Cesar Legaspi (1917 - 1994) - Village on Fire

Lot description

Cesar Legaspi (1917 - 1994) Village on Fire signed and dated 1948 (lower right) oil on canvas 28” x 22” (71 cm x 55 cm) Provenance: Acquired from the Art A Accompanied by an officially issued and catalogued certificate from the Estate of Cesar Legaspi confirming the authenticity of this lot WRITE UP: The oeuvre of National Artist Cesar Legaspi shows a compositional style informed by his inborn talent and discipline toward his craft, academic training at the UP School of Fine Arts, his observations on the styles of the Triumvirate of Modern Art (Edades, Botong, and Galo Ocampo) and his contemporaries Manansala and H.R. Ocampo, and his work in the advertising industry. Legaspi described his early paintings, created when he used to work for Elizalde at the Muelle de la Industria, as expressionistic. The inter-island North Bay Harbor where he used to walk past influenced these early pieces which featured muscular laborers doing hard labor such as carrying sacks or loads of copra and sand. Waterfront scenes including street beggars and sweepers, vendors, and settlers are also depicted through Legaspi’s expressionist techniques. This 1948 piece was created after World War II. Here, his figures are distorted and predominant use of blue and orange are used. The viewer can see the beginnings of his Modernist perspective in this early work. Legaspi, who noted that he remembered vividly the destruction after the war, would capture the realities around him during this period. Beyond the “monochromatic feel” of post-war Manila, it was during this time when he explored other ways of using color in his art, and would later on be influenced by H.R. Ocampo when it comes to color treatment.