New and established art collectors eager to boost their art trove may check out León Exchange, the online platform of leading auction house Leon Gallery, which will hold its auction for the new year from January 28 to 30.
The three-day online trading will bid out fine watches, jewelry, ephemera, and other collectibles on its first day; paintings and sculptures on its second; and antique religious icons and furniture and home décor on its third.
As always, “The Collector’s Vault” auction of artworks is the most anticipated.
Perhaps expected to attract fierce bidding is a charcoal-on-paper Untitled pastoral scene by Juan Luna (1857-1899). “These quick sketches and close-in reviews of his world were done to satisfy only his own standards,” wrote the late Ramon Villegas, “to see if what he saw in his mind was as pleasing as what his brush could paint, and what his eyes could see.”
Also up for bidding are several works by Angel Cacnio, who passed away just last year at 90. His colorful depictions of Philippine traditions and folk characters relive a bygone era of grace and simplicity.
Oscar Zalameda (1930-2010) has become an auction darling lately as the works of the late Quezon artist have been rediscovered more and more by younger generations for their attractive and colorful Cubism. A world traveler and a very sophisticated artist, Zalameda chose to paint folk images of a gentler Philippines.
One could never go wrong with a piece by the very versatile National Artist Federico Aguilar Alcuaz (1932-2011), whose works span several styles and idioms, all of which he did with panache. To be auctioned in particular is a landscape of Baguio City. Critic Rod Paras-Perez described Aguilar Alcuaz as an “epic troubadour of the urban landscape.”
The works of bestselling National Artist Ang Kiukok (1931-2005) will also up for bidding. Aside from a 1981 tempera-on-paper painting (Mother and Child), avid collectors may want to check out several pen-and-ink-on-paper works from the 1970s.
One of Ang Kiukok’s teachers at University of Santo Tomas, National Artist Victorio Edades (1895-1985), is represented by a beautiful landscape of Davao City, incidentally also Ang’s hometown, where Edades spent his retirement and last years. The bucolic scene shows the master still in full possession of his powers.
Premiere modernist Nena Saguil (1924-1994) made use of the circle as her primary iconography and rendered its geometry in very expressive abstraction. An Untitled work along this very unique idiom is up for bidding.
Acrylic paintings on paper or canvas by “poetic surrealist” painter Juvenal Sanso (born 1929) may interest new and established collectors of the Philippines-born Catalan painter.
National Artist Benedicto “Bencab” Cabrera is represented by charcoal- or pastel-on-paper works along the nude or figurative genres from the 1970s and 1980s.
Other top modern artists represented in the exhibit are Norma Belleza, Manuel Baldemor, Romeo Tabuena, Romulo Olazo, Antonio Austria, Angelito Antonio, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Napoleon Abueva, Ramon Orlina, Ed Castrillo, Malang, Hugo Yonzon Jr., Justin Nuyda, Macario Vitalis, Cesar Buenaventura, Paco Gorospe, Solomon Saprid, Prudencio Lamarozza, Hermes Alegre, and JD Castro.
Contemporary artists in the auction include Ronald Ventura, Bernard Pacquing, Alfred Esquillo, Geraldine Javier, Marcel Antonio and Jonathan Olazo.
In the important auction of antique icons and furniture as well as home décor and objets d’art (“Heiresses’ Homes and Tables”), highlights are the collections of the late fashion designer Criselda Lontok and the late Negros Occidental politician Gloria Araneta Esteban.
A preview of these lots is being held until January 27, at Warehouse 14, La Fuerza Compound, Don Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City. Check out the online catalogue at https://leon-gallery.com.
All bidding will be online at www.leonexchange.com.