” (61 cm x 76 cm), sold for: PHP 32,443,200.

Lot 138, Carlos V. Francisco (1912–1969), ‘Bayanihan,’ signed and dated 1968 (lower right), oil on canvas, 26″ x 34″ i (66 cm x 86 cm), sold for P28,838,400

From the Don Vicente ‘Tiking’ H. Lopez, Jr. collection,  Hernando R. Ocampo (1911–1978), ‘Dreams,’ signed and dated 1961 (lower left) and titled (‘verso’), oil on canvas, 28” x 22” (71 cm x 56 cm), sold for P13,217,600

Philippine historical rarities and art masterpieces seemingly straight out of cabinets of curiosities performed best in León Gallery’s year-end sale, The Kingly Treasures Auction 2023, held Dec. 2, 2023. It was a fitting culmination to the celebration of the country’s 125th independence anniversary.

The foremost Filipino modernists topbilled the highly successful sale, starting with the work of  Anita Magsaysay-Ho, touted as the “Queen of Auctions,” whose 1957 work, Harvesters, fetched P32.4 million (inclusive of buyer’s premium). The masterpiece,  exhibited twice in the pioneering and historied Philippine Art Gallery, was once owned by Mr. Dee K. Chiong, former president and chairman of China Banking Corporation. Upon his passing, his wife, Regina, bequeathed the idyllic Harvesters to Mr. Dee’s loyal secretary of two decades, Leticia B. Lucas.

Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco’s Bayanihan went for P28.8 million. A work formerly in the collection of Herbert and Gertrud Harder, an American couple from New York’s Fifth Avenue, Bayanihan is the only known easel-sized work in oil of Botong’s iconic Bayanihan mural, which is now in a private collection.

HR Ocampo’s dynamic Dreams, from the collection of Don Vicente “Tiking” H. Lopez, Jr., went for P13.2 million. Two works representing two different spectrums of the versatility of Fernando Zóbel, whose 100th birth anniversary will be on Aug. 27, 2024, fetched impressive figures. An early figurative work from 1954, Study of Cafetera Expres (II), went for more than P6 million, while one of the artist’s last works, Recreo con Raya Roja, painted two years before Zobel’s early death in 1984, brought in more than P12 million.

Fernando Zóbel (1924–1984), ‘Study of Cafetera Exprés (II),’ signed (upper right), ca. 1954, gouache/graphite, 16” x 13” (41 cm x 33 cm), sold for P6,008,000

Fernando Zóbel (1924–1984), ‘Recreo con Raya Roja,’ signed (lower left); signed and inscribed ‘82-10 / ‘Recreo con Raya Roja’ (‘verso’), oil on canvas, 27” x 35 3/4” (69 cm x 91 cm), sold for P12,016,000

Other eminent modernists commanded equally striking sums: Victorio Edades’ Lady in Maria Clara (Juliet Reyes) (P10.8 million); Vicente Manansala’s Madonna (P9.6 million), and Faith, Hope, and Charity (P3.6 million), both from the collection of Virginia “Leni” V. Reyes; Cesar Legaspi’s Dancing Nudes (P4.8 million); Jose Joya’s Solar Valley (P9.6 million); and Mauro Malang Santos’ Escapulario (P3.4 million), a work that formed part of Malang’s landmark 1967 exhibition at The Luz Gallery which signaled his move into painting after years of being a prolific cartoonist.

From a very distinguished collector, Victorio Edades (1895–1985), ‘Lady in Maria Clara (Juliet Reyes),’ signed and dated 1978 (lower right), oil on canvas, 38” x 32” (97 cm x 81 cm), sold for P10,814,400

From the Virginia ‘Leni’ V. Reyes collection, Vicente Manansala (1910–1981), Madonna, signed and dated 1980 (upper left), oil on canvas, 26” x 30” (66 cm x 76 cm), sold for P9,612,800

Cesar Legaspi (1917–1994), ‘Dancing Nudes,’ signed and dated 1976 (lower right), oil on wood panel, 41” x 27” (104 cm x 69 cm), sold for P4,806,400

From the Virginia ‘Leni’ V. Reyes collection, Vicente Manansala (1910–1981), ‘Faith, Hope, and Charity,’ signed and dated 1981 (upper right), oil on canvas, 22” x 18 1/4” (55 cm x 46 cm), sold for P3,604,800

From a very distinguished collector couple, Jose Joya (1931–1995), ‘Solar Valley, ‘signed and dated 1976 (lower right and verso), sponge painting, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24” (76 cm x 61 cm), sold for P9,612,800

From the Don J. Antonio Araneta collection,  Mauro Malang Santos (1928–2017), ‘Escapulario,’ signed and dated 1967 (lower right), acrylic on canvas, 20” x 20” (51 cm x 51 cm), sold for P3,364,480

León’s final auction for 2023 also had the impressive sale of rare historical maps, providing a visual story of our colonial past and shared connection with our Asian neighbors. The Moluccae Insulae Celeberrimae, which the Leon catalog described as “an important example of the exceedingly rare first state of the legendary spice map…originally made in 1594 by Dutch mapmaker Petrus Plancius,” sold for P12 million, the highest price ever paid for a map of the famed Spice Islands. The map, as described in the Leon catalog, “promoted the founding of the powerful mega-trading corporation, the Dutch East India Company or the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC),” which “brought the proverbial riches of the East to Europe, the most precious being the spices from East India and Southeast Asia.”

