PROPERTY FROM THE JOSE ZAIDE COLLECTION
Barong-Barong
signed (lower right)
oil on canvas
16 1/2" x 22" (42 cm x 56 cm)

PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner


The image of the barong-barong is a staple in the foremost modernist Hugo Yonzon Jr.’s early works. In this particular piece from his early period, the artist captures a vignette of slum living, akin to a colorful illustration emerging from a cartoon strip (Yonzon Jr. initially worked as a cartoonist and illustrator). Albeit depicting a more modest subject, this piece is reminiscent of Yonzon Jr.’s entry to the Seventh Annual Art Association of the Philippines Exhibition in 1954 titled Harana, which won the coveted first prize.Although Yonzon Jr. does not venture into explicit narratives in this piece, one can discern the artist’s intended reactions on the viewer through his masterful weaving of disarrayed forms, creating a composition that evokes poverty and induces feelings of sympathy. Rendered in dark tones, strips of shanties dominate the canvas. The crudely built houses are set against a backdrop of patchworks of contrasting colors, resembling tattered clothes, thus, bizarrely complementing the subject. (A.M.)