Asian Cultural Council holds fundraising auction

AS PART of its commitment to nurturing Filipino artists, the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) will auction off major artworks on Feb. 22 at the Leon Gallery.

The ACC Philippine Fellowship Program will benefit from the auction, which is now on its 10th year. For this edition, nine Filipino artist-fellows are set to embark on cultural exchange projects in the United States, India, and Japan.

Among this auction’s highlights is Fernando Zóbel’s Septiembre, a las siete de la tarde, en Tres Juncos, a key work from TIME magazine’s 1966 feature on Museo de Arte Abstracto Español in Cuenca, Spain. It is considered by experts to be among Mr. Zóbel’s most important works, said Leon Gallery director Jaime Ponce de Leon.

“This was [on] the cover of last year’s important Fundacion Juan March exhibition in Madrid,” said Mr. Ponce de Leon at a press conference on Feb. 10 in Makati. “Zóbel dedicated his work to the mayor of Cuenca who allowed him to accomplish his dreams to build a museum there.”

The public sale will also have two works by National Artist Vicente Manansala on the block: the Spanish colonial heritage tribute Dambana and the Cubist stained glass-inspired Sabungero, reflecting his depictions of the sacred and the ordinary.

These three works actually form an interesting connection to ACC’s ideals, said Leon Gallery curator Lisa Guerrero-Nakpil.

“In the 1950s, before ACC was ever invented, Mr. Zóbel was like the one-man ACC. He arranged for a scholarship for Manansala,” she said. “Some people think [the Sabungero work] would be an Ang Kiukok, but it isn’t — but Manansala did also take Ang Kiukok under his wing.

“You can see a relationship between all the artists and their tradition [in] what the ACC does today, in the sense that they’re spreading the word through sponsorships, not just affecting the life of one artist, but a whole community, up to several generations of artists.”

GRANTEESOver 300 artists, scholars, and professionals across various art disciplines — including performing arts, visual arts, archaeology, and curatorship — have received ACC grants since 1963. Some of them have since become National Artists: Jose Joya (Art), Lamberto Avellana (Film), Kidlat Tahimik (Film), Ramon Santos (Music), and Alice Reyes (Dance), among others.

This year, 140 paintings, sculptures, and antiques will be up for grabs for the benefit of nine more grantees. Currently doing their fellowships in New York are dance artist Maria Patricia Bernas, who is pursuing dance movement therapy; visual artist Archie Oclos who is doing art research; dramaturg-educator Anril Tiatco, who is training on dramaturgy; and curator-critic John Alexis Balaguer, who is studying exhibition writing and art criticism. Theater artist Toni Go and playwright-director Joshua Lim So will be joining them in July, for theater-related fellowships.

Meanwhile, theater arts practitioner Aina Ramolete is taking on puppetry studies in Connecticut, while literary artist Padmapani Perez is conducting nature-centered research across India. Already back from his fellowship is conservation specialist Peter John Natividad, who studied techniques used in the mounting and seismic control systems of various museums in Japan.

AUCTION HIGHLIGHTSWorks by many important names in art will go on the block on the Feb. 22 auction. There will be Evening in Shanghai by José Joya, who was also the first-ever Filipino ACC grantee for visual arts.

Anita Magsaysay-Ho’s On the Beach, a masterpiece from her ink-blot series, and Mother and Child, a rare terracotta sculpture, are expected to fetch high prices. Also included are pivotal works by Philippine masters: Hernando R. Ocampo’s Terminal, painted at the start of his Visual Melody period; Ang Kiukok’s Android, from his groundbreaking 1966 Luz Gallery exhibit; and Elmer Borlongan’s Pahinga, exhibited at the Fukuoka and San Francisco art museums.

Two paintings from the collection of the Ford Foundation’s Philippine representative Arthur Hill and his wife Julie, will go under the block for the benefit of underprivileged provincial students who passed the University of the Philippines College Admission Test but do not have the means to afford the cost of living on campus. These are H.R. Ocampo’s A Song for Summer and Ang Kiukok’s Mother and Child.

“These are works of excellent provenance, published, and of such high quality,” said Leon Gallery’s Mr. Ponce de Leon. “Through them, the ACC underlines the importance of sponsorship and mentoring, for the spread and development of Philippine art.”

The works can be viewed at the Leon Gallery starting Feb. 18, 6 p.m. The auction will be held on Feb. 22, with open bidding commencing at 2 p.m. For details, visitleon-gallery.com. — Brontë H. Lacsamana