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Lot Essay
Anita Magsaysay-Ho was one of the female artists who guided the perspective of Modern art in the Philippines, with her art. Trained initially in the fine arts at the School of Fine Arts in the University of the Philippines, Magsaysay-Ho left for the United States to further her art studies. There, Magsaysay-Ho was challenged with a different vision towards art. Her time before in the School of Design, Manila and her study of graphics in the Art Students' League in New York were crucial to her depictions of the female form. Her Modernist inclinations were especially pronounced in the fifties when her works were 'angular with sharp profiles and somewhat squat in proportion' (Alice Guerrero Guillermo, 'A Woman's Journey to Selfhood in Art' in Anita Magsaysay-Ho, A Retrospective, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 1988, p. 18.). Since then, her figures have developed from there using softer lines but not without her signature angular proportions.
Her oeuvre on the female form is well collected and celebrated for their very representation of the beauty in women, which was her favourite subject. Her beginnings and future developments on this subject are especially well documented in this present lot. Two girls with fruit baskets was completed in 1943 when the prevailing style in the Philippines was set by artist Fernando Amorsolo. His depictions of women were an idealised romantic representation. (c.f. Fernando Amorsolo, Woman in the tobacco field, Lot 41.) At this point in her career, the artist was influenced by Amorsolo. 'During the early forties, Anita Magsaysay-Ho painted in the style of Amorsolo, but there were early indications that she did not fall under the influence of the Amorsolo School of Genre Painting, the established Academy in the decades before World War II. In her charming portraits of young women with their small compact heads and slightly elongated necks that emphasize on grace, the artist asserted a fresh individual style that resisted academic formula.' (Alice Guerrero Guillermo, 'A Woman's Journey to Selfhood in Art' in, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, A Retrospective, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 1988, p. 18.) Indeed, the cherubic faces of her subjects in this painting are similar to that of Amorsolo's women. However unlike the nostalgic glow of Amorsolo's works which only gave his women a singular dimension, Magsaysay-Ho painted her women with a certain strength noting them with a particular vibrance in colour, hence creating a sparkling luminosity and adding dimensions unachieved by Amorsolo. Two girls with fruit baskets showcases an exquisite blend of colours which also brings out a confident femininity and character of the subjects with the use of soft rosy hues and the exuberant spark of colour on the cheeks of the two girls. The surrounding green foliage frames the painting, a prelude to the period in the seventies when she started using shades of green to depict the relationship between nature, as can be seen by the fruits in the painting, and women, who could be regarded as workers of the earth. The use of the basket in this work too is an early indication of her inclusion of such baskets as a recurring motif in her later works. The line following the neck of the girl on the left is also an introduction to her consequent longer necklines portraying the elegance of her womenfolk in the works that were soon to follow. By striking a difference in the manner in which her women were portrayed, Magsaysay-Ho elevated the status of women using her art. She paints women from the perspective of a woman.
'I dedicate this exhibition to the women of the Philippines - the source of my inspiration - their movements and gestures; their expressions of happiness and frustrations; their diligence and shortcomings; their joy of living. I know them well, for after all, I am one of them.' - Anita Magsaysay-Ho. (c.f. Anita Magsaysay-Ho, A Retrospective, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 15 December 1988 - 15 January 1989).
This work was completed before her marriage and is signed 'Anita Magsaysay' without the attached suffix of her husband's surname.
Her oeuvre on the female form is well collected and celebrated for their very representation of the beauty in women, which was her favourite subject. Her beginnings and future developments on this subject are especially well documented in this present lot. Two girls with fruit baskets was completed in 1943 when the prevailing style in the Philippines was set by artist Fernando Amorsolo. His depictions of women were an idealised romantic representation. (c.f. Fernando Amorsolo, Woman in the tobacco field, Lot 41.) At this point in her career, the artist was influenced by Amorsolo. 'During the early forties, Anita Magsaysay-Ho painted in the style of Amorsolo, but there were early indications that she did not fall under the influence of the Amorsolo School of Genre Painting, the established Academy in the decades before World War II. In her charming portraits of young women with their small compact heads and slightly elongated necks that emphasize on grace, the artist asserted a fresh individual style that resisted academic formula.' (Alice Guerrero Guillermo, 'A Woman's Journey to Selfhood in Art' in, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, A Retrospective, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 1988, p. 18.) Indeed, the cherubic faces of her subjects in this painting are similar to that of Amorsolo's women. However unlike the nostalgic glow of Amorsolo's works which only gave his women a singular dimension, Magsaysay-Ho painted her women with a certain strength noting them with a particular vibrance in colour, hence creating a sparkling luminosity and adding dimensions unachieved by Amorsolo. Two girls with fruit baskets showcases an exquisite blend of colours which also brings out a confident femininity and character of the subjects with the use of soft rosy hues and the exuberant spark of colour on the cheeks of the two girls. The surrounding green foliage frames the painting, a prelude to the period in the seventies when she started using shades of green to depict the relationship between nature, as can be seen by the fruits in the painting, and women, who could be regarded as workers of the earth. The use of the basket in this work too is an early indication of her inclusion of such baskets as a recurring motif in her later works. The line following the neck of the girl on the left is also an introduction to her consequent longer necklines portraying the elegance of her womenfolk in the works that were soon to follow. By striking a difference in the manner in which her women were portrayed, Magsaysay-Ho elevated the status of women using her art. She paints women from the perspective of a woman.
'I dedicate this exhibition to the women of the Philippines - the source of my inspiration - their movements and gestures; their expressions of happiness and frustrations; their diligence and shortcomings; their joy of living. I know them well, for after all, I am one of them.' - Anita Magsaysay-Ho. (c.f. Anita Magsaysay-Ho, A Retrospective, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, 15 December 1988 - 15 January 1989).
This work was completed before her marriage and is signed 'Anita Magsaysay' without the attached suffix of her husband's surname.