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Lot Essay
Anita Magsaysay-Ho earned the distinction of being the only woman to be admitted to the patheon of the Thirteen Moderns. After attending the UP School of Fine Arts, she studied at the School of Design under Victoria C. Edades, the highly acclaimed artist who is commonly regarded as the core leader of neo-realist group.
For a brief period, Anita was labelled the "Female Amorsolo" as both share the same dedication for women and genre subjects. The affiliation however, is not more than this sharing of the common subjects. Anita essentially works in a different epoch and her works are influenced by the modernist movement in the Philippines of the 50s when the various Western 'isms' were introduced to the Filipino artists in quick successions and almost simultaneously.
It was commented that "... subjects included women harvesting fruit, gathering sheaves of grain, or selling fish in the market, the artist emphasized movement and bustling interaction by means of bold, vigorous brushstrokes and strong tonal contrasts of light and dark. brisk, decisive lines become a marked tendency to simplyfy forms into basic geometric shapes: triangles for the bananas and rectangle for the skirts, thereby creating a lively counterpoint of sharp, angular forms. ... ... here, the women briefly exchanging wrods and glances shifts positions and carry out the stages of a process within a closed space that is entirely occupied by their figures, with some cropping along the four sides." (Alice G. Guillermo, 'A Woman's Journey to Selfhood in Art', Anita Magsaysay-Ho: A Retrospective, Manila, 1989, p. 18.)
The illustrated works In the Market Place and the Night Market, share a common stylistic tendency with the present work. These works which are executed around the mid-fifties are generally infused with a concentrated energy that reinforces the circular movement of the positions. The women in all the three works are generalized instead of unique individuals, they are a represantational group with stylized features which are devoid of the sweetness and charm that are synonymous of Amorsolo's signature style.
For a brief period, Anita was labelled the "Female Amorsolo" as both share the same dedication for women and genre subjects. The affiliation however, is not more than this sharing of the common subjects. Anita essentially works in a different epoch and her works are influenced by the modernist movement in the Philippines of the 50s when the various Western 'isms' were introduced to the Filipino artists in quick successions and almost simultaneously.
It was commented that "... subjects included women harvesting fruit, gathering sheaves of grain, or selling fish in the market, the artist emphasized movement and bustling interaction by means of bold, vigorous brushstrokes and strong tonal contrasts of light and dark. brisk, decisive lines become a marked tendency to simplyfy forms into basic geometric shapes: triangles for the bananas and rectangle for the skirts, thereby creating a lively counterpoint of sharp, angular forms. ... ... here, the women briefly exchanging wrods and glances shifts positions and carry out the stages of a process within a closed space that is entirely occupied by their figures, with some cropping along the four sides." (Alice G. Guillermo, 'A Woman's Journey to Selfhood in Art', Anita Magsaysay-Ho: A Retrospective, Manila, 1989, p. 18.)
The illustrated works In the Market Place and the Night Market, share a common stylistic tendency with the present work. These works which are executed around the mid-fifties are generally infused with a concentrated energy that reinforces the circular movement of the positions. The women in all the three works are generalized instead of unique individuals, they are a represantational group with stylized features which are devoid of the sweetness and charm that are synonymous of Amorsolo's signature style.