Fernando Amorsolo (1892 - 1972)
Maid of Bataan
signed and dated 1946 (lower right)
oil on canvas
20" x 16" (51 cm x 41 cm)


Accompanied by a certificate issued by Mrs. Sylvia Amorsolo-Lazoconfirming the authenticity of this lot




The Second World War wreaked havoc on the artistic freedom of Filipino visual artists. During this time, many of the themes painted by local artists conformed to Japanese Imperial policies on culture and propaganda. Yet, they subtly hinted at the actual conditions of the nation. Norma Respicio writes: "Dreariness and lingering pathos are evident even in paintings that implicitly mouthed the ideology of the Occupation." The artistic career that Fernando Amorsolo had established during his golden years also suffered a steep decline. Nevertheless, this did not stop him from recording the suffering of his countrymen and the atrocities of the enemy. Sylvia Amorsolo Lazo recounts in Amorsolo: Love and Passion: "In the face of fear and hunger during World War II, he kept himself drawing and painting the day-to-day events with calm acceptance of all occurrences as the unavoidable result of divine will. He kept himself busy drawing and painting the atrocities of war, like a newspaper informing everyone of the sad and cruel events inflicted on our people and places." But at the culmination of the war, an unabating catharsis lingered in the artistic consciousness of Fernando Amorsolo. He felt the need to narrate the rape of his motherland on his canvas. This is especially evident in this piece titled Maid of Bataan. Here, Amorsolo visually chronicles the harrowing civilian experience during the Fall of Bataan in 1942. The maestro depicts a beautiful, young maiden clad in tattered clothes. She falls to her knees as she woefully gazes at the heavens, seemingly imploring the mercy and aid of Divine Providence. In a land that a totalitarian power has pillaged, it is as if God is nonexistent, and all hope is lost. The only way to survive is to remain enslaved—or struggle and fight until death in the name of absolute emancipation. At the woman's back is a dark, brooding landscape of a burning town, evoking a somber, dreary atmosphere. (A.M.)