Lot 50 | Auction XIX

LOT 50

CESAR BUENAVENTURA
B. Philippines, 1919-1983

Village Scene, 1969

Signed and dated “Cesar Buenaventura 1969” on lower right

Oil on canvas

39.5 x 49.5 cm

Provenance Private Collection, Singapore

RM 3,500 – RM 5,500

Unlike his father, who was a distinguished UP professor or his brother Teddy Junior who had taken formal studies in art at UP before the war, Cesar did not study art in school. This was because his father opposed to the idea of having two sons competing in the same field.

It was only at the old man’s retirement when Cesar finally received formal instruction from his father. As it turned out, Cesar surpassed the skill and fame of both father and brother. Eventually, Cesar became a protégé of Fernando Amorsolo who had complete confidence in his talent.

So, when he had large or important commissions, he would invite the latter to help him as an Amorsolo manchador, an apprentice who “stains” the silhouette of the master painter. Amorsolo was a classicist whose general “backlighting” was in fact a type of European light. It was through this the Cesar gained the ability to create illusions of detail with the use of colour. Like Amorsolo, Cesar could create illusions of detail by the use of color. He was also an instinctive painter, only using a single shade to make up a number of other different shades.