Lot description
Vicente Manansala (1910 - 1981) Fish Vendors signed and dated 1972 (lower right) oil on canvas 27” x 31” (69 cm x 78 cm) Provenance: Dr. and Mrs. Guillermo Damian Acquired from the above by the present owner Literature: Paras-Perez, Rodolfo. Manansala. PLC Publications. Manila. 1980. p. 97. Vicente Manansala’s oeuvre is characterized by renditions of folk and rural living inspired by his affinity and familiarity with the people associated with this lifestyle. He widely draws from these influences even in his depictions situated within an urban context. These subjects were individuals, objects, and scenes that thrived within the confines of Manila, and surrounded him as he spent his childhood in Intramuros. From these renditions, an understanding of Manansala’s artistic identity and an appreciation of his style can be acquired. In Fish Vendors, Manansala’s enthusiasm to simplify his compositions reflected the analytic phase of Cubism – its formative years – between 1907 to 1910. Evident in this piece is the diminution of its surface and composition and the dilution of color to a single hue or its most analogous combinations, specifically an amalgamation of green and yellow hues. Manansala’s women vendors entwine themselves around their goods, with their block-like faces rendered in broad planes. His celebration of folk and peasant lifestyle gives us an indication of his Filipino sensibility and intimate connection with its traditional culture and heritage. Quoting from Manansala by Rod Paras-Perez: “If Manansala had kept away from the eddies of other movements, his vision nonetheless set off its own waves. If he found Cubism already an art of the museum, he gave to it once more, the secularity of a living art. But above all, he mastered and changed an idiom so that it may eloquently voice his Pilipino sensibilities.” In discerning Manansala’s impeccable virtuosity, one can notice that as harmony became synonymous with rapport and social camaraderie, vibrancy became consonant with beauty
