LOT 13
CESAR BUENAVENTURA
B. Philippines, 1919-1983
Paddy Farmers, 1972
Signed and dated “Cesar Buenaventura 1972” on lower right
Oil on canvas
35.5 x 45 cm
Provenance Private Collection, Singapore
RM 3,500 – RM 5,500
His paintings had a mood, certain quietness that a Buenaventura collector can spot from a distance.
Cesar Buenaventura’s greatest achievement is that his paintings were known as unofficial “Ambassadors of Goodwill” for the country in the visual arts. Hundreds of living rooms abroad display his works. In the earlier days, Peace Corps volunteers, American Embassy employees, US servicemen and their wives, as well as tourists and several Hollywood actors picked out a Cesar Buenaventura nine times out of ten, including Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and George Montgomery. They enjoy his paintings of glorious sunsets, grand fleshed-out cloud formations and three- colored skies. The most popular being a sallow monochrome that is hard to duplicate.
Cesar Buenaventura was born on January 14, 1922. His parents, Teodoro Pascual Buenaventura and Agripina Espinosa, were from Paombong, Bulacan. Like his teacher Fernando Amorsolo, Cesar could create illusions of detail by the use of color. A single shade was made up of a great number of intermediate shades mixed by instinct.