Domingo M. Guevara was a self-made industrialist and entrepreneur, known for founding Radiowealth appliances and expanding it into the Guevent Group of companies. (image courtesy of The D.M. Guevara Story)
One of the highlights at Salcedo Auctions’ The Well-Appointed Life sale is an early untitled work by a pioneering modernist of Philippine art, H.R. Ocampo. Dated 1956, the oil-on-canvas remained in private hands for years until the heirs of its original owner decided to offer it up for bidding.
H.R. Ocampo’s 1956 untitled masterpiece is on offer at Salcedo Auctions The Well-Appointed Life live and online auction on 16 September 2023. View the catalogue and register to bid via . Visit Salcedo Auctions for preview at NEX Tower, 6786 Ayala Avenue, Makati City, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
National Artist H.R. Ocampo
While there’s a good chance generations of art lovers are familiar with Ocampo, just a few present-day Filipinos know much about the painting’s original owner, the visionary Domingo M. Guevara, or his revolutionary brands, Sakbayan and Radiowealth. But anybody who has driven around Mandaluyong would have traversed a busy 2-lane street that bears Guevara’s name.
Sakbayan was considered the first Filipino native car for incorporating almost 80% of locally made parts. (image courtesy of The D.M. Guevara Story)
Ocampo and Guevara occupied different worlds, but their trajectories bore similarities. They were born two years apart, Ocampo in 1911 and Guevarra in 1909, and worked in different fields (Ocampo started as a writer, while Guevara was into farming) before embarking on the careers that gained them recognition later on. The ’50s era was a defining moment for the two, with Ocampo’s robust exploration of non-representational paintings and Guevarra’s introduction of the Radiowealth TV in the Philippine market–which to this day is unparalleled in terms of its success as a home-grown appliance brand.
The period encompassing the creation of the artwork on offer marked Ocampo’s ‘transitional’ phase, starting from the 1940s when his figurative abstractions conveyed somber themes that reflect the shadows of personal trauma inflicted by the War, to the 1960s, during which he produced some of his most iconic pieces.
The Guevara firms were lauded in a mini Who’s Who of Pinoy tycoons that appeared in a 1969 Reader’s Digest (image courtesy of The D.M. Guevara Story)
Untitled (1956) is characterized by Ocampo’s burgeoning interest in non-objective painting. His depictions of figures and natural elements during this seminal period underwent a process of simplification, as he attempted to present works that intentionally lacked discernible subject matter or emotions. His focus shifted towards exploring the interplay of shapes, colors, values, textures, and lines within a spatial context, rather than merely capturing a photographic likeness of the natural world.
Similarly around the same time, Guevarra was exploring the full potential of a business anchored to electronic innovation. He started by opening a radio repair shop in the 1930s before his expansion to the importation of TV sets and other appliances. After introducing Radiowealth’s locally designed and produced TV sets in the mid-5os, which would dominate the market for years, and introducing various appliances to include refrigerators, sound systems, etc., Guevarra would enter the automobile industry.
He assembled Volkswagen cars in his factory on Libertad street (now Domingo M. Guevara) in Mandaluyong before launching the first Filipino-designed and manufactured vehicle – the Sakbayan. Guevarra’s success continued through the early seventies until the declaration of Martial Law. He experienced difficulties from various government agencies and lending companies, so he decided to go into self-exile in the US.
H.R. Ocampo’s untitled oil on canvas from 1956 exemplifies the start of Guevarra’s golden years in business. It is also symbolic of the parallels between the collector and the artist as trailblazers in their fields, deservingly making their marks in history as paragons of Filipino progress and ingenuity.
This masterpiece has been in the collection of the illustrious Guevara family of San Juan City for decades. (image from Salcedo Auctions)
H.R. Ocampo’s 1956 untitled masterpiece is on offer at Salcedo Auctions The Well-Appointed Life live and online auction on 16 September 2023. View the catalogue and register to bid via . Visit Salcedo Auctions for preview at NEX Tower, 6786 Ayala Avenue, Makati City, from 9AM to 6PM.
