LOT 13
SALVADOR CABRERA
B. Philippines, 1929
Flower Girl, 1975
Signed and dated on lower right
Acrylic on canvas
45.5 x 60.5 cm
Private Collection, Canada
RM 800 – RM 2,000
Salvador Cabrera – In his heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, Salvador Cabrera could finish as many as ten paintings a day, which led to his being jokingly referred to as a “quick draw” artist. But his works never betrayed the speed with which he produced them, each one coming out as a thoughtful depiction of familiar scenes.
His renditions of children at play, portraits of mother and child and other slices of everyday life were made distinctive by the wide eyes of his subjects. This trademark may have been atypically Filipino, but Cabrera made sure he infused his paintings with local flavour and colour, showing youngsters flying kites and engaged in other native games or swathing them in clothes that could only be Pinoy. But it was the soulful gaze of those gaping eyes that would be the most endearing trait of his paintings.