PROPERTY FROM THE JOSE ZAIDE COLLECTION
Barcelona Series
signed (lower center)ca. 1960
watercolor on paper
17 1/2" x 24" (44 cm x 61 cm)

PROVENANCEAcquired directly from the artist


As an artist who conforms to tradition, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz saw art as both a gift and a calling, something worth all the efforts as well as the pleasure of creation. The National Artist garnered great adulation and acclaim for his mode of abstraction which presents complex interplays of elements, disfiguring his subjects to the point where only their bare essence remains. Elegant and refined are his artistic tendencies, as his works exemplify a distinct European flair — a quality found in the works of very few Filipino artists. For Alcuaz, the quality of a piece of art has nothing to do with its being either abstract or figurative. Art, as language, can indicate either abstract or concrete images like a musical composition, which can be evocatively pastoral or highly atonal. And in both cases, equally excellent. (P.I.R.)