Petrus Plancius (1552–1622), ‘Moluccae Insulae Celeberrimae,’ first state, published by Claes Janszoon Visscher, 1617, dated 1598, 15 1/2” x 21 1/2” (39 cm x 55 cm), sold for P12,016,000

A second map, the extremely rare Ramusio-Gastaldi Map, dubbed the Birth Certificate of the Philippines as it featured—for the first time in a European document—the name “Filipina,” given to a narrow island to the east of Mindanao, fetched P2.6 million.

Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1485–1557), Giacomo Gastaldi (C. 1500–1566), ‘Terza Ostro Tavola (The Ramusio-Gastaldi Map of 1563),’ published by Lucantonio Giunti with Ramusio in Venice. Map is hexagonal, measuring 38 cm at the top, 39.2 cm at the middle, 36 cm at the bottom with a height of 28 cm, 12” x 16” (30 cm x 41 cm), sold for P2,643,520

Another rarity in the León auction was National Hero Jose Rizal’s companion poem to his farewell masterpiece, Mi Ultimo Adios: Mi Retiro. The historic document, which went under the hammer for P5.4 million, is the only known copy of the poem, entirely handwritten and dedicated by Rizal to his friend, Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera. (The original was given to Rizal’s mother, Doña Teodora Alonzo.)

From the collection of Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, José Rizal (1861–1896) Mi Retiro, handwritten and signed by Jose Rizal himself, ca. 1895–1896, two leaves of graph paper with four pages with handwriting, enveloped addressed “Para Sr Dr Pardo, Calle Centeno, No. 7” (for Señor Doctor Pardo), leaf 1: 8 1/4” x 10 1/4” (21 cm x 26 cm), leaf 2: 8 1/4” x 10 1/4” (21 cm x 26 cm), envelope: 4 1/2” x 5 3/4” (11 cm x 15 cm), sold for P5.407,200

There were also rare portraits from the great Filipino impressionist Juan Luna—both from the collection of former Ambassador to Spain Pedro Conlu Hernaez, Bacolod City’s founding father. The first portrait, Study of Paz Picking Flowers in a Garden, one of two studies by Luna that would culminate in his finished work, Picnic in Normandy, now at the UP Jorge Vargas Museum collection, fetched P6 million. The second, Juan Luna and His Wife, Paz, featuring Luna’s rare self-portrait, sold for P4.3 million.

From the Ambassador Pedro Conlu Hernaez collection, Juan Luna (1857–1899), ‘Study of Paz Picking Flowers in a Garden,’ signed lower right, oil on wood, 18” x 14 1/2” (46 cm x 37 cm), sold for P6,008,000

From the Ambassador Pedro Conlu Hernaez collection, Juan Luna (1857–1899),  ‘Juan Luna and His Wife Paz,’ signed (lower right), ca. 1885–1886, oil on wood, 17 1/4” x 11 3/4” (44 cm x 30 cm), sold for P4,325,760

Contemporary Filipino artists also shone at Leon’s year-end auction, led by Benedicto Cabrera’s Larawan Series from 1994, which earned P14.4 million; Lao Lianben’s Neurotic Zen Masters 6, which went for P8.4 million; Danilo Dalena’s Bwisit from his iconic Jai-Alai Series, which went for P6.6 million; and Elmer Borlongan’s Guilty and its accompanying study, garnering a total price exceeding P6 million. Elaine Navas’ homage to her dear mentor, Roberto Chabet, titled Red Parachute (Diptych), was sold for P3.4 million, breaking Leon’s own previous world record for a work by the artist.

Benedicto Cabrera (b. 1942), ‘Larawan Series,’ acrylic on canvas, signed and dated 1994 (lower right), sold for P14,419,200

Lao Lianben (b. 1948), ‘Neurotic Zen Masters 6,’ signed and dated 1990 (lower left and verso), modeling paste, acrylic on wood and burlap, 60″ x 52″ (152 cm x 132 cm), sold for P8,411,200

Elmer Borlongan (b. 1967)
a) Study of ‘Guilty, ‘signed and dated 2015 (lower left), ink on paper, 8” x 7” (20 cm x 18 cm)
b) ‘Guilty,’ signed and dated 2015 (lower right), acrylic and modeling paste on canvas, 36” x 36” (91 cm x 91 cm), sold together for 6,008,000

Danilo Dalena (b. 1942), ‘Bwisit (Jai–Alai Series),’ signed and dated 2000 (lower right), oil on canvas, 48” x 36” (122 cm x 91 cm), sold for P6,608,800

From the Patrick and Yolanda Johnson collection, Elaine Navas (b. 1964), ‘Red Parachute’ (diptych), signed and dated 2014 (lower right), oil on canvas, 96” x 109” (244 cm x 277 cm), sold for P3,364,480

Demi Padua’s poignant yet hopeful masterpiece Prepared and Decided, which encapsulates his hope for a world that is benevolently shared by all of humanity, went for P4.8 million.

Demi Padua (b. 1977), ‘Prepared and Decided,’ signed and dated 2023 (lower left), acrylic on canvas, 72″ x 60″ (183 cm x 152 cm), sold for P4,806,400

Looking back on this fruitful year, León Gallery director Jaime Ponce de Leon thanked the collectors, bidders, connoisseurs, and the art-loving public who have contributed to the auction house’s success and its endeavor of showcasing the best of Philippine art and culture.

“On behalf of Team León, allow me to thank you all. We have so much to be grateful for this year,” said Ponce de Leon. “We once more look forward to an exciting and fulfilling year, and with your help, we know it will be another delightful milestone.”


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